2013 reading, October
Only 12 new books, but I've been knitting. Our Family Christmas Party this year is November 30, & I've completed one blanket & am 7/8 done with the other, for the grandchildren of one of my first cousins.
Also have completed the goal of 200 new books, & 1 nonfiction for each 5 fiction. Still have 58 to go of my (as opposed to library) books, though.
202. Duck the Halls - Donna Andrews 10/29/13 Hilarious, as usual. Pranksters put skunks in the Baptist church December 21, Meg is drafted to re-arrange the town churches’ schedules to accommodate the Baptist choir concert and all other activities while that church is being de-skunk-aroma-ed, that night a boa constrictor is found during the Baptist dress rehearsal concert at the Episcopal church, the next morning the Catholic church has 800 ducks pooping in the sanctuary & throughout the church. Reschedule everything again while that mess is being cleaned up. Then there is a fire in the undercroft of the Episcopal church, and a body. No Further Spoilers! My only complaint: it isn’t even Halloween yet, only Oct 29, & I have two earworms: Adeste Fideles & Angels We Have Heard On High. But that’s not Donna‘s fault.
201. Battle of Wits: The Complete Story of Codebreaking in World War II - Stephen Budiansky 10/27/13 Lots and lots of detail. Excellent.
200. One Summer: America, 1927 - Bill Bryson 10/24/13 Events of that period: Charles Lindbergh’ solo flight across the Atlantic, Babe Ruth’s 60 home run season, the Dempsey-Tunney fight, the Mississippi flood > the Great Migration of African-Americans out of the South & the political futures of Calvin Coolidge & Herbert Hoover, 2 stupid weird murders, & a conference of bankers that led to the Depression. Bryson ties it all together.
199. Trouble Brewing - Dolores Gordon-Smith 10/20/13 Jack Haldean is called in by the owner of a coffee company to find his grand-nephew Mark, missing for 2 months, who had felt something Not Right at the company. Very complicated situation: his sister remarried after her husband was killed in WWI, grandmother died after Mark went missing & left her money in trust for him with less than a tenth to his sister. He can’t be declared dead for 7 years, she gets the interest in the meantime. And this is less than ¼ of the complications.
198. Blood From a Stone - Dolores Gordon-Smith 10/18/13 Jack Haldean gets involved in solving a murder when his cousin goes into a train compartment where a man had been decapitated. Very, very complicated.
197. The Historical Society Murder Mystery - Graham Landrum 10/14/13 The local historical society figure out who stole a portrait of Louis-Phillippe, where he hid it, and who killed him. Meh.
196. Gone with the Woof - Laurien Berenson 10/12/13 Melanie Travis is back. This time her aunt has gotten her to be the amanuensis for an elderly judge of dog shows who is also a roue of great renown on the dog show circuit. Melanie had thought the book was to be about the dogs, but His Egoness wants to Tell All about his affairs. His son takes after the old man and is murdered. The possibles are mostly the women who don’t want to be mentioned, i. e., most of them.
195. When Chickens Grow Teeth - Guy de Maupassant au, Wendy Anderson Halperin illustrator. Funny book: easy-going man forced by his sterner wife to hatch chickens while he convalesces from a fall. Illustrations up to her usual great standard.
194. Sophie and Rose - (au) Kathryn Lasky, illustrated Wendy Anderson Halperin 10/3/13 Mama finds Grandma’s doll, hands it on to her daughter, with mild further damage.
193. The Racketty-Packetty House 10/3/13 Old dollhouse meets new one.
192. The Full Belly Bowl 10/3/13 Old man finds elf attacked by fox, rescues elf, & is rewarded, but fails to follow directions > aaaack results.
191. The Secret Remedy Book - Karin Cates author, illust Wendy Anderson Halperin 10/3/13 how to get over homesickness
190. Once Upon a Company - Wendy Anderson Halperin 10/3/13 Nonfiction: her kids start a wreath-making company during a period of boredom, and it expands…
Also have completed the goal of 200 new books, & 1 nonfiction for each 5 fiction. Still have 58 to go of my (as opposed to library) books, though.
202. Duck the Halls - Donna Andrews 10/29/13 Hilarious, as usual. Pranksters put skunks in the Baptist church December 21, Meg is drafted to re-arrange the town churches’ schedules to accommodate the Baptist choir concert and all other activities while that church is being de-skunk-aroma-ed, that night a boa constrictor is found during the Baptist dress rehearsal concert at the Episcopal church, the next morning the Catholic church has 800 ducks pooping in the sanctuary & throughout the church. Reschedule everything again while that mess is being cleaned up. Then there is a fire in the undercroft of the Episcopal church, and a body. No Further Spoilers! My only complaint: it isn’t even Halloween yet, only Oct 29, & I have two earworms: Adeste Fideles & Angels We Have Heard On High. But that’s not Donna‘s fault.
201. Battle of Wits: The Complete Story of Codebreaking in World War II - Stephen Budiansky 10/27/13 Lots and lots of detail. Excellent.
200. One Summer: America, 1927 - Bill Bryson 10/24/13 Events of that period: Charles Lindbergh’ solo flight across the Atlantic, Babe Ruth’s 60 home run season, the Dempsey-Tunney fight, the Mississippi flood > the Great Migration of African-Americans out of the South & the political futures of Calvin Coolidge & Herbert Hoover, 2 stupid weird murders, & a conference of bankers that led to the Depression. Bryson ties it all together.
199. Trouble Brewing - Dolores Gordon-Smith 10/20/13 Jack Haldean is called in by the owner of a coffee company to find his grand-nephew Mark, missing for 2 months, who had felt something Not Right at the company. Very complicated situation: his sister remarried after her husband was killed in WWI, grandmother died after Mark went missing & left her money in trust for him with less than a tenth to his sister. He can’t be declared dead for 7 years, she gets the interest in the meantime. And this is less than ¼ of the complications.
198. Blood From a Stone - Dolores Gordon-Smith 10/18/13 Jack Haldean gets involved in solving a murder when his cousin goes into a train compartment where a man had been decapitated. Very, very complicated.
197. The Historical Society Murder Mystery - Graham Landrum 10/14/13 The local historical society figure out who stole a portrait of Louis-Phillippe, where he hid it, and who killed him. Meh.
196. Gone with the Woof - Laurien Berenson 10/12/13 Melanie Travis is back. This time her aunt has gotten her to be the amanuensis for an elderly judge of dog shows who is also a roue of great renown on the dog show circuit. Melanie had thought the book was to be about the dogs, but His Egoness wants to Tell All about his affairs. His son takes after the old man and is murdered. The possibles are mostly the women who don’t want to be mentioned, i. e., most of them.
195. When Chickens Grow Teeth - Guy de Maupassant au, Wendy Anderson Halperin illustrator. Funny book: easy-going man forced by his sterner wife to hatch chickens while he convalesces from a fall. Illustrations up to her usual great standard.
194. Sophie and Rose - (au) Kathryn Lasky, illustrated Wendy Anderson Halperin 10/3/13 Mama finds Grandma’s doll, hands it on to her daughter, with mild further damage.
193. The Racketty-Packetty House 10/3/13 Old dollhouse meets new one.
192. The Full Belly Bowl 10/3/13 Old man finds elf attacked by fox, rescues elf, & is rewarded, but fails to follow directions > aaaack results.
191. The Secret Remedy Book - Karin Cates author, illust Wendy Anderson Halperin 10/3/13 how to get over homesickness
190. Once Upon a Company - Wendy Anderson Halperin 10/3/13 Nonfiction: her kids start a wreath-making company during a period of boredom, and it expands…