VictoriaPL's 2016 Reading - continued!

Welcome to my 2nd thread - Happy Spring!!
I am so glad the weather is warming up, although I could do with less pollen in the air.
The last few days have been just beautiful and I'm feeling that urge to Spring clean and purge the closets although that would mean less time reading!

My goal this year is 40 books. Goal Reached 6/24/2016!!

1. Boooooks Innnn Spaaaaace
(Generally, Space Program history but could be some Sci-Fi)

1. The Time it Takes to Fall by Margaret Lazarus Dean 1.17.2016
2. Wheels Stop: The Tragedies and Triumphs of the Space Shuttle Program, 1986-2011 by Rick Houston 2.23.2016
3. Ice by Shane Johnson 4.19.2016
4. What's It Like in Space?: Stories from Astronauts Who've Been There by Ariel Waldman 5.6.2016

2. WWII books, Fiction

1. The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck 1.10.2016
2. Vienna Prelude by Bodie and Brock Thoene 2.21.2016
3. Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys 3.12.2016
4. Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman 3.21.2016
5. The Book of Aron by Jim Shepard 3.30.2016
6. Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke by Anne Blankman 4.7.2016
7. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah 5.23.2016
8. The Beast's Garden by Kate Forsyth 6.2.2016 *audiobook*
9. The Girl from the Paradise Ballroom by Alison Love 6.21.2016
10. Songbird by Walter Zacharius 6.24.2016

3. WWII books, non-fiction

1. Dancing with the Enemy: My Family's Holocaust Secret by Paul Glaser 1.23.2016
2. Ludwika: A Polish Woman's Struggle to Survive in Nazi Germany by Mr Christoph Fischer 3.31.2016
3. Vera Gran: The Accused by Agata Tuszynska 4.15.2016
4. The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom 4.29.2016
5. Love in the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Eric Larson 5.13.2016
6. Americans in Paris: Life and Death Under Nazi Occupation by Charles Glass 5.20.2016
7. The Unfree French: Life Under the Occupation by Richard Vinen 6.8.2016

4 YA

1. The Raft by S.A. Bodeen 2.2.2016
2. I Remember You by Cathleen Davitt Bell 2.6.2016
3. Renegade by J.A. Souders 3.10.2016

Did Not Finish
Beautiful Creatures
The Accidental Highwayman

5. Hard Habit to Break
(Serial fiction I'm in the midst of)

1. Junkyard Dogs by Craig Johnson 1.30.2016 Longmire #6
2. Hell is Empty by Craig Johnson 2.25.2016 Longmire #7
3. As the Crow Flies by Craig Johnson 4.10.2016 Longmire #8
4. Sycamore Row by John Grisham 6.19.2016 Jake Brigance #2

6. Shiny!
(Unplanned reads that must happen NOW)

1. Silent Joe by T.Jefferson Parker 1.21.2016
2. Crazy Love You by Lisa Unger 3.3.2016
3. Angel Fire by Lisa Unger 3.18.2016
4. Gray Mountain by John Grisham 3.25.2016
5. Force of Nature by C.J. Box 5.1.2016

7. Other Non-Fiction

1. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer 2.26.2016
2. Introverts in the Church by Adam S. McHugh 3.15.2016 (with @cbl_tn)

Did Not Finish
Evolution of the Word: The New Testament in the Order the Books Were Written by Borg, Marcus J.

8. Other Fiction

1. The Continental Op by Dashiell Hammett 1.5.2016
2. a land more kind than home by Wiley Cash 1.26.2016
3. The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte by Syrie James 4.22.2016
4. The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey 4.26.2016
5. The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh 5.20.2016

Books for later in the year:

JULY
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys w/ @christina_reads

AUG
Kick Back by Chelsea Cain

SEPT
102 Minutes by Jim Dwyer
Blind Sight by Carol O'Connell another Mallory novel!!
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

Different Class by Joanne Harris

Congrats on the new thread!

Happy new thread!

Lots of us starting new threads with spring in the air (although it's supposed to rain here off and on for the next week.) I see a couple of books you've read that I'm hoping to get to later this year.

Pretty periwinkles! Enjoy your new thread and (hopefully) nice spring weather.

Happy new thread, Victoria. It appears that a sure sign of spring here at the Category Challenge is the appearance of new threads!

Happy new thread and enjoy your April reading!

Thanks everyone! Happy Reading!

Happy new Spring thread Victoria ! I see you are in the midst of catching up with the Longmire series, I think I am next for A Serpent's Tooth.

I also see that you have the next Mallory planned , I have my eye on that also, but I still need to read the last book.

I also have to check on Karin Slaughter, it seems as though it should be time for a Will Trent book at some point.

Happy new thread! I'm looking forward to As the Crow Flies. I got a scare when I downloaded it yesterday. The OverDrive ebook has the cover of A Serpent's Tooth, and I was afraid for a second that I'd requested the wrong book. I was relieved to discover that it was just the wrong cover attached to the file!

>19 cbl_tn: That's a relief Carrie! It would be awesome if we could catch up with Lisa >18 lsh63: and read the next one altogether!

