Booked Up, 2021, Part 3--Fiction, stories that are often real

"Tell me a story," we often said as children to our parents.

That's why we like novels, short stories, plays--the flights of imagination that can be, or are, real.

My fiction books are simply those whose subjects, authors or ideas interest me, just as non-fiction does.  I find elements of reality in all of them, whether in landscapes, characters, the writing, the humor, the conflicts. 

This year's were no different, though as a journalist I don't have much patience for wordy, drawn out tomes of earlier authors. I simply couldn't get through Moby-Dick earlier this year. I find myself looking at chapter lengths, even in non-fiction, and measuring my progress by percentages--yes, I am a type A anal journalist prizing brevity, though you can't tell it by the length of this sentence.

So here are the  four novels I've read in the past six months, not counting the two rereads previously posted, in order of reading.

• Daughter of the Morning Star, Greg Johnston, his latest Longmire book, the best yet in writing, plot, characters and the spirits of Native American. A real Western.
• Lightning Strike, Wm. Krueger, author of the great This Tender Land. 
• Bless Me Ultima, Rudolfo Anaya, I'm ashamed I've just read this. One of the best I've ever read, spiritual deep, magic, the real New Mexico.
• Stardust, Neil Gaiman. Will finish tonight. Last book of the year. Another I should have before. His magic and story telling fire the imagination.