I Wish I Lived In a Library
Monday, January 30, 2023
TBR Tarot Reads - Ham Biscuits, Hostess Gowns, and Other Southern Specialties
Saturday, January 28, 2023
Life with NO MORE Leukemia - January 29
It's Sunday Post time! This is hosted by the awesome Caffeinated Book Reviewer and gives us all a chance to recap our week.
What I Got:
Currently:
Black Coffee - Cozy Mystery Review
Goodreads: Black Coffee by Agatha Christie and Charles OsborneRating: Liked It (3 Stars)
Source: Publisher
Description: Inventor Sir Claude Amory feels a bitter taste in the mouth, when the new formula for explosive material stolen by someone in the household.
In order to quickly remedy the situation, Sir Claude locks the door and turns off the light, giving the thief a chance to return the formula without being detected. But darkness brings death and Hercule Poirot has to untangle family strife, love and suspicious visitors tangle in order to clarify the murderer and prevent disaster.
My Impression: This book is actually a play written by Agatha Christie fairly early in her career that was turned into a novel by Charles Osborne after her death. The structure of this story is Christie at her best and uses a number of familiar Christie plot devices. There's a murder at a country house, a missing formula with national defense implications, and a number of suspects who all have possible motives to do away with the victim. Poirot and Hastings are back with Chief Inspector Japp.
Would I Recommend this Book? Unless you're already a big Christie fan this probably isn't the book to start with.
Friday, January 27, 2023
Friday Five - Five Books I'd Want to Read on a Snowy Weekend
I'm taking a bit of a break from my usual Friday Linkups to try something a little different. I'm in a list making kind of mood so I thought I'd start making random five lists. Sometimes they'll be bookish other weeks not so much. It is cold here though in a dreary blah kind of way. So if I have to be cold I'm imagining a nice cozy cabin in the woods with a picturesque amount of snow that under no circumstances do I have to go out in. These are the 5 books I'd want to have stacked up next to me to read as I cozy up in front of the fire with nice soft blanket.
1. Angel's Rest by Emily March - I read an Emily March book for the first time in awhile and it was so cozy and enjoyable that it reminded me that I need to read more books from her.
2. The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman - I read the first book in this series and enjoyed it and want to continue the series. It seems like the perfect read for a cozy cold weekend.
3. 52 Loaves: One Man's Relentless Pursuit of Truth, Meaning and a Perfect Crust by William Alexander - Something about cold days makes me want to bake but there is a limit to how much bread I should probably eat so I'll get a little bit of virtual breadmaking from this book.
4. Ghosts of Greenglass House by Kate Milford - The first book in this series involved a group of people getting snowed in at a mountain top hotel so it seems like perfect reading for a cold weekend.
5. Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak - A family in quarantine around the holidays in an aging estate sounds like fun reading for a quiet weekend.
What books would you want if you were spending a snowy weekend in a cozy cabin?
Thursday, January 26, 2023
Books from the Backlog - Beyond the Pale
Today I'm linking up with Carole from Carole's Random Life of Books for Books from the Backlog. I really enjoy the chance to feature a book that's been hiding in the piles of books for far too long!
Goodreads: Beyond the Pale by Clare O'Donohue
Blurb: It's a simple, twenty-minute job. At least, that's the pitch from Interpol to married college professors Hollis and Finn Larsson. Going undercover to procure a priceless rare book manuscript means an all-expenses paid trip abroad. A little danger thrown into the mix may even spice things up.
Soon after landing in the Emerald Isle, they realize the job is anything but simple. Their contact is a no show and they're left with fifty thousand euros, some serious questions, and a possible death threat. Ducking and dodging their way across Ireland, Hollis and Finn must hunt down the priceless manuscript and a missing agent while trying to stay one step ahead of a dangerous and unknown enemy.
Why It Needs to Come Off the Shelf: This has been gathering virtual dust on my NetGalley shelf for years but it sounds like it could be an interesting read and I love the cove.
Wednesday, January 25, 2023
When Time Stopped + Playing to the Gods - Nonfiction Reviews
Goodreads: When Time Stopped: A Memoir of My Father's War and What Remains by Ariana Neumann
Blurb: In 1941, the first Neumann family member was taken by the Nazis, arrested in German-occupied Czechoslovakia for bathing in a stretch of river forbidden to Jews. He was transported to Auschwitz. Eighteen days later his prisoner number was entered into the morgue book.
Of thirty-four Neumann family members, twenty-five were murdered by the Nazis. One of the survivors was Hans Neumann, who, to escape the German death net, traveled to Berlin and hid in plain sight under the Gestapo’s eyes. What Hans experienced was so unspeakable that, when he built an industrial empire in Venezuela, he couldn’t bring himself to talk about it. All his daughter Ariana knew was that something terrible had happened.
