Have You Read Anything Good Lately

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Another month is rapidly coming to a close and I thought I would end the month by sharing my book list from the last few weeks. 21. Lodestar by Shannon Messenger. Book 5 Keeper of the Lost Cities. A silly bit of fiction aimed at tweenagers and written with an excess of both adjectives and adverbs. 22. The Wonderful Garden by Edith Nesbit. A silly bit of children’s fiction that is at least reasonably well written. 23. The Dutch House by Ann Pratchett. Historical Literary Fiction. Set in post-WWII Pennsylvania and NYC. I listened to the audio version of this narrated by Tom Hanks. Wonderful character development. 24. Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly. Historical Fiction A heartrending story of the Rabbits of Ravensbrück. This was an accidental reread for me. The first few pages had me digging through my booklists of the past few years to see that I listened to the audio version in September of 2018. Rereading it was not wasted time. 25. Not So Happily Ever After: The Tale of Ludwig II by Susan Barnett Braun. German History. A visit to Biltmore reminded me of our visit to Neuschwanstein a couple of years ago and that I’d been wanting to dig a little deeper into the Mad King of Bavaria. Interesting read but a little juvenile. 26. Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. Fairytales. A delightful bit of adult fantasy fiction based on Rumplestiltskin but with allusions to a lot of other fairytales, myths, and legends. Very well written. 27. The Rooster Bar by John Grisham. Crime Thriller. I usually enjoy John Grisham. This one was agonizing and I only finished it because I rarely drop a book once I’ve made it a third of the way through. This one, however, was a complete waste of time. 28. Sisi: Empress on Her Own by Alison Pataki. Historical Fiction. An interesting look at a corner of history that I don’t have a particularly good grasp on. I think the book would have been better if it had been shortened somewhat. There were a few too many times when I really wanted to slap some sense into Sisi! 29. His Majesty’s Dragon: a Novel of Temeraire by Naomi Novik. Fantasy. After Spinning Silver I wanted more. This, however, didn’t rise to that level. It is well written, but after chewing my way through most of the Dragon Rider’s of Pern series many, many years ago. I think I’ve had enough of Dragons. 30. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. Historical Fiction. An odd mix of history and fantasy, but an interesting way to cover many aspects of the African-American experience in pre Civil War days. I won’t say I enjoyed it. It wasn’t that kind of book. But definitely a worth read.