"There is no frigate like a book . . ."

Since 2019 began, I have been reading a lot - and posting very little!  For one thing, I read the entire series of Inspector Gamache books by Louise Penny - all 14 of them! (actually I read the last 6 in 2019 - the first 8 in 2018) I will not review them separately, but I will say that they make a lovely list of books to have at your bedside! (Literally or figuratively!)  Everyone I have recommended them to has loved them - and I have discovered that many, many other people have discovered them without me! A big thank you to Phoebe for persisting in encouraging me to read them!

I picked up Under the Wide and Starry Sky at the Book Rack in the dollar bin.  The woman wrote Loving Frank, a fictionalized bio of Frank Lloyd Wright, and I thought this might be a good way to learn about Robert Louis Stevenson. And it was. But like Loving Frank, it is not great literature, and even drags in places.

 

One of my home/hospital students needs to read this, so I read it too. I didn't think I read it, but passages seemed very familiar - perhaps they have been quotes somewhere. 

It is a compelling piece of holocaust writing - but very spare. Seems like a good place to start - thus it seems appropriate for students.

 

Hannah recommended this - and it is excellent! I would like to see this book become compulsory reading for high school students - everyone needs to know the true story of slavery in America - and this book goes a long way towards achieving such a goal.

 

Found this in the dollar bin too - and thought that maybe short stories would be good for our book group to tackle - and these were enjoyable but not exceptional - and would need to be discussed as a body - thus it wouldn't be a shorter assignment.

There are a good example of female, Southern, regional fiction - in case you cared.

Also read The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz - a pretty good murder mystery, but I am actually a little tired of murder mysteries. The author has written the screenplays for the BBC production Endeavor - which I love!

Also read Unshattered by Carole Decker - about a woman who contracts sepsis after an emergency c-section and loses her lower legs, her left hand and her vision! It is a good read.

So now I'm caught up. 

And I need to choose a book for book group for next month.

Latest Grisham!

I'm not sure how much longer I will read Grisham novels - they seem to get more unbelievable all the time - I can only suspend my disbelief for so long you know!

They are certainly a quick read anyway!  Perfect airplane fiction.

I am also disturbed by the gratuitous sleaze he keeps adding - he didn't used to - and it isn't really essential.

And I rented it at the Book Rack yesterday - and returned it today!  

Record read time anyway!

A compelling read

I heard the author interviewed on NPR, and it sounded pretty compelling. So of course I got the book.

And it was very compelling.

Especially after I discovered that a number of people - siblings and neighbors - went online claiming it was false and misleading.

I think it's mostly true. And I do think that a memoir written by the youngest child in a family of 7 children would have elements that other family members might believe are false - but memory is a tricky concept.  I will recall experiences and my siblings will say that they have no memory to support my memory. We all don't recall all things the same way.

It's the story of a young Mormon girl raised in Idaho by a bipolar survivalist father who has brainwashed his whole family - well, mostly his whole family.  Sounds pretty interesting, yes??

So read it - and decide for yourself!

You never know what you will find at The Friends of the Library!

I periodically go to the Friends of the Library bookstore - I try not to buy books, since I'm more interested in freeing up space on my bookshelves.  But they have a great selection of greeting cards that are only $1 each.  And I like to get cheap kids books for Frankie - who loves his basket of books. And I have found some gems!

I saw this on in the bargain basket - and since every book I have read by Karen Hesse has been wonderful - I got it.

Wasn't sorry either. 

 

It's about a nuclear meltdown at a power plant in New England. There are devastating consequences. 

 

Our heroine lives on a sheep farm.  There are some lovely parallels drawn to shepherds and sheep raising.

 

It's a good read - and a quick one - this is after all adolescent fiction!!

Some more book group reading!

The book group read Pocketful of Rye by A.J. Cronin, and I found out that this was actually a sequel to A Song of Sixpence.  

So I decided to read it - and I'm glad I did - in fact, I think we should have read them in order!  This novel sets the stage for more clarity and understanding in Pocketful of Rye.

The story deals with Laurence Carroll's childhood and youth in Scotland - the death of his father, his reluctant years away from his mother, his coming of age, and his discovery of the truth about himself.

I had heard of A.J. Cronin - but knew little about him.  I'm glad to have found another good author to get to know better!

Grisham to the rescue!

