octogirl! Oh no! Horwitz’s new book, Spying on the South is sitting on my night table...waiting to be started!

I just finished Cemetery Road and loved it. I have enjoyed everything Greg Iles has written (and I love a thick book!). Not sure what I will read next but that’s part of the fun of retirement.

Just finished The Queen by Josh Levin. This is not about a British monarch! It is a non-fiction accounting of a woman in Chicago that defrauded the government through welfare and veterans money. She used numerous names and made many false claims to get the money. Ronald Reagan named her the “Welfare Queen” while running for President. It is an interesting look at the problems of welfare and how one bad individual took advantage of the system. Reading what and when I want to is definitely one of the perks of retirement

Finished a book about the history of immune therapy and how it relates to cancer. End of the Beginning;Cancer, Immunity and the history of a cure by Michael Kinch. The book goes into great detail about how various cancer treatments were discovered, trialed and brought to market. Interesting the part breeding mice plays as well as how many researcher died in the process of discovery.

Will start The Pioneers by David McCullough this weekend. Really looking forward to it. His books are informative and well written. So many books to read!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38589793-let-her-fly

Let Her Fly: A Father's Journey

by

Ziauddin Yousafzai,

Louise Carpenter

,

Malala Yousafzai (foreword)

A tiny book with a big and lasting message. This is the story of Malala Yousafzai’s beloved father...

been reading but every time I write up something about the book, my hand hits some mystery key and it all disappears before I am done. Will try again - in the moment- with last two books: The 3rd Kate Shackleton mystery by Frances Brody. Murder in the Afternoon. The books are set in the mid 1920's - Kate's husband was MIA in WW1 and she cannot accept that. She lives in the north of England and is an amateur photographer and has set her self up as a private investigator. This book has to do with the mysterious disappearance of a skilled mason, who was a labor organizer. I learned about the attitude of the powers that be, to the young men who returned from the war with hopes of a new England who were feared for their ideas COMMUNISM! and the fact that they had been trained in warfare. Well written and engrossing.

Also Jenny Colgan's The Bookshop on the Corner. First book of hers that I have read and was a bit skeptical because - another bookshop/library book where the owner/librarian solves your problems with the perfect book. But actually it was quite good, the protagonist loses her library job in the cutbacks in Birmingham and buys a used van in Scotland and eventually stays to convert it to mobile bookshop and travel around the countryside selling books - bought cheap as all the libraries offload their books to become "media centers". There is personal growth, a long haul freight train involved, an immigrant, a struggling family and of course love stories, but nothing explicit!! what I especially liked was that the pages were peppered with words that were unfamiliar to me! actual Scottish and English slang which I could guess the meaning of but have googled to be sure. So refreshing after the homogenized Fredrik Backman books - whose language gives no clue as to the country in which the story is set. I am actually surprised in retrospect that the key dispute in A Man Called Ove was not changed from Volvo v Saab to Ford v Chevy

Second the recommendation for Where the Crawdads Sing! Beautifully written. And yes, I am putting the author's non-fictions books on my list also!

I'm about 1/3 through Sand and Ash by Amy Harmon about a Jewish girl and Catholic boy in Italy prior to and during WWII under Mussolini. So far a compelling read that I anticipate will delve more deeply into love and honor in horrific times.

Love the photo Ruth. I just joined a book club and loving it.

Halfway through The Wartime Sisters by Lynda Cohen Loigman. It’s a good read. Haven’t looked through all the previous posts yet so not sure if anyone has listed this.

Happy reading all!

Ruth - that is fantastic. 21 years!!! Way to go.

mommy...i loved Stuart’s book! What a relationship. And that period of time! After reading the book, I had to go to Newport and see the “cottages” ....

ahhhh.....so you would definitely enjoy reading the books and seeing where they lived. I recall visiting Consuela’s childhood bedroom and wondering what went through her mind as a child.... her bedroom was 5 times the size of the bedroom that my sister and I shared...

Been in the Marble House and Astor’s “Beechwood” as a kid. They were the only two mansions in Newport that I have been in.

Finished the latest Joyce Carol Oates, My Life as a Rat. Her titles are a bit dark, but very well written. This book takes place in upstate New York. The youngest of a large Catholic family “tells on” her two older brothers implicating them in a murder of a young Black man. The brothers go to prison and the young girl is sent away. It is the definition of a dysfunctional family! Not an easy read by any means. Very engrossing though.

On to the next book

Thanks for re-activating this thread pat01. Where does the time go. I know we're all reading every day.

I just finished re-reading Margaret Atwood The Handmaid's Tale. Since I don't watch TV, I was able to do a reasonable comparison with the first time I read the book when it was published in the 1980s. Still as good as I remembered.