Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I liked this better than #14 and #15 in the series. It seemed to have a good story along with the right amounts of Lula and Grandma.



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Retirementology by Gregory Salsbury

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I gave it two stars because I don't like non-fiction authors who make up words to get their point across. He does have a glossary for those words; but using those words would only hamper your communication with financial planners and family members who have not read the book.

He introduces some information from the new area of study known as behavioral finance to tell us why we are often our own worst enemy. Procrastination is the most common problem. Start saving early and save as much as you can for we will need a lot more money than we think we will. Taxes and healthcare costs will become bigger parts of your retirement, big enough to cause number numbness.

If you have not read any books about saving for retirement, this may be a good place to start. If you have read others, this is not the place to find suggestions for how to get that 5% return on bonds and 12% return on equities in order to withdraw 4% of your portfolio which is a template so many planners used for calculations.

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Clifton Gorge and Clifton Mill, 30 Jul 2011

Click on Clifton Gorge and Clifton Mill, 30 Jul 2011for more pictures.

The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is the third novel of the series, and the series continues to be creative and inventive.



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Your Digital Afterlife: When Facebook, Flickr and Twitter Are Your Estate, What's Your Legacy? by Evan Carroll

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book gets 5 stars for encouraging consideration to topics I never thought about before. Just how many more devices do I have with passwords, and how much more do I now store on the internet when I previously made my will and directed my legacy. I never gave any thought how much online banking has changed what information an executor might need to access the accounts, and how to pass on that information without it becoming part of the public record.

How much has changed about the artifacts that we might hope to become heirlooms? Will my survivors be comforted by archives of emails when there are no longer bundles of saved letters? Who would make such an archive? Who gets the digital pictures?

I never gave a thought that I might need a digital executor named in a legal document as a co-executor who might need access to subscription sites which makes withdrawals for payments. I had given some thought to whom I granted administrator access for a family blog site but never specified who pays the bill to maintain the site when I can't. I still have some questions that I will have to research for the answers. Who can inherit the ebooks I have been collecting? Will they have to read it on my devices that might still be linked to an account I set up?

The website for this book has a link for a spreadsheet for you to start making an inventory. You can order the eBook there too. www.yourdigitalafterlife.com/resources



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Crystal Clear by Cathy Corn

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Crystal Clear entertains with a story that balances the suspense of a mystery with the suspense of romance. Its tag as a paranormal mystery helps prepare a reader for Suzanne Westin's familiarity with crystals and scrying efforts. There is enough character development for Suzanne that that she is interesting for even a more skeptical reader who is curious about the outcome.





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Possession by A.S. Byatt

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I finally watched the movie so if I never finished the book, Iwould be alright with that for it has set on my shelf much too long.

This is an award-winning book that is beautifully written, and I did not enjoy it enough to give it more than two stars. I was often reminded of Fowles' The French Lieutenant's Woman with the back and forth from current day to Victorian era. When the author slowed the pace of the narrative, I had difficulty reading more than four pages a day.







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