Hello all! I definitely read a different mix of books this month so let’s get started 🙂

The London Railway Children by E. Nesbit

This book revolves around the children who move out of London proper, to the countryside when the family finances run out after their father disappears. Their mother writes stories and poems and sells them to magazines and newspapers to keep a roof over their head and food on the table. Near their home is the railway where they have many adventures and where a lot of the stories revolve around, hence the title.

This book was written in 1906 and I liked that the mother was a writer and earned money for her family which was an anomaly back then. I found out later that the author based that part of her book on her own circumstances when she had to be the breadwinner of her family after her husband’s business went under. I also liked that the book was written to show how children think and act when confronted with problems and also how children use their imaginations to solve problems. I liked this book and think it would be great for children.

A False Mirror and Hunting Shadows both by Charles Todd

Both of these books follow Scotland Yard detective Ian Rutledge as he solves murders in the year 1920. I adore this author and this series very much. If you like mysteries pre-technology, than this series might interest you 🙂

Playing With Fire by Lawrence O’Donnell

This book was sooooo good! I am a bit of a presidential history nerd, so when books are written about pivotal elections in our country, my antennae goes up 🙂 This particular book was about the 1968 election. What made this book fascinating, was all the detail O’Donnell went into about the entire year of 1968, not just who won the election. 1968 was the year that the Democratic Convention was held in Chicago and there were riots and the police literally beat protestors to a pulp, 3 nights in a row… on national television. 1968 was also the year Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated, Robert Kennedy was assassinated, and the year that Richard Nixon won the election for president. He would later go on to resign in 1974 after the Watergate scandal, but all that went into that election made for great reading.

That’s all from me! What did you read this past month? 🙂

Hello fellow booknerds! I only have three books to review this time around but hopefully my holds come in at the library before next month’s book post so I have a bit more to offer you 🙂

Shed No Tears by Caz Frear

I am a huge fan of British mysteries whether it takes place 100 years ago, or it is in today’s time, complete with technology. Although my preference is for stories that take place before the computer age, Frear’s Cat Kinsella series is just so good. Shed No Tears is the 3rd book in the series and although you could read it as a stand-alone novel, I’d recommend reading the first book Frear wrote, Sweet Little Lies so you understand more of the undercurrents that are going on with the protagonist.

This story which revolves around a cold case, a serial killer, and the hunt for the truth beneath it all, was so good, and I could not put it down!

Simply Living Well by Julia Watkins

This is a good book for anyone looking to make more things from scratch and wanting to do it “low waste”. I found it inspiring even though there are things that I don’t aspire to do or am able to have. I live in an apartment so I don’t have a garden to grow my own stuff or anything, but I find it inspiring on its own merit. Watkins talks about everything from composting your food scraps to making your own bath salts/bombs to making your own cleaning products. If that is something that you are interested in, then I would definitely recommend this book!

Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary

I decided in the last month or two to reread all the Ramona Quimby books from when I was a girl. I have enjoyed all of them but this one. This one was just awful. I understand that Ramona is a handful and bit too much at times, but she was really the absolute worst and I hated that the parents seemed to rely on older sister Beezus to take care of all the problems that Ramona got into. Even taking into account that this book is not for my age group per se, I still disliked it and would not recommend it. All the other Ramona Quimby books are enjoyable and worth the read.

That’s it from me! What did you read this past month? 🙂