A "Baker's Dozen" of Favorite Books for 2023

and three honorable mentions:

The McMasters Guide to Homicide: Murder Your Employer, Rupert Holmes (fiendish convoluted plot follows three people at a "school for murder" with good reason to "off" their boss)

True North: Travels in Arctic Europe, Gavin Francis (from Shetland all the way to Svalbard, a fascinating tour of the northlands; hey, it's me—you didn't expect me to read about gross tropical places, did you?)

Eleanor and Hick: The Love Affair That Shaped a First Lady, Susan Quinn (Mrs. Roosevelt and the hard-hitting reporter who let the country know about the realities of the Depression)

Did I Ever Tell You This?, Sam Neill (Neill's folksy and informal memoir; like chatting with the chap at a pub)

The Bluebird Effect, Julie Zickefoose (memoirs of a bird rehabilitator, with Zickefoose's stunning watercolors of birds and landscapes)

Revolutionary Roads, Bob Thompson (touring American Revolutionary War historic sites, with the stuff you never learned in history class)

Marmee, Sarah Miller (the diary of Mrs. March from Little Women, the flip side of the classic book)

Life on the Mississippi, Rinker Buck (travels on a flatboat down the mother of rivers; before interstate trucks and the railroad, the rivers and their flatboats were the lifeline of the U.S.)

Together We Will Go, J. Michael Straczynski (a busload of like-minded people, headed for suicide doesn't sound very appealing, but this book is ultimately life-affirming and will make you cry)

The Electricity of Every Living Thing, Katherine May (May's journey to understanding her autism)

In the Company of Sherlock Holmes: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon, edited by Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger (if just simply for three stories, including the one where a protagonist reminds me of Robert Goren)

Travels With George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy, Nathaniel Philbrick (Philbrick and his wife, and sometimes their dog, follow George Washington's tour of the United States during his Presidency)

Fabric, Victoria Finley (I hate sewing, but I love V. Finley; typically, this was magic!)

Runners-Up

Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters, Anne Boyd Rioux (is Alcott still relevant? damn straight she is!)

Creatures of the Kingdom, James Michener (a compilation of the nature chapters from Michener's epic novels)

The Secret History of Christmas Baking: Recipes & Stories from Tomb Offerings to Gingerbread Boys, Linda Raedisch (who knew gingersnaps and fruitcake could have such historical ancestry?)

Books Completed Since December 1

I read only Christmas books during December, so they are all listed in my fall and winter blog "Holiday Harbour."

  Charlie Brown's Christmas Miracle: The Inspiring, Untold Story of the Making of a Holiday Classic, Michael Keane

  A Forest Christmas compiled by Humphrey Phelps

  Dickens' Christmas, compiled by John Hudson

  Hercule Poirot's Christmas, Agatha Christie

  Lovelight Farms, B.K. Borison

  'Twas The Night: The Art and History of the Classic Christmas Poem, written and compiled by Pamela McColl

  Fifty Years of Christmas. edited by Ruth M. Elmquist

Books Completed Since November 1

  Battle of Ink and Ice, Darrell Hartman
On September 1, 1909, Dr. Frederick Cook announced he had reached the North Pole on April 21, 1908. He immediately cabled the New York Herald, which had already underwritten other explorations--it was James Gordon Bennett who had sent Henry Stanley on his search for Dr. David Livingstone. In April of 1909 Robert Peary claimed he had reached the North Pole first; The New York Times took up his cause.

This is the story of "the race for the pole"--and also the rise of New York newspapers from reporting the news to actively making news: sponsoring or even initiating events like Stanley's search for Livingstone, the Spanish-American War, and polar exploration. It's a study of James Gordon Bennett, the editor of the Herald. bon-vivant and not usually in the United States, and Adolph Ochs, the southern native who bought the Times on credit and developed the reputation it has today.

If you think "fake news" is a new thing, this book will disabuse you of that opinion immediately. More truth: neither Cook nor Peary ever reached the North Pole (although it appears Peary got closer than his opponent), and neither of them come off as sterling people in this recounting of the history; heck, even the National Geographic Society comes off as rather shabby. A sobering look at how publicity and money can corrupt.

  Band of Sisters, Lauren Willig
During World War I, a group of Smith College graduates, organized by a tireless alumnus, volunteered to go into the war zone that was Europe, to help in some way: go to villages and bring books, education, helping hands, food, and any other succor they can manage. Surely as college graduates they can manage these simple things!

But when they hit the battlefields, meet the people displaced by combat, and their supplies are delayed or don't come at all, they are forced to rely on teamwork, grit, and invention to help the children and women they have bonded with and have made promises to. It's also the story of the conflict between scholarship student Kate and wealthy, open-hearted Emmie, who had been best friends at Smith until some of Emmie's patronizing friends made Kate feel like a charity case.

