30. I forget the name

The book group selection may have hit a new low.  Ick.  If  I didn't want to join them for the holiday gathering, I wouldn't have read this.  Now I want a bath.  I'm not even going to name it.
 ...
The ladies are more tolerant than I and weren't as disgusted as I was.  I am pretty tired of stories about serial killers.  This one is particularly grisly. I was also disappointed that the main character, who was female and ostensibly strong and brave, had to be rescued.  It was easy to guess who done it and where a romance would develop from the introduction of those characters. The best thing I can say is that it was a page turner and did not take long to read.

29. Fields of Blood: The Prairie Grove Campaign, by William L. Shea

I am not much of a historian, and the particulars of military events are not usually my thing, but I have been looking at family history in this area at this time.  I believe the target audience would be looking for something different than I was, focused on my particular kin and their lives. I did find a family member of my stepfather quoted a couple of times.  I remain shocked at the difficulty of life in these times in northwest Arkansas.  Probably it is a pretty good book for those more militarily inclined.

28. Killing Albert Berch, by Alan Berch Hollingsworth

I would recommend this book to any hobby genealogist, and anyone interested in Oklahoma history.  The author looks into the death of his grandfather, and gains insight into family he has known, as well as family he never met. Meantime, he turns up connections to everything from the Underground Railroad to stage performers of an earlier era. I was especially moved by what he found about the Klan in Oklahoma in the twenties.  That same mentality just elected an exceptionally poor choice of governor for our state.

27. The Rules of Magic, by Alice Hoffman

I think this is a prequel to Practical Magic, which I did not read or see the movie.  The older ladies in the movie start as teens in this book, and it covers maybe fifty years.  
This is the book club selection for the month.  I usually stay away from things about magic, so it is another one I would not have chosen for myself.  Maybe that is the point of a book group. 
As Mark Twain said, "For people who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they like."  

I finished it.  There were some nice things in it.  The older woman character in particular had some wise things to say.  I thought it was mostly a sad story, or several interwoven sad stories.  

I've been watching television this week with many political ads demonizing a couple of powerful women in politics who are not even involved in these elections.  Men with power still fear losing it to strong women. But I think today even in a small town people would not fear people they thought had magic.  Nuts and druggies, gangs and so forth, yes. 

What sort of superstitions do you pay attention to?   People still want to believe in a little magic, to have control over random things they really cannot control. In this story, the main characters didn't really have influence over the things they cared about, magic or no.