Holy crap! The Kindle App said I read 83 books so far in 2026. Ha. I track but don’t count. WTF. I thought I was slowing down but I read more in July than in June. (See below). I think August will be slow. I have one week of a strange schedule, which usually slows my reading. And it’s already the 9th and I haven’t read much.

Here are reading graphics I did in NotebookLM last week before I saw that stat today. July reading up first. What happens with more reading for me? Lower enjoyment of books apparently. I prefer 4 stars for every book I read. I don’t expect 5 stars. Five for me is “should go on my top ten books of all time” list.

And here is June vs. July

This Week in Media & Other Things

Music of the Week

Books of the Week

I finshed reading 3 books:

^{Convenient Suspect: A Double Murder, a Flawed Investigation, and the Railroading of an Innocent Woman by Tammy Mal (Nonfiction). My rating: ★★★★ (4 stars). Hard to rate this book since I know a lot about the case. To me, it was a little too slow a pace and too much forensic detail. But a person unfamiliar with this case may find it interesting. Anyway, take my rating with a grain of salt because I’m still unsure.}

^{Don’t Trust Her by Adriane Leigh (Fiction). My rating: ★★★★(4 stars). Another Adriane Leigh book. Fast read. Tense. Fun. Short.}

^{Wilder Intentions: Love, Lies and Murder in North Dakota by C.J. Wynn. My rating: ★★★★(4 stars). True crime authors: A lot of repeating the crime during the trial. Waste of space. Repetitive. Why do they do this? Is there a law that says the first part must detail the crime, and that you must also give every detail of the trial? How can doing this not defy logic? I had this book rated near a 3, but the ending, with a lot of new info on one of the perpetrators, saved it. Another issue with this book was that it could do without the he-said/she-said. Impossible to know what’s true. I would have left a lot of that out. It’s so embarrassing when two adults with kids can’t figure things out. I used to watch a lot of child custody cases, and the saddest thing is people making up abuse allegations, but why lie at all? Anything to have custody of the kids…like they are possessions. From my notes: Don’t repeat the trial!!!!}

Quote of the Week