Books

Hi everyone. Happy Sunday. It's a long weekend for us in the US as tomorrow is the Labor Day holiday. Of course for me that  date always meant  it was the end of summer, and that school was about to really get rolling. And this year, well it took me until late August to really grasp I was retired, so  as well as enjoying the weekend, I am looking forward to actually enjoying the late summer of September. I'll be able get outside and not spend so much of my time in a classroom.

It's once again time for my reading list for the previous month. As I mention every month when I write this post, I do this for myself so I can look back and see what I've read, but I know many of you, like me, enjoy reading about books.  

But before I get into that, let me share a fun book I received from Jeanie the other day.

It's been a fun read and I learned a few tricks too.

Thank you my friend! 

So August started out with more  of my"normal type of reading" .

My first book was one I listened to  that had been in my audio library for a couple of years. I had picked it up on a sale and have been wanting to read it. It was time that I actually did.

This book is about art, but more about  the people who deal with  art. The 3 main characters are 

Sara De Vos,  a fictional  17th century Dutch painter, Marty de Groot, the man who owns the only known painting this painter created , and finally Ellie,  the woman who forges this painting in the 1950's.  The book jumps back and forth between the time the painting was created and  the more modern times of the 1950's through 1970's.   It was an interesting peek into the lives of  a struggling female Dutch painter and then the modern forger, as well as comparing the creators to the art collector.   It was an enjoyable listen.

And you can't  go wrong rereading Louise Penny. I am working my way through some of her earlier mysteries. This is book 5. 

This books deals with antiques, greed, and of course, Armand Gamache and his associates and family. And Three Pines, Quebec also. The author has created some fascinating characters living in Three Pines who appear in each of her novels.  One of these days I am going to drive up over the border and go looking for what might not be the real Three Pines but a place like it.

And then my reading choices took a turn. I don't know if these next books are going to be anyone else's choices, but I must say I got onto and really enjoyed a Medieval theme. 

 

It started with this Great Course I listened to.  I find the way diseases have shaped history absolutely fascinating. OK, I'm a microbiology geek. 

In this 12 hour series, I learned not only about the plague, but about how if affected society. I have to admit I knew  next to nothing about  life in Europe during the 1300's.  Nor did I know that this disease was represented in many art pieces and also literature of the time like Chaucer's  Canterbury Tales. I learned a lot ,and it was an great listen. The lecturer had lots of enthusiasm and a great voice. Each lecture ran about 30 minutes, and there was plenty of quick synopsis and review.

And I was  inspired after learning about the time of the plague  to then listen to this next book on one era in British history .  I liked Dan Jones's book The Plantagenets. 

This book begins in 1154 and goes through Henry of Lancaster "usurping" the throne from Richard the 2nd.  Although 20 hours long, it  is  a brief romp through the time period, but for my purposes, a very good introduction.  And I can see why the author of the Game of Thrones series was inspired by this time period to write his books. There was plague, lots of gruesome killings, and some fascinating people. There were many kinds of  twists and turns to this family tree.

It's on my list to read the sequel by  Dan Jones - The War of the Roses.

During my Bubonic Plague lecture series, the lecturer mentioned this book called   Dooms Day Book. I'm always checking out books, and this one sounded pretty good and had good reviews. Plus it was out of my normal comfort reading zone, and I am always game to at least try something different. So I gave it a try and wow. 

Ir was actually a very good book, one of the best I've read so far this year.

This book is about the Historian Department at Oxford University in 2054.  They have a time travel machine, and one of the young historians, Kirvin, travels back to 1320. Or so she thinks. And in in the middle of this, in 2054 is a flu like pandemic (which the author represented with some pretty good accuracy since we all know about pandemics now)  and some time machine data issues. Connie Willis really does a fantastic job at character development, life in the middle ages time period, and suspense. She messed up the details about phone evolution and a few other items we now take for granted in 2020, but  then this book was written in the early 1990's. I didn't let those details interfere with my reading of the story.  She has also written a few other books about the historians and time travel. I plan to check them out. also.

If only I could read faster or could add a few more hours to the day I might be able to finish off my reading wish list one day. Smile!

And my last book came back to  modern days. I've read most of Louise Penny's 6th mystery.

Once again it stars Armand Gamache. This is actually where I started reading this series, and I remember liking it a lot.  I love a good "historical twist", and this book goes back to the founding of Quebec and  Samuel Champlain. It is set during Winter Carnival in the magical city of Quebec. (If you have never visited, I suggest you put it on your wishlist.) Yet that is way too simplistic  a write up for the this story.  Penny of course doesn't leave out the crew from Three Pines. Once I finish this I am going to pick up her new book which came out earlier this week and take a break from my rereading of this series.

That was August.  It was another good reading month for me!

How about you? Did you read any good books?