SmallWorld Reads: The Sunday Salon

Showing posts with label The Sunday Salon. Show all posts

Sunday, June 29, 2014

The Sunday Salon: Mid-Year Review

Books Read and Reviewed January—June

Books Read But Not Yet Reviewed
The Graveyard Book (Neil Gaiman)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane (Neil Gaiman)
Blessings (Anna Quindlen)
Skylight Confessions (Alice Hoffman)

Best Books So Far
Sadly, nothing so far has been knock-my-socks-off amazing. But I must say I really loved the last four books—the ones I haven't yet reviewed and Lee Smith's Last Girls a whole lot. Well, and of course, The Book Thief—but that is a multiple re-read.

Book Club Books
Labor Day (Joyce Maynard)--(January)
Winter Wheat (February)
Girls of Atomic City (Denise Kiernan)-- (March)
Jane Eyre (April)
And...I think we missed a month. I didn't re-read Winter Wheat or Jane Eyre, but I did bring a paper on Jane Eyre that I had written in college!

Movies From Books
Labor Day (book club outing)
The Fault in Our Stars (I actually haven't read the book, but I've been assured it's close)
The Book Thief (Watched with my World Lit class. A good movie but very disappointing after reading the book)
Great Expectations (loved the Masterpiece Classic on Netflix. Really fabulous.)

Added to TBR List

41 False Starts: Essays on Artists and Writers by Janet Malcolm
Alena by Rachel Pastan
Americanah by Chimanda Adichie
The Baker's Daughter by Sarah McCoy
Bellman & Black: A Ghost Story by Diane Setterfield
Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me by Karen Swallow Prior
The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez
China Dolls by Lisa See
Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee
Ecology of a Cracker Childhood (The World As Home) by Janisse Ray
Glow by Jessica Maria Tuccelli
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Good Lord Bird by James McBride
Guests on Earth by Lee Smith
The House at Tyneford by Natasha Solomons
In My Father's Country by Saima Wahab
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian
Long Man by Amy Greene
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri.
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
Mockingbird Next Door: Life with Harper Lee by Marja Mills
The Orchid House by Lucinda Riley
The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich
A Prayer Journal by Flannery O'Connor
Radiance of Tomorrow by Ishmael Beah
The Rest of the Story by Phan Thi Kim Phuc
Snow by Orhan Pamuk
Still Life with Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen
Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis by Lauren F. Winner
A Thousand Mornings: Poems by Mary Oliver
The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan

Yeah, that kind of makes me dizzy. Why have I added so many books already this year, and read so few?

I just noticed that on my mid-year post from 2013, I posted all kind of literary pictures from our trip to Paris. No such excitement this year! But I am most excited about read Amy Greene's The Long Man.

And that's it so far for 2014!

Sunday, June 9, 2013

The Sunday Salon: Mid-Year Review

My book blogging has reached a new low in these past six months, but I'm trying to catch up with regular reviews! I am slowly, slowly catching up, but some of these links will go to amazon.com rather than my own review.

Books Read January 1–June 1

Best Books So Far

Unbroken: an absolutely stunning novel about survival and resilience during WWII (nonfiction)
The Story of Beautiful Girl: Absolutely mesmerizing story of Lynnie, a beautiful inmate at the School for the Incurable and Feebleminded; Homan, a deaf man who is also locked away there; and Martha, a widow in her 70s who becomes tangled in their lives.
Expecting Adam: Martha and John, young Harvard graduate students, find out the life-changing news: their unborn baby, a boy, has Down Syndrome. They are shocked beyond words. This is Harvard, the land of geniuses and IQs off the charts. There is no room in Harvard for anything "less" than "perfect." Terminate now, they are told over and over again. This is their family's beautiful story. (memoir)
And, well, of course I have to add To Kill a Mockingbird, which I read again while teaching American Lit. It just never loses it's magic for me.

Biggest Surprises
The good: What Alice Forgot. I almost put this one back on the shelf because the jacket description sounded silly, but I absolutely loved this story of what we'd like to keep forgotten.

The bad: Other Voices, Other Rooms. I've been wanting to read this Truman Capote novel for decades—since singer/songwriter Nanci Griffith came out with her album by the same name. She's holding a copy of the novel on the album cover. (Yes, I know there aren't "albums" anymore, but you know what I mean.) I was pretty disappointed in this short novel, which I actually bought with delight at Shakespeare and Co. Bookseller while we were in Paris.