Happy new thread! Very shiny! :)

I Nancy Pearl'd Under the Banner of Heaven. Got 213 pages in, forcing myself each day to keep going. Woke up this morning and decided I didn't care to read any more of it. After two so-so Krakauer's in a row, he's perilously close to my 3-strikes you are out rule.

Happy new thread, Victoria! Beautiful picture. :)

Happy New Thread! I've been buried under presentations (and sick too) so I'm just now getting around to discovering it. Hopefully things will return to normal in a couple of weeks. Until then, I expect to be behind on reading and posting.

23. Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke by Anne Blankman 4.7.2016



Hard to write a blurb for this one, as it spoils quite a bit of the first book.... How do you do the code for spoilers - could someone clue me in?!?

I liked this one even better than the preceding book. I loved learning about the real Reichstag fire, which I had never heard of before, in such a creative way. I hope Blankman writes another in this series.

>25 VictoriaPL: Just put spoiler and /spoiler in HTML (angle) brackets as usual with your text in between the brackets.

A full explanation can be found on the feature release from the LT blog.

>26 AHS-Wolfy: Thanks Wolfy!

Happy new thread Victoria! I see you are making good progress on your reading goal for this year.

Dropping a note in honor of your new thread as I attempt to play catchup after weeks of being away.

>28 lkernagh: >29 andreablythe: Thanks for stopping by!!

24. As the Crow Flies by Craig Johnson 4.10.2016 Longmire#8 (with cbl_tn)



Amazon description:
Wyoming Sheriff Walt Longmire doesn't have time for cowboys and criminals. His daughter, Cady, is getting married in two weeks, and the wedding locale arrangements have just gone up in smoke signals. Fearing Cady's wrath, Walt and his old friend Henry Standing Bear set out for the Cheyenne Reservation to find a new site for the nuptials. But their expedition ends in horror as they witness a young Crow woman plummeting from Painted Warrior's majestic cliffs. Is it a suicide, or something more sinister? It's not Walt's turf, but he's coerced into the investigation by Lolo Long, the beautiful new tribal police chief.

I didn't love this one. I didn't even really like it. There was no magic this go-around. Better luck next time...

I recently bought these bookmarks to help me remember where I stop on the page. When I start a new book I generally wrap it around the whole thing before tossing it in my bag. I laughed this morning when I took the book out. Too funny!!

Vera Gran: The Accused - I am enjoying it!

One of the things I can't stand... When my library books come in like this. Ewww!
Especially when I paid a fee to borrow from another library system...

Eww. What is that? I did find what I think (hope) was spaghetti sauce once in a BookMooch book.

Horrible. Do these people treat their own books equally carelessly?

>34 RidgewayGirl: It doesn't smell like anything in particular. I'm hoping it's coffee/tea or chocolate.

>35 MissWatson: I know accidents happen, but, like you, I wonder....

>33 VictoriaPL: That's too bad. I hope you don't get put on the hook for the damage! That would be salt in the wound.

>33 VictoriaPL: Report that book as a murder victim.

Ugh! How awful! The poor book.

25. Vera Gran: The Accused by Agata Tuszynksa 4.15.2016



I wasn't paying attention, I was in such a hurry, I stumbled. I wasn't looking where I was going, my black flat shoes bumped into something. Something or someone, who was lying there. I caught my feet in a bundle of rags, my heels sank into it. I didn't fall. I just stumbled. A body, perhaps still alive. I was hurrying to arrive in time for the performance. To get to work. For a sztikele brojt, guih far a sztikele brutjt. 'A little piece of bread, give me a little piece of bread..." he begged in Yiddish.
They were waiting for me, my public.
I knew that if I sang, I was not one of these. One of the weak, the needy, hanging on to the hems of the wealthy in the ghetto. But then again, who were they? I was also begging in front of them. I was begging for money, for alms, charity."

Vera Gran was a Polish singer, a beautiful alto, who had a large enough following that she could continue to sing in clubs that sprang up in the Warsaw ghetto. She never had to entertain another profession to make a living during the war, she made so much just in her salary at the clubs alone. Her public, those with hardly any money, would save up what they had to pay the cover fee, and consumed nothing but water while listening to her sing songs from before the war. They adored her and revered her. Her name alone could keep a club afloat.
After the war things changed for Vera. There were accusations, whispers, that she had collaborated with the Germans. Because Germans sometimes came into the clubs where she was singing to listen to her. Because she was asked to come and sing at private dinner parties. Because she never 'suffered' during the war, she must have been in league with the occupiers. She was put on trial but never found guilty. But she found life much more difficult after that. She could not get jobs, people threatened to boycott, people sent her hateful letters.
Did she collaborate? It's really up to your own interpretation of collaboration. There's no proof, it's all subjective. Vera says she gave money to keep children fed in an orphanage. There's no proof of that either.
Vera died paranoid and very much alone. Although it was years after the war ended, she was very much a casualty of those events.

