It’s Monday! What are you reading?

Finished This Week

What Am I Reading?

“A powerful and evocative debut novel about two American military nurses during World War II that illuminates the unsung heroism of women who risked their lives in the fight—a riveting saga of friendship, valor, sacrifice, and survival combining the grit and selflessness of Band of Brothers with the emotional resonance of The Nightingale.“

New Books for Me This Week

“Michele’s lack of focus in life hasn’t bothered her, until the day she finds herself with mounting credit card debt, unable to afford her rent, and without a job. While her meddling family questions how she can end up in this predicament, at the age of 29, and single to boot, Michele doesn’t want to admit the truth. All she wants to do is sew.“

What Am I Listening To?

“For Bill Fulton, being a soldier was his identity. He was called to protect and serve. So when the Army wanted to send him to Alaska, he went—they had never steered him wrong, after all.

After an involuntary medical discharge, Fulton was adrift until he started a military surplus store in Anchorage, where he also took on fugitive recovery missions. He was back on his feet, working with other badasses and misfits he considered brothers. He took pride in his business, with a wife and daughters at home. His life was happy and full.

But when a customer revealed he planned to attack a military recruiting station, Fulton had to make a choice: turn a blind eye and hope for the best or risk his safety, his reputation, and his business by establishing contact with his customers’ arch nemesis: the FBI.

He chose the latter, and his life changed forever.”

Loving this book.  I made my husband start to listen and he is very into it too.

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

Finished This Week

What Am I Reading?

After having a purpose in my reading for the last few months with challenges, I found myself sort of drifting when trying to decide what to read.  I knew I was going to finish The Forest Lover on the road trip to the beach yesterday and needed something else to start.

I’ve had this book on my shelf for a long time.  I got it through a swap.  I’ve never read any of her books so I decided to give it a try. 

New Books for Me This Week

“Thousands of them have lived underground. They’ve lived there so long, there are only legends about people living anywhere else. Such a life requires rules. Strict rules. There are things that must not be discussed. Like going outside. Never mention you might like going outside.

Or you’ll get what you wish for.“

This was recommended by a coworker and it was free on the Kindle app.

What Am I Listening To?

I’m still listening to this one.  I’m not sure if I’ll be done before the movie comes out next weekend.

Book vs TV – Queen Sugar

Queen Sugar by Natalie Baszile

Queen Sugar is the story of a black single mother school teacher in California who inherits a sugar cane farm in Louisiana that her father mysteriously bought.  She heads to the farm with her teen daughter in tow to see what is going on.

Queen Sugar, the TV show, keeps character names and places but otherwise totally changes the story.  Now, normally, I’d be on the front lines with my pitchfork sharpened for this kind of book disrespect but I love this show.  It made changes that have allowed the show to look at many aspects of African-American life.  I’m not going to lie though.  I had to keep telling myself it was ok to change the book through the first episode and then I was hooked.

Differences

Charley – Instead of a barely scraping-by school teacher, Charley is the powerful manager-wife of an NBA superstar.  When he is caught up in a sex scandal at the same time as her father’s death, she heads to Louisiana to hide.

Micah – Charley’s teen daughter is now a son who has been sheltered from the realities of life as a black man by his parents’ wealth and fame.

Ralph Angel – He is the villain of the book.  I growled when he came on screen the first time.  He’s Charley’s brother and is much more nuanced on the show.  He is an ex-con raising his young son, Blue.

Nova – Charley’s older sister didn’t exist in the book.  I love her.  She’s a journalist-activist who practices traditional religion.

Aunt Vi – She is sort of a combination of a few characters in the book.  In the TV show she is holding the family together.

Hollywood – He’s changed the most.  In the book he was a poor Cajun handyman.  In the TV show he is black and is dating Aunt Vi.

Remy – Charley’s Cajun boyfriend in the book.  Now he’s a black farmer who is helping with her business.

The show has a whole lot more feelings than I generally like.  I don’t generally watch shows with a lot of angst.  But this one has me coming back. 

Has anyone else read the book and watched the show?  How have you dealt with all the changes?

#TheReadingQuest Wrap Up

I loved doing The Reading Quest.  I used a lot of TBR books that I may have ignored for longer to fill in a lot of board.

I started out as a mage.

Then I moved on to be a Knight.

After that came Rogue.

Side Quests

I am sad that so many of these books were translated from another language but I never made it to Bard to check that box.

I totaled all my points with bonus and social media etc. and had 300 XP and 414 Health Points.  That made me a level 6. 

This was a lot of fun.  I’m looking forward to the next game she puts out.

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

Finished This Week

What Am I Reading?

