On The Same Page discussion

My goal is to read seven tomes . . . I had planned to limit myself to this list BUT I am seeing a need to keep it open. SO - 7 tomes, which may or may not come from these possibilities:

1. Backlands: A Novel of the American West, by Michael McGarrity Finished 1/25/2025

2. The Last Ranch, by Michael McGarrity Finished 2/2/2025

3. Crafty Cat Crimes: 100 Tiny Cat Tale Mysteries, a short story compilation. finished 7/13/2025

4. The Covenant, by James A. Michener This book is in two volumes and seems almost as long as War and Peace!

5. Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow Finished 11/19/2025

6. The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova. I listened to the audio version of this book quite a few years ago. Very interested in reading the print version and enjoying the story again.

7. The Night Portrait, by Laura Morelli. This book is only 496 pages in the edition I have, but there are other editions that have more pages so I'm counting it in this challenge!

8. Scalia: Rise to Greatness, 1936-1986, by James Rosen Finished 8/20/2025

1. Backlands, by Michael McGarrity, 5 stars.

I just love this author and this trilogy so far (I've read 2 of the 3)

2. The Last Ranch, by Michael McGarrity, 4 stars

Liked this third book in a trilogy less than the other two - mostly because of a very abrupt ending that was not at all satisfying.

3. Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA, by Tim Weiner, 4 stars

I'm not sure how long this book is. On my E-Reader, it was over 700 pages . . . online, I saw other editions ranging anywhere from 514 to 848 pages! Anyway, it is a tome.

I found the author's writing very readable and far from dry. For one of those 3-letter agencies we are supposed to admire, there certainly has been a history that is rather sordid. Poor recruitment and training, many incorrect conclusions, much maneuvering in control of other countries' leadership (with disastrous results) and MANY lives of CIA agents lost unnecessarily. That last point was the most disappointing of all to me.

4. Crafty Cat Crimes: 100 Tiny Cat Tale Mysteries, edited by Stefan R. Dziemianowicz

This is a 607 page short story collection, where each story involves a crime and a cat in some way. Many of the stories were quite entertaining.

Scalia: Rise to Greatness, 1936-1986

Well, I read this book which I had purchased on Kindle. Supposedly the hard-bound version 500 pages, but when I got to the end of the narrative in the Kindle version (e.g., before all the notes at the end), I was only 2/3 of the way through! So, I don't think I can really count this in my Tome goal.

Maybe the reason I have so many Tomes read is because I would have counted something like Scalia: Rise to Greatness. :-) But I love, love, love, that you didn't.

I loved Alexander Hamilton, I hope you enjoy it too. I'm hoping to read another Chernow book this year. We'll see what we can all squeeze in the last four months of the year. Happy reading!

Lea wrote: "I loved Alexander Hamilton, I hope you enjoy it too. I'm hoping to read another Chernow book this year. We'll see what we can all squeeze in the last four months of the year. Happy reading!."

Thanks for the encouragement! Hamilton is a book I've been wanting to get to for a long time . . . I think the time is NOW. :-) I'll be watching to see which Chernow book you read and what you think of it.

5. Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow

Yay! I had to slow down on my reading of this one, for some reason, to get through it. I don't understand that - because I really did enjoy it. Maybe there was just too much information for me to absorb it outside of small chunks.