Midweek: OMG for May and book reviews

 

But first . . . she liked it!  (See Monday's post for details.)

 Monday alternated rain and sunshine, and Cheri's outdoor party was during the latter.  There was a cloudburst in the evening.

I finished the May One Monthly Goal a couple of weeks ago. Here it is again for the purpose of  the OMG link up

The goal was to finish the flimsy from the guild round robin in 2019.  I added the orange inner border and the green outer border and rows of triangles to make it rectangular.

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Here are reviews of books I've read recently. Maybe they will pique your interest.

A gated community in an exclusive area of London has six dwellings (a large house and repurposed outbuildings), five of which are occupied by people who have gotten along.  Then the large house is purchased by a financier and his wife who, with their two children seem to be doing their best to NOT endear themselves to the neighbors.  Every one of them has a motive for murder, but who did it?   Then the dentist is found dead in his garage, doors locked. A suicide out of guilt?

The London police call in investigator Daniel Hawthorne.  The police eventually declare it a closed case, unsolved.  But Hawthorne has suspicions and is determined to get to a resolution.

A fictional Anthony Horowitz (who happens to have the same name and more in common with the author of the book) is documenting Hawthorne's cases and methodology.  He tries to second-guess Hawthorne (only to come up short).   Eventually the killer is revealed. 

Note:  the reader needs to realize that the Anthony Horowitz who is telling the story is a character, not the author.  If you can make that intellectual leap then you'll be a lot less confused.

"Lark's theory of angels was that they are us and we mostly don't remember," says Rainy (p. 144), the narrator/hero of this wonderfully imaginative story.  

The setting is not-quite-here/not-quite-now  somewhere north of Duluth, sometime when the U.S. has elected a "proudly illiterate" president.   The economy has reverted to make-do and barter. 

 Education is hit-or-miss.  The comet has returned to the heavens and dead bodies are coming to the surface of Lake Superior.  

In a small town in the Minnesota Arrowhead in the midst of this near-chaos Lark operates a bookstore (considered subversive and suspicious) and Rainy plays bass in a band.   They plan to embark on sailing trip, retracing a journey from years ago, when Lark falls victim to one of the shadowy pro-government groups who are after a very rare book in her collection.  Unskilled sailor though he is, Rainy sets out on the voyage as a tribute to Lark.  There are storms on the water.  Going into port can be dangerous -- who can be trusted?   He encounters many of those angels, including a young girl who unexpectedly becomes his crew.  

As he tells her, "Words are one way we leave tracks in the world, Sol. Maybe one day you will write a book...and people will read it...and they know that you were here, and a little about what you were like."  

Leif Enger shows that dystopian fiction can be humorous and above all hopeful.

Linking up with OMG May Wednesday Wait Loss Midweek Makers  P.S. Thanks for the shout out, Jennifer.