What I've been reading

Since I fear I tire everyone with constant fiber related posts, I'll write about books tonight. As I've mentioned, when one currently only reads books or plays with fiber because the wider world is too terrifying, it doesn't make it easy to come up with blog topics. Based on the stats I'm seeing since last Monday, I'm thinking I'm not the only one to be knocked more than a little bit unbalanced. If that is the case, then you probably need more reading material because you're plowing through books at an unprecedented rate, too. Here's a few I've enjoyed recently.

A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers 
I know I've already mentioned this book, but I want to urge you to read it if you haven't already done so. You will be glad you did. Soothing and calming are the two best adjectives I can find to describe how I felt reading it 

Miss Morgan's Book Brigade by Janet Skeslien Charles
This is historical fiction set at the end of WWII (I know, I know, but this one is worth it.) I hadn't heard about Anne Morgan (daughter of J. P.) and her efforts to bring relief and help to the people who lived in the war torn French countryside. The book is based on actual characters including a librarian who changed the French library system. Several of the women working with Anne Morgan's CARDs (Comité Américain pour les Région Dévastées de France) earned the French Croix de Guerre. I loved learning about the women. It does have a dual time story line with other characters in the present day researching the women who served in France. I'll admit I'm more than a little over this form. More often than not, one timeline is much better written than the other and I dislike the better storyline interrupted by characters who feel flat. Horse by Geraldine Brooks was another book I felt the same way about. This felt a bit better done than Horse and I suffered through. Despite this, the book is good and I recommend it, especially if you enjoy historical fiction.

Fortune Favors the Dead by Stephen Spots wood
This is the first book in the newer Pentacost and Parker mystery series. A friend recommended it and having read the first, I have now reserved the rest at the library. The first book is set in 1946 in New York City. Pentacost is the brilliant female detective Lillian Pentacost who has her own agency and is known throughout the city. She also had MS which means she physically cannot manage all the things she wants to. Enter her new assistant Willowjean ("Will") Parker, a young woman who ran away to the circus at the age of 15 and pretty much learned all the circus skills. An encounter with Lillian Pentacost has her then becoming Pentacost's assistant. They are very well written and have quite a bit of humor. They are very diverting. 

Comments

Anonymous said…
These all sound really good to me and I will be reserving them! Thank you.
1/26/2025 8:36 AM
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