@ Your Library
I recently listened to NPR’s Book of the Day interview with Nicholas Sparks and M. Night Shyamalan about creating together a book and movie. It was interesting listening to how they worked together and that they both felt it was a once in a lifetime chance at this particular moment. I’m not sure I want to read the book, but Remain is available at the library. Tate and Wren are both struggling with life and where they are, can they work together to create a better future for both of them?
Phillip Margolin is the author of several popular thillers and his newest doesn’t disappoint. False Witness features attorney Karen Wyatt is a defense attorney whose current case involves a criminal drug gang, a corrupt figure hiding in the DA’s office, and a missing congressman.
And now for something lighter… Cozy mysteries are an interesting genre. They involve murder but the violence and gore generally takes place off the page and you aren’t left feeling like you have to solve to murder to survive. They often rely on puns and lots of humor with bumbling characters to solve the mysteries. They can be a lot of fun and relaxing. The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective by Jo Nichols is a new title by a new author, a husband and wife co-writing. The landlady, Mrs. B, of Marigold Cottages is an idealist and believes the best of everyone and will only rent to people she cares about. When one of her residents is arrested for murder and she is convinced he is innocent, she confesses to the murder to get him released. The residents band together to save their landlady and solve the murder case, at least until another body turns up.
I have read a lot of historical novels and a fair amount of historical tomes, but very little on the Civil War. It has never been an interest of mine. So I was surprised to find myself fascinated by The Surgeon’s Battle: how medicine won the Vicksburg Caampaign and Changed the Civil War by Lindsay Rae Smith Privette. I knew that war often drove medical innovation, but reading about it in action was interesting.
I am a big fan of ‘dabbling’ or being an amateur and exploring the world through new hobbies and more. I was thrilled to get the new book In Defense of Dabbling: the brilliance of being a total amateur by Karen Walrond. She makes a convincing case for doing the things you love even if you aren’t any good at them. So, sing that song, paint that picture, dig up that yard, knit that scarf. Have fun doing the things that bring you pleasure.
I will always pick up a book about reading and books. I found Children of the Book: a memoir of reading together by Ilana Kurshan a beautiful story. A Jewish mother in Jerusalem shares how stories became the foundation of family bonds and a way to introduce her children to the loves in her life.