Books Read in Book Club

Interred with Their Bones. Mixed reviews in book club, but the general consensus was similar to my review.
Moonflower Vine. Well-received. Those who read it loved it!
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Unfortunately that was a book club in which only a few members could come, so we didn't have much discussion. But this is one of my favorites! I did a paper on it in graduate school.

I must admit that I did not read the other two books for Book Club. Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods was one. I detest this book. OK, I actually only read a few chapters of it a few years ago, but I threw it across the room. I just couldn't bear to hear about a guy who can go buy anything he wants to randomly hike the A.T. because he thinks it would be a great story. My husband has a lifelong dream of hiking the A.T., so I have personal issues, I know. The other book was The Paris Wife, the story of Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley. I'd still like to read this one, but I thought I was going to be absent from book club that month. And while I didn't read The Paris Wife, we did pay homage to Hemingway's digs and neighborhood while we were in Paris.

Where Hemingway and Hadley lived in Paris

Movies/Plays from Books
• With my American Lit class, I watched The Crucible and Ethan Frome. I loved both of them, although I've seen them both before. We're going to be getting together this summer to watch To Kill a Mockingbird and a few other classic movies based on American literature.
• We also went to see the play A Raisin in the Sun at the Clarence Brown Theatre at the campus of U. Tenn. The kids seemed to like the play pretty well. I love hearing them discuss how this actor wasn't what he expected, or how a particular scene was done differently that she imagined from reading the play.
• I watched Sarah's Key finally. I liked it well enough, but it's been years since I read the book. I've heard others say they didn't like the movie at all because it deviated so much from the book; fortunately, I have a short memory for such things.
• I'm really looking forward to seeing The Great Gatsby. I re-read the novel (my old college copy) on the train from Paris to Normandy and loved it almost as much as I did way back when. I think I loved it most in college, but I remember some great discussions from my high school English class as well. We got to France right before the movie was released, and the metro was plastered with movie posters. They're excited in France, too!

Added to My TBR List

The Keeper of Secrets by Julie Thomas.
The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton Disclafani.
A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams
The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls
41 False Starts: Essays on Artists and Writers by Janet Malcolm
Ghost Moth by Michele Forbes
Songs of Willow Frost by Jamie Ford
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Riding the Bus with My Sister by Rachel Simon
The Baker's Daughter by Sarah McCoy
Clair de Lune by Jetta Carleton
In My Father's Country by Saima Wahab
Autobiography of Us by Aria Beth Sloss
Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee
Losing Julia by Jonathan Hull
Astray by Emma Donoghue
The Round House by Louise Erdrich
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo
Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Mataxas

And last, but not least, a few more bookish photos from our trip to France!

Jesse at Baudelaire's grave

Samuel Beckett, no longer waiting for Godot

Victor Hugo's tomb marker in the crypt beneath the Pantheon

And a bit about Les Mis while in the Paris sewers. Yes, really.

My oldest, an English major, loved the booksellers along the Seine

Breathing in the history, walking in the footsteps of great writers!

We all had to buy a book or two.

Beneath the Pantheon.

And that is my mid-year update! Now, to get back to regular book reviews!

Sunday, September 30, 2012

The Sunday Salon: August and September in Review

Books Read in August or September

The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer: "This novel is simply brilliant, although there is nothing simple about it."
The Healing by Jonathan O'Dell: "If you liked such novels as The Help and The Kitchen House, you'll love The Healing!"
Blue Diary by Alice Hoffman: "if you can handle a grisly murder and the frightening possibility that we aren't who we say we are, you should read it."
The Lost Saints of Tennessee by Amy Franklin-Willis: "Author Amy Franklin-Willis knows tiny towns in Tennessee, but rather than make her characters fat, dumb, and full of snappy comebacks—which happens all too often in books about the south (as opposed to Southern Lit), she made them real."
Imperfect Birds by Anne Lamott: "Some books are so hard to read, not because they are poorly written or tedious but because the subject matter is just plain frightening."
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: Multiple re-read. Taught this to my American Lit class in September.

The Midwife of Hope River by Patricia Harmon (not yet reviewed)

Best Books of the Months
August: The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
September: Imperfect Birds by Anne Lamott

Currently Reading:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (multiple re-read for American Lit class)
Tea-Olive Bird-Watching Society by Augusta Trobaugh

Movies-from-Books Watched:
The Scarlet Letter: Excellent movie version of the book! My students found it hilarious in some ways, but they had a great time watching it.

