Books (March)

March was a great reading month! I "made" myself finish some library books that were due back to the library (mainly e-books) and one hardcover book that I had out since January. I mentioned it before, but our library basically renews the hardcover books for you automatically every 3 weeks unless there is a hold for them and the books I get haven't had any holds on them.  I try to get the books back in a timely manner but that is not always the case.

So, on to book reviews for the month of March.

The first book was My Sister's Child by Karen Clarke.  Basically, the main character is raising a young boy who we find out is her sister's.  Her sister had a dubious past.  Her sister also dies in the very beginning of the book.  The main character is not sure who the baby's father is as her sister never revealed that info.  It is a bit of a mystery with the book and some interesting turns in it.  By three fourths into the book I figured out the father.  A good read; I'll give it 4 stars.

My second book for the month was A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.  Bijoux had mentioned this book in a list of favorites she had done several months ago.  I put it on my list to read.  Oh my gosh, this book is a GEM of a book.  Down the line I'm going to do another post about a quote from it (actually a very long quote) that just struck me so much and was so true.  Anyway, the book starts in the early 1920s after the Russian revolution.  For "crimes" he has committed Count Alexander Rostov is ordered to spend the rest of his life in the hotel he has been living in for the past 4  years.  It is such a well written book that follows his life there for about 30 or so years.  Beautifully written! Along with his story there is also the side story of things regarding Russia and its history.  Timely to read with what is going on currently in Ukraine and Russia.  I read this on my tablet as an e-book from our library and I had to get up a few mornings about an half an hour earlier to finish reading it before it was due back, but it was worth it.  Down the line I want to read it again, slowly this time with a hard copy of it to underline so much "wisdom" that was written in it.  Highly recommend this book! Of interest, another book written by the same author, The Lincoln Highway, I have heard was not as good and harder to get into.  I don't plan at this stage to read it, but who knows?

The third book was The Children's Secret by Nina Monroe.  Here is what the book is about that I copied from the Amazon website promoting it.  "Nothing ever happens in a sleepy town like Middlebrook. Until the residents are shaken to their core, when one hot Saturday afternoon, at a back-to-school party, nine children sneak into a barn...and only eight come out unharmed."  This was a hardcover book from our local library.  It was a riveting story and held my interest.  Again, I'd give it 4 stars if you enjoy a bit of a mystery.  

The fourth book was Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult.  I have read a lot of her books and enjoy the majority of them.  This book was a fictional book that began as the pandemic started in March 2020.  The first half of the book for me was really hard to get into and I almost gave up but I stuck with it.  It was the book I had checked out from our library in January and I was determined to get it read to return it by April 2nd which is when another batch of books we got were due back.  I woke up one Saturday morning early and went out to read it, being on a schedule where I was going to try to read 50 pages Saturday, then 50 pages Sunday and then the next 70 or so pages left throughout the week to finish the book.  The story did an interesting twist that I did not expect and I ended up reading the last 170 pages of the book that Saturday.  It was a good story.  It brought back a lot of the anxiety felt at the start of the pandemic.  I'd give it 3.5 stars and patience with the first half of the book.  

The fifth book I read was The Nazi's Knew My Name by Magda Hellinger and Maya Lee.  It is a true story of a Jewish woman during the Holocaust in Auschwitz and other concentration camps.  She was put in charge of "barracks" where other Jewish woman were held but did her best to try to save as many women's lives as she could.  As Amazon said on its website "The Nazis Knew My Name is one woman’s story about the bravery and kindness shown by her mother in the Holocaust concentration camps."  World War 2 and the Holocaust are "interesting" to me so occasionally I will read either a nonfiction book about it or a fictional account.  This is definitely a true story.  It is a sad story but that was a terribly sad awful time.  I would only recommend it if one was "interested" in books from this time period.  

And lastly, I read Invisible by Danielle Steele.  I don't know why I keep reading her, lol, but I had this on hold from our local e-library so when it came my time to read it, I just downloaded it.  It was the classic formula Danielle Steele.  Tough childhood, finds love, loses love, finds love again, everyone lives happily after.  The only good thing about reading her books is I can basically skim through them while I'm exercising on the treadmill and they are fast reads.  I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads.  It held my interest, but very predictable.  I think I have one more of her books on hold and then I'm done with her (I think I said this last month too).  

So now I am at 14 books done for my goal of 50 for the year.  A fourth of the year gone (can you imagine?) so I think I'm pretty on target!

Let me know what you are reading or have read lately.  Always on a lookout for my next read.