Bookish Nostalgia - December 2015

I know we are right at the end of the month, but let's go ahead and do this Bookish Nostalgia anyway.  Plus it will give me a chance to get my blog post writing legs under me again.  So to speak.  And it's also cold and windy outside.  My cough is better, but there's no sense in making things worse by heading out into the cedar pollen that my area is full of.  Oh yes, we were doing a nostalgia post.  For Decembers of the last 20 years, here's what I was reading:

December 1995 - Killer Pancake by Diane Mott Davidson - This is the 5th book in Davidson's Goldy Schulz, caterer deluxe, series.  In this episode, Goldy is catering a banquet for a cosmetics company.  The only problem is that there are animal rights activists protesting and soon, one of the cosmetics employees is dead.  Goldy, who was supposed to be providing low-fat and also delicious delights, finds herself in the middle of the investigation.  Have you ever read any of Diane Mott Davidson's mysteries?  There are 17 of them, but not one published since 2013.  I believe that this author might have been one of the first to include recipes along with her mystery stories.  When the initial book was published in 1990 (25 years now), I thought that was the most clever thing.  Still do and I always meant to try some of the recipes.  Recently, Ms. Davidson released a new book, which is a cookbook, that I want to read - Goldy's Kitchen Cookbook: Cooking, Writing, Family, Life.  Sounds like fun.

December 2000 - Death Comes As Epiphany by Sharan Newman - This is the 1st book in author Newman's Catherine LeVendeur series - which has 10 books.  Last series entry was published in 2004.  I remember really loving this book, but sadly did not continue reading the series.  I must remedy that.  Catherine LeVendeur is a scholar in 12th century France.  She comes to stay in a convent to consider her sin of pride.  She is then sent on a mission by the Abbess Heloise (yes, that Heloise).  The convent's reputation is at stake, along with the Abbess' and Catherine finds adventure on her quest.  Newman is herself a medieval scholar and this series might compare well with the Cadfael books.

December 2005 - The Quilter's Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini - This is a favorite book of mine that I have read more than once in the last 10 years.  Chiaverini has written many books using quilts and the Elm Creek Quilting group to tell tales and this is the first.  I think she might have finished this series, but she has now turned her attention to mostly historical fiction, which I suspect also contain quilt lore and needlework as part of her storylines.  In Quilter's Apprentice, we first meet Sarah McClure and an older lady who comes to be her mentor, Sylvia Compson.  I love this series and may think about rereading it this next year.  Each book has a bit of a mystery, a lot of drama, and usually relates events from the past through quilting.

December 2010 - Blood Memory by Greg Iles - This is a stand alone book by Iles, though a couple of characters show up in other books.  Cat Ferry is a forensic odontologist and very well thought of.  She has a panic attack at the scene of a crime in New Orleans and goes home to Mississippi to rest.  No rest for the weary or panic stricken though.  What she finds are secrets from her family's past and Greg Iles, being the master Southern storyteller that he is, well, things get complicated.  As is usual for me with this author, I loved it.  I'm not sure he can write a bad book, in my opinion anyway.  The South is full of creepy when you visit it with Greg Iles.

Well, that's it for this edition of Bookish Nostalgia.  As this feature continues in January, our years will move forward as well to 1996-2011.  Looking forward to revisiting my old notebooks to see what I might find.  See you in a week or so for the January 2016 Bookish Nostalgia.