Kindling My Love of Reading

     Kindle books are so great - no book shelves to dust.  Thank you Burlington County Library for the following "reads" and "listens."

READS

     The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters - In post World War I London, the Widow Wray and her daughter Frances are obliged to take in lodgers after the deaths of the male family members.  Not long after the Barbers move in, Frances and Mrs. Barber begin an affair.  The ending is as good as it could possibly be for the two ladies, but life is going to be far from easy for them.

     The Royal We by Heather Cox and Jessica Morgan - This is not a "Read".  It's an audio book, but it is connected to my next "Read."  This book is a fictionalized account of the romance of Kate Middleton and Prince William.  The authors made Kate an American girl named Rebecca (nicknamed Bex) who meets her prince (named Nick) when she attends college in England.  It was cute.

     Kate: The Making of a Princess by Claudia Joseph - After listening to the fictionalized version, I decided to read the true story.  Claudia Joseph must have of spent hours on Ancestry.com researching Kate Middleton's genealogy.  She sets out more information than you will ever need explaining Kate's grandparents' four branches of the family tree.  If you ask me, Kate did a masterful job of reeling Wills in.  I give her props for knowing what she wanted.  I also think she's a poor example for everyone else who isn't royal or filthy rich.

     Blood and Beauty: The Borgias; A Novel by Sarah Dunant - I loved "The Borgias" on Showtime, so it was fun to read this book and compare it to the TV series.

     Something Rich and Strange: Selected Stories by Ron Rash - Short stories make great reading because it's easier to put the book down at the end of a chapter.  Some of these stories ended abruptly, and I thought there should have been something else coming.  Most of them left me thinking, Yeah, that's people for you.

     Serena by Ron Rash - I liked Ron Rash's short stories so much that I read his novel Serena. The story begins in 1929.  George and Serena Pemberton operate a lumber camp along the North Carolina-Tennessee border.  They are ruthless people.  If you deal with them, be prepared to be used or die.  It takes the National Park Service establishing the Great Smokey Mountains National Park to run them out of town.  Serena was made into a movie starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper.  The library owns a copy of this film, so I borrowed it.  The story line deviates quite a bit from the book.  

     How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran - Johanna Morrigan realizes at age fourteen that her parents have not taught her life skills.  The story that follows shows her figuring it out on her own.

LISTENS

     Born With Teeth by Kate Mulgrew - This is actress Kate Mulgrew's auto biography.

     Ruby by Cynthia Bond - There are big sins (baby raping) and lesser sins (holier-than-thou snobs and gossips) and the idea that love conquers all.  In the main character Ruby's case, I think you need love plus a really good psychiatrist.

     Sizzlin' Sixteen, Smokin' Seventeen, and Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich - Who doesn't like Stephanie Plum novels?  They are complete fluff - great fun to keep you company when you cook, sew, or pull weeds.