The Winners

 One of my favorite authors is Frederik Backman. He is the author of A Man Called Ove and My Grandmother Told Me To Say I'm Sorry. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden. The Winners is the third in a series about hockey players in the town of Beartown and Hed. I enjoyed getting to know the same characters after a two year absence. This book seemed more violent than the first two in the series although there was violence in those too. My favorite characters were Peter, Maya, Alicia and Bobo. This is a wonderful story.

 

 

I See You Have Called In Dead

 John Kenney is the author of the comedic novel called I See You Have Called In Dead. I listened to the book via audio-book. I think if you are a fan of the old TV series "The Office" you would like this book. The main character is Bud Stanley. Bud's job is to write obituaries. Bud struggles in life. He seems to be afraid to live. His wife leaves him for a more interesting man. One night, after drinking too much scotch, he writes his own obituary and sends it in. His company wants to fire him but they can't because he is now classified as dead. With the help and encouragement of a good friend named Tom, Bud makes a change for the better. He attends the funerals of strangers so he can learn how to truly live.

 

 

Horse

 Geraldine Brooks is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Horse. The story is told in two time lines. Lexington is a horse who was born in 1850. This horse won nearly all the races in Kentucky. The horse was owned by a free black man but since blacks were not allowed to participate in horse racing, his employer was listed as the owner. Later the black man's son took over the care and training of the horse. Rather than  using brute force in training horses he took a gentle approach gradually building trust. The other end of the story takes place in 2019. A horse researcher comes to Washington, D.C. to investigate the bones of a horse kept in the attic at a Smithsonian Museum. As it turns out, this horse skeleton belonged to Lexington. This was a fascinating story about a horse and the people involved in it's story.

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving

 

The South

Tash Aw is the Malaysian author of The South.  Published in 2025 the story details a family of six moving from the city to their recently deceased grandfather's fruit farm. Most of the story is focused on the youngest and only boy of the family, Jay, who is 17. The farm is in southern Malaysia. Jay meets the son of the farm manager named Fong. The son's name is Chuan and he is 19. Together they form a friendship and a bond. The farm is in a poor state due to climate change and an economic depression. Jay's family has more wealth and more education. I really enjoyed this coming of age novel.

 

 

80% Sure

Today the temperature got up to 65 degrees so I put on a pair of shorts and walked around Lake Winona again. I saw a nest in a tree. I am on the side of the lake that is farthest from downtown and closest to Highway 61.

I am 80% sure this is a nest from a pair of Baltimore Orioles.

 

The Library Of Lost Dollhouses

Elise Hooper is the author of The Library Of Lost Dollhouses. Dollhouses, miniature replications of grand mansions, used to be a thing a hundred years ago. Having a dollhouse of your own house meant you were a person of means. In this story a woman finds two miniature dollhouses at the library she works at in New York City. The story is told in two time lines. The first time line is the woman who found the dollhouses in 2018. The second is the woman who made the dollhouses in 1912. This was a fascinating story based on some true facts.