“Sometimes what you want is given to you in a way that is so very different from how you had pictured getting it.”
— Susan Meissner, The Last Year of the War
Goodreads Synopsis
Elise Sontag is a typical Iowa fourteen-year-old in 1943–aware of the war but distanced from its reach. Then her father, a legal U.S. resident for nearly two decades, is suddenly arrested on suspicion of being a Nazi sympathizer. The family is sent to an internment camp in Texas, where, behind the armed guards and barbed wire, Elise feels stripped of everything beloved and familiar, including her own identity.
The only thing that makes the camp bearable is meeting fellow internee Mariko Inoue, a Japanese-American teen from Los Angeles, whose friendship empowers Elise to believe the life she knew before the war will again be hers. Together in the desert wilderness, Elise and Mariko hold tight the dream of being young American women with a future beyond the fences.
My Thoughts:
There’s no shortage of dual any different angles. I liked that this one focused on a German American family. You hear about the Japanese internment camps in America, but I’ve never heard much about what happened to Germans living in America.
What I liked about the book:
Focus on female friendship and how the bond remains despite decades of separation
the German American focus
the Sontag’s are an average family who considered themselves Americans
I was planning on posting my top books of the year on New Year’s Eve, so when I saw this week’s Top Ten Tuesday was “Best Books I read this Year”, I decided to participate. These are books I read, not necessarily books that were published in 2021. Click on the link below the pictures for buying information.
Winner of Britain’s coveted Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award, Ann Cleeves introduces a dazzling new suspense series to U.S. mystery readers.
Raven Black begins on New Year’s Eve with a lonely outcast named Magnus Tait, who stays home waiting for visitors who never come. But the next morning the body of a murdered teenage girl is discovered nearby, and suspicion falls on Magnus. Inspector Jimmy Perez enters an investigative maze that leads deeper into the past of the Shetland Islands than anyone wants to go.
My Thoughts: The mystery kept me guessing, but had enough clues to lead the reader to the culprit. This is book one in the Shetland Island series. I loved the Scottish setting. There are an array of interesting characters that make me want to return.
On the morning of April 29, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. As the moments passed, the patrons and staff who had been cleared out of the building realized this was not the usual fire alarm. As one fireman recounted, “Once that first stack got going, it was ‘Goodbye, Charlie.’” The fire was disastrous: it reached 2000 degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more. Investigators descended on the scene, but more than thirty years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library—and if so, who?
Weaving her lifelong love of books and reading into an investigation of the fire, award-winning New Yorker reporter and New York Times bestselling author Susan Orlean delivers a mesmerizing and uniquely compelling book that manages to tell the broader story of libraries and librarians in a way that has never been done before.
In The Library Book, Orlean chronicles the LAPL fire and its aftermath to showcase the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives; delves into the evolution of libraries across the country and around the world, from their humble beginnings as a metropolitan charitable initiative to their current status as a cornerstone of national identity; brings each department of the library to vivid life through on-the-ground reporting; studies arson and attempts to burn a copy of a book herself; reflects on her own experiences in libraries; and reexamines the case of Harry Peak, the blond-haired actor long suspected of setting fire to the LAPL more than thirty years ago.
Along the way, Orlean introduces us to an unforgettable cast of characters from libraries past and present—from Mary Foy, who in 1880 at eighteen years old was named the head of the Los Angeles Public Library at a time when men still dominated the role, to Dr. C.J.K. Jones, a pastor, citrus farmer, and polymath known as “The Human Encyclopedia” who roamed the library dispensing information; from Charles Lummis, a wildly eccentric journalist and adventurer who was determined to make the L.A. library one of the best in the world, to the current staff, who do heroic work every day to ensure that their institution remains a vital part of the city it serves.
Brimming with her signature wit, insight, compassion, and talent for deep research, The Library Book is Susan Orlean’s thrilling journey through the stacks that reveals how these beloved institutions provide much more than just books—and why they remain an essential part of the heart, mind, and soul of our country. It is also a master journalist’s reminder that, perhaps especially in the digital era, they are more necessary than ever.