I am using the lexicon of a world not at war. I am adapting it to a reality in which words had often lost their meaning. The period of the Holocaust had shattered the old models of behavior, loosened the rigors of moral norms. In the face of constant threat, people pushed back the limits of ethics. It's not up to us to judge.
But in the end it is also they, those who survive, who try to adjust to this past. Is it just them in particular?
What would you have done to save your skin? And to save your mother? To which of those condemned would you have opened the door to your home knowing what dangers awaited you? Who would you have helped while endangering the life of your daughter or your grandson? Do you know? You only think that you know. And in those cabarets in the ghetto, you would have looked down on those who were eating blinis with caviar while people were dying in the streets; that seems morally reprehensible to you, the subject of condemnation. Like Vera, who sang in the ghetto her songs from before the war. Like Vera, who used her songs to regain equilibrium, to recall the years before persecution. Because the persecution weighed on the world, for a longer or a shorter time, on those who were conscious of it and on those who did everything to ignore the danger.
Life is expensive. Survival is expensive."

>40 VictoriaPL: That one sounds more interesting than Ludwika was.

>41 thornton37814: Very much so! Parts of it were confusing because, at the time she was interviewed, Vera was possibly suffering some dementia. Definitely paranoia. Sometimes what she says is jumbled - her past and her present merging together. That in itself can be an interesting study on the aged. I thought Agata's thoughts on collaboration - what is and what isn't - to be very thought provoking.

26. Ice by Shane Johnson 4.19.2016



"We're on the moon Gary."
"I know," Lucas chuckled. "That's the problem."
"No, I mean, we're on the moon." Shepard looked up at him, his eyes wide and filled with wonder. "Think of it...just think of it."
"I'm trying not to, Charlie."
Lucas recalled all the events of the previous days, pausing to reflect upon all they had accomplished. So many had worked so hard for so long to make their mission, their landing, a reality. And after all of the training, all of the planning, all of the blood and sweat and tears of hundreds of thousands, here they were.
Marooned.

When they blasted off on the Apollo 19 mission, Commander Gary Lucas and Lunar Module Pilot Charles Shepard had high hopes of what they would find in the unexplored polar regions of the Moon. Their buckets full of rare samples, the men head back to their spacecraft content with their achievements but find that something is wrong with their engines. Despite many efforts the two men are trapped, consigned to a horrible death, the ultimate failure of their agency. A black mark on the Moon, which had brought so much glory to their country, a nightly reminder to anyone looking up into the sky. Shepard, a devout Christian, and Lucas, an unbeliever, both decide to go out for one more jaunt in the moondust before their remaining air expires. What they find this time changes everything. A crisis of belief. A miracle on the Moon.

I grew up on the Spacecoast of Florida and I've always had an abiding affection for the Apollo missions. The description for this book intrigued me. I never really know what to expect when I pick up a 'Christian Fiction' book. But astronauts have been known to mention their spirituality when they talk about being in orbit, out on EVA, etc, so I can see how faith would naturally come into such a situation. I give the book props for how detailed it was on the technical knowledge. Having read many astronaut biographies and books on the space agency, it read well. I was pleased to see the forward is by Charlie Duke, a moonwalker, who I met a few years ago when he gave a talk at our library. I'm sure Charlie enjoyed reading it. I also give kudos for the plot, the fiction part was highly original. There were times I was like 'where is this going?' but I like where it ended up.

27. The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte by Syrie James 4.22.2016



Amazon description:
Though poor, plain, and unconnected, Charlotte Bronte possesses a deeply passionate side which she reveals only in her writings—creating Jane Eyre and other novels that stand among literature's most beloved works. Living a secluded life in the wilds of Yorkshire with her sisters Emily and Anne, their drug-addicted brother, and an eccentric father who is going blind, Charlotte Bronte dreams of a real love story as fiery as the ones she creates.
But it is in the pages of her diary where Charlotte exposes her deepest feelings and desires—and the truth about her life, its triumphs and shattering disappointments, her family, the inspiration behind her work, her scandalous secret passion for the man she can never have . . . and her intense, dramatic relationship with the man she comes to love, the enigmatic Arthur Bell Nicholls.

I've read so many of these Brontë-inspired works that they all seem to mesh together. I can't remember if it felt more like Charlotte and Emily: a novel of the Brontës or The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë or maybe Romancing Miss Brontë: a novel. Yes, that's the one. I think. I'm OK with them all blurring together into a shared history. These have become a nice warm blanket I can get out and snuggle in when the mood strikes.
At times the writing felt a little more Austen than Brontë. Charlotte sometimes feels Austen-like to me. But it was very engaging and I felt myself blissfully immersed in Haworth again.

28. The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey 4.26.2016



Amazon description
The Flight of Gemma Hardy is a modern take on a classic story—Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre—that will fascinate readers of the Gothic original and fans of modern literary fiction alike, with its lyrical prose, robust characters, and abundant compassion. Set in early 1960s Scotland, this breakout novel from award-winning author Margot Livesey is a tale of determination and spirit that, like The Three Weissmanns of Westport and A Thousand Acres, spins an unforgettable new story from threads of our shared, still-living literary past.

Like the classic that inspired it, it's so easy to immerse yourself in this tale. Even though the names, places and era are different, it still evokes Jane Eyre beautifully. I appreciated both the bones of the story and the alterations.

Waiting for your review! I found my copy of The Flight of Gemma Hardy as I began to pack up my books and I'm hoping to read it soon.

>46 RidgewayGirl: Will post it soon! Short version: I liked it.
As we rarely like the same books I'm not sure what that means for you, dear Kay.

