What are you reading in 2021?

[PattyMacDotComma]

I didn't know Iris Apfel's story at all, but Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara has told it well in the Little People BIG DREAMS series. From childhood, Apfel marched to her own drum, became a fashion icon, and encouraged children everywhere to follow their passions.
4.5★ Link to my review of Iris Apfel

[Dem]

Finished The Pawnbroker’s Reward

My Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/4389615489

[Abigail]

I loved An Independent Heart by Elizabeth Grant and am now reading a (rather light and shallow but entertaining) novel for adults by children’s book author E. Nesbit: The Lark.

[PattyMacDotComma]

I hope little girls everywhere will be inspired by the Notorious RBG! Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a recent addition to the Little People BIG DREAMS series for children. What a woman she was!
5★ Link to my Ruth Bader Ginsburg review with illustrations and more

[PattyMacDotComma]

Good historical fiction mysteries combine entertainment and history. When Gods Die by C.S. Harris does exactly that in Regency England (early 1800s).
4★ Link to my review of When Gods Die

[Book Concierge]

Resistance Women – Jennifer Chiaverini – 3.5***
This is a work of historical fiction concentrating on the women who worked in Germany as part of the resistance movement to thwart Hitler’s ambitions. I was engaged and interested from beginning to end. The novel spans the time from June 1929 to the year following the end of the war, 1946. I had to wonder at times, whether Chiaverini was lifting certain phrases and descriptions of the political climate that led to the rise of Nazism from current-day news reporting and commentary. It was chillingly familiar.
My full review HERE

[Book Concierge]

Mexican Gothic – Silvia Moreno-Garcia – 3***
This is not the kind of book I normally read, but I was fascinated by the story and gripped by the tension. The atmosphere is dark and chilling. It reminded me a bit of The Ruins by Scott Smith, and/or Stephen King’s The Shining . But it entirely Moreno-Garcia’s own story. I did wonder why she incorporated an English family with their English-style mansion; perhaps she felt her readers wouldn’t identify with malevolence in an adobe hacienda.
My full review HERE

[Book Concierge]

Longbourn – Jo Baker – 3.5***
I really enjoyed this follow-up version to Austen’s classic Pride and Prejudice . Yes, the major events from P&P are all present, but Baker gives us a rich background to the Longbourn and Netherfield servants that are mostly invisible in Austen’s classic. Regency England had many rules and restrictions that governed proper behavior, whether for the ladies and gentlemen of the upper class, or the servants, farmers and tradespeople in the towns. And this adds an additional layer of suspense in the slow-burn romance between Sarah and her paramour.
My full review HERE

[Bruce]

I finished by

[Kathryn]

I've owned For Whom the Bell Tolls since 1978 (the date I bought it is written on the inside cover), and I'm finally reading it!

[Carolyn]

My first historical fiction novel of 2022 was Her Hidden Genius by Marie Benedict, a novel based on the life of Rosalind Franklin who was instrumental in collecting the data Watson & Crick used without her knowledge to develop their Nobel Prize winning model of the DNA helix. It's well done and a good read if you enjoy historical fiction based on on real people.

my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Bruce]

I finished by

[Dem]

Finished Dancing for Stalin: A Dancer's Story of Courage and Survival in Soviet Russia

My Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/4357436787

[Eric]

I am about 2/3 rds of the way through Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone. Diana Gabaldon has out done herself this time around. Then again, it took her seven years to publish this book nine. And no, I have never seen a single episode of the TV series, "Outlander."

Is there a 2022 thread for this yet?