2015 Snagged @ The Library Challenge discussion

Ready for July? I am :)

This morning, I finished James Patterson's "14th Deadly Sin", my first book of July. Another engaging installment in the Women's Murder Club series. This one does leave you hanging though, so for those of you who don't like cliffhangers, this one does leave you begging for more and you'll have to wait until next year for the next book! In this one, Lindsay Boxer has a handful of cases going at one time. She is supposed to be working full-time on a bad-cop case, but she and her husband, Joe, start working a hunch. They find 5 seemingly unrelated murders, 1 per year, all of them happening on her friend, Clare's birthday. Mistakes are made, but things are made right in the end. But then there's that tease about the next book in the end. Enjoyable and fast read!

Checked out the audiobook of Bossypants (by Tina Fey) to listen to while my eyes recovered after an ophthalmologist appointment. As somebody who rarely listens to audiobooks (this was my third audiobook ever) this was an excellent choice. It's only 5-6 hours long and Tina Fey is the narrator. I quite enjoyed it.

Snagged a book from the Kindle Lending Owner's Library while I was waiting for my hard copies at the local library to come available. I enjoy these little novels from Max Allan Collins. The Lusitania Murders was one of his better offerings. Quick, enjoyable read.

Snagged another little serial before I made it to the library to pick up my hard copies. This is such a cute little series! I love it! Fatal addiction by Ace Collins is the 4th in a great line of serials. But be sure to read the first book where the lead character appears--The Yellow Packard. It is wonderful.

Just finished A Wind in the Door by Madaliene L'Engle. It's the sequel to the classic A Wrinkle in Time. What a great series! How did I miss reading these until I got to be middle-aged? Read this one in less than 24 hours.

Also read Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1: Unmanned today. If you're into graphic novels, and if you like Stephen King type stories, you'd like this. Can't wait to snag the next 2-3 installments from the library!

This morning, I finished "The Secrets of Midwives" by Sally Hepworth. I wasn't sure how I felt about this book. At one point I designated it dnf (did not finish) and removed it from my reading list, but I kept reading other reviews, everyone else seemed to love it, so since it was not yet due back at the library, I brought it back out and continued to read where I left off. I did finish it and I liked parts of it, but not others. I was really interested in the grandmother's story (Floss). The book is set up in rotating chapters written from the point of view of the 3 main characters, Floss (the grandmother), Grace (Floss's daughter), and Neva (Grace's daughter), all 3 of whom are midwives. To me, Floss's story was the most intriguing and the most interesting. She was a midwife during the war in England. Whenever the author would go on to Grace and Neva, I couldn't wait to get back to Floss. Grace, I really didn't like to begin with, all up in her daughter's business, although the side story of one of the doctor's making a complaint against her rang true. Having worked in a hospital, there are always a few doctors with the attitude that nurses and midwives, anyone who is not a doctor are just not important and incapable of making important decisions about a patient's care. Neva's story read too much like a Harlequin romance. Other than that, I ended up enjoying the story enough to finish the book, but it was mainly Floss's story that kept me reading.

Angel wrote: "Just finished A Wind in the Door by Madaliene L'Engle. It's the sequel to the classic A Wrinkle in Time. What a great series! How did I miss reading these until I got t..."

Angel, I never read these books either, in fact there are a lot of books like the Oz books, Anne of Green Gables, etc, that I have never read, maybe now at 58 I might find a few hours to spend with some of these classics. Although I read constantly, my reading was more Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, and Nurses Ames and Barton, than Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn! Good to know that the Madaliene L'Engle books truly are good from an adult's viewpoint. Thanks./bj

Over the weekend I finished listening to Grey by E.L. James. There was a bit of a cliffhanger, and I'm told it's how the other book ended, but it's been so long and so many books ago I seriously don't remember! With the way this ended I can see her writing more from his side. Will I read them? If like this one and previous three in the series I can get them in audio from the library probably. While not the best books in the world, I've listend/read things I don't like even more, so it's a pleasant enough way to spend some time in my car!

I just had my third "did not finish" of the year and it was snagged at the library (so, yay, for not having purchased something I didn't enjoy). I got halfway through the audiobook and just couldn't take it anymore.

As a biologist, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks seems like a book I should have enjoyed or at least found interesting. Unfortunately, the story seems to be more about the author's journey in writing the book than it is about Henrietta and the HeLa cells generated from her body. Add in (what is coming to be known as) "poverty porn" and detailed descriptions of the sexual abuse of her daughter after Henrietta's death and I'm out. Perhaps if I had read the book (instead of listening to the audio), I might have skimmed over these parts, but since I listened to the audiobook it was all right there, front and center.

It's amazing how much reading you can get done when you get stuck at home for a week with a virus. I've been consuming books like there's no tomorrow. I just finished one of the best conspiracy thrillers I've ever read! Brad Meltzer's The Inner Circle has an archivist for a hero--guy works in the National Archives in D.C. (It's a little National Treasure without all the fancy travel or Nick Cage.) This guy makes Dan Brown look like an amateur. If you enjoy conspiracy thrillers, I'd recommend this one. Can't wait to snag the next one in the series!

Just finished Kerry Greenwood's "Forbidden Fruit." I love these books! Unfortunately, there is only 1 book left in this 6 book series. In this installment, it is Christmastime in Melbourne and it's a hot and windy summer. Corinna would rather ignore Christmas and the irritating Christmas carols. She and Daniel are working a case involving a pregnant teen runaway, madrigal singers, a gypsy out to avenge his brother's death, a crazy cult, vegans, freegans, and a runaway donkey! As always, there is lots of baking and good food among the inhabitants of the Insula Apartments. The characters are quirky and interesting and I love the way they all meld together and the friendships they have. Very enjoyable read.