Ha! No kidding. Still, it's the law of intermittent rewards -- every so often we both love the same book and that's worth the disagreements on all the others.

I got word that an author, Gerda Bikales, would be in the area giving a reading of her WWII memoir (a particular passion of mine). I was so excited to attend. My husband and I left promptly after work as we had never been to this particular school campus before but when we got there, no one was around. We searched for the auditorium and it was empty. Nada. Finally re-read the article my friend had posted only to discover that the reading was a week ago. I was so disappointed. But what an adventure we had and some good cardio walking around, LOL.

29. The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom 4.29.2016



I have heard much about the little Dutch woman, Corrie Ten Boom, but it has taken me so long to finally get around to her story. The Ten Boom family took in both their Jewish friends and complete strangers to keep them safe from the Nazis during WWII. People would just show up at their watch shop unannounced and the family never turned anyone away. Even though they were just simple people, their extraordinary faith led them to work with the Underground to disguise their communications, to build a secret room, to secure extra ration cards and move Jews around the country. They developed a panic button bell system and held drills to see how quickly their guests could hide out of the way. But Corrie and her family were caught and imprisoned. Her father and sister died in the camps. Still she had faith. Still she tried to shine the Light out into the darkness that surrounded her. I greatly admire her courage and her fortitude.
The book is so readable, like you are sitting across the coffee table from your grandmother. I only wish it were longer. I was sad to see it end.

We could never be sure that out line was not tapped. So we developed a system for coding our underground messages in terms of watches...
"I have a watch here with a face that's causing difficulty. One of the numbers has worked loose and it's holding back the hand. Do you know anyone who does this kind of repair work?" (We have a Jew whose features are especially Semitic. Do you know anyone who would be willing to take an extra risk?)
"I'm sorry, but the child's watch you left with us is not repairable. Do you have a receipt?" (A Jewish child has died in one of our houses. We need a burial permit).

"I could not sleep last night," the lieutenant said, "thinking about that Book where you read such different ideas. What else does it say in there?"
On my closed eyelids the sun glimmered and blazed. "It says," I began slowly, "that a Light has come into the world, so that we need no longer walk in the dark. Is there darkness in your life, Lieutenant?"
There was a very long silence.
"There is great darkness," he said at last. "I cannot bear the work I do here."
Then all at once he was telling me about his wife and children home in Bremen, about their garden, their dogs, their summer hiking vacations. "Bremen was bombed again last week. Each morning I ask myself are they still alive."
"There is One Who has them always in His sight, Lieutenant Rahms. Jesus is the Light the Bible shows to me, the Light that shines even in such darkness as yours."
The man pulled the visor of his hat lower on his eyes; the skull-and-crossbones glinted in the sunlight. When he spoke it was so low I could hardly hear. "What can you know of darkness like mine...."

Just got back from the FOL sale. They were really hit hard by the resellers yesterday. I threw $16 to the wind and picked up a few things. We'll see how they pan out.

The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone
Lust for Life by Irving Stone
Momo by Michael Ende
Wind / Pinball by Haruki Murakami
Angel Time by Anne Rice
Prague Counterpoint by Bodie Thoene
Danzig Passage by Bodie Thoene
Munich Signature by Bodie Thoene
Warsaw Requiem by Bodie Thoene
The Twilight of Courage by Bodie and Brock Thoene

>49 VictoriaPL: - don't feel bad - my husband and I once showed up 2 weeks late for a wake. A friend called to say another friend's daughter had passed and when I looked up the obituary, I only looked at the day of the wake and not the date of the wake thinking it had just happened. Went to the funeral home and it was closed.

>51 VictoriaPL: The resellers are another reason the first Thursday sale is so nice, along with there only being a few other browsers. Still, there's something about the mad crush of people all book-hunting.

>51 VictoriaPL: Yay, great haul! Enjoy going through them :)

>52 dudes22: Oh no! That must have been awful... thank you for sharing, that does help!

>53 RidgewayGirl: Yes, I need to get back to another First Thursday. If only I didn't have this pesky thing called work, LOL

>54 rabbitprincess: Thank you! I hope I didn't get too many stinkers.

APRIL RECAP

29 books overall this year so far.
7 books read in April.

Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke by Anne Blankman
As the Crow Flies by Craig Johnson
Vera Gran: The Accused by Agata Tuszynksa
Ice by Shane Johnson
The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte by Syrie James
The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey
The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

Favorite book of the month:
The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte

Least favorite book of the month:
As the Crow Flies

Not sure yet where my May reading will take me.... the adventure begins!!

30. Force of Nature by CJ Box 5.1.2016



Amazon description
In 1995, Nate Romanowski was in a Special Forces unit abroad when his commander, John Nemecek, did something terrible. Now the high-ranking government official and cold-blooded sociopath is determined to eliminate anyone who knows about it—like Nate, who’s hidden himself away in Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains. And he knows exactly how Nemecek will do it—by targeting Nate's friends to draw him out. That includes his friend, game warden Joe Pickett, and Pickett’s entire family. The only way to fight back is outside the law. Nate knows he can do it, but he isn't sure about his straight-arrow friend. And all their lives could depend on it.

I had read Box's first Joe Pickett novel and hadn't really cared for it. I wanted to give the series another try and thought I'd go for this one since it is really a Nate story more so than a Joe story. I still can't say that I'm a fan, but I did read it all in one go, so there's that. It was a nice palette cleanser for me.