This is based on a true story, told in a book written by one of the Smith graduates after the end of the Great War. I really enjoyed it more than I thought it would.

  Hooked, Emily McIntire
This was my first foray into "dark romance" and I'm not sure I'll be back. The sex scenes certainly are...spicy and graphic, though.

This is a riff off Barrie's Peter Pan in McIntire's "Never After" series (all based on fairy tales), in which James "Hook" Barrie runs a criminal drug empire along with his mentor, Ru, and has already killed the uncle who raised him, who he hated. Soon he meets a desirable young woman in his club, Wendy Michaels, who he discovers is the daughter of wealthy businessman Peter Michaels, someone Hook hates as much as he loathed his uncle, so he plans to seduce and discard her as a thumb of the nose to his enemy. But instead he finds himself falling for Wendy and starts to believe she loves him, until she appears to have betrayed him.

No soft-soaping here: there are murders, torture, drug use, child abuse, rough sex, the works. If you feel like dipping a toe in, feel free, but know what you're getting into.

  Lyra's Oxford, Philip Pullman
Pullman has written about a half dozen short stories as companions to his "His Dark Materials" trilogy. This is a 2021 special edition of the first story with illustrations by Chris Wormell, in which Lyra tries to help a raven that is to lead her to a certain alchemist. The illustrations carry this story; it's worth having just for the art.

  Fabric, Victoria Finlay
I hate sewing. I don't even like hemming pants. Occasionally I do hem things, or darn holes. So why did I buy this book? Well, because it's Victoria Finlay and I loved her books about Color and Jewels so much that I knew I'd love her writing if nothing else.

I loved this book, which tells of Finley's travels around the world to trace the history of the fabrics human beings have been using to cover themselves for hundreds of thousands of years, starting with the simplest, barkcloth, where Finley meets some of the last women in the world who still make the traditional item and utilize the original designs. Cotton, wool (and tweed), linen, silk, and others also get their due as we follow Finley around the world: Micronesia, New Guinea, the birthplaces of the cotton empire, England's wool empire, India, the fairy-tale realm (where you find out Sleeping Beauty's spindle isn't what you think it is), and so much more, centuries of different cultures, customs, and designs.

As she travels the world Finley also copes with the aging, illness, and death of both her parents. The combination of stories is unforgettable.

  Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann
The Osage tribe of Indians were driven onto land that white men did not want late in the 1800s, where they kept to themselves and raised families. Then the discovery of oil and the need for petroleum products on their tribal lands made the Osage the wealthiest persons in the world (although the government felt they still had to be "looked after" like children). Until they began dying one by one. Until the deaths became so blatant that the newly-organized FBI and their dynamic new director J. Edgar Hoover took notice and sent a former Texas ranger, Tom White, to investigate.

Told is a chilling tale of greed and white privilege in an era that treated Native Americans as incapable of conducting their own affairs.

Grann has won book awards and the story he tells is compelling, but his narrative seemed a bit flat to me.

  Dead Dead Girls, Nekesa Afia
Louise Lloyd at sixteen was kidnapped, but was able to escape and bring other kidnapped girls home. Alas, she could never make her exacting father, a minister, happy by being the perfectly behaved daughter, so she lives in a rooming house with, among other people, her love Rosa Maria, and finds solace in dancing at Harlem's hottest dance venue in the 1920s, the Zodiac.

Until she gets herself arrested and ordered by a white police officer that she will help them solve the murder of a Black girl that she knew—or else.

Louise is a great, spunky heroine who's in over her head as an amateur investigator (and the police detective knows it). You sometimes want to tell her to wise up. You also feel for her and her love for her sisters, and her awkwardness with her rigid father. And although the author tries hard to give it a 1920s vibe, I never quite believed it took place during the Harlem Renaissance, and I guessed the murderer way too early.

  A Cornish Christmas, Tony Deane and Tony Shaw

  Christmas Past, Brian Earl

Books Completed Since October 1

  Creatures of the Kingdom, James Michener
This is a compilation of all the nature and animal chapters from Michener's sprawling novels like Centennial, Alaska, Chesapeke, and more. I've been wanting it for ages and finally found it in a used book store. These sequences are always preludes to the human dramas of his books and I look forward to them. Some of his most memorable characters are Rufous the bison and the two competing water dogs in Chesapeake.

 The Bride Test, Helen Hoang
Damn, this book made me cry.

Khai Diep is autistic, but all he sees is that he has no feelings. When his favorite cousin Andy dies, he doesn't cry, so he feels he is unfit for a "regular" life that includes falling in love and getting married. His troubled mother travels to Vietnam to find a woman she feels might change his mind. She returns with Mỹ—now known as Esme Tran—a young woman who cleans bathrooms to support herself, her mother, and her secret child. Esme will try to woo Khai, and his mother will pay for her summer in the United States. If it doesn't work, she will go home, at least, with some savings. Khai can't believe what his mother's done, and Esme will do just about anything to get this handsome young man to love her. Except surrender her principles.

