Deidre Yocom

I bought this book mainly because it’s set in the Shetland Islands, a part of the world I find fascinating. The plot is well crafted and I’m looking forward to reading more by this author!

This novel was a really delightful read. Starting out with a rogue, brilliant, but troubled (aren’t they all?) pilot who takes a mysterious package to a tiny airport in the middle of a major storm. His flight is sabotaged and the plot takes off from there. I enjoyed this book a lot.

This was a fun romp – another of the nearly countless James Patterson books. In this one, there is a high end private detective agency called Private. This firm is hired to find a missing person and, of course, the road from there gets bumpy and twisty. Certainly not a classic, but a fun read.

I was expecting a “usual” Patterson book – some sort of a crime mystery. How wrong I was! This was a pretty good horror story of a company that rules the lives of many of the citizens of the United States. The parallels with Amazon were a little too close. It was a fun read, …

The Store by James Patterson and Richard DiLallo – 247 pages Read More »

This was a really good primer on Mussolini and Pius XI. I’ve read a lot of books on World War II, but mainly focused on Germany. I had only seen Mussolini as a puppet of Hitler. I was incorrect – Mussolini came to power in the 1920’s and had a vise grip on Italy from …

The Pope and Mussolini – The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe by David I. Kertzer – 404 pages Read More »

How can you not love a book of stories by James Herriot? I can’t imagine not being enchanted by the scenes the author paints. Not all is happy and smooth – but there is an underlying spirit of good will and his love for the Yorkshires is evident in every story. One of my favorite …

All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Herriot — 378 pages Read More »

I was intrigued by the name of this novel about a young girl growing up in Appalachia at the turn of the 20th century. There is a lot of forgiveness to be asked for in this book. Bertie (Albertina) Winslow is the eldest daughter of an alcoholic father and a mentally unstable mother. She goes …

All the Forgivenesses by Elizabeth Hardinger — 353 pages Read More »

It has been over 30 years since I read this short novel about World War I. I remember being moved by the book back in the day but was even more moved by reading it this week. If anyone thinks war is noble, honorable or otherwise worthy, they should read this book. It is very …

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque — 175 pages Read More »

One of my favorite books of the past ten years was the first novel by this Swedish author. I loved A Man Called Ove. I also loved Anxious People. This book is a lovely, twisting, funny, sad, silly story about a variety of characters who meet up in unusual circumstances. This book takes awhile to …

Anxious People by Frederik Backman — 336 pages Read More »

Another book about the complicated relationships between family members. . .I’m seeing a trend here. This is a Putlizer prize finalist and Ms. Patchett has a lovely writing style. The main story is about a sister and brother. Their mother leaves them with their remote father when they are ten and four years old. There …

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett – 337 pages Read More »