Quick update - 9.21.19

I'm just going to write a quick update on my week.  It has been a busy one and my fall allergies have started.  Haven't felt completely wonderful, so I'll be brief.

  

I finished the 4th Rachel Prince book, Dying To Cruise, and enjoyed it.  I think the 5th in the series will be out in a few months and I'll watch for that.

I listened to In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware on audio - narrated by Imogen Church.  Always a fun listen.  It starts with:

In a dark, dark wood there was a dark, dark house;

And in the dark, dark house there was a dark, dark room;

And in the dark, dark room there was a dark, dark cupboard;

And in the dark, dark cupboard there was.....a skeleton!

Next on my finished list is Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle.  Another listen narrated by Bernadette Dunne - for our October mystery book group meeting.  What a weird book!  I look forward to the discussion

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Then I did a read/listen of Lisa Unger's The Whispering Hollows, a novella set in The Hollows and featuring Eloise Montgomery who shows up in several of this author's books.  Eloise is a psychic that never wanted to be a psychic, but these three stories tell us of her life over 30 years - the tragic loss of her older daughter and husband in the first, the realization that her 9-year-old granddaughter also has abilities in the second, and a sort of 'changing of the guard' between Eloise and Finley, the granddaughter, in the third.  I liked all The Hollows books, which are not exactly a series but loosely connected.

The last book I finished was Lissa Marie Redmond's third Cold Case Investigation book, A Means to An End.  I read the first two series books earlier this year and liked them very much.  Redmond is a retired Buffalo PD cold case detective and she brings that knowledge and expertise to her third Lauren Riley book.  I get frustrated at times with Lauren, but I do like the tales.  And this was no exception.

Lastly, I attended my afternoon book group on Tuesday and participated in discussing Susan Orlean's The Library Book.  I had also listened to this one and it was read by the author.  She did an OK job, not great, but not too bad.  I enjoyed the book with the info about the fire at the Los Angeles Public Library in 1986 and also the author's extra musings about libraries in general, her memories of libraries, and more history about the Los Angeles Library.  The discussion was good with most people liking the book.  A few thought it was way too dry and a bit fragmented.  One of the library staff also attended the meeting and told us about some new trends in libraries in general and in the Austin Public Library specifically.  That was quite interesting.  Most libraries these days are not exactly like the ones we grew up with.  And that's perfectly OK.

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I think I may start writing some reviews of books upcoming, so watch for that.  They will not be on a 'schedule', just as I finish the book and get them written.  Have a good weekend!