Summer Reads

It has been a cool and rainy summer so I have been reading more than usual. I should be quilting on Charlie's cowboy quilt, and I will. On my last book right now.

Marti has been providing me with some different authors to try, we both love mysteries. The latest is J. A. Jance. I have been reading her J. P. Beaumont mysteries. They are set in Seattle area. She is a very good writer. The plots are complex and clever and difficult for me to solve. Usually I am pretty good at solving mysteries. She also has a series called the Joanna Brady mysteries that are centered in Bisbee, Arizona, and apparently have Native Americans in them. Will try one of them next. We have spent some time in southern AZ and like it a lot. We sure loved spending a few days in Tombstone. Great cowboy atmosphere.

Last fall I started reading some of the James Patterson books. Enjoyed several of the Alex Cross books, there must be 40 of them. Loved all of the Women's Murder Club books and the TV series that was exactly like the books, a rare and unexpected pleasure. I accidently bought cassettes of "Step on a Crack" and am enjoying my first audio book.

Started reading Kathy Reichs last summer, the series that the TV show Bones is based on. Interesting but gory. Dr. Brennen is very complex and foolishly brave and bad at relationships. Same goes for Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series of books. Both authors write very interesting mysteries though. They are both Forensic Anthropologists and know what they are writing about.

I am also rereading some of Lawrence Sanders McNally books. Good summer reads, clever and full of food and drink. Set in south Florida. Sanders has been dead for several years but the books don't feel dated. I am sure every library has them. Another author took over writing these "Archy" books, but they didn't seem as good to me as the originals.

Another favorite writer is Adriana Trigiani. She writes about Italian Americans. She wrote a very nice series: Big Stone Gap, Big Cherry Holler and Milk Glass Moon. Rococco seems to be my favorite, but I am only half through Lucia, Lucia. Her books are surprising and full of wonderful details. Makes me want to visit the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Alps in Northern Italy.

I just picked up Jan Karon's latest book at the library. She wrote 15 books about Fr. Tim and the little hill country town of Mitford. Delightful books that make you want to move to Mitford and are relaxing to read and you can fall asleep reading them and not have nightmares. She has now started a new series about all the same people. I am reading the first one, "Home to Holly Springs." Seems like more of the same. A good thing.

Brenda just brought me a bowl of hot peedogs. Which are chopped ham, bacon and onion, wrapped in bread dough and baked. So yummy. Lucky me. Just ate one with mustard on it and can't remember what else I wanted to write about. Guess it's time to quit.

Oh my, a sharp shinned hawk just grabbed a little bird off a tree and flew off with it. That quieted things down in the yard. There are two tiny finches on the ground by the feeder that haven't moved in 2 minutes. Blending in no doubt. Paul thinks it was a starling.