My Thoughts: This is a great read for any book lover.
Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?
My Thoughts: I was in the middle of reading this book when a co-worker said to me, “I’m reading the best book right now, The Midnight Library.” We kept comparing notes as we read because it’s one of those books you have to talk about.
First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations. The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince.
As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?
My Thoughts: I did not expect to like this books so much. I was expecting a fun twist on a royal romance. It was that and more. I loved the way the relationship between Alex and Henry developed. It was a story of love, acceptance and being your true self.
Scotland, 1830. Following the death of her dear friend, Lady Kiera Darby is in need of a safe haven. Returning to her childhood home, Kiera hopes her beloved brother Trevor and the merriment of the Hogmanay Ball will distract her. But when a caretaker is murdered and a grave is disturbed at nearby Dryburgh Abbey, Kiera is once more thrust into the cold grasp of death.
While Kiera knows that aiding in another inquiry will only further tarnish her reputation, her knowledge of anatomy could make the difference in solving the case. But agreeing to investigate means Kiera must deal with the complicated emotions aroused in her by inquiry agent Sebastian Gage.
When Gage arrives, he reveals that the incident at the Abbey was not the first—some fiend is digging up old bones and holding them for ransom. Now Kiera and Gage must catch the grave robber and put the case to rest…before another victim winds up six feet under.
My Thoughts: This is book 3 in the Lady Darby historical mysteries series. Reading order doesn’t usually matter for mysteries as much as other genres. But, in this case I highly recommend reading the first two books first: The Anatomist’s Wife and Mortal Arts. You could still follow the mystery without the other two books, but you would be missing a lot in terms of character development. They’re all worth the read.
That’s what NYC cop Barry Sutton is learning, as he investigates the devastating phenomenon the media has dubbed False Memory Syndrome—a mysterious affliction that drives its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived.
That’s what neuroscientist Helena Smith believes. It’s why she’s dedicated her life to creating a technology that will let us preserve our most precious memories. If she succeeds, anyone will be able to re-experience a first kiss, the birth of a child, the final moment with a dying parent.
As Barry searches for the truth, he comes face to face with an opponent more terrifying than any disease—a force that attacks not just our minds, but the very fabric of the past. And as its effects begin to unmake the world as we know it, only he and Helena, working together, will stand a chance at defeating it.
But how can they make a stand when reality itself is shifting and crumbling all around them?
At once a relentless page turner and an intricate science-fiction puzzlebox about time, identity, and memory, Recursion is a thriller as only Blake Crouch could imagine it—and his most ambitious, mind-boggling, irresistible work to date.
My Thoughts: I usually prefer fantasy to science fiction. So, this was a different read for me. I found it very thought-provoking, yet full of action. I couldn’t stop reading.
1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything—beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses—but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets. Imperious self-made Mab, product of East-End London poverty, works the legendary code-breaking machines as she conceals old wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband. Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts. But war, loss, and the impossible pressure of secrecy will tear the three apart.
1947. As the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip whips post-war Britain into a fever, three friends-turned-enemies are reunited by a mysterious encrypted letter—the key to which lies buried in the long-ago betrayal that destroyed their friendship and left one of them confined to an asylum. A mysterious traitor has emerged from the shadows of their Bletchley Park past, and now Osla, Mab, and Beth must resurrect their old alliance and crack one last code together. But each petal they remove from the rose code brings danger—and their true enemy—closer…
My Thoughts: Another great WWII novel by Kate Quinn. A good mix of history, mystery and a tiny bit of romance.
Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends who come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village’s all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook’s mother. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginning a life of excitement and responsibility—but also danger.
