Book Nook Cafe discussion

What books did you start the new decade with ?

Here is the Folder to tell us what your monthly reads for January 2020 were.

Please provide:
~ A GoodReads link
~ A few sentences telling us how you felt about the book.
~ How would you rate the book

The Feast Nearby: How I lost my job, buried a marriage, and found my way by keeping chickens, foraging, preserving, bartering, and eating locally, which I'd rate a 4/5. Essays are very well written, and the recipes seem to be selected so it's not to intimidate the general reader. The one I came away wanting to try the most some day is making oxtail stew at home!

Spying on the South: Travels with Frederick Law Olmsted in a Fractured Land, also 4/5. I'm a huge fan of what's called historical footsteps, where a modern writer retraces current conditions of trips written about in the past. Roughly the travels can be divided in thirds as down the Ohio River, down the Mississippi River, and explorations of Texas. I set the book aside in December coming back to Texas after New Years. It seemed to go on for quite a while, but having only flown to the major cities I don't have a personal grasp of just how large a state Texas can be!

Five Seasons, which I'll give a 4/5 though won't quibble with someone who gives it a three. I'm hoping to visit Israel at some point in the not-so-distant future, so wanted to try some literature from their written by an Israeli for an Israeli audience. This one was certainly interesting, although some readers weren't too thrilled with the main character. I've recently started another book by the author The Extra, which I suspect may be a slightly better place for a reader to begin. I will say that this one certainly showed how diverse the country can be for such a small nation.

John wrote:
Spying on the South: Travels with Frederick Law Olmsted in a Fractured Land, also 4/5."

I have a friend who like travel books. Also as a New Yorker, she will like reading about Olmstead as she will be familiar with him as he designed Central Park.

Thanks for the title.

My January reads

Where the Crawdads Sing---Delia Owens
Rate: 5/5
Fiction.
This book has been on the NY Times best seller list for a long time. It also has over 37,000 reviews on Amazon and it's a 5 star book there. I thought I would give it a shot and I was not disappointed. There is a bit of a mystery in the book about a girl who grows up alone in the marshes of North Carolina. You do have to suspend belief a bit. However, it is fiction. The author has been interviewed numerous times and seems to lead a isolated life much like the main character. You can watch the interviews on YouTube.

A Little Life--Hanya Yanagihara
Fiction
Rate 5/5
This is another popular book with close to 5000 reviews on Amazon. Wow ! What can I say. This dark heart wrenching book will take an emotional toll on you. It centers on four young men who meet up at collage and then move to NYC to begin their lives. The book is around 800 pages but it moves along at a quick pace. I promise you wont soon forget, Jude, Willem, JB and Malcom. Be warned, the book does cover a lot of topics that can trigger some people.

Brain Food: The Surprising Science of Eating for Cognitive Power--Lisa Mosconi
Non Fiction
Rate: 3 plus
I found this book quite interesting. As the title suggests, the author covers the various foods you should eat for brain health. You can also find the author on YouTube. Dr. Lisa Mosconi, PhD, is the director of the Women's Brain Initiative and associate director of the Alzheimer's Prevention Clinic at Weill Cornell Medical College, where she serves as an associate professor of neuroscience in neurology and radiology. In addition, she is an adjunct faculty member at the NYU Department of Psychiatry and the author of The XX Brain.

Alias Reader wrote: " Brain Food: The Surprising Science of Eating for Cognitive Power--Lisa Mosconi
Non Fiction
Rate: 3 plus..."

That Brain Food one sounds interesting. :-)


My most notable reads last month were:

The Cabinet of Curiosities
5 stars (which I rarely give out!)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I loved this partly because it was about museums and archaeology but mostly because of the writing. It felt so real that I felt as though I was standing right next to the characters as they investigated this crime! I haven't read anything by either of these authors before but will look out now for more of their books.

Palaces for the People: How To Build a More Equal and United Society
3 stars
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Although this had its flaws, I did enjoy parts of this book, and I was very interest in the general principle that shared spaces are important in connecting our increasingly fragmented society.

