What I read in March 2024
In March 2024, we took an unexpected 8 day, 8 state, road trip, to have dinner with our son, who was in Georgia [from the UK] for a few days. So lots of extra audio books this month, on our trip! There are a couple of "go to" authors for us on road trips:
Our First Choice For Any Road Trip -
The Andy Carpenter Series By David Rosenfelt
1. David Rosenfelt's Andy Carpenter series. This series is what I think of as "smart cozies". Nothing graphic, nothing you don't want coming out of a car stereo in mixed company. Funny, but not silly. Great characters, and solid plot lines that make sense. A "retired" lawyer [he inherited millions, then earned millions more in high profile cases] opens a dog rescue. Through his circle of friends, and the dog rescue, he's continually drawn into cases, never allowing him to actually retire from law.
Another Road Trip Favorite -
Malcom Gladwell [Non Fiction]
2. Malcom Gladwell's books. Gladwell is an out of the box thinker, who presents various scenarios, historical and current, from perspectives and studies most of us have never heard, nor thought, of. I am not doing a good job of explaining his books... the best I can tell you is that I have no tolerance for politics and very little interest or attention span for current events. That's not what these books are. But as for what they are - they are so different from anything else I have ever read, I just don't know how to explain them. What the Dog Saw, and David and Goliath were two of my favorites. The one we listened to this time was not my favorite. I hated the subject matter. I didn't want to think about it all, let alone think about it differently [Sandusky/ Penn State was part of it - a lot of sexual assaults discussed in this book] It was a tough read. But I think it might be an important read.
A Detective Series By A Local Author
3. Lisa Regan's Josie Quinn series. Completely honest review - I don't love these. Some are pretty good, some are... not. The author grew up locally, and there are a lot of local references. My husband enjoys them more than I do, and they frequently make our road trip audiobook rotation. There was one - maybe the first one [we didn't read these in order - but the story line progresses and is probably best in order] that I would NOT recommend as an audiobook. I remember we started it, quit, and I read the text version later. It was fairy graphic. But it was only that one book, so far.
We tried to listen to Watership Down on this trip, but it was just too.. dry? We did not enjoy it. I did read the book myself, later. I didn't love it, but reading it was better than the audio for this one. I may have skimmed a bit...
Non Fiction about the Donner Party
The Indifferent Stars Above is another TOUGH read. Well researched and written, but difficult due to the subject matter - Cannibalism and the suffering of the Donner Party. I had, in February, compiled the genealogy and diary of my 4th great Aunt, who was in camp and helped care for Donner Party survivors. [Her husband was also one of the first to find the gold that started the gold rush]. Until now, everything I knew about the Donner Party was from her notes, I read this to increase my understanding and give context to her experiences. If you really want to know, this is a good book. But it's not a pretty story.
As a "palate cleanser" after The Indifferent Stars Above, I read City Under One Roof - a mystery set in a fictionalized version of a real town in Alaska. From the Washington Post Review: "Whittier is bounded on one side by the waters of Prince William Sound and on the other by a mountain range, the only direct land route that connects the town to the rest of Alaska is a 2½-mile tunnel bored through a mountain. Intensifying the curious atmosphere is the fact that the majority of its residents live in a single high-rise apartment building.
This is a place made for people who want to be alone, together. Were a murder to take place there, especially in the harshest months of winter, that apartment building would figure, in effect, as one big locked room, with the murderer sealed in with everyone else."
Not a light read, but what a story!
[and it's nonfiction!]
Next I read my Irish themed read for the month - The Immortal Irishman. And then I spent the rest of the month telling everyone I saw that during the potato famine, there were warehouses FULL OF FOOD. The people did not have to starve, but the government didn't think the Irish were worth helping, they exported the food, while the citizens starved. From an interview with Egan, the author of The Immortal Irishman:
"There was plenty of food on the island while a million people died. And was grain, there was beef, corn wheat, oats, barley - food from Irish land and Irish labor, but it didn't go into Irish mouths. So one of the things that Thomas Meagher tried to do was to stop food from being exported from Ireland. And there are all these documents now that have come out and shown there was a British policy called extermination. They thought the Irish had breeded too fast, and this was nature's way - in some cases they said God's way - of culling the Irish. It was so much more than a potato famine, which of course, there was an awful blight on the potato crop, but it was so much more than that."
The book is about Thomas Francis Meagher, who, born into wealth and privilege, could have just lived in comfort. Instead, he protested and fought vehemently for Irish Independence from British Rule and during the battle for independence designed and introduced the green, white and gold tricolor flag which later became the national flag of Ireland still used today.
He was sentenced to hang, then his sentence was commuted and he's shipped to Tasmania to live on a penal colony. [That alone was interesting! ] And then he escapes to America.
"A few years after he was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, he arrives in New York City. And he's like a savior, someone who's going to show and direct the Irish immigrants on how they can find their dignity in this new world. "
But shortly after he arrived, the Civil War broke out. Abraham Lincoln names Meagher as a general, bringing the Irish into the Union Cause. The Irish brigade, lead by Meagher, ended up at the battle that gave the Civil War the bloodiest day in history.
After the war, Meagher’s fame and military record provoked President Andrew Johnson to appoint him Secretary of the Montana Territory. He became acting governor of Montana territory after governor Edgerton, left the territorial capital, Bannack City, to visit family in Ohio and never returned. Meagher helped create the state of Montana's first constitution, however, the vote for statehood failed in his lifetime.
And then, he either fell out of a boat [unlikely] or was murdered.
It's an incredible story - and it's actual history. The book however, is not the easiest read.. it's a little bloated, likely because there's just so much history the average reader is not aware of, that it became necessary to tell a LOT of stories to fully portray Meagher's role in history.
Nick Pirog's Thomas Prescott Series
And that brought me to my next "palate cleanser" - a light easy read, an adventure mystery. Book 5 in the series. The entire time I was reading this, I was reminded of Lost City Of The Monkey God by Douglas Preston [another great read, non fiction], so I was laughing out loud when I read the notes at the end about this book being inspired by Preston's trip.
New To Me Author I'll Read Again
When I talk to my friends about this book I tell them that this is The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, done right. I didn't care for The Seven Husbands, personally, but this.. this was fun.
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See some of my favorite reads from 2023
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