Summer Reading Celebration

Yeah.....not for me. Especially because I really am interested in the history of the place.

Pleasant read of historical fiction set in Ireland in the 1920's during the Irish war for independence from England. The story involves the daughter of the English overseer who has been sent to the area to keep things in check. In an unprecedented move, her father allies her to apprentice at an Irish owned jewelry shop. The owners son is dead st against it because of who she is. While the story feels predictable, the history is well researched. The writing lacks the depth of best sellers, but it was a pleasant enough read.

Isla loves how this book is full of photographs that match up to each different section, so she can learn simple ballet while going through the book.

This book filled me with despair, UNTIL the final page; then I was filled with relief. That I had when I read the final sentence...and could put this book down. I will never read another novel by this author.

I loved how many of them were well known fairy tales with some lesser ones included. I just wish the stories were longer

This one definitely kept you guessing until the very end.

Wonderful journey through difficult relationships featuring love, forgiveness, understanding, betrayal and redemption. Kristin Hannah creates characters that seem to come alive right off the pages. She did a good job with creating Summer Island as well, so good that I have to Google it to see if these islands really exist off the Washington coast. This is a story of an estranged mother and daughter. Nora, the successful mom, hosts a radio call in show giving stellar advice and upheld as a model of morality. Her daughter, Ruby, thinks otherwise, and rightfully so. Ruby carries a huge chip on her shoulders and is unable to connect with others at any level of depth. She ends up having to spend a week caring for her mother at their childhood home on Summer Island. She is offered a huge sum to write a tell all story about her mom just before she makes the decision to go. What follows is the packed week, an old boyfriend and the untangling of many emotions, learned behaviors and walls.

I ordered this book for my husband and me too listen to together. We both enjoy history and it sounded like an interesting story. I should have been forewarned by the almost opening page which described two survivors of the wreck found engaging in an act which could only be described as cannabilism. Philbeook doesn't spare any detail in this book. From that opening scene to the blood spurting out of a harpooned whale's spout he almost seems to revel in bringing the grotesque to light, and he spates no detail. I actually think that there was not enough of a story here and Philbeook had to add every detail and side excursion into other related and unrelated incidents to flesh it out. I much preferred the story of Shackleton and the Endurance to this book.

The fascinating Hildegard was a composer, seer, nun, and spiritual leader in the 1100s, in Germany. In this historical fiction account of her life the “illuminations” referred to are less about her mystical visions and more about her personal enlightenment and growth. It is about her growth in understanding people, connections, relationships. She grows to understand that some can help and enrich the world and others hinder and harm. Hildegard’s naivety evolves through experience to wisdom. Though her life was nothing like ours, her wants, needs, and desires are as real as yours or mine. Read this book to learn what it is to be a woman ahead of her time.

Great story about a gay romance and international intrigue.