Murphy's Law
4 stars
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I love finding a good new series! Molly is leaving Ireland for America and gets embroiled in a mystery to solve. I loved the moving descriptions of people trying to start a new life but it was also a great detective novel.

How To Be Right… in a World Gone Wrong
4 stars
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
James O'Brien is a phone-in show host on one of London's talk radio stations. He is by turns both funny and thoughtful about the people who phone in and have pretty strong views on various current affairs subjects, but are often unable to explain why they believe those things. I think we could all learn from this, at a time when views across the country (and many other countries) are polarised and angry.

My January reads:

The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
Genre: Short Story, Christmas
Rating: B
Review: A lovely story of what we are willing to give up to show our loved ones how we feel about them.

The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe
Genre: Short Story, Horror
Rating: B
Review: Yep, so typical of Poe to write about people who bury each other alive over a case of cheating.

The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Thriller-kind-of
Rating: C+
Review: One day after salvaging an expensive tome of a famous 18-century book, Albert Crosetti and his sort-of-colleague, Carolyn Rolly, find letters written by a certain Richard Bracegirdle of England, a few written to his wife and a few written in an almost unbreakable cipher. In the letters to his wife Bracegirdle mentiones a certain Shaxspur and A PLAY, no one has ever heard of before. This will start a chain of events that will lead the protagonists to danger and eventually reveal if THE play is the real deal or a fake.

The book is written from three points of view. The narrator of the whole story (inside the story itself) is Jake Mishkin, a troubled IP lawyer who was given part of the letter by his client and his chapters are the only ones written in first-person POW. Then we have the 17th century letters written by Bracegirdle and in the end we have the part that describe the adventures of Albert Crossetti, the finder of the letters. Eventually all of the protagonists will find a way to each other.

It was an interesting enough book, which unfortunately suffers from excess of information and too many pages. The whole thing could have been written in at least 100 pages less (FYI, there are 561 pages in the book).

La muerte y otras sorpresas by Mario Benedetti
Review only for El Atillo
Genre: Short Story, Crime
Rating: A
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this short story, about a young man who I understood to have some kind of mental disorder. It kept me entertained throughout and the ending was totally unexpected and therefore brilliant. I couldn't find an English translation to share it here with you, unfortunately.

The Storyteller by Saki
Genre: Short Story
Rating: A
Review: A funny short story involving three lively and bored children, their desperate aunt and a bachelor who is unsympathetic to the aunt's plight. They are all traveling in a train and children are, of course, bored and mischievous. The aunt decides to tell them a story, but is so bad at it that the bachelor decided to tell the children a story himself. Of course, the story is not so appropriate for their age (not in a sexual way) that the children absolutely love it. :D
This is the second Saki's story I've read and I love his writing.

The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson
Genre: Short Story, Crime, Horror
Rating: B
Review: This is, I think, only my second Stevenson's work (the first one being the famous Treasure Island) and I didn't know that he also wrote horror stories. This was an interesting read and a very Poe-esque one, at least for me. Had the same type of atmosphere and the same type of ending.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Genre: Historical Fiction/Crime/Nature
Rating: A+
Review: I decided to read this book to see why it was so popular, but I've been going through a reading slump lately and I've postponed starting it until I realised I was overdue in the library. It took me less than three days to finish the book, that's how good it is. I don't know what I did not love in this book, the protagonist, the story, the tidbits from nature (not really interesting to me in general), the writing style most of all. The chapters were mostly short and easy to read. The suspense was almost unbearable (and I haven't felt like that about a book in a while), and even though I inadvertently spoiled the ending for myself (partly) I was still on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen to Kya.

The Embassy of Cambodia by Zadie Smith
Genre: Short Story
Rating: B
Review: A story of Fatou, a young woman from Ghana, living in London and "working" for a well-off family for food and lodgings only which also treats her very poorly (as if making her work without really paying her wasn't enough). But, Fatou enacts her own little revenge every Monday by using guest passes (totally forgotten by the family) for a local health center to go swimming. On her way to the health centre she always passes by the Embasy of Cambodia where she always sees someone playing badminton and the scene, for some reason, fascinates her and makes her reflect on her life and the life of immigrants in general.
I really liked the story and enjoyed Smith's writing here (this is my first Zadie Smith). I just felt that the ending was a little abrupt, but it might be because Smith managed to write such beautiful characters that I just wanted to know more about them.

