Book Nook Cafe discussion

What books did you start the new decade with ?

Here is the Folder to tell us what your monthly reads for April 2020 were.

Please provide:
~ A GoodReads link
~ A few sentences telling us how you felt about the book.
~ How would you rate the book

My April 2020 reads were:

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
Fiction
Rate: 5/5
A women and young son who live in the Mexican city of Acapulco are on the run from the drug cartel. They are trying to reach the safety of the U.S. This story is the harrowing tale of their journey and the people they meet along the way. This poignant heart wrenching novel is one you won't soon forget.

Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss y Rajeev Balasubramanyam
Fiction
Rate: 5/5
Audio Book- Narrator: Ramon Tikaram
I thoroughly enjoyed the narrator of the novel. The book was quite funny and also quite thoughtful. The novel follows the curmudgeonly professor Chandra who on orders from his doctor after a medical issue needs to follow his bliss. The journey the reader takes with the Professor is witty and delightful.

Swallows & Robins - The Guests In My Garden by Susie Kelly
Non fiction - memoir
Rate 4/5
I got this book from the Amazon Lending Library. Thank you, John. :)
The author rents out 2 tiny cottages on her property in France to summer guests. Each chapter is devoted to the different people who come for a holiday. Some are funny and quirky and others quite sad. The book had the feel of series I would see on PBS.
I thought it was a well done, enjoyable quick easy read.

Hitler's Forgotten Children: My Life Inside The Lebensborn--Ingrid Von Oelhafen
Audio Book - Narrator: Davina Porter
The narrator was very good.
Non-fiction Memoir
Rate 4/5
The book is the author's heart breaking
journey to find her true identity. I had not heard of Hitler's Lebensborn program. So I found this poignant memoir very interesting.

The Overdue Life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harms
Rate: 2/5
Fiction
This was a freebie from Amazon Prime. The genre I guess is chick lit. It started off okay but quickly went down hill fast. I found the main character boring and the plot ridiculously unrealistic.

Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney
Fiction
Rate: 5/5
Audio book: Narrator: Xe Sands
The narrator was very good and added a lot to my enjoyment of the book. I actually had a paper copy but preferred the audio so skipped the hard copy.
The novel is inspired by the life of Margaret Fishback, the highest paid advertising copywriter for R H Macy’s during the 1930s.
The book takes place in a single day in 1984 on New Years Eve. Lillian is 85 years old and reflects back on her life as she takes what ends up to be a ten mile walk around Manhattan. This was a perfect book to accompany me on my daily exercise walk. Thank you, Lillian, for letting me tag along. :)

A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum
Fiction
Rate 4/5
This is the author's debut novel. It's about three generations of Palestinian women who move to Brooklyn, NY. The book is a poignant look at their lives and how women are treated and viewed in their culture. It's a heartbreaking and important story that needs to be told.

The Paris Hours

5/5 Set in Paris in 1927, the City of Lights, vibrates with artists of all kinds. However, the story gives the center stage to four ordinary people, who rub elbows with famous artists. By meeting another person, they learn something about themselves. And sometimes what one person needs is simply kindness.
/review/show...

Becoming Mrs. Lewis

5/5 Helen Joy Davidman (1915-1960) was an American poet and writer. This book brings a vivid portrayal of “a woman diverse, courageous, and complicated, and a woman whom C.S. Lewis loved with all of his being.” They seemed to be ill-matched, but at the end they offered a glimpse at what love truly means.
/review/show...

The Brief and True Report of Temperance Flowerdew

5/5 Temperance Flowerdew (1590-1628) was an early settler of the Jamestown Colony and its significant member. She was wife of two Governors of Virginia. However, this story is mostly concentrated on two years 1609-1610. She was one of the few survivors of the brutal winter of those two years, known as the Starving Time, which killed almost ninety percent of Jamestown’s inhabitants. This book is a dedication to such historical figures forgotten by history. “For all the women gone missing from history.”
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Fever

5/5 Mary Mallon (1869-1938), so called Typhoid Mary, was an Irish immigrant who came to New York. “She began as a laundress, but with an innate talent for cooking, Mary ascended the domestic-service ladder and worked as a cook for upper-class families.” However, in 1907 it was discovered that she was the first “healthy carrier” of Typhoid Fever in America. “To prevent Mary from further spreading the disease, the New York Department of Health isolated her on North Brother Island for three years. A condition of her release was that she never cook professionally again.” Had she used her second chance wisely?
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The Woman Before Wallis

3/5 1934, Thelma Morgan sails from England to NY to support her twin sister Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt in her divorce process. The story progresses slowly. There are outings, dinners, conversations, but not much of essence to make it feel that the story is moving forward. It is all about family affairs. There is no historical background of any kind.
/review/show...