Despite their love for each other, Mi-ja and Young-sook find it impossible to ignore their differences. The Island of Sea Women takes place over many decades, beginning during a period of Japanese colonialism in the 1930s and 1940s, followed by World War II, the Korean War, through the era of cell phones and wet suits for the women divers. Throughout this time, the residents of Jeju find themselves caught between warring empires. Mi-ja is the daughter of a Japanese collaborator. Young-sook was born into a long line of haenyeo and will inherit her mother’s position leading the divers in their village. Little do the two friends know that forces outside their control will push their friendship to the breaking point.
My Thoughts: I really enjoyed learning about a culture and piece of history that I knew little about. For more information see my post for my favorite November read.
Eva Traube Abrams, a semi-retired librarian in Florida, is shelving books one morning when her eyes lock on a photograph in a magazine lying open nearby. She freezes; it’s an image of a book she hasn’t seen in sixty-five years—a book she recognizes as The Book of Lost Names.
The accompanying article discusses the looting of libraries by the Nazis across Europe during World War II—an experience Eva remembers well—and the search to reunite people with the texts taken from them so long ago. The book in the photograph, an eighteenth-century religious text thought to have been taken from France in the waning days of the war, is one of the most fascinating cases. Now housed in Berlin’s Zentral- und Landesbibliothek library, it appears to contain some sort of code, but researchers don’t know where it came from—or what the code means. Only Eva holds the answer—but will she have the strength to revisit old memories and help reunite those lost during the war?
As a graduate student in 1942, Eva was forced to flee Paris after the arrest of her father, a Polish Jew. Finding refuge in a small mountain town in the Free Zone, she begins forging identity documents for Jewish children fleeing to neutral Switzerland. But erasing people comes with a price, and along with a mysterious, handsome forger named Rémy, Eva decides she must find a way to preserve the real names of the children who are too young to remember who they really are. The records they keep in The Book of Lost Names will become even more vital when the resistance cell they work for is betrayed and Rémy disappears.
An engaging and evocative novel reminiscent of The Lost Girls of Paris and The Alice Network, The Book of Lost Names is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of bravery and love in the face of evil.
My Thoughts: Many books have been written about WWII resistance movements, but this was a new angle. I enjoyed that Eva and Remy were not just helping children flee, they were also optimistic enough to preserve their identities for the future.
Millions of readers of Little House on the Prairie believe they know Laura Ingalls—the pioneer girl who survived blizzards and near-starvation on the Great Plains, and the woman who wrote the famous autobiographical books. But the true saga of her life has never been fully told. Now, drawing on unpublished manuscripts, letters, diaries, and land and financial records, Caroline Fraser—the editor of the Library of America edition of the Little House series—masterfully fills in the gaps in Wilder’s biography. Revealing the grown-up story behind the most influential childhood epic of pioneer life, she also chronicles Wilder’s tumultuous relationship with her journalist daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, setting the record straight regarding charges of ghostwriting that have swirled around the books.
The Little House books, for all the hardships they describe, are paeans to the pioneer spirit, portraying it as triumphant against all odds. But Wilder’s real life was harder and grittier than that, a story of relentless struggle, rootlessness, and poverty. It was only in her sixties, after losing nearly everything in the Great Depression, that she turned to children’s books, recasting her hardscrabble childhood as a celebratory vision of homesteading—and achieving fame and fortune in the process, in one of the most astonishing rags-to-riches episodes in American letters.
Spanning nearly a century of epochal change, from the Indian Wars to the Dust Bowl, Wilder’s dramatic life provides a unique perspective on American history and our national mythology of self-reliance. With fresh insights and new discoveries, Prairie Fires reveals the complex woman whose classic stories grip us to this day.
My Thoughts: This book was a great balance between a biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder and the story of all American pioneers. See my post from August for more information
Everyone journeys to Key West searching for something. For the tourists traveling on Henry Flagler’s legendary Overseas Railroad, Labor Day weekend is an opportunity to forget the economic depression gripping the nation. But one person’s paradise can be another’s prison, and Key West-native Helen Berner yearns to escape.
The Cuban Revolution of 1933 left Mirta Perez’s family in a precarious position. After an arranged wedding in Havana, Mirta arrives in the Keys on her honeymoon. While she can’t deny the growing attraction to the stranger she’s married, her new husband’s illicit business interests may threaten not only her relationship, but her life.
