My September ’22 Reading Wrap Up

_{During the Great Depression, city-dweller Addie Cowherd dreams of becoming a novelist and offering readers the escape that books had given her during her tragic childhood. When her father loses his job, she is forced to take the only employment she can find—delivering books on horseback to poor coal-mining families in the hills of Kentucky}.

MY REVIEW

The Librarian of Boone’s Hollow was a good, easy read and overall a sweet faith based story. I enjoyed hearing about the Pack Horse Librarian system and the small town feel of Boone’s Hollow. It did feel a little like a Young Adult book, and I think perhaps it’s because it was so easy (not necessarily a bad thing!). As for the Faith content, there was lot’s of scripture / sweet Biblical reminders throughout. (No language or sexual content) 3.5 stars!

_{A refugee of the Great War, Poirot is settling in England near Styles Court, the country estate of his wealthy benefactress, the elderly Emily Inglethorp. When Emily is poisoned and the authorities are baffled, Poirot puts his prodigious sleuthing skills to work.} 

_{Suspects are plentiful, including the victim’s much younger husband, her resentful stepsons, her longtime hired companion, a young family friend working as a nurse, and a London specialist on poisons who just happens to be visiting the nearby village. All of them have secrets they are desperate to keep, but none can outwit Poirot as he navigates the ingenious red herrings and plot twists that earned Agatha Christie her well-deserved reputation as the queen of mystery.}

MY REVIEW

A classic “Who Done It” mystery, kinda like the game “Clue”! I read an Agatha Christie book in high school and didn’t pay attention well enough to enjoy it. I’m so glad I gave her another try because this was such a fun read. I must admit I have a little trouble keeping up with all of the clues and information Hercule Poirot gives along the way, but it didn’t keep me from enjoying the book as a whole. I loved the bits of humor, twists, and how it all gets explained in the end! (No language or sexual content) 4 stars!

_{Fifteen-year-old Lina is a Lithuanian girl living an ordinary life — until Soviet officers invade her home and tear her family apart. Separated from her father and forced onto a crowded train, Lina, her mother, and her young brother make their way to a Siberian work camp, where they are forced to fight for their lives. Lina finds solace in her art, documenting these events by drawing. Risking everything, she imbeds clues in her drawings of their location and secretly passes them along, hoping her drawings will make their way to her father’s prison camp. But will strength, love, and hope be enough for Lina and her family to survive?}

MY REVIEW

I’m letting you know up front that this is not a happy or heartwarming read. It’s real and raw in several places but it’s so, so good. I felt very invested in the characters and their world and I stayed excited about the book the whole time. I LOVE for a Historical Fiction to tug at my emotions, be educational about it’s time period, and bring it’s world to mine by making me feel what the characters feel. This one did that for me. I can’t stop thinking about it and I definitely want to read more by this author! (note: It does have some “light” language and some sexual crudeness from some soldiers.) I’m giving this book 5 stars!

_{Laura Timms spends her childhood in a country hamlet called Lark Rise. An intelligent and enquiring child, she is always attentive to the way of life around her – the lives of a farming community and nature as it transforms through the seasons, their working lives together and their celebrations. Whilst much is to be admired and cherished about her community, when she looks back on it as an adult she doesn’t shy away from describing hardship too. Laura attends the village school and leaves at the age of fourteen to work for the postmistress of the village of Candleford. There her eyes are opened to wider horizons.}

MY REVIEW

I have watched the PBS series of this over and over again, and it is one of my favorite tv series! Because of that I was really anxious to dive into the book, especially since books tend to be better than the shows/movies. But I found that this time that was not the case! I wasn’t expecting this to be written the way that it is, which is more of a historical biography/textbook type of book. I expected it to be dialogue and story lines, like your typical historical fiction read. It reminded me a little of the Little House on the Prairie series, only in a different setting. The main gal is also named “Laura” and it talks about the community/village she has grown up in and their culture. It was cozy in some parts and very interesting to hear about their old ways and their slow, simple living. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get really bored at times. Half of the time I was interested and half of the time I just wasn’t. I should also add that this is a trilogy, and this edition of the book includes all three books. I only read the first book which is jut called “Lark Rise”. I’m sure I’ll get to the other two eventually, but not for a while. 2.5 stars!

