Risk Management by Reid Winslow -- BOOK REVIEW

BOOK REVIEW

Risk Management by Reid Winslow

Reid Winslow's second thriller, Risk Management, explores a dark world of corruption and double (triple?) dealing. Larry Welk makes an almost anti-hero of a protagonist as a dry drunk, disbarred lawyer working as private detective. This time, he's working off the books after his former lover is shot by Chicago police and Larry is the main suspect. 

When Larry meets Birdie Thurmond, a whip smart but socially awkward state auditor, though a dating app, he wants her help with the case as much as he wants a little romance. Birdie is willing – on both counts – but it's quid pro quo because Birdie is working on her own mystery -- trying to figure out why so many people involved in a city water project keep turning up dead. The next one may be her.

There’s a lot to keep track of in these dual storylines, but Winslow does a good job of keeping both on track. The novel builds slowly, but once it hits its stride, it speeds right along to an exciting and satisfying ending.

NOTES

Risk Management is billed as the second book in Winslow's Narrow Track series. There is overlap, but both stand on their own just fine. In the first, The Dead Bell, the protagonist is a hardboiled Chicagoland cop named Tom Edison. In my review of The Dead Bell, I described Edison as having "an alcoholic wild man for a sidekick." That wild man is Larry Welk, sobered up but still wild in Risk Management. Edison makes a cameo, but isn't part of the story. Both books are good entertainment so I hope Winslow continues the series. 

I'm not wild about the cover. I find the red color and sightless stone head disturbing. But the image makes sense and ties in with the story. 

Reid Winslow is a pen name for former attorney turned countryman author George Mead. I know George and we even worked together for a brief time a long time ago. Now he is living the life so many lawyers dream of. Good work!

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Exiled from Texas, disbarred, and white-knuckling sobriety in the Midwest, criminal defense attorney Larry Welk has learned to manage risk the hard way: by living inside it.

A carefully curated dating profile lands Larry a date with Birdie Thurmond, a brilliant state auditor who believes risk is just a math problem waiting to be solved. Birdie has a spreadsheet for everything, and Larry can't shake the feeling he's already been reduced to a set of variables. The night ends awkwardly, and they part ways.

Then a late-night call detonates Larry's fragile new life.

His former lover Darlene Pepper has been shot eight times by police and is clinging to life in a Chicago hospital. Before Larry can even process the news, Darlene is dead and Larry is the prime suspect. The motive points to a fortune that vanished years ago: millions stolen by Darlene's ex-husband, Larry's former client, money that was never recovered.

Now Larry is trapped between the law he once practiced and the danger he can't outrun: federal investigators closing in, a killer who seems to know his every move, and secrets that don't stay buried. With nowhere left to turn, Larry makes one desperate play: trust Birdie, the one woman convinced every problem has a solution if you run the numbers long enough.

But Birdie's equations never accounted for a man like Larry.

State of the Union by Nick Hornby -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

State of the Union by Nick Hornby

Thank you for joining me for Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it right now.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

When Louise arrives, Tom is already halfway through a pint, and he's doing The Guardian's cryptic crossword.

-- from State of the Union by Nick Hornby.

State of the Union is a 2019 novella about a couple examining their marriage in a series of ten conversations at a pub before their weekly counseling sessions. It sounds like just the sort of story Hornby tells best. I found it on my TBR shelf and think it will make a good spacer between a couple of huge books I'm reading this month. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 is a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your featured book. If you are reading an ebook or audiobook, find your teaser from the 56% mark.

Freda at Freda's Voice started and hosted The Friday 56 for a long, long time. She is taking a break and Anne at My Head is Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. Please visit Anne's blog and link to your Friday 56 post.

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from State of the Union:

Outside the pub, Louise is furious. 

“ What the HELL were you thinking of?” 

 

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Tom and Louise meet in a pub before their couple's therapy appointment. Married for years, they thought they had a stable home life--until a recent incident pushed them to the brink.

Going to therapy seemed like the perfect solution. But over drinks before their appointment, they begin to wonder: what if marriage is like a computer? What if you take it apart to see what's in there, but then you're left with a million pieces?

Unfolding in the minutes before their weekly therapy sessions, the ten-chapter conversation that ensues is witty and moving, forcing them to look at their marriage--and, for the first time in a long time, at each other.

July 2026 Monthly Wrap Up -- BOOK THOUGHTS

BOOK THOUGHTS

July 2026 Monthly Wrap Up

July was a good reading month for me. How about you? 

Here's a list of the books I read in July, in the order I read them, not as shown in the photo. Those not in the photo were audiobooks I read with my ears. 

• The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. Not a favorite but I’m happy to get it off my shelf, thanks to the TBR 26 in '26 Challenge. 

• Social Justice Fallacies by Thomas Sowell, an economics book. It was a little repetitive of other books I've read by him, but his ideas bear repeating so I didn't mind. 

• Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream by John Derbyshire. I didn't know what to expect from this one and finally got to it because it was on my TBR 26 in '26 list. I'm so glad I finally read it because it is a delightful novel about Chinese immigrants and marriage.

• Troubles by J.G. Farrell, one of the books in his Empire Trilogy. The three books share common themes related to the end of the British Empire, but do not have to be read in order. I read The Siege of Krishnapur (Indian Uprising of 1857) a while back and The Singapore Grip also in July. This one is about a group of English people living in a dilapidated seaside hotel in Ireland at the beginning of the Irish War of Independence (1919–1921).  It is funny, sad, short, and excellent. Troubles was published in 1970 and awarded The Lost Booker Prize in 2010.

• Learning to Heal: One Woman’s Journey Through Medicine by Liz Casper records her experiences in medical school, practice, and as a cancer patient. She illustrates each step in her career with a story about a particular patient, which makes her memoir feel immediate and human. Excellent!

• Here One Moment by Lianne Moriarty. Her books always give full entertainment value. I prefer the audiobooks because the Australian accents give the stories a real sense of place. 

• Doctor Fischer of Geneva or the Bomb Party by Graham Greene is a short book that will linger for a long time. I read it with a group of Bookstagrammers working our way through all his novels, one every other month. 

• Dunbar by Edward St. Aubyn, a  retelling of King Lear. This was a highlight of the month. Every Hogarth Shakespeare I've read had knocked my socks off. Interestingly, Dunbar reimagines King Lear as the battle between an aging media mogul and his offspring over who will control his empire. Sound familiar? The book came out only months before Succession aired, which told King Lear through the same plot. Sometimes ideas get plucked from the universe at the same time. 

• Harm Done by Ruth Rendell. Book 18 in her Inspector Wexford Series, this one involves domestic violence and the victims seeking protection at the local women's shelter. 

• A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler. I’m an Anne Tyler completist so am reading all of them. They all involve families but this one didn't have much plot beyond following a particular family in Baltimore (of course) through several generations in one house. 

• Risk Management by Reid Winslow, a dual storyline thriller that built to an exciting ending. Read my review here. 

• The Singapore Grip by J.G. Farrell, also in his Empire Trilogy, which I read out of order but it didn't matter. This is the story of the British community in Singapore when the Japanese invade in 1941. It is a long, shaggy story highlighting the disparities between the British and Asian inhabitants. It is definitely one of the top books of my reading year.

• A History of the World in 10½ Chapters by Julian Barnes, linked short stories. The opening story retold Noah's Ark from the perspective of a bug stowaway and was hilarious. The rest of the stories had a link -- strong or weak -- to Noah's Ark. All in all, a mixed bag, but I think that of all story collections.

• Discovering Main Street: Travel Adventures in Small Towns of the Pacific Northwest by Foster Church. The third TBR 26 in ‘26 for me in July. While a lot of the specific information was outdated (my fault for waiting so long to read this 2010 book), there was still plenty here to inspire a long list of road trip ideas. 

• The Summons by Peter Lovesey, his 3d Peter Diamond mystery. I was happy to find that this one brought Diamond back to Bath, the setting of the first book. 

The Windsor Knot by S. J. Bennett -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

The Windsor Knot by S. J. Bennett

Thank you for joining me this week for Book Beginnings on Fridays where participants share the opening sentence (or two) from the book they are reading. You can also share from a book you want to feature, even if you are not reading it at the moment. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

It was an almost perfect spring day.

-- from The Windsor Knot by S. J. Bennett. Not a particularly gripping opening sentence, but I expect things will pick up. 

I've been organizing my TBR shelves and came across The Windsor Knot, a cozy-ish mystery set in 2016 in which the Queen of England is the sleuth. What an adorable idea! I'm going to read it with my ears because my library has the audiobook.  

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

Please add the link to your book beginning post in the linky box below. If you participate or share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings so other people can find your post.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 asks participants to share a two-sentence teaser from their book of the week. If your book is an ebook or audiobook, pick a teaser from the 56% point. 

Anna at My Head is Full of Books hosts The Friday 56, a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please visit My Head is Full of Books to leave the link to your post. 

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from The Windsor Knot:

“When I mentioned it to the Queen, she asked me to pass on her sincere condolences and when I did, Lady Hepburn invited her to tea and Her Majesty said yes."

Was this even possible?

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

It is the early spring of 2016 and Queen Elizabeth is at Windsor Castle in advance of her 90th birthday celebrations. But the preparations are interrupted by the shocking and untimely death of a guest in one of the Castle bedrooms. The scene leads some to think the young Russian pianist strangled himself, yet a badly tied knot leads MI5 to suspect foul play. When they begin to question the Household’s most loyal servants, Her Majesty knows they’re looking in the wrong place.

