This is a Good Book Thursday, June 28, 2018

~ Jenny

This week I read Agatha Christie because that’s about all I could cope with.  First time I ever realized you need to be healthy to read, or at least achieve a minimal rate of oxygen exchange. Christie is a truly abysmal romance writer, but she’s solid on character and terrific at plotting.  My Golden Age faves are Allingham and Heyer and Gilbert (stretch Golden Age a bit there), but Christie is always a classic.  So what are you reading?

126 thoughts on “This is a Good Book Thursday, June 28, 2018”

  1. Continuing my Zeal-of-the-Recent-Convert Crusie Fest, I binge-read “Fast Women” over the weekend, which I believe means I’m due for “Faking It.” However, FW came with the teaser for “Maybe This Time,” and while I can’t remember for certain if I ever finished “Turn of the Screw,” the screen adaptation of it, “The Innocents,” is one of my all-time favorite flicks. (Loves me a good old-fashioned ghost story!)

    I have to pace my Crusie reading: If I download one to my Nook during the work week, there is a very real danger I won’t get anything done, so I try to hold out until the weekend. However, I have a hair appointment today, so I’ll have all that time sitting under the dryer while the color cooks…

    (Point of order: do standard HTML tags work in the comments? Because not using italics on all those titles is making my eye twitch.)

    1. If you haven’t yet, perhaps you might like to read Welcome to Temptation before Faking It. It’s not necessary, but it is chronological that way.

      1. I actually have read “WtT.” I’ve mostly been reading the books in order of publication, except that “WtT” came with “Bet Me,” so I’ve read that too.

    2. I’m jealous! Isn’t it fun to find an author you love and binge read their works?

    3. Re italics for titles: I just put them in quotes instead – it works to distinguish them from the surrounding text, which is what the italics are for in this case. When email first came into general use, you had no option but plain text; and I’m frequently emailing about books, since I work in publishing, so I’ve just adapted as the form requires.

        1. APA used to require “titles in quotes” and now it’s italics for reference lists. Times change. Here of course Jenny’s book titles are familiar enough to be proper nouns, stand alone :p

  2. I love Heyer and Allingham. And Sayers. I haven’t read Gilbert in years and now can’t remember his books. I guess I should try them again. I see in Wikipedia that he did all his writing on the train to and from London on his way to his day job, to be able to spend time with his wife and seven children.

    I’ve been reading Jo Goodman. She is a little like Mary Balogh in that her descriptions of life a hundred years ago are very precise without being pedantic.

  3. I’m reading Little Elvises, the second Junior Bender book by Timothy Hallinan. It’s good, I’m just having a hard time staying focused as the world burns down around me.

  4. I still loved reading 180 Seconds! That is the best instalove book ever.

    I am now reading In The Sanctuary of Wings by Marie Brennan, the final book in the Lady Trent series and hooooooo boy does she discover something big!

  5. I comfort read Agatha Christie too. I love her puzzles and sometimes a re-read is what the brain can handle.

    Agnes and the Hitman and Good Omens and Mary Roach’s Packing for Mars were the first books I read (re-read actually) in dialysis a couple years ago.

  6. Want to Thank whoever recommended Trisha Ashley. I have really enjoyed her novels for the last two weeks. I also finished The High Tide Club by Mary Kay Andrews and By Invitation Only by Dorothea Benton Frank. Both were good summer reads unfortunately too quick.
    Going back to comfort re-reads. Who is Gilbert?

  7. I just got Robin McKinley’s A Knot in the Grain for kindle on sale and apparently I’ve never actually read it before. Getting brand new (to me) McKinley was a lovely surprise and just what I needed. This is a collection of short stories, some of them in the Damar universe, and since Blue Sword is one of my favorite books ever this was especially exciting.

    1. Yes! It’s one of my favorites. I’m so glad you are enjoying it. My niece (12) is discovering her books and adored the Blue Sword especially. She said she was sad to see it end and it was fun to tell her she’ll be able to re-read it many times and enjoy it just as much.

  8. After reading Nora Roberts latest I went back to find a romantic comedy and found it in The Right Stud by Ilsa Madden Mills about a Southern gal (Ashton) trying to rebuild her late grandmother’s house into a B&B. It contains among other things an elderly tenant (Mrs. C) who owns a parrot (Rufus) with an unfiltered beak, a girlfriend (Lulu) who walks dogs for a living and also brings her goat (Jean Claude van Ram) along for the walks. Oh yeah, the right stud is an architect/property developer turned U-tube home improvement guy (Jax) trying to bring his show to HGTV. It’s bound to be complicated because the house is also owned by Ashton’s brother who wants to sell it.

