kay's week - 3.11.17

Did you know that tonight is the night to 'spring forward' into Daylight Savings Time (well, unless you live in Arizona or Hawaii or some US territories)?  Does it mess up your inner clock?  I think it does for me a bit, but not too horribly.  My husband is always delighted because this means that there is more daylight at the end of his work day and he can stop and hit golf balls or even play a few holes.  So remember, 'spring forward' tonight!


I've been reading...

I had a good reading week - 2 books in print and 1 on audio.  All were enjoyable.

I started with The Widow's House by Carol Goodman and I was pleased with it.  This book was published this week, but I had an advance copy.  I read Goodman's previous book River Road earlier in the year and liked it well enough, but her latest was full of Gothic goodies.  Set in the same area as the previous book, The Widow's House tells of a young couple, Jess and Clare, who move from New York City to be caretakers of Riven House, owned by their former college professor.  The house has a history of being haunted and the family is said to be cursed.  There are cries in the night, spooky apparitions, and the weather plays a big part in the story. The reader isn't sure if Clare, who is telling the tale, is quite right in her mind or if there are indeed supernatural goings-on.  I had a good time with this one and plan to read more of this author's books.

Meanwhile, I was listening to The Woman Who Walked Into the Sea by Mark Douglas-Home.  This is the 2nd in The Sea Detective series and it was narrated by David Monteath.  Set on the Northwest coast of Scotland, this book was lovely.  Cal McGill is an oceanographer and a unique investigator.  He studies sea currents and is able to predict where they might take anything that finds its way into the ocean.  This could be oil spills, other things dumped into the water or even a body.  In this book, Cal meets a young woman named Violet.  She has come to this area to discover what she can about her mother, Megan Bates, who abandoned Violet as an infant and then walked into the sea.  There is more going on in the small village of Poltown and secrets abound.  Someone or several someones have a vested interest in hiding what actually happened to Megan Bates.  I read the first book in this series last year and, though this one doesn't have a storyline that is as personal to Cal's life, I found it very interesting.  I look forward to trying the next in the series, The Malice of Waves, soon.

I was very happy to turn to another book that I've been looking forward to reading - Ink and Bone by Lisa Unger.  This is the latest in Unger's loosely connected series set in an upstate New York town, The Hollows.  And this continues the story of investigator Jones Cooper and renowned psychic Eloise Montgomery, who have helped many people find their 'lost' loved ones.  Ink and Bone introduces us to Finley Montgomery, Eloise's 20-year-old granddaughter, also gifted with the ability to see things that others can't.  A young girl, Abbey Gleason, has been taken from her family and her father and brother shot and left on a hiking trail.  Months pass with no clue as to what has happened.  Other girls have gone missing in the past and Finley finds herself connected to these tragedies in a way that her grandmother is not.  Is it time to pass the torch from Eloise to Finley?  Everyone that lives in this area knows - what The Hollows wants, it gets.  I've loved this series - part mystery, part supernatural, but not always in a way the reader expects.  As long as Lisa Unger keeps writing about The Hollows, I'll keep reading.


A little project...

I decided to start a little project this week that I'd been thinking about.  I've shared that I've kept notebooks with almost all my reading choices detailed since 1993 - 24 years now.  I used to have a spreadsheet that I was able to update, manipulate and sort, but when my computer hard drive died late last year, my spreadsheet was gone.  I thought about recreating it, but decided it was too much work.  However, I have had occasions to wish that I could check where I left off in a series or determine if I had indeed read a book that I was thinking of.  I had not joined Goodreads in the past, as it seemed like just one more 'social' thing to keep up with.  However, this week, I joined and have started marking all those books 'read' and 'date finished'.  It will take me a while, but I can do this at my leisure and it's been very interesting actually seeing the covers of the books I read in 1993, 1994, etc., and not just a column in a spreadsheet.  I've found that I didn't even remember some of the authors, much less the books.  Do you 'do' Goodreads?  I think I'll like being able to sort and check what I've read again.


Personally...

My husband returned from his trip to Arizona last week having sat next to a guy who coughed all the way back to Texas.  And, yes, it was a cold that gentleman shared and we both were 'lucky' enough to get it.  Happily, it hasn't lasted too long.  I was able to attend a 'Friends of the Library' meeting on Monday and take the picture below before I went inside.  I've shown this little sculpture before.  It's a great one.  The kids who come to the library for storytime love it and you can often find moms standing around visiting and kids sitting near and crawling all over it.  I think that the flowers are wisteria and I also believe it's blooming earlier than usual.  Love the purple!  Have a great week - wishing all lots of reading and relaxing!