Everything about this book feels right: the young man who feels like an outcast because he can't seem to feel, the young woman who wants a better life, even the older brother who's desperate to help. A fulfilling romance read.

 The Murder Room, Michael Capuzzo
This is the story of the Vidocq Society, founded by an FBI agent turned private eye (William Fleisher), a self-taught forensic artist (Frank Bender), and an eccentric profiler (Richard Walter): a group of professional crime fighters who get together once a month to take on cold cases of murder (others include people like Robert Ressler, the basis for the Jack Crawford character in Silence of the Lambs and a forensic pathologist, Hal Fillinger). It's an interesting book, first chronicling the three founders' initial interest in crimefighting and then going on to cover some of the more interesting cases the Vidocq Society had investigated.

However, Capuzzo goes on and on about such things as Bender's "open marriage" (his wife allows him girlfriends, but he has to bring them home and she has to approve them). Bender weaves through this book like a forensic sculptor Hugh Hefner, constantly on the make. Richard Walter is described as precise and eccentric, a living embodiment of Sherlock Holmes, chain smoker, living in a Victorian home. He and Bender partner like oil and water, and if I'd heard him described one more time as "the thin man" I thought I was going to scream. The crimes are fascinating, but there should have been less focus on some private lives.

  A Curious History of Sex, Kate Lister
I bought this for Valentine's Day, but only read it now. With tongue firmly in cheek, Lister takes us through the wonderful world of human sexuality, from a discussion of that four-letter word (not the "f word," but the "c word") to a history of the "boy in the boat" (the clitoris), whores, sexual racism, the "evils" of masturbation, sexual gland transplants, sex and food, vibrators and other sex toys, condoms...well, name it, it's here, and illustrated with many examples of Asian sex manuals, "French postcards," and erotic Victorian photography.

Lots of fun to read.

  Star Trek Strange New Worlds: The High Country, John Jackson Miller
This was recommended to me by a friend who usually doesn't like tie-in novels. Thanks, Bill!

Captain Christopher Pike, First Officer Una Chin-Riley, Science Officer Spock, and Cadet Nyota Uhura are testing out a new shuttlecraft to be used on Prime Directive landings. This will keep advanced technology away from planets that are being explored. But as "Eratosthenes" approaches planet FCG-7781 b, on which the Starfleet vessel "Braidwood" disappeared some years go, all her sensors go out and the ship loses power. The crew is evacuated safely, but each person lands in a different place: Pike near what looks like an old West town, Chin-Riley in a forest, Spock underwater, and Uhura near a volcano. What Pike discovers on the planet is incredible: humans from Earth transported from the 1800s and not allowed to progress technologically. But one of them isn't from that era; it's someone Pike knew back on Earth.

This book is a sequel of sorts to a Star Trek: Enterprise episode called "North Star" in which Drayko and his people were introduced, but you need not have watched it. It's a corker of a good SNW story, with inventive plotlines for each of the missing characters (although Spock gets slightly short shrift), great worldbuilding, interesting original supporting characters, chase scenes along with thoughtful processes. Should not disappoint any Star Trek fan.

  Witcha Gonna Do?, Avery Flynn
Matilda "Tilda" Sherwood is a powerless witch—an outré—in a family of witchy overachievers. All of the other witches turn up their noses at her. (Think of her as Rudolph.) Even her presence on a dating service doesn't help, because the darn thing keeps matching her up with Gil Connolly, who she considers a jerk. Actually, it keeps happening because the Witch's council thinks Tilda is faking and keeps sending Gil to check her out. If he makes good on his investigation, they just might let his parents back from banishment. And then, somehow, even without power, Tilda manages to mess up one of her sisters' spells and quick freezes the whole family. The only hope: stealing a heavily guarded spell book. Who's gonna help? Gil, of course, because he's discovered Tilda's real secret (the one so secret she doesn't know about it).

As opposed to the Asher book below, this is a much more whimsical book. I liked Tilda and Gil, but the whimsy got tiresome quickly.

  Not Your Ex's Hexes, April Asher
Another rom-com from Books-a-Million's clearance section, this is the second in a series about the magical Maxwell sisters, Violet, Rose, and Olive, who live in a world where vampires, werewolves, angels, demons, and witches live side-by-side with humans. The first book was about Violet; this volume is about Rose. When the story opens, Rose, her sisters, and her bestie Harper are trying to rescue two emaciated horses, not knowing they've already been rescued by veterinarian Damian Adams, half-demon. Rose, as the organizer of the rather illegal rescue, is given community service rather than arrest, service at Damian's animal rescue. Predictably, sparks fly, but Damian's keeping a secret: he can't fall in love because his ex-girlfriend hexed him. If he does, he'll lose his soul.

