Well, the day after the reduction at work, there are 17 people left including upper management. I was busy with phones all day but the day went quickly.
Tonight I'll watch Say Yes to the Dress and Spartacus. Woot!
Recap of books read in January:
THE TEMPLAR LEGACY by Steve
Berry 1st of 8 in series featuring
Cotton Malone, an ex-US Justice Department agent. “The Knights Templar
possessed untold wealth and absolute power over kings and popes . . . until the
Inquisition, when they were wiped from the face of the earth, their hidden
riches lost. But now two forces vying for the treasure have learned that it is
not at all what they thought it was–and its true nature could change the modern
world. Cotton Malone, one-time top operative for the U.S. Justice Department,
is enjoying his quiet new life as an antiquarian book dealer in Copenhagen when an
unexpected call to action reawakens his hair-trigger instincts–and plunges him
back into the cloak-and-dagger world he thought he’d left behind. It begins
with a violent robbery attempt on Cotton’s former supervisor, Stephanie Nelle,
who’s far from home on a mission that has nothing to do with national security.”
It was published in 2006 and has 496 pages. Thriller, Da Vinci Code-ish but I
would read more in the series.
ANATOMY OF MURDER by Imogen Robertson
2nd of 4 in series featuring Harriet Westerman, mistress of Caveley Park
manor, and anatomist Gabriel Crowther, in the 1780s, in West Sussex, England. “London, 1781. Harriet
Westerman anxiously awaits news of her husband, a ship's captain who has been
gravely injured in the king's naval battles with France. As London's
streets seethe with rumor, a body is dragged from the murky waters of the Thames. Having gained a measure of fame as amateur
detectives for unraveling the mysteries of Thornleigh Hall, the indomitable
Mrs. Westerman and her reclusive sidekick, anatomist Gabriel Crowther, are once
again called on to investigate.” It was published in 2010 and has 384 pages. A
fun Sherlock and Watson type relationship.
ANGEL OF DEATH by PC Doherty 4th of 17 in series featuring Hugh Corbett, a
spy for King Edward I in England.
“In 1298, Edward I of England
invaded Scotland and
brutally sacked the town of Berwick,
razing to the ground the Red House of the Flemings who had permission to trade
there. He little knew his action would have far-reaching repercussions. A year
later, Edward convokes a great assembly of the realm in St Paul's Cathedral. They are to hear Mass
after which the main celebrant, Walter de Montfort, has been delegated to
lecture the King on not taxing the Church. During the Mass, de Montfort dies a
sudden and violent death. Hugh Corbett, the King's clerk, is given the task of
solving the mystery and tracking down the murderer. Against the background of
Edward's struggle to maintain himself, both at home and abroad, Corbett's
investigations become tortuous and laced with danger...” It was published in
1989 and has 159 pages. Medieval history isn’t necessarily as familiar as
later eras; it is good to learn through characters’ “lives.”
WINGS OF FIRE by Charles Todd 2nd of 15 in series featuring Ian Rutledge, a
shell-shocked World War I veteran returning to his job at Scotland Yard, in London. “Scotland Yard
Inspector Ian Rutledge is dispatched to Cornwall
to investigate three deaths, seemingly a double-suicide and an accident that
have occurred within weeks in the Trevelyan family. In the village of Borcombe,
Rutledge learns that one of the apparent suicides, Olivia Marlowe, wrote as
O.A. Manning, a poet whose work had uncannily captured both the misery of war
and the passion and beauty of love. Olivia Marlowe and her devoted half-brother
Nicholas Cheney died of poisoning within hours of each other. Another
half-brother, Stephen FitzHugh, the only family member opposed to selling the
family estate where Olivia and Nicholas lived, fell down the stairs to his
death not long after the funeral.” It was published in 1998 and has 320 pages.
Came late to the series but liking it.
THE HAUNTED ABBOT by Peter
Tremayne 12th of 23 in series featuring
Sister Fidelma, a 7th century Celtic sister and legal advocate in Kildare,
Ireland. “Fidelma of Cashel and her beloved companion Brother Eadulf have one
final journey to make before returning to Ireland. Invited to Aldred's Abbey,
where Eadulf's childhood friend Brother Botulf is steward, they arrive at
midnight on the old pagan festival of Yule to find Botulf dead - his head caved
in by a blunt instrument. As Fidelma and Eadulf soon learn, murder isn't the
only danger facing those in the abbey. The ghost of a young woman haunts the
cloister shadows, a ghost closely resembling the Abbot's dead wife.” It was
published in 2002 and has 336 pages. Always a solid historical mystery series.
Nonfiction:
THE END OF YOUR LIFE BOOK CLUB by Will Schwalbe “What are you reading?” That’s the
question Will Schwalbe asks his mother, Mary Anne, as they sit in the waiting
room of the Memorial
Sloan-Kettering Cancer
Center. In 2007, Mary
Anne returned from a humanitarian trip to Pakistan
and Afghanistan
suffering from what her doctors believed was a rare type of hepatitis. Months
later she was diagnosed with a form of advanced pancreatic cancer, which is
almost always fatal, often in six months or less. This is the inspiring true
story of a son and his mother, who start a “book club” that brings them
together as her life comes to a close. Over the next two years, Will and Mary
Anne carry on conversations that are both wide-ranging and deeply personal,
prompted by an eclectic array of books and a shared passion for reading. Their
list jumps from classic to popular, from poetry to mysteries, from fantastic to
spiritual. The issues they discuss include questions of faith and courage as
well as everyday topics such as expressing gratitude and learning to listen. Throughout,
they are constantly reminded of the power of books to comfort us, astonish us,
teach us, and tell us what we need to do with our lives and in the world. Reading isn’t the
opposite of doing; it’s the opposite of dying. When they read, they aren’t a
sick person and a well person, but a mother and a son taking a journey
together. The result is a profoundly moving tale of loss that is also a joyful,
and often humorous, celebration of life: Will’s love letter to his mother, and
theirs to the printed page.” It was published in 2012 and has 352 pages. Lovely
and made me cry.
THE
LITTLE BOOKSTORE AT BIG STONE GAP: A Memoir of Friendship, Community, and the
Uncommon Pleasure of a Good Book by Wendy Welch. “Keeping an
independent bookstore thriving is problematic in even the biggest cities and
best of economic times, and it’s especially difficult in a rural community of
5,000 facing a major economic downturn. Yet none of those factors deterred
Welch and her husband from impulsively buying a ramshackle Victorian mansion
and filling it with thousands of used books. Nor did their lack of book trade
knowledge or any type of local support stand in their way. Frugal, resourceful,
cunning, and determined, they vowed to win over those who thought they’d never
last.” Published in 2012 and has 304 pages. Enjoyed quite a lot.
MUGGED
Racial Demagoguery from the Seventies to Obama by Ann Coulter. “Going where few
authors would dare, Coulter explores the racial demagoguery that has mugged America since
the early seventies. She shines the light of truth on cases ranging from Tawana
Brawley, Lemrick Nelson, and Howard Beach, NY, to the LA riots and the Duke
lacrosse scandal. And she shows how the 2012 Obama campaign is going to inspire
the greatest racial guilt mongering of all time.” It was published in 2012 and
336 pages. This should be required reading.
Much love,
PK the Bookeemonster.
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