Last week I shared that I was planning to spend a long weekend installing new bookcases in my home office. Friday morning I ordered 2 Billy bookcases from the Tempe IKEA, and Long-Suffering Husband and I headed out on I-10 in my pickup to get them. The first thing to note here is that neither of us thought twice about driving 100 miles to buy bookcases. Well, he probably did, but he’s lived with me for over 35 years, so he didn’t bother to argue.

The next thing to note is that the weather forecast called for dust storms and thunderstorms. Our solution? Pack a tarp and go anyway. I was very dedicated to my plan for more book space. Once again Long-Suffering Husband didn’t bother to argue; he just got on with continuing to earn his title.

Before I get to the risking-my-life part of the story: Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer, and the monthly What’s on Your Bookshelf Challenge, hosted by Sue, Donna, Jo and Deb.

Have a seat, grab a treat, and let’s get to it.

An encounter with a haboob

Now, back to the life-threatening quest for bookcases. Long-Suffering Husband and I are about halfway to the Phoenix metro area when we encounter this:

For those of you who are fortunate enough not to live in Arizona in the summer: that, my friends, is a haboob. What, you ask, is a haboob? It’s a specific kind of dust storm caused by a collapsing thunderstorm (Wikipedia and one of our local news channels both give good explanations). Haboobs spice up the otherwise-dull-as-desert-dirt experience of driving between Tucson and Phoenix by adding impaired visibility, high winds, and flying debris. We know how to party down here in Satan’s Anus.

So, given these delightful driving conditions, did we decide our safety was more important than bookcases and turn around like sensible people?

Ahahahahahahahaha.

So anyway, here are my new bookcases:

Yes, they’re a little bare, because I’m not done shifting around the books in the other four bookcases on the opposite wall and deciding which ones are special enough to be housed 1) on the shelves I risked my life for, and 2) in range of my webcam and therefore visible during Zoom meetings. These are important decisions, you know.

Obviously we survived our dust storm adventure. It actually wasn’t too bad despite the sensationalized title of this post. I’ve endured much worse visibility driving in the California Delta tule fog. But we were lucky; apparently haboobs can get pretty nasty. If you’d like to see a haboob in action along the same stretch of highway as our little adventure, check out the first ~3 minutes of this video:

The remainder of the video shows flash flooding across Highway 89 in Flagstaff, just a few miles from where I used to live.

Arizona, baby. Gotta love it.

Now that I’ve risked my life for bookcases…

Let’s talk about books!

I’m coming out of the reading slump I complained about last month. I’ve been more intentional about carving out time for reading instead of scrolling social media and the news (though I’m still doing too much of that). Here’s what I finished since my last post (links are Amazon affiliate links, so if you buy, I get a few pennies to spend on Diet Pepsi and Extra Toasty Cheez Its).

Books I finished in the last month

• The Colour out of Deathlehem: An Anthology of Holiday Horrors for Charity. The 2021 Deathlehem anthology is wonderful–and not just because I’m published in it. From creepy to campy to what-the-hell-did-I-just-read, this collection covers a good bit of the breadth of the horror genre, and some of the stories are excellent. Plus, all proceeds go to support pediatric AIDS research. Oh, and fun fact: This collection includes a 1925 Christmas story by H. P. Lovecraft (presumably now out of copyright, or maybe the publisher has an in with whoever owns Lovecraft’s literary rights). At any rate, you know what that means? It means I’ve been published in an anthology with Lovecraft! That oughtta boost my horror cred.

OK, OK, enough with the shameless self-promotion. Back to my reading list:

• Journey Into Darkness – John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker. I continued zipping through the John Douglas ouvre this month. I could tell you it was research for the novel I’m writing, which includes a serial killer, but I’d be lying. I just like books about serial killers, and John Douglas writes some good ones. For those who don’t know, he was one of the original FBI mind hunters, agents in the Behavioral Science Unit in Quantico, VA, who invented the term, “serial killer” and did some of the earliest research on them. He was also the model for Agent Jack Crawford in The Silence of the Lambs, and Agent Holden Ford in the Netflix series Mindhunter was loosely based on Douglas.
• Law & Disorder – John Douglas and Mark Olshaker. Yep, another John Douglas serial killer book. This one upset me, and not for the reasons you’d expect when reading a book about serial killers. In this book, Douglas writes about at least a couple of cases in which innocent people were convicted, including one who was executed. I can deal with gory crimes, but dang, those cases were tough to get through. FYI, the audiobook is included free with an Audible membership.
• The Cases that Haunt Us – John E. Douglas. In this book, Douglas takes us deep into famous murder cases like Jack the Ripper, Lizzie Borden, and JonBenet Ramsey. After recapping the murders and suspects, he analyzes the case the way an FBI profiler would, and it’s fascinating.
• Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them – Francine Prose. Prose illustrates various aspects of writing by dissecting passages from various literary authors old and new(er). Highly recommended for both writers and readers.
• The Best American Mystery Stories 2012 – Robert Crais, editor. A simply wonderful collection.

Books I’m currently reading

• Misfire : The Kate Downey Medical Mystery Series, Book 2 – Tammy Euliano. I read Euliano’s debut novel, Fatal Intent, last September (a brief review is posted here) and loved it so much I wrote the author a fan letter (well, email) and signed up for her newsletter. A couple of months ago, she asked for volunteers to receive an advance reading copy of her second book in return for a review, and I was all over it. Misfire is due out early next year. I’m about 4 chapters in, and it’s great so far. These books are billed as medical thrillers–and they are–but they also include elements of cozy mysteries (the main character’s lovable elderly aunt, a potential love interest). Also, the author, like her main character, is an anesthesiologist, so the medical bits are authentic and immersive.
• Tell Her Story – Margot Hunt. An Audible original novella read by Dakota Fanning. The main character is a fired journalist who launches a true crime podcast to investigate a cold case in her hometown. I’m not very far in so no opinion yet other than so far, so good. Included free with an Audible subscription.
• Mastering Suspense, Structure, and Plot: How to Write Gripping Stories That Keep Readers on the Edge of Their Seats– Jane K. Cleland. The first section on plotting is similar to what you’ll find in other books, but the remainder focuses on elements of suspense in a way that I haven’t seen done elsewhere. I’m learning something new, which is great.
• Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence – Derald Wing Sue. Yes, I’m still reading this. I’m in a book group related to my day job, and we’re discussing one section each month. I have one more to go for our meeting in September, then I’ll be done. I’ve learned a great deal so far. This title is a bit academic and therefore not a quick read but well worth the effort required.

Memes for Book People

Since it’s What’s on Your Bookshelf week, our meme theme is books!

Just drive through a dust storm to buy more bookcases from IKEA. Problem solved.

Or bookcases. Kneel before me with an offering of an IKEA flat pack.

Would I trade sexual favors for books? Well, I do have a bunch more shelf space now…

Yeah, yeah, I’ve milked the whole bookcase thing long enough. How about this?

English major. Can confirm.

And finally, here’s your weekly motivation:

That’s it for me this week. Read any good books lately? Or driven through any good dust storms?