The Florios of Sicily

5/5 This story captures many lives of the Florio family, from their humble beginnings as impoverished shopkeepers to building an empire. The official founder is Vincenzo Florio Sr. (1799-1868). However, the story starts with his father Paolo, who moves family from the mainland of Italy to Sicily and opens a shop in Palermo.
/review/show...

A 5 star month ! Well done, Annette ! I enjoyed reading your reviews.

Alias and Annette, you've both had terrific reading months! So many books with high ratings!

Alias, Hitler created so many problems that we haven't heard about. I'm glad the stories are being told now. I haven't heard of the Lebensborn program. Another atrocity.

I've been waiting for American Dirt from the library when it closed. There was still a waiting list, though. I'm glad to hear that the wait will be worth it.

Annette, thanks for the reviews! These are all new books for me. Thanks!

Isolation is cutting into my reading time. I seem to be reading less during these times. Here are the books that I've finished last month:

Written in My Own Heart's Blood (audio; 4 stars) - this is the latest in the Outlander series. I'm now caught up and eagerly waiting for the next book. It'll be awhile (pout). I really like this series and the audio is very well done.
Review: /review/show...

Motherless Brooklyn (4 stars) - Jonathan Lethem writes a quirky story! This is the second of his books that I've read and both are well-written, well told and quirky. There's no other word for it. In this book, the main character has Tourette's Syndrome and is trying to solve a murder. The difficulties of his life and the investigation are well portrayed throughout.
Review: /review/show...

The Alice Network (2 stars) - I liked that I learned about a female spy network that was in place during WWI. However, the author manages to diminish the work and dangers that these women lived through. She trivialized it, which I think takes away from the courage and bravery of the real life women.
Review: /review/show...

Petra wrote: I've been waiting for American Dirt from the library when it closed. There was still a waiting list, though. I'm glad to hear that the wait will be worth it.
"

Petra, if you have access to the eBook from the library, this book would benefit from that format. Unless you speak Spanish, there are quite a few Spanish words sprinkled throughout. Of course for 95% you can figure the meaning from the context.

However, for me, I like to know exactly what the words meant. So I looked them all up. If you have the eBook a tap of the word will provide the definition.

Petra wrote: "Isolation is cutting into my reading time. I seem to be reading less during these times. Here are the books that I've finished last month:."

That's interesting. For me, I am reading more. One reason is I try to take a 10K step walk each day. I listen to audio books to make it less tedious. I also am not a big TV or movie person, so reading it is for entertainment.

I read Motherless Brooklyn a long time ago. To be honest, I can't recall the plot anymore. I am not sure if I still own the book. I should re-read it.

Not too many for April as one of the books was an omnibus which just released in March in the urban fantasy series I am hooked into. Then Daylight's Deadly Kiss just released in the beginning of April and it is part of a series that is still a work in progress. The Mark I have been wanting to read for awhile as I have read the author Lee Mountford before and really love his books.

So here are the books with my ratings and reviews:

A Subtle Agency Omnibus by Graeme Rodaughan - 5 stars.
My review:
/review/show...

Daylight's Deadly Kiss by Jay Raven - 5 stars.
My review:
/review/show...

The Mark by Lee Mountford - 5 stars.
My review:
/review/show...

Alias, except for the dud by Harms, you had a good reading April. Several are now on my TBR list from your comments as you read them. The Oelhafen calls to me most, as i'd not heard of this Lebensborn program. The depravity of those people continues to astound.

Annette, you had another great reading month. All the reviews call to me (even the clunker, somewhat). The Paris Hours is a neat approach to storytelling. I love the line, "there were more than three hundred types of cheese made in France." And he is going to try them all. Love that.

I've added the novel about Flowerdew to my list, as Jamestown in those years intrigues me. With that unique name, i'm surprised i haven't heard of her previously, as we've visited Jamestown many times over the years. Of course that is the point of that dedication you mentioned, “For all the women gone missing from history.”