For the Queen has been living an extraordinary double life ever since her teenage years as “Lilibet.” Away from the public eye and unbeknownst to her closest friends and advisers, she has the most brilliant skill for solving crimes. With help from her Assistant Private Secretary, Rozie Oshodi, a British Nigerian officer recently appointed to the Royal Horse Artillery, the Queen discreetly begins making inquiries. As she carries out her royal duties with her usual aplomb, no one in the Royal Household, the government, or the public knows that the resolute Elizabeth won’t hesitate to use her keen eye, quick mind, and steady nerve to bring a murderer to justice.

June 2026 Monthly Wrap Up -- BOOK THOUGHTS

BOOK THOUGHTS

June 2026 Monthly Wrap Up

What book surprised you in June? For me, the answer is The Calamity Club, which completely pulled me in from the get go. See my earlier review post.

Here's the list of the book I read in June. See any favorites?

• Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie. I love AC but often forget to read her books. I'd like to read at least one a month but need to concentrate to make that work. This was an overly complicated but still fun Hercule Poirot case set in France.  

• Stalky & Co. by Rudyard Kipling. Schoolboy stories are not my usual cup of tea. These are as good as they get, and I appreciate them as a classic, but didn't really engage with them.

• The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett. I got a review copy of this one from the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program. I was determined to get it read and reviewed, but was daunted by the page count -- it's a doorstop! So I switched to the audiobook from my library and was so happy i did. The two readers did an amazing job and really made the characters come alive. 

• The Bible of British Taste: Stories of Home, People and Place by Ruth Guilding. This coffee table book was fascinating. I expected glossy layouts of fancy houses. But it is more about how real people live in architecturally significant houses in whatever state those houses may be in. It is about preserving, not necessarily restoring or renovating. I was unfamiliar with Guilding's former blog of the same name, so this world was all new to me. 

• Simisola by Ruth Rendell is the 16th book in her Inspector Wexford series and explores issues of immigration, racism, and exploitation. It was a good one. 

• Curriculum Vitae: Autobiography by Muriel Spark. Spark is one of my favorite authors. Her autobiography covers her childhood in Edinburgh, disastrous first marriage to a mentally unstable man she followed to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), work for the British Secret Service during WWII, and early success as an author. It's fascinating to read her story in her own words. 

• The Merry Heart: Reflections on Reading, Writing, and the World of Books by Robertson Davies. This was a delight from beginning to end. Davies is another favorite fiction writer of mine. This is a collection of speeches he gave later in life, mostly about reading and writing. I loved every page. 

• Diamond Solitaire by Peter Lovesey is the second mystery in his Peter Diamond series. I have most of the book in cool Soho Crime editions and am excited dive in. Diamond is the kind of schleppy, overweight, own-worse-enemy sort of crime solver I love, sort of an English version of Ian McEwan's John Rebus. 

• Slightly Foxed No. 87 (Summer 2025). This literary quarterly is so interesting it is worth the risk of overloading my TBR shelves. 

NOT PICTURED

• The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak. This was my first Shafak book and might be my last. I read it for book club and we all agreed that the premise was good but the execution left us cold because she lectures a lot. A lot. 

• Road Rage by Ruth Rendell. This 20th Wexford mystery involves environmental activists protesting the construction of a new byway near "Kingsmarkham," Wexford's fictional town in Sussex.

• The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman. I love the Thursday Murder Club books and this new one, the fifth, lived up to me expectations. 

• Mona’s Eyes by Thomas Schlesser. This was another book club pick and I did not finish it. I don't include it on my book count for the year, but I include it here because I wrote about it here. 

The Kipling, Spark, and Davies books were from my TBR 26 in '26 stack, leaving me with nine to go.

The Singapore Grip by J. G. Farrell -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

The Singapore Grip by J. G. Farrell

Thank you for joining me for Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it right now.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

The city of Singapore was not built up gradually, the way most cities are, by a natural deposit of commerce on the banks of some river or at a traditional confluence of trade routes.

-- from The Singapore Grip by J. G. Farrell. This week, I’m diving in to The Singapore Grip, the final book in J. G. Farrell’s Empire Trilogy. The three books explore the decline of the British Empire, focusing on three key historical points in time: the Irish War of Independence (Troubles), the Indian Mutiny (The Siege of Krishnapur), and Japan’s 1942 invasion of Singapore (The Singapore Grip). All three are slyly funny, with a seemingly gentle satire that creeps up on you. Worth reading, especially back to back.

 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginnings post in the box below. If you share on social media, please use the #bookbeginnings hashtag.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 is a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your featured book. If you are reading an ebook or audiobook, find your teaser from the 56% mark.

Freda at Freda's Voice started and hosted The Friday 56 for a long, long time. She is taking a break and Anne at My Head is Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. Please visit Anne's blog and link to your Friday 56 post.

