Rick Atkinson - The Authors List

Rick Atkinson. The Authors List with 6 books I've read. They are all books on American history and American wars in particular. The first book I read was a history of the Persian Gulf War written in 1993 and read in 1995. Then I read another book about the Gulf War in 2005. Ten years later I read his trilogy about World War II. In 2022 I started his series about the American Revolution and I should read the second book soon. I've always enjoyed reading books about history and he is a very good historian.

Rick Atkinson books I've read:

• Crusade: The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War, 1993 - Dec 1995
• In The Company of Soldiers: A Chronical of Combat in Iraq, 2004 - Aug 2005
• An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943, 2002 - Mar 2014
• The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1955, 2005 - May 2015
• The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945, 2013 - Mar 2016
• The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777, 2019 - Mar 2022

Murder at la Villette - #22

I just finished reading another Cara Black murder mystery novel set in Paris. Murder at la Villette published in 2024. 

This is the 22nd book of hers that I've read and I might just consider this to be a favorite.. this one really had me from the first page to the last. It is also the 21st book in the Aimee Leduc Investigations series. There is only one book in that series, the 2nd one, that I have not read. I read two other books from her Kate Rees WWII series.

I should track down that book I've missed from 2000 while waiting for her next book to come out.

Kevin J. Anderson - The Authors List

Kevin J. Anderson. The Authors List with 8 of his science fiction novels I've read. Seven books were part of the Saga of Seven Suns series which I enjoyed and read over several months in 2016. I also read a Dune prequel he co-authored with Brian Herbert. Most of Anderson's books are spin-off novels including 20 for Star Wars, about another 20 Dune prequels and some X-Files novels.

Kevin J. Anderson books I've read. 

• Hidden Empire, 2002 - Nov 2016
• A Forest of Stars, 2003 - Nov 2016
• Horizon Storms, 2004 - Dec 2016
• Scattered Suns, 2005 - Dec 2016
• Of Fire and Night, 2006 - Jan 2017
• Metal Swarm, 2007 - Jun 2017
• The Ashes of Worlds, 2008 - Sep 2017
• House Atreides, (Dune Prequel with Brian Herbert) 1999 - Mar 2000

Dinner @ the PM

Becky and I walked down to the Parkside Meadow for dinner this evening. We caught a little bit of a rain shower on the way there especially just as we were getting ready to enter the restaurant. It was sunny on the way home.

We had a nice dinner. The dining room was pretty crowded with mostly old folks at some tables and families with kids at other ones. I had a nice fish fry and Becky had  a good beef on weck sandwich.

Grammie Let's Draw

The other day I was sitting in the kitchen with our 2 year old granddaughter Autumn when she looked up at one of Becky's drawings on the wall. Autumn said "Look, I like that." I told her Grammie made that artwork. Autumn then jumped off her chair and ran into the front room exclaiming "Grammie! Let's draw!"

Don DeLillo - The Authors List

Don DeLillo. The Authors List with 7 books that I've read. I came across this writer in 1985 after the publication of White Noise which was his eighth novel. Then I went on to read six more of his novels as they were published over the years. Probably my favorite of his novels is Underworld followed closely by Libra.

Don DeLillo books I've read. 

• White Noise, 1985 - Feb 1986
• Libra, 1988 - Jan 1989
• Underworld, 1997 - Apr 1999
• The Body Artist, 2001 - Apr 2001
• Falling Man, 2007 - Aug 2007
• Zero K, 2016 - Feb 2017
• The Silence, 2020 - Jan 2021

Dashiell Hammett - The Authors List

Dashiell Hammett - The Authors List. I've read six books by this author... all between 1981 and 1983. They included all five of his detective mystery novels and a collection of short stories. The Maltese Falcon was the first of his novels I read and it was also one of my favorite all time movies.

I loved his novels and wish he wrote more of them. Especially with Sam Spade and the Thin Man characters too.

Dashiell Hammett books I've read:

• The Maltese Falcon, 1930 - Jan 1981
• Red Harvest, 1929 - Apr 1981
• The Dain Curse, 1929 - Jun 1981
• The Glass Key, 1931 - Jan 1982
• The Continental Op, 1930 - Mar 1982
• The Thin Man, 1934 - Nov 1983

Easter Dinner @ Dave & Donna's

Dave and Donna had us over Saturday evening for an Easter Party and Dinner. There were about 22 people all total. Donna had her usual Polish Easter meal and also her spectacular assortment of desert... the usual Gasper Special as seen in the pic.

Sean and Ashely came into town today and they went to D&D's too. The kids had a great time.

Umberto Eco - The Authors List

Umberto Eco. On The Authors List with 7 books that I've read. I discovered him in 1984 when I read The Name of the Rose which is one of my favorite novels and a fascinating historical murder mystery set in a medieval monastery. I read it a second time years later and would love to read it again. I liked the 1986 movie staring Sean Connery too. 

Then I went on to read more of his novels over the years as they were published. There are only a couple of his novels I didn't read.

A few years ago I read a couple of his art history books examining beauty and ugliness that Becky has in her art book collection. I was interested in this other aspect of one of my favorite novelist so I had those two books next to my reading chair for awhile and read the articles over a rather long period of time. Some interesting pandemic reading.

Umberto Eco books that I've read:

• The Name of the Rose, 1980 - Jul 1984
• Foucault's Pendulum, 1989 - Aug 1989
• The Island of the Day Before, 1995 - Apr 1996
• Baudolino, 2001 - Dec 2002
• The Prague Cemetary, 2011 - Nov 2012
• History of Beauty / On Beauty, 2004 - Mar 2021
• On Ugliness, 2007 - Jan 2022

Venetian Vespers - A Novel

Venetian Vespers by John Banville, 2025. I just finished Banville's latest crime novel, a puzzling historical mystery that takes place in Venice 1899 which I read in six days. It is  a very strangely haunting noir novel in a fascinating location. Some interesting but creepy people too.

This is the 14th John Banville I've read.