Vacation slowed my reading a little but I still got through some good books. I enjoyed all of the books although we were a bit disappointed in Beyond Measure, a book that let us down a bit as our road-trip book. I had one DNF book, The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. It seems a good book but it's really long and was moving slowly. Then someone noticed that the house we are renting had the DVD of the movie. I watched that instead and gave up on the book. The movie was a little slow too. ![]() Birds in Flight By Anni Taylor, Read By Harriet Gordon-Anderson In 1998 Elsa Jorgensen took her two daughters, Iris and Lily, on a trip to Australia. They set off on a long road trip taking along two other girls. One rainy night Elsa and the youngest girl disappear and there isn't a trace of them left behind. After a long search, Iris and Lily return home to Philadelphia. Some years later Iris returns to Australia to live permanently and the two sisters don't talk again. Twenty-four years after disappearing, Elsa's backpack is discovered and the case is reopened. Lily goes to Australia intending to reunite with her sister and, together, to figure out what happened to their mother. I enjoyed this mystery book. I liked the character development and there were enough twists to keep me engrossed. ![]() Beyond Measure By James Vincent, Read By James Vincent This is the book Chris and I selected for our road trip to Maine. Sometimes we listen to mysteries but we also like some nerdy topics and this fit that bill. It's mostly about the history of measurement and there's a lot of interesting information in it. However, it went a bit off the rails with his need to describe how every new type of measurement brought along oppression is some way. Of course, everything has good and bad but methods of measurement truly moved cultures forward and focusing only on the bad effect is tremendously biased. By the end of the book we were tired of it. Good information burdened by personal political views. ![]() Whiskey When We're Dry By John Larison, Read by Sophie Amoss This is a clever coming of age Western novel. Jessilyn Harney's mother died in childbirth and she was raised by her father and brother on a struggling homestead. By the time she's 17 in 1885, her father is dead and her brother has left home. She's alone and unable to keep the farm going herself. She disguises herself as a boy and sets off to find her brother, now a well known outlaw. This is a true old-fashioned Western as Jess transforms herself into a sharp-shooter and in security detail for a governor, all while pretending to be a man. A lot of the reviews share much excitement over the exploration of gender roles but that's not what resonated with me. I think the gender identity storyline was probably true to the era and not, as we usually see in modern writing, an overlay of today's morals on a historical period. Jess did what she did out of necessity and it had a predictable effect on her. That's all. The storytelling reminded me of Larry McMurtry. It's not totally of that caliber but it's really good and the narration is perfect for the story. ![]() All The Colors of the Dark By Chris Whitaker, Read By Edoardo Ballerini This book is on a lot of recommended lists and I understand why. It's a very interesting plot approach to several themes: mystery, serial killer, love story. It's got a little of everything. It opens in 1975 in a small town in Missouri. Girls are going missing. One day the daughter of a wealth family is targeted and a surprising hero emerges. Patch, a young petty thief, thwarts the attack but becomes a victim himself. What follows is the story of people affected by the series of missing girls. It follows the characters through 2010. It's a really unique book in the way that the story is told. The main characters are Patch, his best friend from school, the girl who was rescued and, of course, the killer. Many people are obsessed with solving the murders. I think that the character development is outstanding and the story jumps forward in time and is told against news headlines of each time. There were some awkward transitions where a scene suddenly ends but isn't explained until a few chapters later. But, aside from that small complaint, it was a good book. ![]() A Most Agreeable Murder By Julia Seales, Read By Fiona Hampton If Jane Austen wrote a murder mystery it would be this book. After ready the book I looked up the author and found out that she is a Jane Austen fan so that makes sense. Beatrice Steele will not be the daughter to marry properly and save the family's financial situation. She's not good at following the etiquette of Swampshire and she has an inappropriate fascination with true crime. On the night of the local ball, Beatrice is pressed to good behavior so that her beautiful sister might make a match with the eligible bachelor, Edward Crookshank. In the middle of the ball, Crookshank drops dead and Beatrice can't help but insert herself in the middle of the investigation. If you like Jane Austen, you will enjoy this book. It was a quick read for me and I can easily see sequels in the future. ![]() The House of Eve By Sadeqa Johnson, Read by a cast This book is set in 1950's Philadelphia and Washington, DC. This book is a really interesting take on racial and economic prejudices of the time. The twist is that, in this case, much of the discrimination takes place WITHIN the African-American community. Ruby Pearsall is 15 and is the daughter of a single mother who isn't particularly interested in raising her. She's been raised by her grandmother and aunt. She's very smart and has gotten into a great program that will help her get in to college to be the first college graduate in her family. Eleanor Quarles arrived in Washington, DC to attend Howard University. Her parents have had hard working lives and scraped and saved to help her get to college. There she meets William Pride and they fall in love. William is almost white and is from one of the wealthiest and most influential families in Washington, DC. His family is not welcoming to Eleanor. The book centers on relationships (acceptable and unacceptable) and babies (wanted and unwanted). To me, the story was very fresh and I enjoyed it. I loved Eleanor and Ruby as characters and really felt for the trials that they faced.
patty
9/3/2024 07:46:48 am
You still got thru quite a few books! Comments are closed.
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I'm Vicki Welsh and I've been making things as long as I can remember. I used to be a garment maker but transitioned to quilts about 20 years ago. Currently I'm into fabric dyeing, quilting, Zentangle, fabric postcards, fused glass and mosaic. I document my adventures here. Categories
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