Tuesday, November 07, 2017

Recently Read


Yep, that's right - I've been away for weeks, and all you're getting is a lousy "Recently Read" post.  My apologies!  I'm doing okay, if exTREMEly busy,  and counting the days until my 6-month work eval, at which point I can transfer out of my current position and into another office while still keeping my accrued PTO, etc.  Am I going to be out of there like a shot? OH YES I AM.  haha.


1.  Secrets from the Vinyl Cafe by Stuart McLean - Keilloresque short stories.  Charming, if a little too cutesy.

2.  News of the World by Paulette Jiles - Novel about a traveling "news reader" in the 1870s.  I liked some of her previous novels, but I didn't like the narrative style of this one and didn't get very far.  I might try it again at some point, though.

3.  Tender Graces by Kathryn Magendie - Novel about a woman coming to terms with her turbulent childhood.  Okay.

4.  Growing up in Cooper Country - edited by Louis C. Jones - Boyhood memoirs from two men who grew up in upstate New York in the late 1700s/early 1800s.  Very interesting.

5.  Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch - Novel about a boy on a whaling expedition in the 1800s.  Very interesting and well-written, but bad things happen, and I just wasn't in a place emotionally to deal with it at the time I read it, so I quit about 80 pages from the end.  Still a good read, even if I couldn't make it to the end.

6.  Chickens in the Road by Suzanne McMinn - Account of a novice who bought a farm.  Good.

7.  Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King.  Short stories.  Good, of course.

8.  Burn Down the Ground by Kambri Crews - Memoir of growing up with deaf parents in rural Texas.  Engaging.

9.  Walking to Listen by Andrew Forsthoefel - Account of a young man who, after graduating from college, walked across America.  Interesting.

10.  A Schoolteacher in Old Alaska - The Story of Hannah Breece edited by Jane Jacobs.  Hmmm ... a memoir about (a) frontier Alaska and (b) schoolteaching?  OH YEAH.

11.  All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot - An old favorite, memoirs of a veterinarian in England in the thirties.

12.  Poor Cow by Nell Dunn - I guess this novel, about an unwed teen mother with a thief for a boyfriend, caused quite a stir when it was published it in the 60s.  I found it interesting but rather tame by today's standards.  How times change!

13.  The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard - I don't know why I pick up murder mysteries - I just don't enjoy the genre.  Still, I made it all the way through this one, so that says something.

14.  Little Green by Loretta Stinson - Novel about a rootless young woman who gets involved with a bad man.  Really, really good.

15.  The Growing Seasons by Samuel Hynes - Memoir about growing up in the thirties.  I'm a sucker for books about growing up in the Depression, and this was a good one.

16.  A Ticket to Ride by Paula McLain - Novel about a young woman growing up in the seventies.  I grew up in the seventies, too!  haha.  I liked this one.

17.  If The Creek Don't Rise by Leah Weiss - Novel about a small Appalachian community in the seventies.  Okay.

18.  Trauma Junkie:  Memoirs of an Emergency Flight Nurse by Janice Hudson.  Good!

19.  Leaving Wayne by Danny Clune - Memoir about a man who grew up in this area in the 50s and 60s.  He mentions lots of places (and people!) I know, so it was an interesting read.  Good.









3 comments:

James P. said...

I may not be the only one who is wondering all the time.....WHERE DO YOU GET ALL THESE BOOKS? Library? Used book store? Dempster Dumpsters? Online Amazon Kindle books?

KJL said...

If you haven't read "The Keeper of Lost Things" by Ruth Hogan, I strongly recommend it. Got my copy from the library or I'd sent it to you.

rockygrace said...

James P., the vast majority of the books I read, I borrow from the local library system. I keep a running list of stuff I'd like to read, and when I'm running low on reading material, I put a couple of library books on hold for pick-up. I also have a list of books that aren't available locally, and once or twice a year I buy books from that list when Better World Books has one of their sales.

and KJL, "The Keeper of Lost Things" will go on my lists right now! Thanks!