Added to My Ever-Growing TBR List
The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling
The Quilt Walk by Sandra Dallas
Love Anthony by Lisa Genova
Slaves, Women & Homosexuals by William J. Webb

Sunday, June 3, 2012

The Sunday Salon: May in Review

Books Read in May
In the Bag by Kate Klise: "What a fun novel—well written, witty, and insightful."
How to Be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway: "This is an interesting view on post-WW2 through the eyes of a Japanese woman, adding still another perspective to the WW2 experience."
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton: "…everything I could possibly want in a novel."
Saving Ruth by Zoe Fishman (not yet reviewed)

Favorite Book of the Month
No question: The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. This could well end up being my favorite book of the year. I loved it so much!

Books Read Aloud (to 11-year-old)
Daughter of the Mountains by Louise Rankin

Added to My Ever-Growing TBR List
Expecting Adam by Martha Beck
An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith by Barbara Brown Taylor
The Memory Palace by Mira Bartok

Now Reading
Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

Sunday, April 1, 2012

The Sunday Salon: March in Review

Books Read in March (click for reviews)

Brooklyn (Colm Toibin)
The Lost Book of Mala R. (Rose MacDowell)
Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)--multiple re-read!
Kiss River (Diane Chamberlain)
The Distant Hours (Kate Morton)

Favorite Book of the Month
• The Distant Hours. Oh my goodness! This was so utterly fantastic. I just finished it last night, so the review will be forthcoming.

Books Read Aloud (with 11-year-old)
• Genghis Khan and the Mongol Horde (Harold Lamb)
• The Wheel on the School (Meindert DeJong)

Added to My Ever-Growing TBR List
• So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell

Cool Book Tool
What Should I Read Next? Enter a book you like and the site will analyze its database of real readers' favorite books to provide book recommendations and suggestions for what to read next.

Currently Reading
You Don't Sweat Much for a Fat Girl by Celia Rivenbark

Sunday, March 11, 2012

The Sunday Salon: February in Review

Books Read in February

(click for my reviews)

A Secret Kept by Tatiana de Rosnay: "I had such high hopes for this newest novel by Tatiana de Rosnay, author of Sarah's Key, which I absolutely loved."
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien: "What words can I use to describe the book? Haunting. Terrifying. Heartbreaking. Beautiful. Brilliant. It's a war story, a love story, a study of lives stopped and started again but never the same. Please, please read it."
The Escape Artist by Diane Chamberlain: "I'm occasionally a sucker for total drama, and somehow Diane Chamberlain sucks me in every time."
She Walks These Hills by Sharyn McCrumb: I haven't reviewed this one yet. It was our March book club book, and a re-read for me. For once, I think everyone in book club loved the book! In fact, five of us drove through a crazy storm with tornadoes reported all around us so that we wouldn't miss the discussion of this book! OK, it's actually because we love book club itself, but whatever. The book is great.

Best Book of February
The Things They Carried. Absolutely stunning.

Books Read Aloud (with 11-year-old)
Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan
House of 60 Fathers by Meindert de Jong.

Added to My Ever-Growing TBR List
The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer

Currently Reading
The Lost Book of Mala by Rose MacDowell
Pride and Prejudice (re-read, for British Lit)

Sunday, February 5, 2012

The Sunday Salon: January in Review

Books Read in January (click for reviews)

The Sex Lives of Cannibals by Maarten Troost: Travelogue. Bored of life in America and anxious to make a difference in the world and have an adventure in the process. Maarten and his partner head off to the remote island of Tarawa in the South Pacific.
An Atlas of Impossible Longing by Anuradha Roy. Multigenerational story of a family in India.
Room by Emma Donoghue. I knew this one would have to be good; it's on everyone's must-read list. It was.
The Only True Genius in the Family by Jennie Nash. What does it mean to be a genius? Claire has lived under the shadow of her photographer-father's famous genius for her whole life. Could she possibly be one, too?
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Re-read for the British Lit class I teach.

Best Book of January
Room. Absolutely fantastic.

New Year Updates
• Best of 2011 (and links to all my reviews)
• Updated TBR List

Books Read Aloud (with 11-year-old)
The Battle for the Castle by Elizabeth Winthrop
Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth Foreman Lewis

Added to My Ever-Growing TBR List

The Evolution of Adam by Peter Enns
Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry
When She Woke by Hillary Jordan
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
The Reservoir by John Milliken Thompson
The Moonflower Vine by Jetta Carleton
When We Were Strangers by Pamela Schoenewalt
How to Be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway
The Violets of March by Sarah Jio
Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin
The Girl in the Italian Bakery by Kenneth Tingle

Currently Reading
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

Saturday, December 31, 2011

2011: The Year in Books (The Sunday Salon)

In 2011 I read and reviewed 42 books here on SmallWorld Reads, and probably read a total of 10 others (juvenile fiction read aloud to my kids and/or books re-read for British Lit). This is down a few from my previous years. (See my other Best of the Years posts.) I have no excuses, other than that I fall asleep more easily than I used to. And so without further adieu, here are my lists.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

The Sunday Salon: Holiday Reading

Look at that lovely stack of books! I am planning on lots and lots of luxurious reading time during the next few weeks, until our activities start again in January. I was incredibly lucky at the library yesterday, finding 9 books on my TBR list actually available!

