pickSeen thru Sophie's eyes in 1938-43 Vienna & London & Lacey's in 2021/22 Philadelphia & London we learn about a family's experiences of WWII. I learned some horrible things I never knew about Nazi occupied Vienna & some interesting things I didn't know about Windsor Castle & the efforts by the king & Winston Churchill to keep the former Edward VIII & Wallis Simpson from inviting Hitler into Britain. The end felt rushed but otherwise this was good.
Yes please 😍
📷: pinterest
Flowers And The Moon is a beautiful plant shop (with books) in Manitou Springs CO, as my sweet daughter and I discovered today 🪴📚🥰
It's headed home to you, Robin!
@Jerdencon @TheAromaofBooks @robinb
A day off means more time to read 😊
pickI enjoyed learning about all the people who landed at a hostel in Venice Beach. They are all running from, or searching for, something. Even tho there are a lot of characters it's easy to keep track of everyone. There are a lot of deaths, past & present, in these people's lives & quite a few surprises; some of the little bombs Marrs sprinkled throughout the plot took me completely by surprise. The last few, in particular, I did not see coming!
so-soA soft pick. It's a cool concept that doesn't quite live up to its promise. Julia has narcolepsy which runs in the women in her family. Her condition, along with a family heirloom, allows her to travel in time but she can only go back a year. It's long enough to save the love of her life but turns out to have a ripple effect that causes 100s more deaths. Julia repeatedly goes back to try to forge a reality in which Alex- & everyone else- lives.
A recent John Marrs for my Saturday reading 🤩
(Not much progress yet though due to migraine. Hoping it goes away soon 😣)
pickThis is the story of two sets of sisters: Jess & Tavy Yates in the present day and Rose & Nell (King Charles II mistress) Gwyn in the 17th century. There's a historical mystery, romance in both timelines, a bit of timeslip, murder in each timeline, and lots of adventure. I've read a couple books by this author and this may be the one I like best so far. She's very descriptive: the historical timeline, especially, really came alive.
Any thoughts about these? They all sound like juicy reads for summer. @Jerdencon @TheAromaofBooks @robinb
The other 3 are tagged in comments.
These are all I‘ve read in the last two weeks. (Well, Nancy's Mysterious Letter too so I‘m all set for tomorrow‘s discussion @Librarybelle ) Between house guests, getting Covid for the 5th time, & trying to catch up from a week off work it‘s been a struggle!
I enjoyed both installments in the Tony McLean series, liked Skye Falling (tho Skye is a LOT [excellent narration on audio]), & found Hollow Kingdom very clever & creative yet repetitive.
Reading (existing) in the mountains is my favorite 😍
bailedI do not care what happened to Vanessa and I especially do not care to spend any more time with Emily, Brittany, Paige, and Lydia. I'm halfway in and not only is the story of Vanessa's disappearance 15 years ago uncompelling but the remaining frenemies are all annoying and unsympathetic. Back to the library! Next...
I'm feeling nostalgic for the authors I stole from my mom's shelf when I was 12ish. 😄 I've decided to reread Mary Stewart, M.M. Kaye, and Mary Higgins Clark. (Neither my mom nor I have her old MHC books but I have several on kindle.)
pickI found this on my kindle last night and vaguely recalled reading it in HS. I can't remember what I thought of it then but it I found it creepy and intriguing last night. I'm glad I reread it.
A little Sunday morning, back porch reading while it's still cool out. Will probably switch to audio and do a craft once it heats up.
Enjoy your Sunday, everyone! 🩵
My #BookSpin and #DoubleSpin for June. I'm in the mood for DoD, might start that later today. 😊
@TheAromaofBooks
pickI liked the mysteries/ reasons for the murders and I loved the setting- on a luxury train through the middle of Australia. But I've already grown tired of the breaking of the 4th wall and the conceit that narrator is talking us through their writing process as the book progresses. Mostly a pick but I'm going to try to avoid this type of plot for a while.
so-soThis was good enough but I doubt I'll remember it in a few weeks. Rachel finds a body while walking her dog in the woods near her house. As this is not the first body she has found- and as it did not go well for her last time- she runs back home and does not report her find but the police quickly tie her to the murder. We alternate between this events and the previous murders. Between a pick and a so-so.
