The Dutch House

 This book was suggested by someone in our knitting group.  I liked it a lot.  

The review on Amazon includes these words:

At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves.

The son of Cyril tells the story.  To spite the evil step mother, Danny's older sister (who has mothered her brother since their mother left the Dutch House when they were young) makes Danny become a doctor as about the only thing the two have been left from their father's estate is money for schooling.  But Danny spent many hours with his father collecting rents and watching his father fix anything and everything in his rental properties.  And he only wants to following his father's footsteps to make real estate his life as well.  

You will like the book.

Conjure women

This is a good one!  I started a book last night about a door....and wasn't enticed to read more tonight.  But after five minutes of listening to this book tonight, I know it is one that I will finish,

'Til the Well Runs Dry

 

This book is a change of pace for me.

This has been a difficult book for me.  The politics of Trinidad are too hard,  The characters' lives are too hard,  But I turned it on tonight.  I had to write down .....hmmm....what is his name....Farouk....his mother comes to visit him in prison. She says that "they" have asked her to come.  And he looks at his very pretty mother and wonders why his father was able to "Win her as a wife" ....and it comes to him,  Her difficult personality cause her parents to just choose anyone who would  "take her away".....she is from an Indian family.  And the main character who is her son is thinking that she may have married below her family's wealth and her beauty.  It is an interesting thought.

The book continued to be too hard for it's entirety.  But I could not leave it unfinished.

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

I am reading this via audible.  I mentioned to a buddy that many years ago when my life was BUSY with babies and husband and all sorts of miscellaneous "stuff", I read a book about a book club.  I think that the name of it was "And the Ladies of the Club".....and I loved it.  But many of my buddies in that time period didn't love the book....not enough action.  But if I remember this correctly my life was overly busy and I relished the calm and slow moving book  Now in this very slow moving time of lock downs and social distancing, I find this book to be a bit slow....not enough action.  I believe that if I had read it in a busier part of my life, I would have liked it much more.

In December 2023 I found myself finishing one book and starting The Glorious Cause.  I LOVED the first part about the battle of Brooklyn Heights and decided I did not want to read any more until January when I had more time and more concentration. 

 I had enough people who really liked this book and so I finished it.  And I was glad that I had finished it.  It had a very nice closing to it.  Or then perhaps I liked it better because I was again in a very busy part of my life....who knows?

Agent 355

This was a great, very short and very interesting historical fiction read!  My favorite topic:  the Revolutionary War.  But this story took place in New York which is the part of the country that I know much less about,  And the author did not romanticize the story.  She told what she believed happened according to the records that she had examined.  But she told it with imagination....What would Agent 355 have experienced?  I highly recommend this audible original!

The Wikipedia article about agent 355 gives many possible names of women who could have been agent 355 in the very real Culper Ring.  Here is what Wikipedia says:

Agent 355 (died after 1780) was the code name of a female spy during the American Revolution, part of the Culper Ring. Agent 355 was one of the first spies for the United States, but her real identity is unknown.^[1] The number, 355, could be de-crypted from the system the Culper Ring used to mean "lady."^[2]

The author's take is that Agent 355 was a young woman who lived in an affluent home in New York that was hosting a British Officer.  The young woman had access to parties and other events in which the British officers were entertained.  And she used that access to gather information that she passed on to the Continental Army as a spy.  She fell in love with a man who was also a part of the Culper Ring and while she was captured for her part in the espionage, the man that she loved escaped being identified.

Do not read further if you plan to listen to the story!

They married and she was pregnant when she was captured.  She gave birth to a boy child on the TERRIBLE ship used to store prisoners.  She managed to smuggle her son out of the ship, but she did not escape and died while captive.  The son was raised by his father.  It is a good story.

The thirty Years War

It is a crazy thing how so often different aspects of my life touch each other.  Earlier in the year I read the book 1632 which was a pretty crazy book.  Then I attended the virtual Germanna conference in which one of the talks was about the many things happening in the world that affected the settlement of Germanna in Virginia.  The settlers came in two waves in 1714 and in 1717.  Many had been refugees from Germany who were basically camping out in the shadow of the Tower of England living in dire straights.  And the book 1632 helped me really understand now terrible the conditions were in Germany as the Thirty Year war ravished the country side!

