What are you reading?: August 10, 2024.

Currently working on Dragonslayer: The Legend of Erich Ludendorff in the Weimar Republic and Third Reich. Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead and Counterterrorism Between the Wars will follow.

I've just finished The Estate by Isaac Bashevis Singer about the Jewish community of Warsaw in the late 19th century. My review, should anyone be interested, is on my 50-Book Challenge thread.

Tonight I'll start another baseball book (I'm somehow reading quite a few of them this year), Balls, star third baseman Graig Nettles' memoir of the 1983 season of the New York Yankees.

Started this audio via Libby ~

The Paradise Problem
by Christina Lauren

Now I'm about 200 pages into Fairy Tale by Stephen King.
I need to read something else today though because it's too big to carry in my purse; I'm thinking maybe The Library Book by Susan Orlean.

I’m enjoying Ann Cleeves’ The Moth Catcher.

>4 PaperbackPirate: I really liked The Library Book.

>4 PaperbackPirate: The Library Book was very good!

I'm currently reading Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World's First Empire, by Edkart Frahm. I've been managing to get in an hour of reading before bed at night. So, slow progress. On the other hand, I'm almost finished with a major project at work that has consumed my evenings and weekends for almost a month now. I need a good long nap.

Out Of the Dust – Karen Hesse
5***** and a ❤

Hesse can say so much in so few words. This is an extraordinary work of fiction, written entirely in verse.

It tells the story of a family during the Oklahoma Dust Bowl of the Depression. It's an emotionally evocative story of growing up in the harshness of poverty and tragedy. A wonderful book.

This was a Newbery award winner for children's literature. I first came across it when I was providing "study hall monitoring" for a local all-girls middle school. I couldn't stop reading it, and have recommended it to many people, and two of my book clubs.

This week I really enjoyed The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant. It was an audiobook, most beautifully voiced by Linda Lavin - you may remember her from the long-ago TV show "Alice".

I did not like Ties that Tether by Jane Igharo. She tried to do too many things in the book, resulting in none of the things actually working.

In the land of audiobooks, I'm midway through The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11, which is fascinating with an occasional boring bit.

I'm planning to read Dreaming in Cuban next.

>6 JulieLill: I didn't get to start it yet, but soon! Good to know you liked it so much!

Thornyhold
Mary Stewart
4/5 stars
Gilly Ramsey inherits a home from her cousin and Gellis, an herbalist and decides to live there. The neighbors call it the witch's house. Gilly who is shy and a loner and she opens up to a young boy and his father. A sweet story! Books Off My Neverending Reading List

Just finished the fantasy Devils Unto Dust by E Berquist.
Starting the WWII historical novel Those Who Save Us, J Blum.
And continuing with Fun Phantoms: Tales of Ghostly Entertainment. The current story is “The Canterville Ghost” by Iscar Wilde.

Good Night, Irene – Luis Alberto Urrea
Book on CD performed by Barrie Kreinik, with an afterword narrated by the author.
5*****

This book of historical fiction is based on the life experiences of Urrea’s mother, who served as a Red Cross “Donut Dolly” during World War II.

Urrea gives us two main characters – Irene and Dorothy (Dot). These young women were each compelled to join the Red Cross and serve during World War II either because they were running from an untenable situation or seeking to avenge a deep loss. Meeting during training and paired in the Rapid City, an Army “deuce and a half” truck, specially outfitted as the combat version of a food truck, they become colleagues, fast friends, and each other’s support system. They endure hardship and rationing, strange foods (or no food), exhausting schedules, bad roads, and poor accommodations. They soldier on in support of the troops. No matter their own aches and pains, sorrows or irritations, they put on a brave smiling face to bring a little bit of “home” to the front.

There are a number of wonderful supporting characters, including “Rusty” Penny, Garcia, and Handyman. And several real combatants make appearances as well, including Gen George Patton. Urrea also brings the European theater to life with vivid descriptions – of war-time England, the forests of France and Germany, bombed villages, the horrors of a concentration camp, and the sights, sounds and smells of a field hospital.

I have read many books by Urrea, so I knew he could write, but I was almost speechless at the end of this book. Whatever you do, do NOT skip the author note at the end where he relates how it took him some twenty years to come to grips with and write this novel as a testament to his mother’s experiences. This is truly a love letter to his mother.

The audiobook is masterfully narrated by Barrie Kreinik. She really brings these women to life. The author note at the end is narrated by Urrea, himself, which added to the impact of what he related.

New thread: here

I forgot to say I read the first story in Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks last week when I was stuck without my current read. Wow Tom Hanks, you never cease to amaze me.

>13 BookConcierge: Adding to my reading list!

>16 JulieLill: I look forward to hearing how you react to Good Night, Irene