Betrayal of Mary, Queen of Scots; Fire and Blood; The Address

First up, a book about Mary, Queen of Scots and how literally everyone in that poor woman's life screwed her over. She was sent to France at a young age to marry the dauphin, and when he died France sent her back to Scotland, where her half-brother was ruling in her stead and quite content to keep on doing so. Mary tried to wrest control away from the lords who had held it for the last 18 years with no luck. She married Darnley, who was universally despised, and bore him a son named James. Darnley was murdered, and Mary rightfully feared for her life and fled, only to be captured by Bothwell and raped. Mary was forced to marry him, became pregnant and miscarried. She ran to England, hoping her cousin Elizabeth would help her, but Elizabeth was shaky on her own throne, and had no use for her Catholic cousin. She locked her up and tried to forget about her, until her own advisers bullied her into executing Mary. It was a sad tale of a tragic life.


Instead of finishing "Winds of Winter", George R. R. Martin has decided to go backwards and write about how the Targaryens got their start in the Seven Kingdoms. He only got halfway through in this one, which leads me to believe there's going to be a second one. Seriously, can you just finish Ice and Fire first?! Then I'll happily read whatever fan fiction you produce. Don't get me wrong, it was very interesting (if not a bit confusing, after all, there are a lot of characters who only stick around for a sentence), but c'mon. I'm not going to live forever, and I would love to know how the damn series ends. Sigh.

I was a bit disappointed with "The Address" by Fiona Davis. It sounded interesting, about the Dakota in New York, but it ended up being very predictable. It's one of those books I won't remember six months from now. Sara works as head of housekeeping at a posh London hotel when she's offered a job at the new Dakota apartment home in New York. Sara moves across the Atlantic and starts a forbidden relationship with a married architect. Meanwhile, a hundred years in the future, Bailey is out of rehab and looking to get back on her feet when her adopted cousin, Melinda offers her a job redesigning the Dakota apartment her great-grandfather left her.

Count of 9

I love the Hard Case Crime books, they're so fun. This one is by Erle Stanley Gardner, who wrote the Perry Mason books I love so much. "Count of 9" features private eyes Bertha Cool and Donald Lam. A wealthy globe trotter named Crockett has had a priceless jade idol stolen during one of his parties, and he hires Bertha to work the door at his next party to make sure his other idol doesn't get taken. Unfortunately, despite all the precautions, the other idol along with a blowgun, are stolen. Lam is able to return the blowgun but Crockett is busy so he gives it to his wife. The next day, Crockett is dead from a poison dart from said blowgun. I enjoyed it. 

Johnny Cash

I do love Johnny Cash, and this was a nice pictorial/biography about the Man in Black. No really new information, since I read Hilburn's masterful biography, but it was nice to see pictures, especially family photos.

Gone With the Wind

"Gone With the Wind" was the first grown up book I ever read, I was 9 years old and it took me three weeks to get through it. I didn't understand a lot of it, but I loved watching the movie with my mom (those clothes!), so I was determined to love the book as well. I've read it a bunch of times, maybe not as many as "Lonesome Dove", but it's pretty close (I caught part of the movie on TV at Thanksgiving a few weeks ago, which prompted this reread). As a teen/young adult I, like a lot of people, imagined what would have happened if Mitchell had written a sequel. Of course Scarlett and Rhett would have gotten back together. Of course they would have lived happily ever after (btw, I hated "Scarlett" by Alexandra Ripley. It was *terrible*). But reading it again now, almost the age Rhett was at the end of the book, I think differently. Scarlett was a terrible person. She treated the people that loved her so badly. I believe Rhett when he says he doesn't love her anymore. I understand how he feels. I loved someone so hard for 8 years of my life, and while it took awhile, eventually it was like a switch flipped and I no longer felt anything for him. I think I know exactly how Rhett felt at the end, after loving her so hard and wishing and hoping she'd return his love some day, and then finally he just gave up and the switch flipped. I hope Rhett found happiness after leaving Scarlett, and I hope Scarlett went back to Tara (not Ireland!) and learned to be a grown up.

