Books Completed Since January 1

  A Warwickshire Christmas, edited by David Green

  A West Country Christmas, edited by Chris Smith

 The Race to the Future, Kassia St. Clair
Enjoyable narrative about a race from Peking to Paris in 1908, set against the history of the time. Annoying, however, were mistakes like these: "...their mud-caked crews in driving coats, hats and googles." And the biggie: "William Penn...who designed Philadelphia...[e]ach of the dwellings in his city—whose name translates to 'Penn's Woods'..." Um, no. Pennsylvania means "Penn's Woods." Philadelphia means "city of brotherly love."

  Special Agent: My Life on the Front Lines as a Woman in the FBI, Candice DeLong
Nonfiction.

  Not Another Love Song, Julie Soto
Professional violinist Gwen Jackson is offered first chair of the Manhattan Pops orchestra to the displeasure of Xander Thorne, cellist extraordinare. However, they're both attracted to each other.

Favorite Books of 2024

Another Baker's Dozen:

 The Boys, Ron and Clint Howard (the Howard boys' breezy story of their careers)

 The Personal Librarian, Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray (a novel based on the fascinating story of Belle da Costa Greene, J.P. Morgan's personal librarian, who was "passing" for white)

  Getting Smarter, Barbara Feldon (Feldon's story of her career and her unusual marriage to Lucien Feldon)

  Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Will Kemmerer (Native American traditions lovingly described and the use of them to combat modern pollution)

 The Kiss Quotient, Helen Hoang (the first of three novels about romance and neurodivergent characters)

 The Wonderful World of James Herriot, with additions by Emma Marriot (mostly retellings from Herriot's books, but with real-life framing sequences about Alf Wight and his family)

  Sophie Go's Lonely Hearts Club, Roselle Lim (a Chinese girl who failed matchmaking school comes home determined to make a go of it anyway, despite her mother's criticism)

  Vesper Flights, Helen McDonald (essays by McDonald, author of H is for Hawk; I liked it better)

  American Ramble, Neil King, Jr. (King walks from Washington DC to New York City via back roads to discover "real America")

  Front Desk, Kelly Yang (uplifting book about a Chinese girl and her parents who take over running a motel from a conniving manager)

  A Different Mirror, Ronald Talaki (the history of the United States as seen by the marginalized: enslaved persons, indentured servants, women, immigrants, Irish peasants, Asian workers, Hispanics)

  Sensational: The Hidden History of America's “Girl Stunt Reporters”, Kim Todd (women break away from reporting about society events and cooking by going undercover; the history of Nellie Bly and her sister "stunt reporters")

  Over My Dead Body, Greg Melville (the history of cemeteries in the U.S., from "boneyards" and hidden slave graveyards to regal parks like Mount Auburn Cemetery)