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from The Singapore Grip:

Walter had been almost overpowered on the occasion of his first visit to Akron, Ohio, by this sensation of the right thing being done at high intensity all around him, and not only in the production of male babies but in that of motor tyres and rims, too. Perhaps it was just as well that he and Firestone were on opposite ends of the rubber business.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Singapore, 1939: life on the eve of World War II just isn't what it used to be for Walter Blackett, head of British Singapore's oldest and most powerful firm. No matter how forcefully the police break one strike, the natives go on strike somewhere else. His daughter keeps entangling herself with the most unsuitable beaus, while her intended match, the son of Blackett's partner, is an idealistic sympathizer with the League of Nations and a vegetarian. Business may be booming—what with the war in Europe, the Allies are desperate for rubber and helpless to resist Blackett's price-fixing and market manipulation—but something is wrong. No one suspects that the world of the British Empire, of fixed boundaries between classes and nations, is about to come to a terrible end.

A love story and a war story, a tragicomic tale of a city under siege and a dying way of life, The Singapore Grip completes the “Empire Trilogy” that began with Troubles and the Booker prize-winning Siege of Krishnapur.

Encounters with Animals -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Encounters with Animals by Gerald Durrell

Thank you for joining me this week for Book Beginnings on Fridays where participants share the opening sentence (or two) from the book they are reading. You can also share from a book you want to feature, even if you are not reading it at the moment. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

I am constantly being surprised by the number of people, in different parts of the world, who seem to be quite oblivious to the animal life around them.

 -- from Encounters with Animals by Gerald Durrell. 

I only recently discovered Gerald Durrell's animal books. I've read several novels written by his brother Lawrence Durrell, but it was only when I watched the wonderful Durrell's of Corfu that I learned about Gerald and his lifelong love of animals. So far, I've only read one of his books, Menagerie Manor, about starting a private zoo on the Channel Island of Jersey. But I have several others on my TBR shelf, including this one. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

Please add the link to your book beginning post in the linky box below. If you participate or share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings so other people can find your post.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 asks participants to share a two-sentence teaser from their book of the week. If your book is an ebook or audiobook, pick a teaser from the 56% point. 

Anna at My Head is Full of Books hosts The Friday 56, a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please visit My Head is Full of Books to leave the link to your post. 

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from Encounters with Animals:

I sat on that sandbank for two hours, watching these great roly-poly creatures churning up the water and sand as they duelled in the shallows. As far as I could see, the old male was getting the worst of it, and I felt sorry for him. 

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Gerald Durrell's accounts of the animals he encountered on his travels were some of the first widely shared descriptions of the world's most extraordinary animals. Moving from the West Coast of Africa to the northern tip of South America - and elsewhere - Durrell observes the courtships, wars and characters of a variety of creatures, from birds of paradise, to ants and anteaters, among others.

Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty

Well, if you came by last week or the week before for Book Beginnings, MY APOLOGIES! Apparently retirement and hosting duties don't mix, because I keep forgetting to post. I've now added a weekly reminder to my calendar so I hope I will be more responsible.  

If you are still hanging around, thank you for joining me this week for Book Beginnings on Fridays where participants share the opening sentence (or two) from the book they are reading. You can also share from a book you want to feature, even if you are not reading it at the moment. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

Later, not a single person will recall seeing the lady board the flight at Hobart Airport. 

-- from Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty, her most recent novel. I love Moriarty's books and have read most of them. This one is not as suspenseful as Big Little Lies or some of the other ones, but it is good entertainment, like all of them. 

Are you a Liane Moriarty fan? What's your favorite? 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

Please add the link to your book beginning post in the linky box below. If you participate or share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings so other people can find your post.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 asks participants to share a two-sentence teaser from their book of the week. If your book is an ebook or audiobook, pick a teaser from the 56% point. 

Anna at My Head is Full of Books hosts The Friday 56, a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please visit My Head is Full of Books to leave the link to your post. 

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from Here One Moment:

Paula stares for a dull stupefied moment at the document the Scottish man is trying to hand her. She squints to read it, as if it’s a contract or a file she needs to act on, but she really doesn’t have the bandwidth for this right now.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Suddenly a woman traveling alone stands. She walks down the aisle making predictions about how and when passengers will die. Some dismiss her, they don’t believe in psychics. Some are delighted with her prophecies! Their lives will supposedly be long. Others are appalled.

Then: a few months later, the first prediction comes true.

Intricately plotted, with the wonderful wit Liane Moriarty has become famous for, Here One Moment brilliantly looks at friends, lovers, and family and how we manage to hold onto them in our harried modern lives.

5 Great American Novels -- FAVE FIVE BOOK THOUGHTS

 

5 Great American Novels

FAVE FIVE BOOK THOUGHTS

The word of the month is semiquincentennial! On this Independence Day weekend, in honor of America's 250th anniversary, I picked five of my favorite American novels. I think these are all "great American novels" even if I don't know I would pick one of them for the Great American Novel, which is an elusive critter. 

