34-Death Comes to Pemberly by P.D. James
A "sequel" to Pride and Prejudice in which Wickham is implicated in a murder. I'd wanted to read this for a while, so I selected it for book club. Among the group it was about evenly split between those familiar with Austen and those not, so we had an interesting discussion. For my part, while I found the actual murder mystery a little pedestrian, I enjoyed the historic forensic and legal techniques and also enjoyed catching up with the Darcys.
35-The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
A reread with my online community. I loved it of course but haven't much more to contribute by way of specifics. We haven't decided what to read next, but I don't think it will be The Silmarrillion (thank goodness).
36-The Likeness by Tana French
The second installment in the Dublin Murder Squad series. Several months after the events of the first book, Detective Carrie Maddox goes undercover in a case that completely gets under her skin. There are similarities to the first book, but it's a different story told in a different voice.
37-The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
The conclusion to the Percy Jackson series, in which our hero confronts his destiny and saves the world. I'm not sure which series I want to take up in its place.
38-The Round House by Louise Erdrich
A woman is assaulted on a reservation in North Dakota in 1988, and her son tries to get to the bottom of it against his father's wishes. I read this ahead of time for a future book club meeting because it's also on a list I recently discovered of books representative of every state. (If I have any particular reading goals for 2015, it would be the books on this list.) It's a rather sad follow-up to One Thousand White Women that we read a few months ago in that it illustrates all the reasons why the Native Americans were reluctant to submit to the reservation program. In this case a central issue is that the legal system is stacked against the population.
39-W Is for Wasted by Sue Grafton
I started reading this as soon as it landed on my Kindle but set it aside for some reason. I'm glad I picked it back up again! Contrary to some cranky readers on goodreads, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Kinsey investigates two mysterious deaths and in the process meets more cousins, but this time on her father's side of the family. She also has an unexpected visit from someone in her past and plants seeds for the possible end game as we move ever closer to Z and the end of the series.
40-Bilbo's Last Song by J.R.R. Tolkien
A delightful little book of poetry in which Bilbo describes his trip to the West. Beautiful illustrations.
