Late last year, I discussed my life-long love of reading and the past decade or so of my favorites in Note 26. In early January, I covered my 2023 year in books in Note 27. That was quite an undertaking and I decided that this year I will break it down into smaller pieces and discuss my reading consumption on a monthly basis (or close to it!). So, here we go with January!
Total Books: 7 Total Pages: 3417 Longest: 922 Shortest: 283
Genres: 3 (History – 1, Mystery – 3, Travel – 3)
In late December, I discovered the Hannah Swensen mystery series by Joanne Fluke on Kindle Unlimited. I was looking for light mystery reading, and these fit the bill. The third book in the series, Blueberry Muffin Murder, was my first book completed in 2024. The first two books are: Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder and Strawberry Shortcake Murder which I read in December. There are now 30 of these, so expect to see a few more on my list this year! I don’t think there’ve been so many small-town murders since Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote!
I probably would have continued with Hannah Swensen #4, but my history-loving (especially Texas history) nephew recommended Empire of the Summer Moon, Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by S.C. Gwynne. Light reading this isn’t! However, it was well-researched and well-written and provided a perspective of life on the Llano Estacado (staked plains) as the freedom of a nomadic way of life while ruling thousands of square miles collided with Manifest Destiny in the 1800s. If that interests you, then like my nephew, I can highly recommend this book.
After that, I was ready for some lighter reading and my friend Sara recommended Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz. I’d seen the PBS ads for Magpie Murders but hadn’t watched the series. Well, as soon as I finished the book Magpie Murders, Dave and I binged the six episodes on PBS the next day! Loved the book and the TV adaptation, which was done by the author, Anthony Horowitz, who comments at the end of each episode on the challenges of the adaptation and deviations required from the novel. He is also known for the PBS series, Foyle’s War and Midsomer Murders, as well as several other novels which I may have to read now! Both Magpie and Moonflower ingeniously contain a whodunit inside a whodunit where every character is a suspect in the very best tradition of Agatha Christie. I can’t wait to see the TV adaptation for Moonflower Murders which should be available soon.
In between, Empire and Murders, we started planning our trip to Portugal that I discussed in Note 28. That, of course, lead to the three travel books I read in January. As we are focusing on Lisbon and Porto on our trip, the Lonely Planet’s Pocket Lisbon and Pocket Porto have been poured over a couple of times to get ideas for our itinerary and prioritizing what we want to see.
I also read the majority of Rick Steves Portugal although some sections were more quickly skimmed if we weren’t going to be able to travel to those regions. I like to take the recommendations from multiple travel guides and see what overlaps between their recommendations and our interests. The walks described in Rick Steves’ books are always invaluable for helping determine what’s a reasonable amount of ground to try to cover on foot for sights we’d like to see where walking is the best option.
I’ve decided one of my reading goals for 2024 is to read more history and biography. So, I’m planning to read at least one book per month in one of those two genres. I’ve already picked out my February selection (I was going to read it in January, but it got pre-empted by Empire of the Summer Moon). If you have a favorite history or biography – let me know, I’m looking for ideas!
Notes By Nancy 
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