Anne Bogel (Modern Mrs. Darcy) has talked about mysteries that take place on two planes. There‘s the actual mystery and there‘s also the character development. This book has both, along with some “other stuff.”

Though I predicted a couple of the story beats, the actual mystery is solid and plausible. The MC and supporting players are relatable and nuanced.

The “other stuff” is all about the Native community: good, bad, and ugly.

More ⬇️

Since I wasn‘t sure if I could walk at the Turkey Trot this year (I probably could but even more slowly 🐢 than usual), I‘m volunteering to help register participants and give out packets. It‘s going to be #chilly in the morning. What was I thinking?!?

Also, I need to read the tagged book!

#gratefulharvest

1. Sue Grafton, Tolkien, Laura Lippman
2. Zaphod Beeblebrox from H2G2
3. Tagged book for #authoramonth 2022
#wondrouswednesday

1. Thursday we‘ll be bouncing from pillar to post BUT Friday hubby is working, so I‘ll try to knock off the remaining 62% of this audiobook. 😳
2. Green bean casserole!
#two4tuesday

Two more books finished this week. I think I predicted three books for #NovelNovember but it‘s okay. I‘m not going to say it didn‘t help that my library still doesn‘t have copies of a book published 9 November…but it didn‘t help. 😎

Some of the rest are going to go to the #roll100 challenge for next year.

1. Decoding Despacito, Winter Counts, The Angel‘s Game
2. Pumpkin pie
3. Going with another Louise Penny for this (tagged)
#weekendreads

Thanks for the tag!

1. In grateful for Louise Penny. She not only created a great character in Armand Gamache, but also she‘s a very passionate advocate for the mystery genre.
2. Not specifically. Maybe I should start doing that?
3. I‘m grateful for all of the Alphabet books. The series was my “gateway” to mysteries back in the day, and that‘s enriched my reading life greatly ever since.
#sundayfunday

Finished The Mothers. I think I liked it better than The Vanishing Half.

I should finish Despacito and Winter Counts soon. The other two are interesting but long and depressing in different ways.

This week I had book club meetings for The Mothers and The Widows of Malabar Hill. Both generated good talks. I also spent some time planning my reading for the next few months and organizing my library tags accordingly.

#bookreport
#weeklyforecast

What can be more #cozy than a baking dog? #gratefulharvest

1. No, I‘m not a fan of unreliable narrators.
2. I have a Lord of the Rings t-shirt that says on the back: Look if you must, but don‘t touch my precious!
3. Just one favorite? In light of next year‘s #authoramonth choices, I chose a book from March‘s author. The first book stands alone BUT you‘ll probably want to read the sequel immediately to find out what happens. #thoughtfulthursday

Here‘s a #yellow rose at the same park. #gratefulharvest

1. Many of my recent photos are for Litsy! However, this is a “regular” photo I took at a local park a couple weeks ago.
2. Short answer: I found a #littlefreelibrary in an unexpected place. Long answer in comments.
3. I‘m grateful that my friend has returned from visiting her in-laws, and now we can start planning things to do on weekdays.
#wondrouswednesday

1. I‘m way behind on my Goodreads goal, but I completed one of my tasks to get caught up with Inspector Gamache.
2. Enough books to meet my goal!
#two4tuesday

One of my favorites! #orange #gratefulharvest

1. I‘m part of six book clubs.
2. Something with a “meaty” story, such as the tagged book. Maybe a little bit speculative too.
3. Discussions are more interesting when not everyone loves the book. HOWEVER, telling everyone at 6:59 that you hated the book when the meeting starts at 7:00…is not helpful.

#sundayfunday

One book finished this week!

I‘m about to go to a “beer and books” event in the country, but first my#bookreport #weeklyforecast #NovelNovember thoughts/plans.

Finished The Widows of Malabar Hill. It‘s good! Interesting mystery mixed with the MC‘s back story and historical/social commentary.

The rest are in various stages of completion. 😎

For the readathon I‘d like to complete six books but will more likely complete three.

