Recent Reads

90. One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories
OK, I give up. Am about half way through this collection of short stories, and I simply do not care enough to continue. Some interesting ideas, but overall not a compelling read. The audiobook is narrated by various people you might know, but rather than add, in my humble opinion, they are actually a distraction. I know many loved this collection, but it so did not work for me. Rating: 1 star.

91. Clockworks (Locke & Key #5)
I knew it was only a matter of time before we got the "origin" story that helps explain how it all began. Fun and scary, and maybe the people you think are bad, are not really so bad. Who can you trust? More keys are put into play, and I look forward to seeing how this story ends in the next installment. Rating: 3 stars.

92. A River Runs Through It and Other Stories
I love the movie based on this story, but had not read the novella, so when the folks at Literary Disco raved about it, it moved to the top of my TBR pile. 

I listened to the audiobook wonderfully narrated by Ivan Doig. This is really a meditation. A meditation on nature and fly fishing, on fathers and sons, on love and loss, on the push and pull of siblings. I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to this on my evening walks along Boston Harbor, and plan to watch the movie again soon. Rating: 4 stars.

93. Sycamore Row (Jake Brigance #2)
I am a fan of Grisham's backlist, especially his earliest stuff, but have not been too impressed with his newer books. Still, I really liked A Time to Kill (the prequel to this one), and needed something quick to read while preparing for a trip, so figured I'd give this one a try.

Book blurb: Seth Hubbard is a wealthy man dying of lung cancer. He trusts no one. Before he hangs himself from a sycamore tree, Hubbard leaves a new, handwritten, will. It is an act that drags his adult children, his black maid, and Jake into a conflict as riveting and dramatic as the murder trial that made Brigance one of Ford County's most notorious citizens, just three years earlier. 

I read A Time to Kill a long time ago, but you don't really have to have read it for this one to make sense. Most of the pertinent details are handily recapped to bring a new reader up to speed. While the story explores interesting questions, especially the greedy grab for money when someone dies, or suddenly comes into money, this is not a thriller or page turner of a read. And that surprised me. It kept my interest enough to finish it, but seemed rather formulaic and predictable, and I figured out what was going to happen from clues laid out in the early parts of the story. Rating: 2 stars.