Sunday, April 30, 2017

What I'm Reading - April 2017

I've become obsessed with books and reading.  I've always enjoyed reading, but in the past few months, I've really looked to reading as my release, outlet, and vehicle to wind down.  Lately I've watched less television and aside from listening to podcasts, books fill up most of my down time.  As I said when I was a guest on What Should I Read Next, I feel like I'm dating books!

What is to follow is a recap of what I read this month and what I'm reading.  I recently joined Litsy, an app for bookish people - think Instagram for bookworms.  My username is RosieBoo65, so look me up there as I'll be charting my course of reading on that app.

What I Read

The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress by Ariel Lawhon 
Judge Joe Crater goes missing in August 1930, never to be heard from again.  Yes, this is a true story.  This historical fiction novel focuses on the three women who had a connection with Judge Crater - his wife, maid, and mistress.  I love historical fiction, and add the layer of female protagonists and you've got a winner for me.  I enjoyed this book, but wasn't enthralled by the story.  I felt like it was a bit slow in the beginning, and eventually picked up pace.  I don't regret reading this book as I learned a lot about a historical disappearance I'd never known about before.  I read this as part of my online book club and participated in an author chat.  Ariel was so interesting to listen to as she explained how she wrote this, her first book, over 18 months only on Saturdays.  And she got contacted by a real life relative of a character in the book!  After hearing her interview, I want to read her other works.

The Measure of Success: Uncovering the Biblical Perspective on Women, Work, and the Home by Carolyn McCulley and Nora Shank
Being a career woman, and not a wife or mother, I often question what that looks like in light of the role of women in Scripture.  This book is solid look at how God ordains work for all of us - whether working inside or outside the home - and to have a purpose in fulfilling that role.  If you are a working woman, you'll benefit from reading this book to get affirmation that being a successful businesswoman isn't of the devil.

The Forgotten Room by Karen White, Lauren Willig, and Beatriz Williams
You never know when three authors write a novel what you are going to get.  This book surpassed my expectations.  The story of three women spanning three generations and how they are connected make up the tapestry of this book.  It felt like piecing together a puzzle and I had a hard time putting this book down.  I'm assuming each author wrote each of the three main characters, but you'd think all of it was written by the same author.  These ladies write in perfect harmony.

What I'm Currently Reading

A Perilous Undertaking (Veronica Speedwell, #2) by Deanna Raybourn
A second in the series of a lepidopterist who has an amazing lineage and solves crimes.

The Patriots by Sana Krasikov
The book based in Russia in the 1930s and 2008 is segmented into different segments of "Books."  It was slow starting, but now about halfway in, I'm hooked.

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
This is a small book, but with a heavy theme.  This book won many awards in 2016 and I know the epilogue was written by his wife after the author's death, so I'm moving slow as I know the outcome will be heart wrenching.




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