Confession...

Okay so I have a confession...I have not finished The Book Thief. I am ashamed because this is such a great book and yet I cannot seem to find the time to finish it! I am not pleased with myself. I will not be changing the start of the next book from this Sunday, but I do plan on keeping this discussion open a little longer until I finish it. I am so sorry!!

Happy Reading!

Book Review by Rachel

Well my lovely friend is at it again! She has written a wonderful review of the book What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew. So enough from me here is Rachel;

What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool

I’m a sucker for books on social history. I like to know what people ate and how they wore their clothes, and all of those little tidbits that makes up everyday living. If you have an interest in the Regency Period (early 1800s) in Britain, then this is the book for you. It’s filled with an array of information about the daily dealings of people living at this time. It extends from food to clothes to dances to manners and so much more.

What’s great about the book is that it really provides a good base knowledge for the time period without feeling too dense. Some history books can be hard to digest and require a thorough reading. I feel this book is a really good beginners guide to the era. If you are interested in Dickens, Austen, the Brontes, or Trollope, this will give you a good historical background on the social construct of the time. It also helps if you enjoy historical novels of the period and even romance novels of the period. Finally, if you’re a fan of Downton Abbey, it could give you an understanding of the social constructs they were leaving behind. Taking place 100 years later, they are just moving beyond the traditional social constructs that were such a large part of the land (and are still in place to a great extent, though wealth provides more upward mobility than it once did).

It’s one of those books I have read several times because (besides being a history nerd) it’s got so many tidbits of information throughout that it’s hard to remember all of the information. Even after years of historical study, it manages to enlighten me, and I fully recommend it for anyone interested in Regency, Edwardian, and even Victorian Britain. Happy Reading!!

Less Reading, More Talking

Less reading, more talking is not a phrase I like to say often! I usually prefer quite the opposite actually! But now that our time with The Book Thief has come to a close I am looking forward to hearing all of your thoughts on this amazing book. So bring on the spoken word (...though we will still read it)!!

Happy Discussing! 

Happy Weekend!

This is going to me during the sweet boys nap-time this weekend!!
Happy Reading!

Lucky You by Carl Haasen

It is not too often my Daddy gives me a book to read, because quite frankly we do not always have the same taste in books. But every once and a while a book will cross one of our paths and we know we have to share it. This was one of those books for my dad;

"Virtually unnoticed, JoLayne Lucks stops by the Grab'n'Go to play the same numbers she's played every week for five years. Each lotto number marking the age at which she dumped a tiresome lover. She doesn't know it yet, but the discarded men in JoLayne's life have finally amounted to something."

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/294430.Lucky_You?ac=1

The synopsis does not give you much to go one, but according to my dad this book is worth it and is laugh out loud funny. And I do not know about you but after the types of books I have been reading lately I could use a good, fun, lighthearted book!

Happy Reading!

Hangman Blind by Cassandra Clark

Apparently January is mystery month...A lot of the books I seem to be sharing with you seem to be mysteries. Well I hope you are enjoying them!! I know I am! This is one of the rare occasions that the book cover caught my attention. A lot of times I read though the synopsis despite what the cover looks like...this one I read the synopsis BECAUSE of the cover. So I pray this book is an enticing as I think it will be. What do you think?

"In November 1382, the month of the dead, Abbess Hildegard rides out for York from the Abbey of Meaux. This is no ordinary journey—it is a time of rival popes, a boy king, and a shaky peace in the savage aftermath of Wat Tyler’s murder—and Hildegard has embarked on a perilous mission to try to secure the future of her priory.

Traveling alone, she discovers danger, encountering first a gibbet with five bloodied corpses and then the body of a youth, brutally butchered. Who was the boy, how was he connected to the men hanging from the gibbet, and what do these gruesome deaths mean? Hildegard is determined to uncover the truth, no matter how terrible it may be. When even her childhood home, Castle Hutton, turns out not to be a safe haven from murder, Hildegard realizes she will have to summon all of her courage and wisdom to counter the dark forces that threaten her friends and family as well as her country."
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4320305-hangman-blind


Happy Reading!

Thought for the Day...

I love this quote because it is so true. So I opted to share it with you. No the rhyming was not intentional, but I will leave it (Anyone want a peanut?) Okay I am not finished. I promise. :) Anyways, I love this because the Narnia series is one of my all time favorite book series. Such exceptional writing and it gives clear heroes in just mere children. I think every child needs to see that kind of heroism in themselves, especially in this day and age when villains are everywhere, be it strangers, or even children at school are the villains (Sad to think about but it is true).  So read to your kids, and watch them become the heroes they read about.

Happy Reading.

The Invisible Woman by Clare Tomalin

This is now a major motion picture that came out on Christmas in select cities...so of course I want to read the book before it comes out on the big screen. This story entices me because it is about Charles Dickens and his mistress Nelly Ternan. It is sad to think this happens more frequently than expected, but it does make for a good story...
"When Charles Dickens and Nelly Ternan met in 1857, she was 18: a professional actress performing in his production of The Frozen Deep. He was 45: a literary legend, a national treasure, married with ten children. This meeting sparked a love affair that lasted over a decade, destroying Dickens's marriage and ending with Nelly's near-disappearance from the public record. In this remarkable work of biography, Claire Tomalin rescues Nelly from obscurity, not only returning the neglected actress to her rightful place in history, but also giving us a compelling and truthful account of the great Victorian novelist. Through Dickens's diaries, correspondence, address books, and photographs, Tomalin is able to reconstruct the relationship between Charles and Nelly, bringing it to vivid life. The result is a riveting literary detective story—and a portrait of a singular woman."
 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18630581-the-invisible-woman?ac=1

I liked the aspect that this is a truthful account, with real evidence. I think I may enjoy this more than the Paris Wife because of that fact alone. I am looking forward to reading this book and seeing this movie. I hope you are too.