Instead of trying to pick the most American novel I could think of (Huckleberry Finn? To Kill a Mocking Bird?), I picked these because I love them and I think they all have a particularly American spirit to them. 

• Postcards by E. Annie Proulx. Her debut novel, this overlooked gem follows the tragic hero from a hardscrabble farm in upstate New York across America and across the decades from 1940 to 1980. An unforgettable story of rural American life in the mid 20th century.

• My Ántonia by Willa Cather. My favorite Cather book and the best novel about immigrant pioneer life on the Great Plains.

• Rabbit Angstrom: The Four Novels by John Updike (Rabbit, Run, Rabbit Redoux, Rabbit is Rich, and Rabbit at Rest). No matter your feelings about Rabbit, no fiction better captures the zeitgeist of the Silent Generation’s era. From basketball stardom in 1950s high school, to a rocky marriage in the turbulent '60s, commercial success in the '70s, and retirement in Florida in the '80s, Rabbit lived through it all. Updike won the Pulitzer Prize in 1982 for Rabbit is Rich and 1991 for Rabbit at Rest.

• The Road Home by Jim Harrison. Like My Ántonia, this intergenerational family saga is set in Nebraska, but deals more directly with the tragic conflict between pioneers and Native Americans. At the same time, it is a great yarn with Harrison's typical wry humor, big characters, astute sense of place, and forgiving heart.

• All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren. Louisiana is like nowhere else in the United States, but could only happen in the United States, making this fictional story of Huey Long a quintessential American political novel. It won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize.

Have you rea any of these? What do you think? What book would you nominate for the Great American Novel? 

FIVE FAVES

There are times when a full-sized book list is just too much; when the Top 100, a Big Read, or all the Prize winners seem like too daunting an effort. That's when a short little list of books (or authors) grouped by theme may be just the ticket.

Inspired by Nancy Pearl's "Companion Reads" chapter in Book Lust – themed clusters of books on subjects as diverse as Bigfoot and Vietnam – I decided to start occasionally posting lists of five books grouped by topic or theme. I call these posts my Five Faves.

Feel free to grab the button and play along. Use today's theme or come up with your own. If you post about it, please link back to here and leave the link to your post in a comment. If you want to participate but don't have a blog or don't feel like posting, please share your list in a comment.

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett and Mona's Eyes by Thomas Schlesser -- BOOK REVIEW(S)

 

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett and Mona's Eyes by Thomas Schlesser

BOOK REVIEW(S)

I recently read The Calamity Club and Mona's Eyes, both new, popular books, and they hit me entirely differently. Can you guess which of these I loved and which I didn’t finish? 

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett:

Well -- suspense over -- I loved this one. Absolutely loved it. I almost didn’t start it, despite getting a review copy from the publisher Spiegel & Grau. The description on the back about three misfit women bonding together to “claim what’s rightfully theirs” gave transgressive vibes that didn’t appeal to me. I just wasn’t in the mood for Thelma & Louise set in Depression-era Mississippi. But I gave it a go and could not have been more wrong in my interpretation of the cover description!

Stockett’s story is plot-driven historical fiction at its best. The POV switches between 10-year-old Meg, stuck in an orphanage with a cruel superintendent, and 25-year-old Birdie who is stuck solving the dire financial problems of her extended family. Their stories connect through Charlie, a woman whose tragic past drives her to an audacious plan to save all three of them. The characters are compelling, the setting authentic, and the plotting steadily builds to a satisfying conclusion. It’s exactly the sort of shaggy adventure I love.

Mona’s Eyes by Thomas Schlesser:

I made it through the first third then gave up. I only wish I hit the DNF button earlier! Mona's Eyes is the contemporary story of 10-year-old Mona who may or may not go blind following a medical scare. Her grandfather decides to teach her about art, so if she goes blind, she will have good images in her mind. Under the pretense of taking her to a child shrink, he takes her once a week to a museum to study one piece of art and discuss it with him. Every chapter is their viewing and discussing one work of art.

It’s like sitting through Art History 101, but without the slides and the laser pointer. Reading about someone else looking at art is as boring as it sounds. Unlike plot-dense Calamity Club, Mona’s Eyes has no plot, at least not in the first third that I read. There are little scenes interspersed between art lessons – Mona at school or with her friends, mom worrying about Mona’s health, dad drinking and running his vintage collectibles business into the ground. But those are just scenes, not story. Maybe they will tie together to suggest a plot at some point. There's a glimmer of something involving Mona finding a secret stash of valuable figurines in her father's storeroom -- maybe he can sell them and save his business. But that is two short scenes out of 150 pages. Otherwise, I feel like I’m sitting in class.

NOTES: 

Have you read either of these? What did you think?

My book club is reading Mona's Eyes for our next meeting. I am dying to know what the other ladies think, although I won't be surprised if they loved it. Several of them are really into art and may love it just because it is a book about art. I like art as much as the next person, but if I want to learn about art, I'll read an art book or watch an art appreciation class on YouTube. I want my fiction to tell a story, not educate me. 

