Welcome to another installment of Friday Finds — a weekly meme sponsored by Should Be Reading in which I can share a few of the books I’ve heard about recently — books that go on my perpetual “Wish List”.

Several of my recent discoveries have been what I term “pop culture” books; I enjoy reading these types of compendiums of interesting information and have a great collection of ebooks in this category. First up this week is Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes, and Trends of the 70s and 80s by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper and Brian Bellmont, covering the major portion of my childhood. I used to turn my back on anything to do with the 1970s and ’80s but have recently embraced the period in an effort to remember what was a much simpler time in my life. I don’t recall much about my childhood in Texas, Tennessee, and Kansas but lately I’ve been reminded of certain toys, foods, and games through a few small coincidences. I believe that a book such as this would be a joy to browse through as I continue to reminisce.

Other recent compilation-type books I’ve come across in the past few weeks include How the States Got Their Shapes Too: The People Behind the Border Lines by Mark Stein, The Greatest Music Stories Never Told: 100 Tales from Music History to Astonish, Bewilder, and Stupefy by Rick Beyer, and The Lunatic Express: Discovering the World…via Its Most Dangerous Buses, Boats, Trains and Planes by Carl Hoffman.

Continuing my long-standing interest in ships and the sea, I’m excited about the recently published Captain Cook: Master of the Seas by Frank McLynn. I tend to think of James Cook as being the greatest of all the explorers and often wonder what further discoveries he would have made had it not been for his unfortunate death in the Hawaiian Islands.

Finally, I “found” two brand-new mystery novels — each with a quite unique premise. Turn Of Mind, the debut novel by Alice LaPlante, features a former orthopedic surgeon suffering from Alzheimer’s disease:

Dr. Jennifer White’s best friend has been killed, with four fingers surgically removed from her hand. Dr. White is the prime suspect, and she herself doesn’t know if she did it or not. As the investigation deepens and her relationships with her caretaker and two grown children intensify, a chilling question lingers: Is White’s shattered memory preventing her from revealing the truth or helping her hide it?

Never Knowing, the second novel by Chevy Stevens, sounds particularly intriguing to me as I myself was adopted:

Sara Gallagher has always wondered about her birth parents and why she was given up for adoption. But after months of research, she discovers the devastating truth: her mother was the only victim to escape a killer who has been hunting women for decades. Soon, Sara realizes the only thing worse than finding out about her serial-killing father is him finding out about her.

Daily Writing Totals:
This Article – 493 words
Total Today — 493 words