June turned out to be a strange month of reading for me. If my blog post last week didn’t convince you of that, just wait until you read today’s post.

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Yellowface, by R.F. Kuang

I heard R.F. Kuang interviewed about her new novel on “Friends and Fiction” on Facebook on May 24, 2023 – the same night Lee Smith was a guest. The New York Times called it, “a blistering satire about publishing.”

This novel might appeal more to writers than “normal” readers. It’s about two young women who barely know one another. One is an outrageously successful author, while the other on is living hand to mouth. When the successful writer chokes to death, the other writer steals her unfinished manuscript and gets it published under her name. No one will be the wiser… or will they?

One of the threads throughout the book is racism. Not the usual way we tend to think of racism: white versus black. The racism running through this book is white versus Asian.

There was an unexpected twist at the end of the book.

I Will Find You, by Harlan Coben

It had been a while since I’d read a Harlan Coben novel, so I decided to give his new one a try. I listened to it on CD. The nine discs last just a little more than 10 hours, so I was able to set aside time to listen to one disc per day.

In this novel, David Burroughs is wrongly imprisoned for killing his three-year-old son. But did his son really die? After five years in prison, David is determined to find his son.

Time Management for Writers, by Sandra Gerth

I needed this! I have all the time in the world, and yet I don’t seem to get anything accomplished. This little gem of a book gave me some practical suggestions and a systematic way to organize my time. I read it the first week in June, so I’ve had almost month to work out some new scheduling ideas. I say “almost a month” because I spent five days in Georgia to attend the wedding of one of my great-nieces.

The book addresses such time killers as email and social media and recommended that those things only be checked twice a day. It suggested “bundling” similar tasks such as working on the content for several blogs on the same day, selecting the photographs to illustrate those posts another time or day, and scheduling the blogs another time.

I’ve always given myself goals for when to complete certain tasks involved in writing a book or short story, but this book was a strong reminder that I need to be serious about those “deadlines” and be accountable to someone else for meeting those goals.

If you feel overwhelmed, this book might help you even if you aren’t a writer.

Grow Your Own Herbs: The 40 Best Culinary Varieties for Home Gardens, by Susan Belsinger and Arthur O. Tucker

This is a book I checked out from the public library to look for some specific information I need for the historical novel I’m writing. I decided to include it in today’s blog post because some of my readers might be interested in the book.

I you have any interest in growing herbs and using them in your kitchen, I recommend this book. It contains detailed information for growing, harvesting, and using 40 herbs. It includes recipes for herb butters, pastes, oils, and vinegar infusions.

The 180-page section about those 40 herbs is beautifully illustrated and organized in a way that makes it easy to find specific information you’re looking for. It made me wish I could grow all 40 of them! Unfortunately, I don’t have much of a green thumb when it comes to growing herbs.

Three books I won’t elaborate on because I read them for research purposes:

The Ultimate Guide to Old-Fashioned Country Skills, edited by Abigail R. Gehring

Edible Paradise: How to Grow Herbs, Flowers, Veggies and Fruit in Any Space, by Vera Greutink

How to Write a Series: A Guide to Series Types and Structure plus Troubleshooting Tips and Marketing Tactics, by       Sara Rosett (Kindle) – This was a second reading of this book. I read it the first time in December 2021 and wrote about it in my January 3, 2022 blog post, Books Read in December 2021.

Books I didn’t finish reading in June and why:

Loyalty, by Jodi Picoult

I made the mistake of requesting this novel on CD from the public library. I eagerly popped the first disc into my CD player and settled back to enjoy another Jodi Picoult novel. Unfortunately, right off the bat, the narrator in his Italian accent (which should have been – and maybe was – a good match for a story set in Sicily) immediately read a list of the characters in the book along with their occupations or how they were related to the other characters.

After listening to a seemingly endless cast of characters whose names I’d never be able to understand or remember, I stopped the CD before getting to the first chapter.

I should have counted the characters. I’m guessing there must have been 20 or so.

Reading the novel might be easier than listening to it, but I don’t plan to try.

The Castle Keepers, by Aimie K. Runyan, J’nell Ciesielski, and Rachel McMillan

This book is a collection of three novellas written by Aimie K. Runyan, J’nell Ciesielski, and Rachel McMillan. When I first read about the book, I was under the conception that each author wrote one novella, and perhaps that’s true. My surprise, upon getting the book from the public library was to learn that it is not revealed which author wrote which novella in the collection.

The book follows one family. The first novella takes place in 1870. The second novella is set in 1917, and the last one is set in 1945. Most of the reviews I read mentioned that the first two novellas were better than the third one.

Due to the small print and my attention being pulled to historical research, I ended up returning this book to the public library unread. Maybe I can give it another try at a later date.

The Lost English Girl, by Julia Kelly and The Midwife of Auschwitz, by Anna Stuart

I returned these two historical novels to the public library after realizing I wasn’t going to have time to read them, even though the Julia Kelly book was large print. Maybe another time will work for me to read and enjoy them.

Since my last blog post

I was able to send out my Janet Morrison Books July 2023 Newsletter after overcoming some technical issues. I hope you received your issue via email. If you have subscribed, please visit http://www.janetmorrisonbooks.com and click on the “subscribe” button. As a bonus, you’ll receive a downloadable copy of “Slip Sliding Away: A Southern Historical Short Story” I enjoyed writing.

Yardwork keeps calling my name, but with the heat index of around 100 to 106 degrees F. nearly every day, I have to pick and choose the time of day and length of time I work. Progress has been at a snail’s pace.

I’ve been working on several historical short stories.

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read – one that will whisk you away from the stresses in your life, entertain you, educate you, and give you a new perspective. I’m reading Cradles of the Reich, an historical novel about part of Hitler’s plan for creating a master race, by Jennifer Coburn.

Spend time with friends and family. Remember the treasure they are, even if they don’t agree with you about politics.

Remember the people of Ukraine.

Janet