Okay, I’m aware that my memory has almost completely gone regarding where I have purchased my “cheap” books recently. Oh, and now it comes to me. I went to Jacksonville, NC last week and while there stopped by the Onslow County Public Library on Doris Avenue. They have a small wall (against the men’s bathroom) where they display books and magazines for sale (any donation). I have bought some items from this area previously.

I think I bought a couple of Harlan Coben hardbacks, including “The Boy from the Woods.” I may have gotten a copy of “Where the Crawdads Sing,” although without looking, I think crawdads are equivalent to our crayfish, and crayfish don’t sing. They are not like some insects that can drive you nuts with their repetitive, high pitched sounds. Oh, and a crayfish isn’t an insect. *I had watched the “Where the Crawdads Sing,” TV movie sometime in the last year or so, and enjoyed it, although at the end of the movie the heroine reveals that she had slipped back into “town” and killed her nemesis.

When I was still a boy, and living with my mom on the corner of Hwy. 24 and Queens Creek Road I would spend most of my summer days (out of school) playing inside or out in the yard. In our back yard, just off from the kitchen, a deep drainage ditch ran from underneath Queens Creek Road and the entire width of our corner property toward our next door neighbor (on Hwy. 24). Actually, the run of the water in the ditch came from the Hwy. 24 neighbor (Heath?), past our kitchen and beneath Queens Creek Road and over to our family farm. My mom paid taxes on the farm for all her life. She paid for 71 acres of land, but when it was surveyed, shortly before I got rid of it, the survey said there were actually 79 acres. The New River Baptist Association became the beneficiary of the Farm but after a few years they sold it and used those funds to purchase the old Onslow Academy in Jacksonville, NC. The New River Baptist Association Center was named in honor of the long-time associational directory, E. J. Hines.

Recently, while attending the Red Branch Baptist Church for their 102nd Homecoming, where Rev. Jeff Mitchell is pastor, I got to talk with Ann Gibson “Hines” Graham (married to Billy Graham, another one). I hadn’t seen Ann for several years. Her maiden name was Gibson, no relation. She was married to E. J. for many years until his death. It was good seeing her and talking with her. E. J. and Ann had adopted a son, Steven (sp?) who as a young adult had gone scuba diving off the North Carolina coast, and suffered a terminal (hereditary) malady while underwater, and drowned. She is older, but still of sharp mind and wit. And Billy Graham although different from E. J. Hines makes Ann a good husband, companion and partner.

I also bought a couple of “Our State” magazines and I think a “Home & Gardens”. But, getting the Our State magazines into the magazine basket that I keep near my toilet, I looked at the cover and realized the purchase price was $7.99 per issue. WOW! I find that hard to believe. *I also find it hard to believe that I only gave the Library $5 total for three hardbacks and two or three magazines.

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Actually I started this posting to talk about all the books I’ve recently gotten rid of by adding them to the various Little Lending Libraries in my area. Oh, I also gave Mary Ann and Jacquelin a few of my remaining cookbooks. I’m currently reading another Michael Connelly novel, “The Poet,” and am just a hair over half through it. The main character, Jack McEvoy, is dealing with his twin brother’s death. Jack first finds that his brother didn’t commit suicide, but was murdered… and now that Jack has convinced the FBI to enter the fray, the serial cop killer has been labeled, “the Poet.” The Poet has left phrases from several Edgar Allen Poe works at the scene of the suicides, now revealed to be homicides.

I wanted to read “The Poet” and then “Blood Work” and finally “The Late Show.” I’ve already read two Bosch novels that included Renee Ballard, but “The Late Show” is her first. I’ve read “The Narrows,” in which Terry McCaleb is already dead and Harry Bosch is trying to determine if “the Poet” killed him. So, reading “Blood Work” will help me with the Terry McCaleb story.

I am enjoying The Poet and find it a relief from dealing with all the crap that Harry Bosch can foist upon both friend and foe, and me, the reader. I doubt that Harry actually has any “real” friends. And, as I have said elsewhere, I’ve learned to despise Detective Harry Bosch from reading all the Connelly novels. I didn’t get these feelings from watching Titus Welliver in the Amazon BOSCH seasons, but I definitely began to file away all the CRAP that Bosch delivered. A lying sack of shit that shouldn’t be trusted. A master manipulator that is willing to mislead all, when he thinks necessary to accomplish his purposes, to solve the current case, as quickly as possible. After all how trustworthy could a cop or detective be that carries around a lock pick kit? Oh, and when Harry does something so egregious to get results, and that any lawyer, not just “the Lincoln Lawyer” could easily get the case thrown out of court because of Harry’s “shit,” what happens? Michael Connelly kills off “the bad guy” and Harry comes away with another win. Of course, I don’t expect the author to disparage his hero creation, even if the hero is far from being any type of hero.