Read In October 2019

Big uptick of books read this month compared to the last few months (more than twice the monthly average the past three months) due mostly to finding a new author I enjoyed and  quickly reading my way through all her books available at one of my libraries.

Murder On Trinity Place by Victoria Thompson is # 22 in her Gaslight Mystery series. Still enjoyable reading for me.

The House At Sea's End and A Room Full of Bones are #'s 3 & 4 in Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series. I dig this forensic archaeologist. ☺

The Shape of Night is a stand alone mystery by Tess Gerritsen, author of the Rizzoli and Isles series. This book reminded me of a favorite TV program of mine from the late 60's, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.

A Better Man is Louise Penny's latest (#15) in her Chief Inspector Gamache series. I love these books so much and am always glad when a new one comes out.

A Dying Fall, The Outcast Dead, The Ghost Fields and The Woman in Blue are #'s 5,6,7 & 8 in  Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series and all that the Corning Library has. There are currently two more in the series which I am going to order through Interlibrary Loan.

I have read a number of Pulitzer Prize winning author Richard Russo's books which is one reason I picked up his latest offering.  The other was the title, Chance Are... I mean, how could I not? I enjoyed the book, set on Martha's Vineyard, about the reunion of three friends from the 60's and the mystery that has drawn them together once again.

I liked the Elizabeth Letts novel I read in August, so was predisposed to try her non-fiction The Perfect Horse: The Daring U.S. Mission to Rescue the Priceless Stallions Kidnapped by the Nazis.
If you read the book or saw the movie, War Horse, you, like me, probably think of horses as being a part of WWI not WWII, when in fact more than 2,750,000 horses were used in WWII, suffering more than 60% casualties.
Reading this book reminded me of when I lived in central Iowa 50 years ago and the famous white Lipizzaner stallions would perform at Veterans Auditorium in their world famous "Airs Above the Ground". It was something I always wanted to attend, and take my children to, but as I remember, couldn't afford to do so.

Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II by Robert Matzen is a biography of a young Audrey Hepburn and her time living under the Nazi occupation in the Netherlands. This is an interesting read about a woman I only knew as a movie star and, at the end of her life, a UNICEF ambassador.

A first for me - the first time I downloaded and read a book on the i-Pad I inherited from daughter Kari when she got a new one.

Reflections On A Generous Generation by Michael R. Stern is an interesting read about his father's life, including his time during WWII. I became aware of Stern's book when he and my brother became Facebook friends on their authors' pages. And while I enjoyed reading Stern's notable biography, I have mixed feelings about reading a book on an i-Pad. I still prefer an actual book - the feel, the smell, the portability, the freedom from worrying about whether or not the battery is charged. Maybe it's just my resistance to change, i.e. old age.