Yum, John, Oxtail Soup. Long ago i made it for my family. The adults liked it and the kids didn’t dislike it. As i recall it took some work but the soup was full-bodied and ideal for winter. Enjoy!

Like you, i often want to read some contemporary fiction for countries we visit. I was late in doing so for Italy. (They’ll be listed in my January reads downthread.) While here in Italy I’ve learned of an author I’d like to try, Carlo Levi. A quote from his Christ Stopped At Eboli: The Story Of A Year was on the wall of our B&B in Matera, Italy. He was an author, painter and studied medicine. He was exiled to Matera, where people still lived in caves and, so, were unhealthy.

Got carried away there. Still, that’s part of the pleasure of traveling.

It’s encouraging to note that both Alias & Samanta highly praised the Owens book. It sounds as though i need to get a copy. Thanks to you both for the reviews.

Alias, i know i mentioned a few months ago about my brother-in-law who read Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers about human bodies unfit for consuming grains, esp. flour. I’m wondering if that arose at all in Mosconi’s book? While BIL has lost weight (he wasn’t overweight), he doesn’t look as healthy as he used to, i must add.

Samanta, you are mentioning some of my favorite short story authors. O. Henry wrote with warmth and charm, imo. Poe is outstanding, of course.

Seeing how much you like these, i am sad there appears to be no translation for the Benedetti story. You make it sound thrilling!

What a good month you’ve had for reading.

John, my mom used to make oxtail soup. I recall really enjoying it.

Alias and Samanta, both of you have had a wonderful start to the year. I haven't read Crawdada yet but your high endorsements move it higher up the list.

madrano wrote: "Yum, John, Oxtail Soup. Long ago i made it for my family. The adults liked it and the kids didn’t dislike it. As i recall it took some work but the soup was full-bodied and ideal for winter. Enjoy!..."

You're in Italy now? Wow! Eboli is considered rather classic.

My January reads:

In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination (4 star) - Margaret Atwood tells us of her love for sci-fi and how it influenced her, she then critiques some very interesting older sci-fi books. This was a very entertaining and interesting book. Margaret Atwoods humor shows throughout.
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Sugar Falls: A Residential School Story (graphic novel; 3 star) - although an important part of history to be realized, this graphic novel was a bit too young for me, I think. While it told the horrors of the residential schools, there wasn't tension in the story. I did enjoy it for what it was, though, and feel that it's an important story to tell.
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

When The Saints (4 star) - this is a terrific debut novel. I liked the story and the humor. It's the tale of a family held in distain by the entire town and how to overcome demons, both within and without.
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Salt: A World History (3 star) - lots of very interesting information on salt but also repetitive and a bit disorganized in format. All in all, worth a read. Lots of old recipes.
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Worry: A Novel (3 star) - I didn't like any of the characters in this book. The humor seemed mean spirited but it turns out that this is part of the plot. An enjoyable read with interesting things to say about our perceptions and the truth underneath.
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Holy Wild (5 star; poetry) - powerful poems. This author is telling of her experience as a trans person. The poems reflect feeling out of place, a misfit, being hurt by comments, etc. The phrasing is powerful and can stab one's heart. Many of these resonate as we've all felt hurt, confused, and feel that we don't fit in quite right.
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Unleashed (4 star) - another Andy Carpenter mystery. I really enjoy this character, his wife, his friends. He's just an all around good guy, trying to help the underdog. Good humor, too.
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

John, yes, we are in Italy now and will be until Feb. 30, when we fly to Belgium. Our travels in Italy have been physically tiring so we rarely go out after 5pm. However, if we nap or go to bed early, we don’t sleep well. So, we read! Generally it has to keep me awake, so there is more fiction than usual but it fills the bill.

