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. 

October First Reads

 October is another two-book month with First Reads.  

1. Gothic fiction - Haunting of Brynn Wilder
2. Thriller - The Cipher
3. Book club fiction - The Magnificent Dappled Sea
4. Historical fantasy - Spellbreaker
5. Suspense - Girls of Brackenhill
6. Historical Fiction - The Last Correspondent
7. Memoir - The Boy Between
8. Contemporary fiction - Perfectly Impossible
9. Picture Book - Some Days

Taking out the gothic fiction, thriller, suspense, and picture book leaves 5 to choose from. From the synopses, I'm going with Spellbreaker and Perfectly Impossible.

Pandemic acventures

 I went to Goodwill today, for the first time since March.  Had to remind myself that with masks and distancing, there's not much (if any) difference between Target and Hy-vee, where I've gone multiple times, and Goodwill. And, the kid wants to be Britney Spears for Halloween, so I had to go hunting for a cardigan and skirt and tights.  No tights, but found two options for the cardigan and skirt, and both were half-price.  Other than that, just bought a group of LEGO base plates for $6, with about 5 LEGO plates and one knockoff.  There were gallon ziploc bags of LEGO in the locked case, but at $25 each, I resisted. 

September's First Read choices

 (This new Blogger layout has odd colours in the post-writing page - very hard to see the text entry area. )

Amazon's First Read options for September:

• Thriller - The Unspoken
• Book club fiction - Millicent Glenn's Last Wish
• Domestic Suspense - This Secret Thing (how is "domestic suspense" different?)
• Literary Fiction - A Single Swallow
  
• Humorous Nonfiction - Welcome to the United States of Anxiety
• Romantic Comedy - Room-maid
• Supernatural thriller - the Haunting of H. G. Wells
• Picture book - The Monster on the Block

Not interested in Thrillers or Suspense, although the H.G. Wells looks closer to SF/Fantasy, and the library has a copy of United States of Anxiety, Roommaid, and The Haunting of H.G. Wells, so those are out of contention.  Millicent Glenn's Last Wish looks kind of interesting, but I think A Single Swallow is the winner this month. 

Also - the extension for Chrome and Firefox called "Library Extension" is very handy.  If you're on an Amazon or Goodreads listing page for a book, it'll check your local library catalog to see if it's available there. 

Pandemic entertainment - Baywatch

 The Samsung pandemic TV came with an added perk - Samsung has streaming channels for their TVs.  I knew there was a Bob Ross channel, and the Jack Hanna channel, but until I hit the wrong button on the remote, I didn't know there was a channel that was nothing but Baywatch, 24 hours a day.  And they happened to be showing my favorite season - the first, non-syndication, NBC season with Parker Stevenson.  So I watched for a w hile.  Then I found out that Amazon Prime currently includes Baywatch (but not Baywatch Nights or Baywatch Hawaii), so I've spent the last few days watching the whole first season again - including the first TV movie, where a few people have different names.  

Now I'm watching the beginning of season 2.  No mention at all of Parker Stevenson's character or his sudden disappearance, after being a co-star for the whole first season. Erika Eleniak still has very Brooke-Shields eyebrows.  Richard Jaeckel is back as a different character, after dying in the Panic at Malibu Pier movie.  And Andrea Thompson is doing a 2-episode appearance which I'd forgotten about. 

I was reading an article last week about Baywatch, when I was trying to find out if the first season was available on DVD or not (answer: sort of, if you get an international release, or buy all the syndication seasons that included 2 episodes each of the original).  The writer's notion is that women watched it for the strong female characters and their storylines.  I'm not sure I agree; I think most people, male and female, watch for the scenery, both the natural kind and the human kind. 

Amazon First Reads for August 2020

Amazon's First Reads, deadline time.

1. Thriller - Interferency by Brad Parks (library owns)
2. Psychological Suspense - Girl Gone Mad by Avery Bishop
3. Mystery - Deadly Waters by Dot Hutchinson
4. Crime Fiction - Don't Ever Forget by Matthew Farrell
5. Book club fiction -  Honeysuckle Season by Mary Ellen Taylor
6. Young Adult - Find Layla
7. Literary Fiction - The Woman in the Moonlight
8. Picture book - Rosie The Dragon and Charlie Say Good Night (library owns)

So, knock out 1,2, and 8 right off the bat.  #3 sounds too much like a thriller/psych suspense. #4 ditto  #6 looks interesting for YA, no zombies, werewolves, or vampires.  #7 is about Beethoven and the Moonlight Sonata.#5 is about a wedding photographer, sounds like romance works in somehow.

So, Find Layla it is.