5.  Auntie Poldi and the Handsome Antonio.  Outrageous, amusing, and surprisingly thoughtful. There is one more in this series and I will read it.  Maybe one more will be enough for me; I don't want to get hooked on another series. The author shows himself as imaginative and funny.  I hope he thinks about a non-Poldi book before long, though.

6.  The Book of Lost Friends, by Lisa Wingate, who also wrote Before We Were Yours. 

     Like Before, this fiction book is good at letting people know about a chapter of history. It is one of those with every other chapter being a different story, and you know they're going to come together in the end. After the Civil War, people who had been separated by slave owners used newspaper ads to look for their folks.  She has internet addresses for a couple of databases at the end. 

    The writing is very accessible and I think a lot of people would get something out of it.

 I probably averaged reading about a book a week last year, but quit posting them. Maybe I'll put them up again, probably should keep them in a journal, but I don't think anyone else reads this.

1. In 2022, I am rereading Peter Walsh's Lose the Clutter, Lose the Weight. I'm not trying to follow the diet, but am committed to the six-week declutter plan. I've been through the kitchen and pantry, and am working on my bedroom.  Some days it is hard to make myself spend an hour or so on it, but it is a lift to see some things looking tidier.

2. Jacques Pepin Heart & Soul in the Kitchen. I really like his drawings. I have enjoyed looking through this book. 

3. Julia Kelly, The Last Garden in England.  A friend recommended this to me because I like gardens, and there is a family history thread, which is another interest of mine. It is a well-crafted historical fiction romance novel That would not be a genre I would usually choose, but I found this pleasant to read. 

4. Tom Vanderbilt, Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning. I think the subtitle should be: I'm brilliant, wealthy, and athletic. I can do anything. It didn't seem to be so much about the rest of us mortals. The things he chose to pursue made me think of the year-long nightmare that high school p.e. was for me. But I won't argue that it is good to learn new things.