I liked this much better than Witcha; the sister dynamic is fun, the animal work is cool, and the troubles Rose and her sisters have seem more realistic, but, as I notice other people complained about this book, these folks are supposed to be in their thirties, with responsible jobs. Most of them act more like lovesick teens or college students.

  Better Hate Than Never, Chloe Liese
This is book two in Liese's Wilmot sisters trilogy. I didn't like it as well as the first because Kate is just so angry. She says her parents loved her and Christopher back in their childhood was like a brother, but she never felt loved, but always like a third wheel because her parents had each other and Beatrice and Juliet were twins. The parents sound very supportive, so I don't understand the self-hate.

The story: Kate, the youngest sister, grew up knowing Christopher Petruchio as a good friend, but they have always argued. Christopher, knowing her hostility, tried to keep away from her, but has always been attracted to her. When Kate comes home for Thanksgiving, not wanting to admit she's down and out, as well as out of a job, she immediately gets hostile to Christopher again and he responds in kind until Kate makes a drunken admission that she always thought he hated her.

The absolutely best thing about this book is that near the end there is one of those romance story situations that almost always happens: "the misunderstanding." Almost, but it doesn't, because the characters act like adults and trust that they've heard the wrong thing. Thank you so much.

Books Completed Since September 1

  Dear Little Corpses, Nicola Upson
This is the tenth book in Upson's "Josephine Tey" mysteries in which the writer (the real Tey's actual name was Elizabeth McIntosh; Upson writes of Tey as an original character who wrote McIntosh's novels) is enjoying a quiet stay in at the country cottage she inherited from an aunt in the village of Polstead with her lover, Marta. It is the day before World War II is declared and the village is preparing for the arrival of evacuee children from London. Unfortunately the buses arrive with more children than expected and in the chaos a little girl named Annie from the village vanishes. The longer the search goes on, the more dire the consequences appear to be. In the meantime, an eccentric family take on one little girl but refuse to take her 10-year-old brother, who is temporarily billeted with Josephine and Marta, who are in conflict when Marta's demanding director, Alfred Hitchcock, requires she come to Hollywood early.

I love Upson's writing; she has the talent to make these mysteries sound as if they were written in the 1930s without the unfortunate racism and classism that was rampant at the time. This also captures the spirit of the day leading up to and then the days after Great Britain declared war on Nazi Germany, and the attitude of a small town preparing to take in frightened and bewildered children. The menace of secrets held within the village limits is also well portrayed. I really enjoyed this one.

  Border Crossings: A Journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway, Emma Fick
This is the niftiest travel book I've seen in a long time. Fick and her "then-boyfriend, now-husband" Helvio, inspired by a used book about traveling the Trans-Siberian Railway, decide to do just that. They start in Beijing and end in Moscow. The unique thing about the book is that it's narrated in Fick's watercolor sketches and hand-lettered narrative. The whole thing is priceless...sketches of Mongolian nomads, Chinese train officials, countrysides, local houses, decorations, foods, passports, tickets, customs, animals, even the Moscow subway stations. It's fascinating, a real treat for the eyes.

 The Make-Up Test, Jenny L. Howe
Picked this up off the remainder table in Books-a-Million and discovered with amusement that it was set in a fictional college in Rhode Island (and the protagonist is from Maine)—it even features the Jack O'Lantern Spectacular at Roger Williams Park in one chapter. Allison Avery and her ex-boyfriend Colin Benjamin find they're going to have to work together in graduate school. Allison's looking forward to talking about literature and especially with working with Professor Wendy Frances, but the thought of teaching a class has her flummoxed. A whole book about people who obsess about books! And although Allison is plus-sized, it's not mentioned on every page of the book but exists as an undercurrent of the difficult relationship she has with her father. No crazy gay friends; they're all sane here. And Professor Frances is a wonderful, supportive character.

 The Rediscovery of America, Ned Blackhawk
An exhaustive scholarly history of how European exploration and settlement of North American, primarily the United States, ruined the thriving Native American settlements all over the continent. I was quite pleased to find an expansion of a history of the southwestern settlements like Acoma that Alistair Cooke touched on briefly in the second episode of his 1972 series America. Also enjoyed a further exploration of my home region of New England, if "enjoyed" can be properly used to refer to a narrative of steady betrayals and brutalities. I was also interested to learn of the contributions of Native American women like Laura Cornelius Kellogg and Elizabeth Bender Cloud in the fight for Native rights, since I had never heard any historical references to Native women, just modern ones like Wilma Mankiller. One must be strong-stomached to read the endless litany of broken agreements, unfulfilled treaties, and flat-out removals of indigenous people from the lands where their ancestors had fished, farmed, and hunted for ages, not to mention the terrible boarding schools and removal of children from their parents into foster care, where the kids were forbidden to speak about their heritage and they were often abused physically and sexually. Note that early settlement is covered more thoroughly than modern events.

