Books Read, 2017

1.     The World Beneath (Joe Tesla #1) - Rebecca Cantrell

2.     A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles

3.     Norwegian by Night - Derek B. Miller

4.     Deep Blue - Alan Judd

5.     Below the Belt (Stone Barrington #40) - Stuart Woods

6.     The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto - Mitch Albom

7.     The Man From Berlin (Gregor Reinhardt #1) - Luke McCallin

8.     One Man’s Flag (Jack McColl #2) - David Downing

9.     The Traitor’s Wife - Allison Pataki

10. Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk - Kathleen Rooney

11. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Jami Ford

12. Fast and Loose (Stone Barrington #41)  - Stuart Woods

13. We Never Asked for Wings - Vanessa Diffenbaugh

14. Prussian Blue (Bernie Gunther, #12) - Kerr, Philip

15. Golden Prey (Lucas Davenport #27) - John Sandford

16. Nighthawk (NUMA Files, #14) - Clive Cussler

17. The Tea Planter's Wife- Dinah Jefferies

18. Indecent Exposure (Stone Barrington #42) - Stuart Woods

19. Nutshell - Ian McEwan

20.  House of Spies (Gabriel Allon #17) - Daniel Silva

21. Barely Legal (Herbie Fisher #1)  - Stuart Woods

22. Purple Hibiscus - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

23. The Late Show - Michael Connelly (Renée Ballard, #1)

24. The Martian Ambassador - Alan K. Baker

25. Lincoln in the Bardo - George Saunders (unfinished)

26. The Cuban Affair - Nelson DeMille

27. The Extra - A.B. Yehoshua

28. Commonwealth - Ann Patchett

29. Enchanted Islands - Allison Amend

30. The Romanov Ransom - Clive Cussler

31. Everyone Brave is Forgiven - Chris Cleave

32. Waking Lions - Ayelet Gundar-Goshen

33. Quick and Dirty - Stuart Woods (Stone Barrington #43)

34. Secrets of a Charmed Life - Susan Meissner

 

Favorites were A Gentleman In Moscow and Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk

Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A book club book that I wanted to love. The story was interesting and engaging but I was somewhat unconvinced. A bit far fetched and stretched. Characters were interesting and seemed full and rich but I had a little trouble buying the story.
What I did like was seeing the lives of children who were removed from their homes. The image of London devoid of children gave to me another dimension to the blitz. Thanks Susan, as I write this review I'm going to add a star for what I learned about the blitz from a new angle.
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Quick & Dirty by Stuart Woods
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Stuart Woods always pleases me. His stories are fast paced and inventive. The characters are a mixture of old favorites and new faces. The plot is intricate, fanciful and fun. I love this guy. He might be my favorite author.

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Waking Lions by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another book club book. Hard to read, uncomfortable story. I guess it takes me out of my comfort zone and exposes several human frailties that we may all have and not know how to deal with. What if we were faced with a life changing event and choose to lie and cheat to stay out of trouble.
Honesty may or may not be the easy way out and the punishment might be extreme. Quite a powerful examination of ethics from an odd point of view.

Hated reading it but I'm glad that I did. The book club discussion was stimulating and cast a whole new light on the book. That's what a discussion is for, right?

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