25. The Man Who Died Twice

By Richard Osman (352 pp)

I picked up a box of books from Mom's to add to our little free library donations and this was in there. It's a murder mystery where the main characters are in a retirement home. They are hilarious. It starts with one of the character's ex-husband and some stolen diamonds. (I recently saw someone misspell stolen as stollen and it made me smile because stollen is a favorite German holiday treat in this house.) And it goes on to involve various bad guys and gals. I really enjoyed the humor and characterization.

24. Sea of Tranquility

By Emily St. James Mandel (255 pp)

I love this author's writing so much -- she is able to create a whole mood, scene, or character in just a page or two. This is a time traveler story that overlaps with the characters of The Glass Hotel. Also there's a pandemic. The story takes place with different characters in different moments in time but tied together by the time traveler. It's really good, but not my favorite of hers.

23. Silo

By Hugh Howey (595 pp ebook)

I had a DNF before this -- it's a book I want to read but I need to wait for a time when I have some big chunks of reading time to get into it. Meanwhile, I started this. This is one of those dystopian future series set in a world where the planet is poisonous for human life and people live in silos dug deep into the ground. It starts off fast and is a fun read with lots of action and twists. But it got long for me. I intended to read the entire trilogy but after I slogged through the last 200 pages of this one, I decided to come back to it later.

22. Amy Falls Down

By Jincy Willett (324 pp)

Hannah recommended this book to me years ago. Amy is aging novelist who teaches writing and fits the description of a curmudgeon. She falls down and bangs her head and this sets off a series of gently escalating events that leads to hilarious adventures. Lots of insightful bits about writing and publishing.

21. Moon Called (Mercy Thompson 1)

By Patricia Briggs (304 ebook)

This is my first Mercy Thompson. I've been curious to read one of these books since they are set in Washington in the Tri-Cities area. She's a shape-shifter and everyone in the story is a werewolf or a vampire or some sort of creature. She get tangled up in a battle of creatures. It's fun and page turny but I don't love the "magical Indigenous people" aspect.

20. Diving Into the Wreck

By Kristine Kathryn Rusch (336 ebook)

I feel like I already wrote about this one but I don't see it on the list. I read the first part in Asimov's years ago and remember liking it so I grabbed the book. The story is set in space where people "dive wrecks" meaning they go into derelict spaceships. Some people do it for salvage but the MC takes tourists out and also researches the ships from a historical perspective. In the story, she finds some interesting technology and has many adventures dealing with it. Great world building.

19. The Pleasing Hour

By Lily King (256 ebook)

This isn't my favorite Lily King that I've read. It's about a young American woman who is a au pair in Paris. The story jumps around in time and it felt like threads were dropped and it was sometimes hard to follow. The writing and characterization are great but also this character makes some aggravating decisions.

Look how many books I read in March and April -- 11! Yeah, a lot of them were short. But also I was recovering from Covid and we had a long wet spring. I can read a lot if the circumstances are right.

18. So Quick Bright Things Come to Confusion

By Caren Gussoff Sumption (114 pp)

Caren is one of my Clarion West classmates and it was great to read something new from her. This is about a guy who is part of a space mission on another planet who befriends a resident creature of that planet while the space mission does some sketchy studies. It's sweet and disturbing and funny and sad. Terrific characters and world building.

17. To Be Taught, If Fortunate

By Becky Chambers (160 ebook)

Becky Chambers can do no wrong! Even the books that don't really work for me pay off. This one is about a science mission to potentially habitable planets and has a wonderful cast of characters and so much heart. Recommend.

16. Verity

By Colleen Hoover (333 ebook)

Hoover is all over the best sellers list so I've been wanting to read something of hers out of curiosity. This is a suspense-romance(?). I think it might be romance but it's pretty dark and there's lots of sex but it's not that romantic. It's about a down-on-her-luck woman who gets a job finishing a popular book series by a famous author who is ill. Of course, it requires going to the remote estate where this author wrote to go through her office and of course, she has to stay longer than intended and of course there is a mysterious sexy husband and a creepy kid. At first it was fun, page-turny, suspension of disbelief but the ending went completely off the rails and did not work for me.

15. Murder in the Library

By Agatha Christie (224 ebook)

I bought a 3-book Agatha Christie Miss Marple bundle. This is the 2nd that I've read and I enjoyed it more than the first. This one starts opens with the discovery of the body of a young woman in the Bantrys' library. Another young woman's body is discovered in a quarry. There are dancers and actors and tennis instructors and an old guy with a sad story and lots of money that people want to inherit. Miss Marple is on the case.

14. Ninth House

By Leigh Bardugo (496 ebook)

I read a lot of books in a short period because I was dealing with fatigue from The Covid. Plus it was a cold wet winter/spring so what better to do than sit around and read? I have never read Bardugo but I loved Shadow and Bone on Netflix and she's been on my list. This book is set in a different world from her main books and seems like her regular readers weren't as fond of this. I LOVED it. It's set at Yale and has secret societies, dark magic and ghosts. The main character is a troubled and rebellious woman who gets a second chance but signs up for more than she expected. There's a murder and ever-shifting bad guys. REALLY GOOD.