Wednesday 5 February 2014

Books You Loved: February Edition

 

Happy February all you fab readers out there!  Before getting on to this month's Books You Loved, here are four of the books in last month's collection that caught my eye:

Both guiltless reading and My Bookshelf added their thoughts on This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Pratchett.  This book is a memoir.  Guiltless reading said 'An intimate look into the life of a renowned writer, in an eclectic collection of essays about life, love, and commitment. A must-read for Patchett fans, for readers and writers alike. Sit and stay awhile and enjoy your visit with Ann!'  My Bookshelf said 'I adore this book for the advice, the bird's eye view of this fabulous author and her career and the satisfactory exploration of her literary prowess. I feel I know her rather better and admire her ability to jump with both feet forward, taking on a challenge or two and embracing all that life offers.'

Love at First Book added The Paris Wife by Paula McLain.  I agree with her that 'I was instantly hooked. The Paris Wife is about Ernest Hemingway’s life, focusing on his young-middle aged years, when he was married to Hadley Richardson. The story is told from Hadley’s perspective, and she is just sooooo incredibly likable.'

Sticking with the Paris theme, Diary of An Eccentric brought us Last Train to Paris by Michelle Zackheim.  Anna said ' Last Train to Paris is a fascinating portrayal of a young woman who spends much of her life feeling small and invisible and finds herself within the enormity and loss of war. Zackheim perfectly captures the chaos and helplessness as the Nazis take over every facet of society and shows the fragility of relationships forged during such a time. I felt the excitement, hopelessness, fear, and grief right alongside Rose as she came to terms with the what-ifs and the might-have-beens that accompany such introspection. It’s a thoughtful novel with undertones of guilt, regret, sadness, and anger that left me both hurting for Rose and satisfied with the ending.'

The last one for you today was brought by Moonshine and Rosefire – Saint Maybe  by Anne Tyler. Mary said 'I absolutely loved this book - a definite A+++! In my opinion, Ms. Tyler has written a well-told, engrossing story once again. This story is filled with characters that the reader can truly care about, living through circumstances that are completely believable.'

 I am looking forward to seeing all your posts about Books You Loved this month.  Your post can be an old one – just so long as you loved the book.  To add to the collection just pop your name and the name of the book into the first Mr Linky box and then paste the url of your post about it into the second one.

I'll be pinning your links to this Pinboard so you can check out all the books at a glance.

29 comments:

  1. Thanks, Carole! I love adding books to this linky, and thank you for the shout out, too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I posted from both of my blogs

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi, added my Jan books read. just doing a few every week for Feb. but will combine them all into one post at the end,
    Julie

    ReplyDelete
  4. Myrlyn's Gate is a great fantasy story that includes time travel and magic. I enjoyed it!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I don't have a post about it but I read The Help this month and I raced through it. Loved every page.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Read a great one for Netgalley that releases on March 11th. If you like thrillers, way worth it :)

    Paula

    ReplyDelete
  7. Did you do one for Jan. because I can't find it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank for the linky, I've added a couple of great books I reviewed recently x

    ReplyDelete
  9. I added "Embassy" by S. Alex Martin! :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. THANKS, Carole...I love this monthly list.

    Elizabeth
    Silver's Reviews
    My Book Entry

    If you get a chance, also stop by this giveaway:

    Guess Who This Baby Is

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks Carol! Always looking for cozy books to drive away the winter blues.

    ReplyDelete
  12. More prowling shall happen (and a higher TBR too!) Thanks, Carole!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks Carole, for running this linky and for the reminder, appreciate it. :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. I have only YA and kids books on my posts, but I have a friend who just released one that is for women and I'll include it in next month's link party. It will be the first time that I do a book review on my blog that's named after my little girl that has nothing to do with kids.
    Tina from Amanda's Books and More

    ReplyDelete
  15. What a fun collection. Thanks for letting me know about it.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks Carole, love this post, I have added my favourite to the list. Have a great week!
    Sharon

    ReplyDelete
  17. I'm a little late to the party with this one, but better late than never!

    ReplyDelete
  18. I always get good ideas from your list here. Hope you are well!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hi Carole, just linked an Aussie classic - Robbery Under Arms.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Belatedly, I've added links to a couple of books I've loved recently: And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini and a mystery by Michael Connelly called The Concrete Blonde. Happy reading to all!

    ReplyDelete
  21. There sure are a lot of books listed here and I have only read one of them--Flowers in the Attic. The movie was recently on TV (I think on Lifetime); my wife watched it.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I LOVED the Shenandoah Sisters series by Michael Phillips about a white and black girl's unusual friendship in the south during the Civil War era. Great historical Christian fiction!

    ReplyDelete
  23. This was a tough month to choose but I found my favourite in the end. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to get to know so many great blogs.

    Marianne from Let's Read

    ReplyDelete
  24. Great list of books above! Thanks for letting us post again :-)

    ReplyDelete
  25. Thanks so much for featuring Saint Maybe by Anne Tyler, Carole! :) I've been reading some really excellent books this month, but I haven't chosen my favorite as yet - maybe it'll be the book that I'm reading now, but I'm not sure. I'll be back to post my link later on! :)

    ReplyDelete
  26. Carole, thank you very much for hosting this--hopefully I'm not too late to add my link! :)

    ReplyDelete
  27. I just finished Daphne du Maurier: The Secret Life of the Renowned Storyteller by Margaret Forster - my favorite book of the month! :) See you next month, Carole!

    ReplyDelete

Your comments are most welcome. I have currently disabled anonymous comments due to unwanted spam. Cheers