Birdbrains: A Lyrical Guide to Washington State Birds, edited by Susan Rich -- BOOK REVIEW

Birdbrains: A Lyrical Guide to Washington State Birds by Susan Rich (editor), Stephanie Delaney (author, bird notes), and Hiroko Seki (artist) (Raven Chronicles Press, 2025)

BOOK REVIEW

Birdbrains captivated me immediately, both in concept and execution. It’s not like any other bird guide (or poetry collection) you’ve ever seen. The birdbrained brainchild of editor Susan Rich, Seattle poet and novice birdwatcher, Birdbrains combines notes on 107 birds, accompanied by poems, short fiction, and memoir from 98 poets and writers, illustrated with ink sumi-e paintings by Hiroko Seki. For each bird, there is space left to note the dates and locations of your own sightings.

Stephanie Delaney’s bird notes are aimed at the beginner birder, which I appreciate. I knew from the first entry, on the Bufflehead Duck, that I would love this book because Delaney’s style is casual and friendly:

North America’s smallest diving duck, the Bufflehead is an eye catcher, with a black and white body and white head; their face appears iridescent green and purple in sunlight, black under clouds. With a small size and a plump body, the Bufflehead is a truly cute duck.

The notes all include a description of the bird, its voice, and its habitat, along with an “intriguing tidbit” about the bird, such as, “The diminutive Brown Creeper only burns 4-10 calories a day. Thus, one spider can fuel 200 feet of climbing.”

The poems and short prose pieces, including those by four Washington State Poet Laureates, celebrate each bird and make us reflect more thoughtfully on each one. A particular favorite of mine, by Katy T. Ellis, honors the Least Sandpiper:

To Say the Least

is to say the smallest –
is to say there’s no twitch of the eye.
It’s like saying there exists
in the world of peeps
some greater, faster shoreline, speedwalker.
To spot the leasts –
time-lapse stitchers of the strand
– to hear their pin-piped preet
is to count the least
among us.

Hiroko Seki’s ethereal ink drawings, many done outdoors, beautifully illustrate each bird. A visual aid is necessary for any kind of bird guide and Seki’s monochromatic images are perfect for this one.

Although Birdbrains is called A Lyrical Guide to Washington State Birds, it is a delight for bird and poetry lovers anywhere. These birds are common in the rest of the Pacific Northwest and most also live further afield. As Dr. Ursula Valdez wrote in her Foreword, “You don’t need to be an ornithologist or bird watcher to appreciate this book; it is for bird and art lovers of all forms, who want their curious eyes, hearts, and souls filled.”

NOTES

I was happy to receive a review copy of this book through Raven Chronicle Press because I truly love it. 

The four Washington State Poet Laureates featured in the book are Elizabeth Austen, Claudia Castro Luna, Kathleen Flenniken, and Derek Sheffield. Three Pulitzer Prize winners also included poems: Ray Armentrout, Ted Kooster, and Diane Seuss.

The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman

Thank you for joining me this week for Book Beginnings on Fridays where participants share the opening sentence (or two) from the book they are reading. You can also share from a book you want to feature, even if you are not reading it at the moment. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

It's been a while since I wrote, I know that. I'm ever so sorry.

-- from The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman, the fifth and latest Thursday Murder Club book. It starts with an excerpt from Joyce's diary, which I think they all do, although I can't remember for sure. 

I'm almost finished with the audiobook from the library and love it. The narrator, Fiona Shaw, is excellent. Now that the movie came out, I see the actors in the characters, of course. But that makes it all the more fun.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

Please add the link to your book beginning post in the linky box below. If you participate or share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings so other people can find your post.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 asks participants to share a two-sentence teaser from their book of the week. If your book is an ebook or audiobook, pick a teaser from the 56% point. 

Anna at My Head is Full of Books hosts The Friday 56, a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please visit My Head is Full of Books to leave the link to your post. 

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from The Impossible Fortune:

I mean, you never know with life, do you? One minute you're sitting there looking at tanning machines online, the next you're being forced out of your own home at gunpoint.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

It’s been a quiet year for the Thursday Murder Club. Joyce is busy with table plans and first dances. Elizabeth is grieving. Ron is dealing with family troubles, and Ibrahim is still providing therapy to his favorite criminal.

But when Elizabeth meets Nick, a wedding guest asking for her help, she finds the thrill of the chase is ignited once again. And when Nick disappears without a trace, his cagey business partner becomes the gang’s next stop. It seems the duo have something valuable—something worth killing for.

Joyce’s daughter, Joanna, jumps into the fray to help the gang as they seek answers: Has someone kidnapped Nick? And what’s this uncrackable code they keep hearing about? Plunged back into action once more, can the four friends solve the puzzle and a murder in time?

