What are ya reading?

[honeychile]

I'm about halfway through The New Girl, by Daniel Silva. It's another book of his Gabriel Allon series.

Silva explains that the concept is loosely based on the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

chi-o_cat, that's one of the genres I love - stories that connect to each other. Maeve Binchy had that perfected!

[honeychile]

Finished The New Girl, and really enjoyed it.

Moved on to Alex Trebek's The Answer Is... Reflections on My Life

The Answer Is... was an easy but fun short read. DH read it first (as he finished his book before I did), and we both liked it. Each chapter has an Answer, then he expounds on that topic. Examples include topics such as Ken Jennings, Marriage, Will Ferrall. Because of the format, Alex jumps around, instead of a "I was born, I went to school, I got my first job" type of book. It is very recently written, which is obvious as he mentioned COVID.

There was one major exclusion, which has both mr. honeychile & I wondering why it was excluded, but I won't mention it at this point. Enjoy!

Now I have to decide on the next book - a happy dilemma!

[Benzgirl]

Finished Melania and Me last week, but now I'm taking an online class to get an additional certification. Once that is complete, I have a few others lined up.

[Cheerio]

Using a lazy weekend to catch up on a few unread newspaper sections from past two weeks, as well as today's Sunday Edition.

[bevinpiphi]

I very much enjoyed The Answer Is.... I’ve always enjoyed Trebek and Jeopardy - an easy read, a bit of a bittersweet read, but enjoyable just the same.
I’ve just started I’ll Be Gone In The Dark. It will put me over the halfway point in my yearly reading goal - the pandemic really put a damper on my time and motivation for reading.

[honeychile]

Finished the latest Joanne Fluke book of the Hannah Swenson series, Christmas Cupcake Murder.

Am now reading The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop by Fannie Flagg. It has the same characters as Fried Green Tomatoes, and much like FGT, it's an easy read.

I don't know about anyone else, but I seem to be gravitating towards the more "gentle" books lately. I admit to COVID Fatigue!



.

[Sciencewoman]

I love Fannie Flagg's books. Is that a new book?

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by Sciencewoman

I love Fannie Flagg's books. Is that a new book?

Yes, it's her latest. I did see that I've missed a couple in recent years!

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by Sciencewoman

I love Fannie Flagg's books. Is that a new book?

Finished The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop. It was fun and a must read, if you love Fannie Flagg.

Now reading Brad Thor's latest, Near Dark.

[Sciencewoman]

Originally Posted by honeychile

Finished The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop. It was fun and a must read, if you love Fannie Flagg.

Now reading Brad Thor's latest, Near Dark.

Thanks for the recommendation!

[aephi alum]

How The Word Is Passed, by Clint Smith.

My company had a book club where we were asked to read this book. I have to say that it's really opened my eyes, and I'm only two chapters in!

I grew up in the Northeast US, and what we were taught in school about slavery was pretty much "Southerners bought Black people to work on their plantations, Northerners said owning people is wrong (which it is), there was a war, the North won, and the slaves were freed."

After I moved to New Orleans, pre-COVID, I visited two plantations. One of them was a B&B, and the message they sent was, "Look at this beautiful house and these beautiful grounds! It wasn't so bad to be a slave - you got every Sunday off and you got a feast every Christmas etc." At the other, they pulled no punches. One particular thing that stuck in my mind was a listing of enslaved people and what they would sell for in today's dollars. Top of the list was a blacksmith IIRC: $100,000. OMFG. People... as property?! I just ... can't.

[SquirrelyDays]

Originally Posted by aephi alum

How The Word Is Passed, by Clint Smith.

After I moved to New Orleans, pre-COVID, I visited two plantations. One of them was a B&B, and the message they sent was, "Look at this beautiful house and these beautiful grounds! It wasn't so bad to be a slave - you got every Sunday off and you got a feast every Christmas etc." At the other, they pulled no punches. One particular thing that stuck in my mind was a listing of enslaved people and what they would sell for in today's dollars. Top of the list was a blacksmith IIRC: $100,000. OMFG. People... as property?! I just ... can't.

My husband loves historical house tours and we have visited many, especially along the river road in New Orleans. It sounds like the "pulls-no-punches" location might have been the Laura Plantation (although I'm sure there are others). It was a very worthwhile visit, and a good counterpoint to the saccharine at other sites.

[honeychile]

I have been in a bit of a rut lately. I have a pile of books TBR, including a re-read of 1984. Yet, I'm self-soothing with rereading Maeve Binchy...

[aephi alum]

Originally Posted by SquirrelyDays

My husband loves historical house tours and we have visited many, especially along the river road in New Orleans. It sounds like the "pulls-no-punches" location might have been the Laura Plantation (although I'm sure there are others). It was a very worthwhile visit, and a good counterpoint to the saccharine at other sites.

I believe it was!

The plantation Dr. Smith writes about is Whitney Plantation. Their tour guides apparently also tell the harsh truth.

[Benzgirl]

Just finished Bella Figura by Kamin Mohammadi...
It's such a wonderful memoir of an woman who lacked a work-life balance. When her stressful job was eliminated, she moved to Florence, Italy with plans to stay only one year and write a book but ended up finding love of life and self.