📖 Tagged!
🍁Listening to Latin music while I read
📚”Someone was screaming. They realized it was them.” Also, not answering a crucial phone call just to amp up the plot tension.

Thanks for the tag!

#thoughtfulthursday

1. If I can‘t go hang out at Rivendell, I‘ll settle for a nice B&B in one of the nooks and crannies of Shetland.
2. A beautiful sunny day!
#wondrouswednesday

If nothing else, working from home provided an excuse to clean off the dining room #table once and for all. Now it‘s my personal work space for whatever it is that I‘m doing. #gratefulharvest

Thanks for the tags! Double tagged is double blessed. 😊

1. I need to visit this local bookstore and/or the other branch in DC. Also, Powell‘s, Strand, any store in Wigtown…
2. Kind of. I have a tag in Goodreads for books that aren‘t in the library, and I might consult that. Usually, though, I just make a beeline for the mystery section and see what happens from there.
#two4tuesday

I‘m starting to think that the slot of mystery book club coordinator at the library is their equivalent of the DADA professor at Hogwarts. Not that bad things happen to them, but nobody seems to stay in the position very long. I started attending regularly in September 2016, there have been five coordinators.

The latest one left to become…a flight attendant. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Not that there‘s anything wrong with that, but it seems like a 180 career turn!

#giving #gratefulharvest

1. This one is a little bittersweet due to the outcome of the case…
2. It‘s the only season with its own scent.
3. So autumnal it‘s ridiculous.
#sundayfunday

My afternoon plans kind of got derailed, but tomorrow is another day! Meanwhile, this week‘s progress on the bingo board is that I DNF‘d a book. #bookspin

Hubby wanted to take drive to look at 🍁so we‘re on the road today. I brought Widows along to read.

I finished The Guide just in time for October wrap up. As many have noted, it spoils The River, so read at your own risk.

I‘m officially bailing on Big Sky, especially since I can‘t go to the book club meeting anyway.

I just started Despacito, and it‘s interesting so far.

I‘m about 1/3 through The Angel‘s Game.

#weeklyforecast
#bookreport

I didn‘t enjoy this as much as other book club members did - I found Flavia to be a bit much! - but it does mention #pie at least in passing.
#gratefulharvest

From one of my favorite B-52s songs:
There‘s a #moon in the sky
It‘s called the moon

#gratefulharvest

Per my last post, the P&P glasses were for my sister for her birthday in mid October. For various reasons we couldn‘t get together until Monday, when we went to lunch after I fulfilled my final out-processing task at the office.

She said she has a book of Austen inspired cocktail recipes for which they‘d be perfect! (The tea was for me.)

#Pemberlittens

1. October was busy and memorable. I‘m still recovering from September‘s surgery, and in the midst of that I retired from my job!
2. Although I‘m still going to PT twice a week, I‘m most looking forward to having some unstructured time this month to let myself “air out” a bit.
3. I‘m grateful I was finally able to deliver my sister her birthday gift, and she loved it.
#thoughtfulthursday

Of course I‘m using this for the #startswithN prompt! When I bought this, I didn‘t think it would bother me that it was in small hardback format while the rest of her hardbacks in my collection are standard format. It turns out that it bothered me! So I took it to a book swap and exchanged it for something else.

Long story short, I don‘t have the book anymore. Other than Z that will never happen 😢 I have all the rest. #gratefulharvest

My drawing ability is so limited, I can‘t even draw the Puerto Rican flag in the right square! Nevertheless, I‘m happy to have a reason to break out the colored pencils to embellish my also handmade #bookspinbingo board.
#brown #gratefulharvest

1. I adored the Curious George books.
2. Any weather that allows me to sit on the patio.
3. Today I‘m especially grateful for headphones.
#wondrouswednesday

Another tree visible from the patio, and I can see the #leaves when I‘m inside sitting on the couch. #GratefulHarvest

1. Suspenseful-ish. Two thrillers and a YA/MG ghost hunter trilogy.
2. Tagged book is scheduled to be published next week!
#two4tuesday

First of all, thanks to everyone who wished me well with retirement. Too many to track!

