Read to Learn and Grow! Read for Pleasure!

I am not a big reader of non-fiction but I like the list of books recommended by Dr. Terri-Karelle on her blog. This Jamaican blogger read 45 books in 2019.

I have actually read and learned a lot from Born a Crime by Trevor Noah, all the books by Malcolm Gladwell on her list, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, and the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

Read to learn and grow! Read for the joy of it! Right now, I am reading Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson. I read one other book by her many years ago, Gods in Alabama.

Stories of Deception and Betrayal

Watching The Woods on Netflix, set in Poland, led me to the actual book of the same name by Harlan Coben, set in New Jersey. This led me to read another Harlan book, Gone for Good.  I also  read a book recommended by a coworker, The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena. 


Gone For Good and The Couple Next Door were full of surprises; lots of twists and turns to both stories because of the family secrets, the lies, and the betrayal. It was hard to figure out who the good guys were and who the bad guys were. In The Couple Next Door, a baby is missing. Is she being held for ransom? Is she dead? Who took her? Those were the questions that we readers needed to find out. Gone for Good seemed to have dead bodies everywhere. Will Klein was the protagonist in this story. His brother Ken is on the run from the law; wanted for the murder of his neighbor who just happened to have been Will's ex-girlfriend. Is Ken innocent as Will seems to believe or is he really guilty? Is Ken dead or alive? Who really is Will's current girlfriend, Sheila? What does he really know about Sheila? Those were the questions that came to mind as I read. Both books were excellent reads and I highly recommend them. I could not put these books down. I am on a roll with my reading. I finished reading each book after two days.

Happy reading on July 4th weekend. Keep away from COVID-19.

Confession: I have not been reading during COVID 19

Since I had to stay at home during COVID-19 for a few weeks, I thought I would have been reading all the time. I did not read. I would start a book then stop reading. I just could not finish reading a whole book. I stayed up until 2:00 am watching Netflix. I crocheted a pair of bedroom slippers, a tote and a cell phone holder.

I have completed two weeks at work now and I am still chilling and watching Netflix when I can but the "dry spell" is over.  Once again Netflix led me to a book. This time it led me to read books by Harlan Coben. Believe it or not, this avid reader of murder mysteries  had never read anything by Harlan Coben. I watched The Five, The Stranger, Safe and more recently, The Woods on Netflix. The movie version of The Woods was set in Poland with English subtitles while the original book version was set in New Jersey. That fact right there led me to read the book. I think I missed some details trying to watch the movie and read the translated subtitles at the same time so that also pushed me to read the book. Finished reading it in two days. It was really that good.

Now I have to devour more Harlan Coben books.