The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell.
Thanks, John, for this title. The author has a book shop in Scotland and shares stories of his efforts, rewards and problems, which include a curious employee, who has her own system for shelving books. This means when an online order arrives, he can’t always find books, which ends in his vendor rating being lowered. I felt i ended with a good sense of the business with the public, as well as online.

In the above he mentioned Pereira Maintains. This is by an Italian author, Antonio Tabucchi, one i mentioned in an above post, although he died rather recently. The title character, who is the cultural editor of a small newspaper in Lisbon, where he lives, in the early 1930s. Sensitive times, what with the Spanish Civil War brewing and such. Pereira finds himself attached to a recent college grad who offers to write obituaries of dead authors. Sadly, P can use none of them as they are too political but he pays the guy. Long story short, Pereira looks at his own life & convictions. Sometimes tedious, overall i felt good about the story and events.

Footsteps in the Dark is the second in the 1930s Country House mysteries by Georgette Heyer. In this one adult siblings have inherited a home which locals believe is haunted. Not believing in such things, they investigate. I like the style of these stories—such a pleasure.

Kristen Richardson’s The Season: A Social History of the Debutante is one Alias mentioned while posting about books. The book is about the history of debutante seasons and such. The hook for me was mention of African-American balls, of which i’ve seen photos but read nothing. Sadly only one chapter touched on these, but it was of interest. Overall, while i liked the history and what i learned, i felt post WWI the book became more about name dropping and sharing little about average debs.

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis is one of those books I’ve wanted to read for almost 20 years because a regular in one of my old chat groups loved it. Hmmm. It must have been the era. Written after WWII, a former soldier is teaching at university but not liking it or doing well at it. The story shares a few months of the end of his first term, learning whether he’ll be invited back...and whether he cares. It seems this was a literary force in postWar lit but in this case i felt the young man was fairly shallow in the first place. This mainly seemed like an early antihero effort, which may explain its popularity.

Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead. This first of a new mystery series by Sara Gran, featuring the title character, a 40ish PI whose literary detective mentor is a fictional detective, Jacques Silette. Here she’s called to New Orleans not long after Katrina, so there interesting notes about that, plus the lives of poor, family-iffy young men. I liked Claire & am glad for the introduction from John on this board. The cases Claire mentions have such fun titles, it’s a secondary pleasure imagining what they would be like.

The Burning: Massacre, Destruction, and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 reports about the 1920 massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma, of its African American community, which included the first aerial bombing of the United States. The facts are jarring and i rather wish Tim Madigan hadn’t been as creative with his presentation, for instance writing dialogue for the very real people. However, the story is appalling and the fact of how the story vanished from public memory is incredible.

The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny is set in a far north Canadian monastery where one of the monks has been found dead. The group has recently gained renown for its brilliant Gregorian Chant CD. Unfortunately too much of the story is about the Inspector’s problem within the police department, which slowed the story down very much for me, not a series regular. Still...Gregorian Chants!

Another disappointing mystery was Kate Carlisle’s Homicide in Hardcover. The premise of a bookbinder salvaging books is a neat idea and i got a good feel for that. Set in the San Francisco area, the binder’s hippy-like upbringing slowed the story down for me. I must be in the minority as there are many subsequent books in the series.

Next was Sara Gran’s sequel, Claire DeWitt and the Bohemian Highway, again a San Francisco setting but closer to reality, imo. An old lover of Claire’s is murdered & she investigates. Her drug use featured in the first book & continues heavier this time but it’s understandable when readers realize how her relationship with the dead man stood. I look forward to the next in this series.

My second Italian author wasPaolo Giordano’s The Solitude of Prime Numbers. This well presented story follows two young solitary people through the years until they are 30 or so. We see their friendship develop and change. They seemed genuine to me and i liked the book.