Carved in Bone by Jefferson Bass (our January book club book)
What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day by Pearl Cleage
Dreams of Joy by Lisa See
At Atlas of Impossible Longing by Anuradha Roy
The Only True Genius in the Family by Jennie Nash
The Ninth Wife by Amy Stolls
The Midwife's Confession by Diane Chamberlain
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht
The Bride's House by Sandra Dallas

So far this year I've read 40 books (yikes--that is really low for me!), and 21 of them have been from my TBR list. And I've added something like 45 books to my list. I usually manage to get several books read during the holidays, but 9 will be challenging!

I started with the Sandra Dallas book. What's on your holiday reading list?

Sunday, December 4, 2011

The Sunday Salon: November in Review

Books Read in November
(click for reviews)

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (part ghost story, part tale of decaying estates of England)
Away by Amy Bloom (based on the legend of the woman who walked to Russia)
Saving Cee-Cee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman (motherless girl rescued by her relatives and friends)
Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson

Best Book of the Month
Hmmmm. None of them were phenomenal, but I enjoyed the first three. Backseat Saints, not so much.

Guest Review
My Dad read and reviewed Shadows Walking by Douglass Skopp as part of the book's virtual tour.

Read Alouds (with 10-year-old)
Born in the Year of Courage by Emily Crofford
The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop

Added to My Ever-Growing TBR List
Wherever you Go by Joan Leegant (reviewed by Bibliophiliac)

Currently Reading
When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro

Book Club News
Our book club had its first weekend retreat. We had a blast! We also picked upcoming books for the next several months. Not surprisingly, all of my book choices were rejected because they sounded too depressing. Instead, we have a couple of mysteries, a memoir, and a humorous one. I've been reassured that we can read a depressing book after the winter months. Our upcoming books are:

Carved in Bone by Jefferson Bass
The Sex Lives of Cannibals
She Walks These Hills by Sharyn McCrumb (I've read this one and LOVE it)
You Don't Sweat Much for a Fat Girl by Celia Rivenbark

We also went to see The Help together. I read the book a year ago and loved the movie. Those who had just read the book were disappointed that so much was left out but enjoyed the movie. Fortunately, I don't remember details from a year ago!

Sunday, October 30, 2011

The Sunday Salon: October in Review

Books Read in October (click for reviews)
One Second After by William Forstchen
The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

Best Book of the Month
The Kitchen House. Oh my goodness! Loved it!

Read Alouds
The Phantom Tollbooth

Currently Reading
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

Added to My Ever-Growing TBR List
Proof of Heaven by Mary Curran Hackett
The Time Between by Mary Duenas
A Thousand Lives by Julia Scheeres
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (recommended at Rebecca Reads)
The First Wife by Emily Barr (recommended by Fleur Fisher)
The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian
A Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

Top 3 Most Visited Reviews This Month on SmallWorld Reads
Frankenstein
The Great Gilly Hopkins
Snowflower and the Secret Fan

Saturday, October 8, 2011

The Sunday Salon: September in Review

Books Read in September (click for my reviews)
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
Song of the Lark by Willa Cather

(Pretty sure that is an all time low for my monthly reading. Yikes!!)

Special Event
I got to hear Amy Greene, author of the fabulous Bloodroot, read at our local college! She was so wonderful and inspiring. I can hardly wait for her next book!

Added to My Ever-Growing TBR List
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman
Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum
What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day by Pearl Cleage
Carved in Bone by Jefferson Bass
Coming Up for Air by Patti Callahan Henry
Close Your Eyes by Amanda Eye Ward

Read Aloud to 10-Year-Old
The Master Puppeteer
The Indian in the Cupboard

Currently Reading
One Second After by William Forstchen

Top 3 Most Visited Reviews This Month on SmallWorld Reads
Frankenstein
Snowflower and the Secret Fan
Children's Books on Slavery

Saturday, September 10, 2011

The Sunday Salon: August in Review

Books Read in August (Click on title for reviews)
Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich (totally forgot to review this one): dark and disturbing
Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen by Susan Gregg Gilmore (Southern chick lit)
The German Woman by Paul Griner (WW2 lit)
The Judas Field by Howard Bahr (dark and gritty Civil War lit)
The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain (great story)

The Queen's Daughter by Susan Coventry. (historical fiction, medieval)
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich (excellent journey into how minimum-wage America survives)

Favorite Book of the Month

Two very different books, but I loved them both: The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes and Nickel and Dimed.