    Next on my list is Low Country Daddy by Lexi Whitlow a contemporary (not a romcom) about an abused wife (Maddie) with a child who escapes to South Carolina with her son (Justin) gets a job in a local seafood restaurant and meets an oyster fisherman (Jeb). The daddy part is when an ex girlfriend leaves his child (Emma) on his doorstep and he needs help with caring for her. I do like that in both books secondary characters work just as well to bring the story together.

  9. I really enjoyed ‘The Kiss Quotient’ by Helen Hoang – thanks to whoever recommended it here. The only drawback was that it seems to be her first novel, and the next isn’t out until next May. Not that this one’s the start of a series, just that it’s always so jammy to discover a new author and then binge on their back catalogue.

  11. I understand about reading Christie. I just started The Pale Horse because I can’t handle anything else right now (not with the horrible news bombarding us every single day.) I just finished Still Life with Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlan, and it was wonderful. I’d forgotten how much I love her writing. I still need to get (and read) a copy of Agnes and the Hitman. Thanks, whoever mentioned it, for reminding me.

  12. Jenny, if you like Agatha Christie, try Patricia Wentworth. She wrote a series where the private detective is a retired governess named Miss Silver. Mostly set just before and during WWII in England. They’re good. I’m reading Judith Flanders right now. She has written some excellent non fiction, but has been writing mysteries about an editor for a publishing house in London, with lots about the publishing thrown in. The first one is – A Murder of Magpies.

  13. I’m not exactly recommending these because they aren’t for everyone.

    But.

    The Birmingham Rebels series by Samantha Kane. I read all (4) of them last weekend. I’ve now re-read them, because the country is a dumpster fire.

    There are some problems, for sure. But it’s about a football team (camaraderie! guys being good guys!) and they’re all menage books (2 guys, 1 girl) so far. There’s lots of good consent talk – and one place on book 4 where I’m less happy with it. There’s lots of sex-positive- ness (except book 3 where the heroine gets annoying).

    Every time I look at NPR, I go back to the next in this series. I think they’re my new binky….

  14. I’ve just started a re-read of “Why Bad Things Happen To Good People” by Harold S Kushner.

    This after finishing *Kindle Life* by Swami Chinmayananda. It discusses how “…scriptural books provide an exhaustive science of better living…”.

    The publisher’s note explains it as “All misunderstanding about the place of religion in our life and debate regarding rituals and philosophy are resolved in a very lucid manner.”

    I read a about a page a day for months and it helped to navigate the emotional horrors of the effect of American politics on our health and empowerment programs – gag rule is going to kill our women. So I learned to do what I must, to keep sane.

      1. SPOILERS . . .

        Ignore this if you are trying to avoid the news.

        In the US Trump is trying to add a rule that states any clinic receiving government funding “may not perform, promote, refer for, or support, abortion as a method of family planning, nor take any other affirmative action to assist a patient to secure such an abortion.” The one exception is if a woman “clearly states that she has already decided to have an abortion.”

        1. Thanks guys! Send good thoughts and vibes (prayers) to America! We need it!
          I’m doing the same for South Africa and around the world.

  15. Continuing on with my Courtney Milan Brothers Sinister and loved “The Countess Conspiracy” and impatiently waiting for “The Suffragette Scandal.”

    1. I finished my reread of the series this week: it’s a lot of fun. Though perhaps the extra novella at the end, ‘Talk Sweetly to Me’ is too PC to be convincing; I also wondered how much she’d researched Victorian British attitudes to race, when the black charcaters are obviously middle class. I suspect racism got worse in the C20, in fact; and of course there’s a different energy to it given we didn’t have slavery here.

        1. I know: the big difference is, we didn’t have slaves in this country. They were owned by some wealthy British, of course, but on plantations overseas.

          1. NB I’m not trying to deny British involvement in slavery, nor British racism; just saying that our history isn’t the same as the US (given that Courtney Milan is an American author).

  16. I downloaded “The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet” haven’t had much time to read, but several chapters in I’m enjoying the tone and characters.

  17. I was reading Love & Ruin (about Hemingway & his 3rd wife, Martha Gelhorn) but World War II is starting and Fascists and it’s too much like real life so I had to stop reading it. 🙁 So now I’m reading the latest Whiskey Sharp book, which popped into my Kindle Tuesday and is the perfect antidote.