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

Thank you for joining me this week for Book Beginnings on Fridays where participants share the opening sentence (or two) from the book they are reading. You can also share from a book you want to feature, even if you are not reading it at the moment. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

The year 1866 was marked by a bizarre incident, an unexplained and unexplainable phenomenon, which—without a doubt—no one has forgotten.

 -- from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne (translated by William Butcher for Oxford World's Classics, 1998).

The original (1873) English translation by Mercier Lewis was horribly clunky, but remained unchanged despite criticism for over 100 years:

The year 1866 was signalised by a remarkable incident, a mysterious and puzzling phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten.

"Signalized"? Doubtless no one has yet forgotten that awkward and made-up word! 

No matter the translation, 20,000 Leagues is a corker and I'm loving every page. I read junior versions of Verne's classic tales when I was a kid, and am finally reading the full versions now as an adult. I started with Around the World in 80 Days, which was terrific. So exciting! Now I am having an undersea adventure with Captain Nemo and it's just as wonderful. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 asks participants to share a two-sentence teaser from their book of the week. If your book is an ebook or audiobook, pick a teaser from the 56% point. 

Anna at My Head is Full of Books hosts The Friday 56, a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please visit My Head is Full of Books to leave the link to your post. 

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea:

I was stretched on the ground, just under the shelter of a bush of algae, when, raising my head, I saw some enormous mass, casting phosphorescent gleams, pass blusteringly by.

My blood froze in my veins as I recognized two formidable sharks which threatened us.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne is a pioneering science fiction novel that takes readers on an extraordinary underwater adventure. The story follows Professor Aronnax, his servant Conseil, and the Canadian harpooner Ned Land as they are captured by Captain Nemo aboard the technologically advanced submarine, the Nautilus. As they journey across the world's oceans, they encounter exotic sea life, lost civilizations, and mysterious underwater wonders.

The novel explores themes of isolation, the boundaries of human knowledge, and mankind's relationship with nature. Captain Nemo, a complex and enigmatic character, embodies a mix of scientific genius and tragic defiance. Verne's vivid descriptions of marine exploration and futuristic technology captivated audiences, establishing the book as a cornerstone of the science fiction genre.

May 2026 Monthly Wrap Up -- BOOK THOUGHTS

BOOK THOUGHTS

February 2026 Monthly Wrap Up

When it comes to vacation books, I’m Team Fluffy all the way. When I go out of town, like I did in May, I pack hen lit, comfort reads, and mysteries. Many of the books I read in May are not in this picture because I left them behind when I finished.* Do you do that?

Here's a list of the books I read in May. See any favorites?

• The Last Detective by Peter Lovesey, set in Bath, England, where I started my vacation. This is the first of his Peter Diamond mysteries and I thought it was terrific. I have most of the series in Soho Crime editions and look forward to reading all of it. 

• The Art of Making Memories by Meik Wiking, author of The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living, which has so much more going for it. He followed Hygge with The Little Book of Lykke: Secrets of the World’s Happiest People. This is the weakest of the three. It was interesting enough, but felt like he overworked scant material. 

• Regeneration by Pat Barker, the first book in her Regeneration Trilogy about psychological injuries caused by, and closeted gay life during, WWI.

• The Eye in the Door by Pat Barker, the second book in the trilogy.

• The Ghost Road by Pat Barker, the last book and the 1995 winner of the Booker Prize. 

• The Trees by Conrad Richter, the first novel of his Awakening Land trilogy about American pioneers in the late 1700s.

LEFT BEHIND

• The Royal Secret by Lucinda Riley. I greatly enjoyed this thriller involving a “fictional” royal family, even through its highly improbably spots. 

• Fellowship of Fear by Aaron Elkins, his first Gideon Oliver mystery. I read a later book from this series last summer and loved it, so wanted to start at the beginning. This one didn't do much for me. The plot just never made sense. But I will continue because I try to not judge a series from its first book and I know from the other one I read that these get better. 

• The Season of Second Chances by Diane Meier. This one was just my cup of tea. It's a campus novel featuring a woman of a certain age who moves from New York City to to be a professor at Amhurst, where she renovates a big old house and tries her luck at romance.  

• They Did It with Love by Kate Morgenroth is a domestic thriller set in ritzy Greenwich, Connecticut. It was very clever, but (without giving anything away), I didn't like the ending. 

• Bookish People by Susa Coll, a cute story set in a Washington, D.C. bookshop. This one came full circle for me because I bought it while on vacation in Alaska a couple of years ago and read it on vacation this year. 

AUDIOBOOKS

• What I Ate in One Year (and Related Thoughts) by Stanley Tucci. Entertaining, but not as good as Taste: My Life Through Food. It's easy to understand why. Taste was the story of his whole life, so he had a lot of material to draw on. It was also charmingly self-deprecating and he played down his life as a famous movie star. This one is limited to one year, so he had to make a little go a long way. As a result, it's mostly about his life as a movie star and there's a lot of name dropping.  