The principal battlefield for all these intermittent conflicts was the towns and principalities of Germany, which suffered severely. During the Thirty Years’ War, many of the contending armies were mercenaries, many of whom could not collect their pay. This threw them on the countryside for their supplies, and thus began the “wolf-strategy” that typified this war. The armies of both sides plundered as they marched, leaving cities, towns, villages, and farms ravaged. 

From Wikipedia:

The Germanna Colonies consist primarily of the First Colony of forty-two persons from the Siegerland area in Germany brought to Virginia to work for Spotswood in 1714, and the Second Colony of twenty families from the Palatinate, Baden and Württemberg area of Germany brought in 1717, but also include other German families who joined the first two colonies at later dates.



While I am certain that the Germanna settlers had families that had been affected by the 30 years war, it would seem that many years had gone by since the end of that war in 1648 and the actual move to Virginia in 1714.  I need to look at this more....but it is absolutely interesting.

The Secret Letter

I started the Secret Letter just after I finished the lost Vintage....one more WW II book.  And one night I arrived at the part that is going to be upsetting....I can just tell ....and turned the book off for almost a month....I am picking it back up tonight...no golf....huge rain storm that we need very much. And I have a knitting project that is almost finished.   

Germany, 1939. A tumbledown farmhouse, on the outskirts of a close-knit village in the heart of the rolling hills of Bavaria. A once happy family home torn apart by Nazi rule. And one young girl who refuses to give up on what she believes in…
London, 2018: When ninety-four-year-old Imogen receives a letter addressed to her in neat, unfamiliar handwriting, she notices the postmark is stamped from Germany - and it sends shivers down her spine…
Germany, 1939: Thirteen-year-old Magda is devastated by the loss of her best friend, shy and gentle Lotte, cruelly snatched from her and sent to a concentration camp – the Star of David sewn on her faded, brown coat. As the Nazi’s power takes hold, Magda realizes she’s not like the other girls in her German village - she hates the fanatical new rules of the Hitler Youth. So Magda secretly joins The White Rose Movement and begins to rebel against the oppressive, frightening world around her.
But when an English bomber pilot crashes in a field near Magda’s home she is faced with an impossible choice: to risk the safety of her family or to save a stranger and make a difference in the devastating war that has claimed the lives of so many. Little does she know, her actions will have the power to change the life of another girl, on the other side of enemy lines, forever…
Inspired by a true story, this is a heart-wrenching, unputdownable and absolutely unforgettable tale of the strength of human kindness in a time of unimaginable heartbreak. 

I finished the book last night.  It was one of my favorites of the WW II books.  One of those books that everything gets wrapped up in a satisfactory way....but the author said at the end she had based the book on real experiences of real people.  A little contrived ....but I really did like the book.

The Lost Vintage

This book was a surprise,  It was a cheap purchase from audible.  But it adds to my WWII books.  I find myself turning this book on because it is interesting...then I find myself  turning it off because it is upsetting,....that is a sign it is a good book.  But all in all I have found myself turning on audible more than usual this week to see what happens next.

This was a bit of a romance type novel which is not my favorite genre....but I would recommend it for good entertainment!  Finished it quite quickly.

1633

This is the second book in the Ring of Fire series.  Crazy as it seems, I will probably read the next book as well.  Not all of this makes sense....and I am not a huge fan of battle scenes....but I will probably read the next as well.

