FF: Before Bed

Mei-Ling Contemplates the Hidden Valley

Books that I am perfectly happy to read in the day often to not suit me before bed, in part because I am a very active dreamer, and don’t need to give my nightmares fuel.  I’ve also been plowing through audiobooks, in part because I listen when I supervise the foster kittens at play.

As for the usual reminder…  The Friday Fragments is not a book review column; it’s a list of what I’m reading and maybe a bit about my opinions.  I always read the Comments section, because I enjoy learning what other people are reading.  Oh, and I don’t usually list shorter works unless in a collection or articles.  I also don’t usually list my scattered research reading.

Completed:

Clouds of Witnesses by Dorothy L. Sayers.  Audiobook.

Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers.  Audiobook.

In Progress:

Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family.  Non-fiction.  A look at the Galvin family, in which six of the twelve children were schizophrenics.  Tries to place their situation in a medical/historical context, which I appreciate.  Book published in 2020.  Author interviewed many of those involved.  Almost done. 

Lord Peter Views the Body by Dorthy L. Sayers.  Audiobook.  Short story collection.

Also:

Since Hidden Valley Road is not exactly bedtime reading, I’ve been re-reading various other works.  I read several Doctor Doolittle tales, and realized that the almost reportorial style of the narratives would have worked well to convince my very young self that these were “real” stories.

Now reading John Bellairs The Chessmen of Doom, one of his middle grade Gothic novels set in the U.S. of the 1950’s, although written rather later.