  18. I am reading Withering-By-Sea, Judith Rossell. I purchased it because it was recommended by several commenters here. But before I got around to it my wife stumbled across it, read it, and demanded I purchase the sequel. And subsequently demanded I purchase all future sequels when they come out as well.

    So now I’m trying to catch up.

  20. Inspired by a reread recommendation on Tor.com, I started rereading Zenna Henderson’s “Ingathering” (a compilation of stories in other books). I’ve always loved Henderson’s stories, but I realized that they are particularly comforting these days in that they deal compassionately with refugees from beyond Earth. The viewpoint characters are often schoolteachers in the U S. West.

    2. Wow. I loved those too and I was a kid in the 1960’s when I discovered them! So glad they hold up and are still read and loved. I must try and track them down again. Thank you for the blast from the past!

  21. Still Discworlding.

    Where was I last time? “Soul Music”?
    Anyway, I re-read “Interesting Times”, and just as with several other Discworld novels I’ve re-read recently (and only once before), I only remembered the vaguest outlines of the story. I’ve never really been a Rincewind fan – not that I don’t like him, I just tend more to lean towards Granny Weatherwax, Death/Susan and Sam Vimes – but I definitely enjoyed the read. Quite interested in Asian culture, so it’s fun to see it twisted and turned like that.

    Re-read “Feet of Clay” and YES I love that book! There’s so much sarcastic humor in there. I walked around the house laughing out loud over and over again, Fiancé must’ve thought I was going insane. 🙂

    Skipped “Hogfather” since I re-read that one last December (after you discussed it here, I think) and went on to “Jingo”. Like Interesting Times, I only remembered a little bit of it and certainly not ANYTHING of Vetinari’s tricks. Actually I enjoyed the parts with Vetinari the most. And Carrot bugged me as all hell.

    Now I’m halfway through “The Last Continent” and will read “Maskerade” as soon as I am done. Had to skip it due to the version I had being downloaded by sister’s ex-boyfriend sometime during the stone age with a sound-quality that was unbearable, so I deleted it. Will read it as soon as I have a new Audible credit (which should be after Last Continent).

    Fiancé and I did not pick a Dan Brown to read after all (might still happen though), but settled for a children’s book by Paul van Loon called “Nooit de Buren Bijten”. I don’t know if there’s an English translation (I couldn’t find any on Goodreads), so I assume the English title would be something like “Never Bite the Neighbours”. It’s a, like the author self describes it, hormour story; a humorous horror thing about a family of monsters (A zombie, a werewolf, a vampire, a ghost, a skeleton and a mummy) settling down in a normal human neighbourhood, and the problems with their nextdoor neighbour, whom is determined to wipe them all out after discovering that they are, well, undead. It was quite charming and funny and I can imagine kids loving it (unless they are such chickenshit as I was as a kid 😉 ). Pity the library narrator wasn’t really good enough to make the book justice. She was OK, just not the right person for such a story. You really need someone with acting skills to bring the book to its full potential.

  22. Artemis by Andy Weir was good: a tale of a young woman who lives and works on the Moon colony of the same name. As in his debut, The Martian, Weir creates a science-based fantasy of what it might be like to live on the Moon, including how the politics (both Earth and Moon) are impacted.

    Artemis has more humor than The Martian, due in part to the heroine having a somewhat elastic sense of morality. She’s basically a smuggler who gets caught up in a caper that could get her (and others) killed. It’s unusual to find a heroine of Saudi Arabian descent and I especially liked her interactions with her father.

    Science fiction, not a romance, but I found it enjoyable anyway.

  23. “Iron and Magic” by Ilona Andrews released on Tuesday and I’ve read it three times so far. It’s the first in a trilogy, an urban fantasy series related to the Kate Daniels series also by Andrews. Featuring a formerly secondary character, Hugh d’Ambray, the book was originally an April’s Fool joke. I recommend it highly even if you haven’t read any of the other books. The authors do a terrific job of making the villain you loathed into someone you can understand and care about. It sparked a re-read of the Kate Daniels series so now I’m enjoying them again as well.

    1. I am working on that one too. I know that they warned us, but it is darker than I expected. Enjoyable, but dark. And a redeemed villain is my favorite type of hero!

  24. Just started rereading ‘The Undomestic Goddess’ by Sophie Kinsella, and have got to the good stuff – the workaholic lawyer has just arrived in the country and unknowingly been mistaken for an applicant for the job of housekeeper. It makes me laugh out loud every time.

