August Book Report

Ten books read this month, four by Martha Grimes. Pretty soon I'll have all of hers read and will be looking for another new author - again.

The Importance Of Being Seven by Alexander McCall Smith is the third in his 44 Scotland Street series. I like some of the characters better than others, especially Bertie - the one turning seven.

Bottomland by Michelle Hoover is set during and after WWI about a German-American family and the difficulties they faced among their non-German neighbors.

A House Among the Trees by Julia Glass was my favorite read this month. The unusual bond between a world famous author and his assistant. Complex, interesting characters, richly plotted story of friendship, love, artistic ambition, the perils of celebrity and an unexpected legacy. Glass' novels are always good reads.

Into The Water by Paula Hawkins - the author of Girl on a Train - another well-crafted whodunit which isn't revealed until the last page.

The Black Cat by Martha Grimes is #22 in the Richard Jury series if I counted right.

Vertigo 42 by Martha Grimes - and this is #23 which catches me up on the series until she comes out with a new one OR until I can find some of the older ones.

My Mrs. Brown by William Norwich is a cute, thoughtful, transformative read about a 60's something widow, one of the 'unseen' who works several menial jobs to survive but is thrifty, kind and compassionate.

Biting the Moon by Martha Grimes is the first in her Andi Oliver (or Olivier) series. Andi is a late teens or early 20's amnesiac trying to remember her past while navigating the present. She has escaped the man who abducted her, then decides to search him out in order to discover who she is.

Dakota by Martha Grimes is the next installment in the Andi Oliver/Olivier series. I'm enjoying this protagonist - a change from Scotland Yard Detective Jury - and am looking forward to the next to see if Andi discovers/recovers her identity.

Kiss Carlo by Adriana Trigiani. This has been one of my favorite authors since I read her first book, Big Stone Gap. This is her latest and I got to be the first one to read it at our library. South Philly Italian-Americans in the post war boom of 1949-50. Trigiani draws on her own family's stories which make them not only interesting, but relateable. And, having grown up in that same era, I can relate; it was the only time in their lives my parents bought a NEW car.