It is one month until my 9th Thingaversary. I've never 'observed' one before by purchasing books but I am tempted this year. It will take me a month just to make up my mind on my selections!

The Really Big booksale is in August....

>59 RidgewayGirl: ... and I look forward to it!!

Ohh, 9 years means 10 books. Happy hunting!

>60 VictoriaPL: I managed to go last year. I only picked up a few books because of the having to bring them back to Germany in a suitcase thing, but I do plan to have more fun this year. Also, last year they had a bunch of food trucks from various restaurants. I wanted to take a look, but for reasons I can't remember, didn't have time.

So, lunch and books on August 14th?

>62 RidgewayGirl: I will put it on the calendar. In ink !

I'm jealous - jealous - jealous. Books and food - yahoo!

>64 dudes22: aw, Betty, I wish you could join us!

Yay! I've informed my family. They think they'll be able to work around it.

Received two LibraryThing Early Reviewer books, so I'll be diving into those soon.

What's It Like in Space: Stories from Astronauts Who've Been There by Ariel Waldman
The Girl from the Paradise Ballroom by Alison Love

31. What's It Like in Space: Stories from Astronauts Who've Been There by Ariel Waldman 5.6..2016



NOTE: This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

This is small coffee-table type of book about what astronauts experience while in space. There are about 60 factoids, each accompanied on the facing page with pop art. It feels very retro. It's hard to rate it without knowing what audience the author intended it for. Most adults know that space food comes in tubes or pouches, that astronauts wear diapers and that they experience a sunrise every ninety minutes. And sometimes the data is repetitive, for instance: vomiting in space - then - carry a towel to clean up the vomit - then - the Garn scale for space sickness, etc. In many respects, I was a little bored by the data here. I think it would be great to peak the interest of a middle-schooler, who would likely not know all the info and who would be drawn to the catchy visuals.

>50 VictoriaPL: Oh, I love that one! I keep saying I need to re-read it some time.

>51 VictoriaPL: I read the Thoene books way back when.

>57 VictoriaPL: I think I enjoy the Box books more than some because I have a little familiarity with the region. My brother lived in Sheridan, Wyoming for awhile, and my nephew still lives there. I knew enough about the places in the novels that I really enjoyed the first few. There are a few that don't resonate quite so much.

>69 thornton37814: Thanks for stopping by Lori. How was your conference?

>70 VictoriaPL: Quite wonderful!

32. In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Eric Larson 5.13.2016



There are so many well done reviews of this book, I thought I would just leave my thoughts.

I was impressed at how many details were captured from diaries and letters about Mr Dodd and his daughter, Martha. We don't really write down our thoughts about people we meet today as they did then. I feel like something has been lost, that biographers of the present and future will have a harder time of it.
I felt a sort of kinship with Mr Dodd, as all he really wanted to do was go to a quiet farm and write his book. Instead he took a very extroverted posting, ambassador to Berlin, in a very turbulent time in history. He didn't really have either the personality or the funds needed to do the job effectively. If it was possible to be effective at all, during Hitler's rise to power.
I did not care for Martha Dodd at all. Her casual relationships with bankers, Nazis, Communists (and sometimes all at the same time) left me thinking so much less of her as a person. I realize that Larson used her to keep the narrative spicy and interesting. I would have much preferred the interesting part to be about Hitler and the city of Berlin and not just Martha's loose morals.
I wish we had more about Mrs Dodd. I would have liked to know how she fared in Berlin's society. Her every day interactions, running the household, etc.

All in all, a little disappointed. I really loved Larson's The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America and I really wanted this one to live up to that.

I love your " Boooooks Innnn Spaaaaace" category. My Wishlist/TBR pile is a little larger thanks to your reviews.

>73 Sace: So glad to see you here, Sace.
Yes, I'm an armchair astronaut.
Oh thank you, I take that as a compliment!

>74 VictoriaPL: Yay! That's how I meant it :-)

My first category change!
Halfway through the year and I have not read anything for my re-reads category. My WWII category was bursting at the seams. Problem solved, split it into two: fiction and non.

>76 VictoriaPL: I've got two categories with nothing myself, but I'm reading one at the moment for one and have an ER lined up for the other!

>76 VictoriaPL: Brilliant!

33. Americans in Paris: Life and Death Under Nazi Occupation by Charles Glass 5.20.2016



"Nearly 30,000 Americans lived in or near Paris before the Second World War. Those who refused to leave were, paraphrasing Dickens, the best and worst of America. Like the French, some collaborated, others resisted. The Germans forced some into slave labor. At least one was taken back to the United States to face a trial for treason. Americans in Paris under the occupation were among the most eccentric, original and disparate collection of their countrymen anywhere - tested as few others have been before or since. This is their story."

I found the first few chapters of the book hard going. It's a lot of names and places to sort out. Then my brain adapted and I found it easier. I'm not convinced all the name-dropping was necessary and the book could have been made more readable.