Marie wrote: "Not too many for April as one of the books was an omnibus which just released in March in the urban fantasy series I am hooked into. Then Daylight's Deadly Kiss just released in the beginning of Ap..."

All 5 stars ! Excellent, Marie. It's not how many you read, but the enjoyment they give you that counts. I hope May is a wonderful for you.

Petra, i hope the stress of shelter in place isn't the reason you are having a tough time settling in with a book. The uncertainty can mess with minds. For my isolation, i've been either reading or going through all my accumulated "stuff", weeding out. Something about that control eases my mind.

Of the books you mentioned, i've read the Lethem and liked it quite a bit. I'm glad they've made a film of it, too. I've not read anything else by him but found this one hooked me immediately.

The Quinn novel sounds like a good idea gone awry. As i posted when you first wrote about the book, i've read a number about female spies during WWII. While each was patriotic, it's interesting to read about their prior (& post, too, actually) lives to see if one can figure out why some people stepped up to serve.

I'll list a few i can remember offhand as having read.
--Sisterhood of Spies by Elizabeth P. McIntosh, which covers a number of women.
--That book led me to The Spy Wore Red, which was interesting in that it was by the woman, Aline, Countess of Romanones, herself.
--I believe i mentioned this one, by Sonia Purnell,A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II, when you first mentioned your book.

Again, i hope you have a better reading month in May.

Marie, i was laughing at your Oreo consumption while reading the Omnibus. That is a sign of an enhanced reading experience. The moving images you included in your review were on-spot.

The Mark had such an incredible opening story. I cannot imagine such a thing. These authors have such imaginations.

Congratulations on another brilliant reading month. Onward!

Deb, the lockdown isn't to blame. We don't really have a lockdown here and can go wherever we need to as long as we keep socially distanced.
Officially, there are very few businesses that were ordered to close. Most businesses closed voluntarily. That all means that there are very few shops that one can go to, if one had the inclination. I seldom go shopping for the sake of something to do, and haven't missed the shops at all. That said, I would like some new t-shirts and a few blouses/shirts for the summer. And I really, really would like a haircut. LOL!

No, I just seem to be in a weird kind of slump, I think. I don't pick up my book as often as I could or normally would and when I do start to read I put the book back down after only a few pages. I think I read more in May than the 2 months previous, so things may be bouncing back. I have 3 books that are almost finished, so May is off to a start. LOL.

I'm not staring at the walls. I am doing other things: running, carving & painting, Tai-Chi, gardening, for example. Each day goes by really quickly.

Thank you for the concern. I hope things are well with you and your family. Lockdowns can be strict in some areas. I'm not sure what they are in your state but hope you can get outside each day.

We are mostly fine here. In my family it's been difficult to determine what is confinement craze or depression, which touches us at times. The truth is that when we are in Texas, stuck in hotel living, our days are pretty much what they are now--organizing our stuff at the storage unit, cooking, reading, calling family & friends. In fact, i've told a number of people that this is what retirement is like.

Well, not really. Our real retirement has been traveling but when we are off the road, our lives are pretty similar to shelter-in-place lives. Except more cooking than eating out or even take out.

What have you been carving? Furniture, sculpture, chopsticks, other? I've long liked the idea of carving but have not followed up.

madrano wrote: "What have you been carving? Furniture, sculpture, chopsticks, other? I've long liked the idea of carving but have not followed up. ..."

I just started carving about a year ago. I mostly carve small figures in basswood and houses & trees in cottonwood. I'm still learning and improving.
I have some pictures of my carving under my profile, if you'd like to see (no pressure).

I recommend it as a hobby. Once you've purchased knives, safety gloves & thumbguard and a sharpening strop, you're set to go. And some basswood. It's the easiest wood to start carving with.
I recommend the beginner videos on YouTube put out by Doug Linker. They are easy to follow. My first projects were the snowman and the pumpkin from his collection.
Cottonwood bark pieces can be found along riverbanks, if there are cottonwood trees upriver. The seahorse is carved on a piece I found locally on the river shore. Or you can purchase it on-line.
The States have good prices for bulk basswood and cottonwood purchases. I can't take advantage because of the horrendous shipping costs but it's available to you, Deb, with free shipping, I believe. :D

The seahorse is my favorite. I used to want to carve something from wood we would find on the beach but toting it home to the prairie without having the skills or tools was a request too far for my family. (They still remark on the jigsaw i requested one Christmas but didn't use for over 15 years. Stinkers, my family is, stinkers!)

