What’s on the Nightstand, or What I am Reading This Week

Week of 11/08/2020

Back to three books this week.  I plan to tackle some of my new books!

Fredrik Backman’s Anxious People released in early September, 2020, and I have been working to stay away from reviews so as not to spoil this book!  It is the story of a gunman who takes eight strangers hostage in an open house in New York.  At its heart, it is a story about people and the secrets they hide.  I am intrigued!

Murder on Millionaires’ Row is the story of a lowly housemaid who works to discover what happened after her boss disappears.  The police do not seem to be interested in an investigation, but she is determined here employer is in danger.  Some ghostly apparitions appear to accost her on the street, leading her into a world that will change her life forever. 

Always delves into the choices we make and the lives we leave behind.  Kailey Crain seems to have it all.  Her career as a journalist is on the rise, and she is recently engaged to a wealthy and successful businessman.  After dinner out one night, she runs into a homeless man who is the love of her past. As she works to help him, she begins to question what she will sacrifice for love. 

Week of 11/01/2020

It’s Election Week!!

I will not complete all three books this week, and I plan to spend many evenings with election coverage, but I do plan to finish my JD Robb In Death series books.  Instead of writing individual book reviews, I plan to review the series as a whole.

YouTube update on this series coming soon.

Week of 10/26/2020

I recently purchased several books at the Barnes & Noble Annex.  Five of those books were in the JD Robb In Death series.  Though I did not get book 1, I will begin from the earliest book and read through my latest book through next week, and I will give you my thoughts on the series!

Week of 10/19/2020

This is a more eclectic week of reads, again. For my birthday, I purchased several books from the Barnes and Noble Annex, and I want to focus on reading some of them this week, again.

When it’s John Cleese, and he’s helping you understand how to be more creative, you listen. This is a short book of around 100 pages, but I know it will be a fun and informative read!

Her One Mistake is a book about a missing child, learning who you can trust and family secrets.  I’ve not read Heidi Perks before, but I thought this one sounded pretty great.  I cannot wait to read. 

Last week I read Motherless Brooklyn, about I had to read after I saw the movie.  This week I will read Boy Erased for the same reason.  This movie was so compelling and the story was so heart-wrenching, I had to invest in the book. 

Week of 10/12/2020

This is a more eclectic week of reads. For my birthday, I purchased several books from the Barnes and Noble Annex, and I want to focus on reading some of them this week, again.

We are getting into the season for curling up under a fluffy blanket and reading something chilling.  Mexican Gothic is my ticket!  I am very excited to get started on this one.

I watched Motherless Brooklyn with Edward Norton a few weeks ago, and I was enamored of the story.  I had to buy the book to learn more, so I am excited to read more of the story!

I didn’t get to this book last week, so I am getting there this week! On a dark and lonely stretch of snowy road Vera Stanope finds an abandoned car with a toddler inside.  She must try to get the toddler to safety and look for the person who left him in the car.  I have not read Vera Stanhope before, but I am excited to see if I can enjoy a new series!

Week of 10/5/2020

This is a more eclectic week of reads. For my birthday, I purchased several books from the Barnes and Noble Annex, and I want to focus on reading some of them this week, again.

New Agatha Christie? New Poirot?  Yes!  Sophie Hannah penned a new Poirot adventure, and I am excited to read this one.

I have not read Jayne Ann Krentz (though I have read Amanda Quick recently, and this is one of her pens) in quite some time, but I enjoyed my previous adventures with her.  A gallery owner whose mother died years ago receives a new painting from an artist who just committed suicide.  This work of art suggests that Mom did not die under natural causes; there may have been more to her death than previously though.

On a dark and lonely stretch of snowy road Vera Stanope finds an abandoned car with a toddler inside.  She must try to get the toddler to safety and look for the person who left him in the car.  I have not read Vera Stanhope before, but I am excited to see if I can enjoy a new series!

Week of 9/27/2020

This is a more eclectic week of reads. For my birthday, I purchased several books from the Barnes and Noble Annex, and I want to focus on reading some of them this week.

I read Karin Slaughter’s The Good Daughter just a few weeks ago, and I enjoyed her writing style.  When I saw another Karin Slaughter at the Annex, I dove in!

Who does not like a good Hallmark-style love story? That’s exactly what this Debbie Macomber story sounded like to me, so I decided to take a chance, though I have not read her previous books.

Though I have not had the opportunity to read Lisa Gardner before, Look for Me sounded compelling.  Family Secrets? An Horrifying Crime? A Missing Daughter?  It sounded like this mystery has a bit of all the elements that make a page-turner. 

