Monday Malarkey

Recent arrivals:

• Never Satisfied: The Story of the Stonecutter as told by Dave Horowitz - from Nancy Paulsen Books for review
• The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See - Purchased for F2F discussion
• News of Our Loved Ones by Abigail DeWitt - from HarperCollins for review
• Homespun by Lorilee Craker - for book tour
• I Know You Know by Gilly Macmillan - from HarperCollins for review
• The Birds of Opulence by Crystal Wilkinson - purchased for online discussion in Open Canon Book Club

I didn't photograph these in any particular order but 2 are for discussion, 1 for book tour, 3 for review. So, a nice hodge-podge of personal purchases and review/tour books. Once again, Izzy helped me with the book photography. 

Books finished since last Malarkey:

• Nightbooks by J. A. White
• The Secrets Between Us by Thrity Umrigar

Nightbooks is for middle readers: a nice, spooky read about a child who gets trapped in an enchanted apartment by a witch. It would make great fall reading for either a creepy/atmospheric reading challenge or a cold-weather readathon.

The Secrets Between Us is the follow-up to The Space Between Us and while there are plenty of challenging situations for the impoverished characters, Bhima's continuing story is slightly more upbeat and it has that "creating a family of your own through friendships" aspect that is among my absolute favorite types of storyline.


Currently reading:

• Unpunished Murder: Massacre at Colfax and the Quest for Justice by Lawrence Goldstone
• The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Unpunished Murder is about a massacre of black "freedman" in a Louisiana town by white supremacists. It took place in 1873 and the book is directed at younger readers but I'm learning a great deal. If white supremacy gets you riled up, you'll find yourself wanting to throw things while reading the book. It's very upsetting, not only to read about how blacks were murdered but how they were generally suppressed and hardly really "free" because a bunch of old white men ran the government. Worst part: so little has changed. 

The War that Saved My Life is a Newbery Honor Book that I ordered after seeing a friend's post about the follow-up book and going back to read about its predecessor. It tells the story of a disabled British girl who becomes determined to learn to walk, in spite of her ruined ankle, and what happens when she and her brother are sent to the country to escape the Blitz. I'm enjoying it immensely, so far. 

Last week's posts:

• The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar (book review)
• Born a Crime by Trevor Noah (thoughts on second reading)
• Wed Wabbit by Lissa Evans (book review)
• Fiona Friday - Inspection (cat photo)

Yay, I had a terrific posting week! At the end of the week, I had only one book remaining on my list that has not been reviewed: Don Quixote. Of course, now I've added a couple more but I've been keeping caught up in a way I don't normally do and I'm happy about that.


In other news:

I had a second day of binge-watching Our Girl and finished it up. Our Girl is pretty binge-worthy because of the exciting action scenes and serial storyline. While I felt like the introduction to the new starring soldier, Georgie, was somewhat lacking, by the time you've watched her two-part intro you have a good feel for the character and know that she's every bit as spunky as her predecessor. Captain James, Molly Dawes' commanding officer and love interest in the first season, is still the commander and occasionally mentions Molly. But, there's a new love triangle. Lance Corporal Georgie Lane was abandoned at the alter. When she goes on a humanitarian mission in Kenya and is kidnapped, Special Forces comes to the rescue. But, the team leader just happens to be the groom who backed out of marrying Georgie. Georgie is now engaged to a doctor back home in Manchester. Bit of tension, there.

Wow, that Manchester accent is challenging! I always turn on the subtitles but I still had to rewind, occasionally, because the words I was hearing didn't sound anything like I'd heard them before. "Fear" was the one word I kept rewinding and rewinding to hear again. It doesn't sound like fear at all, to me. I finally began to get a hang of the accent as the season was ending and there's no Season 3 available, yet, so I may actually watch it again for the fun of getting to know a new accent.

Husband was gone most of the week, so we didn't watch anything together till this weekend. We opted to continue 800 Words and enjoyed the second episode. We also watched an episode of Death in Paradise, which we've decided we may return to watching regularly, now that the second detective (whom neither of us liked) has moved on.

I never mention it, but Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives is a favorite show that we dip into, whenever we can't make up our minds about what to watch. My eldest son says he can't tolerate the show, but we both enjoy it because we like seeing what's put into the various dishes and storing up ideas for places to go when we travel. Huzzybuns does more traveling than I do, of course, so he's tried several restaurants he's seen on DDD. I think I've only tried one and I wasn't thrilled with it but it was pizza that we brought back to the hotel room and it likely would have tasted better fresh out of the oven. We also watched a little of The Barefoot Contessa and picked out a couple recipes we want to try.

I almost forgot our last TV indulgence! I started watching The Quatermass Experiment without knowing any of its history and finished it up with Huz, after he got home from travel. He'd read up on it and was able to tell me that it was originally a 1950s serial that was redone as a live television film in 2005. It was the 2005 production with David Tennant that we watched. Very fun and creepy. I had no idea it was a live production until Huz blurted out that little bit of info while we were watching. He also told me they used the exact same script, which I didn't find surprising at all. You can definitely tell.

Other than TV, we cleaned all weekend because we're expecting guests in a little over a month and need to get serious about de-cluttering. I was a KonMari failure, so we're doing our own thing. So far, so good. I managed to get together with a teacher to give her a couple sacks full of children's books, last week and I did some trading when we were in Tulsa, but I'm going to have to work harder at weeding out old books that I'm no longer interested in reading.

How was your weekend?


©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Fiona Friday - Inspection

Inspector Izzy must approve of the books before they're photographed. They passed.

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Wed Wabbit by Lissa Evans

It's been a few weeks since I read Wed Wabbit and I remember it well but I'm going to default to the cover blurb before going on to elaborate in my own words:

Fidge is having a bad week. She's been flung into a bizarre world alongside three companions: two are deeply weird and the third is her awful cousin Graham. 

She has to solve a series of nearly impossible clues, defeat a dictator who can't pronounce the letter 'r' and deal with three thousand Wimbley Woos (yes, you read that sentence correctly). 

And the whole situation - the whole entire thing - is her fault.

