Reading in the Garden

A mix of recommendations—novels and non-fiction, adults and kids.    Here are my most recent reads that I enjoyed. End of Octobery by Lawrence Wright : This book, about a pandemic, had me captivated from page one! There were many parallels to the COVID-19 events: empty grocery store shelves, closed borders, etc.  It's a well-researched, gripping novel that chilled me when it took a much more ominous turn!   What pandemic books have you read lately? The Learning Tree by Gordon Parks:   In light of the #Black Lives Matter protests, I decided to go back to my classics reading list from high school. This   is a coming-of-age story  of a twelve-year-old black boy in Kansas during the mid-1920s as he navigates his way through school, family, friendships, love, a bully, and racism.  Sadly, the semi-autobiographical novel, is still relevant today because almost 60 years after it was published in 1963, many of the same undertones and struggles still exist.    I thoug