Elizabeth Preston’s trip from New York to Key West is a chance to save her once-wealthy family from their troubles as a result of the Wall Street crash. Her quest takes her to the camps occupied by veterans of the Great War and pairs her with an unlikely ally on a treacherous hunt of his own.
Over the course of the holiday weekend, the women’s paths cross unexpectedly, and the danger swirling around them is matched only by the terrifying force of the deadly storm threatening the Keys.
My thoughts: I debated about other slots on my top ten list, but there was no doubt about my favorite read for 2021. I read many books which are told from multiple viewpoints and/or have connected storylines. However, with so much going on, there’s usually some plotlines or characters that are weaker than others. I loved Helen, Elizabeth and Mirta, their stories and the men they fell in love with equally.
I love holiday themed books for all seasons, especially Christmas. Every genre has at least a few books with a holiday theme. I have not done a top ten list in awhile, so I thought I’d post a list of my top ten things I look for in a holiday read.
10. New Traditions- I love reading about traditions I’m unfamiliar with, whether it’s historical, from a different culture or one that’s just made up by the author
9. Crazy relatives
8. Blizzard- A winter storm is the perfect setting to force characters together
7. Reunion- estranged family members are reunited through the magic of Christmas
6. The perfect gift- a character is given the perfect gift that shows the giver really knows them and cares
5. Christmas magic- Santa, reindeer, elves are real
4. Guardian angels (my favorite are Debbie Macomber’s Shirley, Goodness and Mercy)
3. A Scrooge/Grinch character who learns the meaning of Christmas
2. Christmas baking- bonus if recipes are included (Jenny Colgan books are my favorite)
1. Holiday romance- Forget about Valentine’s Day, nothing beats a Christmas romance.
My favorite read for November was a The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See. A beautifully written tale of female friendship and strength, the book introduced me to facets of Korean history and culture that were new to me. Mi-ja and Young-sook live on the island of Jeju, a matrifocal society where women divers are the providers for their families. Occupied by the Japanese during WWII, then later by American soldiers, the story of the island is tragic. This is not a light, feel-good story, but it is the story of resilience and the power of forgiveness.
This book is perfect for readers who like
… strong female characters.
… complex relationships between characters. (not romantic)
I love this time of year when all of the best books of the year lists are posted. There’s still a month left in 2021 though. These are the books I’m looking forward to for the end of the year.
I’ve enjoyed Higginbotham’s books set in Tudor England and am excited to see her take on a famous American abolitionist. I love how she looks at historical events from so many different perspectives.
On the other end of the spectrum from The Lord of the Underworld series, I also enjoy a good clean Christian romance. This one has a mystery to solve as well.
I tell myself that I’m reading middle grade books so I can make better recommendations for my students. But, really they’re just fun reads, especially if Rick Riordan is involved.
I typically read more cozy mysteries, but I’ve been gravitating towards more thrillers lately. I’ve never read anything by this author, but 9/11 connection piqued my interest.
Another new to me author. I realize this isn’t technically a new release because other formats were out earlier this year. But, I just discovered it when I was looking at the goodreads choice nominees for historical fiction.
Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme that was started by @Lauren’s Page Turners. and is now sponsored by @budgettalesbookblog This meme is quite easy to follow – just randomly pick a book from your to-be-read list and give the reasons why you want to read it. It is that simple.
Boston governess Nell Sweeney and her employer’s morphine-addicted son, Dr. Will Hewitt, investigate a young woman’s disappearance in Book #2 of P.B. Ryan’s acclaimed historical mystery series, Murder in a Mill Town.
