What are you reading the week of November 19, 2022?

I read Maigret's Mistake which I think is number 43 in the series. I'm almost halfway through Timothy Snyder's Red Prince about the end of the Habsburg dynasty and their attempts to recreate Poland and Ukraine as crown territories during the First World War. Very engaging story.

I'm going on a camping trip with a couple of my brothers over Thanksgiving. I need someone else to start us off next weekend. I won't have internet access. I'll let you guys sort out who is available next Friday night or Saturday morning to kick off the new thread.

Have a happy Thanksgiving!

I'll start the new thread.

As for this week, I'm still working on Italy in the Era of the Great War. I've also just barely started The World We Make. I expect to be winding down the week with Life in Jefferson Davis' Navy and, maybe, Tiassa.

Lindbergh
by A. Scott Berg
5/5 stars
I love A. Scott Berg and would read anything by him. He doesn't disappoint in this detailed and interesting book on the life and times of Lindberg which recounts his life, his tragedies and triumphs and his death. Highly recommended!

With this book I finished my reading challenge!!

This week I'm reading The Library Book by Susan Orlean. It's non-fiction, and the subject matter is the Los Angeles Public Library, particularly the devastating fire that took place in 1986. It's a fascinating read for anyone who loves libraries.

I'm listening to Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism by bell hooks. It's really interesting and I am learning a lot.

I might start reading Mexican Gothic because I'm feeling the need for some fiction. Real life seems to have far too many pointy edges right now.

OverDrive eBook ~

Bad Girls Throughout History: 100 Remarkable Women Who Changed the World (Ann Shen Legendary Ladies Collection) by Ann Shen

I'm still reading Strange Tombs by Syd Moore. Who done it?

From the library: What the Dead Leave Behind: A Gilded Age Mystery by Rosemary Simpson
#1 installment in historical mystery series set in New York City. I'm reading all the books in the series available so far.

The new and #7 installment Death at the Falls: A Gilded Age Mystery will release later this month.

How To Walk Away – Katherine Center
Book on CD performed by Thérèse Plummer
3.5***

There are many kinds of “happily ever after…”

Margaret Jacobsen has worked hard and is ready to step into a bright future, with a new dream job and an equally successful fiancé, but as the happiest day of her life unfolds, a horrific accident snatches it all away from her.

I’d read one book by Center previously and I wasn’t all that impressed. So, I wasn’t expecting much more than a contemporary romance with possibly “relevant issues” for today’s woman thrown in. I was pleasantly surprised that my expectations were exceeded.

Margaret’s journey is what kept me interested. Yes, I saw the plot points coming a mile off, but I still found myself enjoying the journey. She is faced with a situation that could be completely devastating. And there are times when she despairs. But she also summons all her strengths and her determination to succeed. And, although she sometimes goes the “pity party” route, there are other times, especially with the help of her sister, Kitty, when she finds some joy and even laughter. And ultimately, Margaret takes charge of her life in a way that is totally believable and had me cheering her on.

I still found several of the characters a little too stereotypical. Her fiancé was the typical “golden boy” who turns out to be a jerk. Margaret’s mother was a real piece of work, and I couldn’t stand her. While her long-suffering father was the perfect prince we all expect. Kitty’s role as a Bohemian rebel was rather over-the-top, but she seemed to be the chief catalyst to keep the plot moving.

Thérèse Plummer did a marvelous job of narrating the audiobook. She had a lot of characters to interpret and gave them sufficiently unique voices to differentiate them. My only quibble – and it’s a small one – is that while she does a great job of Ian’s Scottish brogue, Margaret and her family have no trace of Texas twang.

>3 JulieLill: Didn't Berg get a Pulitzer Prize for Biography for his book on Lindbergh? A couple of years back I read Kate Remembered, Berg's memoir about his friendship with Katherine Hepburn.

My wife and I just got back from a 5-day long weekend in L.A. visiting family. I'm about a third of the way through the very dense Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller.

Shades of Earl Grey by Laura Childs

>9 rocketjk: Yes, he did win that award on Lindbergh! I will have to add Berg's Hepburn book to my reading list. He also wrote a book on President Wilson and I want to read that too but it is awfully lengthy.

Just finished A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War and beginning Under the Greenwood Tree.

Hello! LibraryThing newbie here, and looking forward to getting to know the place. Currently in the middle of Fletch by Gregory McDonald and True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us by Daneille J. Lindeman.

A Royal Pain – Rhys Bowen
3***

Book two in Her Royal Spyness cozy mystery series, has Lady Georgiana Rannoch (Georgie to her friends) hosting a Bavarian princess as part of Her Majesty’s plan to get the Prince of Wales interested in a more suitable partner than that awful American woman. Princess Hannelore is only eighteen and fresh from the convent, but she’s eager to finally explore a big city and enjoy flirting with boys … from an impoverished bookshop clerk to the attendees at a swanky party to the eligible men at a country estate. But a tragic accident at the swanky party threatens to embroil the Princess in a scandal and cause an international incident.

I like Georgie as a character, and love her grandfather, the retired London bobby, as well as her best friend, Belinda. But the plot here didn’t really capture my attention. I felt it dragged and it seemed Bowen was trying too hard to weave the various deaths together into a whole conspiracy. Still, it does give an added dimension to impoverished Irish Peer Darcy O’Mara. He may be more than just an unreliable rogue…

>13 KeithChaffee: Welcome to LT and the group!

I finished Lessons in Chemistry, which I loved, and started Ann Cleeves’ Silent Voices.

Hope everyone here in the US has a happy, healthy Thanksgiving!

>13 KeithChaffee: Welcome to LibraryThing!
>15 Copperskye: Happy Thanksgiving!

I am reading way too many books right now but I am concentrating on Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow.

Dolls! Dolls! Dolls!: Deep Inside Valley of the Dolls, the Most Beloved Bad Book and Movie of All Time
Stephen Rebello
4/5 stars
If you have ever seen Valley of The Dolls, you’ll love this book that covers all the dirt in the making of this movie based on Jacqueline Susann’s 1966 book. Rebello thoroughly covers every aspect of the making of this movie!

The new thread is up.