Book Notes November 12, 2026

 

The Deadly Readers book group meets all year around, on a monthly basis.  I thought you might like to see how they choose the books they read.

 

 

Currently Reading:

 

Daughter of Crows by Mark Lawrence.  It's a fantasy set largely in an academy for girls whose parents paid for their spots.  At graduation, there will only be three young women alive who will set forth delivering a type of justice in a brutal world.

 

Good Reads Choice Awards Voting

https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-books-2026 

It has begun!  I've decided not to vote this year, given how few of the choices I've read, and how disappointed I always am when my favorites don't make the cut. 

 

Review:   To Catch A Storm by Mindy Mejia

 

Book group book time again!   This is a thriller set in Iowa ice storms.  A weather physicist and a disreputable psychic race to find their loved  ones in a terrible storm. They might be held in the same place by the same people, according to Jonah, the psychic.  Eve takes a more scientific approach to everything and she trusts Jonah not at all.  It turns out they're all they've got.

All except for Eve's father in law Earl.  He's been living with Eve and her husband since his stroke.  Physically he is very limited but mentally he's very engaged, and he joins in their dangerous capers with something approaching joy.

I loved the three characters together, and am pleased to see there are two more books with these characters:  A World of Hurt and The Whisper Place.    

 

DOA On TV: Best Medicine, Doc, Elspeth, Cupertino, Sheriff Country

 

Best Medicine   Can't Stop the Healing

Martin is quite short tempered about the romance between Louisa and Parker, the man who is now overseeing Martin's practice to see if he should keep his medical license.   

Martin's way above normal rudeness has driven his patients away and into the care of returning character Savannah.  Her past as a purveyor of illegal exotic animals who brings the bubonic plague to Port Wenn is forgotten as she now fashions herself as a homeopathic healer.   Everyone's charm at her sweet soothing ways is soon ruined by the terrible side effects of the treatments she recommends.

 

Doc

Amy and a few others use a hospital floor under construction to treat a woman in witness protection.  She's had a pouch of heroine in her stomach since she was a teen running drugs and it has grown into some nearby organs.   Treating her with as few staff involved as possible was wise, but those left out may cause problems later.

 

Elspeth     A Bad Lie

In this golf themed episode, Elspeth comes to suspect a death on the greens was murder.   An obnoxious dentist with horrible teeth has a pretty perfect plan to cover a murder.  Plagued by Elspeth and an insurance investigator, the man never had a chance.

 

Cupertino

Cupertino had it's normal Thursday night episode, then preempted a Sunday evening show for a second episode of the week.  Both were stand alone stories. 

(Thursday)  Celeste  

It's all about AI in this episode, as we see a friend of Olivia's has a job where she trains AI by completing tasks on a screen to help it learn to make judgements and recognize certain patterns.  The pay is tiny but it pays the rent.

On the other side of the AI coin is Bo, the emergent AI, not the right term no doubt.  He thinks he's a person!   The courtroom drama tries to determine if he can be alive, and who owns him.

(Sunday)   Harper

Harper is a friend of Christy's who is in the operating room to get a liver transplant when the operation is stopped.  The liver is now supposed to go to a wealthy hospital donor.

The original judge for the case and Mike, Olivia, and the wealthy man's lawyer are all stuck in a massive traffic jam.  They race against time to decide who should get the transplant, as the liver is only viable for four hours.  Over a split zoom screen, everyone makes their case.  Technical difficulties abound. 

 

Sheriff Country   No Way In

The real Fire Country/Sheriff Country crossover is a tense two hour episode featuring a wildfire driven by high winds, and a set of vicious female escaped convicts.  One of them was put away in jail by patrolman Mickey and she hasn't forgotten it.

A sub plot about a fireman Mickey dated once isn't as charming as it's supposed to be.  Of course they end up working together under pressure, but, meh.  He's not good enough for her.  :) 

Librariandoa's Saturday Puzzles: A Letter Tiles Puzzle

 I've an exciting new puzzle type for you to try this week!  It's from the Discovery Education Puzzle Making Page  .  The Letter Tiles puzzle takes the two sentences from a book I input and scrambles them around into tiles with three letters each, or letters and a space or punctuation at times.  Words can wrap around at the end of a "line".

Your job is to move the pieces around to create words.   If I were doing it myself I'd have to print the puzzle and cut out the tiles and work on arranging them that way.  I'm a plodding sort.  Best of luck as always!

 

 

Librariandoa's Saturday Puzzles An Answer Key For The 10/31/26 Rebus

 I read this story a long time ago.   It's from a short story collection called The Best of Damon Knight.  Damon Knight was a wonderfully clever science fiction author.  This is from his short story Not With A Bang.

 

 

Ten months after the last plane passed over Rolf Smith knew beyond doubt that only one other human being had survived.

 

 

Five Things Friday 11/6/26

 This week we have a little silliness, a little food, a little Christmas.

Book Notes November 5, 2026

 Greetings, readers. It’s been a busy week! Here are books and book news that caught my eye! So many good books are coming out. I can’t keep up.

DOA on TV : Cupertino and Sheriff Country

 

Only two of my regular shows had new episodes last week.

Cupertino   A.J. and Buddy

This week Olivia and Michael each take a side against each other in the case of two partners who run a predictions site. People can place bets on a wide variety of topics.  From who will win a ball game to who will win an election.  Particularly in the case of elections, the predictions themselves are thought to influence voters.   I’d never heard of such things, but then I saw real predictions sites are in the news. From the Google News app:

Sheriff Country    Maria

The Bulgarian cartel story line and Eva Santos as a player in Edgewater ends with this episode.   Wes and the captive girls try to escape through the forest with cartel goons chasing them.  An AI start up guy offers to let Mickey and her contingent use his drone to find them by their heat signatures in the wilderness.  

It was played up as a crossover episode with the Fire Country staff, but they only used one guy who I didn't know at all, never having watched Fire Country.   Apparently both shows are supposed to take place in the same town but the players rarely cross paths?  A police and fire department?  It's odd.

Welcome, November

 

Here we are, nearing the end of the year. Not quite fall, not quite winter. The greyest weather month of the year traditionally. Time to be cozy. 

Librariandoa's Saturday Puzzles A Rebus 10/31/26

 Hi folks, it's Rebus Week.  I've used the first line of a short story as my source material.  Best of luck!

 

 

Happy Halloween!