I added several interesting books to my “Read” bookshelf in November. I read a funny fiction book, a serious fiction book, two historical fiction books, a parenting book and a fantasy book. I also started reading my holiday books. I read eight books this month – the days were full and my head hit the pillow a lot later many nights, leaving less time to read. Here is what I read in November:
In The Rosie Effect, Don Tillman is married to Rosie, the woman he found while searching for a wife in The Rosie Project. They have moved from Australia to New York City to work and study at Columbia. He’s a professor and she’s a med student. Life can be hectic, but they start to find a routine just as the unexpected happens. Don is going to be a father. He now has to manage work, a move, supporting Rosie and having a friend move in with them, all on top of trying to show Rosie he can be a good father.
Frank Lloyd Wright is known as a famous architect. His own biographies don’t mention much of his personal life. Yet, he left his wife and six children to live with another man’s wife for several years. His life was intertwined with Mamah Borthwick Cheney and not much is known about why she chose to leave her own husband and children, other than her love for Frank. Loving Frank is a historical fiction novel that explores the possible relationship the two had and what influenced their decisions along the way.
The second book in the Night Trilogy is Dawn. In Dawn, Elisha is a freedom fighter in Palestine ordered to be an executioner in the morning. He has survived a concentration camp only to have no family. Convinced to join the fight for a Jewish homeland, he makes a new home in Palestine as a young man. He spends the night contemplating his situation and how he will now be the cause of another’s death. This fiction story deals with the dilemma humans have when asked to kill for a cause, no matter what side you are on.
Parenting can be hard, even with “easy” kids. When you have a strong-willed child, parenting can become a daily battle of wills. You Can’t Make Me gives parents insight into how a strong-willed child thinks, what motivates him or her and how to best interact with that child to encourage good behavior. The worst thing to do to a strong-willed child is to say, “or else!” The best thing to do is give choices and consequences, explain why and then gently persuade a child you have a solid relationship with.
Vera and Edith were friends who should have been sisters. They lived across from each other in Budapest and when their families were rounded up to be taken to concentration camps, they managed to escape together. They faced loneliness, cold and hunger during a year of hiding and now that the war is over, they have to decide what their future holds – but they’ll do it together in The Light After the War.
A writer rarely dies with all his or her stories completed. There are fragments, drafts and ideas left behind. Louis L’Amour left behind many pages of writing that his son, Beau, has decided to sort through and release certain well-crafted stories in Louis L’Amour’s Lost Treasures, Vol. 2. These snippets give readers a view into some of the other ideas L’Amour had been working on. His son, Beau, offers insights into what time periods they were written and how his father’s upbringing or life experiences may have impacted that certain story.
In 1975, Elle is just making ends meet as she struggles to raise her son on her own. Waitressing keeps them afloat for the most part, but when her car breaks down a few weeks before Christmas, she doesn’t see how she can both fix the car and make a wonderful Christmas for her son in Noel Street. Her husband was sent to Vietnam before they knew she was pregnant and never made it back home. The hardest part of her life, though, is the loneliness she feels as the color of her husband’s skin forced her to leave behind her family who wouldn’t accept him.
Seth was born under a time of ancient religion and all the signs pointed toward him having uncanny magic. The electrical storm on the night he was born was a sign. His parents allow him to be trained by the village wise woman, but only in secret. A fellow magician sees him as a challenge to control and plants an idea in the king’s mind about Seth’s wife being a witch while Seth is away as the king’s bodyguard. A promise of restitution has Seth living until the present day where he might find love again … but also his enemy. Father of Storms is a very interesting fantasy book. The plot goes back and forth between present day and Seth’s first life. The fantasy aspects have a realism to them that had me hooked even though I’m not a reader of fantasy.
What did you read in November? Share your best reads with me on the blog! I’m always looking for good book recommendations to add to my bookshelf!