“Now, in The Forest Lover, she traces the courageous life and career of Emily Carr, who more than Georgia O’Keeffe or Frida Kahlo.blazed a path for modern women artists. Overcoming the confines of Victorian culture, Carr became a major force in modern art by capturing an untamed British Columbia and its indigenous peoples just before industrialization changed them forever. From illegal potlatches in tribal communities to artists’ studios in pre-World War I Paris, Vreeland tells her story with gusto and suspense, giving us a glorious novel that will appeal to lovers of art, native cultures, and lush historical fiction.“

Susan Vreeland recently died so I decided to read one of her books that I hadn’t read yet.

New Books for Me This Week

“Ultra-private, ridiculously handsome Crown Prince Arthur has always gotten by on his charm. But that won’t be enough now that the Royal Family is about to be ousted from power once and for all. When Prince Arthur has to rely on the one woman in the kingdom who hates him most, he must learn that earning the love of a nation means first risking his heart.

Twenty-eight-year-old Tessa Sharpe, a.k.a. The Royal Watchdog, hates everything about Prince Arthur. As far as she’s concerned, he’s an arrogant, lazy leech on the kingdom of Avonia. When he shocks the nation by giving her the keys to the castle, Tessa has no choice but to accept and move in for two months. It’s lust at first sight, but there’s no way she can give in to her feelings—not if she wants to have a career or a shred of pride left when her time at the palace ends… “

This was free on Amazon right now.  I found it through Book Bub.

What Am I Listening To?

“Tall and handsome Abdul was just twenty-four years old when he arrived in England from Agra to wait at tables for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. Within a year, Abdul had grown to become a powerful figure at court, the Queen’s teacher, or Munshi, her counsel on Urdu and Indian affairs, and a friend close to the Queen’s heart. “I am so very fond of him.,” Queen Victoria would write in 1888, “He is so good and gentle and understanding….a real comfort to me.”

This marked the beginning of the most scandalous decade in Queen Victoria’s long reign. Devastated first by the death of Prince Albert in 1861 and then her personal servant John Brown in 1883, Queen Victoria quickly found joy in an intense and controversial relationship with her Munshi, who traveled everywhere with her, cooked her curries and cultivated her understanding of the Indian sub-continent–a region, as Empress of India, she was long intrigued by but could never visit. The royal household roiled with resentment, but their devotion grew in defiance of all expectation and the societal pressures of their time and class and lasted until the Queen’s death on January 22, 1901.”

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

Finished This Week

I didn’t like Blue is the Warmest Color.  It would skip huge chunks of time in the story and I had a bunch of questions about those times.  Everything else was good. 

What Am I Reading?

The Reading Quest is helping me tackle a bunch of books I’ve owned for a while but haven’t read.  These are going to be A Book with a Red Cover and Book with Less than 500 Ratings on Goodreads.

New Books for Me This Week

This was a gift from my Secret Sister.

“Growing up in an orphanage prepared Amelia Cooke for the high-stakes role of a female lobbyist surrounded by the egos of the 1887 Congress, a time before women had the right to vote. Her success in the isolating male arena comes from using the tactics she’s learned from those who oppressed her. So when she’s hired by the National Women’s Suffrage Association to help pass a proposed constitutional amendment granting women’s voting rights, Amelia feels empowered to at last win a place for herself and give all women a voice in the world. What she doesn’t foresee is the charismatic and calculating Senator Edward Stillman who threatens to ruin her hard-earned reputation and end her career.“

This was my Kindle First selection this month.

“In 1944, newly married Copper Reilly arrives in Paris soon after the liberation. While the city celebrates its freedom, she’s stuck in the prison of an unhappy marriage. When her husband commits one betrayal too many, Copper demands a separation.

Alone in Paris, she finds an unlikely new friend: an obscure, middle-aged designer from the back rooms of a decaying fashion house whose timid nature and reluctance for fame clash with the bold brilliance of his designs. His name is Christian Dior.”

This is free on Amazon right now.  I found it through Book Bub.

“Eva Hanover – a brilliant career, a gorgeous brownstone in Brooklyn, and a sexy husband. Or, at least, she thinks so. In a wink of an eye, Eva’s husband leaves her. She loses the brownstone and her career. With only the clothes on her back, she flees cold New York for the sunnier climate of Key Largo. “

What Am I Listening To?

I have a little less than 2 hours left in this one.

September 2017 Foodies Read

Welcome to September Foodies Read!

We had 21 posts linked up in August.  The winner of the giveaway for the month is Susan for her review of Affairs of Steak.

Here are the books that she will be able to choose from. Click the picture to go to the Goodreads summary.

Fiction

Nonfiction

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August 2017 Wrap Up

This was a good reading month.  I read a lot of Women in Translation and I used The Reading Quest challenge to really tackle some books that I’ve had on my TBR for a while.

I read 22 books this month.