It was amusing to learn of the plucky Sylvia Beach of Shakespeare and Company who refused to sell a German officer a copy of Joyce's Finnigan's Wake that he admired. I had read about Dr. Jackson of The American Hospital of Paris and his protection of downed Allied pilots but it was nice to encounter him again. I didn't even know there was an American Library in Paris, which under German forces could not admit Jews inside but, whose stalwart librarians instead hand-delivered books to Jews at their houses and even to concentration camps!

It was interesting to read about Charles Bedaux. He was so passionate about his ideas. Yes, he tried to sell his projects to the American, French and then German governments. He wasn't loyal to any one side, he just wanted someone to produce the monies to fund his work, to make his dreams a reality. Perhaps the fact that he so easily switched back-and-forth is what ultimately turned the tide against him. It would be interesting to know what he could have accomplished with his life had the war not intervened.

If occupied Paris is an interest of yours, you might enjoy this one.

34. The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh 5.20.2016



Amazon description (edited for length):
The town of Henbane sits deep in the Ozark Mountains. Folks there still whisper about Lucy Dane’s mother, a bewitching stranger who appeared long enough to marry Carl Dane and then vanished when Lucy was just a child. Now on the brink of adulthood, Lucy experiences another loss when her friend Cheri disappears and is then found murdered. Lucy is haunted by the two lost girls—the mother she never knew and the friend she couldn’t save—and sets out with the help of a local boy, Daniel, to uncover the mystery behind Cheri’s death. What Lucy discovers is a secret that pervades the secluded Missouri hills, and beyond that horrific revelation is a more personal one concerning what happened to her mother more than a decade earlier.

Loved this dark, insular tale of two losses. Told in alternating chapters, from multiple viewpoints, it sucks you right in. I read it all in one go. It reminded me a little of Tabitha King's Nodd's Ridge books. I'll be reading more of Laura McHugh.

35. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah 5.23.2016



Amazon description :
In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn't believe that the Nazis will invade France … but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When a German captain requisitions Vianne's home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive.
Vianne's sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can … completely. But when he betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others.
With courage, grace and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of WWII and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women's war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France--a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women

I absolutely LOVED this story. I didn't want to put the book down. I cried. Simply beautiful.
It didn't garner a full 5 stars from me because I didn't think the modern part needed to be added and felt like it was only added to wrap everything up neatly in a bow. The book would have stood on its own fine without it.

Many people have recommended this book to me and it's on my list to read sometime this year.

>82 dudes22: It seems to be popular. I hope you enjoy it Betty!

I've got The Nightingale on my Kindle so I can look forward to that. You also got me with The Weight of Blood.

>84 DeltaQueen50: I'll be curious to hear your thoughts on those, Judy. Thanks for stopping by!

>81 VictoriaPL: You got me with this one, seems like I'm a sucker for WWII novels set in France...

>86 Chrischi_HH: You are not alone! I'll be reading on/off all year about WWII France...

Slowly getting caught up with various threads.

>40 VictoriaPL: - That sounds like a haunting read.

>44 VictoriaPL: - Love that cover!

>72 VictoriaPL: - Sorry to see that this one didn't live up the your experience reading The Devil in the White City but considering I have The Devil in the White City waiting for me on my TBR shelves, I will take this as an endorsement of that book. ;-)

>88 lkernagh: Hi Lori, glad you stopped by. Let me know what you think of Devil in the White City!

MAY RECAP

Finished 6 books:

Force of Nature by CJ Box
What's It Like in Space: Stories from Astronauts Who've Been There by Ariel Waldman
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Eric Larson
Americans in Paris: Life and Death Under Nazi Occupation by Charles Glass
The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Best of the month.... The Nightingale, no question.

CURRENTLY READING
The Beast's Garden by Kate Forsyth
The Unfree French by Richard Vinen
The Accidental Highwayman: Being the Tale of Kit Bristol, His Horse Midnight, a Mysterious Princess, and Sundry Magical Persons Besides by Ben Tripp

PLANS FOR JUNE
The Girl from the Paradise Ballroom by Alison Love (my LTER book)
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia
Evolution of the Word: the New Testament in the Order the Books Were Written by Marcus J. Borg

36. The Beast's Garden by Kate Forsyth 6.2.2016 *audiobook*



Amazon description (edited for length)
"It's August 1939 in Germany, and Ava's world is in turmoil. To save her father, she must marry a young Nazi officer, Leo von Löwenstein, who works for Hitler's spy chief in Berlin. However, she hates and fears the brutal Nazi regime and finds herself compelled to stand against it. Ava joins an underground resistance movement that seeks to help victims survive the horrors of the German war machine. But she must live a double life, hiding her true feelings from her husband even as she falls in love with him."

Amazon calls this "A retelling of the Grimms' Beauty and the Beast, set in Nazi Germany."
I was immediately hooked and started looking for a copy (unfortunately, the book was published in Australia and is only available in the States from Audible and from Amazon on MP3 CD). Amazon's description is really a simplification because Beauty is more well known than The Singing, Springing Lark, which is the actual tale Forsyth was inspired by.

The garden of the title is the Tiergarten in Berlin, literally, the Animal Garden. The Teirgarten is a central location in the story but the name is also a play on words for the city of Berlin during the Second World War. While I have read dozens of books that feature the French Resistance, the Dutch Resistance, etc, the German Resistance was new to me. Forsyth explains in her afterward that several characters were real people. They fought against their own in the very heart of the Reich.

