I finished Circe, by the way.  The author shared some beautiful paintings of her on a blog somewhere, and I loved that.  I guess I learned some of the who's who of mythology.  The other readers in the group really liked this book, and it is popular.  My friend who listened to it felt like the character was speaking to her.  So, I guess I'm glad I read it, although I won't look into more similar books.

10.  On the other hand, for my main book group, I read The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. This author is certainly creative, I'll give him that!  It starts off like an Agatha Christie story, and then veers off into .. I guess sci-fi, thriller.  This is the advantage of belonging to a book group.  I would never have chosen that book for myself, but found it thoroughly entertaining.  It also raised a social issue question worth considering about whether people can change.

11.  Elkhorn Tavern, by Douglas C. Jones.  This was on my bookshelf, and I don't remember when I bought it.  It is set in Northwest Arkansas during the Civil War, a time and place I've been studying with genealogy.  This could have been my dad's relatives, except they all seem to have had bigger families. I think he is dead on right in his picture of the times there.  The character Ora reminds me of my strong mother, who liked pretty things and could also whack the head off a copperhead with a hoe-- and then feel guilty about killing it. Ora is my picture of femininity, not some heavily made up delicate thing. The author was a tad soft on slavery, in my opinion, but the main characters did not participate in it.