One Hundred Books and Counting

First let me say that I do not normally keep track of how many books I read.  But, now that I use Goodreads to keep track of titles, I also count the books I complete.  I have no idea how many books I have read over my lifetime.  I do know that it is over 1,000 (the titles I can remember are on Goodreads), but not such a big deal considering how old I am (72 as of today).  So, I thought I would mention a few of the good books I read this year.

Thirty-two of the books are in the category of 'English cosy mystery'.  This has become my new favorite genre.  They are a quick read and very pleasant stories.  Think Miss Marple, LOL.

Another twenty-three books were written by Ruth Rendell.  I never heard of this author and only discovered her when I was watching a rerun of 'As Time Goes By' and saw Judi Dench reading one of her books.  I added her name to my TBR list.  This year I finished reading the Inspector Wexford series and also read a few of her stand alone novels.

One of the best books I read this year was one of my Amazon Prime monthly books.  'Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men' by Harold Schechter was about a female murderess and someone I had never heard of before.  This woman was evil personified.

Of course, there are books from some of my favorite authors that also were highly rated by me.  I just finished reading Michael Connelly's 'Dark Sacred Night'.  I've read all of Connelly's H. Bosch novels and have enjoyed everyone of them.  This was no exception.

Daniel Silva gave us another great novel in 'The Other Woman'.  And David Baldacci produced not one, but two novels this year which I thoroughly enjoyed:  'The Fallen' and 'End Game'.  I like spy and thriller novels, what can I say?

Surprisingly enough, two James Patterson books were also high on my list.  One was a recent one 'Juror #3'.  Of course, there were a few of his I could not finish, including 'The President is Missing', a 50-page rule failure.  The other five star novel of his was 'All-American Murder', the story of Aaron Hernandez.  I'm not a football fan and knew nothing about this incident until I read the book.  I really enjoyed it.

The number 100 book on my list this year is Maxwell King's biography of Fred Rogers, 'The Good Neighbor'.  Even though my boys grew up watching Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and I had already seen the documentary 'Won't You be My Neighbor?', I learned so much about him reading this very comprehensive biography.  I believe that we force too much rote learning on our young children and do not allow them to just be children.  And Fred Rogers felt the same way.  Here is the trailer for the movie:


Happy Reading!

Fire in the Desert

I am sure that many of you have seen or read about the devastation of fires in California this year.  And they are still burning.  I will share with you some of what I saw in Utah and Colorado this fall.  First up is a pic of a fire in Utah as we traveled from Salt Lake City to Price.  I was not able to get a good shot of the helicopter over the fire.

I had read several warnings about fire possibilities in the area due to the hot dry weather, but never thought I'd actually see a fire.

When we got to Mesa Verde we saw the aftermath of lightning strike fires from a few years ago.

Fires are devastating.  Thankfully, we really do not have fire issues where I live.  We do have snow issues as can be seen in this photo from this morning.

I am not ready for this.

Taos Pueblo, New Mexico

The Pueblo peoples have lived in this area of New Mexico for over 1,000 years.  This complex is another UNESCO World Heritage site and also a National Historic Landmark.  Enjoy the pictures.

 South House, Hlaukkwima, apartment like homes owned by a family and passed down through the generations.

San Geronimo Catholic Church, 1850.  Yes, the Spaniards converted the Pueblos and most of the residents are Catholic.

Occupied residences.  Originally entered from the roof, they now have doors.

An outdoor oven for baking bread.  Blue doors welcome in the good spirits.

A kiva, center, in the restricted area.

North House, Hlaauma, sits opposite the Red Willow Creek from the area seen in the first photo.

 These men are repairing the adobe walls.

Thanks for visiting with me.  More information can be found at taospueblo.com.

P.S.  As today is election day in the United States, I believe that some of our residents need to be reminded that this land of New Mexico was once a Spanish colony and then controlled by the Mexicans as their territory from 1824 to 1848.  And of course, a war changed that.