February 2 Is An Eventful Day

Happy Day 2 of February everyone. It is a busy day today with so many things going on.

I'm going to start off with my post with a second look over at Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog

I am going to show you this page from February of 2016. 

Thought I would keep the heart theme going (as hearts are the latest theme over at Art Journal Journey) by picking this page. Since it is not new I'm not linking up but thought it was a good choice for February.
And it is SuperBowl Sunday here in the US. Not sure who I am rooting for but I will watch the game tonight. The Kansas City quarterback is fun to watch, but San Francisco is such a good team too, that it should be good football. And I can't forget my favorite SuperBowl Sunday show is the Puppy Bowl with all those cute little pups and all those fun puns they makes.
And it is also Groundhog Day here in the US. If the groundhog/woodchuck in Pennsylvania sees his shadow we get 6 more weeks of winter. And if he doesn't, spring is just around the corner. I think I have that correct, but it seems to me no matter what winter is going to last as long as it wants to.
(But he didn't see his shadow so they say an early spring.)

And thought I would start off my year's worth of books by sharing my January reads and listens for those of you who enjoy book posts. It was a much more productive reading/listening month than I would have guessed.

 It started with my reading the Moonstone and I finished listening to  Little Women (which I was half way through when the new year started). I loved Little Women, even though it is from the 1880's, that story is timeless (for the most part) and, the narration of this book was fantastic.  I also enjoyed the Moonstone, another classic. It is one of the first mystery stories, and although very different from what we read now, I did need to find where the moonstone disappeared. My only snafu was I spilled a glass of water onto  my book, and had to put it aside for a few days to dry. Oh the perils of paper books, but in truth, I don't read well on the computer (It is way too easy to switch off to art blogs or on-line shopping)  and much prefer reading paper books. 

I don't usually get into psychological thrillers, but  Poison Orchids was an inexpensive daily deal on Audible, so I decided I needed to try something different. It was an on the edge of your seat romp for sure. The middle section was maybe a tad to long, but I did enjoy both the story and the fact that it was set in Australia with an Australian narrator. Listening to the the accent made the book even more real I think. And it was one of those talk to my speaker listens. Like me saying something to the  recorded author reading the story makes any difference, smile.

And I read book 11 in this series by Elly Griffiths. I really enjoy the mysteries and the characters in this series. Book 12 is suppose to come out later this week, so I am looking forward to that as I have been addicted this forensic archeology series and have mentioned it many times before.

Another bargain daily deal by Audible was this book, Be Frank With Me. It had good reviews, and I am always  on the lookout for something out of my usual.  The narrator was great in this story, and I just adored the character Frank, who was a 9-10 year old boy who was a little bit out of the ordinary. I was a bit let down by the ending as I wanted something more to happen, but in retrospect, I guess it ended as it should have ended.

My latest listen, which I just finished the other day, was The Dutch House but Ann Patchett.

I have read a couple of books by Ann Patchett before and loved them both, so when my book club decided to do this for our next book, I was pleased.  I have to say it was narrated by the actor Tom Hanks, who does a fabulous job and might have made me read it more quickly than I might have otherwise. But oh man, did I LOVE this book.  It is the story of about family, and I don't want to say too much about it, and I could, incase anyone goes on to read it. 

Patchett is a fabulous wordsmith and her characters are great. And if you read it the cover art makes so much sense.

And here's  book I saw on a National Geographic travel book club list, and it piqued my interest.

The author went to teach in a North Korean technology college, and this book is a story about her  experiences there. North Korea is such mysterious culture and although I don't think I would be adventurous to go teach there, it was a fascinating read.

And I haven't started a new audio book but here's my paper read. I enjoy this series about 3 Navajo police people in Western New Mexico and Eastern Arizona.  I've read several in this series, including the ones written by the author's daughter since the author is no longer living. It is a great look into that culture with some good detective work at the same time. I'm not sure this is my favorite in this series, but it is not for any reason I can put my finger on.

That's all from this reading rat today.

I know it is only the second of February, but hope you are having a super month so far.