The Big White Farmhouse

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#49. BLACK AND BLUE by Anna Quindlen // ★★★☆☆
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First line: “The first time my husband hit me I was nineteen years old.”

I chose this book to satisfy the “Q Author” prompt for my Reading the Alphabet Challenge and whew.  A tough read.  This was about a domestic abuse victim who fled with her son to start a new life, all the while expecting her husband (a NYC cop) to eventually find them.

#50. THE BLACK JERSEY by Jorge Zepeda Patterson // ★★★★☆
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First line: “Everyone hated him the minute they laid eyes on him, except for me.”

This one was described as Murder on the Orient Express meets the Tour de France, which sounded right up my alley!  And crazy coincidence: I didn’t even realize that the 2023 Tour de France was happening at the same time!  (This article was helpful in understanding how the whole race worked.)  I learned a lot and really enjoyed the mystery, but didn’t love the ending.

#51. THE MARLOW MURDER CLUB by Robert Thorogood // ★★★★☆
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First line: “Mrs. Judith Potts was seventy-seven years old and entirely happy with her life.”

Have you noticed the “octogenarian detective” trope in books lately?  This was my first experience and I really liked it!  This story is about 77-year-old Judith and the murder she believes she witnessed.  When the police don’t believe her story, she puts herself on the case and is soon joined by two unlikely helpers.  You definitely have to suspend your disbelief in parts, but I still found it enjoyable.  3.5 stars, rounded up.

#52. URGENT MATTERS by Paula Rodriguez // ★★☆☆☆
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First line: “Dust raised by the impact falls slowly onto the bodies.”

Meh. It’s supposed to be “an electric Argentinian noir about police corruption and the media,” but I found that to be a stretch.  The changing scenes/characters were quick and constant.  I often had no idea what was going on!  There was also a level of Catholic mockery that I didn’t care for either.  (And thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book. Urgent Matters was released on July 25, 2023.)

#53. ONE DAY: THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF AN ORDINARY 24 HOURS IN AMERICA by Gene Weingarten // ★★★★☆
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First line: “At 2:05 P.M. on Thursday, December 13, 2012, I sent an email to Tom Shroder, my friend and editor.”

This one was such a cool concept: “On New Year’s Day 2013, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Gene Weingarten asked three strangers to, literally, pluck a day, month, and year from a hat. That day—chosen completely at random—turned out to be Sunday, December 28, 1986, by any conventional measure a most ordinary day. Weingarten spent the next six years proving that there is no such thing.”  Each chapter is a story about something that happened on that one day in history.  Some chapters were more interesting than others, but I loved the idea as a whole.  3.5 stars, rounded up.

#54. GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS by James Hilton // ★★★☆☆
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First line: “When you are getting on in years (but not ill, of course), you get very sleepy at times, and the hours seem to pass like lazy cattle moving across a landscape.”

Written in 1934, this book is a quick read about a beloved schoolteacher as he reminisces about his life.  I liked it.

#55. NORTHWEST ANGLE by William Kent Krueger // ★★★★☆
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First line: “Later, when it no longer mattered, they learned that the horror that had come from the sky had a name: derecho.”

Number eleven in the Cork O’Connor series.  WKK does it again – I thought this installment was really good!

#56. THE POLITICS OF ENVY by Anne Hendershott // ★★★☆☆
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First line: “One of the seven deadly sins, envy is a painful reminder that people we know are enjoying something that we are not.”

An appropriate follow-up to The Overspent American!  The premise of the book is the argument that “the political class, social media, and advertisers have created a culture of covetousness by relentlessly provoking us to envy others and to be envied. The result is now a deeply indignant and rapacious generation that believes no one is more deserving of advantages and rewards than they.”  I got bogged down in some sections, but others were fascinating.  The section about cancelling/mobbing in academia was particularly interesting and disturbing.  All in all, this ended up being somewhere between 3 and 3.5 stars.  (I also read this for my Reading the Alphabet Challenge.)

#57. Q’S LEGACY: A DELIGHTFUL ACCOUNT OF A LIFELONG LOVE AFFAIR WITH BOOKS by Helene Hanff // ★★★★☆
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First line: “Q and I first met on a summer morning when I was eighteen, at the main branch of the Philadelphia Public Library where I’d gone in search of a teacher; and I took him home with me despite certain doubts about his fitness for the post.”

Helene Hanff wrote 84, Charing Cross Road and this companion book describes her life before and after that publication.  So charming and funny!  I can’t believe the way she would personally respond to fan mail and phone calls, even going so far as to take up offers to show her around England (with strangers!).  Times sure have changed.  3.5 stars, rounded up.  (I also read this for my Reading the Alphabet Challenge.)

#58. EVERY STOLEN BREATH by Kimberly Gabriel // ★★★☆☆
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First line: “One of these tourists is about to die.”

I don’t normally read YA, but this thriller sounded interesting.  It’s about “The Swarm,” which is a group of teenagers responsible for random attacks on the streets of Chicago.  It appears like they choose their victims at random before beating them to death, but is all as it seems?  A lot of teenage dramatics, but still a page turner.  Solid three stars.

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MY UNREAD SHELF PROJECT

Unread Books as of January 1, 2023: 207
Books Finished in July: 10
Finished Books Donated/Sold in July: 4
Books Added: +18 (two used bookstore trips and next year’s book club picks)
Unread Books Remaining: 199

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

#37. WHEN WE BELIEVED IN MERMAIDS by Barbara O’Neal // ★★☆☆☆
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First line: “My sister has been dead for nearly fifteen years when I see her on the TV news.”