So, let's unpack that a bit. Fidge is a British girl because Lissa Evans is British and I ordered this book from across the pond, since I was ordering another of Evans' books (a new book, Old Baggage) and it seemed like as good an excuse as any to throw one of her children's books into the cart. Fidge's little sister, Minnie, has a favorite book -- a book about the Wimbley Woos. They're tube-shaped creatures (maybe a bit like hotdogs with arms and legs) and each color of the Wimbley Woos has specific characteristics. Minnie also has a set of stuffed toys, one of which she calls "Wed Wabbit" because she can't say the letter 'r', or maybe just doesn't want to because everyone thinks her pronunciation is cute.

Something terrible happens to Minnie and when it does, Fidge is sent to stay with her cousin Graham. Graham has problems of his own. He's pretty much afraid of everything, so he's homeschooled and babied and really annoying. It's not entirely clear how this happens (and it really doesn't matter how) but there's a flash of lightning and Fidge and Graham are transported into Minnie's favorite book, along with a couple of toys. In Wimbley World, the Wimbley Woos are in loads of trouble since an evil creature crashed into the castle and ousted the king.

As you've already read in the cover blurb, Fidge has to unravel a series of clues to save the day and escape from Wimbley World. In the process, they have to work with the Wimbleys, who speak only in rhyme. Graham is the character who grows the most during the book, as he learns to face his fears. I think watching him change and realize that the world isn't really so scary at all is one of the most gratifying things about Wed Wabbit. But, I also love Fidge's clear love for her sister. Sure, she's an adorable nuisance and really irritating, but Fidge still adores Minnie.

Highly recommended - The main reason I'm besotted with Lissa Evans' storytelling is her sense of humor. Everything she writes is imbued with her sparkling wit and Wed Wabbit is no exception. The king, who was lazy about rhyming and not particularly interested in being a king, especially had me laughing out loud. Incidentally, I delayed reviewing Wed Wabbit until I'd checked to see if it's available in the US. Yep, it is. Lucky Americans. Wed Wabbit is such a delight that I found myself imagining young me in my beanbag chair, reading it over and over again. I would have devoured it as a kid and I hope someday I'll be able to share it with my grandchildren.


©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

First things first. I've already read Born a Crime and reviewed it, once. So, here's my 2016 review of Born a Crime. This time, I read the book for group discussion and then it rained on the night of the meeting. I won't drive the 30 miles to my book group when it rains because the traffic is a little too dangerous driving through our God-kicked-over-the-bucket downpours, but I did get to talk to our group's host to see what people thought.

The general consensus was that everyone loved the book and thought it was a nice, light read for summer. I didn't get to hear any specifics, otherwise, but my friend Jeanine gave me permission to quote her thoughts from an email:

"This was one of the most entertaining books I have read in a long time. I thought it gave an interesting take on what it's like being on the inside of Apartheid while still managing to keep things moving and sparing us the most agonizing details. That's good for a summer read. At the same time, it's a good lesson about the resiliency of the human spirit in difficult circumstances." 

I had some thoughts that were a bit different, this time around, and I'll just mention one thing that meant a bit more to me. The first time I read Born a Crime, I had not yet been to South Africa. So it was interesting, the second time, reading about Trevor Noah's time in the townships and actually having a frame of reference. We would call townships the poor side of town or maybe something like the "projects". He does a great job of describing what they look like. You see a lot of tin shacks and small houses built from blocks, stores set up inside shipping containers, and sometimes just a random wall or set of walls. I wondered about the walls. He said people will at first build a shack and then they'll slowly build on by adding a wall at a time and then eventually putting on a roof. But, they're people who have very little money so it takes time to build and that's why you'll see these really random looking walls beside the shacks.

I flipped through my pictures from Langa, a township in the Cape Town area and found a shot of some smaller tin homes next to houses:

Langa doesn't look slummy; it's a poor area but really a fairly tidy, functioning community. The thing that interested me the most was the fact that it's pretty much an island unto itself, according to the man who took us on a tour through the township. Some people leave to work jobs in the city but you can do all of your shopping, get a haircut, order phone service, and go to school, etc., within the township. It's a necessity for the township to function that way because not everyone has access or the money to afford transportation to the big city, which in this case was Cape Town. That reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from Born a Crime:

People always lecture the poor: "Take responsibility for yourself! Make something of yourself!" But with what raw materials are the poor to make something of themselves?

People love to say, "Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he'll eat for a lifetime." What they don't say is, "And it would be nice if you gave him a fishing rod."

~from p. 190 of Born a Crime

Highly recommended - One of my top 5 memoirs of all time. I need to find a copy of this book on audio because I've heard it's even better hearing it read by Noah. It would definitely be helpful to hear some of the African words pronounced. A wonderful true story of life as an outsider in his own country, life during Apartheid and after, life as a poor person who learned that humor makes anything bearable. I just can't say enough positive things about this book.

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar

The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar is a book that I reread to familiarize myself with the story before moving on to The Secrets Between Us, the follow-up by the same author. Because I read The Space Between Us in 2006, just before I began blogging, I've never reviewed it anywhere beyond the website for HarperCollins' long-defunct First Look program, so I'm unable to link back to my thoughts at the time I first read it.

The Space Between Us is the story of Bhima and her relationship to her employer, Sera Dubash. Bhima has been working for Sera for 30 years. During that time, she has helped raise Sera's children, tended to the bruises inflicted by Sera's cruel husband and helped her through his death, cooked, shopped, cleaned. She's been a part of Sera's life and Sera has treated her well, yet looked down at Bhima as a resident of a Bombay slum, at the same time. Now, Bhima's granddaughter, Maya, has fallen pregnant. Sera has been paying for Maya's college education as a kindness to Bhima.

As Bhima tends to a granddaughter who is both depressed and suffering from morning sickness, she is often late for work and Sera is gradually becoming frustrated. The Dubash family encourages Bhima to take Maya for an abortion, the only way she can be saved from ruining her chances at finishing her education and hopefully improve her lot in life. While the present dilemma is described, the stories of both women unfold -- their marriages, hardships, and how the two women comforted each other through many crises. But, resentment is growing on both sides and when Bhima makes a shocking discovery, what will happen?

