The Cherry Harvest by Lucy Sanna

The Main Ingredients:
        * Summertime, 1944, in Door County, Wisconsin
        * a cherry orchard in need of laborers
        * German prisoners of war
        * the Christiansen family:  parents Thomas and Charlotte, their teen-age daughter, Kate, who wants to be a writer, and Ben, their son, who's fighting overseas in Italy
        * a lighthouse
        * a murder
        * lies and secrets
        * love and romance

My thoughts:

I have mixed feelings about this book. It was the historical setting that first drew me to this novel, and spunky Kate--with her love of books and her desire to go to college--that kept me reading. (I liked her dad, too.) I had a much harder time sympathizing with, or even liking, her mother, Charlotte. What I enjoyed most was reading about Kate's adventures and newfound romance, but the book focused more on Charlotte and the family's struggles to keep their cherry orchard going and somehow survive the hard times at home caused by the War. Then, towards the end, the story takes a much darker turn than I was expecting. So I didn't end up loving this one, though I do think it's a pretty good historical fiction read, and certainly a memorable one.

Happy Reading!

Another bookish list...

I love books. And bookstores. I also love books about bookstores. And, as an unapologetic bookworm, I have to admit I even love reading books about books and reading. (Almost as much as I love bookish lists.) So in the interest of combining all these loves in one post, here's my list of 10 bookishly bookish reads:

The "bookstore" books:

The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap by Wendy Welch
Three Things You Need to Know About Rockets by Jessica Fox.
     (Which is not at all about rockets, but about love and romance and a bookstore in Scotland.)
Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books by Paul Collins
     (This one takes place in Hay-on-Wye in Wales!)
The Yellow-Lighted Bookstore by Lewis Buzbee
Shelf Life by Suzanne Strempek Shea

All of the above titles are memoirs about books and bookstores...if you like that kind of thing. Which I do.

"I am the unique sum of
the books I have read.
I am my literary DNA."
--Susan Hill  

          The "Reading" Reads:

Howard's End is on the Landing: A Year of Reading From Home by Susan Hill
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
Reading the OED by Ammon Shea
    (This crazy guy actually read the entire Oxford English Dictionary!)
The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma
The Year of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller

"Is it wrong to prefer books to people? A book is

like a guest you have invited into your home, except

you don't have to play pictionary with it."     

--Andy Miller        

A bonus eleventh recommendation:

Happy Reading!

A little bookish escapism...

Title:  Thirteen Days to Midnight 
Author:  Patrick Carman

First line (and a little bit more):  If you could have only one superpower, what would it be? People get that question all the time, but hardly anyone I've asked has a logical answer...The truth is that every power, no matter how amazing, is loaded with trouble of the worst kind.

Short Summary:  Indestructibility. That's the gift 15-year-old Jacob is given when he and his guardian are involved in a terrible car accident. Mr. Fielding dies, but Jacob escapes unscathed. Just like Houdini. And now Jacob can make others indestructible, too....at least temporarily. But there are consequences. Not that Jacob, or his best friend, Milo, or Ophelia James, the beautiful new girl in school, can see those consequences when they first start experimenting with this new power. It's not until it's too late that they discover the ominous truth.

My thoughts:  I needed a little bookish escapism this week and Thirteen Days to Midnight provided a fun and entertaining break from reality. It's fast-paced and well-written, Jacob's a great narrator, and I thought the teens' predicament was unexpected and inventive. Best of all, this diverting YA find required nothing from me but to sit back and enjoy the ride, which made it the perfect summer read for me.

Happy Reading!

Similar reads:

     Invisibility by Andrea Cremer and David Levithan

     13 Days of Midnight by Leo Hunt

     Superpowers by David Schwartz

Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan

"I wasn't well and I felt fine. I breathed easily but far too quickly, my eyes were bright--too bright; I'd dispensed with the pills that slowed down my thoughts, but now they raced away out of control. I was living in strange days."

 Margot Lewis lives in Cambridge, England, and teaches the Classics at a posh high school; she also writes an advice column for the local newspaper. And despite a few breakdowns in the past and her upcoming divorce, life seems to be going well. Until Katie Browne, one of her students, disappears. Then Margot gets a letter addressed to her advice column from a girl named Bethan Avery who claims she's being held captive in a cellar and needs Margot to save her. But the real Bethan was abducted over twenty years ago. So is the letter real? Or a hoax? And is this letter somehow connected to Katie Browne? Margot feels driven to find out. (And so does charismatic criminologist Martin Forrester.) But the truth may be more than Margot can handle.


