What are you reading the week of June 10, 2023?

Starting this week's thread with Hessians, which is turning out to be a highly informative examination of the German mercenaries the British Crown hired to suppress the American Revolution. Other reading this week will include Tsushima and The Dawnhounds.

Starting South Pacific Air War.

Continuing to enjoy this audio via hoopla~

The House of Lincoln: A Novel
by Nancy Horan

I finished the biography, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. It is a thorough and very readable account of Franklin's life, both personal and public, giving vent to both his positive and negative attributes and his contributions to American history and character.

Thanks for starting us out Shrike58.

I'm reading Wool by Hugh Howey and wishing I read it sooner.

Darling Girl
Liz Michalski
3/5 stars
This is a dark remake about the Peter Pan story which revolves around Holly, whose mother is the original Wendy from the fairy tale. Holly finds out that her daughter Eden, who has been in a coma for years is gone. Holly is convinced that Peter Pan took her and she gets help from Christopher Cooke, a former soldier to find her daughter before it is too late.

Hello! This week I am listening to a great audiobook, and about to start a paperback novel. The audiobook is Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll. I chose it because I needed something light, and it is in a way. In another way it's very powerful. The story is of a young woman being bullied and worse, much worse, at school, told in flashbacks from her current life in which she is a successful writer for a magazine, and engaged to be married to a rich man from an old moneyed (monied??) family. There is surprising depth for the genre, and it's moving.

I'm about to read Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald. I've no idea about the book, but it came highly recommended.

I'm about 10 pages from being finished with The Children of Llyr by Evangeline Walton and will start The Song of Rhiannon next. I really want to finish book 4 by the end of the month to decide if I want to keep these books or not. They've been sitting on my shelf staring at me for years, and Walton's storytelling is remarkable, but geez! The stories themselves!!

Still also reading The Far Traveller which is a lyrical telling of finding the longhouse and thereby telling the life of this woman who literally sailed the known world. I did not know archeology could be a lyrical thing, but there you go.

Icy Sparks – Gwyn Hyman Rubio
Book on CD performed by Kate Miller
5*****

From the book jacket: Rural Kentucky in the 1950s is not an easy place to grow up, and it’s especially hard for ten-year-old Icy Sparks, an orphan who lives with her grandparents. Life becomes even more difficult for Icy when violent tics and uncontrollable cursing begin – symptoms brought on by a troubling affliction that goes undiagnosed until her adulthood.

My reactions
We know much more about Tourette’s Syndrome today than during the timeframe of this story, and I hope even the residents of rural Appalachia would be more compassionate about a young girl so afflicted.

Icy Sparks jumps off the pages of this book straight into the reader’s heart. This is a child who is curious, intelligent, kind, loving, and who learns to stand up to bullies and fight for herself. She shows empathy and compassion in her dealings with others even when they ostracize and belittle her. I loved her friendship with Miss Emily, an obese woman who knows a thing or two about being friendless and lonely. I wanted to throttle the teacher who so obviously hated this child. I was glad that the principal showed more genuine caring for Icy and that he made efforts to help and encourage her. And I can’t say enough bad things about the hospital worker who delighted in inflicting pain (physical and mental) on the vulnerable patients in her charge. As distressing as that episode was for Icy, it helped define the woman she would become.

Kate Miller does an excellent job narrating the audiobook. She brought these characters to life, and I really loved how she interpreted Icy. However, I realized pretty quickly that this was an abridged audio, so I abandoned it in favor of reading the text.

Still not really reading We Only Need the Heads by John Scalzi, A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon, and House of Gold by C. T. Rwizi.

The Premonition: A Pandemic Story
by Michael Lewis
4/5 stars
Fascinating look at epidemics particularly revolving around Covid. The author discusses what caused it, who was affected by it and the men and women who fought it and tried to deter it. Well written!

I'm enjoying Elly Griffiths' The Last Remains. I'm about to go sit on the patio with it and relish the first sunshine and warm temps we've had in a long time!

I'm back home again with my new dog, Gil. He's two months old and traveled a thousand miles in the car like a trooper. I'm hoping the link to my gallery worked. If not, his picture is in the gallery for my account. Now begins the long process of training him.

