Stacking the Shelves #13

This weekend I want to showcase two Amish fiction novels that will be published on March 1, 2022. One of them is the conclusion to the Plain Patterns trilogy by Leslie Gould. The other book is the newest release by Wanda Brunstetter, The Sugarcreek Surprise. I love both of these authors and cannot wait to buy copies of them for my Kindle. 

In Threads of Hope Tally Smucker enjoys her quiet life of reading and quilting. However, she has to deal with her sorrow over her mother's illness. When a former Plain friend, Danielle, exhibits the symptoms of PTSD from her service in the army, Tally invites her to join a group of quilters at a fabric shop called Plain Patterns. Here they both learn about the plight of a WWI soldier and the girl he left behind. The story resonates with both of them but for different reasons.

The Brunstetter book is the second book in her Creektown Discoveries trilogy. In this story we meet Lisa Miller, an Amish schoolteacher in Sugarcreek, Ohio. Lisa has a determined admirer in Paul Herchberger. Lisa is just as determined to avoid Paul's advances. After losing both of her parents as a child, Lisa fears loving others because loving turns into loss. I can guess how this will turn out. After all, this is Amish fiction. I will enjoy the read anyway.

What books are you stacking your shelves with?

Stacking the Shelves #12

I just picked up Fiona Davis's latest novel The Magnolia Palace. It was published last month and I am eager to start reading. The themes of the novel are secrets and betrayal. The story concerns a murder that occurred within one of New York City's Gilded Age mansions. The publisher's summary says it all:

Eight months since losing her mother in the Spanish flu outbreak of 1919, twenty-one-year-old Lillian Carter's life has completely fallen apart. For the past six years, under the moniker Angelica, Lillian was one of the most sought-after artists' models in New York City, with statues based on her figure gracing landmarks from the Plaza Hotel to the Brooklyn Bridge. But with her mother gone, a grieving Lillian is rudderless and desperate—the work has dried up and a looming scandal has left her entirely without a safe haven. So when she stumbles upon an employment opportunity at the Frick mansion—a building that, ironically, bears her own visage—Lillian jumps at the chance. But the longer she works as a private secretary to the imperious and demanding Helen Frick, the daughter and heiress of industrialist and art patron Henry Clay Frick, the more deeply her life gets intertwined with that of the family—pulling her into a tangled web of romantic trysts, stolen jewels, and family drama that runs so deep, the stakes just may be life or death.

Nearly fifty years later, mod English model Veronica Weber has her own chance to make her career - and with it, earn the money she needs to support her family back home - within the walls of the former Frick residence, now converted into one of New York City's most impressive museums. But when she - along with a charming intern/budding art curator named Joshua - is dismissed form the Vogue shoot taking place at the Frick Collection, she chances upon a series of hidden messages in the museum:  messages that will lead her and Joshua on a hunt that could not only solve Veronica's financial woes, but could finally reveal the truth behind a decades old murder in the infamous Frick family.

What do you think? Does this sound like a fabulous plot line? I will let you know when I write a review of the book. There is one character name that caught my attention. Lillian Carter. I may be dating myself when I say that this is the name of President Carter's mother. I remember seeing her in newspapers and magazines during the 1970s. Her image will most likely be in my mind as I read the book but note that, unfortunately, it is not a pretty picture.

Stacking the Shelves

It's been some time since I have participated in this meme. After hearing about a favorite author's next book I decided it was time for me to revisit the meme. A few weeks ago it came to my attention that Nancy Bilyeau will be publishing the sequel to her The Blue historical novel.  The new book is titled The Fugitive Colours.  It is scheduled for publication on May 12, 2022 and I hate to have to wait four more months to get it. 

If you haven't read The Blue you need to. It is the story of Genevieve Planché, an English-born descendant of Huguenot refugees, who wants to be a painter. After meeting a famous artist she is offered an opportunity to learn how to paint on porcelain in exchange for obtaining the secret of a china company's recipe for the color blue. If she is successful in obtaining the secret, she will get her wish to travel to Venice for training in oil painting.

All of Bilyeau's novels have been fabulous reading. I especially loved The Blue because I am an artist so this four month wait will be excruciating.