My Women in Translation Month reading

Other Fiction

 Nonfiction

The books were:

• Set in France, Iceland, The Ivory Coast, Poland, Japan, Turkmenistan, Sweden, Suriname, England, Italy, Algeria, and fantasy places.  I just realized that none of the fiction was set in the U.S.
• The nonfiction was set in Minnesota/New York, Massachusetts, and the Pacific Ocean
• 2 audiobooks and 5 graphic novels

The authors were:

•  16 unique female authors and 3 male authors
•  9 white women, 3 white men, 1 South Asian woman, 2 Japanese women, 1 Korean woman, 1 Latina, and 2 black women

Women In Translation Month – an August event

I loved focusing on translations. I read a lot of graphic novels because I could get more in that way.

There are many combinations I could have marked but this one gave me 2 bingos.  I read books originally in French, Polish, Icelandic, Swedish, Dutch, Korean, and Japanese. 

We’re halfway through The Reading Quest.  I’ve finished the Mage path and am working on Knight.  I just have to read a book with a red cover to finish that.  I’ve done four side quests in the center of the board too.

Reading All Around the World challenge from Howling Frog Books

• Read a nonfiction book about the country – or
• Read fiction written by a native of the country or someone living for a long time in the country.

I added Poland, Iceland, The Ivory Coast, and Suriname this month!

 I made a thing! I decided to use all the National Day of Random Things holidays to make a photo challenge for myself. Anyone can play along.

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Book Title Tag

I saw this tag on Shannon’s blog at It Starts at Midnight.  It seemed like a fun one to try.

Title that is the Story of Your Life

Nerd Do Well by Simon Pegg

Title that describes your perfect weekend

Summers at Castle Auburn by Sharon Shinn

Doesn’t that sound like a wonderfully peaceful place?  I haven’t read the book yet so that may not be true at all but it sounds like it.

Title that describes an adventure you’d like to go on

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

I’d like to go find unicorns and friendly dragons.

Title that is a name you’d give your child

Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson

I wouldn’t be happy if I suddenly had a child.  There would have had to have been some trickery involved.

Title that is your ideal job

The Marriage Bureau for Rich People by Farahad Zama

You can meddle and get paid for it.

Title that is a place you’d like to visit

The Witch’s Market by Mingmei Yip

There are the best markets in books but I never find these in real life.

Title that describes your love life

Don’t Tell My Mother by Brigitte Bautista

Questions you ask yourself

Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?: And Other Questions You Should Have Answers to When You Work in the White House by Alyssa Mastromonaco

Obviously not the White House part.

Kingdom you want to rule

Carousel Seas by Sharon Lee

Riding carousel horses around in the ocean is what would happen in my kingdom.  Ignore the monsters on the cover.  We aren’t having those.

Title you’d name your band

Pocket Apocalypse by Seanan McGuire

Apocalypse is one of those words that I always have to spell three times before I get it right.  Marketing would be tricky because of that.

Title that describes where you live

Heroine Addiction by Jennifer Matarese

I wish this described it instead of the heroin and other drug problems we have around here.

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

I’m back.  I was AWOL last week because of the husband’s hospital drama.  He’s home now and feeling a bit better but without a whole lot of answers.

Finished This Week

What Am I Reading?

I’ve been having a hard time settling into any books.  This is doing the best job of holding my attention so far. I picked it because it was a book with a verb in the title for The Reading Quest and it was on my ipad. 

“On her 25th birthday, Charlotte Appleby receives a most unusual gift from the Faerie godmother she never knew she had: the ability to change shape.

Penniless and orphaned, she sets off for London to make her fortune as a man. But a position as secretary to Lord Cosgrove proves unexpectedly challenging. Someone is trying to destroy Cosgrove and his life is increasingly in jeopardy.”

It is a Regency romance with faeries!

What Am I Listening To?

I picked this one to see what all the fuss was about.  I’m loving it.

“Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions—not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men.

Still it isn’t in Monty’s nature to give up. Even with his younger sister, Felicity, in tow, he vows to make this yearlong escapade one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. But when one of Monty’s reckless decisions turns their trip abroad into a harrowing manhunt that spans across Europe, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores.“

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

 I have 16 items checkout out of the library.  Help!  The problem is that I’ve been saving a lot of them for the Reading Quest readathon which finally started on the 13th.

Finished This Week

What Am I Reading?

These both work for Women in Translation Month and will fit on my Reading Quest board. 

What Am I Listening To?

“Inspired by her grandmother s tales of cooking on the family farm, Thielen moves with her artist husband to the rustic, off-the-grid cabin he built in the woods. There, standing at the stove three times a day, she finds the seed of a growing food obsession that leads to the sensory madhouse of New York s top haute cuisine brigades. When she goes home, she comes face to face with her past, and a curious truth: that beneath every foie gras sauce lies a rural foundation of potatoes and onions, and that taste memory is the most important ingredient of all.“