    2. I love Sophie Kinsella! Her alter-ego is pretty good too, but I love the lightness of Sophie. I should see if she’s got a new book (or three?) out.

        2. Yes, that’s right, Jane. Madeleine is a hard name to spell, and I was too lazy to open a new tab to google it. I like her Wickham stuff, too. But it’s a little more cynical and not quite as fun. Possibly earlier? I do think at least a few are contemporary with the Sophie Kinsella novels, though. Just different flavors, that’s all.

    3. Oooh, I really liked that book. The Shopaholic series didn’t convince me (I’ve only read the first book, I just couldn’t connect with the main character), but The Undomestic Goddess and Twenties Girl showed me I might like Kinsella after all. Have a nice feelgood read!

  25. Based on a recommendation posted on this site, I am reading Leviathon Wakes, the first book in The Expanse series by James S A Corey. It’s a sweeping space opera with an interesting world that doesn’t include devastating Supreme Court announcements. At least not so far.

    For romance, I re-read “Faking It” and “Wild Ride”. Loved them all over again.

  26. I finished The Royal We and Excellent Women. Both good, but not amazing reads!
    I keep re-reading the YA graphic novel The Prince and the Dressmaker. So Good and Comforting!

  27. “My Golden Age faves are Allingham and Heyer and Gilbert (stretch Golden Age a bit there), but Christie is always a classic.”

    I’m sorry; I know Heyer, am going to try Allingham, but who is Gilbert?

    1. Michael Gilbert; wrote in the fifties and sixties. Not quite my cup of tea, but other people here are fans.

      1. Thank you! And I’ve requested one of the later Allinghams from my library. Now to search for Gilbert.

  28. I’m re-reading Wild Ride. I’ve been on a Crusie kick for the last month or so and it’s been glorious!

  29. On a mystery kick too,

    Dandy Gilver & a Deadly measure of Brimstone, first one I have managed to finish, enjoyable and easier to read then her red herring one, which I stalled halfway through, have to get back to it, I was interested in the fishing background.

    Maigret on Holiday, I like his sheer dogged persistence to the end.

    Have also listened to a couple of Agatha Christie, while I like the romance in my favourite ones, the others are a bit weak, ironically I prefer the romance Hercule Poirot intends to nurture between the mummy’s boy who almost got hanged and the girl under her mother’s thumb over the man who fell in love with a girl who had hysterics at him.

  30. Yes, I need the breather the escape into a book does do for me. It takes me away from something that is making me more and more sick and reading is my go to for this. I have a few in my Kindle queue and I will see what will work best on Saturday.

  31. For a fun, fluffy read, I just finished Chef Sugarlips by Tawna Fenske (love her writing, hate the title). Almost done with the most recent book by Katherine Center (author of The Bright Side of Disaster), How to Walk Away. Absolutely fabulous. Women’s Fiction, I guess, although there is a romance in it. I loved her first book, didn’t love her second, and she somehow fell off my radar. Recently rediscovered her and read everything she had written in between. Highly recommended.

  32. I know what you mean about not being able to read. When I had knee surgery I couldn’t read and it was so frustrating. Whenever I’m stressed I turn to reading. Hope you’re doing better now. Matchmaking for Beginners was a really fun read and a much deeper novel than I was expecting. Some great characters, and so thoroughly enjoyed the author’s voice. Oh, almost forgot, it’s by Maddie Dawson.

  33. I dropped everything to read Iron and Magic (Ilona Andrews) and it was everything I hoped it would be, and priceless to just be caught up in a good book for a day.

  34. For he past few years, I have been working my way through the novels of–yes!–Agatha Christie.

    I tried one or two when I was young, didn’t enjoy them, and forgot about her for about 30 years. A few years ago, I tried again, enjoyed it, and have since then been working my way through them all. There are a few I didn’t like (in fact, I’m on one right now that I don’t like–PASSENGER TO FRANKFURT, which is silly without being amusing) and 2-3 that I didn’t finish reading (ex. ENDLESS NIGHT), but I have overall enjoyed it very much. I think I’ve got about 10 to go.

    Some of my favorites include: They Came To Baghdad (love the plucky heroine); Taken At the Flood (interesting look at how English society was changing after WWII); Appointment With Death (very strong portrait of a mother dominating grown children with her monstrous personality); Toward Zero, Crooked House, Murder in Mesopotamia, The Sittaford Mystery… all stories where I enjoyed the characters and atmosphere. Have enjoyed many of the other books, too.

    Currently most of the way through By the Pricking of My Thumbs (Tommy and Tuppence, later in life) and enjoying it, too.

