Thankful For Reading !

So many things to be thankful for in my life - and one gift I am very grateful for is the gift of reading.  I never realized how I took reading for granted until we visited Russia in 2019.  Every sign we saw was in the Cyrillic alphabet so nothing looked right.  I could not read anything!  It made me think what it would be like to not be able to read.  Hard for me to imagine...

I could not wait to learn to read.  First grade, Dick and Jane and Spot and Fluff!  I remember coming home from school and lying on the floor with the newspaper looking for words I recognized.  I have been a reader all my life...and my career was as a librarian.  All about books - and later, technology.  But books are my jam!

Here are some recent reads that I am thankful for...

It is June 21st, the longest day of the year, and new mother Camilla’s life is about to change forever. After months of maternity leave, she will drop her infant daughter off at daycare for the first time and return to her job as a literary agent. Finally. But, when she wakes, her husband Luke isn’t there, and in his place is a cryptic note.
Then it starts. Breaking news: there's a hostage situation developing in London. The police arrive, and tell her Luke is involved. But he isn't a hostage. Her husband—doting father, eternal optimist—is the gunman.
What she does next is crucial. Because only she knows what the note he left behind that morning says...
Famous Last Words is the story of a crime, a marriage, and more secrets than Camilla ever could have imagined. 

I consider listening to a book the same as reading...and I will often go back and forth between listening and reading the same book.  I start listening on the treadmill, pick up the print where I left off and read a few chapters, then go back to the audio while folding laundry or cooking.  Best of both worlds!

This was a great book to listen to as the voices changed and made the story suspenseful.  This book makes you realize things are not always what they seem.  

As an end-of-life doula, Nova Huston’s job—her calling, her purpose, her life—is to help terminally ill people make peace with their impending death. Unlike her business partner, who swears by her system of checklists, free-spirited Nova doesn’t shy away from difficult clients: the ones who are heartbreakingly young, or prickly, or desperate for a caregiver or companion.
When Mason Shaylor shows up at her door, Nova doesn’t recognize him as the indie-favorite singer-songwriter who recently vanished from the public eye. She knows only what he’s told her: That life as he knows it is over. His deteriorating condition makes playing his guitar physically impossible—as far as Mason is concerned, he might as well be dead already.
Except he doesn’t know how to say goodbye.
Helping him is Nova’s biggest challenge yet. She knows she should keep clients at arm’s length. But she and Mason have more in common than anyone could guess… and meeting him might turn out to be the hardest, best thing that’s ever happened to them both.
The Next Thing You Know is an emotional, resonant story about the power of human connection, love when you least expect it, hope against the odds, and what it really takes to live life with no regrets.

I picked this up at the library on a whim...did not read the author before.  I really enjoyed this book, and it gave so much food for thought to end of life issues.  Not the happiest book, but very good.

Jess Capodimonte Baratta is not living the life of her dreams. Not even close.
In blue-collar Lake Como, New Jersey, family comes first. Recently divorced from Bobby Bilancia, “the perfect husband," Jess moves into her parents’ basement to hide and heal. Jess is the overlooked daughter, who dutifully takes care of her parents, cooks Sunday dinner, and puts herself last. Despite her role as the family handmaiden, Jess is also a talented draftswoman in the marble business run by her confidant, her dapper uncle Louie, who believes she can do anything (once she invests in a better wardrobe).  
When the Capodimonte and Baratta families endure an unexpected loss, the shock unearths long-buried secrets that will force Jess to question her loyalty to those she trusted. Fueled by her lost dreams, Jess takes fate into her own hands and escapes to her ancestral home, Carrara, Italy.
From the shadows of the majestic marble-capped mountains of Tuscany, to the glittering streets of Milan, and on the shores of enchanting Lake Como (the other one), Jess begins to carve a place in this new/old world. When she meets Angelo Strazza, a passionate artist who works in gold, she discovers her own skills are priceless. But as Jess uncovers the truth about her family history, it will change the course of her life and those she loves the most forever.  In love and work, in art and soul, Jess will need every tool she has mastered to reinvent her life.

Love this author, have heard her speak several times, and enjoy all of her books.  This one had some twists and turns that made it a good read!