Week of 9/20/2020

It’s Nora Roberts week!  I found Year One and Of Blood and Bone on sale at the Barnes and Noble Annex a couple of weeks ago.  After I finished Year One, I immediately started Of Blood and Bone, and I ordered a copy of the third book in the Chronicles of the One Trilogy, The Rise of Magicks.  I am really looking forward to finishing the story of the rise of The Light after The Doom wipes out 75% of the world’s population.

The last book is a short, 181 page stand-alone novel by Nora Roberts. Also purchased through the Barnes & Noble Annex sale, I thought this would make a nice finish from the Nora Roberts trilogy.   

Week of 9/13/2020

The first book I selected, Time’s Convert, is a continuation in the story of the All Soul’s Trilogy.  In this book, Deborah Harkness dives into Marcus and Phoebe’s story as Phoebe’s life ends as a warm blood and her life as a vampire begins.  I enjoyed each book in the All Soul’s Trilogy, so I am looking forward to this one!

The second book, The Richest Man in Babylon, was a gift from my beautiful nephew for my birthday.  Crazy person that he is, his interests include finance and investments…This one is a “classic” and worth the read, according to him.  I am curious to see if my non-finance brain will enjoy this one like he did (Or if I am not smart enough to understand it — my greatest fear!).

The last book on my nightstand is a Nora Roberts I picked up at a sale last week (birthdays call for book indulgences).  I truly enjoyed Shelter in Place last month, so I am looking forward to Year One, book 1 of the Chronicles of The One series.   

Week of 9/6/2020

The first book I selected, The Happiness Project, is a book about building small daily habits in order to truly appreciate life, experience gratitude and find happiness.  Doesn’t that resonate with everyone?

The second book, Believing the Lie, is an Inspector Lynley novel.  I am a huge fan of the series on my PBS station.  I have read Elizabeth George previously, but I found her English to be British and a bit difficult to follow.  I am hopeful that maturity and experience will help with my British-to-American English translation of this one.

The last book on my nightstand is an Eve Duncan novel.  Having now read The Face of Deception, I am hoping to be able to understand this series enough to become involved in this story without having to read the other 19 books that lead to this one.   

Week of 8/30/2020

The first book I selected, Good Omens, is a book I am excited to read, as I loved the original series on Amazon Prime.  I hope the book is as good (and funny) as the series!

The second book, The Face of Deception, is a thriller I needed to read in order to understand my latest Iris Johansen purchase.  The Eve Duncan series builds on itself to the point that readers cannot jump in at book 21 as I did last week with Night and Day.  I am hoping this book gives me enough context to jump into and finish Night and Day next week.

Week of 8/23/2020

This week I am working through some good reads I recently picked up at Barnes and Noble.

The first book I selected, Stealing Home, is the book from which the new Netflix series Sweet Magnolias is based. I enjoyed the series, and I am looking forward to season 2, so I thought I would give the book a shot and see if it is just as fun.

The second book, They All Fall Down, is a thriller and the first book of Rachel Howzell Hall’s that I have read; it’s her take on Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. That’s a classic closed-circle mystery that I’m excited to re-visit!

The last book on my nightstand is an Eve Duncan novel.  Though I have read at least one other, there are 26 to date in the series, so I need to get caught up!  I enjoy Iris Johansen’s style, so I am looking forward to this one too.  

Great week of reading ahead!

Week of 8/17/2020

This week I am going to have a ton of fun reading three authors I read incessantly in my teens and early 20s, but have not picked up in quite some time.

Though their styles may have changed a bit over the years, I am looking forward to reading these more modern romantic stories!  This will be the week of word candy for my brain.

Week of 8/10/2020

This is my first week to create and execute a reading challenge!  I have selected seven Agatha Christie books at random, which I will read and create a summary video of my adventures to post to YouTube next week!

See my YouTube video for additional information about these books:

1.  13 at Dinner (1933)
2. Funerals are Fatal (1953)
3. Poirot Loses a Client (1937)
4. Mrs. McGinty’s Dead (1951)
5. Passenger to Frankfurt (1970)
6. Mr. Parker Pyne, Detective (1932)
7. Sad Cypress (1939)

Check out my YouTube Review here.

Week of 8/03/2020

 The first new book I am reading, The Book of Life, completes my adventures in the All Souls Trilogy.  Book review for the All Souls Trilogy on YouTube!

My second selection, by Invitation Only, has been waiting for me to pick it up for months.  It seems to be a good summer read.  I delayed this a week to read Shadow of Night, so I hope this is worth it!

The Bookshop of Yesterdays was another BookTube recommendation, though I cannot recall the channel.  I read A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (the first recommendation), and I enjoyed it, so I thought I would give this a try.  It looks like it will be a mystery mixed in with some family baggage too.