I finished Lynne Olsen's Empress of the Nile. It was good, but not as compelling as her other books.

He’s adorable! Fred such a cutie all the best!

>12 fredbacon: So cute. Congratulations!

>12 fredbacon: What an adorable little fluff ball! Welcome Gil! Congrats Fred, he’s a charmer.

So, I'm jumpin the gun a bit for "Christmas in July" ... cataract surgery this month is messing with my reading and I just need "light and fluffy" ...


The Santa Suit – Mary Kay Andrews
Book on CD read by Kathleen McInerney
3***

Ivy Perkins is newly divorced and struggling to launch an independent PR / marketing firm. Trying to get away from her ex (and her ex-best-friend), she buys an old farmstead sight unseen. The to-do list grows ever larger as her bank account dwindles. But she has a hunk of a real-estate agent, who is also a very handy man when it comes to fixing things. When she finds a vintage Santa suit in a closet, she begins researching the previous owners, and especially trying to find what happened to the little girl who wrote the note tucked in a pock of the suit.

This is a charming holiday rom-com with a bit of mystery. The small town is full of colorful characters, and as Ivy begins to become known around town she opens up to her new friends and to the possibility of a new romance.

The ending is neatly tied up in a pretty ribbon, but hey, it’s a holiday romance, so I’m okay with that. I was a bit disappointed that the storyline regarding the candy company – also related to Ivy’s getting her own marketing firm going – fizzled out. I wanted to know more about both Ivy’s and Nancy’s success.

Kathleen McInerney does a fine job of narrating the audiobook.

>12 fredbacon: He's certainly a cutie. Looks like he just might have it in his mind that he's going to be training you rather than the other way around.

Levi Strauss: The Man Who Gave Blue Jeans to The World
By Lynn Downey
4/5 stars
This is an interesting biography/nonfiction about the life and times of Levi Strauss. Born in Germany, he left for America and ended up in San Francisco in the 1850’s dealing with imported goods. He met Jacob W. Davis, a customer who invented the the riveted denim pants. Davis partnered with Levi in 1871 to produce the blue jeans.
Never married, he supported his family and encouraged his employees to better their lives.

The Farm – Joanne Ramos
Digital audiobook narrated by Fran de Leon.
4****

Jane, an immigrant from the Philippines, is searching for a better opportunity to secure the future for herself and her daughter. So, the chance to become a “host” at Golden Oaks – a luxury resort in New York’s Hudson Valley – seems ideal. She’ll have every amenity: organic meals, a personal fitness trainer, daily massages, and an idyllic setting. All she has to do is be a surrogate mother for someone else’s child. But things at “The Farm” (as Jane and her fellow surrogates refer to it), aren’t as ideal as the brochures promise.

While the original premise seems plausible, the reality of Jane’s situation quickly devolves into a somewhat dystopian nightmare. She seems to be being played by not only those who run the operation but, perhaps, by one or more fellow surrogates. It also seems that the relative she’s entrusted with her daughter’s care while she spends nine months at Golden Oaks isn’t as trustworthy as Jane originally thought. All this adds to the tension … both for Jane and for the reader.

It certainly held my attention and I really wanted to see how Jane would fare in this scenario. I think this would be a work that book clubs would love to discuss.

Fran de Leon does a fine job narrating the audio. She has good diction and keep a good pace. There are a lot of characters, most of them female, and there were a few times when I got confused about who was speaking, but I quickly caught up.

I finished the LTER book The Secrets of the Moon. The author presents the facts known about the moon as determined by science as well as some of the lore, and the moon's influence upon man. I did learn much I didn't know particularly it's influence upon making the earth conducive to life. I did find it a bit repetitious particularly in it's consistent insistence on pointing out what was and what was not substantiated by science (as if science was absolute and knew all at this point)

>17 snash: Snicker...has a bit of coyote around him if you get my drift.

The new thread is up over here.

Gil has been adored by everyone who has met him this week. Keeshonden make the greatest companions. This is my third one.

>12 fredbacon: What a cutie!