A rather self explanatory catergory--books that feature a number in their titles--lets see how high I can stack this category up.

I find it very hard to believe that I haven't read any books by Mr. Baldacci- so I went back to my pen and paper archives--and yes I read several of his books back in the late '90's and early '00"s. I am glad I stumbled back across him. I will definitely be reading more of his books.

This book marks the beginning of his Aloysius Archer series, just one of his very many series of books. It is 1949 and Archer is a straight talking former WWII soldier fresh out of prison for a crime that he did not commit. Great read start to finish--can't wait to read the next book in the series.

I did a re-read of this book as my son was finally getting around to reading it himself. Still a good read, even with all the surprises revealed and I needed the refresher as I plan to read Ready Player Two.

Ms. McNamara became obsessed with trying to find the identity of The Golden State Killer. I became obsessed with the author's back story as it's a little infamous in and of itself. She was the wife of the actor Patton Oswald, became obsessed with true crime starting in her teens with the yet unsolved mystery of the death of a young girl in her childhood neighborhood. She became a true crime journalist and managed the website True Crime Diary. Alas Michelle died suddenly while she was writing this book, it was pieced together by members of her research team and published after her death. And yep I did some googling, accidental overdose (too many pills + a heart condition). She never uncovered the identity of the killer but it is thought that her research kept the case alive. The killer was ultimately traced by DNA evidence thanks to the development of website companies such as Ancestory and 23&Me. He is prison.

Part of a series of memoirs by Helen Forrester that detail the poignant story of her proverty stricken childhood in Liverpool during the 1930's. Very well written and well worth the reading time and I definitely will be reading the rest of her books (if I can find them) the good news is that I have the rest of this triology.

This was one of my favorite books in 2023. I loved the structure, the writing, and the plot. I look forward to reading more from this author.

The sequel to one of my favorite books (Ready Player One) and while this was a little slower to get into and a little heavy into the "Purple One" I did enjoy it. But like Wade by the end I think I have spent enough time in the Oasis. And yes, my son had to explain the ending to me...

In 1993, the murders of three eight year old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas, had the police stymied for weeks, then suddenly the detectives charged three teenagers--alleged members of a Satanic cult--with the killings. It is brutal and riveting--the abuses of the criminal justice system are so blatent and tragic--but unfortunately also the well documented truth. 

There have been multiple books and several HBO miniseries devoted to documenting the blunders, the absence of physical evidence, the error ridden "confession" that occurred while investigating and prosecuting this case--a case the lead to the ultimate conviction of three teenage boys.

Ms. Leverett's fine reporting covered the happenings through 2003, and ends with all three boys still in prison despite multiple appeals. Of course, as I read this in 2025 I went to the interwebs to see how it all played out in the intervening years. The real tragedy--the person who killed those three innocent 8 yr olds walks free today, while three teenagers spent close to twenty years in prison for crimes they did not commit.

Reading Challenge:

25 In 2025

Once Around the Categories: By The Number, Devil

A very interesting take on Sci Fi. It was also interesting to read more about the Chinese Cultural Revolution. This is a multi book series and I am highly anticipating reading the next. Very inventive and complex world building.

For the most part I enjoyed this book. I think I may have read other books by Lisa Unger in the past but it was years ago. She is a good writer and can pen a face paced multi-faceted thriller with mostly well developed characters. It did keep me reading. However, it did feature a lot of repetitive narrative and a lot of cliche treatment of domestic abuse. The story surrounding Pearl, Selena, and Geneva was good--that was an interesting concept but the Graham story line was pretty cliche and blah blah blah- social media is fake.