My September Reads, 2015

September was a short reading month for me - only five books read the entire month.

I have always enjoyed reading the W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear books about early Native Americans. This latest offering (#23 in the 'People of' series) is the story of the first European settlers to arrive in the New World - 500 years before Columbus set sail.

Recent archaeological evidence suggests that Vikings not only explored the shores of North America, they built permanent settlements. People of the Songtrail is the Gears' imagined tale of the clash between the settlers and the natives. It was interesting to note that those emigrants were seeking new lands to settle for political reasons long before the Pilgrims and Puritans made their way to our northeastern shores. I gave this book a 4.0.

As noted in my August reads, I did go back and get the other two Erik Larsen books to read. I gave both of them 3.0's. It was probably the subject matter rather than the writing that made me like them less than Dead Wake. 
In the Garden of Beasts tells the story of William Dodd's year as the U.S. Ambassador in Berlin during the time of Hitler's rise to power. It was an interesting look at some of the people in Germany at that time as well as noting how Dodd was chosen as Ambassador - as much by default as for his qualifications.

My other Larsen read was Thunderstruck the story of how Marconi's wireless helped capture Hawley Crippen as he escaped from England for the murder of his wife. Perhaps if I had spaced these factual books out in between some other novels, I would have appreciated them more than reading all three close together.

Tess Gerritsen's Rizzoli & Isles mystery, Last To Die, was also 3.0 read for me. Jane notes the similarities between three seemingly different 'accidents' which left children orphaned and then having their foster families murdered. She thinks there must be a connection and tries to find it.

Midnight Crossing by Charlaine Harris was my 3.5 book for the month. Even though I read book two of the Midnight, Texas books before this first one, it didn't matter much. The characters in this series are so quirky and entertaining.

Teaser Alert - October sees my first 5.0 book since February!