Winter Reading

I spent this sunny December afternoon in the company of the ladies in my book club discussing a wonderful read,  Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger.  We all loved those characters and the warm relationships between the family members and their kind friends. 

The winter is long here, and Good Guy and I are readers.  He reads mysteries and other fiction, occasionally.  He also is a news reader of the first order, and as a retired English teacher he loves poetry that is witty and literate.

I used to finish every book I started to read, but I no longer slog through books with characters who are unpleasant to know or who don't deserve to have good things happen to them.  This year I have found the books written by British author, Ann Cleeves, who always writes with a wonderful sense of place in her mystery stories.

Last year I found a writer who wrote three different series of books, and his heroes were very much alike in each series.  Stuart Kaminsky's heroes are always kind of small, down-trodden guys, with faithful strong friends. 

I love Alexander McCall Smith, and Alan Bradley, who wrote The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.  I love the idea of Reacher, the hero of Lee Child's books, who has no home, and collects no possessions.  He has access to a steady supply of money to enable his travels----I like that idea, too. Not too possible, or practical, but an interesting idea.

So one of the joys of December is planning what to read during the rest of the winter.  Nat, one of our group, has library credentials, and she steers us to some new interesting stuff-----and also some authors we've never found before.

I'm open to suggestions, any and all.  Feel free.  Consider it an early Christmas present.
Happy preparations!