Sunday Reading in a Cool, Dark Room

We didn't have a single day last year that hit 90 degrees. We have not hit our forecasted high of 92. Tomorrow is supposed to be the hottest day for us in the Adirondacks, when the NWS says our location will be 94 degrees with a heat index of 99 degrees. That's nothing compared to places south of here and to the southwest.

I'm galloping through Force of Nature by Jane Harper, which I mentioned in a recent entry. Reads very quickly. And I like reading a book set in the Australian "bushland" of New South Wales. I must try to find photos of the Giralang Ranges via Google, just so I can picture the story better. Harper is vague when it comes to this spring setting--she mentions "lots of trees," "hills," and "gushing river and creeks," but since the characters are battling what nature has to throw at them, I believe it would have been much more interesting to have named and described the trees, foliage, plants, rock formations, and so on.

I'm nearly finished with Time and Chance by Sharon Kay Penman. To imagine all the risks that Henry took, in every aspect of his kingship. It leaves me breathless.

I've read 30 pages in Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past by David Reich. This is such a fascinating, provocative book. I will explain this later, but this field, actually the entire field of genetics, is changing now so quickly that by the time a book is published, it is out of date. So says David Reich about his just-published book. This is an **essential** read for any person who has any interest at all in anthropology, archaeology, genetics, genealogy, and human biology.

Oh! By the way, I have finally added the links to the books I recently purchased at Barnes and Noble, which is the subject of yesterday's post.