I did find a minor error in the chapter which talks about the popularity of Westerns on television/in movies in the late 1950s featuring stereotypical and more than often offensive Native characters. Blackhawk states that Disney's "Peter Pan...Americanized the English tale Peter and Wendy and incorporated Indian characters and music in its depiction of Never Never Land." The "Red Indians" (as the British called them) in Peter Pan were ported directly from J. M. Barrie's book, which I read for the first time only a few years ago. Tiger Lily and the other members of her tribe were already there in glaring racist display, with Tiger Lily talking in a horrific "Pidgin Chinese" manner, substituting "Ls" for "Rs" ("Velly velly good" and similar dialog). It was repulsive. The British were apparently fascinated by American and Canadian "savages" and loved to see them in adventure tales.

 Truly, Madly, Sheeply, Heather Vogel Frederick
This is the last of the Pumpkin Falls mysteries, according to the advertisement, and I will miss Truly Lovejoy, her ex-military family, and her new home in New Hampshire. It's a busy autumn for the Lovejoys: Aunt Truly is marrying her old sweetheart, and they're buying a dilapidated farm on which they plan to raise sheep to make specialty yarn, plus at school they're building catapults in science class for the annual pumpkin toss. But someone seems to be trying to drive True and Rusty off their farm, not to mention decorative pumpkins are disappearing all over town. It will take Truly and her friends to solve both mysteries. And what about the new boy in school? Will he take Truly's mind off her friend Calhoun?

A couple of quibbles: What kind of fourteen-year-old still believes in haunted houses and ghosts, especially in a military family? And then there's the matter of the names of the sheep: One of the ewes (all but the ram named after famous women) is named "Frances" Scott Key? Couldn't another female historical figure have been found rather than turning a man's name into a woman's? Dolley after Dolley Madison, who saved the Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington? Sybil for Sybil Ludington who rode through the night to call the militia to help at the Battle of Ridgefield? Anne for Anne Hutchinson, who was a woman minister in Rhode Island who was persecuted because women weren't supposed to preach the gospel? Celia for Celia Thaxter, famous New England artist? Sheesh.

This has the most beautiful cover of any of the Pumpkin Falls mysteries. I'd love to have a print of it to frame!

 Travels With George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy, Nathaniel Philbrick
A delightful voyage with Philbrick and his wife (and their Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever Dora) as they retrace a tour of the entire United States as taken by George Washington by mostly carriage (but some by ship) between 1789-1791 to rally the states to accept the new Constitution. Like our first president, the Philbricks do the tour in stages following Washington's route via his journals and diaries, so it's a travelogue, a history of Washington's life, and a slice of life in post Revolutionary America all at once. I loved this book to death.

 The Ghost and the Stolen Tears, Cleo Coyle
The eighth book in the "Haunted Bookshop Mystery" series taking place in the fictional Quindicott, Rhode Island. Jack Shepard, the New York private eye shot dead in the entrance to the old bookstore now owned by Penelope Thornton-McClure and her aunt Sadie. Penelope, a widow with a school-age son, returned to her hometown and revived the fading shop, is the only one who can see Jack's ghost, now haunting the store. Alas, in this outing, as in the seventh book, Jack has turned into a martinet again, talking too much slang and bullying Penelope. As always, Penny's travel "back in time" sequences via Jack's lucky nickel are the most interesting parts of the book, and her two buddies Seymour the postman and Brainert the professor get more annoying by the day. Oh, the plot has to do with a missing necklace and a nomadic woman who travels around in her trailer.

 The Director: My Years Assisting J. Edgar Hoover, Paul Letersky with Gordon Dillow
This is Letersky's story of being an assistant to the famous and sometimes infamous J. Edgar Hoover. Letersky is evidently a Hoover fan, although he's not silent about Hoover's likes and dislikes. One hears so much about Hoover's buddy Clyde Tolson, but in this narrative he's a tottery cranky old guy. The best part of his book are Paul's stories about Helen Gandy, Hoover's private secretary for over fifty years, and about his own career as an FBI agent.

  It Happened One Fight, Maureen Lee Lenker
This book would be a lot shorter without the male and female protagonists constantly shoring up each other's egos once they finally begin talking to each other. It has its good parts—a lively 1930s based romance between Dash Howard (based on Clark Gable) and Joan Davis (based on Joan Crawford and Bette Davis), who find themselves married after a prank. So they go to Reno to make a film, after which they will be publicly divorced. But they've always had feelings for each other. and things don't go as planned.

