Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™

This year is just flying by – maybe because we are not stuck inside anymore??! I’ve been working on campus three days a week and I love seeing the students again!

Today is Founders Day at Lynn University.

Founders Day is the day that the Lynn University community celebrates the founding – and the founders – of the university. The first Founders Day was held on March 29, 2006 to honor Donald and Helen Ross as they retired after 35 years as president and first lady of Lynn University. Every Founders Day since has been held on or around November 1 to mark the date Donald Ross arrived to purchase the library books of the financially troubled Marymount College in 1971.

from Lynn University Archives: https://spiral.lynn.edu/foundersday/

Every year they celebrate with some fun activities – there’s a welcome breakfast, then later in the day a Big Wheels race, food trucks, carnival rides, music, and more. All the students, faculty, and staff get free shirts as well. It’s a lot of fun!

In book-related news, I have slowed down a bit on posting reviews. While I’m still reading a book a day for the most part, I am not always posting a review a day. I try, but sometimes life gets in the way! This week, for instance, I read The first two books in the Bad Bachelors series by Stephanie London. (I had read the third book a while ago, and just stumbled onto the earlier books.) I read The Wedding Crasher and the Cowboy by Robin Bielman; Highland Games by Evie Alexander; Christmas Grace by Mindy Steele; Neanderthal by Avery Flynn; Well Matched by Jen DeLuca.

I’m sorry to say I am struggling through Better Off Dead by Andrew Child & Lee Child, the 26th book in the Jack Reacher series. Reacher is one of my favorite characters, and this is one of my favorite series. But this is the second book by Lee Child’s brother, Andrew Child, AKA Andrew Grant, and I am finding it slow going, to say the least. I read on my Kindle, and I keep checking to see how far along I am, and I’ve been shocked every time to find I’m not nearly as far along as it feels like I should be, if that makes any sense. I’m sure I’ll finish it eventually but I keep putting it down and picking up other books instead. Which makes me sad. Especially since I had a similar issue with the first book authored by Andrew Grant/Child, but I was hopeful he would find his way. Now I’m not so sure he did.

On the other hand, the new TV series, Reacher, is expected to premier on Amazon Prime sometime in the spring of next year. I think the casting looks good – finally! There were two movies made, Jack Reacher and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, and while they weren’t terrible, they were completely miscast with the diminutive Tom Cruise playing the 6’5″, 250 lb. Jack Reacher character. Cruise is always good in action films, but there was a real disconnect there. This was one of my favorite headlines: “‘Jack Reacher’ Getting Rebooted as a TV Series; Lee Child Says Tom Cruise Was Too Short.” So the new guy playing Reacher is (drumroll, please!) Alan Ritchson!

At 6-foot-4 and 235 pounds (according to Amazon), Ritchson is closer to Child’s description of the physically imposing character (who’s described as standing 6-foot-5 and weighing 250 pounds). Reacher is a military veteran who lives a nomadic life as a freelance investigator and problem solver.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/amazons-jack-reacher-casts-alan-ritchson-in-title-role-4055686/

So, basically he’s a big guy (check!) and not too pretty (check!) The inaugural season is based on the first Reacher book, The Killing Floor, which is excellent, so I’m looking forward to this new series.

Yesterday was Halloween and we had a handful of kids come by. It was my grandson’s first Halloween, and he went out in style! Wish I could have been there, but at least I have pictures!

As always, thanks for reading and stay safe!

This entry was posted on Monday, November 1st, 2021 at 9:00 AM and is filed under Ramblings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.