Reading In/Out 7/21/26

You know you're getting old when every time you look at the date, you think, "That can't possibly be right." And it always is. I feel like July 1 was last week. No, it was 3 weeks ago. Anyway, I did manage to get some reading in even though I had the most determined headache ever. I could not kill that thing. You know it's bad when Fioricet doesn't touch it. Seeing the headache specialist today.

OUT

The Second Sleep by Robert Harris - Um, wow. Just when you think you know what's going on, this one trips you up. I feel that I must now read every Robert Harris book I can get my hands on.

The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo - Look! I finally finished it! And it had all its pages!! This is set in 1930s Malaysia. It is told in 3 perspectives: Ren, the 11-year-old houseboy who is given an impossible mission by his dying master. Li Jin, the young woman apprentice dressmaker who moonlights as a dance hall girl to pay her mother's gambling debts. And William, the houseboy's new master, who thinks he is 13 years old. Their stories weave around each other and around a severed finger in a glass vial. There is a lot of magical realism at play here, and it includes some Malaysian superstition and folk tales. It was very well done.

CONTINUING

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss - I'm so annoyed that this will be sitting here for however long it takes me to get a copy from the library to read those missing pages. Ugh!

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster - I'm 75% through, so I should be able to finish it this week. I can't believe I never read this as a kid! I would have loved all the play on words.

Freaky in Fresno by Laurie Boyle Crompton - I really should have seen this coming. This is a take-off of Freaky Friday. Duh. These cousins got swapped in their fabulous 1967 Buick Skylark, and now they are trying to get through the day being each other. It has gotten markedly better since the last time I posted about it. I'm almost 50% through it.

IN

Shady Hollow by Juneau Black - I started this one yesterday. Shady Hollow is a little village peopled entirely by woodland creatures. On her way into town one morning, Gladys the gossipy hummingbird discovers Otto the frog floating dead in the pond. Vera Vixen (fox), the newspaper journalist, is on the case. She is sure she is a better detective than Officer Oliver (bear). It's kind of adorable, really. I'm about 25% in.

And there you have it. That seems like a lot of books. Oh but two of them are done. That's right. Whew!

Happy reading!