Lenker has a nice sense of the 1930s, and so many of the things the actors endured back then (including the casting couch and pleasing gossip columnists, even if the latter costs your soul). In the end, though, I felt a bit empty.

  Pony, R. J. Palacio
Silas Bird is an unusual 12-year-old. Some years earlier he was struck by lightning and survived. Brought up in a solitary cabin by his photographer father in the 1860s, one night rough riders abduct his father to help with some sort of project that will make him a fortune. His father tells him to wait at the cabin until he returns, but after two days he packs up and mounts the bald-faced pony the kidnappers had brought with them and then apparently escaped. The pony leads him—and his "imaginary companion" Mittenwool—to a wood where he teams up with a grizzled marshal looking for counterfeiters, and this is only the beginning of Silas' adventure. Silas is a very peculiar boy and I was irritated by the narrative at first, but the story soon becomes very compelling.

Warning: some people have had problems with this story because there's a very subtle gay character in it. Big deal.

 The Best American Travel Writing 2021, edited by Padma Lakshmi
I don't know what possessed me to buy this book after what happened in 2020...but I was pleasantly surprised! Many of the essays had to do with staying home during the pandemic and missing travel or discovering new things about staying at home, or what happened to travelers during the pandemic, like the first story about quarantine on a cruise ship "Mississippi: A Poem, in Days" and "Out There, Nobody Can Hear You Scream" are the two best, and most sobering, essays about Black travelers and the challenges they still face in America's tourist places. Deep sea diving, the residents of Las Vegas, bathhouses, traveling and suicide—I don't think I caught a bad essay here.

  Heat Rises, Richard Castle
This is the third in the series of "Nikki Heat" novels supposedly written by the author hero of the television series Castle. The stories are basically extended Castle stories with the characters' names changed and a couple of tweaks. Kate Beckett = sexy Nikki Heat, Richard Castle = magazine journalist Jameson Rook (Castle/Rook, get it?), Captain Montgomery = Captain Montrose, Ryan and Esposito = Raley and Ochoa, Laney Parish = Lauren Parry. (Rook's mom is also an actress, and has a part in this novel as well.) In this outing, Heat is called to a crime scene at a bondage dungeon where the victim turns out to be a priest. As she works on the case, she's supported by someone from "higher up"—until she gets too close to information no one wants revealed. Surprisingly complicated and nonstop plot includes a nail-biting chase through one of the tunnels under Central Park. Really enjoyed this one.

  Yesterday's Britain: The Illustrated Story of How We Lived, Worked and Played, by Reader's Digest
This is a delicious coffee-table sized book (a little over 300 pages) summing up the years 1900-1979 (with a brief coda to the end of the 20th century) in Great Britain starting with chat about the new century, through agonizing Edwardian fashions to the terror and carnage of "the Great War" to the sparkling Twenties that landed, like the United States in a 1930s crash, to explode into World War II.

As usual with these books, I get bored once I get to the 50s with all the rock and roll and later hippie stuff, but it's all good with photos, pamphlets, maps, advertisements, and personal recollections. Found this at the library book sale. Would love if there was one for France...I wonder!

  Her Name, Titanic, Charles Pellegrino
This is a nifty combination of a narrative of the voyage of the Titanic alternating with Pellegrino's interviews of Bob Ballard and the story of how Ballard and his crew found the wreckage of the doomed liner. Even if you've already read other Titanic books, Pellegrino's narrative of the night of April 14, 1912, is compelling and interesting, and even contains trivia I didn't know. The latter includes Pellegrino talking about his dad, who worked on the Minuteman missile program. There's an interesting parallel introduced by Pellegrino between the Titanic and the space shuttle Challenger, since both were done in by ice.

Not your typical Titanic book!

Books Completed Since August 1

 The Majic Bus: An American Odyssey, Douglas Brinkley
I bought this at the book sale because I was writing a story about a cross-country book tour and it looked fascinating. It is fascinating, but sort of disappointing at the same time. The book chronicles a course Brinkley taught out of Hofstra University on a six-weeks' odyssey on a tour bus: "An American Odyssey: Art and Culture Across America." They visited not only historical sites, but cultural sites, visiting people like Bob Dylan, Ken Kesey, and William Burroughs. They rented a bus from a strange but manic man named Frank Perugi, who didn't even have the bunks for the students to sleep in when they first started out. The students didn't seem to mind, though, and they have some nifty adventures. It just bothered me that they seemed to concentrate so much on cultural figures who were drug users or frequently bombed on alcohol. 

  People We Meet on Vacation, Emily Henry
Poppy Wright works at a travel magazine and comes from a happy, messy family; Alex Nilsen is a teacher and comes from a fractured one; they meet at college discovering they both come from the same home town. One year they drive home together and then for ten years they go, as friends, on a summer vacation together—until they give in to romantic feelings.

