Fiction and NonFiction

Fiction

Camp Ford by Johnny D. Boggs. The cover makes this look like a western. The story is actually set during the Civil War. Win MacNaughton enlists in the Union Army, is captured in Louisiana, and then sent to Camp Ford in Texas where the inmates start a baseball team and challenge the guards to a game.

Tango for a Torturer by Daniel Chavarria. Chavarria is an interesting character. Chavarria is a Uruguayan professor of literature and an expert in the history of prostitutes and prostitution.
Aldo Bianchi is a former Argentine revolutionary now living in Italy. On vacation in Havana Aldo meets a hooker and through her finds out the location in Havana of the torturer from Argentina he is hunting. Aldo sets out for personal justice.
"Daniel Chavarria portrays the sensuousness and skullduggery of contemporary Havana - a city that offers erotic thrills to pleasure-seeking tourists, even as it hides the villains in its humid embrace."

An Ice Cold Grave by Charlaine Harris. Harper Connelly can communicate with the dead ever since she was twelve years old and struck by lighting. She now makes her living by locating missing and murdered people. Harper's latest job in North Carolina sets her into the path of a killer after teenage boys.

Large Print Fiction

Heartbreak Town by Marsha Moyer. Lucy Hatch is raising her son in Mooney, TX when her ex-husband and former country music star Ash Farrell shows up and parks his trailer in her backyard. Will they get back together? Will town gossip drive them further apart?

Beyond Reach by Karin Slaughter. Police Detective Lena Adams is a murder suspect in a neighboring town. Her superior, Police Chief Tolliver, heads over to help her out. Tolliver's wife is not happy about Tolliver's behavior but soon finds herself in the middle of things.

NonFiction

In Other Words: the meanings memoirs of euphemisms by Dominique Enright. Laced mutton: a prostitute. Given your cards: dismissed from your job. Take a walk: a defecting spy. Prestigious: in a real estate agent's description this means expensive.

Essentials Grilling: simple & delicious recipes that are easy to make by Bernice Hurst.

Comfort Food: a selection of traditional recipes just like your grandma used to make by Parragon Publishing.

Marine Corps Tank Battles in Korea by Oscar Gilbert. "We just loaded shells into that goddamn thin. It was just a bonfire. That tank was burning from one end to the other in no time at all" G.G. Sweet's encounter with a T-34 tank near Pusan.

North American Exploration by Michael Golay and John Bowman. Entries covering every major expedition, leader, geographical feature, and milestone.
I'm listening to the audio version of Dan Simmons' The Terror which is set Arctic Canada and based on a true expedition. I'll have to look it up in here.

What Makes Flamingos Pink?: a colorful collection of Q & A's for the unquenchably curious by Bill McLain. The stuff they eat makes them pink, I knew that already. I did not know that "chickenpox" dates from 1720 and is labeled as such to show it's mildness in comparison to smallpox.

Public Executions: from Ancient Rome to the present day by Nigel Cawthorne. The attempted quartering of Robert-Francois Damiens, They continued their repeated efforts for more than an hour, without making any progress towards dismembering him other than stretching his joints to a great length. This was probably due to the fact that the horses were young and vigorous. Consequenetly they were too wilful and unruly to pull with a concerted effort. The physician and surgeon on hand told the commissioners that, unless the main sinews were cut, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to carry out the sentence of dismemberment.