Reading in September

September was a good reading month for me! Probably because I was in a wheelchair the whole month. But that's another story, Here's what I read:

1) The River That We Remember by William Kent Krueger. This book is not part of the Cork O'Connor series. Still, it is a mystery in Minnesota, reminiscent of the series, involving the local sheriff, some Native Americans, and a murder. A wealthy landowner was found dead in the river that ran through the town and with his murder and the investigation, many long-buried secrets arose. It was a good read.

2) A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne. Another good book by the author. He is so talented. Interestingly, this novel was about a want-to-be writer, Maurice Swift, who sought out people's life stories and secrets and then published them without their knowledge. He wasn't an especially good writer but his first book was a story that he got from an older man who was a well-known author and whom Maurice befriended for his own benefit. The story was about the older man's time during WWII. What the book revealed ruined the older author's career.

Maurice continued his writing over the years but never achieved the accolades he was looking for.  However, in the end, his ruthlessness and immoral activities were his downfall. The book ended perfectly!

3) The Exiles by Jane Harper.  This is another mystery set in Australia with Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk (the 3rd of a series). A young mother had disappeared a year earlier at the town's festival, leaving her baby alone in the stroller. She just disappeared into the crowd and had never been heard from or seen since. This story involved old friends and long-ago secrets.

4) When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi.  I was a bit disappointed with this book. Although It was an interesting story, it just seemed to go on too long. It is a true story of Dr. Paul Kalanithi who, when he was thirty-six, was diagnosed with Stage IV Lung Cancer. the book is about the struggle to handle all that the diagnosis meant for his life and his upcoming loss of life. He studied many questions about his future and that of his family. And what it meant to be a doctor and then a patient. He died before finishing the book.

5) A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner. this is the first book of the author's that I have read. I kept reading good things about her books, so I bought this one at the used book store. I loved it! I will be buying more of her work.

This is rather a difficult book for me to explain. It takes place in two different timelines, one being in September 1911, and the other in September 2011. The story involves a scarf that found it's way to both time periods. And changed lives forever. It's a good read!

6) Blood in the Ozarks by Clint Lacey. This was a book that I purchased for genealogy as I continue my years and years researching my Adamson and related people who served in the CSA during the Civil War. It's an interesting history of the War that was fought in the Ozarks.

7) Still Life by Louise Penny. This  and the first of the book is our October read for bookgroup. It also is a mystery and the first of the Chief Inspector Gamash series.  Gamash was called in to investigate a murder of a beloved town member in Three Pines, a small village south of Montreal. There are numerous characters in the book, one as quirky as another. Her murder is first thought to be a hunting accident, but as the Inspector and his team investigate, clues begin adding up.to something more sinister. It was quite a fun read!