I am listening to a John D MacDonald book A Deadly Shade of Gold on Audiobook in my car. My dad read these books when they were published and they basically were where he got his philosophy of life!! Listening to this particular book now, I see that every thing in the book is what my Dad wanted. He wanted to live on a boat in Florida, he did not want to live a 9-5 life in a cubicle. He wanted to listen to music and drink and travel and enjoy the sea and the sun. AND that is what he did with his life. He became an Airline Pilot and he lived on a boat at Dinner Key Marina in Miami and he just loved to listen to Music and read books and take life easy and slow. Like Travis McGee, but without the violence and what not. LOL

-Amanda from Seattle

I thoroughly enjoyed Suspension of Mercy...now am reading the Memoirs of Mary Rodgers. She wrote one of my all time favorite Children's Books, Freaky Friday, which was made into a movie with Jodie Foster (and then another movie with Jamie Lee Curtis) And there is a sequel book called A Billion for Boris which makes me laugh out loud to this day! Anyway, Mary Rodgers was also famous for writing Once Upon a Mattress and other plays and she also wrote Screenplays and songs ( for Marlo Thomas's Free to Be, You and Me)

-Amanda from Seattle

I have taken a break from my usual books, and I do that on occasion to get a nice variety of themes and authors....

I love watching cooking shows, and just read a book about Ina Garten, Be Ready When Luck Happens. She is also known as the Barefoot Contessa. I have had to watch some of her shows on You Tube and really like her down to earth approach to demo'ing her meals.

Now, onto Lorne, and it is about the making of Saturday Night Live. It is a very LONG book, but interesting, as John Beluchi is from the town I live in.
Many of the SNL actors and comedians started their careers at Second City. We are about an hour from Second City Chicago, and enjoy going there on occasion.

I love recommendations and will make note on some of the suggestions made here- thanks!

Shelly

I loved the Travis McGee series...read them early HS, which may have been too young, in retrospect. I have very fond memories of going to used bookstores and looking for them in order

I'm adding the Memoirs of Mary Rodger to my TBG list. I enjoyed both freaky Friday and A Billion for Boris. I had no idea she wrote plays or contributed to Free to Be, You and Me!

Thanks, Amanda

I have read most of her stuff - but not that one... I must check it out!

April Reads: (so far)
A Brief History of Living Forever by Jaroslav Kalfar
Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green
The Maid's Secret by Nita Prose
The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo
When Fear Speaks Listen Dennis Merrit Jones
Reincarnation Blues by Michael Poore
The Vacancy In Room 10 By Seraphina Nova Glass
When the World Didn't End: A Memoir by Guinevere Turner

Other Earlier Books I would recommend:
Sunrise on the Reaping (Hunger games fans of course) Suzanne Colloins
Don't Let the Forest in C.G. Drews
The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica
Slewfoot by Brom
Keeper of Enchanted Rooms by Charlie N. Holmberg
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
The Clinic by Cate Quinn
The Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain
The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown
Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson

Happy Reading All. :)

I really enjoyed it. (Suspension of Mercy). It keeps you in suspense and it’s got that psychological element she is known for. She was so ahead of the curve with unreliable narrators and such.

Amanda from Seattle

Indeed!

Just finished listening to Once There Were Wolves. Wow. Loved it!

Oh good! I’m in the holds queue for her current one: Wild Dark Shore. She’s got another one - Migrations - too.

Laura- Wild Dark Shore is in my Cue as well.

Shelly

I just got notification from Libby that my copy is in! Oh for joy!
Laura

All of this talk made me look up movies based on Highsmith works.

Last night we watched Strangers on a Train. 😊 Great movie.

Side note: I looked up her biography. I'm sure she had a wonderful life, such as it was, but she lived alone most of her adult life, was a bit of a recluse and "she was an alcoholic who by her middle age drank from breakfast until she went to bed at night. She smoked 40 cigarettes a day and rarely ate fruit and vegetables. In 1973 her doctor advised her that if she did not change her lifestyle she would not live past 55."

She defied them living to 74.

Libby’s got me 25 weeks out 😂 But of course I just discovered this author thanks to you. Migrations first then. (I love Libby!)

I was reading Suspension of Mercy by Highsmith on the airplane and my 20 something coworker asked me about the book. I tried to explain....I mentioned The Talented Mr. Ripley, which I believe to be one of her most famous works....blank stare, what about the movie with Jude Law and Matt Damon? They made a mini series of it recently with Andrew Scott and Dakota Fanning? Oh geez I wasn't even going to try with Strangers on a Train! Ha ha and for those interested in more about her life, there is a documentary about Patricia Highsmith called Loving Highsmith.

-Amanda from Seattle

I did not know that! I want to watch that for sure. I see it's on Prime. The audio book of her diaries has been rough going. There's a book of her short stories on Libby I haven't looked into yet.

Thanks for posting about the film.

I didn't know until a while back that the movie 'Carol', (2015) starring Cate Blanchett is based on her novel The Price of Salt, which I have not read. Saw the movie but didn't know at the time it was based on the book.

Apparently it was republished in 1990 under the name 'Carol'.

That mini-series was outstanding by the way. Highly recommend! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thanks for the heads up about the doc - I'm there.

I started that but couldn't get into it.

Such a bummer when a book doesn’t click - good thing there are plenty more to choose from!

Sunrise on the reaping is one of my favorite books I've read this year too!!!
I'm currently reading the Divergent series by Veronica Roth before I reread the Hunger Hames Series. I think I'm going to try my hand at annotation this time around.

This was an excellent recommendation!

I’m now on my THIRD book in one month - Drifter, Burning Bright, now I’m on Light It Up. I read A LOT on audiobooks for the blind because once the sun goes down, there isn’t much left for me to do til sunrise.

Peter Ash is also so much more believable and relatable to me than Jack Reacher as a character.

Thanks again!

Warrior Woman
also strong yet vulnerable

Listening to “The Sweet Hereafter” by Russell Banks.

Reading “The Accomplished Guest”, short stories by Ann Beattie.

Two of my favorite authors.

Libby has me in audiobook limbo. Next up in that queue is The Jackal’s Mistress by Chris Bohjalian. Any recommendations always welcome.

What kind of books do you like? That’s probably too general of a question, but…..

Recently enjoyed the Claudia Lin mysteries by Jane Pek and Frankie by Graham Norton (he reads it) -

I’ve been reading a lot of murder mysteries like the ones by Benjamin Stevenson and Richard Osman. I enjoy Frederick Backman, Alan Bradley. I even still revisit Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin series. I’m pretty open to anything but romance novels. 😜

Ruth Rendell was maybe the absolute BEST writer of psychological murder mysteries....ever.

Not mysteries but anything by the already mentioned Russell Banks.

I always recommend these two books by Helene Tursten...... “An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good,” and “An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed,” because they are just so wonderful.

I didn't know he writes books.

I just finished The Drifter and starting book 2. I liked the first one.