*This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.
*This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.
*This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.
*This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.
I was happy to cross a lot of books off my list this month, and I had a very healthy dose of five star books as well as a good mix of genres. Here's the rundown:
Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel - science fiction - five stars - This one has been on my to read list for a while, and I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I loved it. It's a post-apocalyptic story which was published in 2014, so interesting in light of recent events. There has been some sort of pandemic which has led to the collapse of society and loss of the majority of the world's population. In this new world, Kirsten Raymonde is a member of a group of traveling actors/musicians who move from community to community performing. The story bounces between pre- and post-pandemic, weaving together the stories of the characters. I really loved this book, so well written and told. Highly recommend.
When Sleeping Women Wake - Emma Pei Yin - historical fiction - five stars - This book follows the story of three women in Hong Kong during the WWII Japanese occupation. Mingzhu is the first wife of a wealthy family, Biyu is her handmaid from childhood, and Qiang is her daughter. When the Japanese take over, the women are separated, each must survive on her own. The book provided a look into an aspect of WWII that I haven't read about before, and I thought it was quite well done. The characters and storyline are compelling, and there were definitely parts that I did not expect.
Outliers: The Story of Success - Malcolm Gladwell - nonfiction - five stars - This book is a little out of my norm. It's been one that has been recommended/referenced to me for a while now, and I ended up deciding to listen to it on Spotify. Gladwell's premise is that extraordinary people, outliers, aren't actually special, they just put in a lot of effort, and are also the product of fortuitous circumstances. He provides numerous examples of this, and I found the book fascinating. In fact, I made both of my kids listen to specific portions of the book. Excellent read/listen.
The Names - Florence Knapp - fiction - four stars - This was a really interesting concept. It tells the story of a woman and her children in three versions, based on the name she chooses for her son. Her husband is abusive, and in the three versions of the story she makes three choices: 1) names the child Gordon after her husband as he wishes, 2) names the child Julian (her choice), 3) names the child Bear at the suggestion of her daughter. The resulting stories/timelines are vastly different, but all have tragedy and sadness. Really intriguing and interesting read.
The Girls of Good Fortune - Kristina McMorris - historical fiction - four stars - This one was more like three and a half stars rounded up. The story of Celia, who is half Chinese, but passing for white in Portland in the late 1800s. Working for the mayor's family as a maid, she falls in love with the son of the family and ends up pregnant just after he leaves to study in Europe. She's summarily fired and finds work cleaning at a brothel. At the same time, she begins investigating the murder of her father and a group of Chinese gold miners. While I enjoyed the characters, in general it felt like McMorris tried to include too many things in the storyline. Much of it also just seemed unbelievable as well. OK.
Care and Feeding: A Memoir - Laurie Woolever - memoir - three stars - More like two and half stars. Basically, Woolever is not a great person. The parts of the book that covered the work she did for Mario Batali and Anthony Bourdain was interesting, but the parts that were actually about her were not, in fact that make you just not really like her at all, she's a completely unsympathetic individual.
The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto - Mitch Albom - historical fiction - five stars - Another book that I absolutely loved. Frankie Presto is a (fictional) musician that has done it all. The book follows him from the beginning, from his birth during the Spanish revolution, to his escape from Europe during the war, to his musical career. Albom is such a great storyteller, and I love how he wove the story together, especially Frankie's parentage. This reminded me a bit of The100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared in terms of how the book tied in so many historical characters and events. Such a good read.
Dear Miss Lake (The Emmy Lake Chronicles, #4) - AJ Pearce - historical fiction - five stars - The final book in the Emmy Lake series was another great read. In this book, the end of the war is near, and the staff of Woman's Friend relocates to the countryside for the summer to get away from the bombing in London. This book does an excellent job of tying up the characters' stories, and was the perfect way to end the series.
The Goddess of Warsaw - Lisa Barr - historical fiction - three stars - Lena Browning, a famous Hollywood star, is actually Bina Blonski, a Polish Jewish actress whose family was forced into the Warsaw ghetto. Blonski becomes involved in the resistance there, and escapes the ghetto after the war. After becoming famous, Browning/Blonski exacts revenge on Nazis who survived the war. This was another book that just fell off the rails for me in terms of believability. The WWII portion of the story was more like four stars, but the post-war story just too unbelievable bordering on ridiculous, so two starts for that. Meh.
We Solve Murders (We Solve Murders, #1) - Richard Osman - detective - four stars - I listed to most of this on Spotify on the way back from dropping off my daughter at college, and then found out that I only have a certain number of hours per month for audiobooks. Oops. At that point, I really only had a little left to go, so I stopped by the library to pick up the hard copy book and finished it off. I thought this was quite well done. Amy Wheeler is a bodyguard/personal security officer who is being framed for a series of murders. Her father-in-law Steve is an ex-cop who she enlists to help her clear her name and solve they mystery. They are joined by Rosie, a famous writer, who Amy was guarding when everything started to fall apart. This was a fun one. I really loved how Osman pulled together all the many threads of the story, and the characters were quite well done. Definitely going to try another book by this author.
Favorites this month were Outliers and Station Eleven, least favorite was Care and Feeding. What have you been reading?
*This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.
Yesterday my cards featured the die at the top of the photo above, which cuts 12 separate pieces that make up a full circle. Today, I'm mostly using the second additional die which cuts that large curve that goes from one circle to the next.
For my first card, on the right, I alternated those long curves diagonally across the quilt frame using a dark and lighter blue color and used an olive green for the intervening pieces. I also added soft gray circles to the centers of of the pattern.
*This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.
