If It Bleeds--#36 finished

 This is a short story or maybe novella book with 4 stories by Stephen King.  None really that scary but all make you think.  Mostly the stories are good but the title story seemed to drag on and on for me.  Other shorter ones were able to keep my interest better.  Glad I read it but not close to being one of my favorite King books.  It makes me think I should re-read Different Seasons a short story book of his again & see how it ages for me too--that is one I really liked back in high school when I read it.

There are like 88 WL for this book in PBS so I will post & mail off at some point.

The Ultimatum--#35 finished

 This is 1st book in series with a female spy/international thief sort.  Bianca is sort of raised by a distance dad--she is shipped off to Europe to boarding school at young age and dad comes around to basically teach her spy/thief techniques along with pulling her into his business.  This is now her in her 20s, she has a business & is doing very well with business but also with money from the side thefts with her father & his gang.  Book starts with the last gig going wrong & she thinks her dad was killed.  A few months later emails pull her back in.  Kind of clever but mostly just good action.  A good start to the series.

There are 3 copies in system already but will probably post it anyway on PBS.  I have the next 2 in series, not sure if goes beyond that or not yet.

Ocean State--#34 finished

 I really enjoy this author, Stewart O'Nan, my favorite of his that I have read would be Last Night at the Lobster.  This is the 3rd book of his I have read and all are different but really do a good job of getting inside the characters and their motivations.  This is mostly told from a middle school girl perspective about her older sister in high school and also her mom and her boyfriends. The older sister's boyfriend cheats on her but sister is not ready to give him up and together they get a sort of revenge on the other girl and she ends up dying.  They dispose of the body and eventually the sister & boyfriend arrested and after some time they get plea bargains.  Just a lot going on in a short book but you really seem to get an understanding of these characters.

There are 13 WL for this book so will probably mail off at some point.

All the Winters After--#33 finished

 I really enjoyed this book, it was certainly something a little different.  Based in AL, a man that lost his parents & brother in a plane crash at age 18, is returning to AL now in his 30s because his grandmother is dying.  His life in TX made him a lot of money but was laid off & just sort of stopped living and his girlfriend broke up with him.  On his return to AL, he finally goes to check out the cabin his family lived in & finds a single woman living there--an Old Russian community runaway.  She has been living there with grandma's okay for 10 years, she is living off the land and never leaves the property.  Throw in an aunt in her 60s that is still trying to come to grips with her life and altogether makes a good story.

This is a hardback book but the ISBN decodes as a paperback.  Since this is an ex-library book I am guessing library got it hardbound.  There is 1 WL for this in PBS but is for a paperback so not sure if I should post or not.  Probably not because not a great shape either.  Will most likely put in give away pile.

I Feel Bad About My Neck--#32 finished

 A quick read by Nora Ephron that is just short takes or insights into her life & thoughts.  A quick and interesting read.  She lived a pretty amazing life with what she was doing and the people around her.  It was an enjoyable sort of different read.

I have posted it on PBS, there are now 5 copies in system so not sure if will move or not but will just wait & see.

Blowback--#31 finished

 This is the 4th in the Scot Harvath series.  He is still working for the US government in sort of a deep spy position with the President.  This one does a step back in history to a super powerful drug that could kill millions and he & a cute scientist type have to track down ASAP and kill a bunch of bad guys.  Throw in a bad Senator fooling around with a CIA guy that try to out Scot and the action keeps moving here.  Not as good as some of the others in series--I like the newer ones better but playing a little catch up since started series in middle.

Right now keeping this series or at least these early books.  There are copies on system in PBS so really no need to post more at this point.

Benjamin Franklin--#30 finished

 This is a book about Benjamin Franklin but is highly researched from the abundance of letters he wrote.  Unfortunately, I saw too much of the focus on this book about that research and quotes rather than giving a clearer idea of the person.  The person Benjamin Franklin gets lost in the weeds of who he was writing to and visiting with and where traveling to, etc.  Franklin is a very interesting person but this is not an interesting book sad to say. 

I picked it up used somewhere & it has a few minor stains so cannot post on PBS, it will go into my give a away pile instead. 

The Distance Home--#29 finished

 A really good story about growing up in small town South Dakota--the western and more desolate part.  Growing up in the '60s & '70s from what it sounded like and with kids that didn't really fit in with others.  Throw in parents that didn't really get along very well and some native American prejudicious and the oldest 2 being ballet dancers in a small town, well the kids are a little screwed up, at least the 2 oldest.  The youngest doesn't get mentioned much in the book but seems more like the get along with everyone type kid.  Was hard to read at points because you could see the trainwreck coming for the oldest and maybe even the 2nd too.  Their older lives only get sporadic mentions but oldest had the troubled life.  The 2nd oldest, well not really sure how she played out, seems like sort of figured things out.  I really enjoyed this book.

There are 3 WL for this one on PBS so will probably mail off at some point.