After the Spring

After the Spring, a Story of Tunisian Youth was created by Helene Aldeguer. It shows the disillusionment of young people in Tunisia after the 2011 Arab Spring. The back cover blurb summarizes the story:

"Two years after the 'Jasmine Revolution' Tunisia is unstable and facing economic hardship. Saif, Aziz, Meriem, and Chayma are among those who feel abandoned by the developing turmoil surrounding the government. Saif goes to college but worries about his younger brothers; Aziz struggles to find steady employment, hoping to gain approval from Meriem's family, while Meriem attends law school; and Chayma, after watching a man set himself on fire, considers emigration to France. As the situation becomes more serious and calls to activism in the streets get louder, each must consider in what direction their future lies."

I had this book on my wish list for six months waiting for its publication. When it finally arrived in the mail I couldn't wait to read it. However, it was not that exciting of a read. It was a quick read, but it was a little boring. The author was true to the historical facts in Tunisia but her characters were flat as was the dialogue. I have read many similar comics about war torn countries that were engaging with fully developed characters. After the Spring did not meet my expectations.

The artwork was done in black and white drawings on traditional comic book strips. With the color black being used to fill in many of the subjects drawn, the book's graphic appeal was rather dark. Personally, I like plenty of color but am not opposed to black and white drawings in general. These just seemed too dark for my taste.

3 out of 5 stars.

2020 Finishing the Series Reading Challenge

This is a new challenge for me. It is hosted by Celebrity Readers and runs during the 2020 calendar year. Only one book in a series is required to be read for the challenge so I think I will use this opportunity to finish the Francis Bacon Mystery Series by Anna Castle. I have two more books to read to finish the series. I will be joining this challenge as a C-List Series Finisher which requires me to finish 1 to 4 series during 2020. I will probably find a few other series that I have already began that I can work on next year so I think this will be a successful challenge for me next year.

Arab of the Future - 4

Riad Sattouf's autobiographies are one of my favorite graphic novel series. In this installment of the series, Riad is now a teenager and the tension between his Syrian father and his French mother reaches a boiling point. His father accepts a teaching job in Saudi Arabia but his mother refuses to follow him and keeps the kids with her in France.  They do have family time during the summer when they gather in Syria, Riad's father's native country. Riad gets hounded by his father about losing his Arabic language skills and his refusal to begin an Islamic prayer life. Riad is more French like his mother at this stage of his life. The book closes with a shocker as his father kidnaps the youngest child, empties all the bank accounts and returns to Saudi Arabia.

As with the earlier books in the series, the color scheme of the artwork changes depending on where the family is located. When they are in France, the drawings are done in blue. When they are in Syria, the drawings are done in pink.  This book includes for the first time some red colored scenes when there is trouble brewing for Riad. This could be either dealing with bullying at school or while playing.

This installment of the series was a lot longer than the earlier books. I was delighted to spend an entire evening engrossed in this fabulous story. The only sad part is that I now have to wait for the next installment of the series to be published.

Wrap-up of the Series Reading Challenge

I read 7 books for the Series Reading Challenge. They include the following:

• 'Til Debt Do Us Part

• Self Employee of the Month

• The Miracle of Creation

• The Concubine's Tattoo

• Death by Disputation

• The Widow's Guild

• Publish and Perish

The first three books listed are graphic novels by Dan Dougherty. They are the final three books in his Beardo series. My plan was to then work on Laura Joh Rowland's Sano Ichiro series from feudal Japan. However, I did not like The Concubine's Tattoo and decided to forego reading the rest of the series. I came across Anna Castle's Francis Bacon Mystery series by chance and loved them all. There are two more books in the series that I need to read and then I will have finished the series.

It is pretty hard to select my top book for the challenge. All of them were good.

My Favorite Book: Publish and Perish

My Least Favorite Book: The Concubine's Tattoo

Wrap-up of the Creativity Reading Challenge

I read 6 books for the Creativity Reading Challenge. They include the following:

• Painting Light with Colored Pencils

• Drawing Comics

• Drawing Birds with Colored Pencils

• Botanical Portraits with Colored Pencils

• The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook

• The Treasury of Crazy Quilt Stitches

Usually in a wrap-up post I pick my top books and least favorite book. With this group of books that is impossible. All of them were fabulous.  Probably the one I keep pulling from the bookshelf most often is the Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook. It is like an encyclopedia for those who spin fiber into yarn. I seem to need the information contained within its pages more often than the others.

This was a successful challenge.  I am looking forward to participating in the challenge in 2020 with a few weaving books. I am a beginning weaver.  

Reading Challenges Gone Awry

I had a few hits and misses with my reading challenges.

I did not read anything for the Read it Again Sam Challenge or the Memoir Reading Challenge. However, I did purchase some books to read for them. No interest in them is my excuse.

I only read four books for the Christian Reading Challenge instead of the required 12 but I knew when I signed up that I probably wouldn't meet the challenge.

I did not get started with the Series Reading Challenge until November and thought it would be a miss. It has turned out well and I will post a wrap-up for that challenge in a few days.

These challenges will be eliminated from my challenge list next year. Hopefully I can find other challenges that peak my interest.

2020 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

I am rejoining this challenge next year. It has been my favorite reading challenge this past year but in order to not feel the need to push myself, I will sign up at the Medieval Level, which requires me to read 15 books. I know that I will most likely read many more but whenever I have a duty to do something, I no longer want to do it. For reverse psychology reasons I will keep my expectations low. 

What's In a Name 2020

I participated in this challenge the first couple of years it was held. I am coming back to the challenge next year.

