As has become my custom, my first blog in a new month is about the books I read in the previous month. After not being able to read for a couple of months due to illness, I have relished every minute I have been able to read since my eye recovered.

Storm Damage

July was a busy month. We are still cleaning up the storm damage the trees in our yard experienced due to high winds on several occasions. Dead limbs are still falling out of trees when there is a breeze and sometimes bringing down healthy limbs with them. If you’ve never lived out in the country with dozens of large old trees, you can’t fully appreciate what I’m talking about. It has been exhausting. I often fall asleep when I sit down to read or to catch up on work on the computer.

July Books

All that said, I only completed two books in July — Don’t Go, by Lisa Scottoline and The Truth According to Us, by Annie Barrows. I am reading several other books and will share my thoughts about them later. As I have stated before, I enjoy reading more than one book at a time.

Don’t Go

Lisa Scottoline is becoming one of my favorite fiction writers. Her books usually tug at your heartstrings and lead you down multiple roads as a mystery is solved. Don’t Go did not disappoint. A murder takes place (or was it an accident?) and for the next 300+ pages you are trying to figure out “whodunnit.” Just when you think you have the mystery solved, Ms. Scottoline takes you down a different path.

The Truth According to Us

In The Truth According to Us, Annie Barrows gives us a glimpse of life in a small town in Appalachia during the Great Depression era. She includes the conflict that can arise when there is an effort to unionize the employees of a textile mill in The South. The overriding story line, though, is relationships and information that family members can hide from other family members. The Truth According to Us is about family secrets. The truth as we know it might not be the truth at all.

Most Wanted

As July drew to a close, I finally reached the top of the public library’s waitlist for Most Wanted, by Lisa Scottoline. I read the first half of the novel in early May before I got shingles, and I looked forward to reading the rest of the book to see how Ms. Scottoline twisted and turned the plot to ultimately solve the mystery presented in the book. I finished reading Most Wanted earlier this week, but it goes on my August list for next month’s first blog.

Until I blog again, I wish you an enjoyable book to read and productive writing if that is your calling. If you wish to share this blog on social media, please feel free to do so.

Janet