Highly recommended - Masterful storytelling. When I started reading The Space Between Us for the second time, I remembered more the feeling of the book than the story itself. I knew it had left me moved and uplifted, but beyond that I didn't remember a thing apart from where it was set and the fact that the main character had a rough life. So, I wasn't sure what to expect at all. Bhima's story is a tale of someone whose life gradually falls apart. She didn't begin her marriage in the slums and it's hard reading about the family's downfall. But, it ends on a glorious, hopeful note.

I think the most outstanding thing about The Space Between Us is the power of its shifting perspectives and the use of memories. Umrigar unfolds the two women's stories brilliantly, taking you back and forth in time to show their unfolding stories so seamlessly that you never get the sensation that you're leaping back and forth so much as the impression that the colors and dimensions of their lives and personalities are being filled in. Wonderful writing and I'm glad I had an excuse to revisit this story.


©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Monday Malarkey

Recent arrivals:

• The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (purchased)
• D-Day: The World War II Invasion That Changed History by Deborah Hopkinson,
• The Grand Escape by Neal Bascomb, and 
• Unpunished Murder: Massacre at Colfax and the Quest for Justice by Lawrence Goldstone - all from Scholastic 
• Buttermilk Graffitti by Edward Lee,
• The Other Woman by Sandie Jones, and 
• How to Walk Away by Katherine Center, all from my delightful friend, Paula

This always happens. I declare myself budget-conscious and ARC-avoiding and a pile shows up. Yes, I'm laughing. At least I only bought one book (although, actually, there's another on the way). The three books from Scholastic were totally unexpected but I'm pretty sure I signed up to read them via Shelf Awareness. I just didn't know if anything would show up, as is often the case with SA. To be honest, it's been very difficult keeping my hands off those three -- especially D-Day. I may just have to read early and pre-post my reviews (they're late August releases). The other three books are ARCs that my friend Paula got duplicates of, as I recall. I completely forgot they were coming, even after she reminded me.


Books finished since last Malarkey:

• All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold and Suzanne Kaufman
• Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
• The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar 

The latter two books were both rereads. Once again, I missed book group due to rain, but I enjoyed rereading Born a Crime immensely. It's such a terrific book and a great learning experience about Apartheid, the concept of "divide and conquer" and how it can be used to turn people against each other so that those in a minority can grab political power, and the amazing power of humor in difficulty. I could not be more impressed with Trevor Noah and his mother.

I just finished The Space Between Us, last night, and went straight into the reading of its follow-up, The Secrets Between Us. I thought I'd need a break between the two but instead I wanted to keep reading to see what will happen to Bhima and Maya, an elderly woman and her granddaughter who live in a Bombay slum. The Space Between Us has the most beautiful ending. It's a harsh book but I can see why -- even after forgetting the details of Bhima's story completely -- I still had a little warm corner of my heart that remembered the feeling the book left me with.


Currently reading:

• The Secrets Between Us by Thrity Umrigar 
• Nightbooks by J. A. White

So far, so good on The Secrets Between Us. It picked up right where The Space Between Us left off and then jumped forward by a year.

Nightbooks appears to be a middle grade story and it has a nice, creepy beginning. I only read one chapter before my eyes became heavy (after finishing The Space Between Us and reading about 40 pages of The Secrets Between Us) but I'm looking forward to reading more, tonight.


Last week's posts:

• Bring Me Back by B. A. Paris (book review)
• Bi-annual reading update (list and favorites with links)
• All Are Welcome by A. Penfold and S. Kaufman (book review)
• Fiona Friday - Comfort kitty (cat photo)

Last week was a great blogging week because I was able to get everything pre-posted and then just put up links at Facebook and Twitter, each day, and walk away. That works so much better for me than getting up in the morning to write each day's posts, but I don't always get around to pre-posting.


In other news:

Huzzybuns was away on business, last week, so I just guessed at which show he was least likely to care about missing out on if I went ahead and watched it and I settled on Our Girl (it turns out I was correct -- he felt no attachment to the show and didn't mind that I watched without him). I finished the entire first season and thought they did an excellent job of wrapping up Molly's story. If the actress who played Molly had chosen to return, it would have worked fine. But, the fact that she was unable to continue the series meant an entirely new starring role. Georgie Lane is now our girl and it took a while to warm up to her. You don't get to know her backstory -- why she joined the army, that is -- the way you do with Molly Dawes. But, the first episode was a two-part episode in which she was kidnapped by the bad guys and that served to introduce her as the new, plucky, resourceful, and tough replacement that one would hope for. I'm looking forward to more, this week.

That's really the only thing I watched and I kind of binged on Our Girl, on a day when I had a migraine, it was raining, and I knew I was going to miss my book group so I was feeling gloomy. I'm not a big binge-watcher, but it's nice to do that, now and then, when you need to put your head in a different place to get over yourself.


©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Fiona Friday - Comfort kitty

I took this picture of Isabel on a day when I was in a terrible mood. I was cleaning house, doing laundry, tidying corners. Wherever I sat down to work, she curled up nearby and every time she settled near me I felt just a little bit better. Cats are the best.

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold and Suzanne Kaufman

Pencils sharpened in their case.

Bells are ringing, let's make haste.

School's beginning, dreams to chase.

All are welcome here. 

All Are Welcome is a cute rhyming book that takes place at a school and shows the children arriving, doing their everyday schoolwork, going to lunch, playing on the playground, being read to, drawing, raising their hands to be called on, playing musical instruments, etc. Each verse ends with, "All are welcome here," and the characters portrayed show a vast diversity, as you can see from the cover image.

This is one of my favorite spreads (you should be able to click on the image to enlarge it):

The inside of the book jacket is also a poster that says "All are welcome here" and shows a diverse range of children holding hands, great for classroom use.

Recommended - A lovely story about embracing diversity with bright, cheerful illustrations that show happy children enjoying learning. I love it!