It was a place frozen in time, an ancient fortress haunted by echoes that whispered against the gray stone in a mysterious, heavy rhythm, as though this place was entirely separate from the rest of the world. A sign by the inner door read Our Lady of Charity Refuge and Sisters of the Good Shepherd.
Mairin’s breath caught in her throat as comprehension crept over her. This place was the one mentioned in scandalized whispers from the older girls at school. It was the one people gossiped about when a girl suddenly stopped showing up to class. It was the place angry parents—like her own mother—threatened their daughters “I’ll send you to the nuns, just you see if I won’t.”
Amid the turbulence of the Vietnam Era, in the all-American city of Buffalo, New York, teenage girls were condemned to forced labor at the Good Shepherd, a dark and secret institution controlled by the Sisters of Charity nuns.
In 1968 we meet six teens thrust into confinement at the Good Shepherd—merely for being gay, pregnant, or simply unruly.

Based on true events, I devoured this book!  After twelve years of Catholic School and it being set in the late 60's early 70's made it easy for me to relate to the story.  I appreciate the author's attention to detail and research to make this such a tragic and interesting read.

‘Would you mind terribly, old boy, if I borrowed the rest of your life? I promise I’ll take excellent care of it.'
Frederick Fife was born with an extra helping of kindness in his heart. If he borrowed your car, he’d return it washed with a full tank of gas. The problem is there’s nobody left in Fred’s life to borrow from. At eighty-two, he’s desperately lonely, broke, and on the brink of homelessness. But Fred’s luck changes when, in a bizarre case of mistaken identity, he takes the place of grumpy Bernard Greer at the local nursing home. Now he has warm meals in his belly and a roof over his head—as long as his poker face is in better shape than his prostate and that his look-alike never turns up.
Denise Simms is stuck breathing the same disappointing air again and again. A middle-aged mom and caregiver at Bernard's facility, her crumbling marriage and daughter's health concerns are suffocating her joy for life. Wounded by her two-faced husband, she vows never to let a man deceive her again.
As Fred walks in Bernard’s shoes, he leaves a trail of kindness behind him, fueling Denise's suspicions about his true identity. When unexpected truths are revealed, Fred and Denise rediscover their sense of purpose and learn how to return a broken life to mint condition.
Bittersweet and remarkably perceptive, The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife is a hilarious, feel-good, clever novel about grief, forgiveness, redemption, and finding family.

To me, this was the Australian version of A Man Called Ove.  I loved this book and the way it described aging, dealing with illness and dementia, and how kindness and love can make a difference in everyone's life.

It is 2058, New York City. In a world where technology can reveal the darkest of secrets, there's only one place to hide a crime of passion-in the heart.
Even in the mid-twenty-first century, during a time when genetic testing usually weeds out any violent hereditary traits before they can take over, murder still happens. The first victim is found lying on a sidewalk in the rain. The second is murdered in her own apartment building. Police Lieutenant Eve Dallas has no problem finding connections between the two crimes. Both victims were beautiful and highly successful women. Their glamorous lives and loves were the talk of the city. And their intimate relations with men of great power and wealth provide Eve with a long list of suspects -- including her own lover, Roarke.

OK, after I read the first In Death I was hooked, and this second in the series did not disappoint!  I enjoy the mystery, the description of life in the future ( and seeing what we have that mirrors that time, and what does not ), and of course...ROARKE!  I just picked up the next in the series from the library and can't wait to start reading it.  There are 62 in the In Death series...and a new one just came out, so I have my reading work cut out for me.  

Writing as Nora Roberts, not J.D. Robb, I just got Book Three in the Lost Brides Trilogy - The Seven Rings.  That will be my guilty pleasure this Thanksgiving week.  Coffee, pumpkin muffins,(you can find my favorite recipe for those here ), and enjoying a cozy Thanksgiving.

What have you been reading lately - I would love to hear.  So many of the books I enjoy I find on other blogs - thanks for sharing!  Thanks for all your comments, ideas, and insights that I have learned through blogs.  I am so grateful for you, your blogs, and the wonderful technology that keeps us all connected.

Happy Thanksgiving !