Category Archives: 2023 Fiction

I was attracted to this one because it has a nifty title and it’s a nominee for the  Barry Awards First Novel Award – 2018,  so it showed up on the 4-Mystery Addicts list.  It looked appealing from the title and … Continue reading →

The attraction here was that this was a historical novel of India as well as a crime novel.  I’m not big on the women detectives of Victorian London but …  maybe India? It was standard fare with a hint of … Continue reading →

Oh my –  what a magical mystical story –  typical of Smith in so many ways,  original in others.   The second in her Seasonal Quartet (the first was Autumn which I read a few months ago),  and she just … Continue reading →

Krueger is not my usual cuppa,  but the publisher hype and reader reviews hooked me because I am interested in border problems,  both drugs and immigrants.  So,  the outcome was mixed –  I enjoyed the setting,  plot and “themes” but … Continue reading →

From shortly after I finished reading Sarah Bakewell’s  How To Live,  a biography of  the 16th century philosopher Michel de Montaigne,  I started seeing Montaigne in Barn Boots on Audible and it intrigued me.   Michael Perry is a Wisconsin farmer  and … Continue reading →

Very slow moving book – read because it was the 4-Mystery Addicts selection for the second half of January.  I was not impressed for the first half of the book but then it kind of started making more sense to … Continue reading →

For some reason I’d never read this book although it seems I’ve heard of it forever.   So it was on sale at Audible and I snapped it up.   Then I waited for my next break in scheduled reading … Continue reading →

Sometime in the mid-to-late 1990s,  Sean Phillips, our 1st person protagonist.  is a man of early middle age (?) who is severely disfigured, handicapped,  having been shot in the face many years prior.  The reconstruction is not perfect – his face is … Continue reading →

This is a reread from when I first read it years ago –  1990s?   I remember it as being a really good book with thematic as well as character subtleties.  This is the first of Ishiguro’s works I read … Continue reading →

Oh I was so in the mood for something light and fun – a wee tad heartwarming maybe, but not super mushy or romantic.  I found it – and it was the next book up (Jan, 2018) on the discussion … Continue reading →

Oh my –  I really disliked this book and just about every character in it until about 2/3rds of the way through when something actually happens – kind of.   Until then it’s just too meaningless and basically silly,  imo. … Continue reading →

Ah,  the hype!   So I was really hot to read it right at first because I was so curious.  But then,  after thinking a bit,  I thought no,  I’ve had enough of the clown.   Then I changed and … Continue reading →

I’ve been reading Dave Robicheaux novels since some time in the early 1990s.  I could only get them piece-meal as they came available at my local small indie.   When I got online I was able to purchase the ones … Continue reading →

Resolution –  I’m going to keep some sale books around for reading when I really do NOT know what to read next.  That little decision was made on the basis of Some Danger Involved which I got on sale and … Continue reading →

I read this for the 4-MA Reading group (mysteries) discussion.  The story concerns a high school student’s death by peanut –  he’s deliberately poisoned.   I rarely read Young Adult books, but once in a great while one comes along … Continue reading →

This is a totally fabulous book – not for everyone,  I suppose,  but if you’re interested in the life and times,  the ideas (!),  of Michel de Montaigne,  the 16th century father of the essay,  it is pure-d terrific.  Bakewell … Continue reading →

Looking for something a bit different after reading The Seven Functions of Language,  I happened on an Audible 2-for-1 sale and got 4 books.   One of them was this book,  “Dead Mountain,” from the history section –  a true … Continue reading →