Ghostwritten by
Isabel Wolff -- I read a couple of her books last year and enjoyed
them. My library only had the 2 so I put a couple more on my Amazon
Wishlist, and I got those for Christmas. Jenni is a ghostwriter and she
especially enjoys delving into people's lives as they write their
memoirs. When asked to write for a client's upcoming 80th birthday,
Jenni returns to a place in Cornwall where she went on holiday as a
child. Something terrible happened and she never went back. As Klara
tells her story of growing up in Java as part of the Dutch colonials who
worked as planters on rubber plantations - and the terrible thing that
happened to her family during World War II (the Japanese took over and
imprisoned them), Jenni confronts her past. This was a good way for me
to learn more about the civilians who were interred in camps during
World War II as evil reigned in the earth.
The Neighbor
by Lisa Gardner -- I'm continuing my crime thriller books this year so
far, it seems. This one also features detective D.D. Warren of the
Boston police department. In this book, newspaper reporter Jason Jones
comes home one night and finds his young wife and middle school teacher,
Sandra, missing. Their 4 year old daughter, Ree, is asleep in her bed,
but Jason swears his wife would never leave their child alone like that.
Of course, Jason is person of interest #1 in his wife's disappearance,
but there is also that neighbor who proactively introduces himself to
Jason knowing he, too, will be suspect. Who really is to blame here?
Marilla of Green Gables
by Sarah McCoy -- Have you ever wondered about Matthew and Marilla
Cuthbert, the siblings made famous by author Lucy Maud Montgomery in her
Anne of Green Gables series? This author takes us back to when Marilla
was a young teen growing up in Avonlea, her friendship with Rachel and
John Blythe, her relationships with her parents and the community. A
rather cute book.
Find Her
by Lisa Gardner -- I believe the first book I read by this author
featured vigilante Flora Dane. This book tells her story; of how she was
kidnapped and held for over 400 days, and how later this influenced her
to find other lost women. This book also features Sergeant Detective
D.D. Warren as she and her Boston PD look for a couple of missing girls
in the area.
The Girl I Used to Be
by Mary Torjussen -- A good find on the New Books shelf at the local
library; Gemma owns her own real estate agency somewhere in England, and
happens to meet up with a client at a conference several miles away.
She drinks too much and ends up forgetting what exactly happened to her
while there. A few weeks later, she starts receiving photos and messages
and videos which frighten her. Tied into this are issues from 15 years
ago when she was at a graduation party, got drunk, and fell asleep on
her hostess's bed while waiting for her friend. A good book, and one
that made me thankful that I don't drink alcohol or use mind-controlling
substances.
The Romantic by
Barbara Gowdy -- After her mom leaves, Louise is attracted to the
Richter family. More specifically she wants to be part of it, and have
Mrs. Richter love her. Later her attention shifts to Abel, the adopted
son who is about her age. This book is part present day, part way back,
and part what happened to her and Abel's friendship over the last years.
An OK book.
Dear Mrs. Bird
by AJ Pearce -- I found this on the New Books shelf the other day, and
wasn't sure when I first started reading it because I found the Random
Capitalized Words throughout the sentences to be a bit Distracting. But I
soon got (mostly) used to that, and started enjoying the story of
Emmeline (Em or Emmy) and her flatmate Marigold (who goes by Bunty) in
London during World War II. Emmy has dreams of being a war
correspondent, and thinks she is on her way there when she answers an ad
for what she believes is a local newspaper. Ends up being the Woman's Friend magazine division and she's tasked with screening letters for the advice column. This was a rather cute book.
River Bodies
by Karen Katchur -- This "thriller" was on the New Books shelf so I
decided to give it a try. It was just OK; nothing terrible, but not
great either. Becca notices suspicious activity from a relative of sorts
as she jogs along the river trail one day. When she returns home
(across the Delaware River to the Pennsylvania side), she learns of a
body in the river. Not only had the man been shot, but he was gutted
like a hunter does to animals. A bit of a mystery, but nothing too
thrilling.
Love You More
Lisa Gardner -- Since I've read most of these books out of order, I was
glad to finally read the story of Tessa Leoni since it was mentioned in
other books I've read. Now I know why she was accused of murdering her
own husband, and the story behind her six-year-old daughter going
missing.
Our Little Secret
by Roz Nay -- This book was a fast read, and pretty good although I
didn't really like the main character ... which was probably the point.
Angela is picked up and questioned for the disappearance of her high
school boyfriend's wife, an Australian named Saskia. HP - the former
boyfriend whose name is Hamish Parker if you wondered what the HP stood
for - and Saskia had invited Angela to stay with them for a few weeks at
one point. Such a weird relationship. But anyway, Angela is telling her
story to the Detective throughout this book. It was ..different.
Becoming by Michelle Obama
On my November books post I noted this:
Note to self: put Becoming on hold -- 16th in line as of November 14, 2018; I want to see how long it takes me to get it from the library
And
on January 14, 2019, I got the email that it was my turn to pick up
this book from the library. I had noted just a day or two before that I
was 4th in line, and wondered how I had jumped to ON HOLD status so
quickly. Turns out my library system has 7 copies of Mrs. Obama's book.
That's how!
