January Reading in Review

I had a pretty good January for books. I read (10) books and had one DNF, The Overstory by Richard Powers. The writing and story was thought provoking for sure, but for me, I think it was a matter of bad timing as this book is not to be rushed and required a lot of thought. Unfortunately my mind was elsewhere much of the month so easier reads worked better for me.

One thing I noticed was that most of my book choices for January took me outside of the US - loved this.  I traveled to the island of St. John's, Germany, London, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland and  France and then I did spend some time in the US as well: Iowa, Florida and Minnesota.

Favorite Book of the Month

1. Winter in Paradise; Elin Hilderbrand - 3.5/5 (library print-Jan.)
2. The Women in the Castle; Jessica Shattuck - 4/5 (eGalley and audio combo - Jan.)
3. One Day in December; Josie Silver - 4/5 (eGalley - Jan)
4. The Travelling Cat Chronicles; Hiro Arikawa - 4.5/5 (print-Jan)
5. An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good; Helene Thursten - 5/5 (library print-Jan)
6. What To Eat When; M. Roizen, M.D. & M. Crupain - 3.5 /5 (NF- library-Jan)
7. The Lady With the Purple Hat; Otilia Greco - 1/5 - pass (library print-Jan)
8. The Whistler; John Grisham - 3.5/5 (audio-library-Jan)
9. Waiting for Bojangles; Olivier Bourdeaut - 4.5/5 (eGalley-Jan)
10. Tapestry of Fortunes; Elizabeth Berg - 3/5 (audio-library-Jan)

Breakdown

Fiction - 9

NF - 1

Audios   - 3

eBooks  - 3

print      - 5

audio/eBook Combos - 1

Borrowed from Library - 7

Off my Shelves - 1

Kindle - 2

February Previews

• Morningstar; Ann Hood (completed/no review yet)
• Good Riddance; Elinor Lipman (eGalley) (in progress)
• Great Expectations; Charles Dickens (audio-library)  (just starting)

Happy Reading!

2 quick reviews - Waiting for Bojangles; Olivier Bourdeaut and The Whistler; John Grisham

TITLE: Waiting for Bojangles (176 pages)

AUTHOR: Olivier Bourdeaut

PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster

PUB. YEAR: 2019

SETTING:  Paris, France
FORMAT:  - eGalley
RATING: 4.5/5

Waiting for Bojangles is a dark, touching and sometimes funny story. It's told from the POV of an unnamed, young boy growing up in an unconventional home in France with his eccentric parents George and Louise. 

His parents appear madly in love but, something is off. Everyday they enjoy colorful cocktails and dance to the song, Mr. Bojangles while George calls his wife by different first names.

In reality, Louise suffers from mental illness and George is only trying to protect his wife when those highs quickly descend to new lows.

This debut novel reads as if it could be autobiographical but, the author claims it is not.  The characters are ones that I came to care for with a feeling of real love within the family despite the sometimes unpredictable behaviors of the parents.  Although parts of this short novel made me laugh, there is also sadness within the pages as well. I do understand why this won a literary award in France.  The translation by Regan Kramer was very good.

TITLE: The Whistler (419 pages - 13 hours/audio)

AUTHOR: John Grisham

PUBLISHER: Random House Audio

PUB. YEAR: 2016

SETTING:  Florida
FORMAT:  - audio (library) - Cassandra Campbell (narrator)
RATING: 3.5/5

In this thriller, Lacy Stolz and Hugo Hatch work for the Florida Board of Judicial Conduct.  When an alleged corruption case is brought to light by a disbarred attorney, the two have their work cut out for them as their investigation takes them into dangerous territory.   The case involves a female judge who reportedly has been taking in $250,000 each month in Indian gaming casino profits for the last 11 years.

