Maisie Dobbs solves again

A Lesson in Secrets explores a mystery and Maisies life after the death of her mentor. She is called upon to take a lecturing position at a small college and look for people not acting in the best interest of the government. Of course, her regular business of detecting is still busy and her personal life is getting more complicated.

How not to tell you too much and still make you read it. Well just read it! It is the latest Maisie Dobbs! How can you not read it!!

Warm from the oven

The goal of the novel Friendship Bread by Gee is a warm fuzzy feeling and she succeeds. I almost didn't read it as it has a glowing comment from Kate Jacobs on the cover and we all know how I feel about her Friday Night Knitting book. Friendship Bread is set in the small town of Avalon near Chicago, but not so near as to ruin it's small town feel. Gee explores the lives of several women, who are all working through a tragedy or heartbreak. Julia Evart is the first person to get friendship bread and a bag of starter. The thing with friendship bread is that it multiples and you need people to give starter to at the end of ten days. So the starter goes from house to house and the act of baking and connecting changes these women's lives. (recipes at the end.) FB is a quick and pleasant read. Just needed a slice of bread to eat with it.

Radio Shangri La

Radio Shangri La is a memoir that recounts Lisa Napoli's journey to Bhutan and her emotional journey while there. Napoli meets a man at a party, who offers her the chance to go for on a sabatical from NPR to help at the fledging Kuzoo radio station in Bhutan. I enjoyed many of the elements of this memoir. Her friendships with the Bhutanese and the expats helping in the country. Over the course of the book she reflects on her past and sees where Bhutan is leading her. I really enjoyed the memoir, but would have liked more about where she is now in a way that she didn't write about.