Kind of neat to be reading
Mrs. Obama's memoir on the day she turned 55. We were on our way to the
beach on January 16th, and I was curious how old she was and Google
informed me that her birthday was January 17th - the next day. I read
her book while sitting on the beach and in the car on the way and back
from the beach, and both nights when we were in our room. I did other
stuff at the beach, of course, but it's darker earlier this time of year
so while Andrew enjoyed cable TV channels, I read. And I read parts of
it to Andrew. We were both amazed and interested about many aspects of
her story. I'm not really a proposal-of-marriage person, but I really
liked theirs! Made me smile. I also liked how Mrs.Obama was there for
her dad as he was hospitalized, and later how she tried to speak at
graduations for colleges and universities that wouldn't normally get a
FLOTUS there. Her outreach to children and women and people of color,
her encouragement to others...I loved all that. Even her epilogue and
acknowledgements were good.
and how weird is it that when I picked up the above book...there was this other 'becoming' story on the New Books shelf . . .
Becoming Mrs. Lewis
by Patti Callahan -- the story of Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis, who
became dear friends through letters and later met several times; These
two ended up marrying which I guess the title gave away, and this book
is fiction but based upon historical records and the author's interest
in both of Joy and "Jack."
The Girl They Left Behind by
Roxanne Veletzos -- A story that takes place during the time when
Romania joined forces with the Nazis to get rid of Jewish people. A
little girl was left alone and sent to an orphanage where she was
adopted by a rich, young couple. This story was based on the author's
mom's story. Her mom was the little girl left behind though she doesn't
know the story about her blood relatives. However Anton and Despina from
the book are her (true) adopted grandparents. And what an interesting
story about their lives during this time and after when the Communists
took over Romania. What a life! This book was a little disjointed (for
me) at times, but overall it was interesting especially learning more
about Romania during this time in world history.
The Bride of Ivy Green
by Julie Klassen -- book 3 in the Tales from Ivy Hill series; this book
focused more on Mercy, who was forced to close her in-house school when
her brother takes a bride and they come to live - and essentially
control - life in the house Mercy grew up in and had her school in.
Mercy takes a governess job, educating her former in-house pupil Alice,
the daughter of James Drake who owns the area's large hotel.
The Union Quilters
by Jennifer Chiaverini -- I probably wouldn't have read this book at
this time except that I brought it home from my mom's house the other
day so I could return it to the library for her. I finished my other
library book so I figured I'd read this one, too. This is part of a long
series (Elm Creek Quilts) and towards the back end of it so there were a
lot of characters and history there that I got in a very summarized
form. This book focused on a group of ladies and their spouses in
Pennsylvania as the men - except for Hans the pacifist - prepared to
fight for the Union army and the women did their parts at home.
The Sweetness of Forgetting
by Kristin Harmel -- Hope runs the family bakery on Cape Cod; her
preteen daughter helps her as Hope did for her own mother and
grandmother. Mamie (Hope's French-born grandmother) has Alzheimer's,
but on one "good day," Mamie instructs Hope to go to Paris to find out
what happened to certain people on a list. Hope finds out Mamie's family
was Jewish and most or all of them did not survive the Nazis. A good
story.
The First Love
by Beverly Lewis -- Maggie deals with the pain of rheumatoid arthritis
and prays for her healing. An easy read from the New Books shelf.
Catch Me
by Lisa Gardner -- Sergeant Detective D.D. Warren is called to a crime
scene where a pedophile has been murdered. While heading back to her
car, she sees a note on the windshield and a person fleeing - Charlene
Rosalind Carter Grant aka Charlie. Charlie, a 911 operator outside of
Boston, tells D.D. that she wanted to see the detective in action
because in a few days, on January 21, she expects to be murdered just as
her childhood BFFs had been murdered the last two years on that date.
This was an exciting, good read if you enjoy detective/mystery books. I
liked reading more about Charlie's job as well.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz
by Heather Morris -- "based on the powerful true story of love and
survival;" The story of Lale and Gita, Slovakians who met while
imprisoned by the Nazis. Lale got a job as a tattooist, and he used that
position to help others survive. Here is
a short (9 minute) interview from their son Gary Sokolov. They took the
last name of Lale's sister's husband, a Russian soldier
surnamed Sokolov, in order to fit in better with the Russians who took
over their country after the war.
The family went to Australia after some conflicts arose with the Soviet
authorities. BTW, in the interview, the lady says Lale like "la lee" unlike how I was saying it "layl."
The Quilter's Apprentice
by Jennifer Chiaverini -- So I decided to find the first book in this
Elm Creek Quilt series and try out the series from the beginning. Since
the last book I read (mentioned above) covered the Civil War, I expected
this to go way, way back. I was surprised when it was a fairly modern
(mid-1990s) story although I later found some familiar characters as
Mrs. Compson told the backstory of her home, Elm Creek Manor. Mrs.
Compson being the former Sylvia Bergstrom because some of them (Hans and
Anneke Bergstrom) were mentioned in The Union Quilter's which I
read a few days ago. Sarah and her husband Matt move to a small
Pennsylvania town so that Matt can work as a landscaper. He lands a job
restoring the gardens and orchards of Elm Creek Manor, and he invites
Sarah along for the initial meet. The elderly Mrs. Compson soon offers
Sarah a job helping her ready the inside of the manor so she can put it
up for sale. Not super-exciting, but a decent, "sweet" book.
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