Yesterday, I finished Laura Lippman's "By a Spider's Thread" one of the Tess Monaghan series, set in Baltimore. I read it for my Finishing the Series Challenge, but I got it from the library, so I'm counting it for this one too! Am remembering what I liked about this series, a strong female lead with just enough vulnerabilities to make you like her. She's not perfect, and that's a good thing. In this installment, she is without her boyfriend, Crowe. He has gone home to Charlottesville, Virginia to be with his mom who has cancer, after she turns down his marriage proposal. She is still recovering from her last case in which she killed a man, almost getting killed herself, and helping her Aunt Kate prepare for her wedding. This case involves 3 children who have been taken by their mother from their father. Mother and children are "on the road." Father hires Tess to find them. Father is Orthodox Jew, rich, and tends not to tell Tess everything she needs to know and tends not to believe the things she does find out. Makes for an interesting read.

Today I finished listening to Saving Grace by Jane Green. I'm leaving town on Wednesday. so I'm not going to start another audio until I get back.

Sandi

Just finished "The Silenced" by Heather Graham. Another solid entry in the Krewe of Hunters series. This time all the action is in the mid-Atlantic seaboard, D.C, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania and all the historic sites in these states. Meg is a newly minted FBI agent having just graduated the academy and her best friend, a member of a congressman's staff, is missing. At the same time a serial killer is on the loose. Her friend, Lara, fits the killer's type and Meg's first position will be with the Krewe who are investigating the serial killer case. Meg is assigned to work with Matt, a 10-year veteran of the FBI. Sparks fly. Enjoyable read.

There are just some books or series that I enjoy reading without rhyme or reason, the Stone Barrington series by Stuart Woods is one of those. I look forward to every installment with eagerness. The newest one, "Naked Greed" was no different. I finished it early this a.m. There are those who say it is time for the author to stop writing this series, that they are formulaic, same old, same old. I say, no! For me, it may never be time to "do away" with Stone. I may not always like him but I enjoy him, he's a little James Bond-ish, suave, debonair, a definite ladies man and I like his band of other recurring characters, his friends. There is something to be said for enjoyment! It may not be literary greatness, but there is still something to be said for books that are quick, light, easy reads with enjoyable, if perhaps unbelievable plots. Long live Stone Barrington!

I just finished my 50TH library book for the year!!! Whoohooo!!!
And it was a pretty good one, too. Farraday Road was Ace Collins' first novel, so it isn't his best, but it's still very good. An enjoyable read. And it's set in the Ozarks where I grew up, so that's fun. It was a great choice for hitting my landmark 50th book. ;-)

Finished "The Cake Therapist" by Judith Fertig today before my work shift started. I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book, everything I saw about it made it sound so good. I thought it would be a perfect read for my Foodie reads challenge. The main character, Neely, leaves her football player husband in New York to go home to Ohio to open her dream bakery. There she encounters some old friends from high school. Neely is intuitive about people and sees them as flavors. If she can get their stories, she can intuit what type of cake would be best for their wedding, party, etc. Its an interesting premise but beyond being intrigued by her special "gift," I didn't get sucked into the story. There is also another story that starts before Pearl Harbor and the author goes back and forth between the present and the past. I think part of the problem was that I kept waiting for something to happen and nothing really ever did. There was just no excitement in this book. The characters were boring. I wanted to see how everything worked out, the problem was, everything didn't work out, there really was no ending because there is going to be another book following the same characters. I expect this when I read Alex Cross, Lucas Davenport, etc. series, it's not unusual to have a cliff hanger, but I wasn't expecting a series ending here and there was no cliffhanger, just a period, it was over. Just wasn't a satisfying read for me. I'm not sure I care enough about the characters to read a second book about them, even to find out how it all turns out!

I'm off work for a few days, so of course this morning I went to the library to pick up a few holds and a few other books. Came home and started reading "In Plain Sight" by Fern Michaels. As always, I enjoyed another visit with the sisterhood. This episode involves Pearl's underground system for the domestically battered and a very rich man who is related to and has the ear of POTUS. Love it when money doesn't get you a free pass and you have to pay for what you did wrong!

Finished "A New Hope" by Robyn Carr, Thunder Point #8 today. Although I enjoyed catching up with some of the inhabitants of Thunder Point, this romance was just a little too "sweet" for me. In spite of Matt and Ginger's past baggage, I didn't really find this couple interesting. I'm not sure what it is, but this series just isn't as enjoyable or as engrossing for me as the author's other series, Virgin River.

This morning I finished "V is for Vengeance" by Sue Grafton, one of the Kinsey Millhone alphabet series. One more before the newest comes out next month! This one was a little slow to get into for me, but once I did, I enjoyed it. Kinsey gets caught up with a friendly ex-con, a bad cop from her past, shoplifting, a non-suicide, a shoplifting ring run by a kindly, almost mafia don. This book had a lot going on until the end, when it was all tied together. Enjoyable read.

Just finished Y: The Last Man, Vol. 2: Cycles by Brian K Vaughn and A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle. Read both in about 2 days. Very different, both fascinating!

This morning I finished "The Summer of Good Intentions" by Wendy Francis. This book is my second-favorite type of story, the story of a family. Arthur, his ex-wife Gloria, their daughters, Maggie, Jess and Virgie, Maggie and Jess's husbands and children and the summer house that they own at the Cape. This book basically covers one July and August in their lives and certainly a lot happens in these 2 months: A marriage that teeters on the edge, a life-altering medical diagnosis, a wish for another child. This story is about beginnings and endings and always, family. A very enjoyable read. Will look for other books by this author.

Couldn't sleep last night/this morning and so I read Y: The Last Man, Vol. 3: One Small Step by Brian K Vaughn in one sitting. Am seriously enjoying this graphic novel series!