What I've Been Reading

I read voraciously, almost to a fault.  My mother is a great reader.  I even remember the first word I learned to read.  It was the word "look" and my mother had made the O's "looking" eyes, so I got it right away.  I think I was 3.

As a kid, I would snitch Victoria Holt novels before my mother was even finished with them!  I would be content for hours reading such classics as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Little Women, and The Witch of Blackbird Pond. My most exciting Christmas gifts each year were always the big stack of hardcover books. My sister is also a great reader, but her daughter, my Piper girl, beats all of us hollow!

Here's my Mom on the beach at Cancun last week reading.  Pretty nice legs for nearly 80.

And here she is off the beach...the birthday girl.

Over the last little while, I've been reading:

1. Mosaic - Diane Armstrong

A moving and extremely well-written nonfiction book which reads like a novel.  Diane writes about the 5 generations of her Jewish family, before and after World War II, up to present times.  She tells an amazing tale of survival and a sorrowful tale of those who did not survive.  I downloaded it on Kindle.  
Mosaic by Diane Armstrong

2.  Quartet in Autumn - Barbara Pym

Laurie Colwin, sadly departed from cancer before her time,was an author I dearly loved.  (Home Cooking and More Home Cooking). She referred to this writer as the "incomparable" Barbara Pym. I found this book at Goodwill yesterday.  Barbara is extremely skilled in painting pictures of personal idiosyncrasies.  Autumn Quartet describes the lives for four British office workers of a certain age.  I find a great metaphor this story as we learn how suspicion, inward thinking, and selfishness ultimately hurt the person who holds these acidic emotions more than anyone else. The book also paints a compelling picture of older folks who have lived through World War II clashing with the Swinging Seventies.  Quartet In Autumn - Barbara Pym

3. Eleanor and Hick - Susan Quin

This was a very well-researched and well-written book about the relationship between our most memorable First Lady and the pioneering newspaper reporter Lorena Hickok. Their relationship has become somewhat controversial after the release letters the two shared. The reader may draw her own conclusions.  I like to read anything about the Roosevelt family. 
Eleanor and Hick - Susan Quin

4. Under Magnolia - Frances Mayes

This book is a recent publication from the bestselling writer of "Under the Tuscan Sun."  I enjoy memoirs and Under Magnolia didn't disappoint.  I was sad to learn of her religious views, but I enjoyed her look back at her Southern beginnings in a very dysfunctional family.
Under Magnolia - Frances Mayes

5.  Our Chemical Hearts  - Krystal Sutherland

Piper mentioned that she was just starting this book and she talked it up so intelligently that I downloaded it on Kindle.  The narrator is 17 years old and I don't usually like young adult books. I've gotten engrossed in this one, not only for its own merits, but also because it draws me closer to Piper's way of thinking. 
 Our Chemical Hearts - Krystal Sutherland

If you read one of these, please comment and let me know how you enjoy them!  I do not receive any consideration for these links, just wanted to make it easy for readers to find them.  I share out of pure love for reading.