ramblings from an arkansas farm girl
Sorry for the delay in posting my book reviews for March 2018. I don’t want to moan about the reason, so I won’t. Moaning would take away from the fabulousness of these books.
I’m always surprised when I go back and review the books I read during a particular month, because it seems no matter how different they may be in genre, setting, or plot line, I can typically find similar themes. For March, the theme of all seven books I read involved a journey for survival. Interesting how that happens.
I’ll start my February book reviews with a confession. I didn’t read as much as I’d hoped. I lost prime reading time to Olympic coverage. (For the most part I enjoy the Olympics, but I feel guilty if I don’t watch, like it’s my duty as an American to cheer USA athletes in sporting events I know nothing about.)
Also, let’s not forget, February is the shortest month for reading and everything else.
These are my excuses.
Other than having a stack of “to-read” books on my bookcase and a queue of audio downloads, I don’t much plan my book reading in advance. Somehow, the books I read this month shared similarities in tone and mood. While the protagonists were as varied as our February weather—an orphan, a student, a best friend, a mother, a shell of a man—they all struggled to survive or find something lost.
From Civil War Arkansas, to the Golden Age of Hollywood and present-day Mississippi Delta, here we go…Continue Reading
Book Reviews January 2018:
Long, cold January is the perfect month for reading. I did quite a bit of it. As I began to look back on the books I read in January, I realized they all leaned heavily on the theme of relationship. Whether set in crowded Calcutta, the migrant farm fields of south Florida, or a New York insane asylum, interaction with family, neighbors, friends, home, and even complete strangers made for compelling storytelling. Stephen King calls books portable magic. Charles William Eliot referred to books as his quiet, constant companions.
My January books certainly provided quiet, constant companionship as they magically transported me to Iowa, Ohio, a front porch in Mississippi. I even made a few new friends.Continue Reading