Is whittling on a smaller scale? Maybe accenting the carving? I like the idea of both. What pleasure you must derive from your projects. And then you paint them? It looks as though one is a tree ornament. The idea of a home-carved tree ornament is most appealing.

Thanks for sharing, Petra. (And those shots of nature---wow!)

I'm not sure what the difference is between carving and whittling. Maybe the size? Or the detail? Perhaps what I do is whittling. No matter. It's all the same to me. It's just fun to do.
The seahorse is a favorite of mine, too, because I found the wood, dried it, "saw" a seahorse in the shape and made it happen by following simple drawings of seahorses. No pattern; just pictures. The whole project was a leap of faith.

Yes, I paint them. It's a bit fiddly but brings them to life and gives them character, I think.
Yes, at Christmas, I finished a few pieces off as tree ornaments. That was fun.

The nature shots are Lake Louise in the Rocky Mountains and Lake Strike in Manning Park, BC. I'm glad you like them.

Another banner month for my reading. After several years of not reading much each month, it's a joy to be reading heavily this year.

Pale Horses by Jassy Mackenzie.
This was the 3rd in the series which is set in South Africa, although i didn't realize that initially. As i'd read a positive review of it, i thought i'd give it a try. While it was a good one, i imagine the first in the series,Random Violence, must have been much better. How do you introduce readers to an MC who is a hit woman? In this book destruction of farm land, including pesticides, is a theme.

The Territory by Tricia Fields is set along the southern Texas border, where a small town sheriff finds herself amid an alarming uptick in drug trade influx from Mexico, as well as many bodies. I ended up liking this one, so i'll read further into the series...someday. The warm landscape is almost a character in itself.

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu is a curious novel. It is primarily written in the style of either a script or stage (film) direction. The topic of Americans of Asian descent and their lives is covered efficiently by this method. I liked it, although it took me some time to adjust to the style--i kept waiting for the novel to begin. However, good points were made about being Chinese American today.

The Winter Army: The World War II Odyssey of the 10th Mountain Division, America's Elite Alpine Warriors by Maurice Isserman is about the US military preparing for WWII. It begins with some skiers realizing that some of the war (pre-US involvement) occurred in mountainous areas where the Germans quickly won because locals hadn't been trained for military conflict there. What, wondered the skiers, would happen if Germans won England, then sent troops to Canada to invade the US? The US had only fought in flatland operations & this is the story of the skiing & mountaineering regiment which was established as a result. Their history in the war (primarily around the time of the Battle of the Bulge) was strictly in northern Italy. It was an interesting topic but i learned there are two other recent books about the group, which sounded full of better details, given his quotes from them. Figures.

Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown by Anne Glenconner
was a real mixed bag. The author was Lady in Waiting for Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, meaning she & 5 others carried the long, regal robe for the ceremony. I mentioned on these boards when i read it that parts of the book had me dumbfounded by her decisions. The fun bits were her stories about growing up in Holcomb Hall, a regal estate in Norfolk. Had we continued our trip to England this year, i'm sure we would have made a point of visiting the estate. She justifies her unfortunate choices by declaring herself a product of her aristocratic upbringing. Perhaps...of maybe she was just on sad parent?

Written in Dead Wax by Andrew Cartmel is about a British guy who frequents boot sales, thrift stores, etc. in search for old jazz LPs, which he then sells for profit. He is approached to help find a long lost record for a wealthy Japanese aficionado for a fee of $10,000, if located. There was humor, irresponsible people, some violence, some love and plenty of info about jazz records. I fully intend to read more of the series.

Funny, You Don't Look Autistic: A Comedian's Guide to Life on the Spectrum by Michael McCreary. Canadian comic McCreary , who is on the autistic scale, shares his story of life with his family and the goals he set for himself. Additionally, he peppers the book with helpful info & insight into being a part of the life of someone with autism. I found the book well worth reading.

The Little Locksmith by Katharine Butler Hathaway, an autobiography. Ostensibly it is about her decision, as an unwed 32 or so woman, to buy her own home without telling anyone in her family about it. She had been quite dependent upon them due to a childhood illness which left her with challenges. While the house was in Maine, most of her story is set in Mass., where she grew up. We learn about her family, her education, her insecurities and her high appreciation for nature.

