March Book Wrap Up
The Secret Wife of King George IV by Diane Haeger (✬✬✬✬)
Diane Haeger is a talented author, with an ability to create characters that are believable and larger than life. I especially liked her take on Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. Most historians paint her as this wonderfully independent woman, but Haeger brings out a different side of Georgiana that made for a great read. Anyone who likes historical fiction or historical romance will enjoy this novel.
The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan (✬✬)
This sentimentalism isn’t my cup of tea. Throw in ghosts, fate, and sprinkle around some short essays about things in the “lost” collection and I am ready to put a book down.
Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah (✬✬✬✬)
Kristin Hannah has an extraordinary gift in her ability to create voluminous historical details with significant relationships in the present. In Winter Garden, she sets out pieces of a puzzle that grows in various dimensions with her characters and their individual and intersecting worlds. She truly takes one on a voyage throughout the world, into the past, and back to home. Kristin allows readers to have fragments of insight along the way without revealing the next steps on the journey. While this is fiction, one understands that real people did, in fact, experience horrible circumstances and yet survived.
Pompeii by Robert Harris (✬✬✬✬)
After reading this book, I can assure you that Robert Harris did so much research to tell this incredible tale. He includes things that one would think only historians would ever dream of knowing and writes the story beautifully. After reading this novel, honestly want to hop on a plane and visit Pompeii. It also made me interested in history, and despite the semi-predictable ending, I would definitely recommend this book to people of all ages.
Sarah Smiles by Sean-Paul Thomas (✬✬✬✬✬)
This story absorbed me in from the beginning and I found myself not wanting to put it down until I had finished the last page. This is a book that takes you on an adventure with the characters, and I grow to care about many of them, especially with the main character Sarah who was a breath of fresh air.
This is a book that touched my heart and brought back a lot of my school day memories and adventures. I highly recommend it.
A Boy Made of Blocks by Keith Stuart (✬✬✬)
This book is based on a true story, and I give the author credit for the descriptions of dealing with an autistic child, the challenges, etc. I am also very glad that Alex found a way to connect with his son, and with the huge strides, Sam made through Minecraft. But heartwarming? Not so much, at least for me.
Murder on Thames by Matthew Costello (✬✬✬)
There were a lot of things I liked about the book. I do like both Sarah and Jack and think there is some potential for further fun. Some villagers, especially the two old dears who run the local toll bridge, are quite delightful. It was not a page-turner from beginning to end.
The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett (✬✬✬✬✬)
I love Terry Pratchett! He has a wonderful way with words and brings a humorous touch to many themes in this follow-up to the debut of his Discworld series. The light-hearted style to deep thoughts and a well thought out world. These stories always make me smile and are great page-turners.
The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett (✬✬✬✬✬)
After the first chapter, I wasn’t sure about the book. I did not understand what was going on. But then it flowed for me and getting to know Rincewind the wizard, Twoflower the tourist, the barbarian, the lay of the land on Discworld, I was thoroughly entertained. A fast, fun read, I am looking forward to reading more in the series!
Waiting for Doggo by Mark Mills (✬✬)
I wanted to like this book, but it was way too thin in every aspect. The storyline was just so-so, but at least Doggo was cute. At no point was I worried or upset or thrilled by the characters. The dog eventually plays an important role, but like everything else in the book, it is simply narrated. I wish the author had spent more time on Doggo. I think he could have been a highly humorous addition to the narrative.
The Paris Winter by Imogen Robertson (✬✬✬✬)
The novel describes accurately the beginning of the “Belle Époque” bringing vividly to life through the characters, the start of feminism, the recognition of the talented woman painters their hardship to find a place among the starting of the impressionists and art nouveau an interesting and intelligent historical fiction.
True Colors by Kristin Hannah (✬✬✬✬)
This novel is satisfying in so many ways. The characters are fully developed and their interactions are believable and realistic—relationships have ups and downs and Ms. Hannah has depicted these in great detail. Each sister has unique and different characteristics, like most siblings. The descriptions of the sceneries are another treat; very well done. The story has poignancy, tension, twists, and hope. It’s a page-turner and deeply satisfying.
Mischling by Affinity Konar (✬✬✬✬)
A very difficult story to read due to content. The story centers about two girls — twins — chosen by Mengele in Auschwitz to be part of his “Zoo.” They and the other twins experience things we never will know of. The writing, pacing and the desire for the twins to reconnect drives this book forward so I was never inspired to quit reading even when the reading of the tortures they endured. This is a fictional account, but it is based on truth -- the things Dr. Mengele did at Auschwitz.
Beauty Sleep: A Retelling of "Sleeping Beauty" by Cameron Dokey (✬✬✬✬✬)
This is a very fun retelling of Sleeping Beauty. Very different and original. I loved it and thought the writing was well done and fun to read.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (✬✬✬)
The Golden Age of Hollywood is such rich source material and there were so many important topics raised, domestic abuse, family neglect, LGBT issues, and sexism but sadly this book glossed over all of them, skimming rather than providing any depth. I didn’t feel emotionally invested in any of the characters and the switching of characters' perspectives was unnecessary and jarring. It could have been so good - unfortunately fell flat.
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (✬✬✬)
This was a pretty nice story. Not so great as some reviews say, but not bad either. I’ve read worse than this. It was well written, the language was rich, and the plot went on with little of a struggle. What I also liked was this dark, steampunk atmosphere of the world, spiced up nicely with magic. Characters were interesting, but considering their level of skills, I found them a bit too young to be realistic.
Holy Fools by Joanne Harris (✬✬)
The plot of this novel is fairly original, and the beginning seemed promising. Where it failed, was on the actual execution of the plot, and motivation of characters. The whole plot just seems unlikely. Things happen without explanation, and it is hard to believe how these people got from what they used to be to what they are. Another problem is that this book did not give me the feel of the time period.
The Strange Journey of Alice Pendelbury by Marc Levy (✬✬✬✬)
This book holds a lovely story that encompasses several elements which make it an interesting read. The plot and characters include romance, adventure, mystery, travel and history. The reader gets a glimpse of post-war life in London and learns some history about the Armenian genocide of the early 20th century. The descriptions of both locations in London and Turkey are colorful and vivid, which readers will appreciate.
The Garlic Ballads by Mo Yan (✬✬✬✬)
The Garlic Ballads is about rural China in the mid-198o’s and to a large degree it could be about the middle age. Life is cruel, the officials are corrupt, many of the characters are barbaric and the conditions are primitive. It is well written and an eye opener.
To Marry the Duke by Julianne MacLean (✬✬✬)
This book was just an ok read for me. The heroine was a little too perfect in every way, and the hero was just cruel most of the time and then nice and then cruel again it got a little tedious but overall it was ok. The other characters in the book were a little one-dimensional for me and the heros excuse for not wanting to love. I would have hoped the author would have come up with something a little better because after I finished the book I still could believe that was all there was to it.
The Last Telegram by Liz Trenow (✬✬✬✬)
This is an entertaining tale told in the first person by Lily Verner, starting near the end of her life and taking us back in time to just before World War II breaks out in Europe. Lily’s family has for generations owned and operated a silk weaving mill in the English countryside. With the war gearing up, their mill makes contracts with the government to weave the silk used for pilots’ parachutes. This is a war story and a love story, and both kept me turning pages well into the night. You will not be disappointed.
Hadrian's Wall by William Dietrich (✬✬✬✬)
William Dietrich is a great storyteller. The historical setting for the book took place during a period where there are few facts to go on, but using an array of believable characters and plenty of action, mixed with enough of what we know about that period of Roman-held Britain, Dietrich has written a very entertaining book.
0 Comments