2017 Reading List February

                                        August Macke (German)  Elizabeth Reading, 1911




The Wright Brothers by David McCullough  (Audiobook) My history lesson for this month. I really enjoy his books and this audiobook was read by the author. great stuff!
Sandra of the Girl Orchestra by Ruby L Radford an antique YA book I am reading for fun. Sandra owns a very special violin and there is a mystery surrounding it. Lots of great period fashions and such.
The Residence by Kate Anderson Brower (library) I really enjoyed this book about the staff of the White House. The author says she was inspired by watching Downton Abbey. If you liked the movie The Butler, this book gives an even more in depth view of all the staff behind the scenes from the White House chefs and Florists to the painters and plummers.
The Book of Small by Emily Carr set in Victoria, BC in the late 1800's. I loved this look at life then through the eyes of a little girl. Similar to Anne of Green Gables in her lust for life and her affinity for getting into trouble. I highly recommend.
Mischling by Affinity Konar (library) The story of twins during the Holocaust who were part of Mengele's "Zoo" very good, but of course it is grueling to read about. Ryan and I are considering a visit to Poland soon with a visit to Auschwitz so this is part of my prep for that trip.
Good As Gone by Amy Gentry (library) ripped from the headlines....a girl returns home.....years after being abducted. Is it really the child they lost? What happened to her all those years away. The family was broken, devestated etc. I saw a really neat documentery about a boy and the one who returned was a scam artist who took advantage of the grieving family. Anyway this book was really interesting and I enjoyed it
Lost in My Own Backyard by Tim Cahill (library) about Yellowstone National Park. A nice overview and can lead you to more books for more in depth info
Mr Churchill's Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal (library) I really enjoyed this one. a fictional account of a girl working in the War Cabinet Rooms for Churchill....if you like Maisie Dobbs and the Lady Georgiana books by Rhys Bowen, then you might like this one too.
The Spy by Paulo Coelho (library) About Mata Hari, I really enjoyed it
Irrepressible, The Jazz Age Life of Henrietta Bingham by Emily Bingham (library) loved this one, it is non-fiction about the life of a woman who was rich and liberated during the Jazz age. She ran around with the Bloomsbury Group in London and had affairs with men and women. The author is the great niece and was intrigued because no one in the family wanted to talk about her great aunt, so she started researching the life of this woman and found many love letters that were the basis of the information in the book.
Escape Clause by John Sandford (library) The latest Virgil Flowers mystery/thriller. Two tigers are stolen from the Minneapolis Zoo and Virgil Flowers has to find them before they are killed for their parts. I am a huge fan.
It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis (library) In light of what is happening in America right now, everyone should read this book. It was written in 1935.
The River at Night by Erica Ferencik (library) A thriller about some women who go on a girls rafting trip into the wilds of Maine. I recommend it
Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty (library) I recently watched the BBC mini series, so of course I HAD to read the book!! the first half is great and the second half gets bogged down with the courtroom scenes. Sort of like when you watch Law and Order. I always enjoy the part with the cops and detectives figuring out the crime, but when they get to the courtroom and have to get into the proof and the defense etc, I get bored. And of course the book is better because you get so much more detail. Descriptions of feelings and the descriptions of place are much more rich in the book, although the mini series does do a good job of it
The Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood (library) another "ripped from the headlines" story of child abduction. I liked it (another British author)
S. by Doug Dorst and J J Abrams okay, this is a weird book/experience. The novel is presented as a story within a story. It is composed of the novel Ship of Theseus by a fictional author, and hand-written notes filling the book's margins as a dialogue between two college students hoping to uncover the author's mysterious identity and the novel's secret plus loose supplementary materials tucked in between pages.

S. has been called "part work of art, literary experiment, and love letter to the physical expression of books."

As someone who loves physical books and hates reading online or on a kindle this book is just wonderful!! The authors intended the book as a physical object, and not just a story. Abrams noted that "to physically hold it is kind of the point." One reviewer called S. an argument for paying extra for a physical book, "a possessor of wonders that cannot be translated into digital bits."

The NewYorker had a neat review of the book and maybe does a better job of explaining it.
NewYorker Review
A Separation by Katie Kitamura (library) A woman's husband goes missing while they are in the midst of a divorce.


Plus another note....I still to this day learn new words by reading! A word used in one of these books this month was coruscating...what the heck...."there's that coruscating smile"  So I had to dig out the dictionary and figure out what coruscating meant. I will save you the google and here ya go:  Coruscation:  cor·us·cat·ed, cor·us·cat·ing, cor·us·cates. 1. To give forth flashes of light; sparkle and glitter: diamonds coruscating in the candlelight. 2. To exhibit sparkling virtuosity: a flutist whose music coruscated throughout the concert hall.

To Be Read:

Jane Steele by Lindsay Faye
The Reserve by Russell Banks
The Dry by Jane Harper
See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt
Into the Water by Paula Hawkins