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March 2025 Book #8 last book read in March
I know this book was well accepted and won The Booker Price 2024 but I liked it not loved it. It didn‘t work for me. But I have to say that I like the writing style, it was the story that I didn‘t like much. Maybe my perspective about the relationship between these two women is different. I don‘t know but I saw a toxic dysfunctional relationship very manipulative and convenient. ⬇️

For some reason, I love a “let‘s explore the Arctic, oops we got stuck in the ice!” story, and this one is the last voyage of William Barents. There‘s a whole lot of polar bears here, showing them as truly bold predators and the sailors going to every length possible to kill and sometimes mutilate the bears (it was a little hard to listen to). I finished the book on our walk today, so I figured I‘d show you Bindi with the elk antler she found.

4⭐️ I really enjoyed this book, but felt it lost a bit of momentum towards the end of the book. Overall, a really good book and still among my favourites. I think it was the book that really made really like #historicalfiction. #2025 #fiction #bookreview #bookclub

A few books I‘ve read for my upcoming trip to Amsterdam. Vincent, Theo, & the Fox is an adorable adventure using his paintings as a guide to the story. When We Flew Away is a story of Anne Frank‘s life before she was hiding in the annex. It‘s a great companion book to the Diary. The Lost Van Gogh artfully sneaks facts in. Corrie ten Boom was an angel on Earth. 🇳🇱 🖼️ 🚪 📚

My final #weeklyfavorite for October 2025 #weeklyfavorites

This is a low pick. I wanted to like it more than I did. It‘s the story of Anne Frank and her family before they went into hiding. The problem I think is in the writing — it keeps us at an emotional distance from Anne, so we never really connect to her. Maybe because it‘s children‘s fiction? I didn‘t really know that until I looked at the subject headings before I returned it.

Today‘s “it‘s probably going to rain, so I might as well stay inside and read” book.

Historical fiction of Anne Frank‘s life in Amsterdam to the day they went into hiding. Short and great on audio I was near tears many times. It is impossible not to recognize the parallels from the dehumanizing of Jews at the hands of the Nazi regime to what is happening today in the US at the hands of our current administration.

#HauntsAndHexes #Bizarre

An impactful and emotionally raw depiction of institutional indifference, readers prone to misinterpreting their contributions to reactive rage, and others doubtful of the impact of racism on personal identity will not find an embedded social justice message in this work.