Stupid and Contagious--#17 finished

A light kind of humorous romantic comedy read.  I had picked it up I guess at a library sale but didn't realize until looking at it later that the author is the daughter of Tina Louise--the actress from Gilligan's Island--the movie star Ginger.  I found that kind of funny but also good to see a child of a movie/TV star being successful.  Book was written in 2006 so an older book so need to take a little step back in technology. A couple of kind of screwups become neighbors and she drives him crazy but in the end they realize they are a good match & it is happily ever after kind of thing.  Nice read, wanted something light since had some serious and or depressing reads before and during this one.

There was 1 copy in PBS system so I did go ahead and post this one too.  Will see if ever gets requested or not.

Memoirs of a Byzantine Eunuch--#16 finished

This is a book that has been on my shelves for probably about 15 years if I had to guess.  One of those library sale pickups for a quarter or 50 cents that looked interesting so bought it.  I finally got around to reading it and conflicting opinions on it.  Lots of history that author supposedly tried to stay true to but also a ton of debauchery and basically awful behavior by almost everyone in the book.  It is about Constantinople in late 800s or maybe early 900s.  Emperors, church, warring parties and a lot of what has were like vs have nots.  Interesting reading but still a lot that seemed put into the novel for shock's sake too.

There were no copies in PBS & I have already posted it in system.  Will see if it goes anywhere.

Original Sins--#15 finished

This is a memoir by a British writer Matt Rowland Hill.  He father is a Baptist pastor in England and his mother was probably more strict that his dad about religion.  As author got older and questioned more and more of the family's beliefs, he started rebelling in ways with first drinking and then drugs.  This developed into a heroin addiction.  A lot of this book is about that and then a couple of his attempts to get clean.  It is a pretty rough read with his struggles with addiction and family.  

There is 1 WL for this book on PBS so will probably try to post soon and mail off but still have too many credits too.  Guess will just have to see.

When All is Said--#14 finished

This is about an old man kind of retelling his life in a series of toasts to people that were important to him.  He is sitting at a bar in a hotel--formerly a house of the rich family in area--giving the toasts in silence I guess to his son.  His son moved to America as an adult and the dad is in Ireland.  A good mix of people in his story and some real feelings positive and negative to him as well.  He had a hatred for the rich family and by end maybe a little softening.  While could see the end coming, not sure it really fit in my opinion.  A good read, author's first book so a lot of credit for this because it is an interesting story.

There are 26 WL for this book on PBS so will go on my shelf to get mailed off at some point if I ever need the credits.  

Vera Kelly is not a Mystery--#13 finished

This is the 2nd book of the Vera Kelly books by author.  They are set in the 1960s.  In the first book Vera was part of the CIA in Argentina and had to find her way out after getting stuck there during a coup.  This book she is in New York and being out of a job starts a private eye business.  The one case she has is to track down a boy.  His parents caught up in the Dominican Republic coup/political mess sent him to New York to avoid enemies.  Being 1960s things seem slower and probably easier to disappear.  A good read and also touches on her relationships with girlfriends--she is a lesbian and her relationship with her mother.  A good quick read, will try to track down the next book in series.

There are no WL and no copies in system at PBS.  I might post it but still have way too many credits and no offers coming to use them up so might just set aside at this point.

The Moroccan Girl--#12 finished

A kind of spy book.  A British author is recruited to help out the British government on a trip to Morocco.  The author was going to a book festival where he was speaking on a panel.  He writes about spies and all that kind of stuff, his father worked in that before too but was pushed out at one point.  The author, Kit, agrees to help out.  He does a meeting at a restaurant and was then supposed to look for a lady & give her something if he finds her.  It ends up he does find her but at same time the CIA & Russians are also looking for her and Kit realizes that his British contact may not in fact be from the British Agency but instead helping someone else--probably Russians.  A good story with a lot of twists and turns that keeps the reader guessing.  The actual writer has a few other books so will probably see about tracking some down.

There are no copies on PBS but the pages while not stained are a little stiff--not sure why but for that reason will not post on PBS and instead see about putting in a free library or something like that.

You Never Know--#11 finished

This is Tom Selleck's memoir an interesting read about his life and some of the shows he was on.  Magnum PI is the most talked about but at end touches on Blue Bloods--I didn't either of these shows.  Growing up I think CBS was seen as more old person shows--not sure why but just what I remember so never watched Magnum.  Kind of wish maybe I did but not going to track this down either.  Not really sure why I had grabbed this book to read, it was on my shelf and I knew of Tom Selleck, I think I had seen a couple of his movies but was still interesting about how he got into TV & movies and just his life in general.   Good interesting, quick kind of read.

There are 30 WL for this book on PBS but still have a bunch of credits so not posting anything at this point.