Remember how I only read
two books in August? I think I know what happened – I had about five going at
the same time, reading a bit in each every day, and then I finally finished them
in September. I finished 8 books in September! There are two that I won’t list
here (another enneagram
book, and a book about
purity culture in the evangelical church and the global oppression and
mistreatment of women – let me know if you’re interested in either one). That
still leaves five to review.
Borderlines (Joe Gunther #2) ★★★★, by Archer Mayor. In the second book of the series, Joe heads to
his uncle’s home in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. He’s supposed to just be
staying with him while he helps out a neighboring county with an embezzling
case. However, almost right away there is an altercation with a local cult, a
fire, a murder, and some of his old friends are involved up to their necks. I
enjoyed this book as much as the first one. I have the third one on hold at the
library – I’ll (of course) let you know how it goes.
Desperation
in Death (In Death #55) ★★★, by J. D. Robb. Eve Dallas is searching for a young girl’s
killer. She suspects that the girl was being groomed for sex trafficking, and is
having trouble getting a handle on the case until another young girl comes
forward. Another excellent In Death book!
Down
the Rabbit Hole (In Death #41.5) ★★★, by J. D. Robb et al. This is a compilation of four short
stories, only one of which is about Eve Dallas. I loved the Dallas one, but the
others were just not up to the same J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts) standards. They weren’t
terrible, but they weren’t fabulous. And I had actually read it way back in the
day so I probably shouldn’t even count it here. I kept thinking, this all
sounds vaguely familiar… Ha!
The Power ★★★★, by Naomi Alderman. Sometime in the far distant future, a
man sends a manuscript of a book he has written to a woman to get her thoughts. It’s
about the origins of Mother Eve, and how at one point in time men had the upper
hand in society. Which seems laughable to the woman reader, but she’s game for
a new tale. In the fictional novel, the male author describes how teenage girls
suddenly wake up one day with electricity in their palms; they can zap anyone
they want to & that changes the face of the earth. On the one hand, this
book was very well written. On the other hand I spent about 80% of it being
horrified at how women weren’t any better than men once they were in power. I’m
still not sure what I think about it, but it helped a lot when I decided to
take it as satire (which was probably not the actual intent).
Lily
and the Octopus ★★★★★, by Steven Rowley. Oh
what a lovely tender, hilarious, heartbreaking, fabulous book this was! Ted has
a dachshund named Lily, and this is his story of his fierce love for her. It
was very satisfactory (but sad, for sure – be forewarned). And in case you are
interested, the audio narrator was very
good.
I’ve finished two books in
October, and I’m hoping to finish another one in the next day or two (we shall
see). BUT I’ve started rereading the Eve Dallas books. I’m on the third one
(and as you can see up there, there are 55 of them). I might get tired of this,
but I wouldn’t count on it. So my next book review post will probably be pretty
short, and the last one for a while. What are you reading?
