My Back Pages - September

The five books I read in September raised my yearly count to 44 books - 6 away from my anticipated 50 books by the end of the year. I'm sure I'll make it.

I started the month out with a new thriller from Michael Connelly called The Late show. It's about a women cop who works the night shift. This is a new character for Connelly who is better known for his Harry Bosch series. Nevertheless this was an enthralling page-turner.

I then picked up Mississippi Blood by Greg Iles. This is the third and final book in the Natchez Burning trilogy. Somewhere along the line I missed one of these but was nevertheless able to follow the overall gripping story about race relations in the south.

I then moved on to the Rules of Civility by Amor Towles a coming-of-age tale about a mid-twenties woman in New York in the late 1930s. Having enjoyed his second book A Gentleman in Moscow I felt I had to go back to his first novel. I wasn't disappointed.

For a change of pace I read Al Franken - Giant of the Senate. Franken's a former comedy writer from Saturday Night Live who decided to go into politics. A left-leaning liberal, and proud of it, he was successfully elected as the Democratic Senator from Minnesota. He's got some wonderful anecdotes from both careers but I found after awhile there was only so much Al Franken I could take. So this was a bit of a meh.

I managed to squeeze in one more book before the month was out, the ninth in a series of Nero Wolfe detective stories Black Orchids, which was actually two stories in one. My intention is to get through the entire Rex Stout canon although it may take me awhile as there are a total of 40 books.

In terms of what I've been watching, Ray Donovan is back and so is Designated Survivor. The Good Doctor is a new show that demonstrates promise.

In terms of music I purchased too much to list here but let me say I really like The War On Drugs new CD and discs from the Secret Sisters and Lilly Hiatt.

That's it for me this month. What about you?

Noname's Books

30 Days of Photos III #4 Sour

Check out Ziva's Inferno for the rest of today's photos.

My Back Pages - November

I know, I know, I know I should have reported in before now. But sometimes real life just gets in the way. I attempted 5 books in November. I say attempted because I slapped a big DNF (did not finish) on Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon. I just can't seem to get into this guy. It's the second or third of his I've given up on, Not so the other four, starting with a biography of Stephen Stills called Change Partners. This followed by a hilarious biography of the guy responsible for National Lampoon called A Stupid and Futile Gesture - How Doug Kenney and National Lampoon Changed Comedy Forever. I ended the month reading yet another biography, this one of the man behind Rolling Stone magazine,. It was called Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine. A fascinating read. So last month I hit the magic number 50 I'd imagined for myself back in January. If I roll this month into my yearly total I'm at 54 books. And I still hav...

30 Days of Writing - Day #1 - Cheese

Well, here we go again folks. As if it weren't enough that I knocked myself out in April participating in 30 Days of Photos, now dear Nicky and Mike over at We Work For Cheese have corralled a bunch of us suckers into a 30 Days of Writing exercise. Yeah, I know. I must have stupid written backwards on my forehead. I don't know how they figured it out. They would have had to look in my mirror to realize it. Anyhoo, the first day's theme is - surprise, surprise - cheese. And here are the internet imbeciles Nicky and Mike managed to sucker into to this little exercise: Well, first off there's me! Once you've read my post you can visit: Mike and Nicky , Cheryl , If I Were God , Katherine , Laughing Mom , Linda M , Malisa , MikeWJ , Sandra , Leeuna and Still Unfinished . Okay, who cut the cheese? Well growing up in my house it was usually my mother. She prepared and served the food and the knife ...

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