What are you reading the week of April 24, 2021?

I've nearly finished the almost 200 pages of appendixes in The Landmark Xenophon's Hellinika. I'll be leaving the ancient Greek world for a while. I'm not ready to tackle The Landmark Herodotus right now.

Knocked off We are Legion this morning. For the rest of the week I have Swedish Bomber Colours, Surviving Genocide and The Army in Cromwellian England lined up.

Last week I finished both The Buried Giant and No Fond Return of Love, both very enjoyable books, 5* and 4* respectively. And on a long drive, I finally finished listening to Grant by Ron Cernow. The audiobook was helpful, adding both drama and clarity to this story of a complex life.

This week I am reading Shirley Ann Grau’s The House on Coliseum Street and a memoir by Julie Heifetz, As Far as the I Can See. I’m also listening to
Richard III, England’s Most Controversial King by Chris Skidmore.

I'm about 35 pages into The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee. McGhee is a very good writer and, at least in the books opening pages, seems to be writing with a determination to make clear our national situation on these issues, and with an underlying current of sadness about where we've come and how we've arrived here. We wife, who just finished reading the book, says that it ends with a chapter of hope.

finished Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz. enjoyed it.

next up is The Scarred Woman by Jussi Alder-Olsen.

Goodnight Moo – Molly Cox Bryan
2**

Book two in the Buttermilk Creek cozy mystery series, featuring artisanal cheese maker Brynn MacAlister, and her small dairy herd: Petunia, Marigold and Buttercup, and now Jewel, a shaggy Highland breed.

It’s summer and time for the county fair. Brynn and her assistant / protégé Wes are working hard to organize a cheese-making contest. And Brynn is also working with the local community group to get out information about products made and available in the Shenandoah Springs area. But the fair gets off to a rocky start when word reaches them that there’s been a tragic farm accident – a young farm worker has been killed. Within a couple of days, Wes, finds a body – another young farm worker who’s been shot. What on earth is happening in this peaceful, bucolic community?!

I really enjoyed the first book, but this one seemed to be all over the place as far as plot goes. Bryan includes more red herrings than necessary, and way too many twists and turns. At least one thread just disappears without mention.

Additionally, it’s incredibly repetitive. We are reminded on practically every page that Brynn has a concussion / has a headache / needs her pills / isn’t thinking straight / wants to get back to her cows, etc.

I plowed through because I wanted it for a challenge, but it really didn’t hold my attention. Not sure I’ll bother with book three, if it’s published.

On the plus side, I really do like several of the recipes included at the end. Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes and the Blueberry Breakfast Bread both sound delicious.

I finished my book club book and am happily back to reading Song of Susannah by Stephen King.

Enjoying this audiobook via hoopla ~

You Should Have Known:
Now on HBO as the Limited Series The Undoing
by Jean Hanff Korelitz

The Edible Woman
Margaret Atwood
4/5 stars
Set in the mid 1960’s, Marian McAlpin is engaged to a wonderful man and is set to get married but she has developed a problem. She can’t eat meat. She hides the problem from her friends and fiancé and starts to hang out with Duncan whom she met in a laundromat. Life is becoming unbearable for her as she has to face her future. Can she get over her fears or let them over take her? Atwood doesn’t disappoint in this story!

Finished The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg. Liked it. Added The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley to my rotation.

So right now I've got a stack of plays by my bed.
I'm a local hire actor with no work and rarely hired.
Building my repertoire.

Just finished:
Joe Turner's Come and Gone - August Wilson
Finishing up:
I Never Sang for My Father - Robert Anderson
An Ideal Husband - Oscar Wilde

Also jumping around in a stack of short story anthologies.

Just finished Rage. Unlike with his first Trump book, Woodward interviewed Trump several times for this one, but the subject still comes off as immature, capricious, and dangerously narcissistic.

Bounced back with what I had hoped would be a light read -- Smart Women by Judy Blume, but found it pretty bland. (And I don't know about you, but I wouldn't consider it "smart" to name one's daughter "Puffin".)

Am about to start Shaman's Daughter, with no expectations at all. It looks interesting, but I've been fooled before!

Finished listening to the very good Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie: The Extraordinary Story of The Founding Mothers of NPR .

Next up for listening is Tricky Twenty-Two by Janet Evanovitch.

I finished the book, Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams. The book explores the difficulties of people raised in the working class who via education live their adult life in the middle or upper class. My father, husband, and 2 bosses all would fit into that description and I it was interesting to identify many of the qualities described. My only complaint with the book is that it felt repetitious.

Finished listening to the delightful Tricky Twenty-Two.

Next up for listening is Hide and Seek by Ian Rankin.

Finished The Fall of Koli by M. R. Carey. Very good end to a very good trilogy.

Next up is Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells.

The Widow Queen by Elzbieta Cherezinska, English translation by Maya Zakrzewska-Pim
Story of Princess Swietoslawa of Poland who became a great Scandinavian Queen in the 10th century. This is the author's first novel to be published in English outside of her native Poland. If you read the author's afterward, there's a sequel! No date for that novel to be available in English translation from what I see in Amazon.

Just finished Shaman's Daughter, and I am bowled over by this beautifully-written novel about an Ojibwa woman's life. Hard to find, but worth it. (Try Abe Books.)

Not sure what I'll pick up next. I have two new LTER books to review, but I want to savor this one a bit longer.

Finished Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells. Another enjoyable Murderbot story by Wells.

Added Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo to my rotation.

The new thread is up over here.