Happy May!  I recently finished A Gentleman in Moscow, which was very good.  Now I shall watch the TV series.  I'm currently listening to Restoration by Rose Tremaine, which I am very much enjoying.  I started reading The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams last evening.  Too early to report on my feelings about.  

I am reading The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn set in 1906 San Francisco.  I haven't got to the Huge earthquake yet. Well written with how Chinese servived in the city as well as women trying to make a living. I always like Kate Quinn

Just finished Death of a Squire (Templar Knight, Bk 2) by Maureen Ash, whicn is an entertaining read about a Templar knight asked to solve the murder of a much disliked squire.  Shortly, three others are murdered and he wonders if these are connected to the squire's death.  The tale is straight forward but the author points the reader at several suspects who have reason to dispense with the lad. Good read.

I finished Silent In the Grave by Deanna Raybourn. Set in 1886 London. Very good first book in the series. The first half went a bit slow setting a characterfs and murder. Second have was excellent. 

Hello!  I finished listening to Restoration by Rose Tremain, which I really liked!  I plan on reading the second book, Merivel, soon. The recording is quite old, and it very much reminded me of the first audio book I ever listened to, which was The Count of Monte Cristo. which I borrowed from the library on CD.  Long before the days of streaming.  The recording was pretty low-budget.  If you listened closely, you could sometimes here a door shut or other voices in the background.  However, the book completely captivated me, and to this day, that book is one of my all-time favorites.  This recording of Restoration didn't have any audible background sounds, but there was something about it that reminded me of that very first audio book. I am nearing the end of reading The Dictionary of Lost Words which, IMO, is a bit dull.  It's not a bad read, but it is not the most exciting or interesting thing.  I am currently listening to James by Percival Everett, which is quite good.  I was hesitant as I am a wimp who generally avoids books about slavery, but this one, which is a newer release, had a lot of great reviews.  It's a telling of the Huckleberry Finn story told from the perspective of Jim, the slave.  

Yesterday I finished The Lioness of Boston by Emily Franklin. It was just okay. I was not that thrilled with Isabella Steward Gardner as a person and did not like the writing style. You can't love all the books.

Hello!  I finished The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams, which, honestly, I felt was very dull.  Sure there was some information on how the Oxford English Dictionary was put together (which was quite a time-consuming process, which I knew nothing about), but although there were plenty of events and situations that could've sprung from the times, NOTHING really happened, and I alternated between not really liking the main character to total disinterest in her.  At the end some kind of interesting things happen, but the book rushes to a quick finish, and I found the fate of the main character to be kind of like an after-thought. The very end features a character barely mentioned previously in the book, so I had no interest in her.  I don't know.  I think there was so much more that the author could've developed - a couple of the characters, the women's suffrage movement, the role of women in academia,  a woman at home while a loved one went to war, etc. - and instead we just had a main character kind of floating along on the periphery of everything.  I can't recommend this one.  I also finished listening to James by Percival Everett, which was very good. 

So, very excitingly I got to start two new books on the same day.  I decided to read Maude Horton's Glorious Revenge by Lizzie Pook (which is off to a good start), and I started listening to The Great Divide by Cristina Henriquez.  The latter has gotten a lot of buzz, and I see the potential for a good story to develop.  However, I'm only about an hour in, and it's mostly just some character development and background, so it's slow moving at this point.  I'm sure it'll pick up. The narrator is a tad irksome.  She reads very slowly and carefully, which reminds me of someone reading to children.  

I finished 11/22/63 by Stephen King.  What a doozy! Took me almost 2 months to read it (Its about 850 pages) but I haven't had much time to devote to reading the past few weeks.  

I started The Angry Tide by Winston Graham, the 7th book in the Poldark series.  

Life has been very hectic.  Just spent a week in the hospital as DH was diagnosed with a very aggressive and rare (3 in 1000) non Hodgkins lymphona.  He will need six treatments, one every third week a week long.  What a summer this will be. 

Trying to read as the time passes.  Picked up Isabel Allende's A Petal of the Sea that is supposed to be pretty good.

Big Hugs REK

I am reading A Girl During the War by Anita Abriel.  Set in Italy during WWII.  Little different than most WWII books. I am enjoying it.

Sending positive energy your way, REK!

R E K - I'm so sorry to hear this!!  I will be sending you hugs and good vibes as well! 

Hello!  Well, on the last day of the month I finished another book, The Great Divide by Christina Henriquez.  I enjoyed it.  Initially I was a bit put off by the slow, careful reading style, but I got used to it.  It tells the story of multiple people, and I still wish more of the stories would've overlapped a bit more, but all in all, a very good book.  This morning on my way to work I started listening to This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger. 

I hope everyone has a great weekend!