Finally, i read The Hummingbird by Kati Hiekkapelto. Set in Sweden the story begins with a Serbian minority female police detective’s first day on the job. A murder on a running track is reported, followed by another. We meet the team, their flaws and learn about adjustments for refugees migrating for political reasons. I have mixed feelings about this one, so am sure I won’t read the sequel. However, it was a unique perspective.

Petra, it looks as though you had a good reading month. I remember being surprised while reading Salt a few years ago. I never looked at the seasoning in the same way again. There were so many new facts about history in the book, too. Good one.

And again i thank you for a new poetry book title. I no longer seek these out as i once did. You’ve really helped me with this. Thanks.

Sue wrote: "
My most notable reads last month were:"

Welcome to BNC and thank you for sharing your reads. It looks like you had very nice reading month.

Samanta wrote: "
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Genre: Historical Fiction/Crime/Nature
Rating: A+."
=======================
We both read this last month and gave it a top rating. :)
=======================
Samanta wrote:
The Embassy of Cambodia by Zadie Smith
======================
I've enjoyed the Zadie Smith books I've read. I particularly liked
White Teeth

I do have her Swing Time on my mile long TBR list.

madrano wrote:While here in Italy I’ve learned of an author I’d like to try, Carlo Levi. A quote from his Christ Stopped At Eboli: The Story Of A Year was on the wall of our B&B in Matera, Italy. He was an author, painter and studied medicine. He was exiled to Matera, where people still lived in caves and, so, were unhealthy..."

I know I saw the movie. I can't recall if I also read the book.

madrano wrote: Alias, i know i mentioned a few months ago about my brother-in-law who read Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers about human bodies unfit for consuming grains, esp. flour. I’m wondering if that arose at all in Mosconi’s book? While BIL has lost weight (he wasn’t overweight), he doesn’t look as healthy as he used to, i must add..."

No, she is not anti whole grains.

Petra wrote: "My January reads:

In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination (4 star) - Margaret Atwood tells us of her love for sci-fi and how it influenced her, she then critiques some very i..."

As always, a very nice eclectic month, Petra.

Deb, I first heard of salt as a "commodity" in The Great Hedge of India: The Search for the Living Barrier that Divided a People, a very interesting travelogue.

You're welcome, and I'm glad to pass on any poetry titles that come my way. I'm trying to read more poetry. It's a new genre to me, so I'm not sure what to chose but so far I've found a couple of very good poets who really know how to phrase wording.
While I'm not comfortable in thinking that I "get" what the poet is truly saying, I do get the gist of the emotions and turmoil, which I think is the heart of it.

madrano wrote:My second Italian author wasPaolo Giordano’s The Solitude of Prime Numbers. This well presented story follows two young solitary people through the years until they are 30 or so. We see their friendship develop and change. They seemed genuine to me and i liked the book.."

As I mentioned when you posted about The Solitude of Prime Numbers, I also enjoyed it. I can't recall how this book came to my attention. Maybe an award.

As to books set in Italy, there are two by Tim Parks that I enjoyed. (link below)
You can find books set in various countries in our thread by that name. I made a list for Italy.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

An Italian Education--Tim Parks

Italian Neighbors--Tim Parks

Though stay away from his
Italian Ways: On and Off the Rails from Milan to Palermo Ugh. All he did was complain. And not is a funny curmudgeon way.

Sue wrote: "Alias Reader wrote: " Brain Food: The Surprising Science of Eating for Cognitive Power--Lisa Mosconi
Non Fiction
Rate: 3 plus..."

That Brain Food one sounds interesting. :-)


Sue, I just saw this video on brain health by Dr. Greger and Nutrition Facts. I thought you might find it interesting.

https://nutritionfacts.org/video/best...

Sue, somehow i missed replying to your post of January books. I know i wanted to reply because the antiquities novel sounds great. I hope I can read it without having read the first two in the series. I’ve never read a The Cabinet of Curiosities or Lincoln Child novel.

Alias, thanks for the grain reply. My BIL won’t eat any wheat at all...nor rye, etc.

I didn’t realize there was a film for Christ Stopped at Eboli: The Story of a Year. Thanks.

