I mentioned last month the fun with new gardening possibilities and while the sauerkraut was a bust, the carrots did pretty well. The rest of the veggies in the gallon fermenter got too soft. Now, I have ripe cherry tomatoes coming out of my ears and already dried the first batch. A bit too much pepper on some, but otherwise, they are like little tomato-flavored candies.
Okay, admittedly, that has little to do with books, although an excellent reason I’m slow to read this month. Thank heaven for audiobooks and the CE!
Speaking of the CE…we will be celebrating our 60th wedding anniversary on the 2nd (cue the horns!). Hoping to do a couple things; still there are issues with gas and Covid. Because I am writing this ahead of those last three review posts, the links will be to Amazon rather than my review which I will edit upon return to my computer. (Sadly, I don’t know how to get a link to a review scheduled, not yet posted. Yes, I know—don’t say it.)
Together we did read or listen to nineteen books in August, most from NetGalley as I’m still working on the 500 badge; as I’m writing this, now up to a count of 494. So close!
- The Wedding Plot by Paula Munier
- Holy Chow by David Rosenfelt (audiobook)
- The Last Sentinel by Simon Gervais (a CE review)
- The Final Hunt by Audrey J Cole (a CE review)
- Such a Beautiful Family by T R Ragan
- Lie Down with Dogs by Liz Milliron (a CE review)
- The Girl Who Escaped by Mark Nolan (a CE 5* review)
- Overkill by Sandra Brown (a CE review)
- Christmas Scarf Murder by Carlene O’Connor, Maddie Day, and Peggy Ehrhart
- Bad Axe County by John Gallagan (audiobook)
- Out of Patients by Sandra Cavallo Miller (a CE review)
- Dark Rivers to Cross by Lynne Reeves (a CE review)
- Murder at Black Oaks by Phillip Margolin (a CE review)
- Lies She Told by Cate Holahan (audiobook)
- Bernice Runs Away by Talya Tate Boerner (my 5*)
- The Lindbergh Nanny by Mariah Fredericks (a CE 5* review)
- A Sliver of Darkness by C J Tudor (scheduled—link to Amazon) (CE review)
- The Double Agent by William Christie (scheduled—link to Amazon) (CE review)
- The Italian Daughter by Soraya Lane (scheduled—link to Amazon) (CE review)
Reading Challenges
My challenges—promises, promises, promises. Yes, I caught it up! Not once, but twice as I lost all my input the first time. My challenges for 2022 are all listed and linked in the widget column on the right. You can always check out the progress of my challenges, if you are so inclined, by clicking the Reading Challenges page. I’m now at 73% of the Goodreads Challenge of 180 books at 132 and achieved my Audiobook Challenge of 30 and the Historical Reading Challenge of 25. I also achieved the yearly goal of 75 for Netgalley and Edelweiss, although of course, those books are all from NG.
Having to do over the Reading Challenges page taught me one thing: I’m not keeping up with it well. Not updating, nor reporting to the challenge hosts. My apologies. I think going forward I will undertake fewer challenges and not try to list individual entries to the challenge. Makes the page unwieldy and for what purpose? Tell me, honestly…have you ever looked at it?
Where the Crawdads Sing (my review of the book here by Delia Owens) starring Daisy Edgar-Jones—was excellent. Did you get a chance to view it? I’ll be doing a critical review discussing both shortly. I’d love to hear what you thought, too! Did you read the book?
We here in the upper Midwest had a beautiful August—I can’t complain—with pleasant temps during the day and cool in the evening perfect for sleeping. Did you get the kiddies off to school? We’ve been informed we are expecting our second great-grandchild. Too early to know boy or girl. In the meantime, the boy is trying to walk. He’s nine months. The fun begins…
Welcome to my new followers and as always I appreciate those who continue to read, like, share, and comment. Please let me know if you saw something above that got your interest.
©2022 V Williams
Granny graphic attribute: wdrfree.com
Now the new thing in July is “fermenting.” Got a couple lids and started on sauerkraut, but blew it by not exercising more patience. Then I got a gallon size glass bottle with a special fermenting lid (see that lid? It will exhaust but not allow oxygen back in) and trying that with carrots and cucumbers. Gotta be patient with this one and let it go at least thirty days. It’s been a week today…You can see why I might do more reading in the winter.
Best Literature & Fiction 
#20 this week
And here is Elizabeth Zott, brainiac and early 1960s chemist, fending off unwanted advances at Hastings Research Institute. 
When she finds herself a single mother with an extremely precocious four-year-old who is being taken advantage of at school, she demands to talk to the father and comes away with a new job; too broke to say no to being host of a cooking show on TV. Called “Supper at Six” she has very simple ideas on how to handle it–chemically. The station’s managers want her to dump the lab coat for a sexy dress. Not going to happen. It’s not a kitchen–it’s a lab. And the demographic loves it.
#11 this week
The author presented a very good description of a quiet area in war-torn France. The actions of a few resulted in the death of many. Rated at 4.5 sad stars – CE Williams
Award Winner
Babies were a hot commodity and Tann found a market with well-to-do couples unable to have their own. Then she found further avenues of income by squeezing them further for various trumped-up charges and fees.
Rosepoint Publishing 