It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 11-11-19 #IMWAYR

Veterans’ Day

A month from last post again! Today’s a holiday, so I have the day off and no excuse for not blogging.

I didn’t read anything especially in honor of Veterans’ Day, but, coincidentally, former military personnel are characters in two audiobooks I’ve been listening to recently – The Institute by Stephen King and Past Tense by Lee Child.

Recently Listened To

Past Tense by Lee Child, narrated by Scott Brick (Penguin Audio, 2018) — #24 in the Jack Reacher series
Scott Brick takes the place of Dick Hill as the narrator of the audiobooks about the exploits of the peripetatic Jack Reacher, the physically imposing ex-Army cop with brains, brawn, a strongly individual moral code and his own set of rules he lives by. (Sadly, it seems that Dick Hill’s voice was starting to sound too old for the forty-something Reacher, but Scott Brick is a decent replacement, although I did miss Dick Hill’s way of saying, “That’s for damn sure.”)

Devil’s Breath by G.M. Malliet, narrated by Michael Page (Dreamscape Media, 2017) — #6 in Max Tudor series
I missed the scenes of village life and the local residents that are usually part of the Max Tudor books, but cozy mysteries have to move around because otherwise, you’d know the murderer has to be the only stranger in town! So this murder takes place on a luxury yacht full of Hollywood celebs and hangers-on just when it happened to be moored just off the coast near Father Max’s parish, which is why the ex-MI5 agent is called upon to help with the investigation. It had to be someone on the ship who killed the aging film star, Margot Browne, but who? Could be her long-suffering stylist, the rich film director and owner of the yacht,- her young ambitious lover, her ex-lover, a jealous rival, or someone else in the cutthroat world of the movie business.

Currently Listening To

The Institute by Stephen King, narrated by Santino Fontana
“Stranger Things” fans, put this on your reading list! Children with telepathy and telekinesis; violent abductions, government conspiracies, and mad-scientist experimentation; a small-town police department against stone-cold ex-military assassins – this classic combo of science fiction and horror has it all, with Stephen King’s clear love of local lingo, homey aphorisms, sassy slang, and colorful obscenity giving it enough humor to get readers through the tough parts.

Read in Print

For Book Club

For book club this month, I’m reading Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver. It’s a story about two families living in the same house in New Jersey, two centuries apart, both facing big upheavals in the world they thought they knew, and unsure of their futures.

On the Nightstand

They May Not Mean To, But They Do by Cathleen Schine, is a novel about a family in crisis valiantly trying to behave as though there is no crisis…in other words, your average dysfunctional family. The author, in her mid-sixties, switches back and forth between the perspectives of members of three generations, giving equal depth to each and seeing clear-eyed through the denial and wishful thinking of all involved in the business of growing up, aging, getting sick, and eventually dying. Set in New York City and partly in California, this is a darkly funny novel — almost a comedy of manners — in the vein of Roz Chast’s Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (#IMWAYR) is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It’s a place to meet up and share what you have been, are, and about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment, and er… add to that ever-growing TBR pile! This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at Book Date.

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