I also appreciate that you mentioned that thread we have. I’d forgotten. I remembered that you read several books about Italy. Off season we got a nice room in Sicily with a room and balcony on the Tyrrhenian Sea. What a way to spend a Sunday morning!

Petra, it’s funny how books come to us. When i picked up Salt, i only did so because a friend was reading it. Then i got hooked on the book and all i didn’t know. ;-)

I used to read poetry for the look at how others view what we all see. The first time i realized there could be politics inserted, i was intrigued. I’ve grown in my appreciation and relish viewing more recent offerings due to their varied topics. Overall, if i “get” a poem, fine. If i don’t, that’s fine, too.

Alias Reader wrote: "Welcome to BNC and thank you for sharing your reads. It looks like you had very nice reading month."

Thank you! :-)


Alias Reader wrote: "Sue, I just saw this video on brain health by Dr. Greger and Nutrition Facts. I thought you might find it interesting. https://nutritionfacts.org/video/best.. ..."

Thank you for the link, I hadn't come cross that website before, looks good!


madrano wrote: "Sue, somehow i missed replying to your post of January books. I know i wanted to reply because the antiquities novel sounds great. I hope I can read it without having read the first two in the seri..."
Yes definitely you can read it before the others. That's what I did, although I liked it so much that I am going back to read the first two!

madrano wrote: Off season we got a nice room in Sicily with a room and balcony on the Tyrrhenian Sea. What a way to spend a Sunday morning!."

Color me green with envy. That sounds lovely.

Deb, I missed where you said you were in Italy right now! Wow! And you are staying the entire month of February?! How wonderful. What parts are you travelling through?
The room in Sicily sounds divine. Keep having lots of fun. This sounds like a most wonderful trip.

Alias, when you feel envious just imagine the horrendous traffic. We’ve never seen such aggressive drivers. Dan is taking it in stride, while i’m the one whose blood pressure rises! And the mountainous curves!

Petra, We are in Sicily right now and will be for two weeks. Then we return to Sorrento to replace the car (this has to do with insurance). Then a couple of sites around Rome, followed by time in Tuscany. The last day of Feb. we fly to Belgium for the next leg of our trip.

Sue, it’s exciting when a book calls to us that way. I’m on the waiting list for the Preston/Child book now. Enjoy!

Bird Cottage

5/5 Gwendolen ‘Len’ Howard (1894-1973) was a woman of two great passions, birds and music. Her observations of birds were published in various periodicals and two books.
The read is quick, but at the same time it’s very rich, textured with Len’s talents and dedications. Beautifully imagined and written. For those who appreciate nature and simple life, this might be a treasure read.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


The Traitor
5/5 White Rose was a peaceful resistance group in the Third Reich led by a group of students including siblings Hans and Sophie Scholl at the University of Munich. The group mailed leaflets to random people picked from the phone book, appealing to the “blindness of German people” and spreading “words of resistance, struggle, and hope.” They were mailed from different cities to different cities to “allay suspicion from the home city of Munich and to make the group seem much larger than it was.”
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Courting Mr. Lincoln

5/5 Abraham Lincoln, one of the most beloved presidents and a man of great character, graces the pages of this story through the eyes of two people that mattered greatly to him – his best friend Joshua Speed and marriageable Mary Todd.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The Woman of a Thousand Names

5/5 Maria Ignatyevna Zakrevskaya (1893-1974) of high birth was the so called woman of a thousand names as no one saw the same image of her, but they all agreed that she symbolized Life. Life against all odds. She was determined to survive the October Revolution, which eradicated her social class. Russia had “a population that’s been starving for three centuries,” while aristocrats blindly lived in opulence. And she recognized that and wanted to see a change.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The First Actress

5/5 Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) was a French stage actress and the world’s first modern actress and international celebrity. She did what she set out to do. She made a name for herself. After sold-out performances, she emerges as “a passionate revelation.”
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I've had Courting Mr. Lincoln on my TBR pile for a while. I'm leery it might prove sad.

