November First Reads

 Almost forgot this month. 

1. Suspense - Every Last Secret
2. Book club fiction - Memories in the Drift
3. Historical - Under a Gilded Moon
4. Domestic suspense - Open House
5. Thriller - The Last Resort
6. Biographical fiction - The Empress (about Princess Charlotte and Maximilian von Habsburg)
   
7. Picture book - Snow Dancer
8. Memoir - Jew(ish)

No: Thriller (sounds like a knock off of Then There Were None), Suspense (library owns it anyway), Domestic suspense (library also owns), Book club (library owns), Bio fiction (long, doesn't grab me).  Jew(ish) might or might not be interesting - the reviews on Amazon either love it or absolutely hate it (with very short reviews).  

So, it's Under a Gilded Moon, with a cover illustration that I know I've seen before on other books: a woman, 3/4 view from the back, but cut off at the mid-head.  In sepia tones, with a gold scrolly border. 

Finally

 After 4 days of stress and anxiety, the election is more-or-less over.  Unless something very unusual happens with the recounts (Georgia is close enough that their state laws require one, and there may be others), Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have won.  The announcement came on Saturday.  And the whole world slept better for a few nights.  The Mango is, as expected, disputing it everywhere, threats and the usual.  

 Georgia will also have to have a run-off for two Senate openings, since neither candidate got 50% of the vote in the election.  With any luck, the Democrats will win, and then Moscow Mitch won't be the Senate Majority Leader anymore.  Mango spent the weekend at the golf course, while Biden went to church Sunday morning.  

Missouri is screwed, as usual.  Parson won a full term, the useless schmuck, and Amendment 3, which counteracts the Clean Missouri amendment, passed thanks to very confusing ballot language.  

As of today, the US has 10 million people who have tested positive for Covid-19.  We've had over 100,000 new cases daily for the past few days - each day more than the day before.  Boone Hospital just announced that their 20-bed Covid unit is full.  But our idiot governor still won't issue a statewide mask requirement.