The Case of the Stuttering Bishop; Look Alive Twenty-Five

I know, I haven't reread any Perry Masons in awhile, but I woke up super early the other day and didn't feel like reading any of the approximately 5,000 books I have checked out, so I finished a Perry Mason I started months ago and almost finished but set aside when I got busy. Perry is visited by a man claiming to be a bishop who is looking for a young woman who was adopted. Her biological grandfather is very wealthy, and is being hoodwinked by an impostor posing as his granddaughter. The bishop wants the real granddaughter to get the inheritance that's coming to her. 

Janet Evanovich's latest Stephanie Plum "Look Alive Twenty-Five" was all right, not as good as some of the others that have come out recently. Vince orders Stephanie and Lulu to go work at a deli he inherited when a man he posted bond for skipped. Rather than sell the deli, he decides to keep it and have them run it, see if he can make a profit. Of course Stephanie and Lulu are just as terrible at running a deli as you can imagine, and it's compounded by the fact that the managers keep disappearing under mysterious circumstances, leaving behind only a shoe. Stephanie has the brilliant idea of setting herself up as bait to be kidnapped so she can solve the mystery. The ending was a cliffhanger, and actually pretty good.

Charlesgate Confidential; Marilla of Green Gables

A couple of books that couldn't have been more different, yet they were both really fun. First up: a Hard Case Crime by Scott Von Doviak called "Charlesgate Confidential". The novel flipped back and forth through time: 1946, 1986, and 2014. Back in 1946, the Charlesgate in Boston was a rundown former luxury hotel that was full of working girls and criminals. Danny T ran an illegal card game on the 8th floor, and one night it gets hit. Danny tracks down the guys that pulled the job and forces them to help him rob a nearby art museum. Jake and Shane help him do the job, then kill him and take off with the artwork. They hide the art at the Charlesgate, and then Shane is arrested before they can go back and retrieve it. Jake skips town for awhile but comes back to take the fall so his brother doesn't get the chair. In 1986, the Charlesgate is a dorm for Emerson College. Tommy lives there with his buddies and is writing a series for the school paper about the Charlesgate when he's approached by Shane, recently paroled with a doozy of a story about hidden artwork. And in 2014, the Charlesgate is a luxury condominium complex. The artwork was never found, so criminals are still after it. It was a super fun story with lots of great twists and turns.

It's no secret I love me some Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Marilla mentioned in the first book that she and Gilbert Blythe's father, John, were sweethearts when they were kids and much to Anne's (and mine, and Sarah McCoy's) dismay, she refuses to elaborate. This is Sarah's idea of what happened when Marilla was a young lady, and it was quite good. I thought she did a nice job of making Marilla interesting without straying too far from the foundation Montgomery laid. Marilla's mother died when she was thirteen, leaving her to care for Green Gables, her older brother Matthew and their father. Marilla took that responsibility very seriously, and despite being in love with John they quarrel and she breaks things off with him. It was a sweet story that made me cry in a few spots (and also made me want to reread the Anne series, but good grief, I seriously don't have time right now! I still haven't finished rereading Perry Mason!).

Mycroft and Sherlock; Rare Books Uncovered

I really enjoyed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's first book, "Mycroft Holmes", and this one did not disappoint. Mycroft is struggling to raise his younger brother, Sherlock. Sherlock is almost nineteen and difficult, refusing to stay at school and study, intent on forging his own path in life. Mycroft is worried for his safety, but of course Sherlock is oblivious to his cares. Sherlock was quite fun in this book, it's funny to imagine him as a young man. One of the young orphan boys Mycroft's friend Douglas takes care of has died, full of puncture wounds. Sherlock dives right into the case and nearly dies. It was great fun, I really enjoyed it.

Another really fun one, "Rare Books Uncovered" by Rebecca Rago Barry. I could read stories like this all day long. Sometimes rare books are found in the most incredible places: attics, garage sales, in other books. She talked about some famous book scouts, like Larry McMurtry, who combed the country looking for rare books. It sounds like so much fun, driving around, visiting used books stores and garage sales, finding neat treasures. She was careful to emphasis how unlikely it is, but it's still fun to contemplate.