I‘ve been meaning to post this since my trip last month…
📗 Old Venus (signed) from George R. R. Martin‘s bookstore, Beastly Books
📕 The Painter, set in Santa Fe, found used in op.cit. books
Even though there are only 2 books, they‘re hardcover and they would only fit in my carry-on so I still feel this fits the definition of “haul.” 😅
I keep forgetting to share my November reading wrap up! I haven‘t read 4 books in one month in awhile so yay! But I hope I can top that this month.
#bookly #booklyapp
pickPart art book/part memoir, this beautiful little book shows us Santa Fe as it was 100 years ago, and laments how it‘s changed in the following 60 years. A lovely little time machine.
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
📸 Taken in the lobby of the Best Western Plus Inn of Santa Fe on Friday
pickAn adorable reimagining of Baba Yaga as a witch from Santa Fe. I loved all of the nods to the inspiration, like the roadrunner legs and the prickly pear fence. I'm not sure why the girl looks like she stepped out of Tim Burton's imagination in most scenes. #Retelling #BabaYaga #Witch #PictureBook
so-soI had high hopes for this, as I LOVED The River. This just didn‘t do it for me, though. The story itself was decent (although what happened with Grant, and Jason at the end, was quite silly), but I just didn‘t connect enough with Jim to care about his running monologue, especially when describing his paintings.
⭐️: 3/5
Reading this delightful book at a heavenly spa in Santa Fe. I‘m reading and listening to the audio version. Warner‘s language is lovely, and the narrator of the audio is excellent.
#summer #summervacation #spalife
pickPeter Heller's writing is amazing. Descriptive, poetic, and makes me want to leave my coastal home and move to the mountains, and take up fly fishing. Jim is a painter with a violent past. When he sees a man abusing a horse, his violent tendencies return, setting off a cat and mouse game between the good guys and the bad guys. But who is good and who is bad? Jim is not even sure himself. 4 stars 🌟
pickPeter Heller is a stunning writer. This book has it all: beautiful prose, but also suspense. Character development that blurs the line between light and dark in one man‘s soul. Philosophical musings on art, life, and grief. I think I‘m going to have to read anything else he writes.
Choosing the next book can be hard, but this one was easy —
Daughter: Why are you staring at your books?
Me: Trying to decide what to read next.
Daughter: *grabs book* You‘re reading this one because you‘ve been painting things!
Picture is the shelves I repainted. ❤️
pickThis was interesting to read immediately after Vultures in the Sky, by Todd Downing (also an American Mystery Classics reprint); they have similar settings and hot, stifling atmospheres. This book is more of a suspenseful character study, though, whereas Vultures is a closed-circle mystery.
