Keep Reading February 2016

Keep Reading February 2016

Being retired or at least mostly retired has allowed me the time to do a lot more reading. I have started keeping my books on my device until the end of the month and then deleting the ones I finished that month. This helps me remember more about what I read and see my reading trends.
I am going to try to pick the 3 or 4 books I like the best each month and post them along with quick reviews on my blog. I have not been very good about keeping up this blog so I hope some of you are still hanging around and will read what I post.
Before I Forget
By Leonard Pits
A former sole singer finds out he has early-onset Alzheimer’s disease and travels across country with his son to visit his dyeing estranged father. Although I find it hard to read books about Alzheimer’s, this book uses the Alzheimer’s as a detail and not the main focus of the book. The characters are well developed and it is one of those books that are hard to finish.

The Little Paris Book Shop
By Nina George
Translated from French, this delightful book makes you want to get on the next plane to visit the French country side. However it is the delightful characters more than the stunning surroundings that draw you into this book. A troubled Paris book seller who just happens to house his book shop on a boat that he keeps in perfect running order decides to travel off to figure out his life. He picks up other wandering and wonderful people along the way and they help each other figure out the meaning of life. I am not always a fan of these feel good books but this one is great.

Blue Latitudes Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before
By Tony Horwitz
I love this guy’s writing. He also wrote Confederates in the Attic. This is a travel book that takes you on the journey’s along with Captain Cook and then repeats them with Tony and his funny, slightly drunk friend. You also get just enough background on Captain Cook. Far from feeling like one tropical island is more perfect than the next one, you learn how it would be to really live there and it is not always so much like paradise.

Sacred Hunger
By Barry Unsworth
I am so happy to have found this author. Although he has recently passed away he wrote several books and I am looking forward to all of them. In fact there is a sequel to this book called The Quality of Mercy. They don’t need to be read in order.
Sacred Hunger takes place in the mid-18th century. There are two stories going on and you don’t quite see how they will fit together but trust me they do. A ship going to Africa to trade for slaves to bring to Jamaica to trade the slaves for sugar is crewed by a somewhat motley group of men. Many of them have more or less been kidnapped to be part of the crew. Things don’t go quite as planned.

Now I am looking forward to what I will read in March.