Finishing #ReadTheWorld2025 with 6 more countries: #Spain, #India, #Brazil, #Armenia, #Nigeria and #Lebanon. I managed to read from/about 37 countries and will definitely continue reading from around the world. Thanks for hosting Myra!
pickThis book won both a Newbery Honor and was a Sydney Taylor Book Award Honor, which is how it got on our book club‘s radar. We all learned some new-to-us history and appreciated the scope of the book. It moves through several generations of a family, taking place in four different countries and with four different protagonists. Lots to take in!
This was my April #BookSpin pick.
pickI almost DNFed this one because it dragged in the middle, but I persisted, and I think that was the right choice. This scratched the itch for contemplative literary fiction that I've had after immersing myself in horror for a couple of months. It deals with familial relationships and the ways that we can manipulate others to meet our own needs and distract from our sense of mortality and/or feelings of powerlessness. So, uncomfortable but good.
so-soWhen Daniel finds a hidden book in a mysterious library, he begins to unravel a mystery that involves burned books, a vanished author, a crumbling mansion, history of the Spanish Civil War, & his own romance.
Fantastic book about the power of stories to shape our lives, gorgeous imagery, & an engaging mystery. But it also felt like it was doing too much sometimes. & the tension was really unrelenting. I had to step away several times. 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑
pickThis book deals with the Spanish Revolution. But told from another point of view than we're used to. We're starting in an all-female prison, getting to know Hortensia and the other imprisoned women. We're following them through the years of war, unrest and rebellion until the 50ties under Franco. The book is based on interviews with survivors and eye-witnesses, what gives the whole book another dimension. It's unsettling and real.
pickA library book club pick and one which reminds me why I belong to book groups.
I've read one other by Allende which was also a book club pick!
This was an interesting story, good character relationships and historically important. I appreciated finding out about the Spanish civil war and subsequent emigration.
I do find it's told rather than shown which made some of it feel forced along.
pickApril 2025 Book #2
This book starts so good with a crime scene. It is graphic during the crime description and it the victim/trope of crime could be a trigger for some readers. I like the plot, characters and development. However, I think it was unnecessarily long. The location, weather (rain) descriptions are extremely long😳It could be edited. But in general I liked it and I already read book 2. 3.5/3.8⭐️
so-soThis was just okay for me. I struggled to connect with the story and found the writing unimpressive. It‘s not uncommon for short stories to fall flat for me, but this one nearly caused me to give up. I only finished it because it was so brief. I‘ve learned that Allende‘s writing simply isn‘t for me.
Full Review abookandadog.com/blog/lovers-at-the-museum
so-soMarch 2025 Book #5
I own like three special editions of this book because they are beautiful and I thought I would love this book. This book has mixed reviews. I‘m in the side of very disappointed team. The writing style is so different of what I use to read by this author, it was like someone else wrote it. The premise is so interesting but I found it extremely boring. Maybe because I was expecting action, intrigue, I don‘t know something else⬇️
pickI‘m not entirely sure how I feel about this book. Excellently written and absorbing, but uneasy, with a chord of dissonance running through it. Sort of a happy ending, but I almost feel the book would have been stronger if it had gone another way. I did like the not-quite-magic system, and Santangel is a wonderful tortured soul. A strong focus on the hypocrisy of state religion felt appropriate to current times. A good read, uneasiness included.
