Keep Reading July 2019
I am having a very hard time picking my favorite book for July. I, somehow, stumbled on some of the best books I have read all year. All the books described here are amazing and very worth reading.
Feast Your Eyes, a novel by Myla Goldberg is the story of a young woman photographer and her daughter. Lilly takes pictures constantly of everything going on around her. Of course she takes lots of pictures of her daughter. Some of these pictures end up in a show and are determined to be pornographic. Whether they are or not this event changes both their lives. The book is written in a series of journal entries by Lilly, her daughter, and a couple close friends. Give this book a try and you won’t be sorry.
The flight Portfolio, by Julie Oringer is the second book I loved by this author. The Invisible Bridge is a great book and I like this one just as well. The book is based on the life of Varian Fry and his attempt to help the Great Jewish artists trapped in Europe during World War 2 to escape to safety and freedom. He works for an organization that is minimally funded to help create false documents and an underground railroad to get these artists out of France through Spain and finally to Lisbon where they can head to America or other locations. There are successes and failures. Throughout the book Varian struggles with his own personal relationships that may be interfering with his work.
A Piece Of The World by Christina Baker Kline is probably more fiction than fact. Christina Olson spends most of her life on her family farm in Maine. As a child her legs are weakened by a childhood disease that eventually takes away her ability to walk. Andrew Wyeth. He falls in love with painting her house and spends most of his summer days there for several years. Christina begins to reflect on her past and we travel with her on that journey. This leads to Wyeth painting Christina’s World, one of his most famous paintings.
Cemetery road by Greg Iles lives up to his other books. He is, by far, my favorite southern mystery writer. A journalist returns home to the small town where his father ran the local newspaper until very recently when he became too ill to do so. The book opens with the murder of the journalist’s former teacher and mentor. I don’t have to say much more. Small town secrets are disclosed including those of our hero.
The Peacock Feast by Lisa Gornick is a novel that kept me reading long into the night. This is another book that brings you back and forth in time. A woman who is 101 years old is visited by a grandniece that she did not know she had. They have very touching moments discussing their past and their connection. The writing is beautiful and you will feel like you are sitting there in the living room along with these two women. I really truly love this book.