In what I think of as a "Cozy Mystery", an elderly couple is murdered by their nephew for, predictably, money. There is also a major town celebration, which really has very little to do with the plot. Not going to be a great real for real mystery fans.

Wow. What a story! AS you read this book, you may think you know what is going to happen next, but trust me you will not see these sharp turns coming! I sounds simple; a man is sold a liquid, by a traveling salesman, that when applied to mirrors makes the person reflected in the mirror, look better. Not perfect or amazing, just a little more full of life and with the rough edges smoothed out. No big thing, right? Wrong!

This is a compilation of short stories set in Africa. They involve, for the most part, issues between man and animal or animal and animal. They are interesting and fun but also have a larger message.

In this story about women who go missing and then have their dead images appear in paintings, Isles does an excellent job in developing the characters and their connections to one another. And this is important because the subject matter here is often harsh and without this development of characters, it would simply be a brutal story. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time and liked the ending.

A great exploration of the attention economy throughout history. It was a little slow in the first half, but that could just be my extremely deteriorated attention span. Last two chapters on the current state of affairs are excellent.

While not my typical read, this book was OK and takes place in a dystopian world. Despite being quite dark, two characters do manage to find love and draw strength from that. What is really nice are the illustrations which are wonderfully done.

The trouble I had with this book is that I did it as an audiobook. There were just too many characters, and sometimes the characters were referred to differently depending upon who was speaking about them. Add to that the challenges of the language of 1826 and I was not able to enjoy the book or really follow what was going on.

OK, so this book has an interesting beginning. A highly successful pistachio grower in Italy in the 1920 becomes a popular man in his town. Citizens love him and value his expertise. Then enter the Mafia, who begin to shake down the town’s people. The grower resists and encourages others to do the same. This makes him and his family a target and thus begins a years long battle between the Mafia, along with the police, and the Sacco family. It is based on a true story and while the beginning is interesting, the rest of the book is just a back and forth of fighting and arresting. It was informative but not really interesting.

Slower than other EH books.

This story follows the life of a man from young adulthood to death. It examines his work, which is for much of his life, a logger. We get to watch how he changes and views the world as he falls in love and has a family, only to lose those he loves, and with them a large part of himself. It’s about continuing on and staying put at the same time. A very enjoyable read.