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Bi-annual reading update

January:

1. Saving Tarboo Creek - Scott Freeman and Susan Leopold Freeman
2. Forty Autumns - Nina Willner
3. The Bones of Grace - Tahmima Anam
4. Braving the Wilderness - Brené Brown
5. The Dry - Jane Harper
6. Milk and Honey - Rupi Kaur
7. If This Isn't Nice, What Is? - Kurt Vonnegut
8. A Nest for Celeste - Henry Cole
9. Another Quest for Celeste - Henry Cole
10. Bagel in Love - Natasha Wing and Helen Dardik
11. Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
12. The Wife Between Us - Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
13. The Radium Girls - Kate Moore
14. Nature's Lullaby Fills the Night - Dee Leone and Bali Engel
15. A Couch for Llama - Leah Gilbert
16. Artemis - Andy Weir
17. Force of Nature - Jane Harper

February:

18. Down and Across - Arvin Ahmadi
19. Al Franken, Giant of the Senate - Al Franken
20. The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas
21. Being Mortal - Atul Gawande
22. Only Killers and Thieves - Paul Howarth
23. I Am the Boss of this Chair - Carolyn Crimi and Marisa Morea
24. The Statue and the Fury - Jim Dees
25. Our Native Bees - Paige Embry

March:

26. The Brontë Sisters - Catherine Reef
27. Black Fortunes - Shomari Wills
28. Nothing Left to Burn - Heather Ezell
29. The Broken Girls - Simone St. James
30. Orphan Monster Spy - Matt Killeen
31. The Saboteur - Paul Nix
32. The Woman Next Door - Yewande Omotoso
33. Supergifted - Gordon Korman
34. Good Behavior - Blake Crouch
35. Bus! Stop! - James Yang
36. Up in the Leaves - Shira Boss and Jamey Christoph
37. Gloria's Voice - Aura Lewis

April:

38. Princesses Behaving Badly - Linda Rodriguez McRobbie
39. The Not-So-Boring Letters of Private Nobody - Matthew Landis
40. Look for Her - Emily Winslow
41. Rocket Men - Robert Kurson
42. If You Come Softly - Jacqueline Woodson
43. Sleep Train - Jonathan London and Lauren Eldridge
44. But the Bear Came Back - Tammi Sauer and Dan Taylor
45. Albie Newton - Josh Funk and Ester Garay
46. How to Forget a Duke - Vivienne Lorret
47. Lincoln in the Bardo - George Saunders
48. Isosceles' Day - Kevin Meehan
49. Tin Man - Sarah Winman
50. Warren the 13th and The Whispering Woods - Tania del Rio and Will Staehle
51. The Reckless Rescue (The Explorers #2) - Adrienne Kress
52. Daddies Do - Lezlie Evans and Elisa Ferro
53. Boots on the Ground - Elizabeth Partridge

May:

54. Mad Boy - Nick Arvin
55. The Endless Beach - Jenny Colgan
56. Obscura - Joe Hart
57. Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng
58. Out of Left Field - Ellen Klages
59. Letters to my Palestinian Neighbor - Yossi Klein Halevi
60. The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik - David Arnold
61. The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers (and Their Muses) - Terri-Lynne DeFino

June:

62. Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes
63. Hollywood Beach Beauties - David Wills
64. Goodbye, Sweet Girl - Kelly Sundberg
65. Nadya Skylung and the Cloudship Rescue - Jeff Seymour
66. As You Wish - Cary Elwes and Joe Layden
67. Siracusa - Delia Ephron
68. Abridged Classics - John Atkinson
69. Wed Wabbit - Lissa Evans

I'm usually pretty awful at doing the end-of-year round-ups, these days, so I decided to do a 6-month wrap-up, instead -- and, hopefully, I'll also do this at the end of the year. As of this point in time, I've written at least a line or two about every book except Don Quixote and Wed Wabbit, so you can click on the links to see either my reviews or a short description in a monthly reads-in-review post, depending upon whether or not I reviewed them.

My goal in the Goodreads Reading Challenge for 2018 is 100 books so every book is a percentage point and that means I finished 69% of the books I've challenged myself to read this year, by the end of June. Admittedly, I did set the goal line deliberately low. My average tends to fall around 125 books in a year with a peak of 202 in 2009. Roger Ebert actually tweeted a link to my complete "Books Read" list when I posted the 2009 list in 2010, so it was a peak in more ways than one.

As to the first half of 2018, I think it's been pretty terrific, in general. Because I devoted several months to Don Quixote, I've only read two classics in 2018: the other is Flowers for Algernon. Both were marvelous in entirely different ways. I was both depressed and impressed by Flowers for Algernon. I was alternately entertained, horrified, bogged down and delighted by Don Quixote.

Some favorites: 

• The Dry and Force of Nature by Jane Harper are my favorite mysteries. 
• Forty Autumns by Nina Willner, Saving Tarboo Creek by Freeman and Freeman, Al Franken, Giant of the Senate by Al Franken, Our Native Bees by Paige Embry, The Saboteur by Paul Nix, Being Mortal by Atul Gawande, Rocket Men by Robert Kurson, Boots on the Ground by Elizabeth Partridge (a children's book), and As You Wish by Cary Elwes are favorite nonfiction titles.
• Nature's Lullaby Fills the Night by Leone and Engel, A Couch for Llama by Leah Gilbert, The Brontë Sisters by Catherine Reef, Orphan Monster Spy by Matt Killeen, Bus! Stop! by James Yang, Up in the Leaves by Boss and Christoph, The Not-so-Boring Letters of Private Nobody by Matthew Landis, If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson, and Wed Wabbit are favorite children's books (for a variety of ages, from preschool through YA). 
• Some other fiction favorites (again, a variety) are Artemis by Andy Weir, The Broken Girls by Simone St. James, The Woman Next Door by Yewande Omotoso, Tin Man by Sarah Winman, Mad Boy by Nick Arvin, and Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng.

Of all those books, the ones I seem to think about the most are Mad Boy by Nick Arvin, Tin Man by Sarah Winman, The Saboteur by Paul Nix, Being Mortal by Atul Gawande, and Al Franken, Giant of the Senate -- all for different reasons. Mad Boy was unique, made me smile and cringe, and I would say definitely is my favorite of 2018, so far. Tin Man had a character who was a little obsessed with Vincent Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" series and I keep seeing references to those paintings that take me back to the book. I learned about the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in The Saboteur and it was frequently mentioned in Foyle's War. Being Mortal keeps coming to mind because I've been thinking about the future and how we'll handle both retirement and end-of-life decisions, one day. And, I just loved Al Franken, Giant of the Senate. 

