Monday, April 15, 2024

Poison Flower--#31 finished

 This was the next in the Jane Whitefield series by Thomas Perry.  A good continuation of the series.  It started sort of in the middle of the story with Jane doing a jail break of sorts with a guy that was in prison but was at the courthouse the day she setup his escape.  Jane was caught by bad guys and bad things happened but she was able to get away.  Actually was able to kill off several people that were searching for her as well from past runners.  

I have already gotten the next book in series--was able to request from library since I figured would probably take years from PBS.  Already reading 4 books but once finish one, the next will be next. 

There are 2 WL for this book on PBS so will get it posted and mailed off at some point.

A Very Stable Genius--#30 finished

 This is another book about Donald Trump's Presidency that I wish people that are supporting him for 2024 would read.  The author's have done their research and have quotes from insiders that worked with Trump and show just how awful he was as President.  This book ends with the Mueller Report being released, right before the 1st impeachment.  So there is a lot of reasons for why he should be no where near the Presidency but this book gives good insight into some of the campaign and those first 2 years.  A long book but generally pretty easy to read.  Brings back many memories of this time too.

There is 1 WL for this book but I have a few of these Trump books already so keeping for now.

Friday, April 5, 2024

Talking as Fast as I Can--#29 finished

A quick and easy read.  It is a sort of memoir or maybe a catching up with what she was doing book that she wrote in 2016.  She is an actress that starred in Gilmore Girls and Parenthood.  I did not watch either of these shows.  She basically wrote it while finishing up Parenthood and started shooting a Gilmore Girls revival of 4 shows in Netflix.  I think I saw one of those Gilmore Girls shows with my youngest after she binge watched the original series.  I am not sure why I picked up this book from the library sale and that was just a few weeks ago.  And also not sure why I selected this book to read of the hundreds sitting in my book room and around a chair in the basement.  I guess after reading On the Road and basically not liking it and still reading a book on Trump's Presidency, I was looking for something simple and easy and this fit right in.  It didn't take long to read either.

I have already posted it on PBS, there were already 2 copies in system and probably a few paperbacks too but it can sit on my PBS bookshelf for now.

Dead Fall--#28 finished

This is the next in the Brad Thor series with Scot Harvath as a sort of mercenary type guy.  It is a long series so kind of hard to go back & explain how he got here but basically he is in his own organization that is mostly hired by US to do jobs that they don't want US servicemen or military involved on.  In this book, he is being sent into Ukraine to rescue an American woman that was there assisting an orphanage when she was kidnapped by a rouge group from Wagner that was helping the Russians.  A good story about the current war going on sort of gives some insight into this war.  Book was published last year so sort of up to date and very sad it is still ongoing.

There are 17 WL for this book on PBS so will get it posted at some point & send off.  

On the Road--#27 finished

 This is the famous Jack Kerouac classic that sort of started the "beat" generation.  I guess I just don't get it.  It reads as an ongoing thought process where Sal--the main character is around a bunch of crazy people with one Dean basically a criminal.  I sort of see it as a group of people just after WWII that had a lot of steam to blow and didn't want to settle into a life their parents had.  I get that and I get where this just ongoing writing of non-stop stuff going on was probably so different than what other writers were doing that it became a sort of fascinating read but stepping beyond that, again I don't get it.  Didn't like the characters, didn't like the writing, didn't like the book.

It is a classic & my copy is older and sort of beaten up so won't post on PBS, will stick it on a shelf so I have it in case someone else wants to read some day.

Monday, April 1, 2024

The View From Flyover Country--#26 finished

The rest of the title is:  Dispatches From the Forgotten America.  The author lives in St Louis, so like to keep local author books.  She got her Phd from Wash U in St Louis.  Here area of study was Uzbekistan and that area of the world but she was a writer for different publications.  This is a collection of her essays.  I hadn't heard of her before finding this book and still really don't know much about her.  She has published a couple other books that I have on my wishlist on PBS.  These essays are from around 2010 to 2015 and are really good and thought provoking. 

There is 1 WL for this book but not sure if will mail off, like I said it is a local author.  I will probably keep for now at least.

Paradise City--#25 finished

 This is a book set in London, England with 4 main characters that are sort of tied into each other but not at first.  The book is about each of them and how they eventually grow and relate to one of the others in the book.  They are 4 very different people, a rich business executive, a hotel maid, a widow and a newspaper reporter.  I enjoyed how the author was able to make each character relatable and human.  Good read.

There were no copies in PBS so I have posted it right away--probably a week or so ago.  It hasn't been requested yet but think it will be at some point.