Another
short list. I find it hard to believe that at one time I was reading
10 – 12 books every quarter. Who has time to read these days? I'm
currently trying to get ahead of the game and get my display fixed up
and the pieces priced before I set up on Thursday for the
first weekend Open House.
In
The Company Of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith - I'm
back to this series, number six. Mma Ramotse surprises an intruder
in her home, helps a good man just released from prison gain
employment, and is faced with her first husband who threatens to tell
her secret if she doesn't pay him off. In the meantime Mma Makutsi
decides to take dance lessons and is pared with the worst of the men
in the class or so it seems, helps Mr. Matekoni discover what his
house that he rented out after moving in with Mma Ramotse is being
used for, and accepts a proposal.
The
Curious Charms Of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick - on the one
year anniversary of his wife's death, Arthur discovers a charm
bracelet that belonged to his wife of 40 years, a bracelet that he
had no knowledge of, and discovers that his wife had quite an
adventurous life before they met. He sets out to discover the
stories represented by the charms. Each charm he learned about only
sent him off into doubting his relationship with his wife and blah
blah. That got tiresome as if because she had some excitement in her
life prior to their very staid life together it cast doubt on the
nature of their love. It was OK but not very well written. The book
is less about the stories than Arthur's journey from stagnating
grieving widower to a man starting out fresh.
Beasts
& Children by Amy Parker –
a series of short stories about three families or rather the children
of three families...Carline and Cissy Bowman and their cousin Danny
who grow up in a family of declining gentry; Jill and Maisie Foster,
the neglected children of diplomats stationed in Indonesia; and Manny
and Gracie Guzman, immigrants from Colombia though their stories are
as much about their parents as the children. They are young when
first introduced but each story takes a big leap in time and as they
age, their lives intertwine. The stories center around their ability
or inability to change their lives. I haven't read a collection of
short stories for some time but I enjoyed these. It was nice to be
able to sit and finish a story in the short time I have to read these
days instead of trying to remember who and what in whatever novel I
am currently trying to get through.
Troublemaker
by Linda Howard - I read two pages and had to go back and re-read the
synopsis on the jacket. I checked this out? "One of the most
recognized and lauded names in romantic suspense" Well, OK, but
what the hell was I thinking? I don't read romance though I did
spend a number of years reading Nora Roberts. Anyway, Morgan, a
special OPs team leader is the object of an assassination attempt
which very nearly succeeds. His boss sends him in hiding to
recuperate with his ex-stepsister while they try to catch the person
responsible, or would if they could figure out who was responsible.
Bo is the chief of police in this small town of about 3,000 or 4,000
people who is fiercely independent and lives alone with her dog who
is a major presence. She takes in the extremely weak Morgan and
nurses him back to health and giving him shelter and a cover story to
the town and of course they fall in love and have lots of fantastic
and orgasmic sex and they figure out the who and why of his
assassination attempt and catch the bad guys and they get married,
the end.
Ink
And Bone by Lisa Unger – a
story of psychic gifts, abductions, and a mounting evil. Wolf and
Merri and their two kids, Jackson and Abbey, rent a cabin in The
Hollows, a small town in NY state. Wolf takes the kids on a hike and
because he is distracted by his extra-marital affair girlfriend on
the phone he lets the kids get too far ahead. Shots ring out and
Wolf and Jackson are hit and Abbey is abducted. Finley 'shines'.
She hears thing others can't hear and sees the dead. In an attempt
to get hold of her life, she leaves the west coast and goes to live
with her grandmother, who also shines, in The Hollows in the hope
that she can understand what she is supposed to do with these
visions. Her grandmother works with a private detective to help
solve cases that have run into dead ends. After over a year, a
desperate Merri contacts the detective after learning that others
have gone missing in The Hollows and Finley and her grandmother are
drawn into the investigation but it is Finley who is having the
visions and it is she who is tasked with finding the girl before it's
too late. This was a good one and I actually read it in a decent
amount of time.