  35. Jenny- I wish you a speedy and full recovery. I’m so grateful for every one of your books and for this blog, particularly in this extremely difficult time our country is facing. Thanks to all who aren’t shying away from what is going on in this world–as painful as it is– as well as your book recommendations that offer respite and/or provoke thought.

  36. I’m impressed you could read anything!

    The only time I have actually enjoyed (and I do use that word a bit loosely) daytime TV was when I’m sick. I am a voracious reader but when I’m sick I can’t follow complex plots and fall asleep easily. Daytime TV is just the level my brain is operating at and it doesn’t matter if I fall asleep because I’m not missing anything important (although sometimes I was tormented by never knowing who the baby daddy was or what they looked like after the makeover ;)).

  37. Been reading a lot of sci-fi/fantasy lately.

    Most recently I’ve been re-reading just about everything I have by Wen Spencer. I love the way she draws her characters and the interactions of not only the individual characters, but also the diverse “races” she creates (elves – four different clans/ oni/ half-oni/ tengu/dragons/humans-stranded-in-Pittsburg! Humans/genetically-modified-humans/different-alien-species/an-inside-out-world! Werewolves/vampires/arch-angels/witches/Boston!) and the exploration of each different society these combinations create. Plus exciting mysteries/action-adventures/love stories and humor underpinning them all.

    And because they are all set in such different, yet familiar worlds, I find myself quietly reminded to look at my in-born prejudices and cultural assumptions without feeling preached at or being hammered by a particular political view-point.

    I just wish that she wrote more quickly.

  38. I’m burying this here because the comments are where the community is. As I believe I mentioned I’m sick. Still in the hospital. Krissie drove seven hours down from Vermont to tale the dogs to the vet to board and to do my dishes. She also comes to the hospital twice a day and makes me laugh. Mollie is being as amazing as usual, calling docs and nurses and telling people who need to be told. I’m a very lucky woman. Except for the congestive heart failure. Nobody knows why, but about a week ago, my heart just collapsed to about 15% of normal function. At this point the reason is moot, they’re just trying to keep me alive, and doing a bang up job of it: the medical team here is great. The key is that we’re not working toward recovery because there is no recovery, my heart muscle is destroyed. OTOH, that means I will spend the rest of my life quietly, reading, crocheting, working on the computer. . . In other words, the same as life before the crash. So everything will be fine, nothing but good times ahead, which by the way, is what I want on my tombstone.

    1. It sounds really scary; also frustrating – I’d really want to know why it happened. Unless it’s just one of those mysteries. Really glad you’ve got Krissie and Mollie with you. And of course we’re all there in spirit – so it must be really crowded.

    2. The “not working towards recovery” and “destroyed heart muscle” sound scary. Based on the rest of the text, I’m interpreting it to mean, you won’t be able to go on long walks or lift heavy objects, but aren’t dying. They’re giving you years to live not weeks, right? Assuming no other major body part failures or other tragedies.

    3. What Jane said. The reason may not be moot if there’s a genetic component. Does CHF run in your family?

    4. I’m glad you have a great support system. Hoping you get to go back home soon to the things you enjoy – crocheting, reading, and your computer. Sending you positive thoughts!

    5. My BIL has had A-fib (different heart failure) for about five years and they did two ablations and installed a pacemaker to take up the slack. None of this worked. They just this summer killed off the heart and put him totally on a pacemaker, which was really scary. However, he is now back to working and he is up to walking a mile and a half a day. He says he feels better than he has in years and he no longer passes out unexpectedly. And my brother had A-fib and they did not do the ablation business but put him on a pacemaker and he is very active again.

      So I am hoping for you that they get the heart squared away and you will better than ever. Nothing but good times ahead.

    8. Love and prayers headed your way. Glad you have Molly, Krissie, and great doctors around you. Hope you’ll be back home with the dogs soon.

    11. I’m so sorry to hear about this, Jenny. It sounds more than a bit terrifying. I hope the good times resume soon – lots of good wishes winging their way across the ocean from Tasmania.

      1. Tasmania! That’s a heart healer right there.

        Think Tasmania, Jenny! With daschsunds! Go go!

    12. Thank you for giving us an update.

      Joining the hordes sending love and support.

    13. I’m really sorry to hear this. Thinking of you and hoping the doctors come up with a good way to keep you crocheting and reading for a long time.

    15. It’s so good to see an update from you! I’d been thinking about you and hoping you were OK but also pondering whether you’d want people to use the line about “drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra” for you too. Should have known you’d be more original than that.

