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Ah. Visited family for two weeks this month. Lots of reading time, great reading. So please excuse my apparent gushing...

â˜¶Ä The Art of Losing by Alice Zeniter -5.5
Historical fiction translated from the French. One family before, during, and after the Algerian War for independence. Not sure what was worse: the savagery of the PLO on its own citizens after winning freedom or the treatment by France on "their" citizens who had to flee Algeria for France, some because the men fought for France in the world war.

â˜¶Ä The Women by Kristin Hannah -5.
Eye-opening historical fiction piece about women in Vietnam combat hospitals, wonderfully done I felt, marred by one-too-many nonsensical love affairs and a funky ending.

â˜¶Ä The Fury by Alex Michaelides -5
Mystery/Thriller set in Greece with a VERY unreliable narrator. I know my view is not the popular view, based on the ratings, but I loved this. It is so unique. And even though the "narrator" is absolutely annoying, I could see slight vestiges of Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley. One review I read called it a cross between a locked room mystery and a greek tragedy. That immediately told me it was not going to be fast paced. I was okay with all that.

â˜¶Ä We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I by Raja Shehadeh -4.5
A memoir of the author and his father, both lawyers, both fighting in their own way for Palestinian rights, and fighting each other, never understanding each other's thinking. The son was born in 1952, several years after Isreal was founded. The father was born in Bethlehem in 1912 and witnessed rule by Ottoman Empire, then the Jordanians, then the creation of Isreal. The history is incredible. Quite eye opening.

â˜¶Ä An Assassination on the Agenda by T.E. Kinsey -4
Another episode in the nice comfortable historical mystery, starring a British Lady and her lady's maid - both former agents for the British Secret Service. These are just so much fun, with some great history thrown in.

â˜¶Ä End of Story by A.J. Finn -6
Again, I'm going against the norm here: I LOVED this story! It was amazing, frustrating, weird - a fever dream, sometimes hard to keep up, enthralling, a thriller and a mystery. But if you read it like a regular thriller or mystery, you will be disappointed, likely even hate it. So don't. Just go along for the crazy ride. And the ending? Well, the rest wasn't ours to see.

â˜¶Ä Three-Fifths by John Vercher -4
Another author I first saw in Pittsburgh in 2023, this is a debut novel, set in Pittsburgh. Although the author didn't set out for this to be a mystery/thriller novel, his audience made it so! Biracial young man who has passed for white his whole life is reunited with his best friend just released from prison, and who has become a white supremacist. Bad things happen.

â˜¶Ä The Kind Worth Saving by Peter Swanson -4
You guys know this one very well. This was one of the weirdest books I've ever read. And I really liked it. I was actually kind of sad at the end thinking this could be the last of any books with both of these unlikely heroes. But then how could it be a series?

â˜¶Ä Glory Be by Danielle Arceneaux -4
First installment in a new series, with the lead a 50-something black woman in Louisiana. Her best friend, a nun, is dead and Glory, a divorced bookie (who does all her work on Sundays' after church) is positive it's not a suicide. She sets out to prove it. It was fun.

â˜¶Ä Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket: Stories by Hilma Wolitzer -4
I had to read a book written by an author who was over 60 when they wrote it. Hilma was 70. This is a set of short stories highlighting the every day life of women (probably in the 60's or 70's) and how things can go wrong. A little melancholy, some humor. I'll be honest, I picked it because of the title...

â˜¶Ä Uneasy Prey by Annette Dashofy -4
The sixth installment in the Zoe Chambers series, I think this is my favorite so far. A burglary ring is targeting senior citizens and one of the victims dies.

â˜¶Ä Thirty-Three Teeth by Colin Cotterill -3.5
A mystery series, set in Laos, this is the second book in the series. I didn't like it as well as the first one. A series of seemingly unconnected deaths are investigated, some of which occuring due to bear bites. But the only bear he sees is a mirage.

â˜¶Ä The Mysterious Mr. Quin by Agatha Christie -4
I was on a role with "strange" storylines, and this one certainly fit the bill, but it was quite fun. This book contained the short stories, installments 1 though 12, of Harley Quin, who doesn't necessarily solve any of the crimes he studies, but is a conduit for the elderly gentleman who does solve them. I was left with "who the heck is he?"

â˜¶Ä Killing Trail by Margaret Mizushima -4
First in a mystery series set in the mountains of Oregon, with a female police officer and her new canine partner. Will definitely read more.

â˜¶Ä Dead in the Water by Matthew Costello and Neil Richards -4
Normally this series is short stories, but this was a full length novel that should have been inserted as an installment and was not marketed as such. I always do audio with this series, narrated by Neil Dudgeon of BBC's Midsomer Murders fame. A retired NYC cop and a PR web-design Mom solve mysteries in the Cotswold.

â˜¶Ä The Secret of the Lost Pearls by Darcie Wilde -3.5
Another historical mystery series, that I have always done in audio, but for this installment somebody thought changing the narrator to a man with a voice that has no change in inflection, was a good idea. Sent the audio back and switched to the ebook. Might just be my last installment. I found I tolerate early century "baloney" as a listener while driving much better than I do as a print reader.

â˜¶Ä Jamilia by Chingiz Aitmatov -5
Translated from Russian, this 1958 publication is set in
Kyrgyzstan during WW2, but is not a war story.

OMG, guys, I had no the posting was that long!! Sorry!

Don't apologize for a great month!

I thought maybe it’s was your year-to-date listing. Also, give Dr Siri another chance.

Gail: wow! what a list. I am quite jealous of the time you had to read and the good looking most tempting books!
I noted you had one '6' rank - double wow on that. I guess End of Story will have to surface somewhere near the top of my tbr with that description!

Gail W wrote: "Ah. Visited family for two weeks this month. Lots of reading time, great reading. So please excuse my apparent gushing...

Gail W wrote: "OMG, guys, I had no the posting was that long!! Sorry!"

no need to apologize. great month of reading for you!

Dan in AZ wrote: "I thought maybe it’s was your year-to-date listing. Also, give Dr Siri another chance."

The Dr. Siri series by Colin Cotterill is terrific. It's one of my favorite series, but I just realized, thanks to Gail, that I haven't kept up with it. I haven't read The Delightful Life of a Suicide Pilot. I just put it on hold.

Gail, lucky you with so much time to read and so many good books chosen!

Minor spoiler alert, The Kind Worth Saving is *not* the last appearance of one of our two heroes. I hope you have A Talent for Murder on the TBR!

Carol/Bonadie wrote: "Gail, lucky you with so much time to read and so many good books chosen! Minor spoiler alert, The Kind Worth Saving is *not* the last appearance of one of our two heroes. I hope yo..."

LOL, Carol/Bonadie - I finished A Talent for Murder this morning. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. And 2 weeks of my time came from being first at my Dad's, who reads several hours a day which he took up late in life, and then with 2 teenage grandchildren who needed me when they needed me. And I don't sleep well - so if I'm awake at 1 or 2, I get up and read! Probably not the best habit in the world, but what the heck, I retired.

Gail W wrote: "And I don't sleep well - so if I'm awake at 1 or 2, I get up and read! Probably not the best habit in the world, but what the heck, I retired. ..."

Gail, I read late at night also as I usually don't have time during the day, what with work and all. But a Talent for Murder is not the thing I want in my head when I'm trying to fall asleep, so I've switched to magazines for the time being, which slows down my progress. I'm about halfway done, though.