europe

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A journey that could not take place at the moment…

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

October 9, 2020 by crystalclear Leave a Comment

Ginny is a 17-year-old who embarks on a journey left to her by her eccentric Aunt Peg. After her death, Peg left Ginny a sent of 13 little blue envelopes and some very strange instructions. In the first is some money to get to NYC and then London and the rules: she can only bring a backpack, she is not allowed to bring any guidebooks, she cannot bring any extra money, and she is not allowed to use electronics, which includes contacting the U.S. by […]

cbr12bingo – The Roaring 20s (and two more “bingos”)

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

September 20, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos 2 Comments

Oh, Hemingway. You dirty old dog. I have a soft-spot for the Lost Generation, and a sentimental attachment to The Sun Also Rises. While plenty of this novel- and his writing in general- has aged poorly, there is still value to be found. Hemingway was plenty of things as both an author and a man, but here I will choose to focus on the story and the broken people within- and the story of my attachment to this book. My first read was back in […]

well, that escalated quickly

The Wallcreeper by Nell Zink

July 31, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

Girl meets boy. Well, woman potentially committing corporate espionage is spotted by a company man. Company man whisks her away to a life of luxury. Well, they get hastily married after knowing each other for three months. His parents suggest a suicide pact. I felt sad. His awkward hands reminded me of the flames around Joan of Arc at the stake. Honeymooners leave America for Europe. Well, man takes a shady position at the shady company and wife is along for the ride. Man hits a […]

Quarantine Reading

Conviction by Denise Mina

Kinds of Love, Kinds of Death by Donald Westlake

April 30, 2020 by Jake Leave a Comment

Been doing a lot of reading to pass the time during the quarantine. I finished these two books back to back, both were good in their own respective ways. So here are the reviews… Conviction I didn’t mean for this to be my first Denise Mina book. I’ve tried and failed twice to get into Garenthill. But the premise seemed too good to pass up and I thought it would be a fun pleasure read. It starts off rocky. The main character, whose perspective we get first […]

Be she Rachel or Catherine, one girl learns to survive and be free while all the while, in hiding

Catherine’s War by Julia Billet

October 7, 2019 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Catherine’s War is a Holocaust story with a twist. This time a young, French-Jewish girl, Rachel, goes into hiding but does it in the open. She (and other children) do not stay in any one place too long (usually not by choice). They sometimes are only one step ahead of the Nazis at any point. Julia Billet created (and Ivanka Hahnenberger translated), Rachel, our narrator. Rachel goes to the progressive Sèvres Children’s Home where children of both faiths learn in a non-traditional setting. We see […]

The Hero Played Fiddle

The Bravest Man in the World by Patricia Polacco

September 25, 2019 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Covers speak a lot about what might be in a book. I looked at the cover of The Bravest Man in the World by Patricia Polacco and thought, “I wonder if this is about a Jewish man in a concentration camp?” For some reason it had that feeling of how music can keep you free during great turmoil. But then saw the ship behind him, “Aaaah. A book about the Titanic.” (I still think a story of the Titanic fits that theme.) This book has […]

narfna on What Else Would You Look With?Sad you didn't really like this one. I absolutely loved it. Not sure when I will be able to wrap my head around reviewing it....
narfna on And now, jump back hundreds and hundreds of years…#BlameMalin on this one for me, too, because she literally sent me a copy.
narfna on “And that very same evening—that very same evening—Lord Edgware dies. Good title that, by the way. Lord Edgware Dies. Look well on a book stall.”That's gotta be the new headcanon.
drmllz on “And that very same evening—that very same evening—Lord Edgware dies. Good title that, by the way. Lord Edgware Dies. Look well on a book stall.”I like to think the wife packs Hastings off to England to hang out with Poirot and enjoys having a whole ranch to herself...
Emmalita on And now, jump back hundreds and hundreds of years…Oh yay! Another #BlameMalin victim. That was an expensive miscommunication. I'm glad your grandmother is ok.

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