February 2018 Reading Log

This month went by fast and I seemed to be struggling to find time to read.  I got a bit carried away with L. Penny stories.  My plan was to read one book a month but I am completing got caught up in the stories.   I just need to find out what is happening with the characters....my biggest question is why and how?  I am not so interested in the murders that take place.  I am more interested in the relationships between the characters.  My favorite book this month was hard to pick again!  But I will have to go with L. Penny's, How the Light Gets In, because I couldn't stop reading this book.  I almost finished it in one day.    

L. Penny did not disappoint in the seventh book in this series, A Trick of the Light.  We find Armand Gamache back in Three Pines solving another murder that occurred in Clare’s garden.  The victim was Clare’s childhood friend.  Lots of twists and turns in this story and a bit of a surprise as Peter and Clare decided to separate for a year.  This is a great ****/5 star story. 

I had to read book number eight right after I finished book seven because they came together on my library holds.  I generally like to space them out a bit but I didn’t have a choice this time.  I was mesmerized in L. Penny’s book, A Beautiful Mystery.  There was so much going on.  There was the murder in the monastery that was hidden deep somewhere in the wilderness of Quebec.  The only people there were the 24 monks who lived in silence except during prayer, they sang beautiful chants.  They lived an isolated life growing their own food, raising their own animals no contact with the outside world.   Then there is the tension between Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir.  The ending left me speechless.  This is one of the best Three Pines stories yet.  It earned *****/5 stars in my mind. 

It is so cold here that I had to take a quick beach break.  So I found Elin Hilderbrand’s, The Identicals, on my bookshelf. The story takes place on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard.   Harper and her twin sister Tabitha haven’t spoken for more than a decade.  They each live on different islands.  After their father passes away Harper reaches out to her sister and her mother to let them know.  After the funeral, their mother falls, and Tabitha needs Harper’s help to watch her daughter.  They change islands and life begins to change for each of them.   This book is a light and fun read, ***/5 stars. 

The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren is a spiritual book I purchased years ago that just sat on my bookshelf.  I started reading it back in January and read a section a day whenever possible.  It has A LOT of information in it.  I still need more time to absorb everything I read.   However I really enjoyed it and learned a lot from it.  I need to spend some time rereading sections and journaling about it.  However, that will be perfect for the rest of Lent.  This is a *****/5 star book.  A must read for all Christians. 

 

I couldn’t wait for next month to read book 9 in the Three Pines series so I jumped ahead to, How The Light Gets In.  I was just left with this sad feeling in my stomach for Chief Inspector Gamache.  I just had to read the next book.  WOW!!!!!!  It was even better than the last couple of books, which I thought were amazing.  Again there are two different story lines going on in the story:  1.  Myrna Landers, from Three Pines, sends Armand Gamache a message; her friend did not arrive for Christmas and she is worried.  Her friend turns out to be a famous person in Quebec.  2.  Chief Inspector Gamache is dealing with his Homicide Department being dismantled and the continue assaults on his character.   He is getting closer to finding out who leaked the video and corruption with in the Surete of Quebec.  

This book was just awesome.  I just could not stop.  I finished the whole book in a day and a half.  I just had to know more details.  I don’t want to seem like I am over-rating these books but I love them!  *****/5 stars AGAIN!!!!

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum, is an absolutely adorable story.  It has everything loss, love, mystery, personal struggle, friendships, and standing up for yourself.  It’s hard enough to be in high school but Jessie has to start all over in a new school her junior year two years after her mother passed away because her dad decides to remarry.  Jessie has to move from her home of Chicago to California where she knows nobody. She now lives in the home of her dad’s new wife and her son.  Jessie is now the new girl and it’s not easy to make new friends when you are different.  Jessie ends up making a friend online, Somebody Nobody, who helps her navigate her way through her new school.  ****/5 stars

I know a fourth L. Penny book is obsessive, but honestly when a library hold comes available you have to read it or go back to the end of the line.   So when I received The Long Way Home, it was back to Three Pines for me.  The story begins as Armand Gamache, former Chief Inspector of Homicide with the Surete du Quebec, as he settles down in his retirement with his wife in Three Pines.  Gamache is enjoying the peace and routine he is establishing in the town.  However, Clara is troubled, her husband Peter did not return on the anniversary of their year separation as promised.  Together Armand and Jean-Guy reunite to help Clara track down Peter and they all go on an adventure to search for Peter.   The story focuses a lot on the relationships between the friends and their healing from previous events.  As they put the pieces together they begin to understand themselves and their friends.  L. Penny will not disappoint you, she saves a few surprises for the heart-breaking end.  This is another ****/5 star book. 

In The Library at the Edge of the World, by Felicity Hayes-McCoy, Hanna Casey has moved back to the small Irish town she grew up in with her daughter after she found out that her husband was having an affair.  She is now the local librarian and drives the book mobile around the Irish countryside to the little villages.  When the town councils wants to close Hanna’s library she must rally the town and help the community pull together to stand up to be heard and fight for what is important to them.  This is a wonderful story about a creating new friendships and a community working together to make a difference to help one another.  I am giving this book ***/5 stars.