Week of 7/27/2020

 My week changed from initial posting, as things tend to do when I wind up at a book store early in the week.  I found the second book in the All Souls Trilogy, by Deborah Harkness, so I decided to read this book immediately. Check out my book review on the All Souls Trilogy on YouTube.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder was a BookTube recommendation, though I cannot recall the channel.  It seems to be an interesting story of a student whose final project in High School is to investigate a solved case of a girl’s murder solved by the suicide of her boyfriend.  This student doubts the story and seeks to find the murderer herself.

Week of 7/20/2020

 The first new book I am reading, A Discovery of Witches, is a fantasy book, and is my attempt to put some new genres into my reading rotation.  This book is the first in a trilogy and became a series television, so I look forward to getting lost in fantasy.

My second selection, When the Heart Waits, Spiritual Direction for Life’s Sacred Questions, is another book I will use to continue my spiritual education.  I have heard good things about Sue Monk Kidd, so I look forward to learning from her.

I have a big confession. I enjoyed my “guilty pleasure” Amanda Quick book last week, The Girl Who Knew Too Much. I impulse purchased this book from a bargain shelf in a bookstore, and it turns out this is book 1 of a series.  After I finished the book, I bought the rest of the series! It is just such a relief to read something light-hearted and joyful. I look forward to The Other Lady Vanishes, and I will save it to last, like I would dessert!

Week of 7/13/2020

This is a week continues introspection and self exploration, mostly because I was not able to finish Jordan Peterson last week.    

The first new book I selected is You’ll Get Through This by Max Lucado.  I’ve known Max Lucado from various friends reading books in Bible study groups, but I’ve never actually read one of his books.  I stumbled upon this one during my last trip to the bookstore.  Being in that time of my life, the title grabbed me.

12 Rules for Life was recommended for me by a good friend.  I am enjoying it thus far, though I must admit Jordan B. Peterson is smart and articulate enough that you have to truly concentrate on the lessons in this book.  So far, it has been amazing. I eagerly anticipate how he ends these lessons!

When I was in my late teens and early 20s, I read Julie Garwood, Amanda Quick and Nora Roberts romance books. When I found this in the “Quick Sale” bin at my local mass store, I snatched it up because I’m wanting to recapture some of that hope and naiveté from my youth.  This will be the book I pick up to read before bed all week.

Week of 7/6/2020

This is a week of introspection and self exploration, audio-book style.  

The first book I selected is Your Best Destiny, by Wintley Phipps.  Wintley Phipps is an ordained minister, vocalist and the source of one of my favorite quotes in Oprah Winfrey’s A Path Made Clear. “And the most amazing thing that can happen in the life of a human being is to catch a glimpse of what God’s been dreaming for you.”  I had to check out this book.

12 Rules for Life was recommended for me by a good friend.  It is written by a psychologist who overlays psychological research with ancient behavioral traditions.  I am curious about this one.

So You Want to Talk About Race was also a recommendation.  I indicated that I was having trouble with the confrontational tone of White Fragility.  This book is supposed to be less terse in its tone, but still honest about race, and helpful for a white girl like me to read to learn and grow.

Week of 6/29/2020

This week I wanted to have some fun, so I focused on authors I love!

I will be starting the week with The Beautiful Mystery, by Louise Penny. This is a Chief Inspector Gamache tale, which is one of my favorite modern mystery series.

I will also read Certain Girls, by Jennifer Weiner.  As you know, Good in Bed is one of my favorite books.  This tale takes place several years after Good in Bed continuing with the life of Cannie Shapiro, husband Peter and now teen-aged daughter, Joy.

In my continuing quest for purpose and meaning, I will also read Hearing with the Heart A Gentle Guide to Discerning God’s Will for Your Life. The book purports to help readers listen to God with their heart instead of their head and ego. I often find these books to be repetitive and unhelpful, but I continue to search.

Week of 6/22/2020

This week I will be starting a book club to discuss a topic very relevant to today’s conversations: racism.  The book selected is White Fragility. I will not finish this book by next week; this will be a 6-week journey of discussion for me in my book club. I will update the blog with our thoughts as we explore this topic together.  

Additionally, I selected Ruth Ware’s The Death of Mrs. Westaway.  I have read Ware’s The Woman in Cabin 10, and I’m skeptical that this book will capture me as many mysteries typically do. We will see!

Furthering my journey of self-discovery (for the goal of self-improvement), I will read The Power of Habit.  I hope that this book will teach me how to build long-term solutions for better productivity by enabling me to explore the drivers of my current behaviors and habits.