Here's my reading list for August.

1. ONE FOR SORROW, Eric Mayer and Mary Reed. A historical mystery, featuring John, Lord Chamberlain to the Emperor Justinian. He is also an eunuch, as many lord chamberlains are. In this one, John is investigating the death of a member of the court, as well as a personal friend. His investigation is ordered by the Emperor himself. The investigation leads in interesting directions, and involves interesting characters, including a former lover and her daughter, who also turns out to be his daughter, and a knight of the Round Table, who is searching for the Grail in Constantinople. This was a very good read that makes me want to read the rest of the series. The next is called TWO FOR JOY. 8.5 but maybe closer to a 9.

2. DIE TRYING

3. TRIPWIRE

4. ONE SHOT

5. PERSUADER, all by Lee Child. All Jack Reacher novels. I got started and couldn't quit. I had DIE TRYING, ONE SHOT and PERSUADER on my shelves for a long time, then I got into it enough that I went out and bought TRIPWIRE. Anyway, these are good, fun, tense stories that take some rather unbelievable situations and characters and make them real and fun to read. Jack Reacher is an ex-MP who has sort of gone off the books; he's a drifter with no drivers license and who doesn't file tax returns...no real address (until TRIPWIRE, but since I've read out of order I know that it must not last) and a bad guy to have against you. But he's one of the good guys, and he acts on his own moral code. I'm not going to go into details on these books, you can go to Lee Child's website and read synopses if you're interested, but I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed these novels and intend to read the rest of the series. (I have two others in the queue now.) 8 of 10

6. VEIL OF ROSES, Laura Fitzgerald. My wife, who doesn't read much, read this one and then kept making not-so-subtle suggestions that I should read it too. So I did. It's a very interesting, touching story of an Iranian girl who comes to the US on a tourist visa and has three months to find a husband so she can stay here. She comes from a culture where arranged marriages are still practiced today, and so her family here (sister and husband) begin trying to find an Iranian suitor. But she's in America, and things get complicated, first by the characters in her ESL class, then by the handsome American young man who works at the Starbucks and who seems smitten with her. It was a very fast read and made me laugh and even want to cry at times. It is not my usual type of novel, but I'm glad I read it. 8.5


I usually don't get through that many books, but the Reacher books sort of grabbed me and I flew through them. Looking forward to more of the John books and to the rest of the Reacher series.