A good first half of the year, I think. Onward!

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Bring Me Back by B. A. Paris

Brace yourself for something rare. I finished a book I confess I should have abandoned. That doesn't happen often!

Bring Me Back is the story of Finn, a man whose girlfriend disappeared at a rest stop in France 12 years before the book begins. Layla was in the car when he left; when he returned she was gone and so were two of the other vehicles that were parked when they arrived at the rest stop. Was she kidnapped or did she run away? No sign of her has been found.

Now engaged to her sister, Ellen, Finn is disturbed when a former police officer who became his friend phones to say that the elderly man who lives next door to the old cottage Finn and Layla shared, which has been locked up since a short time after her disappearance, has spotted Layla. Then, small Matryoshka dolls start showing up in places that Finn and Ellen will easily find them. Finn and Ellen both know the meaning of the dolls. Finally, Finn begins to receive emails asking about his cottage in Devon and then clues about Layla after Finn realizes the emails are too much of a coincidence and questions the sender. What's going on? Is Layla alive? If so, why doesn't she just show up instead of dropping hints? Is it her kidnapper toying with Finn? Or, could the emails be the job of an ex-girlfriend of Finn's, now that he's engaged to Ellen?

Not recommended - I gave this book 3 stars and I'm rethinking that rating. Midway through the book, I considered abandoning it. It had become repetitive -- another doll found, another email, the sender is off his or her rocker. Finn theorizes, Finn walks back his theories after eliminating people from the suspect list, another doll is found, and another and another and another. I found it less compelling than exhausting. And, the ending was simply impossible to buy.

Would I read this author again? Oddly, yes, but only if the book comes highly recommended. I was quickly immersed in the story, even if I later decided it wasn't going anywhere and the ending was implausible. I've heard B. A. Paris's first book was excellent. If I do ever read it, I'll check it out from the library. I would definitely give her a second chance. But, I just don't feel like Bring Me Back was worth the time I spent on it.

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Monday Malarkey

Recent arrivals:

• Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers by Sara Ackerman (purchased)

Only one arrival, this week. I'm on a strict budget (thanks to needing to replace our deck) and also not requesting many books, right now, so there may very well be a dearth of arrivals in the near future. If so, this is a good thing. I'm completely surrounded by books. I trip over them, my cats knock them off tables. It's ridiculous. I really need to not acquire (like that's going to happen). OK, I need to try hard not to acquire. Anyway, I gave in to temptation after Sara Ackerman made a guest visit to a Facebook book group I'm in. I was intrigued by what she had to say about her book, its setting, and her inspiration. Plus, it's WWII and you know my weakness for anything set during WWII, right?


Books finished since last Malarkey:

• Who Was George Washington Carver? by Jim Gigliotti
• Bring Me Back by B. A. Paris
• Who Was Genghis Khan? by Nico Medina

Currently reading:

• Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
• The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar

Both books are rereads. I'm rereading Born a Crime for F2F discussion. The Space Between Us I'm rereading to jog my memory because it's been 12 years since I read it (pre-blog); I decided I needed to reread it before moving on to the new follow-up book. My copy of The Space Between Us is one of the few ARCs from the HarperCollins First Look program that I hung onto because I loved it too much to part with it. 

New "Current Reads" policy: I will only mention the books I've read during the past week. If I've got a bookmark in other books but didn't touch them, I'll just skip mentioning them till I've actually read a few pages. It doesn't bother me a bit that some books sit idle for weeks and end up taking me a month or more to read because I set them aside for lengthy periods of time, but I do get weary of mentioning them when I haven't read a single page during the previous week. 

Last week's posts:

• The Lost Family by Jenna Blum (book review)
• Between You and Me by Susan Wiggs (book review)
• Fiona Fursday (cat photo)
• Who Was George Washington Carver? by Jim Gigliotti and Who Was Genghis Khan? by Nico Medina (book reviews and companion TV series review)

In other news:

We finished Foyle's War! I'm sad to be done with it, but we've found a couple other things to watch. Besides Our Girl, we started from the beginning of Doc Martin. The original two movies that inspired the series caught us a little off-guard as we had no idea there were any such movies and at first thought we were watching a pilot episode.

We watched both movies and will probably alternate between Our Girl and the Doc Martin series. Next up should be the pilot to the series, which I can't recall seeing, although Huzzybuns is certain that he's viewed it and I probably have, too. We've seen about 4 seasons of Doc Martin but not necessarily all in order because it used to be shown at an awkward hour -- something like 9PM on a Friday night.

And, this week I joined The Open Canon Book Club (click on the name to go to the site describing it), a new book club created by author Wiley Cash for the purpose of reading diverse American voices. The Birds of Opulence by Crystal Wilkinson is the first selection. A number of North Carolina bookshops (and one in South Carolina) are offering a discount on the selections to members of the group -- you can find out all about it by clicking the link.


©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Who Was George Washington Carver? by Jim Gigliotti and Who Was Genghis Khan? by Nico Medina

First an explanation of this tour: The WhoHQ Blog Tour is a review of the books in a children's biography series, now with a companion show called The Who Was? Show on Netflix. I'll describe the books, first, and then the episodes I viewed and how they portrayed the content of the books.

I've always thought of George Washington Carver as "The peanut butter guy," because he's often falsely described as the inventor of peanut butter. Who Was George Washington Carver? by Jim Gigliotti will open your eyes to the real story of George Washington Carver, and it's a doozy. Born a slave, taken in by his owners and educated, taught to care for plants and animals and do chores like laundry and sewing, even as a child he was known as a bit of a miracle worker with plants.

He had a burning desire to learn, a sharp mind, and a willingness to work hard to get the education he desired. A scientist, inventor, business owner, and educator, George Washington Carver was an amazing man who dedicated his inventions, his writings, and business ventures to improving the lives of people.

All this and more is in Who Was George Washington Carver? At 105 pages, the book is slim but Gigliotti packed a lot of information between its covers and with a stunning clarity. I was impressed by how much I learned from this little book. Gigliotti gives you a thorough overview of Carver's life and the illustrations add an extra dimension, with images of the places he lived and worked, maps, inventions, and people who were important to him.