The challenge runs the 2020 calendar year. Readers must choose 6 books with titles containing one of the following:

• an ampersand
• an antonym
• 4 letters or less
• a given/first name
• a reference to children
• one of the 4 natural elements, i.e., water, air, fire, earth

Books cannot overlap each other in more than one category. I think it might be difficult  to find a book for the ampersand category. As I write this post I can't recall any book with one in the title. 

2020 Library Love Reading Challenge

I am joining this challenge again next year.  The basic requirement is to read 12 books from your public library which is pretty easy for me.  At this point in 2019 I have read 29 books from the Chicago Public Library, well over the required 12. I have 3 more books on hold to be picked up in December on their publication date. However, I will join the challenge at the Thrifty Reader level which has a 24 book requirement. 

2020 Creativity Reading Challenge

I am joining this challenge next year.  I read five books for the 2019 challenge and am curious what books I will find to meet the challenge next year.  I am interested in weaving, spinning fiber, colored pencil drawing, tapestry, cooking and crochet.  I am fairly new to weaving so I expect that I will be looking at a few books on that subject.

Book of the Month: November

My best books for November include the Hildegard of Bingen duology The Greenest Branch and The Column of Burning Spices as well as Nancy Bilyeau's The Blue and Christine De Melo's Imposter. I could not pick just one book this month. I also considered adding 3 other historical mysteries to this selection: Anna Castle's Death by Disputation, The Widow's Guild and Publish and Perish. November was a great month for reading!

Two authors are new to me. P. K. Adam's wrote the Hildegard series and Christine De Melo wrote Imposter. De Melo has a few other books published that I can read but I will have to wait until 2020 to read the next story from Adams. It always feels good when you find a new author.

Let's see what December brings.

Angels' Share

Angels' Share is the 10th installment of this wine country cozy mystery series featuring amateur sleuth  Lucie Montgomery. Lucie has a mobility impairment and owns a vineyard in Loudoun County, Virginia.

The summary from the inside cover blurb says "When Lucie Montgomery attends a Thanksgiving weekend party for friends and neighbors at Hawthorne Castle, an honest-to-goodness castle owned by the Avery family, the last great newspaper dynasty in America and owner of the Washington Tribune, she doesn't expect the festive occasion to end in death.

During the party, Prescott Avery, the ninety-five year old family patriarch, invites Lucie to his fabulous wine cellar, where he offers to pay any price for a cache of two hundred year old Madiera that her great-uncle, a Prohibition bootlegger, discovered hidden in the U. S. Capitol in the 1920s. Lucie knows nothing about the valuable wine, believing her late father, a notorious gambler and spendthrift, probably sold or drank it. By the end of the party, Lucie and her fiance, winemaker Quinn Santori, discover Prescott's body lying in his wine cellar. Is one of the guests a murderer?

As Lucie searches for the lost Madeira, she learns about Prescott's affiliation with the Freemasons. More investigation hints at a mysterious vault supposedly containing documents hidden by the Founding Fathers and a possible tie to William Shakespeare. If Lucie finds the long-lost documents, the explosive revelations could change history. But will she uncover a three-hundred-year-old secret before a determined killer finds her?"

Angels' Share is the best written book in this series. Author Ellen Crosby has become a fantastic writer over the years since she began writing this series. All of the books are good. However, the writing is awkward in some sections of the earlier books. Crosby has finally hit her stride with this new novel.

I was somewhat surprised that most of the pursuit of mystery concerned the secondary plot around lost treasure. The solving of the crime, Prescott Avery's murder, took second place. The lost treasure hunt was exciting though and kept me reading but I wondered why, or rather how, it fit in with the murder. The choice for the title was interesting. The angel's share is the amount of wine that evaporates from a wine barrel between the time it is bottled and the time it is opened.

I learned quite a bit about Madiera wine from the book. As with all of the books in the series, a particular wine is featured and the reader becomes knowledgeable about that wine. I could use a glass of it right now since I just finished my Thanksgiving dinner. With the story beginning on Thanksgiving weekend it has a holiday feel to it. I picked the best book to read this week!

5 out of 5 stars!

Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry

Mary Higgins Clark has completed her 46th novel with this mystery; 56th novel if you count those she has co-written with other authors. Every year she continues to churn out book after book and it amazes me how much she has accomplished in her writing. Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry is another stellar piece of writing. Clark captures the reader's attention on page one and keeps you glued to the pages until the end.

The inside cover blurb summarizes the book as follows: "When investigative journalist Gina Kane receives an email from a 'CRyan' describing her 'terrible experience' while working at REL, a high profile television news network, including the comment, 'and I'm not the only one,' Gina knows that she has to pursue the story. But when Ryan goes silent, Gina is shocked to discover the young woman has died tragically in a Jet Sky accident while on holiday.

Meanwhile, REL counsel Michael Carter finds himself in a tricky spot. Several female employees have come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct. Carter approaches the CEO, offering to persuade the victims to accept settlements in exchange for their silence. It's a risky endeavor, but it could well make him rich.

As more allegations emerge and the company's IPO draws near, Carter's attempts to keep the story from making headlines are matched only by Gina Kane's determination to uncover the truth. Was Ryan's death truly an accident? And when another accuser turns up dead, Gina realizes someone-or some people-will go to depraved lengths to keep the story from seeing the light."

I read this book before reading the blurb. I am glad that I didn't because the entire plot, except the denouement, is given in the blurb. It's a little surprising, that's all. Another point that I would like to make is that while Higgins Clark is known as being the Queen of Suspense, there was no suspense here. The book is a well plotted murder mystery but it's not a suspenseful novel. As usual, her protagonist is a female, this time an investigative journalist. I think this was a great job for the sleuth to have and this character, Gina Kane, could be a continuing character in a series. Higgins Clark has never written a series before but this book could be the start of one.

5 out of 5 stars!