Added to My Ever-Growing TBR List
Before the Storm by Diane Chamberlain
The Midwife's Confession by Diane Chamberlain
Father, Mother, God: My Journey Out of Christian Science by Lucia Greenhouse
You Don't Sweat Much for a Fat Girl by Celia Rivenbark

Read Aloud to 10 Year Old
Island of the Blue Dolphins

Currently Reading
Song of the Lark by Willa Cather

Top 3 Most Visited Reviews This Month on SmallWorld Reads
Frankenstein
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
Murder on the Orient Express

Sunday, July 31, 2011

The Sunday Salon: July in Review

Books Read in July
The Little Giant of Aberdeen County: LOVED
The Wednesday Sisters: Nah.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot: Fabulous
Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne: Pretty good.
The Secret Daughter: LOVED!

Read in May/June but Reviewed Finally in July
Climbing the Stairs: enjoyable!
A Room with a View: lovely
Nanny Returns: Nope.
My Name Is Mary Sutter: Read it, NOW!

Favorite Book of the Month
Oh boy. Must I pick? Secret Daughter, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and The Little Giant of Aberdeen County were all fantastic. I can't choose.

Mid-Year Review
See my favorite books of the year thus far!

Currently Reading
Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich. Dark and disturbing thus far.

Added to My Ever-Growing TBR List
*Dry Grass of August by Anna Jean Mayhew
*Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton (reviewed at Redlady's Reading Room)
*Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
*Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
*The Soldier's Wife by Margaret Leroy (reviewed at Polishing Mud Balls)
* The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht

Books-to-Movies Watched
Eat, Pray, Love. B-o-r-i-n-g. Watched the movie before I read the book; therefore, crossed the book off my TBR list.

Coming Up
How To Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (re-read)
The German Woman by Paul Griner
The Queen's Daughter by Susan Coventry
Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen by Susan Gregg Gilmore
The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain
The Judas Field by Howard Bahr

Top 3 Most Visited Reviews This Month on SmallWorld Reads
Snowflower and the Secret Fan
Frankenstein
The Postmistress

Thanks to the Top 3 Referring Blogs
Rebecca Reads
Semicolon
Cindy's Book Club

Sunday, July 17, 2011

The Sunday Salon: Mid-year Review

So far this year I've read 23 books and have (thus far) reviewed 19 of them. I've also read another half-dozen or so juvenile fiction books with the kids and/or for literature classes I teach.

Here are my reviews so far:

There have been some really, really good ones in the first half of 2011. My Top 5 (not in any particular order) are:

My Name Is Mary Sutter (Robin Oliveira)
Bloodroot (Amy Greene)
March (Geraldine Brooks)
Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro)
Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)

There are some other contenders for the Top 10 list among

the books I've read so far this year, but perhaps those other spots will go to books to be read in the next six months.

What's at the top of your list so far for 2011?

Sunday, June 5, 2011

The Sunday Salon: April and May in Review

Now that summer's here, I'm trying to get back on track with regular book blogging. I've got a bit of catch-up to do with reviewing, but I'm getting there…

Books Read in April and May (click for my reviews)

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (re-read)
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Comes a Time for Burning by Steven Havill
A Far Country by Daniel Mason
March by Geraldine Brooks
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (re-read)
Nanny Returns by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira
The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

Favorite Book of the Months

April: March by Geraldine Brooks
May: My Name Is Mary Sutter
Both of these are absolutely fantastic. They'll absolutely be on my Top 10 list of the year.

Books Read to the Kids

The Princess and the Goblin by George Macdonald
Lots of books about the Titanic

Currently Reading

Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkatramen

Up Next

Alice in Wonderland (re-read)

Added to my TBR List

An Atlas of Impossible Longing by Anuradha Roy (Reviewed by S. Krishna)
The Bride's House by Sandra Dallas
Dreams of Joy by Lisa See
The Ninth Wife by Amy Stolls
Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya-Gowda (reviewed at S. Krishna's Books)
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
The Story of a Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon
The Strange Case of the Broad Street Pump by Sandra Hempel