Apparently I thought I had reviewed this book for my blog - apparently I didn't since I found this in the "draft" section!!

Bought this book in the airport last June as Annika and I were heading back to SoCal.  Had to pay full price, but it was worth it to have a good book for a 5 hour flight!!

Not about lawyers - and after the hurricane disaster in Florida, I wonder how Camino Island fared?

It was compelling reading - typical Grisham fare, but I did not like the ending.  I like the bad guy to suffer - and this bad guy did not.

Now you have to read it to see who the bad guy is!

Who knew?

Randomly found this in the library - did not know Maud Hart Lovelace had written novels before the Betsy Tacy book series.

Early candlelight refers to the time before electric lighting - twilight was the early time of night when you started needing to light candles.  And so they would refer to it thusly, saying "Come at early candlight" or something.

The things you learn.

The story is based some what on historical data and events - it's about the interactions at the beginning of Fort Snelling - which you can see from the Minneapolis Airport - and the Canadian fur trappers and relations with the Chippewa and Sioux Indians.

It was a delightful story to read - very lyrical in its descriptions. And the main character, Delia DuGay, was charming, if a little two-dimensional.

If you are a Maud Hart Lovelace fan, you really should read this.  It's the kind of book you can read a chapter each day with your lunch and it's works!

Lessons from the Centenarians

Saw this on the bookshelf at Karl's house - the cover looked intriguing.  So I ordered it - and it came and I read it.  Often non-fiction books take me a while to read, but this read almost like a novel, and I raced right through it.

Neenah Ellis - who was and maybe still is a writer for NPR - got a grant for a series on All Things Considered.  

She sought out recommendations for centenarians she might interview and set out.

The ensuing journey is fascinating - and I use the word because it fits!  Like she says, we will all grow older - and could live to be 100.  In light of our experience with Harry's mom, this story was insightful in many areas.

The individual stories are full of details that bring the stories to life.  The book was published in 2002 and I found myself sad thinking that the people in the stories are definitely no longer alive!

Read it - you won't be sorry you did!!

"Wonder" ful!

A great read - can't wait for the movie!

A truly feel-good story - we always want to see the underdog get on top - this story fulfills that dream!!

A great read!!

Harry and Dawn and kids gave this to Harry for Father's Day - and I read it first - since I'm the faster reader - and Harry takes his time getting books read!!

Reminded me of Beloved Benjamin is Waiting - with Harry Potter elements.  And a well-told story.

It's for kids - who I'm sure love it.

It's for grown-ups too!!

I loved it!

A read

When I flew home from Hannah's after Ralph was born, there was a posted two hour delay for my flight - and I had arrived early anyway.  I did have books with me, but I'm always looking for an excuse to buy a book, so I picked this one up - along with a some snacks!!

The wait actually was shorter than they had said it would be - and it was a very short flight - so I barely got the book started.  

I got home with lots to do after being gone for 2 weeks - and then we took off the next day for Portland. I did take the book with me, but read magazines instead!!

Finally got into the story, but it wasn't very compelling.  It became "what I read while eating lunch" instead of "I can't put this book down!"

Finally it felt compelling - at least I wanted to find out how it all ended.  Let me just say, the best thing about this book is the true story it is based on.  The afterward lets you know what's fact and what's fiction - and lots of it is fact.  Which gives it merit in my mind.

Read the summary - it might be all you need to know!

An enlightening read!

As Mother's bookshelves were emptied and the books were sorted, lots of interesting books tumbled out. Not all were excellent or well-written, but they all seemed to have a story to tell.

A Lion and A Lamb by Rand H. Packer was one such book.  A young married couple was called to serve a mission at the former Joseph Smith farm.  The Church was interested in acquiring places like the Sacred Grove and the Hill Cumorah, but there was still a lot of anti-Mormon sentiment in the area.  (This was the around 1915.)

The couple was called to serve at a stake conference in Richfield, Utah - by President Joseph F. Smith. Right out of the audience!

They went, no questions asked - and served for 24 years!

It's not especially well-written - that is, the writer isn't a professional writer.  But the story and the events are compelling enough that it doesn't matter.

And the story carries a special spirit with it too.

It is also a very quick read.

Since I enjoyed A Man Called Ove so much, I decided to try another book by Mr. Backman.  I was not disappointed! The author's style is definite, but it's not overwhelming - seems to go with the story.

