As you may surmise, I get many, many emails from sites that want me to know about their books. One of the sites I really like is called Goodreads.com.
Yes, it is sponsored by a bookseller but you can also purchase these books from Liberty Bay Books in Poulsbo or Bremerton, or Eagle Harbor Books on Bainbridge Island. I use this site just to let me know what is available, and you can use it, too.
If you like psychological mystery stories, you might be interested in “The Night Child” by Anna Quinn.
She is from Port Townsend, so that’s almost a local author.
A short synopsis of the story: “Nora Brown teaches high school English and lives a quiet life in Seattle with her husband and 6-year-old daughter. But one November day, moments after dismissing her class, a girl’s face appears above the students’ desks, a wild numinous face with startling blue eyes, a face floating on top of shapeless drapes of purples and blues where arms and legs should have been; then twenty-four hours later, while on Thanksgiving vacation, the face appears again. As the story progresses, a terrible secret is discovered, a secret that pushes Nora toward an even deeper psychological breakdown.”
Another book that caught my interest was “Bachelor Girl” by Kim van Alkemade. She is the author of “Orphan No. 8” that was very popular with book clubs. “This book was inspired by the true story of Jacob Ruppert, the millionaire owner of the New Yankees, and his mysterious bequest to an unknown actress in 1939. This one’s for fans of little-known history and sweeping romances.”
And one more mystery that I spied was “The Other Side of Everything” by Lauren Doyle Owens. This story is about “Bernard White. He is a curmudgeonly widower who has lived in Seven Springs, Florida.
For decades, he has kept to himself since his wife died but when his neighbor is murdered, he emerges from his solitude to reconnect with his fellow octogenarians. These connections become a literal lifeline as a second, and then a third, elderly woman is murdered, and “the originals,” as they call themselves, realize that they are being targeted.”
Children’s books interest me, too, so I’ll pass along this one that I’d like to read, and maybe pass on to the kids in my life. “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’Engle is a 1962 fantasy science fiction novel about “13-year-old Meg Murray, a stubborn misfit with a father who’s already been missing for some time by the novel’s opening.
Fortunately, Meg’s 5-year-old child prodigy brother Charles Wallace has been putting together a team to find him: a schoolmate named Calvin, and three ancient alien beings who call themselves Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which. The five of them — the team — are soon off to the dark world of Camazotz, controlled by an evil entity known only as “IT.” On Camazotz, absolute conformity is the only rule” so this may cause some problems along the way.
Hope you enjoy these suggestions. And one last thing. This is what a sign outside a bookstore said: “Attention all reading machines. We have fuel for you!”
Quote for today: “Books are uniquely portable magic.” — Stephen King
Donna Lee Anderson well toldtales@aol.com
Remember: It’s not about age, it’s about attitude, and life isn’t about how you survived the storm … it’s about how you danced in the rain!