Who Was Genghis Khan? by Nico Medina had the same effect on me that Who Was George Washington Carver? had - mind boggled at how much I learned in such a short time. I think I'd just thought of him as some legendary conqueror who went around slaughtering people for the spoils, and that was that. Instead, I learned that by invading other Mongolian tribes on the Steppe, he not only united a people but created a decent society out of one that was formerly a bunch of tribes who invaded each other whenever they needed something.

He introduced wealth sharing and a delay in hunting so that animals had time to grow, allowed freedom of religion, created a written language and a postal service . . . all sorts of things that we might consider modern or progressive were introduced by Genghis Khan.Who Was Genghis Khan? is a single page longer than the bio of George Washington Carver, so they really cram a lot of information between their covers. I didn't know, for example, that Genghis Khan never allowed anyone to paint his portrait or represent him in any other way. So, we have no idea what he looked like; we can only guess based on how other Mongolians looked.

Both highly recommended - I received both of these books for review and I only wish they'd sent me the entire series. The Who Was? series is a great way to introduce children to a variety of important historical characters.

Netflix has a show that serves as a companion to the Who Was? book series called The Who Was? Show and I watched the episode that describes George Washington Carver and Genghis Khan. I admit, I was a little stunned to find it so goofy. I wasn't entirely sure I found it all that educational, either. So, I watched another episode (Pablo Picasso and the Wright Brothers). This time, my husband sat down and watched with me. It was a lot more palatable the second time. Young actors dress up as the characters. They dance, they sing, they tell jokes, and they act out scenes from the lives of the famous characters. Sometimes, they'll show a brief cartoon or have a cartoon character interact with the humans. Point being, I was looking at it all wrong, at first. I was watching from the perspective of an adult who had read the books and was expecting all that information to be crammed into an episode. But, it's geared to kids, of course, and once you know what to expect, it's great.

Watching an episode that was about characters whose biographies I had not read really gave me a good perspective of how much information they managed to impart. Husband also reminded me that our kids watched something similar when they were young: Beekman's World, a science show that was goofy but informative. I didn't remember the fact that it had a huge rat character; I do recall the kids loved it, though, and that's what counts.

Bottom line - I recommend the series, but I'd suggest watching an episode before you read the book, if you plan to do both. Either way, they're both informative. But, the books go into a great deal more detail, of course.


Fiona Friday was moved to Thursday, this week, due to today's book tour: Fiona Fursday

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Fiona Fursday

Fiona Friday has been moved to today because I have a book tour, tomorrow. Here she is, in a lovable mood, getting neck rubbings.

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Between You and Me by Susan Wiggs

Caleb Stoltz is Amish. Although he once lived in the English world, he was called back when tragedy struck, his world rocked. Before his brother died, John asked for his two children to be raised Amish. More than anything, he wanted them to share his faith. Since then, Caleb has lived at home, raising his niece and nephew, Hannah and Jonah.

Reese Powell is a medical student whose parents are both physicians. For her entire life she's been groomed to become a pediatric surgeon so that she can add another dimension to her parents' medical practice. But, now that the Match to a residency program is upon her, Reese is having second thoughts about pediatric surgery, instead thinking she would enjoy the challenge of a medical specialty that draws on a wider variety of skills.

When Jonah is severely injured, Reese is on rotation in the Emergency Room at a Philadelphia hospital as the young boy arrives. His injury is severe and Reese is both drawn to Caleb and feels an unusual urge to help him because he appears so lost in her world. As Jonah begins his lengthy recovery and Caleb remains nearby, Reese gets to know him and falls for him. But, both are aware that their worlds clash and that being together may be impossible.

Between You and Me is an unusual read for me, since I don't often read romance and I've actively avoided books with Amish characters for quite some time. I read a few, maybe 10 years or so ago, and grew tired of them pretty quickly. This particular story isn't set entirely on Amish land, though. It's about the tension between the two worlds and two people who are both unsatisfied with their lives and yet feel compelled to continue on their chosen paths. Because it's clearly a romance, you can guess how it ends; it's the path to that ending that is interesting. How will the two characters work out their differences? Will both of them change their course? One of them? How will medical and legal complications, as well as a persistent family problem, effect the outcome?

Highly recommended to hopeless romantics - A sweet love story with likable characters, a number of dilemmas, and a heartwarming ending. I closed Between You and Me with happy tears in my eyes. While the prose isn't particularly brilliant, the characters are lovely, the dilemmas realistic. The "secret" noted on the cover is kind of dubious. I mean, I know what it is but I don't think it's as important to the plot as the fact that the two characters live in such different worlds and that secret may impact whether or not they will end up together. Just a lovely story.


©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Lost Family by Jenna Blum

The Lost Family is the story of Peter Rashkin, a man who survived Auschwitz but lost his entire family, with the exception of a cousin and his wife who were already living in America. After the war, Peter came to live in New York and he's been there for some time at the beginning of the story. The book begins in the 1960s. Peter's restaurant, Masha's, is well-established and known as a desirable place to dine. His restaurant is his life and while he has dated, Peter keeps women at arms length until he meets June Bouquet, a model who looks a lot like Twiggy and who is young enough that she doesn't show the usual interest in his past life.

When June becomes pregnant, they marry. But, Peter is wounded by his past and is unable or unwilling to be present with his wife and daughter, just as distant with them as he is with everyone else. Eventually, his inability to open up to his family causes tremendous pain to both his wife and daughter.

I like this paragraph from the cover blurb:

Jenna Blum artfully brings to the page a husband devastated by a grief he cannot name, a frustrated wife struggling to compete with a ghost she cannot banish, and a daughter sensitive to the pain of both her own family and another lost before she was born. Spanning three cinematic decades, The Lost Family is a charming, funny, and elegantly bittersweet study of the repercussions of loss and love. 