Former pickpocket Nell Sweeney reinvented herself and found a position as governess to wealthy Viola Hewitt’s daughter Grace. When Viola needs help locating two missing people, she turns to Nell. Working with Viola’s son Will, an opium addict who knows his way around the back alleys and gambling dens, Nell finds the two murdered, and all evidence points to Will’s brother Harry as the killer. While attempting to clear Harry’s name, Nell and Will walk straight into the villain’s lair. Ryan creates characters you care about and a plot that holds your interest as you try to unmask the killer. Lively and intriguing, this is a fast-paced, wonderful read. -Romantic Times Book Reviews
Why I want to read this book: This one has been on my tbr pile for a long time. I loved the first book in the series, Still Life with Murder, but just haven’t gotten around to reading this one. Will and Nell are intriguing characters and I’m interested to see how the relationship evolves.
This is a day late due to some technical issues. But, I couldn’t let Thankgiving pass without a post about gratitude for books. Here are just a few of the reasaons to be thankful for books.
Reading may be a solo activity, but it forms a community for introverts. When you discover someone else is a reader you have an instant connection, even if you don’t read the same books.
Books are cheap entertainment. Just compare the price of going to a two hour movie, to the price of a book which will provide countless hours of enjoyment.
Readers can live vicariously through characters. We can travel anywhere we want, do whatever we want and feel whatever we want through books.
If handled properly, books are forever. No need to upgrade like the old VHS tapes laying around the house.
If it wasn’t for books, we’d all be reading handwritten scrolls
Filling your house with books makes you look smarter to guests
Books let us know that there are others who experience the same feelings and experiences as us.
Books help you empathize with others
You can carry a book with you anywhere and you’ll never be bored
An e-reader can provide all the entertainment of a book, but nothing smells or feels like a book
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Why are you thankful for books?
Title: George Washington’s Secret Spy War: The Making of America’s First Spymaster
Author: John A. Nagy
Genre: Nonfiction- History
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Goodreads Description
George Washington was America’s first spymaster, and his skill as a spymaster won the war for independence.
George Washington’s Secret Spy War is the untold story of how George Washington took a disorderly, ill-equipped rabble and defeated the best trained and best equipped army of its day. Author John A. Nagy has become the nation’s leading expert on the subject, discovering hundreds of spies who went behind enemy lines to gather intelligence during the American Revolution, many of whom are completely unknown to most historians.
Using George Washington’s diary as the primary source, Nagy tells the story of Washington’s experiences during the French and Indian War and his first steps in the field of espionage. Despite what many believe, Washington did not come to the American Revolution completely unskilled in this area of warfare. Espionage was a skill he honed during the French and Indian war and upon which he heavily depended during the Revolutionary War. He used espionage to level the playing field and then exploited it on to final victory.
Filled with thrilling and never-before-told stories from the battlefield and behind enemy lines, this is the story of how Washington out-spied the British. For the first time, readers will discover how espionage played a major part in the American Revolution and why Washington was a master at orchestrating it.
The majority of my reading for pleasure is fictional. But, I am making an effort to read more nonfiction. I like reading about behind the scenes stories of historical events that we might not know about. This sounded fascinating. Has anyone read it? What did you think?
Welcome to TBR Thursday! This is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly Faye Reads, where you post a title from your shelf or e-reader and find out what others think about.
It is the last season of high school life for Nadia Turner, a rebellious, grief-stricken, seventeen-year-old beauty. Mourning her own mother’s recent suicide, she takes up with the local pastor’s son. Luke Sheppard is twenty-one, a former football star whose injury has reduced him to waiting tables at a diner. They are young; it’s not serious. But the pregnancy that results from this teen romance — and the subsequent cover-up — will have an impact that goes far beyond their youth. As Nadia hides her secret from everyone, including Aubrey, her God-fearing best friend, the years move quickly. Soon, Nadia, Luke, and Aubrey are full-fledged adults and still living in debt to the choices they made that one seaside summer, caught in a love triangle they must carefully maneuver, and dogged by the constant, nagging question: What if they had chosen differently? The possibilities of the road not taken are a relentless haunt.
I have heard lots of praise for Brit Bennett’s books, but have not read any of her books. Has anyone read her debut novel? What did you think?