Camp-Fire Girls in the Allegheny Mountains; or, A Christmas Success Against Odds is a YA book (& series) from the 1920s, written by Stella M. Francis. A group of earnest, teenaged campfire girls stay with one member's family for Christmas to help those living in poverty in a coal mining area. There is kidnapping, sadness, and hi-jinks. Frankly, i had to look up a number of words, mostly because our language today is spartan in comparison to those years. While the author was fair in mentioning the problems of the miners, as well as the good intentions of the "girls", i found one big lapse in her presentation. The father of the family with whom they stayed ran the mine. He was a good man & tried to help but, honestly, if it weren't for the low wages & company store, all the families would be much less poor. I inherited the complete set of 8 books years ago but this is the first one i've read.

And it was just a quirk of the Reading World that i was simultaneously reading The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, again featuring a coal mining town and the poverty abounding in the area but a dozen or so years later. Aspects i hadn't considered while reading the YA were addressed. It's been some time since i found a contemporary novel that i really liked but this one by Kim Michele Richardson is one. I felt the author introduced readers to the fascinating aspects of delivering books by mule to Kentucky mountain people who had mixed desires about those women. The main character is also believed to be one of the last "Blue People" who were prevalent in those hills. The blue was caused, it was learned decades later, by a blood disorder relevant to the amount of oxygen in the blood, which was the color of chocolate.

The Garfield Orbit by Margaret Leech was a poser. It's the only the second Presidential bio i've read which was written by a woman. I was half-way through the book before she finally got Garfield married & going off to the Civil War. For me, the emphasis on his friendships with females was puzzling. Yes, he was friends with many and there were questions about the closeness but i'm not sure the reader needed to know all this. On the other hand, it did illustrate his steady inability to take a stand on many topics, including slavery, relationships and education. I've commented more on my Presidential Bio DL page.

Because Fawn Brody's bio on T. Jeff. also was heavy on the sexual/emotional aspects of the man, i'm guessing this was a sort of trend in the '70s, when both were written. Their own letters were used heavily and readers can see some of the conflicts but i continue unsure of its importance in a biography and definitely didn't feel we needed so much material from the letters.

Finally, i read a book i found in my stored book boxes, The Samurai's Daughter by Sujata Massey. I didn't realize this was a series (i seem to do that quite a bit, i notice!) but found the book hooked me early on. The story is about a US woman of Japanese & American descent who has been living in Japan the last 4 years as a dealer in antiquities. Learning about customs in Japan was terrific, as was the story line about seeking reparations from a giant Japanese industry for their misuse of Filipinos during WWII, both as sexual objects and as miners. I've already checked out the first in the series, The Salaryman's Wife, to see if i want to read more.

madrano wrote: "Another banner month for my reading. After several years of not reading much each month, it's a joy to be reading heavily this year."

Wow ! Deb, you are on a serious reading roll. I love that your choice of books are so eclectic. As always, I enjoyed reading your reviews.

My April reads:

Casa tomada Cuento by Julio Cortázar
Genre: Short Story
Rating: C
Review: A story about middle-aged? brother and sister who live alone in a huge house in Argentina that their family has owned for generations. The are spending their days undisturbed by the outside world, doing their own thing. One day, the brother, who is also the narrator of the story, hears noise in the other part of the house and presumes that someone (or somebody) has taken over the house. Instead of going to check what is going on, he just closes that part of the house and they continue living in the reduced circumstances without even thinking about the whole situation. Then one day, they hear the noise again, this time in the kitchen and bathroom, but they just decide to leave the house, because it has been taken...why, by whom and if really...God only knows. Weird story!
LINK to the English version for those interested:

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Rating: B
Review: It took me a while to get into the book (might be because of my recent reading slump), but when I finally made myself really concentrate, it turned out to be a very interesting story.
There are two parallel storylines, the book January is reading and her own story, but it's all quite easy to follow. The story had a sort of an open ending so I'm hoping that the author will make this a series.

The Old Nurse's Story by Elizabeth Gaskell
Genre: Short Story, Gothic, Classic British
Rating: A
Review: Great and terrifying story written by one of my favourite British authors, Elizabeth Gaskell. I did not know this was a Gothic story so had a surprise when I realised where it was going. It starts a bit slow but gets better and better. An enjoyable read.