The Indian gaming casino, a corrupt chief, skimming by a mafia don and the corrupt judge made for an interesting story. The Cassandra Campbell narration made this enjoyable but, the story was way too long and far from perfect.  I do miss the quality of those earlier Grisham thrillers.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Morningstar; Ann Hood

Each Tuesday, Vicki, from I’d Rather Be At The Beach hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where  readers post the opening paragraph (sometime two) of a book that they are reading or plan to read. (This week's pick is another one by one of my favorite author's.)

Morningstar: Growing Up With Books; Ann Hood
W.W. Norton & Co. & Highbridge Audio - 2017

Introduction

Growing Up With Books

"WHEN I WAS FOUR YEARS OLD, FOR REASONS NO  ONE in my family could explain, I picked up my older brother Skip's reading books and I read it.  This was in 1959 or 1960, but I can still remember staring at that page and reading the words Look! Look! In that instant, all of my cells seemed to settle into place and I had one thought: I want to live inside a book."

What do you think of the intro from this memoir? I'm listening to the audio and really enjoying it as we learn so much about the books that she loved and, the books that made her want to become a writer as well as other personal information.

My Week in Review

But First a Question - Do you have vivid dreams or reoccurring dreams?
I have reoccurring and bizarre dreams all the time. About a house we had lived in for 20 years (I'm sometimes snooping around or people who don't belong there are inside). Then for 7 years I had reoccurring dreams about an old boss and when he passed away in 2013, the dreams stopped. Then there's the one where I can't find my car in a parking lot or garage. I know many people don't recall their dreams but I always do.  
Last night I dreamt I was texting someone who died last year that I hadn't spoken to in over 9 years. In the dream I said to my husband, "She's not responding to my text", he said, "that's because she's dead!" and, I said, but she's not dead in my dream."! How crazy is that!

 I also yell in my sleep from time to time and my husband has to wake me and ask if I am okay. ( I guess I  have lots of unresolved issues LOL)

Outside 
I woke up to 18 degree temps outside but sunny and it should warm up a bit. Colder temps are moving in mid-week..
Thankful 
I'm thankful that my recent dreams are just dreams.
Reading - The Overstory; Richard Powers  ended up being a DNF for me. Yes, beautiful writing, but, it was a struggle for me and I just was never that excited about getting back to it. Listening to: Tapestry of Fortunes; Elizabeth Berg and reading Good Riddance; Elinor Lipman (both are good)
Finished -  I  finished (but need to review) Waiting for Bojangles; Oliver Bourdeaut (loved it); The Whistler; John Grisham (audio - not bad)
Watched- The Good Doctor, The Residents, New Amsterdam and This is Us We also watched Murder on the Cape (true story - loved the book but, the movie was awful). We also watched The King's Speech (repeat) and The Company Men (saw at movies previously) both very good.
In The Kitchen - Can I just say, I hate cooking! Beef Stew in the crockpot was my only creation last week LOL - Restaurants love us.
New To Me Stuff - Who knew this existed? I love it!  Great for fried eggs as well.

                         

Last Week - Yoga twice, but yet another UTI (just 2 weeks after the last) kept me indoors more than I would have preferred. Did you know blueberries are good for UTI's at least that is what the doctor said. I did go to my book group. We discussed The Women in the Castle, Jessica Shattuck - everyone liked it and a great discussion about the hateful things that happened under Hitler and the similarities of hate we see happening now.
This Coming Week: Yoga, a movie (Green Book - hopefully) and lunch with kids on Tuesday (unless we get snowstorm) so far.
Hope you all had a good week!

2 quick reviews

TITLE: What to Eat When: A strategic Plan to Improve Your Health and Life Through Food (352 pages)

AUTHOR: Michael Roizen, MD and Michael Crupain MD

PUBLISHER: National Geographic

PUB. YEAR: 2019

SETTING:  N/A
FORMAT:  - print (library)
RATING: 3.5/5 stars

I saw this book on the "new books" shelf and it seemed like a worthy choice to start 2019 off on the right foot. I liked that it was written by (2) doctors and although I loved the way the book was organized, much of the information was not new to me.