Stacking the Shelves #10

 

The Stacking the Shelves meme is hosted by the Reading Reality blog. It was originally hosted by the Team Tynga's Reviews blog and now is solely hosted by Reading Reality. I am looking forward to reading the new graphic novel by Rutu Modan. Tunnels was published on Tuesday and I am waiting to receive it in the mail. Modan is one of my favorite comic writers. In the Tunnels story there is a race to find the Ark of the Covenant and it explores the ethics of the international antiquities trade.  

When a great antiquities collector is forced to donate his entire collection to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Nili Broshi sees her last chance to finish an archeological expedition that began decades earlier.  Motivated by the desire to reinstate her father's legacy as an archeologist, Nili enlists the assistance of a ragtag crew - a religious nationalist, her traitorous brother and her childhood Palestinian friend. As Nili's father slips deeper into dementia, warring factions close in on and fight over the Ark of the Covenant.

Where are you mail?

Stacking the Shelves #9

I am on vacation for the rest of October and wanted to pick up more historical novels by Edward Rutherford. His China was fabulous. Sadly, I could only find one of them at my local bookstore.  London is a wonderful 1,126 pages long and I am happy that I was able to get it.  The book is an epic saga of the city of London that spans 2,000 years, from the era of Julius Caesar to the 20th century. Many generations of six families are showcased here.

I also went to my public library and found several books that I have been waiting all year to be published.  Laura Childs' Twisted Tea Christmas is the latest installment of her Indigo Teashop Mysteries. S. D. Sykes' 5th book in her medieval mystery series is titled The Good Death.  The Widow Queen by Elzbieta Cherezinska gives us a historical look at Polish Queen Swietoslawa. It will be refreshing to read a historical novel that doesn't take place in the big three: England, France and Italy.  

Which one to start with?  The chunkster London.

Stacking the Shelves #7

Stacking the Shelves meme is hosted by the Reading Reality blog. It was originally hosted by the Team Tynga's Reviews blog and now is solely hosted by Reading Reality. I have been anticipating the arrival of a few new graphic novels from Amazon this month to add to my comic collection.

Factory Summers was written by one of my favorite comic book authors: Guy Delisle. DeLisle is best known for his travelogues to Pyongyang, Shenzhen, Burma and Jerusalem, where he followed his wife who worked for Medecins Sans Frontieres, the French branch of Doctors Without Borders. In Factory Summers DeLisle returns to writing autobiographies. While he was a teenager, he worked in a pulp and paper factory for three summers beginning when he was 16. DeLisle worked twelve hour shifts performing physically strenuous tasks. He was the only minor working there. His father, who worked an 8 hour white collar job upstairs in the company's office, helped DeLisle get this job. The book recounts his experiences there. 

I am also awaiting delivery of Let's Not Talk Anymore. This is a serious story about  five generations of women from author Weng Pixin’s family, each at age 15. The lineage is full of breakages – her great grandmother Kuān is sent away from her family in South China, her grandmother Mèi is adopted by a neighbor to help with housework, and her mother Bīng is heartbroken by her father’s estrangement. Pixin’s own story centers on her feelings of isolation and her rebellion from her mother. She extends the line by envisioning a fictional future daughter, Rita, who questions her family’s legacy. This family saga spans 100 years.

Com'on post office.  Where are my books?

Stacking the Shelves #6

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks! And audiobooks. In other words, if you can read it or if it can be read to you – no matter how you got it – it belongs in Stacking the Shelves. The Stacking the Shelves meme was originally hosted at Team Tynga’s Reviews. For the last few years it’s been co-hosted at Team Tynga’s and here at Reading Reality. Reading Reality became the one and only host of Stacking the Shelves when Team Tynga’s Reviews closed its virtual doors in 2021.

This past week I bought 2 new books to read: Dear Abigail and The Secret Keeper of Jaipur. Dear Abigail is a biography of Abigail Adams and her two sisters. Abigail Smith Adams, Mary Smith Cranch and Elizabeth "Betsey" Smith Shaw were the daughters of Reverend William Smith and his wife Elizabeth.  The book begins with the marriage of Mary to Richard Cranch presumably because that is when Mary left the family home and the sisters began writing to each other. If Abigail had not married John Adams their story may not ever have been told. 