1633 is an alternate history novel co-written by American authors Eric Flint and David Weber published in 2002, and sequel to 1632 in the 1632 series. 1633 is the second major novel in the series and together with the anthology Ring of Fire, the two sequels begin the series hallmarks of being a shared universe with collaborative writing being very common, as well as one that, far more unusually, mixes many canonical anthologies with its works of novel length. That is because Flint wrote 1632 as a stand-alone novel, though with enough "story hooks" for an eventual sequel, and because Flint feels "history is messy" and the books reflect that real life is not a smooth, polished linear narrative flow from the pen of some historian but is instead clumps of semi-related or unrelated happenings that somehow sum up how different people act in their own self-interests.^[

The Bookshop of Yesterdays

I liked this book.  Ms. Meyerson used many literary references to keep the reader on his/her toes.  The quest was fun.  The unveiling of the puzzle was also fun.  It ended on an optimistic note which I also like.  I think it is a fun read.  I recommend it.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek

I liked this book a lot.  How could you not like Cussy Mary?  Rather than writing my own ideas, I think that the reviews say enough to remember the book:

"Richardson's latest work is a hauntingly atmospheric love letter to the first mobile library in Kentucky and the fierce, brave packhorse librarians who wove their way from shack to shack dispensing literacy, hope, and - just as importantly - a compassionate human connection. Richardson's rendering of stark poverty against the ferocity of the human spirit is irresistible. Add to this the history of the unique and oppressed blue-skinned people of Kentucky, and you've got an un-put-downable work that holds real cultural significance." - Sara Gruen, author of Water for Elephants

"This is Richardson's finest, as beautiful and honest as it is fierce and heart-wrenching, THE BOOK WOMAN OF TROUBLESOME CREEK explores the fascinating and unique blue-skinned people of Kentucky and the brave Packhorse librarians. A timeless and significant tale about poverty, intolerance and how books can bring hope and light to even the darkest pocket of history." - Karen Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of Liar Temptress Soldier Spy

"Emotionally resonant and unforgettable, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a lush love letter to the redemptive power of books. It is by far my favorite KMR book-and I am her huge fan. Cussy Mary is an indomitable and valiant heroine, and through her true-blue eyes, 1930s Kentucky comes to vivid and often harrowing life. Richardson's dialogue is note-perfect; Cussy Mary's voice is still ringing in my head, and the sometimes dark story she tells highlights such gorgeous, glowing grace notes that I was often moved to hopeful tears. " - Joshilyn Jackson, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Almost Sisters

"Kim Michele Richardson has written a fascinating novel about people almost forgotten by history: Kentucky's  pack-horse librarians and "blue people." The factual information alone would make this book a treasure, but with her impressive storytelling and empathy, Richardson gives us so much more." - Ron Rash, New York Times bestselling author of One Foot in Eden and Serena

1632

Not quite sure why I started this book right now.  Again, I think perhaps the book chose itself.  The crazy artwork on the cover above is very much in keeping with how crazy the book itself is.  I like it a lot.  I find myself turning audible on to hear what is happening next.  The craziest thing is that the characters are from WV.  And these people from our times found themselves plunked down in the middle of the 30 year war in the German speaking part of the world in 1632.

Eric Flint does a great job of entertaining while spoon feeding the reader with all sorts of facts about the time period of the 30 years war which just happens to be my new interest time period.....from the research that I have been doing on my Puritan ancestors in the Northeast of our country.  It is interesting to compare what is going on all over the world in this time period.

Last night I was particularly entertained by the arrival of Scotsmen into the situation.  Their way of talking was really fun....Eric captured the Scots nuances very well and it was also fun to see that the people from WV considered the Scots to be "family".....You just have to read this part of the book for yourself:  Chapter 14.

Wikipedia has a good plot summary with links to lots of interesting information.  It is worth viewing if you are reading this book:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1632_(novel)

I finished listening to this book last night (March 26th).  The end was mostly battles and I found them to be a bit less of interest than the earlier parts of the book.

The Huntress

My phone chose this book tonight.  I had not chosen a new book after finishing my book last night.  I thought that I had chosen something else....I think this was meant to be.

Just finished the Huntress and found myself recommending it to my knitting group.  This is a very entertaining book.  I liked it a lot.  It is a little bit rough.  It is a world war II book taking place just after the war.  Nina is a night witch flying with a group of women from the Soviet Union chosen to drop bombs on the Germans.  Nina has only one fear....of drowning....nothing in the air EVER scares her.  She laughs in situations that would have another scared to death.