Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions--#4 finished

This is one of those library pickups I did for 50 cents and wasn't too sure about.  I have had it for probably over a year and kept looking at it and finally decided to read it.  Needing something a little easier to read instead of the Trump book and Burr--that I have been slowing reading the last couple weeks too and not getting too far.  This is about a widow that moved from Germany to Sicily where she has sisters and other relatives.  She is retired and her plan was to drink herself to the end while watching the ocean.  She found a house in a small village and was on her way there but a young man that was helping her restore this house went missing and then she found him dead--murdered.  Her husband was a detective and maybe her father so to her it was in her blood to investigate this.  She sort of works for and against the lead investigator and they sort of become an item and then not.  She meets with a lot of people and buts herself into situations but in the end she figures it out.  This is a series and this is the first book.  Not sure if I will continue this though, I have plenty of other books around to read instead.

I have posted this book on PBS & it is the only copy so it might move at some point.

I Alone Can Fix It--#3 finished

This is a book at Trump's last year as President--unfortunately, the last year of his now first term.  Reading this is just crazy to see how awful he was at being our President during Covid and then the election season and then Jan 6th.  Reading about this all again was like remembering parts of a nightmare that you had filed away.  Just how little he spent in governing and instead worrying about the election and how he looked.  Also that names that came up and that are coming up again with positions in his incoming cabinet or staff.  It is just sickening that he was elected again.  I can understand not liking the Democrats, I can understand wanting tax cuts or deregulation or a fear of trans or gay youths but even given that if someone was at all decently informed, how could you want this guy back.  I really don't get it.  While I am glad I read this book and all the stuff that went on then, it is also depressing to read this book and realize we are going back into this with this guy for 4 more years.  Just awful.

There are no copies in PBS system but I am not ready to post this book, it is a large hardcover and again I have enough credits so no hurry to post this one.  I have kept some of my other Trump admin books so will probably add this to that pile for now.

Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea--#2 finished

 This is the 2nd book by comedienne Chelsea Handler.  She was a E channel host and a stand up comedienne that had a hot run for a decade or so I guess.  This book was from 2008.  I saw her a year maybe 2 ago hosting some movie/TV awards show on the WB if I remember right--so not a big time awards show.  She was funny enough then for an award show host & I ordered her first book.  It was funny but also pretty raunchy if I again remember right so I sort of stayed away from her other books.  It was a month or two ago that I was looking at the PBS list for most traded/mailed books & I ordered this one since it had been moved 5 times already.  I also needed some more light & funny reading and figured it would fit.  It did that, didn't seem as much jump into bed type stories but more how awful I am and I also have some crazy type friends.  Easy sort of light read.  I did also order another book of hers as well--I had too many credits on PBS & needed to use up some of them.  I will get around to reading that other book at some point too.

I have posted this one back on PBS, there are 13 copies ahead of it but if someone else finds that most traveled list I guess they could request this one.  That is sort of a needle in haystack type thinking.  I am guessing will be on my list for a long time.

Fortune's Children--#1 finished

 First book of 2025 finished.  This one was a long time in getting it done, I had started it sometime around Thanksgiving.  The rest of the title is: The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt.  This is a book about the Vanderbilt family & how the Commodore back in the 1880s was probably the richest person in the world, at least for sure in the US.  The next generation did well in growing their money but also started some of the spending and splitting up of the money that caused it to dwindle then over the next couple generations.  The author mentions in the introduction that in 1973 when the first family reunion happened a 120 descendants gathered none of them were millionaires.  Now does this mean a few that didn't come were millionaires--maybe but still a kind of shocking result.  Reading this book it is crazy to think but this family sort of with a few other families, defined the Gilded Age in the US.  They built crazy large mansions and each family usually built at least 2 and probably 3 with a large farm/estate figured as well.  As the years went these mansions were too expensive to maintain & most have been tore down or donated off as museums, a university, etc.  The ones in New York around 5th street were tore down because the land underneath was more valuable than the enormous mansion.  Just a sad overall story of a super sized wealth and what became of it and especially the people. 

This makes you think about the super wealthy today the Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, etc and what a couple generations later it will look like.  It does seem some of them are trying to set the politics up to help them grown and maintain their wealth, something the Vanderbilts never really did.

There are 12 WL for this book so I will probably post & send off at some point but since don't need credits right now, am in no hurry to do so. 

Again to Carthage--#114

 This is probably the last book I will finish reading in 2024 so let me do a little re-cap of the year.  I finished with the most books read in a year for me, besting last year's 112.  I wanted to mix in some more classic type books this year & did so but not all these classics were really enjoyable.  I don't plan on a classic goal for next year but the classics will still be thrown into the mix along with everything else.  I read some really good and interesting books this year.  It was an enjoyable year of reading.  I think I said last year I wouldn't focus on volume but I did just that once I finished a bunch of books early in year.   I will say that again for 2025--will not focus on that overall number but just read what I am interested in.  Also I am thinking I probably need to cut back some on the reading and incorporate more time for exercise instead, especially on those nice days when can get outside.  I will give more thought about 2025 in the coming days.

This book Again to Carthage is the sequel to Once a Runner--a sort of cult like book from the 1970s I guess.  This was written in 2008 so many years later but same runner that is now out of college and a practicing lawyer.  He gets the running bug again--he had never stopped running, just stopped competing.  He decides that he wants a shot at the Olympics as a marathon runner.  Time is the late part of the 1970s and he again puts in crazy miles in his training.  A couple twists and turns that make an ending for the book.  A good read overall.  It has been too many years since read the first book so not much carried over for me but was still a good read.

There is 1 WL for this book on PBS so I might be posting it soon even though I don't need the credits for PBS.

Calypso--#113

 Finishing this book marks my most read in a year beating last year's 112 & year before at 108.  Not sure if I will finishing another book before the year is out--possible but just not sure yet.  This is another David Sedaris book with chapters about his life that is generally funny or ones that sort of make you think.  I enjoy his books, I think this is 4th of his I have read.  His books are keepers for me since entertaining and easy to read, likely I would go back & read them again at some point.  

There is 1 WL for this book on but not mailing off, it is a keeper.

Here is Where--#112 finished

 A really interesting book where author travels to areas where something interesting but not really known about or acknowledged happened.  He talks about who and where the first cremations occurred in the US.  He talks about court cases, civil disobedience before Rosa Parks and others, the Spanish Flu of 1919, just a truly wide array of interesting topics and happenings.  This is a really easy and informative read, really glad I read it.  Reading it was nice to offset the previous one that I had to force myself to get through.

There are 9 WL for this book but will instead be one that I will look to loan out to friends to read first since I know this is something they will enjoy.