Reading In/Out 4/21/2026

The last two weeks have been absolute chaos. How do I deal with chaos? I read. And buy books, apparently. 3 trips to the bookstore in 4 days. As I said, chaos.

OUT

Three Bags Full Leonie Swann - I went ahead and finished this one up Tuesday night. I can't wait to see how this plays on the big screen.

Golden in Death by J.D. Robb - As predicted, I finished this one up on Sunday. That's what happens when you have to drive to work an extra day. In this one, two different people have been murdered when they open a package sent to them by overnight mail. It's a cheap, plastic golden egg, but when they open it, a toxic gas is emitted that kills them within minutes, then dissipates before anyone else is exposed. The first person is the husband of the headmaster at Gold Academy, a tony private school. The second person to die is the wife of a guy who was a teacher at Gold until a few months after the headmaster came on at Gold. There was a lot of drama around the previous headmaster. She would not reprimand students for cheating or bullying if their parents gave a lot of money to the school; there were rumors that she was having affairs with teachers and parents of students. Eventually, enough parents and teachers complained to the board and the headmaster left to go to a private high school in Washington. Weirdly, the student whose father she was rumored to have had an affair with moved to that school also. It had been over 8 years, but somebody still held a grudge.

IN

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemison - I was really intimidated by this book. It is quite thick. Turns out, the pages are fat, the space between the lines is generous, and it reads really quickly. I'm already 60% of the way through it. We are following 3 women (using the term loosely) through a land that is at the beginning of the end. It is about to be a dystopian, and parts of it already are. One woman came home and fount that her husband had murdered her son and run off with her daughter because he realized the son was a "roggia" or "orogene" which is people who can use energy from the earth for magical purposes (near as I can figure.) She goes off to find her husband and daughter. The second is a young girl who found out she is an orogene when a boy attacked her at school and she "iced" him, which I think means she killed him. Her parents locked her in their barn so she couldn't hurt anyone else and sold her to a random guy that showed up. He took her to a school for orogenes to help her control her powers. The last one is a woman who was paired with the highest skilled orogene to go to a coastal city and clear the harbor of coral. Also, she is supposed to get pregnant by him and have a super strong orogene baby. She really doesn't like him very much, but they go off to do the mission. The sections about the first woman with the missing husband and daughter are all written in the second person. Very interesting trick there. It helps keep them apart.

Vendetta In Death by J.D. Robb - The next one in the series, going backwards. A woman dresses up in a particular way to lure a guy to her house where she tortures him and cuts off his genitals until he dies, and then dumps his body outside his apartment building. Turns out, he frequently picks up red-haired, curvy women, drugs their drinks, takes them to his house (if his wife is away) or a hotel, videos their sexual exploits, and kicks them out. Apparently, someone decided to turn the tables. It's pretty gross, but I imagine there will be more nasty men being catfished. The woman left a note with the body signed Lady Justice.

And that's what's up on my end.