Shomeret’s Comments (group member since Oct 15, 2012)

Shomeret’s comments from the Read by Theme group.

I'm hoping to start October with Sold for Endless Rue which is an interpretation of Rapunzel. I expect it to contain folklore as well because it involves "hedge witches" and midwives.

I'm reading the oddly titled book The See-Through Leopardby Sibel Hodge which is about an American teenager who lost her mother in a tragic accident. She is assisted in her recovery by a leopard cub on a game reserve in Kenya. I have passed the 50% mark this morning and it's wonderful.

Julia, Unbowedis a wonderful book. I read it last year and was very impressed. My review is at http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I am currently reading The Roving Tree which takes place in the U.S. and Haiti, not Russia. It's about a young woman who was born in Haiti but adopted by Americans. I am currently reading about her return visit to Haiti in which she is discovering the truth about her parents and why she was sent to the U.S.
It's a fascinating book. I'm learning so much about Haitian culture and history.

I have just finished reading City of Secretsby Kelli Stanley. It's a mystery that takes place in San Francisco in 1940 and therefore isn't in compliance with the Russia theme.

I finally got in an on theme book in my favorite century before the month of June comes to an end. It was The Other Side of Free by Krista Russell which I downloaded from Net Galley and finished today. It won't be published until October 2013 and isn't yet on the Goodreads database, so it looks like I'll have to enter it manually when I review it.

The book starts in 1739. It's about a 13 year old African American boy who is sent to Fort Mose in Florida with a woman who is also escaping slavery so that they can both be free. Fort Mose was the first community of free African Americans in the United States. The book was written for children, but I learned a great deal about Fort Mose and Spanish Florida. Krista Russell certainly did her research. She has an extensive bibliography.

I prefer Gabaldon's Lord John Grey books. Lord John is one of the characters in the Outlander series, so this spin off series also qualifies as 18th century reads.

I read Leaving Everything Most Lovedby Jacqueline Winspear which is the most recent Maisie Dobbs novel. Maisie is a private detective who was a nurse in WWI and studied psychology. She is investigating the murders of two women who were brought to England from India. I liked it very much.

I unfortunately lost interest inThe Movement of Starsand abandoned it, but I'm now reading Frost Burnedwhich is also in this month's theme. The protagonist is a female garage mechanic who can turn into a coyote and was raised by werewolves. It's a quick read. I'm already halfway done.

I just started reading The Movement of Starswhich is about 19th century Quaker astronomer, Hannah Price. She's a very unusual protagonist and I'm learning many things about the Quakers in the 19th century that I hadn't known.

I have started readingDewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World, my earliest To-Read. One thing that I didn't expect is that it would be laugh out loud funny. I should have read this book some time ago. It's doing wonders for my mood.

My earliest to-read add is Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the Worldand I have it. I believe I will read it in February.

Re trips to the library for physical books--I read on my Kindle on mass transit on the way to the library because I'm usually carrying a bunch of books to return and don't want to add another one to read.

The Midwife of Veniceby Roberta Rich
This is historical fiction about a Jewish midwife in 16th century Venice who has to deal with a Papal prohibition of Jews giving medical treatment to Christians.

I'm interested in historical fiction, but especially historical fiction dealing with midwives because they had to be more independent in their behavior than most women, and I enjoy reading about independent female protagonists. Another type of historical novel in this category are novels about women who disguise themselves as men.

This midwife eats and drinks I'd imagine, but the author doesn't deal with it. So it's definitely not in compliance with the Food and Drink theme.

I'm planning to purchase a cookbook which is something I don't normally do. I'm not doing it to read according to this theme. It's a very unusual cookbook and it happens to comply with this theme. That said, I may not get to it this month. So I'm probably going to be a Theme Rebel.

I'm a habitual top ten list keeper. I have top tens in every genre that I read and a top ten of non-genre fiction. Of course I keep a top ten of the year and update it every time I read something really extraordinary. That's why I'm not going to post the top ten now. For all I know the book I'm reading now might belong on that list.

Right now my favorite fiction book of the year is Lucyby Laurence Gonzales. My favorite non-fiction book of the year is Clean Break.

I'm still reading The Stockholm Octavoat home, but I took my Kindle on mass transit today and read The Midwife's Revolt, a Net Galley by another author I haven't read previously. It takes place during the period of the American Revolution (before, during and after). There are some well known historical figures. I'm enjoying it.

I am now reading The Stockholm Octavo which is a first novel. So all of this book's readers have never read Karen Engelmann before. What do I think? This is my idea of a fun read.

This theme is very easy for me. I read books by authors I've never read previously most of the time. My first December read is The Valley of Silent People by Greg Sarwa who I've never read before. I started it in November, but it applies to this theme.

I've been changing my mind about how to categorize the book as I go. Right now I think it's magical realist.

If I keep a book it has to be one of the best books I've ever read. Over time, the best books I've ever read change and then I weed my Keeper shelf.

If a book doesn't meet that standard, I will give it to a friend if I know for sure that my friend will appreciate it more than I did. These include members of the F2F book club I attend and GR friends. If there are no friends who would like it, I've been donating them to the library. Occasionally, I'll put a book on PBS but it has to be a book that is popular or been wishlisted because I don't want to keep a book for years hoping that someone will want it. I actually have one such book on PBS. I am seriously considering donating it to the library. I am currently considering a new option. Now that I have a blog, I could do a giveaway, but it would have to be fairly new or popular. I want a giveaway to draw people to my blog.