so-soThis was a quick read which didn't quite live up to my hopes. Tina is the assistant to an obscenely rich media mogul. An expense report error results in her having access to exactly what she needs to pay off her school loans and finally start being able to save. She takes the opportunity but someone noticed and wants enough for her own loan. The situation spirals from there. We're given multiple examples of the ridiculous, unnecessary
pickI was very invested in Annie but this was an uncomfortable read- as I'm confident the author intended. It explores personhood, control, emotional abuse, and other important topics through the use of robotic helpers. One can buy a Bot to do the cleaning, be a nanny, or a sexual partner. Annie is described as Doug's girlfriend but, of course, she has no choice in that. Or Indeed in anything:
An early night and a (hopefully 🤞🏻) good mystery.
pickThis is a wonderful story about following your dreams. 77 yo Jenny auditions for Britain Bakes and is astonished that she makes it on the show. She stretches herself creatively and makes new friends. However, she's been living with a painful secret for decades- one she never told her husband- and as she works her way through the baking show memories from the past begin to haunt her. Her secret comes out in a way she didn't expect, causing a lot of
pickFinished! @ElizaMarie I'll plan to mail this to you after work Tuesday.
#LMPBC #GroupO #BookWormJillK #TheBookHippie
Ahhh Saturday, you're my favorite. 🩷🤫
#LMPBC
The full cast and plethora of suspects made this a very enjoyable listen. The information contained in the letter written by one character was necessary but it felt so bizarre that anyone would have written that stuff down so I felt like that was a week spot. Otherwise this was a good background to my work day.
(This title is not in the database so I tagged a different book by this author.)
pickThis book was fun and sweet and sexy. I loved Ricki finding her own way, out of the shadow of her family. I'm super intrigued by the concept of Perennials. And I think Ezra may end up on my #litcrush list. 😍 My favorite parts were the brilliantly funny conversations Ricki had with Tuesday and Ms Della.
📷: James Van Der Zee
It arrived @Bookwormjillk! Workday is done so my reading companion and I are enjoying a little back porch time. 😊☔️
@TheBookHippie @ElizaMarie
pickI did some #audiopainting yesterday. The Atwood- talk about your SHORT stories- is an amusing homage to friendship (with a message about either not waiting to get your revenge or simply letting things go) that I was enjoying until it came to an abrupt end.
I'm about 1/3 of the way into Mad Love and so far it's really good. Love the multiple narrators.
#litsycrafters
#TeaAndABook
Happy Sunday y'all
I'm on page 5 and already the lack of quotation marks is irritating me. Has anyone read this? Is the story good enough to overcome that?
pickI have rarely read such beautiful nature writing in a work of fiction and I don't believe I've ever before read a book in which the MC is a location. I'm not a huge fan of short stories so I occasionally struggled with the regularly changing cast of characters but some of the stories touched me deeply and I can tell this is a book I will remember. Again I'm wishing I was in a book club as I'd love to have some in depth discussions about this one.
Oh wow! I read his Shades Of Grey a million years ago, it feels like, and long ago gave up hoping for a sequel but now there is one! Of course, other than knowing I really liked it, I can't quite remember the story. 🤔 I'll have to see if I can dig it back up for a reread.
pickI have mixed feelings. The good: this book taught me a lot about the Vietnam conflict (my father was stationed there for a time but I can count on one hand the number of times he's been willing to say ANYTHING about it); the descriptions of the beauty, heat, and smells of the country as well as the fear, blood, devastation, exhaustion, despair- and occasional hope and satisfaction- of the field hospitals were vivid; the friendships and the ⬇️
I'm reading this again and am seriously resenting my job for keeping me from it.
The episode with the painter (WHT) is beautifully written and utterly heartbreaking.
pickLooking through my "stacked" books I see a few I read but didn't review, including this one. It's been a few months so I probably don't remember all the details but I do remember liking this while simultaneously thinking it was weird that everyone went along with the widow acting like her husband was still there. A soft pick.
"Home" is a genre? ?
bailedI only got about 6 chapters in before I realized I didn't care what was happening. I can't pinpoint why this wasn't working for me but I knew I didn't want to push through. Next!
pickI wish I had a book club to read this with because there is much to discuss! This ended up being deeper and darker than I expected. I was impressed by both Essie & Roarke. She meticulously planned her future and, while she needed him to be able to pull it off, she saved him too. Every time we delved into Libby's backstory I was annoyed because it pulled us away from Essie's & Roarke's stories but I did understand that her history was important ⬇️
I know I've been told "don't knock it till you try it" but I think I'd rather not try it.
![[tagged book]](https://image.librarything.com/pics/litsy_webpics/icon_taggedBook@3x.png){kind=icon}