I read a review that complained that a certain part of the plot was not feasible. To me, it's fiction. It's a retelling of a fairy tale and those are not true-to-life anyway. Forsyth's book is a love story with challenges to be overcome, which is matched perfectly with the struggle of life in wartime Berlin. I was captivated and drawn in by it. I did not want it to end.

Today is my 9th Thingaversary. I love my LT friends and community - you all are the best a girl can ask for!

Happy Thingaversary!

Happy Thingaversary! Celebrate appropriately!

Happy Thingaversary!

Happy Thingaversary! Hope you buy some wonderful books to celebrate.

Happy Thingaversary! Enjoy planning your book haul ;)

Happy Thingaversary, Victoria, it's been lovely getting to know you over these years. :)

Happy Thingaversary! I'm glad you joined LT! Are you going to buy the traditional number of books now or in August? August is a long, long way away.

Happy Thing Victoria ! Auto spell check won't let me type it out. I think you were one of the first people I "met " My 9 year is next month!

Thanks everyone! I am going to stall my book buying til August. Other priorities right now and no room on my TBR shelf (or the auxiliary TBR bag, LOL).

37. The Unfree French: Life Under the Occupation by Richard Vinen 6.8.2016



The subtitle here says all: life under the occupation. Vinen details the differences in the wartime experiences of the French in the cities, the countryside and those in Germany, either voluntarily or imprisoned. The relationships between the mostly female French population and the German soldiers and the French POWs with the German women. The different policing authorities and how they managed to work... or didn't. The food rationing, different for men and women, pregnant women, children and teenagers - how many young adults lied about their age to get the food that teenagers were provisioned with. The different 'liberation' experiences taking place gradually at different times over the country.

I've read a lot about WWII but I still found new information here.

Sorry I missed your Thingaversary. Did you make a "haul"?

>103 thornton37814: No worries! You have a lot going on with your trip.
No haul yet. Later this summer.

Happy Thingaversary!! Planning the haul is almost as much fun as the actual buying, at least for me. :)

I have had a very disappointing reading month so far, having "Did Not Finish" two books in a row. Both were YA, which is usually a dependable genre for me.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia
The Accidental Highwayman by Ben Tripp

I have moved on to a formulaic Southern fiction:
Sycamore Row by John Grisham

It's annoying when DNFs appear in clusters like that! Hope a great book comes your way soon!

>107 rabbitprincess: Yes it is! Thanks!

It just means you are due for an awesome read soon!

Just catching up - I read and loved the two Anne Blankman books earlier this year as well. I also read The Beast's Garden and liked it quite a bit, lots of interesting info in these books. i hadn't much considered the Americans & English living in Germany at the time which I thought Forsyth covered well.

I have The Nightingale on my tbr pile for June and have been thinking I won't get to it, I'll try harder.

I'm certain you will love Between Shades of Gray and I'll get that to you in a month.

>109 LittleTaiko: I hope so!
>110 avatiakh: You should definitely try harder, LOL
>111 RidgewayGirl: I am so excited, more for the fact that you will be home than for the book!

38. Sycamore Row by John Grisham 6.19.2016



When folks ask me if I like Grisham, I hesitate. I liked Grisham's early novels, A Time to Kill, The Client and The Runaway Jury. I think about why I liked those novels - they're quintessentially Southern, they're dramatic and fast-paced and their plots are cunning and well crafted. Why did I not keep up with Grisham's prodigious output? Was it just a phase?

I read another Grisham earlier this year, Gray Mountain. I thought, why not "check in" with an old reliable? While it was fair, Mountain didn't quite have the magic mojo for me. I stumbled across Sycamore Row and almost didn't click on the hyperlink. I was ready to write Grisham off the list again. But then I saw Jake Brigance out to the side and thought, what? The bait was taken, the hook was set.

"This will blow the top off the courthouse, Jake. A white man with money cuts out his family, leaves it all to his black housekeeper, then hangs himself. Are you kidding?"

So, Sycamore is a followup to A Time to Kill. It's not a continuance of the same story, but it has very much of the same vibe about it. I absolutely ate it up. So well written! I grant Grisham a continuance!

I am DNF'ing Evolution of the Word: The New Testament in the Order the Books Were Written by Marcus J. Borg. I certainly want to know more about the topic, but the execution just was not working for me.

>113 VictoriaPL: I listened to the Audio on this as Michael Beck returned to the Brigance character. I love Michael Beck's narration, but found the story about the inheritance a little long winded.

If you have not read the most recent Grisham, Rogue Lawyer, then give that one a try. It is different, in form and content, but so good. I just checked and recommended this one in >206 of your last thread.

I also really enjoyed The Last Juror which does have a trial in it, but the novel follows the lead character's history as editor of a small town newspaper.

>113 VictoriaPL: & >114 VictoriaPL: - Well, at least you got one really good read in before another DNF.

>115 brodiew2:, I'll have to look those up!

>116 LittleTaiko: That's true!

