Reading 2026 - Books 23-27

  I am continuing to read but staying behind in my Goodreads Yearly Goal of 36 books. I have reached 27 books for the year but should be at 29. Again, I have not gotten any further behind since my last post, but I have not caught up either. Regardless of the goal, here are the latest five books I have read.

Some quick facts about the books

Authors: three are new for me, fifth book by Mandel, and 14th book by Grisham.

F vs NF: four are fiction and one is non-fiction.

All five published in last 25 years, four of those in last five years, and two are new in 2026.

BJ Score: All 3.5 or above with one 5.0; average for 2026 is 3.1

Two were from public library and three I now own.

Recommendations: one by my nephew Israel Provoncha; one by Goodreads web site; one from Banes & Noble display, and two are authors I like.

The Man who Died Twice (#23)

Fiction; by Richard Osman; published in 2021; 422 pages; BJ Score 3.5 (Great to Excellent)


A book I first saw on Goodreads was the Thursday Murder Club.  There is a series and I meant to read the first book but it was unavailable at the library so I got the second book in the series. I truly enjoyed the story, the humor, and it is a pretty great murder mystery. Plan to read more of them.

Mona's Eyes (#24)

Fiction; by Thomas Schlesser; published in 2024; 446 pages; BJ Score 5.0 (Memorable)


I have seen this book prominently displayed at B&N for over a year so I finally bought it and I am so glad I did. What a wonderful novel! I highly recommend this book to everyone. It was originally written in French and takes place in Paris.

A young girl loses her sight for a few hours and the doctors are not sure why. Her grandfather agrees to take her to a psychiatrist once a week, on Wednesdays. But he decides to take her to the Louvre and other museums where he will discuss one work of a famous art with her each week. He wants her to have memories of 52 great pieces of art before she loses her sight. She will have them in her mind.

I found a website that had a list and interactive viewing of each piece of art. The grandfather required her to study the art at least 15 minutes before they would start their discussion. The book does not include pictures of the artwork but it does have a detailed description at the beginning of each chapter. I would go to the web site and study the art for a while before reading. I never was much into art history but this book taught me so much about appreciating art and what the artist was trying to say. Also, there is a lot of great art including the Mona Lisa.

I will mention that the parents start to see improvements in their daughter and think it is the psychiatrist visits. But the grandfather tells her that the museum visits is their secret, and the bond between grandfather and his granddaughter only grows deeper. I know I will read this book again.

This is the eleventh 5.0 I have given of the 378 books I have in my spreadsheet.

Saratoga (#25)

Non-Fiction; by Richard M. Ketchum; published in 1997; 576 pages; BJ Score 4.0 (Excellent)


Book #87 from list. Recommended by my nephew Izzy, I added it to my bucket list. It was a read about American Revolution history. Many of the places including Fort Ticonderoga and Bennington Vermont, are familiar to me in book, growing up in Vermont. I was born on Bennington Battle Day, August 16, 1777, now a State Holiday in Vermont.

Thank you Izzy for the recommendation. There were more facts than I needed but it mad the Ken Burns miniseries on the Revolutionary War easier to follow during Episode 4.

Exit Party (#26)

Fiction; by Emily St John Mandel; published in 2026; 320 pages; BJ Score 4.0 (Excellent)


My fifth book read by this author. Quantum Entanglement. Do I need to say more? I loved it.

Cool fact, some of the book takes place in Paris France.

The French Illusion (#27)

Fiction; by John Grisham; published in 2026; 352 pages; BJ Score 3.5 (Great to Excellent)


Another best seller by Grisham. Easy read and a great story. This is the 14th fiction book I have read by Grisham. Married US couple honeymoons in Paris, get kidnapped, parents pay ransom of $2M each and then the story gets convoluted and exciting.

Cool fact, some of the book takes place in Paris France.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

More New Restaurants

Image
Tuesday would have been my father's birthday if he were still with us. Dad liked to eat at diners and places that served home cooking. Of course, my mom was the greatest home cooker around. So, in memory of my father, I drove to West Melbourne to have a late lunch at Ethel & Fred's Entree Restaurant. It is located in the Metro West Shopping Center at the corner of Wickham Road and US 192 (New Haven Avenue). Outside of Ethel & Fred's I remember there use to be a Draft House Theater, a place where you could order beer and food while watching a first run movie.  Every other row of seats were tables. Gret place. But that was then....this is now.... White Board with Specials of the Day I got in to the Restaurant around 2 PM. It is only open until 3 and the crowd was very thin.  It took them a while to see that I was there. They lose a point for that. They did have a whiteboard with the specials for the day, and I liked what I saw. The place is wide open, not gr...
Read more

"Tell Me What You See" (Digital Hoarding XVI)

Image
 I will admit, that my digital hoarding has become such that I cannot remember any more the details of each photo I have stashed away on my hard drive. At my age, my data storage (aka brain) is deleting things to make room for new things. So let me go through another group of photos, not taken by me but either sent to me, scanned from a hard copy, or just pulled off the internet including from Facebook. Here we go, let us start with a few personal photos I have saved. Personal I actually found this photo in my sister Pat's yearbook and scanned it in. This was the Junior Miss pageant held at Middlebury Union High School. Patsy is sitting second from right, next to neighbor and friend Trudy. Well, I'll be damned, this is a photo I took. My friend Mac Monroe is pulling out some wine. His children rented a house for Thanksgiving and invited me over for the festivities. This would be the last time I see Mac as he passed within a year of this photo. My friend Nancy went to Korea with...
Read more

Lunch with Kathi & Bob Thieme

Image
It was not just a lunch with some old co-workers.  It was lunch with lots of old friends and current ENSCO employees.  The location was River Rocks which has a Rockledge mailing address, but everyone assumes it is in Suntree on US 1. Sign on US 1 for lunch location Being retired, I was a little early. We retired folks get excited when we have something extra-ordinary to do. Lunch with other people! Yippee!  The first person I saw was Maria, she was the organizer of the lunch and the person I had asked for permission to attend.  She was bringing the cake (ENSCO loves to have cakes) which was being carried by Bill, someone I did not know. Two and a half years since I left and the whole company has changed. Remember, I spent 34 years working at ENSCO. Cake for the lunch at River Rocks I did get a picture of Maria taking a picture of us.  She is real good at documenting these events... Maria taking my picture at River Rocks Bob Thieme started at ENSCO...
Read more