Now Poppy feels dissatisfied: with her job, with her life, and realizes the last time she was happy was on her last vacation with Alex. So she invites him to take one more vacation to her, on what turns out to be a disastrous trip to Palm Springs, in hopes she can get him back. But even the course of friendship doesn't run smooth this time.

Not quite as good as Beach Read, but enjoyable.

 The Book of Books, text by Jessica Allen
This is the book PBS put out when they did "The Great American Read" (which I'm still pissed at because they didn't include The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn). It includes summaries of all one hundred books covered in the specials, plus pullouts about banned books, literary terms, famous book characters, movie adaptations, book covers, and more. I got it on a remainder table. It's worth that.

 The Seven Year Slip, Ashley Poston
I liked The Dead Romantics so much I tried this one, and while I didn't like it as much, it's a sweet story about book publicist Clementine West, who is devastated when her beloved Aunt Analea dies. She's inherited her aunt's New York City apartment, which her aunt once told her had a magical component, a pinch in time. Grief-stricken Clem finds consolation in her job at a publishing house which specializes in cookbooks and who's trying to obtain a new author, the brilliant chef James Ashton.

And then one morning she wakes up to find a strange guy named Iwan in her apartment with a note from her aunt saying he's subletting the apartment for the summer while they're abroad, her aunt's old furniture back where it used to be, and a calendar saying it's seven years earlier. Iwan's time slip continues to pop in and out of Aunt Lea's apartment, and Clem becomes very fond of the young chef...and then more than fond.

It didn't give me the "feels" as much as Romantics, but enjoyable all the same.

  Unmasked: My Life Solving America's Cold Cases, Paul Holes
As a kid, Holes loved the series Quincy, and that's what he finally decided to do for a living, work as a crime analyst in California. His single-minded devotion to his job cost him his first marriage; when he married a second time it was to a woman who also did crime work, so she could better understand him, but there were times even she was dismayed. Holes was there when Laci Petersen's body was found and knew there was foul play; he and a fellow officer were there when Jaycee Dugard was discovered, kicking themselves for having obvious clues. And he was the one who finally tracked down the infamous Golden State Killer, who turned out to be a police officer.

This is the story of Holes' career, from his early days working in a makeshift lab to the final days until his retirement when he picks up the loose ends about Joseph DeAngelo, of sleepless nights spent away from his family because he was so obsessed over catching criminals. It's a fascinating insight of how one man worked, yet sad, too, because so many times he couldn't make the connection, and there were more victims.

 The Sign of Fear: A Doctor Watson Thriller, Robert Ryan
Alas, this is the last of Ryan's wartime mysteries featuring Dr. John Watson, and, as the book opens, he is worried about his old friend Sherlock Holmes, who is in the hospital after suffering a heart attack. Soon, however, he is involved in two mysteries: who has kidnapped members of a wartime board of governors who will decide how much pensions for wounded soldiers will be, protesting that no amount of money is comparable to what they have suffered, and also in the disappearance of an evacuee ship called the Dover Arrow, which was carrying Watson's friend Staff Nurse Jennings. Plus the Germans are plotting a new incendary bomb that threatens to wipe out London.

These are excellent, complex tales with grim wartime themes and this one is no exception; great reads, but the levels of violence are sometimes high—beware that as you go into them.

 The Usborne Science Encyclopedia
This is ostensibly for older children, but I found it a great science refresher, starting with atomic structure and ending with the human body. It covers the elements, plant and animal life, electricity, geology, chemical reactions, and more. Plus the book contains QR codes which can be scanned to show additional videos about the subjects addressed.

 The Secret History of Christmas Baking, Linda Raedisch

Books Completed Since July 1

  Boundaries, edited by Mercedes Lackey
Finally found, having not seen it in any bookstore, used! A much better collection than the next book, Shenanigans. There are several excellent stories that take place in Karse, where anyone with "magical" powers are burned at the stake. There are installments in the running sagas of Lady Cera of Sandbriar, Sparrow and Cloudbrother, the Haven City Watch (this one "The Beating of the Bounds" is particularly good), and Nwah the kyree. Several of the stories involve healers or bards along with the famed Heralds, and a baker is the protagonist of one dangerous tale. All in all a satisfactory read for Valdemar fans.

  Oh, Florida!, Craig Pittman
It happens every day on the news: "Florida man" (or "Florida woman") does something bad, weird, way out, or hateful. Pittman, a Florida resident himself, pulls no punches talking about the crazy state of Florida politics, tourism, everyday living, land-rush past, Disneyfication, and anything else odd that happens in the "Sunshine State." (Me, I think they're all crazy with the heat and from the insect population.) Very funny book, but I'd find a used copy. Really, Florida isn't worth that much.