Well, this was a terribly sad book!  Every horrible thing that could happen seemed to have occurred to the two main characters.  It veered into the unbelievable.  I also didn’t realize there was going to be a strong romance component and there were a few too many open door love scenes for my taste.  Just okay.  (I also read this for my Reading the Alphabet Challenge.)

#38. VERMILION DRIFT by William Kent Krueger // ★★★★☆
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First line: “Some nights, Corcoran O’Connor dreams his father’s death.”

Number ten in the Cork O’Connor series and what a page turner!  I flew through this in less than two days.  Fair warning, though: this one had some really dark themes.

#39. A RAISIN IN THE SUN by Lorraine Hansberry // ★★★☆☆
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First line: “The Younger living room would be a comfortable and well-ordered room if it were not for a number of indestructible contradictions to this state of being.”

Changing things up with a play.  I read along while watching this production on Youtube (it’s not a word for word match, but close enough) and it was good!

#40. DEAR MRS. BIRD by AJ Pearce // ★★★☆☆
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First line: “When I first saw the advertisement in the newspaper I thought I might actually burst.”

This is a novel set in London during World War II about a young woman who becomes a secret advice columnist.  Some parts of the book were light and fluffy, some parts showed more of the reality of war.  Good, but a little forgettable.  (I also read this for my Reading the Alphabet Challenge.)

#41. CAUSE OF OUR JOY: WALKING DAY BY DAY WITH OUR LADY by Mother Mary Francis, PCC // ★★★★☆
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First line: “The Catechism of the Catholic Church has a most heart-shaking line about Our Lady: ‘In the faith of his humble handmaid, the Gift of God found the acceptance he had awaited from the beginning of time’ (CCC 2617).”

I love Mother Mary Francis’ writings.  This one centered around Mary was beautiful.

#42. AFTER THE FUNERAL by Agatha Christie // ★★★☆☆
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First line: “Old Lanscombe moved totteringly from room to room, pulling up the blinds.”

A solid Agatha Christie mystery.  The reveal at the end was really good (I didn’t guess “whodunit” which is typical for me with AC books) but I was disappointed that Poirot seemed to only have a minor part in the story this time.

#43. NAGASAKI: LIFE AFTER NUCLEAR WAR by Susan Southard // ★★★★★
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First line: “Off the eastern coast of the Asian continent, five hundred miles from Shanghai and less than two hundred miles south of the Korean Peninsula, a long, narrow bay carves deeply into the western coast of Kyushu – Japan’s southernmost main island.”

Whoa.  Everyone who flippantly supports nuclear war should read this book.  Absolutely devastating.  A few related things I discovered along the way:

• this sobering and eye-opening site called Nuke Map
• a documentary on Formed called All That Remains: The Story of Takashi Nagai
• “Appeal for Peace at Hiroshima”, an address from Pope John Paul II in 1981
• more books to read: Hiroshima and The Bells of Nagasaki

(I also read this for my Reading the Alphabet Challenge.)

#44. THE UNTHINKABLE: WHO SURVIVES WHEN DISASTER STRIKES – AND WHY by Amanda Ripley // ★★★★☆
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First line: “On February 26, 1993, when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center for the first time, Elia Zedeno was in an express elevator carrying a slice of Sbarro’s pizza.”

I really enjoyed this!  If you’ve ever wondered how you might react during a disaster, this book walks you through some of the common behavioral responses with lots of anecdotal stories to illustrate.  You’ve probably heard of fight or flight responses, but did you know how many people actually just freeze?  I found all of it fascinating.  Knowledge is empowering.

#45. MRS. DALLOWAY by Virginia Woolf // ★★☆☆☆
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First line: “Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.”

Whew!  This one was a rough read.  The story is written as a stream of consciousness (I can’t imagine what my brain would look like all written out, ha!) through the minds of different characters…and it’s a lot.  Proud of myself for powering through!  (This was also my 1925 pick for The 20th Century in Literature Challenge.)

#46. DEATH IN THE CLOUDS by Agatha Christie // ★★★☆☆
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First line: “The September sun beat down hotly on Le Bourget aerodrome as the passengers crossed the ground and climbed into the air liner Prometheus, due to depart for Croydon in a few minutes’ time.”

My 7th grader and I have been on an Agatha Christie kick this summer and he recommended this one to me.  Another interesting mystery where I couldn’t guess the killer.

#47. THE OVERSPENT AMERICAN: WHY WE WANT WHAT WE DON’T NEED by Juliet B. Schor // ★★★☆☆
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First line: “In 1996 a best-selling book entitled The Millionaire Next Door caused a minor sensation.”

This book was written in 1998, so while the examples are a little dated, the concepts still definitely apply.  (Maybe with the invention of social media apply even more!)  Very well researched, but I disagreed with some of her solutions to the problem.  (I also read this for my Reading the Alphabet Challenge.)

#48. UNNATURAL ENDS by Christopher Huang // ★★★☆☆
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First line: “In the beginning was Linwood Hall, and Linwood Hall was the world.”

Unnatural Ends is a mystery set in 1921 after the death of Sir Lawrence Linwood. When his three adopted children come home for the funeral, they learn that their father was brutally murdered.  And according to his will, the one who can solve the crime will inherit his estate.  Throughout the book, we discover Sir Lawrence Linwood’s dark, manipulative history and how that affects his children.  An interesting premise, but I felt like it was 100 pages too long.  (And thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.  Unnatural Ends was released on June 20, 2023!)

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MY UNREAD SHELF PROJECT

Unread Books as of January 1, 2023: 207
Books Finished in June: 12
Finished Books Donated/Sold in June: 4
Books Added: +11 (a summertime treat!)
Unread Books Remaining: 193