Nice list, Annette. I’ll have to check out the book on Bernhardt. As a young woman Cornelia Otis Skinner’s bio of her, Madame Sarah, was my favorite book. Something about the actress impressed me. Isn’t it remarkable that we have no evidence to witness such greatness but still believe?

The Traitor sounds good. The Scholl siblings were outstanding fighters in their way. This novel sounds as though it is a worthy reminder of them.

I added the Sarah Bernhardt book to my reading list.

Annette wrote: "Bird Cottage

5/5 Gwendolen ‘Len’ Howard (1894-1973) was a woman of two great passions, birds and music. Her observations of birds were published in..."

Excellent reading month, Annette ! All 5's

I enjoyed reading your reviews. Thank you.

Bit late to the game on this but I had a fairly disappointing month of reading. The main highlight was All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (5 stars), with the lowlight and greatest disappointment being The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (1 star).

Andrew, it's disappointing to have a month of reading with less than stellar books.
I had to chuckle because of the two books you posted, I had the exact opposite reaction. 1-star for All The Light and 4-star for The Goldfinch. Books are so fickle in how they affect readers. LOL.

Andrew wrote: "Bit late to the game on this but I had a fairly disappointing month of reading. The main highlight was All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (5 stars), with the lowlight and greatest disappo..."

Never too late. Thank you for sharing, Andrew.

I appreciate the contrasting ratings from two people posting. It helps us get a sense of how individual books can be. It’s almost March & i look forward to seeing what folks have been reading.

madrano wrote: "I appreciate the contrasting ratings from two people posting. It helps us get a sense of how individual books can be. It’s almost March & i look forward to seeing what folks have been reading."

Even with the extra leap day, the month has gone way too fast !

Indeed! Readers always know what to do with that extra day—Read!

The Bookshop From Hell by David Haynes - four stars - I really liked this book - the author is an indie author and I have been following him for awhile - I have read a few of his books and he is always able to weave a story. It reminded me a little bit of the book Needful Things by Stephen King, but with more of a twist and a lot more violence.

Helltown by Jeremy Bates - five stars - pretty creepy read - it is about some friends that end up in Helltown and some of the townspeople try to capture them as once strangers enter the town they normally are not allowed to leave. Might want to turn the lights on with this one - oh and lock the doors/windows. :)

Serial Killer 5 Book Bundle: Top 15 Most Evil Serial Killers / Top 10 Serial Killer Families / 15 Celebrities Who Have Killed / Top 10 Doctor Serial Killers ... / Celebrity Chef Serial Killer by Richard Berrington - four stars - very informative on all the killings, but I wasn't happy with one section of it which was the celebrities that the author had labeled as killers - some of them were iffy and a couple of them I thought shouldn't even have been listed, but that is just me. :)

Interesting comments, Marie. Of course the bookshop title calls to many of us. The bit about celebrity killing people would bother me, too. One would think the author would have been sued for character assassination.

Marie wrote: "The Bookshop From Hell by David Haynes - four stars - I really liked this book - the author is an indie author and I have been following him for awhile - I have rea..."

I have a friend who enjoys King and these types of novels. I am going to pass the titles on to her. Thank you!

Marie wrote: "The Bookshop From Hell by David Haynes - four stars - I really liked this book - the author is an indie author and I have been following him for awhile - I have rea..."

Hayne's book sounds good-adding to my reading list!

Alias Reader wrote: "Marie wrote: "The Bookshop From Hell by David Haynes - four stars - I really liked this book - the author is an indie author and I have been following him for awhil..."

You are welcome! :)

Julie wrote: "Marie wrote: "The Bookshop From Hell by David Haynes - four stars - I really liked this book - the author is an indie author and I have been following him for awhil..."

Awesome! :)

madrano wrote: "Interesting comments, Marie. Of course the bookshop title calls to many of us. The bit about celebrity killing people would bother me, too. One would think the author would have been sued for chara..."

I was surprised too - especially for who a few of the celebrities were, but one of the celebrities passed away a long time ago.

I suppose because we recognize the names we are more drawn to the stories. *sigh*