Happy March! I love March because it means spring is on the way plus wrestling season will be over, Easter will almost be here by the time March ends, and both my boys have birthdays! Lots to celebrate, in spite of Lent.
February was a good reading month, a few longer books which took a bit to get through plus one I DNF after 55 pages because it was just....terrible. So there was a bit of wasted time. I rarely DNF books and so I was a bit proud of myself for giving up on that one. Been better at keeping up with my weekly book posts too! Now I just would like to improve at remembering to post about them all on IG...I can only be on top of so many things in my life at once!
I'm very active on Goodreads here, somewhat active on Instagram here, and linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy on the 15th!
Other book posts in the past month:
Book Love: Tranquility by Tuesday by Laura Vanderkam
French Kissing in New York by Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau
I enjoyed a previous book by this author (Kisses & Croissants) and so picked this one up. Very YA, about an aspiring chef who moves to NYC to live with her Dad after growing up at her Mom's restaurant in rural France. It reminded me a bit of the movie Ratatouille, except fewer mice. I believe the NYC restaurant scene could be intense and a few things were a bit eye-roll inducing to me but mostly fun. 3 Stars
Fly Girl: A Memoir by Ann Hood
This book is kinda what I expected Come Fly the World to be, which I read 2 years ago. This was the memoir of a flight attendant for TWA airlines, starting in the late 1970s. Fascinating reading about their training and just how different flying was 40+ years ago. I never flew until 2006 and that was a very different situation! If you like history and still see some magic in flying, this could be of interest to you. 3.5 Stars
The Best-Read Army in the World by Molly Guptill Manning
Quite a few years ago I read When Books Went to War about the United States' program to send books to the soldiers during WWII. They created special editions of popular titles that could easily be carried in a pocket when the soldiers were out marching and fighting. This book was much of that same information but I am guessing that it came from a museum exhibit about this because it was an explanation in the front but then pictures with captions through the rest. It wasn't clear if the exhibit had actual items or photos of the items. So a recap of most of what I read but I did appreciate that this was the format and look of those original books. A little more clarity would have been helpful. 3.5 Stars
Love Your Home Again: Organize Your Space and Uncover the Home of Your Dreams by Ann Lightfoot and Kate Pawlowski
I picked this up as a quick organizing book which I am always on the lookout for. This one was ok. Parts were motivating. Parts made me roll my eyes. Like when they said they've never seen a kid tear down their Lego sets, they just build them once and that's it. Uhhhhhh...that's not how I played Legos or my kids do Legos AT ALL. There are all over, only some special sets have been kept together. And I don't think my kids are unique in that. Then there was also a weird thing about tea and "this is the correct amount to own, even if you don't drink tea" which I drink tea pretty much every day and I still have less than they show. And there were multiple pictures with an organized VHS collection...who has that?!?!? If it was the 90s and someone had all their big Disney VHSs...that would make sense. But not now. Anyways. I've read much better books on the subject. 2.5 Stars
Jacqueline in Paris by Ann Mah
This was a fictionalize telling of Jacqueline Kennedy's (before she was a Kennedy) year abroad during college. She lived mostly in Paris during a turbulent, post WWII time, when the city was still rebuilding from the war. There was a lot going on politically and socially and globally and she was right in the middle of it. Knowledge that would later help her in her role as First Lady. I know this is fictionalized tale but based on facts and it made me empathize with her in a new way. 3.5 Stars
The Lost Husband by Katherine Center
Another Katherine Center novel, I've been really plowing through them lately. This was kinda supposed to be my Valentine's Day read which didn't completely work that way but it was an attempt. A mother with 2 youngish kids moves to an estranged aunt's farm after woman's husband had died. The farm ends up being wonderful for the kids and there is a very cute farmhand who is dealing with his own romance problems. A quaint town. Family dynamics. Enjoyable. My sister tells me this was made into a Netflix movie that she liked
better than the book so I will have to check that out at some point. 3.25 Stars
How to Break Up With Your Phone: The 30 Day Plan to Take Back Your Life by Catherine Price
I've written many blog posts on the subject of less time on my phone but my own time has been creeping up lately. I do not like it. Part of this can be attributed to running the marketing/social media for an event at our kids' school with my sister. That had me on my phone extra. But. I can't blame that for all of it. This was a helpful guide to putting it down more. Also, I liked that early on in the book it said that a certain percentage of people check their phones in the middle of the night. I immediately was like "Who checks their phone in the middle of the night????". Then before I finished the book, maybe a night or two later, my sister was in labor when we all went to bed and so when a kid had me up at 3am...I did check my phone. But it was for a VERY specific reason (and there WAS new baby news...which I responded to at 3am. She sent it at 1am and I was still the FOURTH sister to respond...apparently none of us slept that night.). Anyways, a helpful and appreciated read. 3.75 Stars
Lost Roses by Martha Hall Kelly
I read the third book in this series sometime last year and now this is the second. I am working backwards through the series but forward in time so it still kinda works? Three women at the start of World War I, one of them being loosely connected to Anastasia (of the beloved animated movie of my childhood). This is a thick book and it took awhile to get me interested in all three of their stories. I think I liked #3 better but this was interesting enough. Flew through the second half once I really got going. 3.25 Stars
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
This was our book club read for February and it isn't often that I feel like the pages turn this fast in a book. Time flew while I was reading this. A black woman time travels from the 1960s (or 70s?) back to the Antebellum South where she ends up on the same plantation of her ancestors. Except her time travels tie her to the owner's (white) son (who later becomes the owner). This book had HARD parts but also there was some joy. She actually goes back and forth from her current day to the 1830s (ish? The Civil War was still decades away) a few times, which I wasn't expecting. An important read and one I'm glad I read. 4 Stars
Long Past Summer by Noue Kirwan
This wasn't quite what I thought it was going to be about but trying to explain the whole plot point about a woman seeing a childhood picture of herself in Times Square and why she's not more shocked by it...it would get confusing. NYC. Woman attorney. Childhood sweetheart who later had gone on to marry her former BFF. Trying to make her place in the city but getting drawn to the past. Flashes between present day and her childhood/teen years. I enjoyed just the general "30ish year old woman trying to make it in NYC" story the best I think. 3.25 Stars
Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano
The third in the series about an accidental and reluctant killer for hire. Finlay doesn't do much (or any?) murdering but seems to be around a bunch of them and has lose connections to the mob now. These books you absolutely have to read in order to understand what is going on. Although I've read them all and still can't exactly keep everyone straight. Takes some suspension of belief and I get tired just reading about all the overnight hijinks Finlay and her partner in crime are up too. Still, good fun, for being largely about murder and trying not to murder people. 3.5 Stars
Read with Luke and/or Sam
The Greatest Gift by Kallie George
This was my latest chapter book with Sam, the 2nd, and winter set, book in the Heartwood Hotel series. I read this series through twice with Luke and Sam is just delighted to do a chapter book with me too (we still do quite a bit of picture book reading, with both boys, too). Slightly Christmas set, lovely forest animals, cozy hotel setting. This is a great series to start chapter books with, the first is fall. My boys have both really liked them in the 4-6 age range.
What have YOU been reading lately? I always want to know!
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