39. The Girl from the Paradise Ballroom by Alison Love 6.21.2016



**LT Early Reviewer Book**

From the sideboard he took the photograph of Olivia, in her oyster silk dress. "She was a beautiful woman. Look! Do you remember how she danced the tango? Nobody could resist her when she danced the tango." (quoted from an advanced reader's copy)

Italian Antonio Trombetta has a velvet voice. He's anxious to please his new patron, Bernard Rodway, who is paying for his singing lessons and introducing Antonio to a much needed network of contacts. Antonio is startled when he meets Bernard's wife, Olivia, because they met once before on an unforgettable evening at the Paradise Ballroom. Antonio and Olivia find that they are truly kindred spirits, both enjoying the glittering world of the English privileged but neither truly belonging there. As WWII continues to rage and Italy makes its move, everything changes for Antonio's Italian family and for Bernard and Olivia too.

I love historical fiction placed during WWII. There is something about a world set on edge, people living their lives during chaotic times. Some of the actions in this book, namely,adultry, go against my personal beliefs, but that can be said of many books I have read, liked and even recommended. I think that, due to being wide-read in this genre, some of the plot-points felt contrived. It did not diminish my appreciation of the story. Certain family situations were common during the war and are convenient for story-telling now. And I didn't predict everything. Bernard surprised me - in a good way. All in all, I enjoyed it very much! Thanks to the LT Early Reviewers program for providing me the opportunity to read it.

Sorry I missed your Thingaversary. I didn't realize that ours were so close together. I celebrated my 8th on the 13th.

The Beast's Garden sounds interesting. I listened to an audiobook a few years ago that had a plot line about the German resistance - The Arms Maker of Berlin.

>119 cbl_tn: Hi Carrie! I didn't realize that either. Well, Happy Thingaversary to you! No worries, I haven't even bought any books to celebrate. I'll have to look into The Arms Maker of Berlin, thanks for mentioning it!

I love the things you sometimes find in old library books. Evidence of some librarian's economical shorthand. Then again, Beauvoir is a French Existentialist, maybe 'Blood' is to the point!
I'll be starting The Blood of Others next!

40. Songbird by Walter Zacharius 6.24.2016
(I have also seen this titled The Memories We Keep)



"Vinnie wanted what was possible in a reasonable world: family, music, love. I wanted those things, too, and for a brief moment had had them. He hadn't yet looked into the face of evil or felt the rancid breath of humiliation on his neck. He hadn't seen things that made people pray for death. But I had, and I would extract as much vengeance as I could before death overtook me."

Mia Levy comes from a middle-class Jewish family in Lodz, Poland. She is beautiful and privileged, cultured and fluent in several languages. Her family indulges her passion for music by letting her study in Paris. Only Mia is able to escape when her family is betrayed and she eventually makes her way to America. She discovers jazz and the wonders of New York City and love. But her family's deaths weigh heavy on Mia, so she leaves all of that behind and embarks on a new trade - spycraft. Sent back to her beloved Paris, Mia's posting is a bit of a shock, but she finds it affords her the perfect opportunities to strike at the Nazis when they least expect it.

If you've been following my reading then you know this was a no-brainer for me. Paris. Nazis. Music.
I did read it all in one evening. I tried to go to bed but I just had to know what happened so I got back up and finished it. I loved the style of the writing, so fluid. It's hard to believe this is a first novel. I was a little surprised at how dark it went, and also quite sexual. I'm fine with those when they service the story - I just didn't expect them from the blurbs I had read. I loved the journey this book took me on and I wish there were more novels to read from Zacharius.

I have reached my goal of 40 books for the year! I will, of course, continue the Challenge. I honestly didn't know how I would do this year as the last two years have been paltry. And I'm already excited about next year's challenge!

Congratulations on reaching your goal!

Or you could just stop reading until January. That's always an option. Congratulations!

>124 MissWatson: Thanks!
>125 RidgewayGirl: Thanks! I do expect my reading to slow down, so many projects / travel about to happen in the next few months.

Congratulations on meeting your goal Victoria !

>127 lsh63: Thanks Lisa! We need to find something to read together!

Congratulations on meeting reading goal, Victoria. I have to admit, I've been doing some thinking about next year's challenge as well.

Congrats on reaching your goal Victoria!

I'm behind where I want to be, but not terribly far. However, I suspect I'll be further behind by year's end. I will be reading parts of books rather than entire books as I'm working on the book, I suspect.

>129 DeltaQueen50:, >130 AHS-Wolfy: Thanks!
>131 thornton37814: At least it's not about the numbers, Lori. Just enjoy what you do have time for.

Congratulations on reading 40 books!
I see that you DNF Beautiful Creatures. I bought the entire 4 book series because I liked the movie based on the books. I did manage to finish the first book but it was a trial and I knew before I reached the end that I would never read the other 3 books.

>133 VioletBramble: Thanks!
Oh no! That's terrible! Maybe you can sell or trade them in to recoup? I got about halfway through and was forcing myself and then I just decided to stop and move on.

How nice to reach your goal early in the year. Now the pressure is off. I also confess to thinking about next year already.

>135 dudes22: I've already got a spreadsheet going for next year. I think I need therapy.

I have challenge ideas for the next four years at least...! Coming up with themes is a useful way to daydream.

>137 rabbitprincess: You make me feel much better!! LOL.

I forgot to use the auto feature, but I've started a new thread!
Come join me there!
https://www.librarything.com/topic/226314#