Los gallinazos sin plumas by Julio Ramón Ribeyro
Genre: Short Story
Rating: C
Review: A bit of a weird and creepy story about a nasty grandfather that is making his two grandsons work tirelessly and is constantly telling them they are worth nothing. When both of them fall sick for different reasons, the grandfather looses it and denies them food.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: A
Review: I really liked this last installment of one of my favourite book series. As usual, good manages to beat evil even if things look terrible on the way to the final battle. The story was complex and Rowling tied some loose ends, which weren't totally comprehensible to me (might be just me), but it doesn't matter overall. Given that the good part of the book is pretty dark, the humour in it was wonderful and made me laugh out loud.

Quidditch Through the Ages by Kennilworthy Whisp (J.K. Rowling)
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: A+
Review: This was such a great little companion volume to Harry Potter. Quidditch was never my favourite part of the HP world, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the game, its history, rules, teams, etc. It's also laugh out loud funny in many places.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: A+
Review: I love this shortened collection of Wizard fairy-tales. They all (as Muggle fairy-tales) have a moral of the story and are written in a very funny way (except The Warlock's Hairy Heart which has a tragic ending). What I loved even more were Albus Dumbledore's comments after each of the story. His comments show his genius, his intelligence but also a bit of arrogance (those who read/watched the Harry Potter series will know that Dumbledore, although and exceptional person and wizard, was only human after all).

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: B
Review: Maybe not as funny as the other two companion books (maybe because Newt Scamander is a very serious person), but it still has part that make you chuckle and you can seen/feel J.K.Rowling's wit that you are so used to from Harry Potter books.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay by J.K. Rowling
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: A
Review: I really love this movie and have seen it a few times now (I'll do it tomorrow, again). I also enjoyed reading the screenplay. It's really well written and it makes you imagine the movie easily.

Fantastic Beasts - The Crimes of Grindelwald: The Original Screenplay by J.K. Rowling
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: A
Review: This one was also well written, I just didn't like that Queenie went over to the "dark side". I hope Rowling writes another one and resolves that issue since the movie did end with a cliffhanger.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two by John Tiffany
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: A
Review: I didn't expect to like this much because of the mixed reviews and so constantly postponed it, but I really enjoyed it. It starts of where the last book of the original series ends (19 years later when Harry Potter's younger son Albus Severus is about to go to Hogwarts for the first time) and follows the adventures (and struggling) of Albus and his best friend Scorpius.

Harry Potter: A History of Magic by British Library
Genre: Fantasy, Magic, History
Rating: A
Review: I really enjoyed this comparison between the Harry Potter world and our world, featuring real-life books written on different topics that form part of HP world as well as interesting artefacts.

madrano wrote: "Marie, i was laughing at your Oreo consumption while reading the Omnibus. That is a sign of an enhanced reading experience. The moving images you included in your review were on-spot.

The Mark ha..."

LOL! Madrano, I always have to keep munchies next to me when reading that series! It was really a reread for me as the omnibus is technically three books in one volume. I have already read the stories before though the first time reading them I didn't have munchies! LOL I learned real quick that I would need something from now on to get me through the series as I literally will stay in my seat for awhile without moving!

Yeah "enhanced" experience is definitely the word! LOL I have actually graduated to Oreos as I use to just munch on trail mix (lol) but I love Oreos as those are my favorite cookies, so I figured "what the heck" let me do something different this time.

The only thing I wasn't expecting was munching through a whole box of them as I thought I could control it - wrong! :) Pulse pounding action = four Oreo cookies at one time! :) Oh but guess what? I just found out they have the "party size" Double Stuff! So I will be ready when the author releases his next book in that series! Maybe I better buy two "party packs"! LOL :)

As far as the images for the review - thank you - I love to dress up that series as there are tons of cool images/gifs out there that fit the series and I have fun searching for them on the internet. :)

Alias Reader wrote: "Marie wrote: "Not too many for April as one of the books was an omnibus which just released in March in the urban fantasy series I am hooked into. Then Daylight's Deadly Kiss just released in the b..."

Thank you Alias! April was a great month! :)

madrano wrote: "Another banner month for my reading. After several years of not reading much each month, it's a joy to be reading heavily this year.

Pale Horses by Jassy Mackenzie..."

Written In Dead Wax sounds interesting-added to my reading list!

Samanta, what a full reading month you had in April. Even though you gave it a "C", i must read the Cortázar story, as it just sound bizarre. Thanks for supplying the link.

