Author: Brunonia Barry

When I finished my book on a Texada weekend and I didn’t have another one to pick up, we made a visit to the thrift store in Gillies Bay. I picked out a couple of books and paid a whopping twenty cents for the pair of them! This one was certainly worth the price!

As I read it I expected to give it a three or four-star rating on Goodreads, but the twist at the end boosted it up to a five-star – the highest rating. Which made me think I should add my Goodread ratings to all my books.

I don’t usually keep books after reading them but I’m going to leave this one on the shelf at the studio. It is perfect for summer reading, maybe while sitting on a sunny deck or a beach. Maybe you’ll visit and read it.

Goodreads Rating  * * * * *

Author: Russell Banks

It took me awhile to get into this story but by about half-way through I couldn’t wait to find out what happened.

The narrator of the novel is a late-middle-aged woman who is recounting her life. As a young woman she was on the FBI’s most wanted list because of her anti-government protests and actions. She flees to Africa and ends up in Liberia where she takes a position working with chimpanzees. She marries a mid-level bureaucrat and they have three sons. Life is never easy due to government corruption and various factions trying to overthrow the current leader. Life gets more and more violent until she flees the country and makes her way back to America.

Just a few days after I finished the book there was a democratic election in Liberia, the first in almost 70 years. The results have yet to be announced.

Goodreads Rating  * * *

Author: Donna Leon

This author has a number of books based on the character Commissario Guido Brunetti; I just read that this is #21 in the series. The books are set in Venice and except for that fact I probably wouldn’t read them. It’s fun when I come across a scene set somewhere that Pat and I visited when we were there.

This is an easy read, and you don’t really need to have read any of the others in the series to know what is going on. I’ve read a couple but they weren’t in any particular order.

Goodreads Rating  * * * *

Author: Lisa Jackson

Can you tell I spend a lot of my Texada time reading?

I had coffee with a friend quite a few months ago and, as I was leaving, she asked if I wanted to read this book. I took it but never got around to reading it until I was clearing books and added it to my virtual book shelf.

There are apparently several novels by this author that involve the detective combination of Rick Bentz and Reuben Montoya. I hadn’t read any of them but it didn’t matter as this book was good as a “stand alone”. When nuns are being brutally murdered stories of wrong-doings within the convent cannot be kept secret. With each murder (both within the convent and among the general public) the race to find the killer becomes more intense.

By the end of the book there are still some loose ends, but I expect they will be picked up again in another novel.

Goodreads Rating  * * * *