Book Club

[icezeus]

I finished Love Beyond Reason by Sandra Brown. It's one of her earlier books written under a different name back in the 80's. It was so sappy, and over the top corny in certain spots. It actually made me laugh. 

[smoochy]

halfway through The Cruelest Month, murder mystery #3 in a series by Louise Penny. I love it

[sandy53]

This weekend I read Stuart Woods' Golden Hour by Brett Battles.  Notice how they are now giving full author credit to Battles, but keeping Woods' name in the title.  Interesting. He is keeping the tone and writing style of Woods.

This is a Teddy Fay novel and is good!  The action takes place in Europe and of course it all has to do with the CIA.  Stone Barrington makes a couple of cameo appearance.  There is no gratuitous s*x in this book.  The action and suspense are good as Teddy chases the bad guys while switching into and out of his other two personas.  I recommend it. 

[Alter Ego]

I finished listening to EDDIE WINSTON IS LOOKING FOR LOVE by Marianna Cronin. A very sweet way to start 2025; Eddie will be hard to beat as favorite character of the year. Maybe some will think it's too sweet, but I really enjoyed. (In an aside, I also enjoyed the author's previous novel -  100 Years of Leni and Margot. If you liked that, you may enjoy this as well.)

Waiting for Tuesday's drop - GMA's monthly pick has a 4.34 rating, so hoping to keep 2025 going strong!

[SWEET]

I read my first book by Rufi Thorpe, The Girls Of Corona Del Mar.  It was a book about friendship and it's complexity over the years.  It was a pretty good read.

[CANDLEQUEEN]

Happy New Year! I took 2 1/2 weeks off from reading while I was on vacation over the holidays, and really missed it!

I just started One of The Boys, by Jayne Cowie, really good and intriguing.....

[sandy53]

Today I finished The Great Divide by Cristina Henriquez.  This is historical fiction set in Panama during the building of the canal.  I read it because I will be cruising through the canal this winter.  The book is made up of parallel story lines about several different characters.  The actual building of the canal is a very minor part of the book and I hoped for more of that.  I thought it was just ok and I was disappointed.  I don't recommend it. 

I have read Path Between the Seas by David McCullough which is the best nonfiction book about the history of the canal.  Now I am going to start Panama Fever by Matthew Parker, another nonfiction history.  I want to be well prepared for this cruise so I can really appreciate what I see. 

[nwbabs]

The Panama Canal cruise sound deighttful @sandy53 and kudos for researching/reading prior to your journey. The book Path Between the Seas you mentioned sounds like something I would enjoy. Thank you for recommending and sharing!

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@sandy53 wrote:

Today I finished The Great Divide by Cristina Henriquez.  This is historical fiction set in Panama during the building of the canal.  I read it because I will be cruising through the canal this winter.  The book is made up of parallel story lines about several different characters.  The actual building of the canal is a very minor part of the book and I hoped for more of that.  I thought it was just ok and I was disappointed.  I don't recommend it. 

I have read Path Between the Seas by David McCullough which is the best nonfiction book about the history of the canal.  Now I am going to start Panama Fever by Matthew Parker, another nonfiction history.  I want to be well prepared for this cruise so I can really appreciate what I see. 

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[nwbabs]

Finished the audiobook The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng last night. Genres: Historical, Historical Fiction, Asian Literature.

Based on real events set in the early 1900s Penang, Malaysia and revolves around visits by two interesting historical figure to the region, W. Somerset Maugham and Dr. Sun Yat-Sen. 

The novel touches on love, betrayal, colonialism, and revolution. Being totally unfamiliar with that particular region, the descriptions of the flora and fauna, and general environment were interesting to me. Also, the historical figures played largely in my interest too.

Maugham's Of Human Bondage was required reading at some point in my life, but I did not explore any of his other writings. However, that will now change. Also, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen (father of the Republic of China) came on my radar after a trip to Vancouver, Canada's Classical Chinese Garden name after him decades ago. It's beautiful place if you are in Vancouver, British Columbia. And, more recently, I visited the statue of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen in Seattle's International District. So, I had a high interest in Yat-Sen already.

The book reads from two points of view, before and after World War I. The male voice (Maugham) is read by actor David Oakes. Oakes does a wonderful job and you may recall him from the PBS series Victoria, Ernest character - Albert's brother. 

Rated the book 4/5 on Goodreads.

[pateacher]

I am reading The Author's Guide to Murder by Beatriz williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White. I chose the book because I have read and enjoyed other title by the individual authors. Sad to say, this collaboration was underwhelming.