Fickle February weather means more reading time

 Four days ago I was wearing short sleeves and wishing it were cooler.  Night before last I had to cover the plants as the temps dropped to be 27F / -3C.  Our walk today was brisk to say the least with 18 mph wind and heavy coats.  Loki's ears were flapping, lol.

This is Loki and his neighbor buddy Daisy on a warm morning walk this past weekend. The photo makes them look to be the same size but Loki is a good 28 pounds bigger.   Looks like they are about to drop a new album.

Two books finished this week. Let's start with a fiction by Virginia Evans - Within the Walled City. I loved her latest book The Correspondent but this one I have mixed feelings. 

Starting  with the good things I will say the cover art is beautiful. The story mostly takes place in Siena Italy and the descriptions of architecture, interactions and food come alive.  I could clearly picture the characters, the vibrant colors and conversations weren't stilted.

Jillian is the narrator, a college aged young woman focusing on art, planning a work study program in Italy.  It must be noted Jillian and her father have a cool relationship and by that I mean civil after a huge falling out.  As Jillian's mom Lily had cancer and died when Jillian was nine years old, she naturally had questions about her mother. Her requests for info about her mother were usually stonewalled over the years and then, she finds a treasure trove of Lily's paintings hidden in the attic.  Confrontation ensued.

Time passes....

Suddenly her father is encouraging her to accept the art study in Sienna over other Italian cities.  Before leaving, he hands her Lily's journal, written when Lily was an art student in....you guessed it, Siena.

There are times this story was rather slow and others storylines about her roommates in Siena get mixed in but overall, I did like the book.  It's a lovely armchair excursion to Tuscany where you'll love the foodie descriptions, a bit of romance and most of the loose ends get tied up neatly. 

I was fortunate enough to purchase this book on Kindle shortly after reading The Correspondent (which I loved) but now it appears the book is unavailable in either Kindle or physical book format. The great success of The Correspondent must have inspired bookworms to seek out Evan's earlier book.  Rating it a 3.75 and should probably round to 4 as I was never tempted to put it down.  Just the ending seemed "too" tied up and improbable, in my humble opinion.  I'll put a spoiler note on Goodreads with those thoughts.

Next we have a nonfiction.  Just finished Four Lost Cities: a Secret History of an Urban Age  by Annelee Newit last night. 

 Did you know we have a World Heritage site here in the United States? I did not until I read this book.  It's located about 10 miles from St Louis Missouri, a large prehistoric civilization which  was larger than London in 1250 AD.   Here is a link to Cahokia Mounds, a World Heritage and State Historical site.  

The chapters about Pompeii was my main interest and learning about the society.  Freed slaves (libertli) their children or those who earned their freedom constituted the major part of the population.  It was a vibrant city, ruined and abandoned so quickly after the volcanic eruption.  Sad. A citizen named Julia Felix was particularly interesting as she held ownership of several blocks of buildings, quite a businesswoman.

The other two cities excavated and studied are Cataholyuk, Turkey and Angkor in Cambodia. This book is tagged as science with much info about the archeological digs and finds. 

The book was written by a journalist, not an archeological team, so keep that in mind when reading about environmental and political reasons why a vibrant civilization disappeared. Rounded up to 3.5 stars

This was for the Nonfiction Reading Challenge hosted by Shelleyrae at Book'd Out. Category: Science.

Sharing with Shelleyrae at Book'd Out for the 2026 Nonfiction Reading Challenge.

Books read and goals accomplished!

In my previous post I talked about making some short term goals and listing a few books I have on hand.  It's working well for me as I have finished two books I own.  One fiction and the other a nonfiction. 

After reading Cecile Pin's book Celestial Lights I found myself a fan of her writing style.  As I own Wandering Souls I thought I'd start with that one on Kindle.

This is the story of a family, broken apart while fleeing Vietman after the war ended. 

I can't imagine the fear and obstacles of leaving your country, grasping at an escape so scary, possibly unreliable  smugglers transporting you and loved ones..... hoping it will be safe. Hoping to escape horrid living conditions in exchange for a good life.

The story is told with multiple narrators.

"Because Anh, Minh Thanh were the 3 oldest children, their parents decided they would travel ahead on a separate boat, dividing the family in two. It hadn't occurred to Anh that this breaking in half was the first sign of peril. The first clue that her father knew that one of the halves might fall."

