Weekly Reading Thread: Nov 20-26

I wanted to kick that mother right in the taco. 

I liked Home but it wasn't his best Bolitar book. 

I am am also reading The Twenty Three and boy is it ever fast paced!

Have you read The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd? Simply amazing. 

Lisa 

No, I have not read the Invention of Wings. I will look into it. I want to mention that I did read my Amazon Prime book called The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland. It took me a little getting into the book, but I ended up really liking it. I have been impressed with the books I have downloaded for free with the Kindle First selections.

That is how my book club is too - good reads but not necessarily too heavy. I did finish last night - it was good!

I'm checking in late this week. So last week I read two incredible novels. First up was "To the Bright Edge of the World" by Eowyn Ivey.  Here is my review from Goodreads. I adored this book. The writing is incredible with descriptive details that made me feel as though I was there in every scene. I could see what the characters were seeing and feel the icy cold of the Alaskan tundra. I grew to care about the characters, especially Sophie, the wife in the book. 

Partially this was because I loved her spirit of independence. She didn't adhere to the strict code of expected behaviors for women or her era which frowned upon women walking around in nature and sketching birds which Sophie loved to do. Women in the last 1800's met for tea, gossiped and adhered to strict codes of conduct or they were ostracized. Sophie was a Colonel's wife, and luckily her husband not only understood her independence but loved her all the more for it. 

When Sophie's husband leaves for an exploration trip to Alaska for a year or more Sophie is left behind, and this is when she decides to pursue the new field of photography to better capture her birds. Being a photographer who's practiced the art for 37 years myself I loved this part of the book enormously. I chuckled when Sophie was debating over buying porcelain trays to hold solution in the dark room (because of course they didn't have plastic back then) and instead decided to use wooden boxes and fabric waterproofed with wax, so she could save money for other photographic supplies. 

It was incredibly interesting to read about Colonel Forrester's trek through Alaska and all the hardships he and his men faced along the way. Their job is to map out the territory in a section that white men haven't been able to get through before this time. They face many hardships along the way including battles with some Indians, but more than not the Indians they do meet are kind, gracious and help them along the way. 

This is an incredibly beautiful book. One I will remember for a very long time. I've already decided to buy a hardcover copy to keep, and I only do that with books that are the very best. I recommend it highly and I give it 5 stars. 

The second book I read is "Homegoing" by Yaa Gyasi  I loved this book, but I sometimes wished had been able to have a few more chapters or pages to develop a bit more. It seemed as though as soon as I got to really know that character, that chapter/character would end and another chapter/character would begin. In this book each chapter introduced another character. 

As a whole this book was mesmerizing, a page turner and made me think. I really like books like this, the ones that haunt you for weeks afterwards. 

I put the book down feeling very satisfied and felt I'd learned a lot. I will look for this author's future books. Highly recommend. 4 stars.