• The Engine House by Rhys Dylan, the first in a mystery series set in Wales, where I went on vacation after Bath. One of my book club friends recommended the series to me when I told her I like to read books set in the places where I travel. I plan to continue with the series because this first one was quite good and most (all?) are available as audiobooks from my library. 

* I love a "take one/leave one" shelf in a hotel. I love searching for some gem that will then be a souvenir of my trip. And I'm more than happy to leave behind any books I finish. But I never leave a book in an airplane seatback if I finish it on the plane. I think those just get thrown away, either immediately, when the plane is being cleaned, or later, after a long internment in a lost and found closet. What do you think happens to them?

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett

Thank you for joining me for Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it right now.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

Downtown Drugstore had a bell on the door that made a single tink sound when you opened it.

-- from The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help, which I admit I haven't read, despite its enormous popularity. 

The Calamity Club sounds like the kind of "great yarn" novels I really enjoy. Over 650 or so pages, Stockett tells the story of three women whose "fates converge" in Oxford, Mississippi in 1933. It looks like a winning mix of historical fiction, Southern Gothic, Great Depression, women's friendships, grit, determination, and overcoming adversity. I can't wait to dive in!

(I got my copy through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program. I'm not one for review copies because I don't like the guilt when I don't review it fast enough. But this looked too good to pass up. Fortunately, my copy arrived well after the May 5, 2026 launch date, so I don't have any guilt about reviewing it in June.)

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 is a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your featured book. If you are reading an ebook or audiobook, find your teaser from the 56% mark.

Freda at Freda's Voice started and hosted The Friday 56 for a long, long time. She is taking a break and Anne at My Head is Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. Please visit Anne's blog and link to your Friday 56 post.

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from The Calamity Club:

My sister's house was very white and very wide and very tall. Six fat columns supported a deep front porch with a dozen black rocking chairs on it.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Abandoned by her mother one Christmas Eve, eleven-year-old Meg Lefleur has learned the hard way to rely on no one. Now one of the unadoptable "big girls" at the Lafayette County Orphan Asylum, she fights each day to keep her spirit unbowed.

Birdie Calhoun, unmarried and outspoken, has come to Oxford to ask her socialite sister to help the struggling family she's left behind. But as the Depression tightens its grip, Birdie discovers her sister's seemingly charmed life is a tapestry of lies. 

Then, Birdie encounters Charlie, a woman running low on luck with little left to lose. When their fates--and Meg's--converge, Charlie comes up with an audacious plan for them to take control of their lives. But in a place and time where hypocrisy is rife and women's freedom is fragile, even the smallest act of defiance can have dangerous consequences.

The Ghost Road by Pat Barker -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

The Ghost Road by Pat Barker

Thank you for joining me this week for Book Beginnings on Fridays where participants share the opening sentence (or two) from the book they are reading. You can also share from a book you want to feature, even if you are not reading it at the moment. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

In deck-chairs all along the front, the bald pink knees of Bradford businessmen nuzzled the sun.

-- from The Ghost Road by Pat Barker.

The Ghost Road is the final book in Pat Barker's World War I trilogy, beginning with Regeneration and The Eye in the Door. She won the 1995 Booker Prize for The Ghost Road. I'm reading it right now. 

The trilogy is not like other WWI books I've read. I expected the usual muddy trenches and battle scenes. I think I'm going to get some of that in the second half of The Ghost Road, but the first two book and the first half of this one have been set during the war, but in England. The books center on psychiatrist William Rivers treating soldiers with shell shock and other mental conditions. The patients talk about what happened to them in the war, which is traumatic enough, but none of the action (so far) takes place on the battlefield. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

Please add the link to your book beginning post in the linky box below. If you participate or share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings so other people can find your post.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 asks participants to share a two-sentence teaser from their book of the week. If your book is an ebook or audiobook, pick a teaser from the 56% point. 

Anna at My Head is Full of Books hosts The Friday 56, a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please visit My Head is Full of Books to leave the link to your post. 

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from The Ghost Road:

He wasn't particularly surprised: the removal of hysterical paralysis was often -- one might almost say generally -- as dramatic as the onset. Moffet lay still, his face sallow against the whiteness of the pillow, making no attempt to hide his depression, and indeed, why should he?

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

In France, millions of men engaged in brutal trench warfare are all “ghosts in the making.” In England, psychologist William Rivers, with severe pangs of conscience, treats the mental casualties of the war to make them whole enough to fight again. One of these, Billy Prior, risen to the officer class from the working class, both courageous and sardonic, decides to return to France with his fellow officer, poet Wilfred Owen, to fight a war he no longer believes in. Meanwhile, Rivers, enfevered by influenza returns in memory to his experience studying a South Pacific tribe whose ethos amounted to a culture of death. Across the gulf between his society and theirs, Rivers begins to form connections that cast new light on his—and our—understanding of war.