May 2017 Reads

May	24	Idaho	Emily Ruskovich
	25	Last Day on Mars	Kevin Emerson
	26	The Drifter	Nick Petrie
	27	Fierce Kingdom	Gin Phillips
	28	Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus	Dusti Bowling
	29	The Someday Birds	Sally J. Pla
	30	Since We Fell	Dennis Lehane
	31	Burning Bright	Nick Petrie
	32	Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine	Gail Honeyman
	33	Standard Deviation	Katherine Heiny

Wow, this month I read my old "normal" 10 books, and most of them were outstanding!  I've felt like such a slacker, but life and stitching take up valuable reading time.

I loved Idaho by Ruskovich.  Here's a quote that really sums it up.  "Emily Ruskovich has intricately entwined a terrifying human story with an austere and impervious setting. The result—something bigger than either—is beautiful, brutal, and incandescent."—Deirdre McNamer,

I also loved Last Day on Mars.  I'm not a Sci-Fi enthusiast, but I do read widely and this was a great read.  I felt like I was in the year 2213, the Earth is gone, we've fled to Mars, but need to find a permanent home. “Last Day on Mars is thrillingly ambitious and imaginative. Like a lovechild of Gravity and The Martian, it's a rousing space opera for any age, meticulously researched and relentlessly paced, that balances action, science, humor, and most importantly, two compelling main characters in Liam and Phoebe. A fantastic start to an epic new series.” —Soman Chainani

I've added a "new" favorite author, Nick Petrie.  I read a good review of The Drifter and thought I'd start with his first book Burning Bright.  People are comparing Petrie to Lee Child, but he is different and better.  His character Peter Ash is brilliant. Peter Ash came home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with only one souvenir: what he calls his “white static,” the buzzing claustrophobia due to post-traumatic stress that has driven him to spend a year roaming in nature, sleeping under the stars.  Read these books if you love Reacher and Bourne, you won't be disappointed.

Fierce Kingdom “is an elegant, taut, and tense survival story that explores the boundaries of parental love. By pitting love against fear, Gin Phillips questions the opposing forces of family bonds and shows how fierce one mother’s love can be.”—Claire Cameron  It was really hard to put down.

If you forced me to name a favorite author it would be Dennis Lehane.  He is the only author I re-read.  His 5 part series that starts with "A Drink Before the War", got me hooked.  Unlike many successful authors, Lehane doesn't write the same story over and over.  Each novel is fresh.  Most have a mystery at the core of the book.  Since We Fell is written from a woman's point of view and has many plot twist.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is a quirky literary creation.  Eleanor is socially awkward and Honeyman's writing is exquisite, heartbreaking, funny, touching, unpredictable and irresistible.  I loved it.

I really liked Standard Deviation.  I didn't love each and everyone of the characters; I think that's a good thing.  The book is getting a lot of press and it's well deserved.  "Katherine Heiny's debut novel is not only one of the funniest books you will ever read, but true and poignant, too. And Audra is one of the most memorable characters ever to leap from the pages of a book." —John Harding,

What are you reading?