My thoughts:

I have mixed feelings about The Lost Family. Jenna Blum's writing is excellent -- so much so that even during the times I really wasn't enjoying the story, I found it compelling enough to keep going. That's pretty unusual. The theme of the book is clearly that the pain of such an agonizing loss can be impossible for some people to conquer and its effects reverberate through one's relationships. I won't give away what form the pain takes for June and for their daughter, Elsbeth, but I'm going to hint at how June's frustrations manifest by telling you my least favorite thing about the book and that is the sheer quantity of sex scenes. As anyone who regularly reads my blog will know, I'm okay with graphic sex if it forwards the plot. I didn't feel like the detail was necessary, in this case, so The Lost Family is not a favorite because of the amount of time spent delving into June's sex life, in my humble opinion.

So, it's odd that I never once even thought about abandoning the book, even when the storyline didn't interest me. I think it was all down to two things: I understood what the author was trying to say, even when I didn't enjoy how the story unfolded, and Jenna Blum's writing simply flowed beautifully. I just never felt like there was a time I wasn't compelled to find out what was going to happen. Plus, I liked Peter. Distant as he was, I cared about him. June, not so much. I began to dislike her near the beginning of the second section, which takes place in the 1970s, and by the third section I loathed her.

Recommended but not a favorite - If you're interested in reading a story about the kind of lasting pain caused by tragedy (told across three decades) and you don't mind a lot of fairly graphic sex scenes, this may be the story for you. For me . . . not so much. I liked how The Lost Family ended and I really liked Jenna Blum's writing but I was disappointed, in general. Having fallen in love with her writing, though, I can't wait to read her other books. I've had Those Who Save Us sitting on one of my WWII shelves since a couple years after it came out and I have a copy of The Stormchasers, as well. My distaste for June's behavior and the description of how June shows her pain is what I disliked about The Lost Family. I liked the rest, so I gave it an above-average rating.

Note: I completely forgot to mention that I thought the time and places were incredibly well-described. Sometimes I express myself better in fewer words when I talk to friends or post on FB. Here's what I said when posting a link at Facebook:

Loved the writing, often disliked where the storyline went, but understood the purpose and *high five* to meaning. I neglected to mention the perfection of the settings, which made the reading feel a bit like time travel.

A stand-out passage: I marked p. 122 of The Lost Family (Advance Reader Copy) because there's a rant by Peter that I found particularly fascinating, about how Hitler lied and blamed the Jews for all of Germany's problems, economic woes in particular. Substitute "Trump" for Hitler and "immigrants" for Jews and it's kind of startling . . . it sounds way too close to what's happening right now.  It's no coincidence that Jenna Blum has been sounding the alarm about the parallels between Germany in the 1930s and what's happened since this new administration began in the U.S., for the past couple of years. She interviewed many Holocaust survivors, researched fascism, and studied WWII. She's worth listening to and I'm certain there was a purpose to that particular rant, as well as the theme of the story.

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Monday Malarkey

Happy Monday! I've got two stacks of arrivals, this week, thanks to our trip to Tulsa just before the 4th of July. I took a bag of books for swapping and came home with a small stack. But, first the regular arrivals.

Recent arrivals, clockwise from top left: 

• All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold and Suzanne Kaufman - from Random House Children's Books for book tour
• There There by Tommy Orange - purchased
• Who Was Genghis Khan? by Nico Medina and Andrew Thomson and
• Who Was George Washington Carver? by Jim Gigliotti and Stephen Marchesi, both from Penguin Workshop for tour

The latter two books are companions to a Netflix series. There, There (or There There -- I'm unsure about punctuation or lack thereof) is one of the books I ordered from Book Depository, a few weeks ago. One more should be arriving soon.

Books acquired at Gardner's Used Books and Music in Tulsa with credit (and some cash), top to bottom:

• The End of the Battle by Evelyn Waugh
• Officers and Gentleman by Evelyn Waugh
• North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
• Without My Cloak by Kate O'Brien
• Saraband by Eliot Bliss
• Where Angels Fear to Tread by E. M. Forster
• Assault in Norway by Thomas Gallagher

Not pictured:

• Six Weeks in the Sioux Tepees: A Narrative of Captivity by Sarah F. Wakefield 

I've had a copy of Evelyn Waugh's Men at Arms for eons. Haven't read it, but now that I've got the full set I can read all three back-to-back if I choose, when I get to them, provided this series works for me. I loved Brideshead Revisited and a couple other Waugh books, but there's been at least one that I've attempted 2 or 3 times and never managed to get through.

I'm pretty sure I've never read Elizabeth Gaskell and I haven't seen the North and South mini-series, which is suprising given my love for British television. The next three books are Virago classics and of those three, the one I would have happily kept reading on the day I sat in a chair and paged through the books to see if they interested me, Saraband most thoroughly sucked me in. I just reread the first page and I'm tempted to find a soft spot with a lamp and hide.

Assault in Norway is a WWII tale about "sabotaging the Nazi nuclear program" (that's the subtitle, actually). I always glance at the WWII section in history to see if there's anything interesting and I believe that one caught my eye because of Foyle's War. I'm not positive, but I think Norway is where Paul Milner (Foyle's second in command) was injured and I'm pretty sure I haven't yet read anything about Norway's part in WWII.


Books finished since last Malarkey:

• Between You and Me by Susan Wiggs

I only finished a single book primarily because I was sleeping well, last week (once I returned home). Since I read at bedtime, if I fall asleep easily it usually means less reading and that was the case -- which means I need to head to bed earlier so I can read more, of course. Between You and Me is a very sweet romance between an "English" doctor and an Amish man. I haven't read a story set in the Amish community for some time, so I'd forgotten that people who live outside the Amish world in America are referred to as English. 

Currently reading:

• Israel/Palestine by Alan Dowty
• What Every Body is Saying by Joe Navarro
• Six Weeks in the Sioux Tepees by Sarah F. Wakefield
• Bring Me Back by B. A. Paris 

The first two have bookmarks in them but I've made no progress on them for a week or more. Six Weeks in the Sioux Tepees is the non-fiction title that has my attention, right now. However, I'm really in a fiction mood and tempted to pick up another fiction title to alternate with Bring Me Back and Six Weeks in the Sioux Tepees.