As I embark on a new chapter, I‘m keeping my #bfc21 goals pretty simple this month. I‘d like to read at least ten books and start walking again if the surgeon says it‘s okay.

I finished one more book for October just under the wire! Interesting story that‘s a follow up to The River. Tension builds as the MC realizes that things aren‘t quite right at the mountain fishing/hunting lodge where he‘s working, then suddenly it goes full-on action movie!

Favorite this month was the Cassidy Blake trilogy, especially City of Ghosts.

#wrapup

Not much reading done, but it was a busy week!
-Got an award from work and did a tiny reorg to give it a home on the bookshelves
-Started CRZ book for November #authoramonth and am loving the reading by Dan Stevens
-Will return Black and Blue for now but hope to pick it up again later
-Big Sky is a repeat selection for the library‘s mystery book club (more 🔽)
-I might finish The Guide tomorrow while the guys watch 🏈
#weeklyforecast
#bookreport

So today was my last day in the office. I closed my farewell message to my coworkers with the title of this book! 😜

Meanwhile on Wednesday during the ceremony I received an award from the organization, in the form of this globe thingy. It‘s the size of a bocce ball and just about as heavy.

I‘m mostly done with retirement tasks and should soon be ready to jump into my reading life and My Reading Life with gusto next month. Not just #bookspin but #bookspinbingo too! In addition to book club selections and other “assigned” reading, I‘m going to concentrate on newer nonfiction (2016 or later) that‘s on my shelves or my TBR.

& means I‘ve requested it
* means I have it

📚After PT yesterday I took a long drive and listened to about 15% (!) of the tagged book to get a jump on November #authoramonth
📆Getting together with friends to eat and watch 🏈
🙏Retirement ceremony today. I can‘t change my mind now!
#wondrouswednesday

📚After PT yesterday I took a long drive and listened to about 15% (!) of the tagged book to get a jump on November #authoramonth
📆Getting together with friends to eat and watch 🏈
🙏Retirement ceremony today. I can‘t change my mind now!
#wondrouswednesday

I got together with a friend of mine for lunch and a visit to an art exhibit. Little did I know we‘d find ourselves watching a Halloween parade! #haunted #wildcard

I finished Bridge of Souls and read a little more of The Guide.

The bottom row is book club selections for which I have varying levels of enthusiasm and ability to attend the meetings. I already bailed (again) on Lady in the Lake and will probably return 80$ Champion unread. Nothing wrong with it-just still have the brain space issue. Just one more week of work stuff, and then we‘ll see what happens!

#weeklyforecast
#bookreport

I‘d be perfectly happy if Victoria Schwab kept sending her characters to haunted places for more adventures (think of the fun they‘d have in Gettysburg!), but if the series had to end this was a nice send off.

Goals met for #OutstandingOctober and anything else is just lagniappe. Bonus: three books read for #authoramonth

📒 I used to do LJ. Now I have two spiral notebooks, one for reading and one for everything else.
📆 October hasn‘t been a great reading month because of too much work stuff taking up space in my brain.
🙏 After next week, no more work stuff on the brain!
#wondrouswednesday

RIP 😢

Work stuff and medical stuff are still taking up too much of my brain space lately, but Cassidy Blake is doing wonders for my reading life. Two books down and the last one on hold.

I‘m about 1/3 through The Guide, and that‘s an acceptable pace for this vaguely menacing story. The jury‘s still out on this go-round with Lady on the Lake.

Another busy week ahead, but it should be a “normal” kind of busy.

#bookreport
#weeklyforecast

Did I spend the afternoon reading this book? Why yes, yes I did. #authoramonth

What a fun book! Fast paced and engaging enough to keep my attention while I had a lot of distractions. The Edinburgh setting didn‘t hurt either!

In fact, I‘m blowing up whatever plans I may have had for the #OutstandingOctober readathon in order to continue with the series. I‘m off to the library to pick up the next book!

#authoramonth