When Hans died, he left Ariana a small box filled with letters, diary entries, and other memorabilia. Ten years later Ariana finally summoned the courage to have the letters translated, and she began reading. What she discovered launched her on a worldwide search that would deliver indelible portraits of a family loving, finding meaning, and trying to survive amid the worst that can be imagined.
When Time Stopped is a detective story and an epic family memoir, spanning nearly ninety years and crossing oceans. Neumann brings each relative to vivid life. In uncovering her father’s story after all these years, she discovers nuance and depth to her own history and liberates poignant and thought-provoking truths about the threads of humanity that connect us all.
My Thoughts: This was one of those books I wanted to tell people about as I was reading it. I found the story of the Neumann family heartbreaking and compelling and Ariana was a sympathetic detective digging into the past of a family she never really knew. This is the story of an ordinary Czechoslovakian Jewish family desperately trying to survive the war and it's also the story of a daughter trying to understand her father and decode the clues he left for her. There are plenty of heartbreaking elements in this book but because we are learning the story as Ariana investigates there's just enough distance to soften the blows just a little. The story was fast paced and read like a novel but the story and this family are still with me long after I've put the book down. My Rating: Loved It (5 Stars)
Blurb: The riveting story of the rivalry between the two most renowned actresses of the nineteenth century: legendary Sarah Bernhardt, whose eccentricity on and off the stage made her the original diva, and mystical Eleonora Duse, who broke all the rules to popularize the natural style of acting we celebrate today.
Audiences across Europe and the Americas clamored to see the divine Sarah Bernhardt swoon—and she gave them their money’s worth. The world’s first superstar, she traveled with a chimpanzee named Darwin and a pet alligator that drank champagne, shamelessly supplementing her income by endorsing everything from aperitifs to beef bouillon, and spreading rumors that she slept in a coffin to better understand the macabre heroines she played.
Eleonora Duse shied away from the spotlight. Born to a penniless family of itinerant troubadours, she disappeared into the characters she portrayed—channeling their spirits, she claimed. Her new, empathetic style of acting revolutionized the theater—and earned her the ire of Sarah Bernhardt in what would become the most tumultuous theatrical showdown of the nineteenth century. Bernhardt and Duse seduced each other’s lovers, stole one another’s favorite playwrights, and took to the world’s stages to outperform their rival in her most iconic roles.
A scandalous, enormously entertaining history full of high drama and low blows, Playing to the Gods is the page-turning account of the feud that changed theater forever.
My Thoughts: This was an absolutely fascinating look at the evolution of acting, theater, and the beginnings of the silent movie industry. I recognize the name Sarah Bernhardt but know very little about her and Eleonora Duse was completely unknown to me. Both of their stories are fascinating and at times heartbreaking. I know very little about the history of theater but found the change of styles as illustrated by the two women as well as the relationship between the actresses, playwrights, directors, patrons, and the general public fascinating. This was a well paced nonfiction about two interesting women in a turbulent profession. My Rating: Really Liked It! (4.5 Stars)
Tuesday, January 24, 2023
Top Ten Tuesday - Ten Authors I Read for the First Time in 2022
Today I'm linking up with Top Ten Tuesday hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl which is all about lists. Since lists are one of my favorite things this is one of my favorite linkups! Today's topic is New to Me Author in 2022. Most of the authors and books have been around for quite some time but 2022 was the year I finally read something by them!
1. Simone St. James - I've been wanting to read this author forever but this year I finally picked up The Book of Cold Cases and really enjoyed it.
2. Joy Ellis - I read the first book in her DI Nikki Galena series and can't wait to continue with the series.
3. Mercedes Lackey - I read The Fairy Godmother this year and really enjoyed it. I'm not much of a fantasy reader so I probably won't be reading her books regularly but I do want to read more from her.
4. Richard Osman - I couldn't resist picking up The Thursday Murder Club and really enjoyed it.
5. Fiona Davis - I read and absolutely loved The Magnolia Palace this year and can't wait to read more by her.
6. Alice Feeney - I read Daisy Darker earlier this year and it kept me completely captivated.
7. Maddie Day - I have been wanting to read this prolific cozy author for ages and I finally did this year. Now I just need to get caught on on her multiple series!
8. Anne Bogel - I read and really enjoyed I'd Rather Be Reading and now I need to read the rest of her books.
9. Genevieve Cogman - I finally read The Invisible Library and now I really need to continue the series.
10. Lucy Foley - I read The Paris Apartment earlier this year and loved the atmosphere that Foley created and can't wait to read more from her.
What authors did you read for the first time in 2022?