And this is a great story - in fact, it's a story about stories.

The twists and turns in the plot are engaging.  The individual portraits are very telling.  And like all great stories, you can really see it all!

I wish I had a book group to talk about it with - let me know if you've read it - and what you thought!

Latest read - what I do when I ought to be doing other things!

Saw this on the shelf at Target and thought it sounded intriguing.  It sounded better than it was.  Not sure if it's the translation? Or the subject matter?  

The story line is a good one - you want to know how it all turns out - but that is mostly what kept me reading!

Not the best recommendation!

Latest read

Needed something to read for my recent plane trip - and got this on Kindle.  Then, somehow, the formatting didn't allow it to be read on my Kindle.  I could read it directly on my iPad, which I did - but it was a little more convoluted to bring it up. Frustrating to say the least!

But I read it when I got home - and it started slow - as other books of Ann Patchett's do - but it did become compelling.

The author weaves a great story - long, circuitous, complex, sometimes a little difficult to sort out - that is ultimately satisfying.

A review I read issued a caveat about the story - it involves a death from a bee sting - and suggests that if you or a loved one has bee allergies, you might not want to read it.  The death is actually not represented as factually as is apparently true about bee stings. But I thought it added a certain level of complexity to the story.  Didn't know about the medical inaccuracies when I read it!

Latest read

After my Poldark reading binge, I was left with nothing to read!!  Saw this book in the Friends of the Library bookstore - and since I'd enjoyed reading Drowning Ruth by the same author, I plunked down my $2!

It was a good read - a well-told story with a surprise ending - something I always appreciate. It covers a lot of interests - California Indians, lighthouse lore, sailing stories, and sea life. 

It was also easy to read in parts - I could read it each day with my lunch for one thing - always a plus in my book.

Let me know what you think!

Getting back to Poldark!

So, last August - as in August 2015 - I reviewed the first two Poldark novels.  Actually, I had not finished number 2 - it was still on my Kindle.  It was called Demelza - I finished it - wondered why I hadn't finished it before??

Then I went to the library to see if I could get number 3, Jeremy Poldark, but it was not to be had! So I bought it on Kindle too - and really couldn't put it down!! Finished it today - and started number 4!! Starting with number 5, the library had copies, so I can stop spending money on Kindle!!

It was a good read - these are kind of like Horatio Hornblower - truly another time and place that a fine author has recreated - and it makes for really great reading.

It is a saga -which is why I think I find it so compelling.  And it's a romance.  Another plus.  And it's at the time of the French Revolution - and I have always affirmed the notion that the best way to study history is to read a great historical novel.

And there are quite a few more where this came from!

And, yes, I want to take a trip to the Cornwall coast of England!!

I'd give it a 10!

Phoebe recommended this book to me - got it on my Kindle but didn't read it right away.  Finally remembered I had it and read it!  

Shouldn't have waited - it was great! An adolescent novel about a girl on the spectrum - sounds like an old plotline.  But it's not; it's a great read!  Smiles on every page.  It's not so much funny as real and very endearing.

Not even sure if kids would like it - but I know you adults will!!

And it takes place in Bakersfield!!!

Latest summer read

There has been lots going on in my life that has precluded getting much reading done.  So I decided to go looking for a book to put on my Kindle.  Amazon does have my reading history right at its fingertips, so it usually has a list of recommended books for me to read! 

Since I had read and enjoyed Mr. Pettigrew's Last Stand, the idea of another book by the same author seemed like a good choice.  I frequently "stick with one author" and it's been mostly a good idea. This was too!

This story is set in the time period before Britain entered World War I.  I've read a number of novels about that war - you know, "The war to end all wars!" It was indeed a tragic event - one that shaped world history in ways we may never fully understand.

But this story, though not "lightweight" or "lighthearted," is light enough to enjoy, but definitely thoughtful and thought-provoking.

I'd recommend it!

Summer reading - maybe!

Sometimes a book grabs you - and sometimes it doesn't!  This one had a compelling story line for a bit, but then it degenerated and started "flailing" somewhat.  That is to say, it was not so compelling after awhile.

And the ending was a little too pat - a combo of romance fiction and John Grisham!!

If I owned a copy, I probably wouldn't keep it!