_{Savannah Cade is a low-level editor at Pennington Publishing, a prestigious publisher producing only the highest of highbrow titles. She is hiding a secret–she is writing her own Romance Novel. After hiding her manuscript in a secret room at the publishing house, she returns to the room only to discover someone has written notes in the margins–criticizing her novel in progress . Savannah’s first response to the criticism is defensive, but events transpire that force her to admit that she needs the help of this shadowy editor after all. As the notes take a turn for the romantic, and as Savannah’s madcap life gets more complicated than ever, she uses the process of elimination to identify her mysterious editor—only to discover that what she truly wants and what she should want just might not be the same.}

MY REVIEW

This is not typically my genre, but I like to branch out now and again and give things a try. I’d heard that this was pretty clean (I’m not one for sexual reads) and the story premise intrigued me, so I decided to give it a go. (Note: I personally listened to this one as an audiobook!)

Unfortunately, I found that I never ended up connecting with any of the characters well and felt that the author tried too hard to make everything witty/funny. There is a side story about Savannah’s ex being engaged to/in a relationship with her sister that I found to be super weird and off putting. The ending was predictable, but I kept going to give it my best shot. I think someone else might enjoy this book just fine, it just wasn’t the book for me personally. 2.5 stars!

_{In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. He is put to work as a Tätowierer (the German word for tattooist), tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners. Imprisoned for over two and a half years, Lale witnesses horrific atrocities and barbarism—but also incredible acts of bravery and compassion. Risking his own life, he uses his privileged position to exchange jewels and money from murdered Jews for food to keep his fellow prisoners alive. One day in July 1942, Lale, prisoner 32407, comforts a trembling young woman waiting in line to have the number 34902 tattooed onto her arm. Her name is Gita, and in that first encounter, Lale vows to somehow survive the camp and marry her.}

MY REVIEW

I’ve heard numerous raves over this book and I just did not see the hype. I typically love historical fiction and have read so many that I felt like were a thousand times better than this in many ways. This book is based off of a real man and I hate that people truly went through/survived (or didn’t) such horrible things at Auschwitz. Because of that I feel bad to say I didn’t like it. But as a book, the story just wasn’t moving to me. I didn’t connect well with him as a person and found the book’s constant reminding of his “love” for women kinda annoying.

I don’t mind a bit of language in historical books as I feel it can be relevant and true to the time/people, but it felt excessive a lot of times. There was a good bit of vulgar banter as well. (Again, which I can take a bit of–but after a while it’s just as “pleasant” as sitting and listening to a bunch of gross men, which at any time–I’d rather not.)

I just wasn’t invested in Lale or his girl at all and was a little bored. I read over 50% of this but ultimately (and disappointedly) just DNF’ed this one. 1 star.

_{Biltmore House, a palatial mansion being built by the Vanderbilts, American “royalty,” is in its final stages of construction in North Carolina. The country’s grandest example of privilege, it symbolizes the aspirations of its owner and the dreams of a girl, just as driven, who lives in its shadow. Kerry MacGregor’s future is derailed when, after two years in college in New York City, family obligations call her home to the beautiful Appalachians. She is determined to distance herself from the opulence she sees rising in the Blue Ridge Mountains, however close its reach. Her family’s land is among the last pieces required to complete the Biltmore Estate. But something more powerful than an ambitious Vanderbilt heir could change Kerry’s fate as, one by one, more outsiders descend on the changing landscape―a fugitive from Sicily, a reporter chasing a groundbreaking story, a debutante tainted by scandal, and a conservationist prepared to put anyone at risk to stoke the resentment of the locals. As Kerry finds herself caught in a war between wealth and poverty, innocence and corruption, she must navigate not only her own pride and desperation to survive but also the temptations of fortune and the men who control it.}

MY REVIEW

I hate to admit this, and am usually a stickler about reading so many chapters before DNF’ing–but I quit only a few chapters in. Because of that, maybe I’ll give it another try sometime, but it was terribly confusing and not written very well. After reading the reviews of others I found that their thoughts throughout the whole book were the same as mine at the beginning and it confirmed for me that it just wasn’t worth it. I’ve visited the Biltmore before so I thought this would be a neat read but I sadly just couldn’t get into it.