The Weekend Post-February Books

 Hi everyone.

 Hope your weekend is going well. It is time for me to write my latest book post, so for those of you who like to read about books, this is my February reading list.

February wasn't a huge actual book reading month for me. With so much cold and grey weather, I spent more time watching old movies (several Alfred Hitchcock films, a few 1960's beach films, as well as a few other assorted films) in the late afternoon which is one of  my big reading times. 

It was a good listening month however, so almost all of these stories were audiobooks that I listened to, usually while making art or out driving.

You might remember I mentioned Don Quixote last month in my book post. After getting through a big chunk of Don Quixote, I needed something a little more modern. I figured it was time to put the giant classic (just under 40 hours of listening) aside and wrap up the third book in this memoir series by Ruth  Reichl.  

Although I will say the topic of this volume (her becoming the editor of Gourmet magazine) wasn't as interesting to me as her childhood (book 1- Tender at the Bone) or her youthful and  hippie years (Comfort Me with Apples),  Reichl 's writing is  lush  and delicious to listen to.  I still enjoyed this book. Plus it was just over 6 hours, a quick listen.  I'm not a big one for biography, but for someone with such a fascinating life, I enjoyed Reichl's down to earth  views on living. Seeing I also enjoy reading and collecting cookbooks, I love that she knew/knows some of the authors of books I have and included them in the story.

The Outcasts of Time was recommended to me by my beach walker friend. In this book, 2 men dying from the Bubonic Plague in the mid-1300's make a deal with the devil to come back to life for a day every 99 years. It's a really interesting concept and a great way to show the  changes in the world each century I  loved this story. It got me thinking about the history. I also learned a lot about  many of the things we all know and how those items changed  people's lives over time. These "things" included windows, glasses, the spinning wheel, even fireplaces that have gone from being holes in the ceiling to structures we now know.  It was  a well written story, definitely different from my ordinary reads. A highly recommended book!

As February was very wintery this year with cold temperatures and lots of snowy days,  I started dreaming of spring. I also decided I needed to do something productive so one day so I did a bit of book shelf rearranging and cleaning. That is when I came across this book I've had since the 1990's. 

The 365 Days of  Gardening is broken down into seasons and into months. I decided it would be better just to read the early spring chapters, and not plow through the whole book. There are good tips about every kind of gardening: lawns, trees, veggies, flowers, and none of these tips are date or place specific. They're just related to spring.  I'll read more of the different seasons as the year goes on.  

The only actual book I  read and completed was this fascinating book about sheep. 

A Short History of the World According to Sheep is an informative and easily readable book that explains about how people all over the planet have interacted with sheep since early recorded history. It talks about finds at archeological digs. It talks about  wool and why it is what it is. The book also is about knitting and knitted goods, woven wool clothing, and even lanolin (the fatty substance on the wool of sheep that keeps them waterproof) and all the uses it has. I  even learned  about how the Vikings would never have been what they were without sheep. There is much more than these few examples.  I would never have guessed this one group of animals would have been so important to human civilization. It was an eye opener for me. I really enjoyed this book, and if  you like natural history or non-fiction reads, then I highly recommend this book..

The Curse of the Pharaohs is book 2 in the Amelia Peabody mysteries. I shared book one of this series with you last fall where Amelia meets her husband on an archeological dig in 1880's Egypt.  This second story is set in 1892, when Amelia and her husband  head back to Egypt to for another  archeological dig . Of course murder  and mayhem seem to follow them. Amelia is a woman ahead of her time, and she makes this an enjoyable book. I listened to this story, and the narrator, Barbara Rosenblat, does an amazing job with voices. This series is a lot of fun, and I also like how this series is not too heavy but still full of details.  I read many of these mysteries back in the 1990's and early 2000's, and I am glad to have found them again.

The Shadow District is another mystery I listened to. It is set in Iceland (where the author is from) during World War 2 and also during the present time. I have previously read a couple of books from the author's other mystery series  including the book Jar City.  Jar City and Indridason's first detective series are set only in the present time, but I like how in this new series there are 2 time periods connected by murder. 

This book is not  a cozy style mystery and is a little darker in subject matter.  It is a really good story that had some surprises in it,  and  it was not a difficult read (well listen for me).  If you're in the mood for this style of story, I recommend this book also. I really enjoyed it.

Lastly, I am now in the process of rereading this oldie.

You might  possibly remember this book, The Thorn Birds, when it came out in the late 1970's. It's been around ever since, so you might even remember it from a later time if you didn't read it when it was first popular. It was also a TV mini-series in the early 1980's.  I have my original paperback (with this same cover) that I read either in late high school or early college. It's got my name scribbled on the inside cover. 

I haven't quite finished this book as I just started it at the end of February, but I can see why it was a best seller. It is a  good story, with lots of descriptions of  the Australia Outback and life there starting the in parts of the last century and going into the 1960's. It is a pretty easy read also.  I will say the story is really a love story with a twist.   Since it has been so long since I read it, and since I have had a hankering to get into a long  take me away story, I am enjoying the reread. 

That's all for me and books for now. I'm always looking for recommendations, so if you have any, feel free to mention them in your comments. 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.