My reading goal for the year is 75 books. Right now I am at 59. This seems like a good time to talk about some of my favorites of 2024 so far.

Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide by Rupert Holmes. This was a great deal of fun. It is about a school that teaches students how to get away with the perfect murder of someone whose death would make the world a much better place to live.

 

Starter Villain by John Scalzi – I don’t read a lot of science fiction but this was excellent. Charles is a divorced teacher who inherits his Uncle Jake’s business. He thinks it is something dull that has to do with parking lots. However, he finds out that it involves sentient cats and unionized dolphins. The cover tells you all you need to know.

Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez – This is a fictional telling of a true story about an artist who may or may not have been murdered by her husband in 1985.

 

James by Percival Everett – This is a phenomenal book that is the retelling of The Adventures by Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of the enslaved Jim.



 

About Alice by Calvin Trillin – This is a beautiful book written by a man about his wife after her death. It had been on my TBR (to be read) list for a long time. Recently, I was flying home from a conference in Nashville, and the man sitting across the aisle from me was reading it. I told him it was on my list, and he said he was almost finished with it and would give it to me after he was done. He did, and then I passed it on when I was finished with it.

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry – This is another title that has been on my TBR list for years. It is a novel about the last wilderness of America. It has cowboys, cattle rustlers, and women of questionable virtue. I loved it!

Please stop by the reference desk to tell me what you are reading. I’m always interested in what other people are reading.