Last of the backlog. I promise.

Watch with me: and Six other stories of the yet-remembered Ptolemy Proudfoot and his wife, Miss Minnie, nee Quinch, Wendell Berry
Berry is usually known for his essays on agriculture, environment and society (Sex, Economy, Freedom and Community is an excellent book, for example). But, he also writes fiction. This is a fun little book about community and marriage. I know I’ve read The Memory of Old Jack, too, but I don’t remember much about that one.

The Count of Monte Christo, Alexander Dumas
Adventure! Romance! Revenge! It’s Huge! Heard the movie sucked, though.

The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver
She’s a good writer, and this was an interesting story.

The Lonesome Gods, Louis L’Amour
I was going to put this on my “all time favorites” list until the last few chapters. I was really enjoying the story about a boy’s growing up, learning, and dealing with hatred and revenge (and rising above it). That is, until the book dissolved into a bloody hunt and shootout where all the “bad guys” die. It would have been better had it not become so violent. (My father-in-law took issue with my objections, commenting, “How on earth could it have ended any other way?!”)

A Sudden, Fearful Death, Anne Perry
A good, well-told mystery set in the 1800s

The Princess, Lori Wick
I’d never read something so obviously “Christian fiction”. It was interesting. A romance – an arranged marriage and the couple working to learn to love each other – in which everyone in the book is either
praying, talking about praying for people, reading scriptures or going to church. In the end, though, the book’s just okay.