First of all, can I just say how much I love being retired so that I can read? You might think being a librarian (my career) allowed me to read all the time, but that was not the case. Just like any full-time job, I did not have much time leftover to read. But I wanted to…
I set myself a Goodreads goal to read 75 books for 2015. Here’s the message I got today.
I think this is the most books I’ve ever read in a year. Now, time to share what I’m reading this month.
Whiskey Beach by Nora Roberts
For more than three hundred years, Bluff House has sat above Whiskey Beach, guarding its shore – and its secrets.
To summer tourists, it’s the crown jewel of the town’s stunning scenery. To the residents of Whiskey Beach, it’s landmark and legend. To Eli Landon, it’s home…
A Boston lawyer, Eli has weathered an intense year of public scrutiny and police investigation after being accused of murdering his soon-to-be ex-wife. And though there was never enough evidence to have him arrested, his reputation is in tatters as well as his soul. He need sanctuary. He needs Bluff House.
While Eli’s beloved grandmother is in Boston, recuperating from a nasty fall, Abra Walsh has card for Bluff House, among her other jobs as yoga instructor, jewelry maker, and massage therapist. She is a woman with an open heart and a wide embrace, and no one is safe from her special, some would say over-bearing, brand of nurturing – including Eli.
He begins to count on Abra for far more than her cooking, cleaning, and massage skills, and starts to feel less like a victim – and more like the kind of man who can finally solve the murder of his wife and clear his name. But Bluff House’s many mysteries are a siren song to someone intent on destroying Eli and reaping the rewards. He and Abra will become entangled in a centuries-old net of rumors and half-truths that could pull them under the thunderous waters of Whiskey Beach…
Passion and obsession, humor and heart flow together in a novel about two people opening themselves up to the truth – and to each other.
Above All Things by Tanis Rideout
The Paris Wife meets Into Thin Air in this breathtaking debut novel of obsession and divided loyalties, which brilliantly weaves together the harrowing story of George Mallory’s ill-fated 1924 attempt to be the first man to conquer Mount Everest, with that of a single day in the life of his wife as she waits at home in England for news of his return.
A captivating blend of historical fact and imaginative fiction, Above All Things moves seamlessly back and forth between the epic story of Mallory’s legendary final expedition and a heartbreaking account of a day in the life of Ruth Mallory. Through George’s perspective, and that of the newest member of the climbing team, Sandy Irvine, we get an astonishing picture of the terrible risks taken by the men on the treacherous terrain of the Himalaya. But it is through Ruth’s eyes that a complex portrait of a marriage emerges, one forged on the eve of the First World War, shadowed by its losses, and haunted by the ever-present possibility that George might not come home.
Drawing on years of research, this powerful and beautifully written novel is a timeless story of desire, redemption, and the lengths we are willing to go for honour, glory, and love.
You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz
Grace Reinhart Sachs is living the only life she ever wanted for herself, devoted to her husband, a pediatric oncologist at a major cancer hospital, their young son Henry, and the patients she sees in her therapy practice. Grace is also the author of You Should Have Known, a book in which she castigates women for not valuing their intuition and calls upon them to examine their first impressions of men for signs of serious trouble later on. But weeks before the book is published, a chasm opens in her own life: a violent death, a missing husband, and, in the place of a man Grace thought she knew, only a chain of terrible revelations. Left behind in the wake of a spreading and very public disaster and horrified by the ways in which she has failed to heed her own advice, Grace must dismantle one life and create another for her child and herself.
My Sister’s Grave by Robert Dugoni
Tracy Crosswhite has spent twenty years questioning the facts surrounding her sister Sarah’s disappearance and the murder trial that followed. She doesn’t believe that Edmund House — a convicted rapist and the man condemned for Sarah’s murder — is the guilty party. Motivated by the opportunity to obtain real justice, Tracy became a homicide detective with the Seattle PD and dedicated her life to tracking down killers.
When Sarah’s remains are finally discovered near their hometown in the northern Cascade mountains of Washington State, Tracy is determined to get the answers she’s been seeking. As she searches for the real killer, she unearths dark, long-kept secrets that will forever change her relationship to her past — and open the door to deadly danger.
Machine Quilting With Style by Christa Watson
Quilt along with Christa using walking-foot “or “free-motion techniques to create fabulous quilts–from start to finish–on your home sewing machine. Award-winning quilter Christa Watson shows you how with 8 different walking-foot designs and 10 free-motion quilting motifs, plus 12 inventive patterns to put all the quilting techniques to use!Go beyond quilting in the ditch–quilt parallel lines, radiating lines, and shattered lines as you turn straight stitches into walking-foot wonders that wow!Love the look of free-motion quilting but not sure where to begin? Start with simple stipples and expand your repertoire to include wandering waves, boxes, pebbles, loops, and many more.Discover Christa’s top tips for machine-quilting success and learn to use quilting designs to enhance each part of the quilt, whether you’re making a baby quilt, wall quilt, or throw.