The Harrow YA book sounds good. I'm 188 in line for it! Must be a winner.

I enjoy Gaskell's writing but have yet to read that story. I know it's considered a very good one, so i have no excuse.

Continued happy reading!

Samanta wrote:The Old Nurse's Story by Elizabeth Gaskell
Genre: Short Story, Gothic, Classic British
Rating: A
Review: Great and terrifying story written by one of my favourite British authors, Elizabeth Gaskell. I did not know this was a Gothic story so had a surprise when I realised where it was going. It starts a bit slow but gets better and better. An enjoyable read.."

Nice month, Samanta ! If I recall correctly, Deb is a big Gaskell fan.

Julie, i hope you like it as much as i did. The MC ended up traveling to a number of places around the world. It's a sign of our time that with each flight i thought of Corona Virus-impacted travel. LOL! (Btw, i forgot to mention the name of the entire series is The Vinyl Detective. If you type in that name, as i did, thinking that was this specific book's title, you get links to the entire series.)

Marie wrote:I have actually graduated to Oreos as I use to just munch on trail mix (lol) but I love Oreos as those are my favorite cookies, so I figured "what the heck" let me do something different this time...."

I have a bad habit of tea and cookies or chocolate while reading. I am trying to curb that. The other day I purchased some red grapes to snack on. I hope that works.

Marie, your continued saga of Oreo munching is hilarious! When i was younger (last year, i think) i used to separate the two sides on an Oreo, then make my own "Double Stuff" cookie. Of course then i had to try doing the same with a box of Double Stuff--nope, too much of a good thing! Ok, "good thing" is a dubious claim, maybe too much of a tasty thing?

Btw, my favorite store-bought cookies are Vienna Fingers. You cannot take those apart to make a double stuff very often. They crumble, probably due to their longer, oval shape. Bummer.

Happy Eating Reading! ;-)

Alias Reader wrote: "Wow ! Deb, you are on a serious reading roll. I love that your choice of books are so eclectic. As always, I enjoyed reading your reviews..."

It's weird, isn't it? Over the last few years there have been months when reading one entire book was a Major Accomplishment. I'm taking advantage of this whilst i may!

And thank you for the compliment. It's good to me to try to write reviews but also frustrating because i wanted (believe it or not) to add even more information.

My April Reads
Run Away by Harlan Coben
Rating 4/5
A quick but satisfying mystery
The Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Rating 4/5
This is the final book in Cemetery of Forgotten Books series. This bookhas it's own story but incorporates plotlines from the previous books to have all the stories completed
Nantucket Sisters by Nancy Thayer
Rating 3/5
This was a chick lit book. It was light reading and what i needed to cleanse my mind after The Labyrinth of Spirits
The Case of the Perjured Parrot by Erle Stanley Gardner
Rating 3/5
This was the next in the Perry mason series.

madrano wrote: "Another banner month for my reading. After several years of not reading much each month, it's a joy to be reading heavily this year...."

Deb, that's a terrific month of reading! I love the eccecticness of the selection.
Are you reading biographies on each of the US Presidents? If so, are you reading them in order of their presidency? That's an interesting project.

Samanta wrote: "My April reads:.."

Samanta, I loved the Harry Potter books back when I read them. The Quidditch book would make a great companion piece. I may have to look this one up when the libraries open again.

Great reading month!

Meredith, I'd forgotten about the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series. I would have to reread the first in order to continue. I do remember really liking it, so may just do this.

I used to really enjoy the Perry Mason TV series when I was a kid. I've never read any of the books, though.

Nice selection of books this month!

madrano wrote: "Marie, your continued saga of Oreo munching is hilarious! When i was younger (last year, i think) i used to separate the two sides on an Oreo, then make my own "Double Stuff" cookie. Of course then..."

Vienna Fingers! I had forgotten about those! Do they come in chocolate cream? I use to eat those long time ago, but I know they are the vanilla cream. You know if they have chocolate ones, I might have to switch over temporarily! :)

Alias Reader wrote: "Marie wrote:I have actually graduated to Oreos as I use to just munch on trail mix (lol) but I love Oreos as those are my favorite cookies, so I figured "what the heck" let me do something differen..."

