Finished FEVRE DREAM

 

Wow.  I had no idea George R. R. Martin wrote horror stories.  This had me full of foreboding through the first half and then on the edge of my seat for the last.  Whew.  What an adventure.  Loved it.

I am now starting Serpentine by Laurell K Hamilton, Anita Blake #26.  Have I really read 25 books in this series?  I do enjoy the series, but the size of the books has gotten so large in the last book and this one, that I can hardly see the tiny print.  Luckily I have an eye appointment coming up this week.  Both Anita and Micah have found something they have never seen before which grotesquely disturbing and very sad....

Finished THIS TIME TOGETHER

 

It appears, according to Goodreads, that I have read this before--about 5 years ago.  I remembered none of it and laughed often and loudly.  I believe my review of 5 years ago is as accurate today as it was then.

I have now started Fevre Dream by George RR Martin (of Game of Thrones fame).  Captain Marsh, formally an owner of six river boats plying trade on the Mississippi in the mid-1850s has had 5 of those boats destroyed by weather, when he receives a letter from a Mr. Joshua York who wants to buy a 50% interest in Captain Marsh's fleet at an enormous sum.  This is puzzling, but makes our hero curious.

Finished THE FORGOTTEN

 

This book was a bit different from others in the series as the female protagonist did not join the Krewe, but she was made the offer.  Though I have only been through Miami (on my way to Key West and back), I enjoyed the description of neighborhoods as well as the ocean mammal protection site where she worked as well as the interaction with dolphins.  Another good, if formulaic, story from Heather Graham.

I have now started THIS TIME TOGETHER, LAUGHTER AND REFLECTION, by Carol Burnett and have already laughed out loud several times.  This promises to be a really good one.  It looks like I read this about 5 years ago, but I have no memory of it, so I get to enjoy it all over again.

Finished ALEXANDER HAMILTON

 

The book is very informative, well researched and highly notated, but quite readable.  At times it seemed pedantic, but for the most part, included the bad as well as the good keeping it interesting.  And I was very surprised, I was able to explain some things to friends during political discussions (origins of the two major trains of thought in our politics) as answer a bunch of Jeopardy questions I otherwise would not have had a clue about.

Excellent!

I have now begun The Forgotten by Heather Graham, a Krewe of Hunters book.  Two murders have taken place in the outskirts of Miami's drug underworld that are surrounded by rumors of supernatural involvement.  Of course, this will bring in the FBI elite team especially able to get to the bottom of such things.

Finished HARVEST SEASON

 

Melinda's life is up in the air.  She has been taking care of the farm and working at her uncle's hardware store.  But Horace is moving back into the farm, her friend Susan is doing her best to get Melinda a job at the company Susan works for, and her uncle will return to the store as soon as he is well.  This new life was always meant to be temporary.  How are things going to work out?

I enjoyed the story...it is calm, thoughtful, peaceful, but, surprisingly not uninteresting.  My parents moved out to a farm they had purchased after I went to college.  I spent three years there and abouts while getting my master's degree...one full year living there and the two others near enough to see them a lot.  Ours was an orchard farm, but we had vegetables, pigs, a cow, and chickens, so this triggers memories and nostalgia in me.

I am now starting the last section of Alexander Hamilton.  This started with the preparation for the duel and the duel itself.  I am now reading about its aftermath, the funeral, reactions in New York and the U. S., and Aaron Burr's life afterward.

Finished CAPTAIN'S MEMORIES

 

Perhaps as much as a thousand years after the annihilation of all technology on Earth as well as much of much of the population by the nova of Betelgeuse, the Earth is expanding to terraform Mars, the moon, and also asteroids they have moved into Earth orbit from the asteroid belt.  Captain Susan Pearce has spent most of her life working on this effort and now is teaching new cadets in the use of ships to manipulate those asteroids as the project continues.  Using that format, many of Henry Melton's stories are strung loosely together which show us how this was done and how it is impacting lives.  Fascinating.  The technology explanations are beyond me often, but the substance is highly readable.

I have now started Harvest Season by Melanie Lageschulte.  After being fired from her big city job as a consultant in an advertising firm, Melinda's mom has asked her to come and help run her uncle's store in the small town in Prosper after his heart attack.  She finds a farm she can take care of in the owner's absence for very low rent and has spent the summer in the hamlet of Prosper, Minnesota.  Now autumn is coming on, and her life is still very much up in the air with her uncle and the farm owner slated to return sometime soon.  In the meantime the small town prepares for winter and so does Melinda.

Finished MOON HUNT

 

This is the third of four books in the Cahokia series.  I have now read them all, but accidently read the last two out of order.  As in most series novels, they can all be read alone...each has a separate adventure--only the setting and some of the characters continue.  I have enjoyed all of the books by these authors.  This one was more steeped in superstition (religion to them) than the others, but I love this kind of thing.  I also love the characters and character interaction and in these books, setting is practically another character.

I have now begun a book of short stories by Henry Melton.  Though they are short stories, they are about the same subject--his Project Saga which started with Star Time.  This book is set maybe several hundred years after the apocalypse caused by Betelgeuse going nova.  Since that time, Earth has evolved into several kingdoms which developed a world court.  They are now terraforming several asteroids which they have moved into Earth orbit as habitats for a growing population.  At it's beginning, the world court is meeting at a space station orbiting the Earth.  Two of their children are exploring and are in the observation arm when that arm suddenly breaks off and begins to drift away.