Clam Wake by Mary Daheim
In this delightfully charming Bed-and-Breakfast mystery from acclaimed USA Today and New York Times bestselling author Mary Daheim, innkeeper and irrepressible sleuth Judith McMonigle Flynn and Cousin Renie face off against a slippery, cold-blooded killer in a beach community
With the holidays over and Hillside Manor light on guests, innkeeper Judith McMonigle Flynn has a bad case of the January blues. It doesn’t help that her husband, Joe, is leaving for New Zealand on a once-in-a-lifetime fishing trip with Cousin Renie’s husband, Bill. A few days away housesitting at her aunt and uncle’s retirement home on Whoopee Island with Renie sounds like the perfect getaway to lighten her mood. Surrounded by retirees in the off season, the cozy beach town is sure to be quiet and restful, and Auntie Vance has stocked the fridge with all their favorite dishes.
But when Judith and Renie arrive, they quickly discover that the seniors of Obsession Shores prefer cold cocktails and hot gossip to sets of canasta and gin rummy. The latest news buzzing around the community is about a proposed ordinance that has divided the residents, turning neighbor against neighbor. And of course it isn’t too long before Judith and Renie stumble across a dead body on the beach. Death isn’t surprising in an area full of older folk—until they learn it was a very sharp knife, not a bad ticker, that did in the victim. Though she’s curious, Judith has made a promise: no more sleuthing. Yet with clouds of suspicion suddenly hovering over her and Renie, she’s got to look into the crime—if only to prove their innocence.
What she finds is puzzling. The victim reputedly didn’t have an enemy in the world—except for the killer. Beneath the town’s booze-soaked boredom Judith and Renie uncover dangerous shams, scams, and secrets. Digging for clams and answers, the cousins discover that retirement can be deadly—at least among the eclectic, eccentric residents of Obsession Shores.
And Furthermore by Judi Dench
From London’s glittering West End to Broadway’s bright lights, from her Academy Award-winning role as Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love to “M” in the James Bond films, Judi Dench has treated audiences to some of the greatest performances of our time. She made her professional acting debut in 1957 with England’s Old Vic theatre company playing Ophelia in Hamlet , Katherine in Henry V (her New York debut), and then, Juliet. In 1961, she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company playing Anya in The Cherry Orchard with John Gielgud and Peggy Ashcroft. In 1968, she went beyond the classical stage to become a sensation as Sally Bowles in Cabaret, adding musical comedy to her repertoire. Over the years, Dench has given indelible performances in the classics as well as some of the greatest plays and musicals of the twentieth century including Noël Coward’s Hay Fever, Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, Kaufman and Hart’s The Royal Family and David Hare’s Amy’s View (for which she won the Tony Award). Recently, she made a triumphant return to A Midsummer Night’s Dream as Titania, a role she first played in 1962, now played as a theatre-besotted Queen Elizabeth I.
Her film career has been filled with piercing performances of unforgettable women: Queen Victoria inMrs. Brown, the terrifying schoolteacher Barbara Covett in Notes on a Scandal and the writer Iris Murdoch in Iris. And, for the BBC, Dench created another unforgettable woman when she brought her great comic timing and deeply felt emotions to the role of Jean Pargetter in the long-running hit BBC series As Time Goes By.
And Furthermore is, however, more than the story of a great actress’s career. It is also the story of Judi Dench’s life: her early days as a child in a family that was in love with the theatre; her marriage to actor Michael Williams; the joy she takes in her daughter, the actress Finty Williams, and her grandson, Sammy. Filled with Dench’s impish sense of humor, diamond-sharp intelligence and photos from her personal archives, And Furthermore is the book every fan of the great Judi Dench will cherish.
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
During an unnamed battle, 18-year-old private Henry Fleming survives what he considers to be a lost cause by escaping into a nearby wood, deserting his battalion. He finds a group of injured men in which one of the group, the “Tattered Soldier”, asks Henry, who’s often referred to as “The Youth”, where he’s wounded. Henry, embarrassed that he’s whole, wanders thru the forest. He ultimately decides that running was the best thing, & that he’s a small part of the army responsible for saving himself. When he learns that his battalion had won the battle, Henry feels guilty. As a result, he returns to his battalion & is injured when a cannon operator hits him in the head because he wouldn’t let go of his arm. When he returns to camp, the other soldiers believe he was harmed by a bullet grazing him in battle. The next morning he goes into battle for a 3rd time. While looking for a stream from which to attain water, he discovers from the commanding officer that his regiment has a lackluster reputation. The officer speaks casually about sacrificing Henry’s regiment because they’re nothing more than “mule drivers” & “mud diggers”. With no regiments to spare, the general orders his men forward. In the final battle, Henry becomes one of the best fighters in his battalion as well as the flag bearer, finally proving his courage as a man.
As always, you can follow me on Goodreads here. Happy reading!