    17. Thanks for the update, Jenny. I’ve been worrying. I’m glad you’re well enough to laugh with Krissie and that you’ve got a great medical team. I hope that they get your heart as stable and strong as possible. My father lived a good life for over a decade with CHF nearly as bad as yours. Hopefully you’ll do even better than he did.

      And I love the idea of nothing but good times ahead on your tombstone. The Dempseys are my favourite characters of yours by far. Sophie’s an inspiration!

    20. So sorry to hear this news. Sending best wishes from across the pond to you, Krissie, Mollie and everyone supporting you.

    21. Life – always ready to fling another challenge at us. So sorry to hear you have been handballed this one. Wishing you the best possible health outcomes and that every day brings you closer to those good times ahead. Which is nothing more than reasonable given all the strength, knowledge, humour, wisdom and snark you so generously share with this wonderful community you have created.

    23. I’ve never met you, you live half the world away, but you’re the creator of my favourite books and the online community I best like to hang out in, so even here in deepest Antipodes, there are people wishing you well. Hope there are in fact many many more years of good times ahead.

    24. Dammit. I am so sorry to hear this. I hope the medical team works miracles for you, which they better, since otherwise they will be answering to all of us. I’m pulling for you, kid.

  39. Yep, but that tombstone is going to have damn well wait! You have lots more reading, writing and crocheting to do before you get to call time.

    My dad has lived with a heart problem for over twenty-five years and at eight-two years old is still with us. My sister was diagnosed with a heart condition six years ago and told to live life normally but don’t stress the heart with any marathon runs etc. She was fine with that because she has never run anywhere let alone a marathon.

    Most important thing right now is to be totally selfish and just think about you and your needs. Sending you lots of love and good vibes from Ireland,

  40. Your support system sounds fab. Having had this same issue hit folks in my family, I know it’s not an easy time. Hope you have kind and caring nurses and get back to your cozy cottage & pups soon.

  41. Gobsmacked and at a loss for words. Except to say – absent the heart crash – your life ahead sounds pretty good to me.

  43. Sounds scary, indeed. Sending prayers, positive thoughts, and good wishes your way. Whichever you prefer, but all three are my go-to’s.

  46. I’m adding my hugs and warm wishes for speedy recovery and many more wonderful years of dogs, friends, and stories ahead of you!

  47. I’m sorry you are going through this and hope you’ll be back home soon. Glad you’ve got a good medical team working to help.

  48. Sending e-hugs (the no need to call 911 kind) and prayers and wishes for effective medical help. Good luck good luck good luck.

  49. Yikes. Thanks for the update, even if it did scare the crap out of me. I hope they get you feeling better and back to the dogs soon. Dogs need their goddess. Yay for Mollie and Krissie–not surprised at all, of course.

    Nothing but good times ahead.

    OR ELSE.

  50. Thank you for the update, and joining in the chorus of well-wishes. NOT the heavenly chorus, not yet.

  52. This does sound scary. Can’t wait until you’re able to be comfy at home with the pups.

  53. Thank you for the update Jenny. Long-time lurker (& big time admirer of your writing) coming out of the shadows to send healing thoughts and prayers your way.

  55. Holy cats woman! Heard about this from the Betties and came over to find out what happens when I don’t read all the comments. Stephen and I are both glad you are safe, and in reference to your next post, home and alive – may that continue for many, many more years. All our love and hugs to you!

  56. I had my own congestive heart failure hospitalization back in September/October. I think I’m still good for 30%. I already had a pacemaker/ICD, so they upped the pulse rate from 40 to 60. My diet is severely sodium restricted, no frozen dinners (they all pack high sodium.) Lots of fresh veggies, and I still get to eat meat and fish.

    Books… I’m in the middle of “Christmas Central Collection: Four Romantic Comedy Novellas and two Short Stories” by Caroline Mickel with a side of “The Hunt for The Red Cardinal” by the Signors, Just finished “No Strings Attached (The Escort Book 1)” by Kristen Strassel, “Rent A Husband: a Romantic Comedy” by Sally Mason, and some other reads from my daily “Fussy Librarian” email. Free books. Loss leaders, good advertising. In addition, I listen to “Welcome to Temptation” (Audible or Blackstone, can’t remember which) when my eyes are tired. I’ll move on to the audiobook of “Faking It” and then “Maybe This Time”. After that, it’s Lois Bujold for the rest of July. I reread “Recursion” by Marion Harmon last week. Other than those, not much.

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