  Something in the Heir, Suzanne Enoch
Emmeline Hervey doesn't want to leave the home she was brought up in, Winnover, but her grandfather, the stuffy Duke of Welshire, requires the home to go to someone who's married and will have a family. She's known William Pershing since childhood, and knows he's tired of being "matchmade" with suitable women. So, to keep the family home, she offers Will a proposition: they will be married, and she will live her life and he will live his, and she will support his future endeavors in politics. And for eight years they live a satisfactory life, until her grandfather bids them come to his birthday celebration and bring their two children, two children Emmeline made up to make him happy. So they decided to "borrow" two children from the orphanage for a while, and teach them to act like own—except the eldest, George, is determined he and his five-year-sister won't go back. And then their older brother James shows up, determined to make money from the sham whatever way he can. A fun little book, although I wasn't fond of the initial lie that started the plot.

 The Electricity of Every Living Thing, Katherine May
I really enjoyed Wintering, so I was eager to read this one, too. What a surprise to find it was a journey not only of her walk of the South West Coast Path, but one of personal discovery. She had always felt she didn't fit properly into the world, and then she heard a broadcast on the radio, in which a woman being interviewed talks about being on the autistic spectrum. May realizes that the woman's revelations mirror her own, and she spends some of the book trying to understand herself as well as getting a diagnosis. I was very surprised to recognize I had some of the same traits, in a more muted form. I also love the fact that May's husband, "H" as she calls him, has such patience with the challenges she has. I love the way he respects her feelings and tries to see things as she does, and understands that she loves him and their son, but has a hard time with dealing with elements of the modern world. The hiking bits are also lovely.

  Hot and Sour Suspects, Vivien Chien
Her best friend Megan convinces Lana Lee, now the manager of the family business Ho-Lee Noodle House, to host a speed-dating event at the restaurant. It works out well, too, except that their friend, Rina Su, who runs the Asia Plaza cosmetics shop, hooks up with a guy called Gavin Oliver. And very soon Oliver is murdered, and Rina is the chief suspect. It's the usual: Lana's police officer boyfriend tells Lana to keep her nose out of it, while Lana, Megan, and Kimmy Tran investigate behind the scenes. I think the killer eventually gives themself away in this outing, because it literally can't be anyone else.

  Apollo 1: The Tragedy That Put Us on the Moon, Ryan S. Walters
Early warning: only about half of this book is actually devoted to the fire and the aftermath. About half is a history of the early space program up to the fire. However, the half of the book about the fire is very interesting and ties in with the From the Earth to the Moon episode "Apollo 1." We have a lot of books about the Apollo missions and many of the astronaut biographies, but there were still things in this book that I didn't know about the fire, including the controversy about the Block I capsule, the animosity between Joe Shea and Harrison Storms, and the results of the fire investigation and the hearings, especially the Phillips report.

 The Golden Specific, S.E. Grove
The sequel to the fanciful The Glass Sentence, in which "The Great Disruption" divided Earth into different time eras: the U.S. is "New Occident" which never went beyond 15 states; the British Isles are trapped in the medieval era, Canada is trapped in prehistory, and the Papal States rule under an Inquisition-like government. Sophia Tims, who in the previous book rescued the orphaned Theodore Thackeray, asks him to accompany her on the search to Ausentinia, where she believes her parents are located. But she ends up sailing to Europe alone on a strange odyssey while Theo becomes involved in the murder of a government official; the accused killer? Sophia's uncle Shadrack the mapmaker. Just as wonderful and fanciful as the first book. The conclusion is The Crimson Skew.

  Bones: A Forensic Detective's Casebook, Dr. Douglas Ubelaker & Henry Scammell
Just what it claims to be: a true-crime book by a forensic pathologist illustrating how different crime evidence points out what happened to the victim. For instance, criminals many times burn bodies thinking they can destroy the evidence, but even the smallest clue left on a bone can tell the tale. Each chapter is about evidence found on a certain part of the body, or based upon a certain kind of wound. It's lengthy and kind of dry, but at the same time interesting.

  In the Company of Sherlock Holmes: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon, edited by Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger
This is a collection of Sherlock Holmes-related stories that almost never puts a foot wrong. I was delighted, even if I felt as if the Ellison and Wilson entries were a bit disappointing considering what came before them. My absolute favorites in this volume: "The Adventure of the Laughing Fisherman" in which an at-sea young man takes his therapist's suggestion and gets into detection (maybe others figured out the twist in this one, but I didn't and was delighted), the stirring "Dunkirk" in which an elderly gentleman named Sigerson "does his bit," and "The Thinking Machine," in which the protagonist reminded me so much of Robert Goren on Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Also of note: a coda to the story of Silver Blaze, told by the horse himself, and an amusing tale recounting The Hound of the Baskervilles in the style of Facebook. The other stories are good, too. But those three!