Happy Reading!

The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry

Well this is the second time a book by Steve Berry has caught my attention. And I hope the title explains why. Ever since I was a little girl the story of Anastasia Romanov had enticed me to believe. But the story surrounding her family has drawn me in as an adult. When this popped up on my recommended reading list I decided Goodreads was correct and I do believe I should read this as well.

"Ekaterinburg, Russia: July 16, 1918. Ten months have passed since Nicholas II’s reign was cut short by revolutionaries. Tonight, the White Army advances on the town where the Tsar and his family are being held captive by the Bolsheviks. Nicholas dares to hope for salvation. Instead, the Romanovs are coldly and methodically executed.

Moscow: Present Day. Atlanta lawyer Miles Lord, fluent in Russian and well versed in the country’s history, is thrilled to be in Moscow on the eve of such a momentous event. After the fall of Communism and a succession of weak governments, the Russian people have voted to bring back the monarchy. The new tsar will be chosen from the distant relatives of Nicholas II by a specially appointed commission, and Miles’ job is to perform a background check on the Tsarist candidate favored by a powerful group of Western businessmen. But research quickly becomes the least of Miles’ concerns when he is nearly killed by gunmen on a city plaza.

Suddenly Miles is racing across continents, shadowed by nefarious henchmen. At first, his only question is why people are pursuing him. But after a strange conversation with a mysterious Russian, who steers Miles toward the writings of Rasputin, he becomes desperate to know more–most important, what really happened to the family of Russia’s last tsar?

His only companion is Akilina Petrov, a Russian circus performer sympathetic to his struggle, and his only guide is a cryptic message from Rasputin that implies that the bloody night of so long ago is not the last chapter in the Romanovs’ story . . . and that someone might even have survived the massacre. The prophecy’s implications are earth-shattering–not only for the future of the tsar and mother Russia, but also for Miles himself."https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75020.The_Romanov_Prophecy

Does this entice you as well? I hope so.

Happy Reading!

Friday Funny!

Best Sellers List

http://www.iauthor.uk.com/theme/international-bestsellers-2-13:429

I came across this link since I enjoy sharing book list with you to see how they add up to your reading list I thought I would pass this along. I do not know about you but when I go into Barnes and Noble (Without my toddler) I tend to gravitate to the best sellers bookshelves. Because I like to see what the world thinks I should read, sometimes I find a smashing book and I feel like a conformist (i.e The Fault in our Stars, though that book was phenomenal!)...other times I think "Really world? THIS is the best you have to offer?" But on the off chance that they are correct and I find that one book that speaks to me in a way that I am forever changed, I always still check. So here is me sharing this with you as a way to see how we measure up in the reading world.

Happy Reading!

Atlantis by David Gibbons

Now I know I am not the only one here that tangles with the ideas of where Atlantis was? Did it actually exist? You know the usual History Channel show questions. So in an effort to expand my reading horizons, and to expand yours as well, I brought this book to your attention. Here is the synopsis;

"Archaeologist Jack Howard is a brave but cautious man. When he embarked on a new search for buried treasure in the Mediterranean, he knew it was a long shot. When he uncovered a golden disc that spoke of a lost civilization more advanced than any in the ancient world, he started to get excited. But when Jack Howard and his intrepid crew finally got close to uncovering the secrets the sea had held for thousands of years, nothing could have prepared them for what they would find.."
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1149593.Atlantis

What do you think? Before you check it out on goodreads.com let me burst the bubble for you...this is a start of a series. Kind of like Dan Browns series with Robert Langdon. Where is contains the same guy but not a lot of carry over from each book. So though it is a series, I do not think that the books depend on one another for understanding. (Does that make sense? Hope so.) 

Happy Reading! 

Let's Do This!!

Happy Reading!! 

January 5-26

Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson

If and when you look this book up online (whether your site of choice be Goodreads.com or Barnesandnoble.com) You will see that next to the title of this book is (A proper romance) makes me smile a little bit honestly. And even though this book recommended to me, I would have wanted to read it just for that snipit of cuteness.  Here is the synopsis of the book says;

"Kate Worthington knows her heart and she knows she will never marry. Her plan is to travel to India instead—if only to find peace for her restless spirit and to escape the family she abhors. But Kate’s meddlesome mother has other plans. She makes a bargain with Kate: India, yes, but only after Kate has secured—and rejected—three marriage proposals.

Kate journeys to the stately manor of Blackmoore determined to fulfill her end of the bargain and enlists the help of her dearest childhood friend, Henry Delafield. But when it comes to matters of love, bargains are meaningless and plans are changeable. There on the wild lands of Blackmoore, Kate must face the truth that has kept her heart captive. Will the proposal she is determined to reject actually be the one thing that will set her heart free?

Set in Northern England in 1820, Blackmoore is a Regency romance that tells the story of a young woman struggling to learn how to follow her heart. It is Wuthering Heights meets Little Women with a delicious must-read twist"

Have I captured your attention? I hope so. I cannot wait to read this and come back to you with a review!

Happy Reading!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!