Last week's posts:

• It's the 4th  (cat photo/holiday wishes)
• June Reads in Review, 2018 (one month's reads in brief)
• Fiona Friday - No videos allowed, Mom (cat photo)

No reviews at all because I was out-of-town part of the week, but hopefully this will be a good week for reviewing. We shall see. There's not much catch-up to be done.


In other news:

We had a delightful surprise, this week. Husband and I had thought we were done with Foyle's War because the 8th season was followed by a number of specials about the series. But, then he paged down and discovered another season entirely. We have one final episode and then we'll definitely be finished.

The Cold War Years episodes are very different from the WWII episodes and often the stories don't feel quite as complete to me, but I'd have been happy if Foyle's War went on forever. It's such a fascinating series and I love the main characters.

As to what we'll watch after that last episode of Foyle's War is over (probably tonight), problem solved! I saw a commercial for Our Girl on BritBox and was intrigued. Husband was not, but I decided to turn on the pilot "for a few minutes" to see if I'd like it, figuring it would be something I'd watch on my own. Molly Dawes is a medic in the series and the pilot shows her chaotic, messy life and how she comes to get tested and go through preliminary and basic training. She's just arrived in Afghanistan at the end of the pilot.

I wasn't sure I was going to like the show, at first, and my delightful spouse was absolutely not interested. But, I never did turn it off, obviously. And, midway through the pilot, Husband put down his phone. It's a compelling story and I liked the growth of Molly during the pilot. When it was over, I asked if he wanted to continue the series or if I should watch it on my own and he said, "We can watch it together." Yippee! There are only two seasons, so I'll have to keep scouting what to watch after that, but I'm excited.

For those who kindly recommended Broadchurch . . . that turned out to be a no go. Husband has watched the first episode and he declared it too violent for his taste. I might someday watch it on my own, but it won't be one we view together.

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Fiona Friday - No videos allowed, Mom

This was one of those days that I couldn't get away with watching video clips. See how there are two images of Seth Meyers? That's because Izzy had already succeeded in hitting the back button and my iPad was flipping to the main Guardian page. Oh, well. It was worth a try. Kitty likes playing with the iPad.

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

June Reads in Review, 2018

June reads (with links to reviews, where applicable):

62. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes - The story of a mad but genteel Spaniard who believes himself to be a knight errant and goes off in search of adventure with his faithful squire, Sancho Panza. Probably the longest classic I've ever read and I'm happy to have finally succeeded at completing the book after 4 attempts. A delightful read but sometimes a bit of a slog because of its wordiness -- particular parts didn't appeal to me, although I loved it overall.

63. Hollywood Beach Beauties by David Wills - A coffee-table style book of bathing beauties (particularly Hollywood stars) from the 1930s to the 1970s, with emphasis on changing fashion. While I wasn't thrilled with the text, I learned a good bit about how bathing suit fashion changed over the decades. I also was fascinated by the changing image of beauty. Early bathing suit models -- starlets from Hollywood -- were often quite short and would be considered fat by today's modeling standards.

64. Goodbye, Sweet Girl by Kelly Sundberg - The memoir of a domestic violence victim who eventually escaped her dangerous marriage. Excellent writing and I thought her story did a great job of showing how violence escalates.

65. Nadya Skylung and the Cloudship Rescue by Jeff Seymour - A middle grade fantasy/adventure story in which it's safer to sail the clouds than to cross the sea or land on the world below. Nadya is a Skylung, a gilled humanoid who tends the plants that fill the cloudship's balloon. When pirates attack and take the adults into captivity, the children who work the cloudship must figure out how to release the craft from a tow line and rescue the adults. Very fun and appears to be the first in a series.

66. As You Wish by Cary Elwes and Joe Layden - A memoir of Cary Elwes' experience behind the scenes in the filming of The Princess Bride, in which he played Westley/The Dread Pirate Roberts. I loved learning not only about the actor's experience but how the script was shelved for many years, how the casting was done and why it finally became a film, and other little tidbits contributed by the director and other actors. A fun read.

67. Siracusa by Delia Ephron - The story of two couples on vacation in Italy, told from four alternating viewpoints. Nobody is particularly nice and something awful happens -- that's about the gist of the storyline. I read this one for F2F discussion but missed due to stormy weather. Although I didn't find the story all that compelling, I enjoyed looking up the sites they visited and opted to finish the book (which I hadn't yet completed by discussion day) after missing the meeting, so I didn't dislike it enough to abandon it.

68. Abridged Classics by John Atkinson - Another coffee-table style book (although small) of literary cartoons to tickle your funny bone in few words. The more accurate they are to the plot, the funnier.

69. Wed Wabbit by Lissa Evans - A middle reader about two sisters, one of whom can't or won't pronounce the letter "r", hence "Wed Wabbit," little Minnie's name for the stuffed maroon rabbit she carries everywhere. When tragedy strikes and big sister Fidge and her cousin Graham are transported into the world of Minnie's favorite book, where Wed Wabbit is the evil bad guy who has taken over the castle and everyone speaks in rhyme, she must figure out how to fight off the bad guys and return to her own world. Yet another brilliant, funny book by Lissa Evans.

I had a single DNF in June: The High Season by Judy Blundell. I put it in the "try again later" file because it wasn't awful; it just wasn't the right book for the moment. Having said that, it has an element of "rich people in the Hamptons in summer" and I've discovered that I'm not really into that particular type of story. Plus, I'd rather read about cold places when it's hot out, not beachy stories. Give me Sweden during a blizzard. Reading about heat while in the midst of it is not an escape for this girl.

The month started off badly. I was falling into a summer slump and I needed to wrap up a chunkster. The week I devoted to finishing up Don Quixote was worth it, but I read fewer books because of both that and the slump. However, I turned to As You Wish when nothing else was grabbing me and Westley/Cary Elwes saved the day. I was charmed and saved from Slumpville, simultaneously. Those two books were among my three favorites; the other was Wed Wabbit. I just adore Lissa Evans' writing.

Nadya Skylung was also loads of fun. And, I liked everything else I read, although the rest were not stand-outs. If I had to pick a least favorite, it would be Siracusa. And, yet, I was interested enough to finish it, so I'm convinced that at least part of the problem with that particular read was timing.

How was your reading month?

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.