Finished LOVE, LUCY

 

I was young when I Love Lucy was on tv.  I think it's last season was when I was 12, so I remember watching with my family and laughing at her hijinks.  Unfortunately, the humor is more appreciated now...then I was often embarrassed by what she was about to do and cringed while watching.  This book starts with her birth and family and is full of stories through her divorce from Desi and subsequent marriage.  Not once in this book is there a derogatory word against anyone.  Everything about Desi and everyone in her life was positive.  I loved it.  Here was a gracious lady being even better than I'd remembered.

I am now about to start book 2 in the Outlander series, Dragonfly in Amber.  I will start it tonight.

Finished DOWN IN NEW ORLEANS

 

A romance/mystery by Heather Graham with no ghosts...is just not as much fun as her Krewe of Hunters novels.  For some time I've been troubled by the new quirk of a large number of villains/ murderers.  For the sake of surprise, modern mystery writers are just scrapping realism.  However, the novel was readable and engaging.

I have now started Love, Lucy, Lucille Ball's autobiography.  So far, I've read about her childhood, growing up in western New York (not far from where I grew up, though I was a generation later.)  Her style is matter-of-fact and, of course, as one would imagine, quite readable.

Read another 50 pages or so of JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR. NORRELL

 

As I continue in this book, more magical events and people are appearing around London.  Though the people find it diverting, they are also learning how unpredictable it is.

I have now started Down in New Orleans by Heather Graham.  I have been following her Krewe of Hunters book and this romance somehow slipped in.  But it is, of course, also a mystery, so I am on board.  This is not what the cover of the book I am reading looks like, but I couldn't find mine on Goodreads.

Finished THE NICKEL BOYS

Historical novels are wonderful, first because they are a somewhat painless way to learn history.  My history classroom in school was a text with lists of names and dates to memorize.  A good, well researched historical novel can present the reader with well developed characters and then show how history effected them.  Of course, a novel doesn't have to stick strictly to history, as this author showed us in The Underground Railroad.  The Nickel School did not exist and this story is based on a reformatory located in Marianna, FL, a town which appears as you are driving through (which I have a number of times) to be a lovely quiet little rural town.  Read for the history, read for the characters, read for the horror and the twist, but, mostly, read for Colson Whitehead's storytelling..

 I will now return to  Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell for another 50 or so pages.

Finished THE BONE LABYRINTH

 

I find it very difficult to explain books by this author.  I have finally decided they are realistic science fiction.  They are only a little outside Robin Cook's books which could actually be happening while I am reading them.  James Rollins ends his books with an explanation of the scientific, archeological, and geographic features in this book are actually real, showing that no matter how outlandish the story seemed, it could actually happen...possibly.  Yikes!  I can't tell you how very much I love these Sigma Force novels of his.

I have now just barely started The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead.  The Nickel School in Florida was a place to send juvenile delinquents.  It has a cemetery in it which is in the process of being excavated in hopes of identifying the bodies and giving families some degree of closure.  This novel tells the story of one of the boys sent there.

Finished A SEARING WIND

Knowing how the real story of European conquest of our country continues rather pulls the rug out of the satisfaction of this story, but nonetheless, I heartily recommend the entire series.  Great characters, great action, brilliant setting (love Florida), a cautionary tale.  Loved it.

I have now started The Bone Labyrinth, another Sigma Force novel by James Rollins.  These are adventure tales that include history, science, military, globe jumping and ACTION.  At this point in the story, we have murders, kidnappings, historical/ archeological mysteries, and genetic science.  We have action going on in three cities on three continents.  Whew...

Finished I HEARD THAT SONG BEFORE

 

Another book that I could not put down after the half-way point.  I knew it was going to work out (because Clark's books always do), but I my guess as to who was only half right.

I have now started A Searing Wind, Book #3 of the Contact series.  It picks up immediately after Fire the Sky with Black Shell and Pearl Hand picking through the remains of Mabila, which has been almost totally demolished along with the native American forces who fought there.  De Soto's army has also been gravely reduced and his provisions are gone.  But, arrogantly he proceeds to push north into what is now Mississippi with our protagonists following closely.