I’m still a little behind in reviewing books, but let’s be honest: none of us thought I was going to be this up-to-date, given I usually make it a month or so before giving up on posting reviews.

Anyway.

I finished five books in May:

Kills Well with Others by Deanna Raybourn

In this follow-up to Killers of a Certain Age, the quartet of retired women assassins return. In this story, there is a mole in the secret agency they worked for, which leads to a former colleague being murdered and a clue being left that points to one of their old assignments. Their contact, not knowing which current agents she can trust, turns to them, asking them to go undercover on a cruise and take out the person responsible, while she works the internal angles. Only it turns out that even after his death, there may still be ripple effects that continue to be in play, bringing danger once again to their loved ones.

Solid fun. Honestly, if this book series hasn’t been optioned to a studio yet, it’s a shame.

Paper. Library. (more…)

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday from That Artsy Reader Girl asks us to share books we’d like to re-read.

Here are ten of mine:

1. Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde (It was so long between the first and second books that my memory of the story has grown hazy. It is sitting on my coffee table waiting for me to get moving.)
2. A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas (A charming memoir to reread every few Decembers)
3. Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (I keep thinking I’ll start it in January (or maybe it really begins in March?) and carry on with a year-long readalong.)
4. Peter Mayle’s A Year in Provence (See above.)
5. Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next (One of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors.)
6. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (I haven’t re-read it in more than 20 years.)
7. As You Wish by Cary Elwes (I read it in print the first time and think it would be fun to listen to it at some point.)
8. The Delicacy and Strength of Lace by Leslie Marmon Silko and James Wright (I loved this slim volume of correspondence.)
9. The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune (I have the sequel sitting on my coffee table and should revisit this one. I hope I love rereading it as much as I did Under the Whispering Door last year.)
10. Sorcery & Cecelia by Patrica Wrede & Caroline Stevermer (I’d like to read the rest of this series, but, again, it’s been a long time since I started it.)

How about you? What books do you want to revisit?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. One of the advantages of grocery shopping after doing an evening watering of the garden is that the shortest path between the two skirts a woodsy hill, which glitters with fireflies toward dusk.

2. I have books to trade at the Arlington library, so I head over the river to take care of that, as well as picking up summer reading prizes. While I’m walking over to the coffeehouse I like to visit nearby, I pass an evening event at the college along the way. The performers are on break, but you can make s’mores at your table, with inventive options like making them using fudge ripple cookies instead of graham crackers. So, I do, because why would you not?!

3. Rachel suggests we do dinner. Rudi finds us a handful of options, Rachel narrows it to two, and I make the final selection, which none of us has tried before. All of us are happy with our entrees, and mine makes a fine meal of leftovers one night when Rudi is out with friends.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world recently?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Rudi returns home from his French cycling trip! We celebrate by going on an afternoon date to the movies.

2. The ducklings at the Constitution Garden pond are two weeks older than when I first sighted them. I think this makes them tweens. Large enough to have outgrown the cute and cuddly phase, but still small enough to be needing to hang close to mama duck.

3. I open a new jug of milk and give the kittens the pull tab to play with. Ember rockets around the tub with it in glee. When I wake up the next day, I remember to look under the drain cover, because she is clever enough to pull it up, hide her toy in the drain, and then put the cover back. (Rudi and I were slow on the uptake and spent her first few months here declogging the tub drain as a result.)

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

This semi-annual topic is always one of the wordiest Top Ten Tuesday titles from That Artsy Reader Girl, but it’s also a fun one. What’s coming out between July 1 and the end of the year that I might want to read? So many things, as always! Here are my top ten as of this moment:

1. Sangu Mandanna’s A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping
2. The Librarians by Sherry Thomas
3. Travis Baldree’s Brigands and Breadknives
4. The Space Cat by Nnedi Okorafor
5. Accomplice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
6. The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
7. Freya Marske’s Cinder House
8. Hot Girls with Balls by Benedict Nguyá»…n (a volleyball romance!!!)
9. Rebecca Stead’s The Experiment
10. A Little Holiday Fling by Farah Heron

What new releases will you be hunting down for the rest of 2025?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. There is roughly a two-week span when all the berries and all the stone fruits are in season, so my yogurt parfaits are currently overflowing with an abundance of produce.

2. A severe storm rolls up as the Nationals break their 11-game losing streak in extra innings. Sarah offers to drop me at the metro station after I walk her to her car, and I sprint for the escalator as the skies open up. By the time I’m back in Dupont, the worst of the rainfall is done.

3. Eton mess is made up of three components — macerated strawberries, whipped cream, and pieces of meringue. Trader Joe’s sells meringue cookies. I slice strawberries and take our pestle to the cookies, while Rudi whips the cream. In short order, we have tasty, summery desserts. (We both agree that we’re eager to try this recipe with peaches as well once the freestones come into season.)

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?