In this book you will learn how to use various foods to increase your longevity and improve the way you feel. The authors claim that out bodies are designed to eat more in the morning and less in the evening for optimal effectiveness. They recommend eating only in the daylight hours if possible and consuming all your food intake in a 12 hour period - ie: 6a.m.-6p.m (no snacking afterward).  We adopted this type of eating style 3.5 years ago when I retired and I lost about 12 lbs without dieting. 

This is definitely not a weight loss book, it's full of ideas for healthier alternatives and better food choices.  I liked the way the book was organized and, that the book has different step by step suggestions for different lifestyles. I do admit to skimming sections where I didn't feel that the info was new or relevant but, overall, it's a book worth checking out (if your library has a copy)

.

TITLE: The Lady with the Purple Hat (162 pages)

AUTHOR: Otilia Greco

PUBLISHER: iUniverse

PUB. YEAR: 2017

SETTING:  Switzerland and an English Village
FORMAT:  - print (library)
RATING: pass

I saw this slim book on my library shelves and decided to give it a try.  It's about a woman in the midsts of a divorce battle who wants to be a widow not a divorcee.  Her mission is to see that her husband dies before their divorce becomes final (they've been battling it out for 10 years).  As the story opens her husband is in a hospital bed dying of cancer, but his death is not coming fast enough for Daisy. She decides to speed things up, donning a huge purple hat she heads to his hospital room planning to poison him, but, her plan doesn't work out as she had hoped.

The story goes back to the time when the couple met and paints Daisy as a money hungry, status seeker from the very start. She's not a character you could ever like or sympathize with and, although she tries to reinvent herself in the end, by then, I just didn't care what happened to her. A very quick read, I was actually surprised to find something like this on the library shelves. I just can't recommend this one, sorry.

An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good; Helene Tursten

TITLE: An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good (171 pages)

AUTHOR: Helene Tursten

PUBLISHER: Soho Crime

PUB. YEAR: 2018

SETTING:  Sweden
FORMAT:  - print (library)
RATING: 5/5 stars

What a delight this book was - a 171 page mystery consisting of 5 connected short stories. Each story features Maud, an 88 Year old retired teacher who lives all alone, rent free, for as long as she lives, in a top floor apartment. She's been in the apartment for 60 years and, the rent-free part was a stipulation in her father's will. Maud is a senior citizen who travels solo and someone who just wants to be left alone. She's not a person to cross and also someone who not afraid of murderous retaliation.

Dark, just mildly disturbing but, utterly charming as well, each story is well-crafted and connected and, as you might expect, no one suspects 88 year-old Maud is capable of murder. I loved everything about this one and, the small size of this hardcover is wonderful. I've decided to buy a few copies to give to give as gifts.

From the Table of Contents:

1. An Elderly Lady Has Accommodation Problems
2. An Elderly Lady and Her Travels
3. An Elderly Lady Seeks Peace at Christmastime
4. The Antique Dealer's Death
5. An Elderly Lady is Faced With a Dilemma

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Good Riddance, Elinor Lipman

Each Tuesday, Vicki, from I’d Rather Be At The Beach hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where  readers post the opening paragraph (sometime two) of a book that they are reading or plan to read. (This week's pick is by one of my favorite author's.)

Good Riddance; Elinor Lipman

Houghton, Mifflin Harcourt - 2019

1.

The Grateful Class of 68

"FOR A FEW WEEKS after my mother's death, I was in possession of the painstakingly annotated high school yearbook that had been dedicated to her by the grateful class of 1968.

Yes, she'd been their English teacher and yearbook advisor, but that didn't explain her obsessive collecting of signatures and tributes next to every senior's photo.  I could picture her --age twenty-three, her first job after college, roaming the corridors or Pickering High School, pen and book in hand, coaxing the shyest, least engaged boy or girl to sign--Write anything, I want to remember every one of you. Could you personalize it, just a few words?"

Would you read more or take a pass?