I have read 100 books this year! As I track my reading on Goodreads, it is interesting (for me) to see how many I finish. I am not trying to break any records, but you can see one way that I am keeping myself busy since I retired. I don’t think this year will beat the highest total (145 in 2016) because I have been spending quite a lot of time this year writing the blog, instead of reading. Anyway, we shall see what the total for 2017 is at the end of December.

Still Life by Louise Penny

A few months ago, I randomly chose book two in Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series when I visited the library. So, I put books #01 and #03 on reserve and read them both this week. Here is the blurb from the first book, Still Life:

The discovery of a dead body in the woods on Thanksgiving Weekend brings Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his colleagues from the Surete du Quebec to a small village in the Eastern Townships.

Gamache cannot understand why anyone would want to deliberately kill well-loved artist Jane Neal, especially any of the residents of Three Pines – a place so free from crime it doesn’t even have its own police force. But Gamache knows that evil is lurking somewhere behind the white picket fences and that, if he watches closely enough, Three Pines will start to give up its dark secrets…

I gave the book four stars on Goodreads and wrote this review:

Loved this book. I have already read the second in the series, so had met some of the characters. I enjoyed the detail of this community. All of the places and people set out as if you can see them yourself. I already have another, the third book, set up to read straight away.

The Cruellest Month by Louise Penny

The third book in the series, The Cruellest Month, has this blurb:

Welcome to Three Pines, where the cruellest month is about to deliver on its threat.
It’s spring in the tiny, forgotten village; buds are on the trees and the first flowers are struggling through the newly thawed earth. But not everything is meant to return to life. . .
When some villagers decide to celebrate Easter with a seance at the Old Hadley House, they are hoping to rid the town of its evil — until one of their party dies of fright. Was this a natural death, or was the victim somehow helped along?
Brilliant, compassionate Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the SQ (Sûreté du Québec) is called to investigate, in a case that will force him to face his own ghosts as well as those of a seemingly idyllic town where relationships are far more dangerous than they seem.

Omce again, I felt that the book deserved at least four stars and I wrote this about it:

This has been the best book out of the first three in the series, for me anyway. I love the setting of Three Pines, I love the characters and I really want to eat the wonderful food and visit the book shop. It was pleasing to finally see an end to the long running Arnot story. The main plot was very convoluted, but led to a satisfying finale. I am sure that I will read more of the series, but these three books have fitted so well together that I don’t feel the need to read on for a while.

In fact, when I visited the library on Monday, I nearly picked up another couple of books in the series, but I decided to hang back and wait awhile before visiting the world of Three Pines again.

The Promise by Robert Crais

From my fresh book pile, I picked up Robert Crais’ The Promise, which I will write about next week. Until then, I hope that all visitors to this site really enjoy their reading, whatever that may be: fiction, non-fiction, comic books, newspapers, magazines, ebooks, websites, or the backs of cereal packets at the breakfast table!

Best wishes,

💜💚💛❤️💙