Tag: Derek B. Miller

My Library Checkout June 2018

Have you been using your library over the past month? What did you read? What didn’t you read? What are you waiting on? These are the questions of a meme called Library Checkout, led by Rebecca Foster of the blog Bookish Beck.

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  • Jar City by Arnaldur Indriðason
  • American by Day by Derek B. Miller

The best of the pair was American by Day, a sequel of sorts to Miller’s Norwegian by Night. I say, of sorts, because I don’t think it’s necessary to read the first one to understand this one. But I would recommend reading the first one anyway, if you haven’t, because it’s just that good. This second one might be one of my favorites of the year. Of course, I’ve only read 15 books this year, so not too hard to say that.

Returned Unread

  1. Ramp Hollow: The Ordeal of Appalachia by Steven Soll
  2. Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy by Anne Lamott
  3. Essential Retirement Planning for Solo Agers: A retirement and aging roadmap for single adults and childless adults by Sarah Geber
  4. Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke
  5. Wonder Valley by Ivy Pochoda

I actually did start Ramp Hollow and Wonder Valley, with the former not catching my interest and the latter catching my interest but not holding my interest at this time. I’ll have to try it another time. It looks like a good one, but one that requires more attention than I had this past week.

For next month, I’ve decided to start with a clean slate. I emptied out my holds shelves and don’t have anything on them yet. I’ll have to see here in the next few days or next week what catches my eye. Once I do, I’ll let you know.

What did you check out from the library this past month, put on hold, return unread, did not finish? Or if you don’t use the library, what was the best book you read from this past month? Share in the comments.

When everything on hold comes in at once

Okay, not everything came in, but virtually everything I had on hold came in at once this week, to wit, two books I had had on hold for several months on ebook at The Free Library of Philadelphia:

  1. Wonder Valley by Ivy Pochoda
  2. Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke

AND…another one that had just come in earlier in the week, on ebook from my home library: American by Day by Derek B. Miller.

Then at the end of the week, just to make things even more interesting, I checked out a physical book, The Lonely Witness by William Boyle, that a patron had said was pretty good.

So come Friday night, I was faced with choosing one of the four for my weekend read, which really would be Friday night and Saturday since I was/am going to visit my father for Father’s Day. Since I already had started American by Day Thursday night and was enjoying it even in the early going, I decided to stick with it, read a little Friday night, finished half of the book by noon on Saturday and then the other half later in the afternoon.

I don’t know if I realized that Miller had another book coming out until a blogger (I can’t remember who) recently mentioned this one. I previously had read Norwegian by Night, which was published in 2012, and which was one of my favorite books from that year, and American by Day is a sequel of sorts. Why I say of sorts is that this one features Sigrid Ødegård, a Norwegian cop, who from what I remember wasn’t a major character in the first one.

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The story picks up from where the previous story left off, but I don’t think it’s necessary to read Norwegian by Night to understand this second one. Here, Sigrid is sent to America by her father to find his son/her brother Marcus. Of course, it isn’t that simple as Marcus is suspected of the murder of his girlfriend. As serious as the story sounds, and at times is, Miller also injects a fair amount of humor into the novel, especially with the interplay between Sigrid and Irving Wylie, the county sheriff who is looking for Marcus. The story also is absurd at times (no spoilers, but if you read it, you’ll see what I mean), but I went with it because I was enjoying the book so much at that point.

Next up: I should read Pochoda’s book since I think I had the book on hold since February, but we’ll see. I have enjoyed Locke’s books in the past, so I might just go with that. I’ll keep you posted.

What did you read this past week? Anything good, anything worth recommending? What is on your radar for this coming week or the next couple of weeks?