The butler is a quiet but tough man who takes the job of butler to an old man who is a wizard. So far very interesting read. I'm not finished as yet but I'm enjoying it so far.
The story is mostly about growing up and older.

Thanks

Thanks to a wonderful review I found in the stack of New Yorkers I'm working my way through. He's familiar, maybe, as author of "True Grit." Library of America has released a collection of his works (a couple of short novels, including TG, with short stories and newspaper pieces) in one volume, and I bought it.

The first novel--novelette, really, just over 100 pg--is "Norwood," about a discharged Marine from Ralph, TX, sent home to take care of his sister, Vernell, when their father died. Poor old Norwood left the service in such a kerfuffle that he forgot to collect the $70 he was owed from another Marine, and he is determined to get his money back. And thereby hangs a tale.

It is funny, picaresque, endearing and one of those stories you wish would never end.

I've moved on to "True Grit" and (groan: obvious) it's *so much better* than the movie with Hailey Steinberg, which was a really good movie.

If you're looking for something funny and endearing and really wonderful, try Charles Portis.

I'm always looking for something funny and endearing.

I did see the movie, so long ago, a and quite enjoyed it.

better than the John Wayne version, but I loved the version with Hailee Steinberg and Jeff Bridges. I also really liked Dog of the South.

is the one I'm really looking forward to reading. If you haven't read Norwood, you might love it. I do.

And I agree about the TG movies. Jeff Bridges is imo underrated; in many movies he demonstrates a mastery I rarely see. Thunderbolt and Lightfoot is an example. I told a friend of mine who lives in CA Bridges did the best job of acting a stroke I'd ever seen (and I worked in a rehab hospital at the time!). She actually ran into him--at a bookstore!!!--and told him that, and he was mightily pleased.

person. I will add Norwood to my list.

That alone--that he buys and presumably reads--books speaks (ahem) volumes about his character imo.

I think the 2d movie version was better than the first.

The first of his "Nighthawk" series. It's set in Cambridge in the early weeks of the Second World War. It's excellent. I'm alternating Jim Kelly's books with Mike Hollow's "Blirz Detective" series - set in London a few months later. Also very good.

New detective stories for me to look for. Thanks!

but seems dry in the beginning and hasn't caught me yet. Went to local Half Priced Books yesterday and found 3 books, one Lost Horizon read years ago. A granddaughter went with me, apparently it was torture.

Review says: Miller's page-turning, profoundly moving, and blisteringly paced retelling of the epic Trojan War...

I guess kids are only interested in electronic entertainment now days.

older sister is an avid reader like me, but she was in Dallas getting MVP in softball tournament.

pull weeds is okay. It's too hot for full granny's workhouse.

I've started the last book in the series, Death's End. I'm really enjoying the trilogy. We've had 110+ temperatures for the last couple weeks, so staying inside and reading is easy!

Oh, check this out Sea of Dreams, he first of sixteen new graphic novels from Liu Cixin. An epic tale of the future that all science fiction fans will enjoy.

The final book in a series always leads to the "What will I read next?" dilemma!

book disappeared from the system. A real mystery book!

Picked up newish baldacci Long Shadows: a memory man thriller off the shelf to keep in shape.

Lots of repetition. New characters told not shown. Florida locale is flat (so to speak), mostly about golf and retirees. Pretty ho hum title. Too bad because first in the series was compelling.

Question: does baldacci actually write his books? I’ve heard some talk that James Patterson mostly runs a writing factory? Or am I off base…?

Or not. Her books are really popular so someone absconding with one seems probable. My library's books have a thing that beeps if you try to sneak one out. I'm sure there are ways around it, though.

Never heard that about Patterson or Baldacci. Maybe someone else here has some insight.

However, I’ve seen James Patterson’s TV ads for his books, kinda creepy. He gives off a Thomas Kinkade (painter of light) vibe.

work were available in e-book format.

Just started reading Lynne Olson's book, Madame Fourcade's Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France's Largest Spy Network Against Hitler and so far, it's interesting and well written.

It's too hot to get outside here, so we just stay inside and read!

Well, not the heat but the book. "this tour de force offers a stirring commentary on a country''s physical and spiritual erosion, as relevant today as it was a decade ago."

“Raining Cat Sitters and Dogs” just a fun book for bedtime reading.

Thanks

I really enjoy this author! This series is in my favorite subgenre "Archaeological Thriller), and the action is a mile a minute in these books There are 38 books in this series so I still have a lot of fun to look forward to. I think I have read 24 of them.

WHEN IS THE PRICE TO PROTECT A NATION'S LEGACY TOO HIGH?

Archaeology Professors James Acton and Laura Palmer are on safari in South Africa, enjoying a vacation away from the bullets and bombs that too often threaten their lives, when a chance encounter leads to a clue that could unlock the greatest mystery remaining of the Boer War over a century ago.

The location to over half a billion dollars in gold.



It’s a treasure that has claimed dozens of lives, and is about to claim even more.

to explore and enjoy. Thanks!

The books are written as standalones but full of recurring characters. I do recommend reading book #1 first because it sets up a lot of the future interactions of the characters.

A murder mystery/legal thriller. So “light” reading for me after the books I’ve read over the last few weeks. And it’s a freebie from Amazon Prime. It will be a quick read.

I finished Every Last One by Anna Quindlan. It was okay, however, there are much better in that genre.

I hope it’s cooled down where you’re at, and Happy Reading for all!

I read this one thirty-some years ago and remember really enjoying it. I found my old paperback copy of it the other day when I opened up a sealed box of paperbacks that had been in storage for some years.

It's a science-fiction novel about a spacefaring human civilization that gets around in a unique way. Most science-fiction has humans getting around in metal ships through things like wormholes or with hyperdrive or whatever, but this novel has a truly original method: These extraterrestrial humans know about another kind of energy, something they call "third-order forces" that they are able to latch onto to instantaneously transport themselves across interplanetary and even interstellar distances.

Third-order forces are as unknown to us terrestrial humans as infrared radiation was to cave dwellers, and we terrestrial humans are poor relations to extraterrestrial humans, who know about us and move among us and watch us clandestinely, but we of course are not aware of them. The extraterrestrial humans also have life spans of about fifty centuries.

Third-order forces converge on confluence points called "nodes" and it is at these nodes that the extraterrestrial humans transport themselves. There are a few dozen of these nodes on the surface of the planet Earth, at places like Easter Island and Stonehenge. I have visited Stonehenge and wow, there really is something weird about that place, about the way it feels. Reading this novel makes me think of Stonehenge.

-- Ron

I would love to able to visit Stonehenge. Thanks for sharing.

A great read so far. Near the end and am surprised at what happens.
I get most of my books from friends and "the Little Free Libraries". Some choices are good, others go back for someone else to take a chance. I have an arrangement with a circle of friends to exchange books. This is a good one and will pass it on.