January Reading List

Only six books read this month, but they were more lengthy than usual.

River Horse by William Least Heat-Moon also known as the book that took me twenty years to read. I first became acquainted with this author in the mid-1980's when I read and fell in love with his first book, Blue Highways. My appreciation of his writing extended with his second book, PrairyErth. So when River Horse came out in the late 1990's, I had to have it. HD bought it for my birthday and I eagerly opened it only to be stopped by specifications and a diagram of a boat. I tried a couple more times over the years, but could never get into the book.

I learned long ago that some books aren't meant to be read until I am supposed to read them. This time I had no problem getting past the description of the C-Dory and into the fascinating story of Heat-Moon's journey across America made almost exclusively by water. My pleasure in reading this book was tripled when it required, for me, the addition of a dictionary, to look up the words I did not know, and an atlas, to follow the waterways he took. My favorite book this month. My theory about why I was able to get past the boat descriptions now is that in the intervening years my eldest son began building boats. I think his enthusiasm for the processes rubbed off.

This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger is another of his stand alone books. About four orphans making their way the best they can during the depression years, it is a heart-warming journey of survival, friendship and the struggles to simply survive during those hard times.

The Guest Book by Sarah Blake is the story of a privileged American family over three generations beginning in the 1930's.

Just Before Dawn by my younger brother, Les Lynam is the fourth in his Time Will Tell series and the one I was least looking forward to. I knew it would be about the dark decades after nuclear war had destroyed much of the world's population and changed the weather in the rest of the world. Constant winter in the United States resulted in deaths from cold and starvation. Governments collapsed, warring factions took over. Not my preferred genre. But I was pleasantly surprised. Lynam has given us characters we really like and cheer for, wonderful descriptions and dialogue.
This series is for young adults, but his characters have aged, therefore he has introduced some sex and violence which I think adds to the continuing drama. As he said, "Who the bleep is Ariel and WHAT, exactly, is a D-Walker?" I really look forward to the fifth and final installment.

The Last Widow is #9 in Karin Slaughter's Will Trent series. These are quick reads for me because I just can't put them down! For me, she is the female equivalent of John Sandford.

The Last Kingdom is the first book of Bernard Cornwell's series of the same name. I used to read a lot of books set in the times of early British Isles, but got away from them the last thirty years. I came to this book via one of my daily jig saw puzzles. It was a picture of Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland on  the Northeast coast of England. There is an option on the puzzle to click for more information which I did. One of the items that came up was Cornwell's book, which I decided to add to my reading list. I have enjoyed the writing and the story as well as going back to that era. There are twelve books in this series. I haven't decided yet whether I am going to read more.