The Secret Keeper of Jaipur is the second novel in Alka Joshi's Jaipur Trilogy. The series is about henna artist Lakshmi Kumar. In this installment of the series Lakshmi arranges for her protege Malik to intern at Jaipur Palace. Lakshmi is now running the Healing Garden but most of the story is about Malik. Power and money still control Jaipur, evidenced by the police blaming a balcony collapse on an easy target. Malik senses the wrong person was arrested and seeks to uncover the truth.

Stacking the Shelves #5

I just returned home from a trip to Barnes and Noble having spent way too much money. I could have easily spent $500 but was able to keep my purchases lower.  There are four new books that I am adding to my bookshelf. Two are graphic novels, one is art history and the fourth book is historical fiction.  

Yellow the history of a color is the fifth book in a series by Michel Pastoureau. He has written books on the colors black, green, red and blue. While the blurb states that the book is chock full of images, it really is a scientific book on the color.  It focuses on the visual, social and cultural history of yellow with chapters on the color's place in art, religion, fashion, literature and science.

China is the latest novel in a series by Edward Rutherford.  He has written historical novels on Paris, London, New York and Ireland.  When I first saw the book, I recognized the surname of the author.  When I was in college I had a class on asian history.  I remember reading two books written by someone with the last name of Rutherford.  One was on China and the other on Japan. I loved those books and wondered whether this Rutherford wrote those histories.  I do not know if this author is the same person or not but it propelled me to buy the book.

Hawking is a graphic biography of Stephen Hawking.  I have had this book on my Amazon wishlist for some time so when I saw it on the B&N shelf, I bought it.  The illustrations are colored which is a must if I am going to buy a comic. 

Idle Days is about a man who deserted his post in the Canadian forces. The man's mother sent him to live with his grandfather in a remote location.  Here he is isolated and the only thing that interests him is the history of the house.  The house has bootleggers, a fire and a suicide as former residents and their ghosts begin to haunt him.  The comic has colored illustrations which, as I said above, is a must for me to want to spend money on a comic.

I am going to get started reading these tonight.  It's a cold, rainy day here in Chicago so I will get a cup of cocoa and sit in my favorite chair.

Stacking the Shelves #4

 

This morning I added two new graphic novels to my library.  Andy Warhol the Factory is a graphic biography of artist Andy Warhol. The graphics of the book are quite busy and it is still downloading on my Kindle 4 hours after I purchased it this morning.  In fact, it may be breaking my Android.  

Shadow Life is the story of Kumiko, a 76 year old widow, whose adult daughters put in an assisted living facility. Kumiko runs away and finds a cozy bachelorette pad to live in. She continues to communicate with her daughters online, never revealing her location.  However, death's shadow haunts her as she fights for her life. It was published last month. 

I am looking forward to reading both of these books.  It's been almost a month since I have read a comic/graphic novel.  Way too long.

Stacking the Shelves

I have added three books to my Kindle library this week.  All of them were purchased for the Color Coded Reading Challenge.

Shadows of the White City is the second book in the Windy City Saga series by Jocelyn Green.  I haven't read any book in the series yet.  This one was just published on February 2, 2021 by Bethany House Publishers.  Sylvie Townsend is the main character and she desperately wants to have a family.  After taking in Polish immigrant Rose Dabrowski, the seventeen year old Rose goes missing at the World's Fair.  Law enforcement will not investigate (After all, it is just a Polish woman) so Sylvie asks one of her boarders, Kristof Bartok, for assistance.  Kristof is Rose's violin instructor as well as the concertmaster for the Columbian Exposition Orchestra and he is vital for navigating the immigrant communities in Chicago where the story takes place.  

The Woman in Blue was written by Elly Griffiths who I haven't had the pleasure of reading yet.  The book is the number 8 in the Ruth Galloway Series and takes place in Little Walsingham, an English town known for religious apparitions.  When Ruth's friend Cathbad sees a woman in a white dress and blue cloak standing in a cemetery, he believes that she is a vision of the Virgin Mary.  A woman wrapped in a blue cloth is found dead the next day. Ruth's friend and Anglican priest Hilary begins to receive threatening letters.  Are the two crimes connected? Probably.

Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister: Three Women at the Heart of Twentieth Century China was written by Jung Chang, another new author for me.  They were known in China as being the most famous sisters.  One was married to Sun Yet-sen, another became Madame Chiang Kai-shek and the other became Chiang's main advisor.  All three ladies remained close even though they embraced different political views.