I love red grapes! Let me know when you do that as I will be curious to see if I want to go the healthy route when I read those books! :) lol

Alias Reader wrote: "Samanta wrote:The Old Nurse's Story by Elizabeth Gaskell
Genre: Short Story, Gothic, Classic British
Rating: A
Review: Great and terrifying story written by one of my favourite British authors, Eli..."

North & South is one of my favourite books, but I also enjoyed her other work.

Finished Sarah's Key byTatiana de Rosnay

My Review: www.africa-eu.com/review/show/3315619235

madrano wrote: "Marie, your continued saga of Oreo munching is hilarious! When i was younger (last year, i think) i used to separate the two sides on an Oreo, then make my own "Double Stuff" cookie. Of course then..."

Before the lock down in NYC, I recently switched to the Whole Foods brand of Oreos. If I remember correctly, the ingredients seemed healthier. I like the ones that were one side a vanilla cookie and the other side chocolate. Unfortunately, I am out of them now and it will probably be a month or who knows how long before things open up here and I start to roam away from the dozen block radius of my apartment.

For now I've switched to the less fattening graham crackers. Sometimes I'll put some peanut butter on them. Though that adds calories of course.

Meredith wrote: "My April Reads
Run Away by Harlan Coben
Rating 4/5
A quick but satisfying mystery
The Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Ratin..."

Nice month, Meredith. Not a single clunker in the bunch !

Meredith, you had satisfactory April book reading. I smile when i see the latest Perry Mason book you've read. Erle Stanley Gardner wrote so many of them!

My husband & i read the first in the Zafon series and liked it. However, we never mustered the time to read further. Maybe now that we know the series is worth it we will do so.

Petra, yes i am trying to read biographies on all the US Presidents in order of their Presidencies. I'm not even half way finished. It's been a superlative way to learn US history, as a reader gets a sense of many things that were occurring at one time. It's easy to isolate them and wonder why problems weren't resolved sooner--this explains why.

Marie, i vaguely recall that Vienna Fingers tried "going chocolate" long ago, but no longer. Of course you could always eat them atop a bar of chocolate but that might take more coordination than i have while reading. LOL!

Alias, grahams are a good idea. Or animal crackers. Dipped in chocolate. Hmmm...i seem to have a theme here!

Yes, grapes are a good idea. Back in the '90s i found myself unable to read books without a bag of lightly salted, unshelled sunflower seeds by my side. Frankly, it was a bit messy but satisfying. Then i stopped that and rarely eat while reading now, oddly.

However, i think reading thrillers & horror novels screams for food!

Dem, i read that book sometime ago, too. While i don't think i'd reread it, i can understand why one might. It was a good story, despite the weak points you mentioned. Around the same time i readIrène Némirovsky's Suite Française, which i imagine i could reread. Both books explored material with which i was unfamiliar.

madrano wrote: "Petra, yes i am trying to read biographies on all the US Presidents in order of their Presidencies. I'm not even half way finished. It's been a superlative way to learn US history, as a reader gets..."

Deb and I both have this challenge going.
You can see our lists in this folder
/topic/group...

It's been nice having Alias to echo back ideas on which Presidential bio to pursue, too.

Deb and Alias, that's an interesting project, not only for the Presidents themselves but for the progression of history behind each President's personal story.

I imagine it would be interesting to compare/contrast two books when you each read a different book for a President.

Madrano: I liked Written in Dead Wax, but the sequels not so much.

My month had several disappointments, some of which I brought up at the time here. So, on a more positive note, I'm going to paste the review of a book that I did enjoy: The Betel Nut Tree Mystery...



This is a tricky one for me to review. I skipped the first book in the series, because of the poor audio sample and comments that the character of DeeDee was difficult to deal with in audio format. Here, I felt that the narrator nailed Nicole's narcissism a bit too well, cringing at her regular tantrums; otherwise, the narration was decent.

I felt the book did work okay as a stand-alone story; however, I'll probably go back and read a print copy of the first book for background on characters such as Harry, Kaiseven, etc. where Su Lin hints at things that were likely revealed earlier. She is a truly fascinating sleuth! 

Petra, when i have been unsure about which book to read for a particular President, Alias has come up with thoughts which helped guide me. On my page for this Determination List (/topic/show/... ), i've added titles she's shared for future referenc, as often i have no idea. It kind of helps that she isn't reading her list in chronological order (of their Presidencies) because when i arrive at a Prez, her comments on books she's read is useful.