I really liked this book. In fact, I think it's the best psychological thriller I've read all year. It's gripping and unexpected and it has some great characters. Not only did I find it hard to put down, I was sorry when it came to an end. Dear Amy reminds me a lot of two other favorite reads:  Now You See Me by Sharon Bolton and The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry. So if you like either of those, I think you'll really like this one, too. I know I did.

Happy Reading!

A bookish update...

Recently finished reading:

(This second Lady Darby mystery is even better than the first.)

Quote of the week:

"The only person standing in your way is the scared storyteller who fears

a plot twist. Letting go of the story that holds us back frees us up to

aim true. (So) let go of your fears and take a leap of faith."

--Kathryn Budig, Aim True

Recently spotted on a birding field trip to Farmington Bay:

This peregrine falcon (#160 on my birdlist!) is not the only bird we saw;  we also spotted avocets, ibises, and stilts, a sandhill crane, egrets and grebes, gulls of every kind and lots of black-crowned night herons!

Recently checked out of the library:
Spindle Fire by Lexa Hillyer

A Grave Matter by Anna Lee Huber

The Cherry Harvest by Lucy Sanna

An Unsuitable Job For a Woman by P.D. James

Collecting the Dead by Spencer Kope

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Looking forward to reading:

Bettina and I will be reading this together in June, 

so watch for our reviews. (And feel free to join in!)

Happy Reading!

A bookish journey to Syria...

"The second time Doaa nearly drowned, she was adrift in the center of a hostile sea that had just swallowed the man she loved. She was so cold she couldn't feel her feet, so thirsty her tongue had swollen in her mouth. She was so overcome with grief that if not for the two tiny baby girls in her arms, barely alive, she would have let the sea consume her. No land was in sight. Just debris from the shipwreck, a few other survivors praying for rescue, and dozens of bloated, floating corpses."

A Hope More Powerful Than The Sea by Melissa Fleming is the story of Doaa Al Zamel and her family--Syrian refugees who never wanted to leave their beloved home of Daraa, Syria, but felt they had to in order to stay alive. It is also the story of the Syrian people who longed for equality and freedom but were handed war and devastation instead. This powerful portrait of the refugee crisis there is even more heartbreaking because it is still going on while the rest of the world...does what? Doaa asks that question as well. Her story is one of courage and loss, love, hope, and stubborn survival. And I'm very glad that I read it! (Even if it made me cry.)

Some facts from the book:

• Syria has been at war now for six years.
• 5 million refugees have been forced to flee their country.
• 6.5 million more are internally displaced.
• 13.5 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance.
• For most, there is nothing left to return home to; their homes, businesses and sometimes even their cities have been utterly destroyed.
• Very few countries in the world welcome them in, or offer them any kind of help.

It's so sad! The plight of all Syrian refugees everywhere breaks my heart. A Hope More Powerful Than The Sea is one of those unforgettable, must-read books, and I want to especially thank Lindsey for recommending it.

Happy Reading!

Similar Read:
Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lalami

In The Sea There Are Crocodiles by Fabio Geda

The Zig Zag Girl

Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens and magician extraordinaire Max Mephisto met during World War II when they served together in a secret military unit known as the Magic Men. Now, five years later, two murders committed in Brighton, England, have brought them back together. Not only are the murders based on two of Max's magic tricks, but they are also linked to the Magic Men. And the killer has just sent a warning to Stephens that another "trick" is on the way.

The Zig Zag Girl by Elly Griffiths is a well-plotted and entertaining mystery with an unlikely and unforgettable duo in Stephens and Mephisto--Edgar is sincere and idealistic while the more cynical Max is the consummate show man. I liked them both. And while this is not one of those page-turning thrillers that'll keep you up all night, Griffiths does a nice job of building tension and creating a few fun twists along the way. She's written at least 3 more books with these same characters and I'm looking forward to reading all of them. (Her Ruth Galloway series is also really good.)

Happy Reading!