Keep Reading March 2016
I hope that doing this two months in a row means that I am creating a habit.
March was a good reading month for me. I managed to get extra time because Neal was away for two different trips and I spent those evenings glued to a book. Also my tread mill broke so I had to do a lot more pacing to keep up my steps creating even more reading time.
The books I am listing are not in the order of how much I liked them but in the order of how I read them. This is an especially varied selection taking readers on journeys to different places and different times. With the exception of The Hang Mans Daughter they are all fiction and although that book is based on real characters from the author’s past, the story is fiction.
City On Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg
For those of you, who love long books, plan to settle in with this one for several interesting hours. Culminating with the 1977 New York black out a collection of characters come together to solve a crime. You travel back and forward in time until you have a clear understanding of what makes these people who they are. Where were you during this black out?
The Hangman’s Daughter by Oliver Pötzsch
The National Library Service version of this book actually included a second book in the series. There are two more books but I don’t know that they have been translated from the original German.
Travel back to the mid seventeenth century in rural Bavaria and get to know how structured life was in those tiny villages. You will meet the hangman and his family and learn how important the hangman was in the community and yet how much people avoided him. However this hangman has other skills that tie him to the community in a different way. You will be lost in that time and love every minute of it. You will also struggle to solve the mystery.
A Sudden Light by Garth Stein
A few years ago this author gave us The Art of Racing in the Rain. Now he has written another book that will amaze and delight you. Where do these people get their ideas?
You could say this is a story of a haunted house but it is so much more than that. First of all the ghost or ghosts are friendly and just trying to help the 14 year old hero understand who his family members really are and what he needs to do to help them make the right choices.
The house is the real mane attraction. We have all dreamed about this house at one time or another. There is nothing scary about this book other than that it ends too soon.
Morality Play by Barry Unsworth
This is a short book that you will want to finish in a day.
I am so glad I was introduced to this author and that he wrote as much as he did before he passed away.
Here we go again back in time. This time we visit rural England in the thirteen hundreds. We travel with a runaway priest who joins a traveling theater company. They are living hand to mouth and are looking for a way to bring in a little extra money. They arrive in a community just as a young woman is being charged with the murder of a 12 year old boy. The pieces don’t quite fit together so the actors wander around town asking questions and put together a play based on the murder. The rest you can discover for yourself.
My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman
This is from the same author who gave us A Man Called Ove.
I recommend this book to all grandmothers, future grandmothers and granddaughters and those who are close to any of the above.
This was actually my favorite book of the month.
As you are wondering why you are reading it you will also not be able to put it down.
If you ever loved and wanted to believe in fairy tales this is the book for you.
Trust me on this one. Prepare to laugh and cry and be amazed.
You will get to know the smartest almost 8 year old ever and her very special grandmother. You will want to be this grandmother or have her as your grandmother. This book will bring a little magic into your life so maybe you can share that magic with someone else.