My neighbor says she couldn't put this one down

The Appeal ~ by Janice Hallett, 2021, murder mystery, 432 pages

This international bestseller follows a community rallying around a sick child — but when escalating lies lead to a dead body, everyone is a suspect.  The Fairway Players, a local theatre group, is in the midst of rehearsals when tragedy strikes the family of director Martin Hayward and his wife Helen, the play’s star.  Their young granddaughter has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and with an experimental treatment costing a tremendous sum, their castmates rally to raise the money to give her a chance at survival.

But not everybody is convinced of the experimental treatment’s efficacy — nor of the good intentions of those involved.  Things come to a shocking head at the explosive dress rehearsal.  The next day, a dead body is found, and soon, an arrest is made.  In the run-up to the trial, two young lawyers sift through the material — emails, messages, letters — with a growing suspicion that the killer may be hiding in plain sight.  The evidence is all there, between the lines, waiting to be uncovered.

NOTE:  Since my neighbor Betty needed another book to read, she called me, offered me this book, and I gave her "Nice" Jewish Girls by Julie Merberg that I read in October and rated 10/10.  Read about it, HERE.

St. Louis Rams

The St. Louis Rams 

were a professional 

American football 

team that played in 

St. Louis, Missouri, 

from 1995 to 2015 

before relocating back 

to Los Angeles.  The 

franchise, which played 

in the NFL, won Super 

Bowl XXXIV during 

their time in St. Louis.

My friend Donna Carey

was a big fan of the St. 

Louis Rams.

Being sick is not fun at all

The Secrets of People Who Never Get Sick ~ by Gene Stone, 2010, health and fitness, 212 pages

Who does not want to be healthier?  The author wanted to find out what might actually prevent him from getting sick himself.  This book tells the stories of twenty-five people who each possess a different secret of excellent health — a secret that makes sense and that Stone discovered has a scientific underpinning.  There are:

1. food secrets — take garlic and vitamin C, eat more probiotics, become a vegan, drink a tonic of brewer’s yeast.
2. exercise secrets — the benefits of lifting weights, the power of stretching.
3. environmental secrets — living in a Blue Zone, understanding the value of germs.
4. emotional secrets — seek out and stay in touch with friends, cultivate your spirituality.
5. physical secrets — nap more, take cold showers in the morning.

There's a lot more, as you can see from this photo of the contents pages.  The stories make it personal, the research makes it real, and the do-it-yourself information shows how to integrate each secret into your own life and become the next person who never gets sick.

1. The topic of my Monday Musing post was a Mozart Concerto, HERE.
2. On TWOsday, I posted two photos my two daughters sent while traveling to visit me, HERE.
3. Wednesday's Word was "parasocial," HERE, pre-posted long before my daughters came to visit.
4. I didn't post while my daughters were here, so that's it for my blogging week.

is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Parasocial?

I have never even heard the word "parasocial," but it is Cambridge Dictionary's Word of the Year.  Okay, the article says parasocial relates to "a connection that someone feels between themselves and a famous person they do not know, a character in a book, film, TV series, etc., or an artificial intelligence."  Since I've never "adored" a celebrity, I guess that could explain why I've never heard the word.

Dark skies ~ sun rays later

My twin daughters are taking their time coming to visit me, partly because of the weather where they are driving right now.  They sent me this photo of dark skies.  Later, they sent the one below.  Two daughters, two views of the sky.

Mozart's Bassoon Concerto

At lunch today, a couple of residents who sat down at my table started talking about their favorite music, sort of singing a bit of a song they liked.  But they both looked rather blank when I said my favorite is Mozart's Bassoon Concerto.  (Click on the labels below, if you want to hear a version of it that I have shared before about bassoons and Mozart.)  I'm not sure my two friends even know what a bassoon is, but it's what I used to play years ago  When I came back to my apartment, I called my friend Ginny in Tallahassee.  We played together in high school, and she now plays clarinet in the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra.

The ethical consequences of AI

Culpability ~ by Bruce Holsinger, 2025, psychological thriller, 380 pages

This is a suspenseful family drama about moral responsibility in the age of artificial intelligence — and Oprah's Book Club pick after it was published in July, 2025.

When the Cassidy-Shaws’ autonomous minivan collides with an oncoming car, seventeen-year-old Charlie is in the driver’s seat, with his father, Noah, riding shotgun.  In the back seat, tweens Alice and Izzy are on their phones, while their mother, Lorelei, a world leader in the field of artificial intelligence, is absorbed in her work.  Yet each family member harbors a secret, implicating them all in the tragic accident.

During a weeklong recuperation on the Chesapeake Bay, the family confronts the excruciating moral dilemmas triggered by the crash.  Noah tries to hold the family together as a seemingly routine police investigation jeopardizes Charlie’s future.  Alice and Izzy turn strangely furtive.  And Lorelei’s odd behavior tugs at Noah’s suspicions that there is a darker truth behind the incident — suspicions heightened by the sudden intrusion of Daniel Monet, a tech mogul whose mysterious history with Lorelei hints at betrayal.  When Charlie falls for Monet’s teenaged daughter, the stakes are raised even higher in this propulsive family drama that is also a fascinating exploration of the moral responsibility and ethical consequences of AI.

Culpability explores a world newly shaped by chatbots, autonomous cars, drones, and other nonhuman forces in ways that are thrilling, challenging, and unimaginably provocative.

1. My Monday Musing post was about a book by Margaret Atwood, HERE.
2. On TWOsday, I posted about the second book in a trilogy, HERE.
3. Wednesday's Word was MaddAddam and the conclusion of that trilogy, HERE.
4. My subject on Thursday was four science fiction novellas in one book, HERE.
5. Friday's Book Beginning was about Alexei Navalny's 2024 memoir, HERE.
6. On CATurday, I wrote about cats again, HERE.  It's a big, heavy cat book!

is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.