📚💙 “Libraries existed to satisfy people’s thirst for knowledge. No matter what they want to do with it.” This line from "The City and Its Uncertain Walls" really spoke to me. Libraries are wonderful and need to exist for everyone, not just those who figure out how to wrest power from the people.

💙📚 From Haruki Muakami’s latest “he seemed fond of longer books. Thinner books might be unsatisfying.” This one is short by Mirakami standards but still long. I laughed at this possibly self-referential line. And it is very satisfying, as his books always are.

Laura Lippman says it so cleanly in “Prom Mom”, “Paradoxically, her parents’ kitchen, which had not changed for thirty years, had aged better.” The mania for trendy is so out of hand. Trendy will become "un-trendy." Give me time tested and useful any day! I also love the deftness of the writing. 💙📚

“Going Zero” is a page turning thriller AND a wake up call. As a character notes, “the real present and future threat is manipulation...” The book creates fully formed characters and puts them through actions that show the power, and danger, of that manipulation. A good and important read.  📚💙

I'm reading "SPQR-A History of Ancient Rome" by Mary Beard. Today I read about Sulla, who in 82 BCE named himself Dictator with “no time limit placed on it” and “unchecked powers to make or repeal any laws, with guaranteed immunity from prosecution.” How I wish SC justices read more widely. 💙📚

I really found a lot to like in "Welcome Home, Stranger" by Kate Christensen, a slim but full book about late middle age, dealing with one's past, and moving on from toxicity. I very much identified with Rachel, the protagonist, and found her journey to be moving. A very good read. 💙📚

Just read "The Hunter" by Tana French and I'm simply in awe of her ability to create complete and nuanced characters and then put them in real feeling situations. I felt like I was reading a non-fiction account of events in a small Irish village. Read "The Searcher" and it. You'll thank me. 💙📚

So I suspect I have finished my last book for the year. Another great year of reading. I love being able to borrow books electronically from my local libraries. I find it a bit funny that the least read book on my shelf is by Richard Ford. I guess times passes everyone by! 💙📚