When Anh's parents and siblings don't arrive when planned she knows things went wrong.  Now at 16 years of age she is the care taker of her younger brothers.  She must keep them safe and fed while living with uncertainties in resettlement camps.

In between her story and viewpoint are passages from the deceased brother named Dao.  Seeing his sister and brothers from a ghostly existence.   Sounds odd but it worked, especially in explanations about their culture.

For a more my review is here on Goodreads.  #Historical Fiction #Asia #War

📚📚📚 Nonfiction

Next on my list was Hayley Arceneaux's book Wild Ride. A Memoir of I.V. Drips and Rocket Ships.

This is an inspiring story of a pediatric cancer survivor, how she handled the treatment and how it gave her a different outlook on life. That sums it up. She went into some good detail about the emotional side of cancer treatment, her adventurous spirit and how incredibly driven she was; however I would have liked more detail on how she was selected for the civilian spot for space travel and the mission training.

She traveled as much as could, learned another language and eventually got her dream job.  It's an easy read of 208 pages, listed as a memoir.  Could have been a Readers Digest short series rather than a book, in my opinion.  3 stars

Currently reading / Midwinter Break by Bernard MacLaverty. This is about Gerry and Stella Gilmore, a retired Irish couple who now live in Scotland and their midwinter trip to Amsterdam. As I'm not too far into the book it appears there will be reflections on their 40+ year marriage and uncertainties about past events.  I like books featuring older adults...probably because I am one. :-)

Upcoming will be a buddy read with the book Crux by Gabriel Tallent in February.

That's all I have this week book related. Otherwise it was just a few medical apointments, Loki going crazy and havng a seizure because I snuck out early to get blood work, made a beef stew and homemade baguette for the comfort food needed in this weather.  Still covering the plants as lows are 23 F/ -5 C for the week.

Hope your reading week was fantastic.

Linking up with:

Joy for British Isles Friday (for Northern Irish author Bernard MacLaverty)

Shelleyrae at Book'd Out for the 2026 Nonfiction Reading Challenge (using the Wild Ride book for the Nonfiction Grazer category as I have another book in mind for Memoir)

Subpar Planet by Amber Share{2026 Nonfiction Reading Challenge}

This book uses the unique concept of gathering one star reviews of amazing travel destinations and combining it with historical info.  Some reviews such as "Only go if you like art" referring to The Louvre leave you shaking your head.  I mean...duh.

Educational and entertaining plus the armchair travel I crave.  That's a win-win-win for me! That said, I give it 3.5 stars.  

The layout of the book covers the Americas, Africa, Europe, Asia and Oceania with details about the history of the landmarks and wonders of the world.

The comment on the left side of the page is the one star review.  Might have been nice to have a more detailed review but what do you expect from someone who states Stonehenge is just a field of random stones or the sunrise over Mt Fuji was nothing spectacular. No pleasing some people.

The opposite page tells some history of the visited site and tips on best times to visit.  It's amusing but don't expect true photos of the venues. 

Tags are Nonfiction, Nature, Travel, Humor, Geography and History.

 Linking up with Shelleyrae at Book'd Out for the 2026 Nonfiction Reading Challenge. Category: Humor

First book of year - Finished

 I finished my first book of the year - Daughters of the Bamboo Grove by Barbara Demick.

Daughters of the Bamboo Grove: From China to America, a True Story of Abduction, Adoption and Separated Twins.

In 1979 Chinese law was enacted to limit one child per family. You could petition or apply to have another child if your first baby was a girl.  Boys were desired and there were brutal laws about having children without a permit.  Having another child without a government sanctioned permit came with such severe penalties.   If you didn't have a planned birth you could be fined as much as a year's wages, have your house demolished and property confiscated.

If you were found pregnant without a permit a woman could be hog-tied and hauled away for a forced abortion.  Then they'd send you a bill. Those who hid an extra birth by giving the child to a family member to raise for a while were punished if a neighbor ratted them out.  Then the Family Planning Office would come seize the baby or toddler and take it to an orphanage where they would be a adopted out to foreigners.  All for a hefty price, it was like buying a child.

But that isn't how the government "marketed" the babies.  It was said the children were abandoned by their mothers so people felt good about adopting a child no one wanted.  An American family adopted a baby who, unbeknownst to them, was a twin.  What the adoptive family didn't know was this baby had a family who diligently searched for her for years.  There are many such scenarios like this.  Children taken and the birth families with little resources trying to find their babies.

This book details the history and focuses on one family in particular - the separated twins and how they came to find one another again.  It's good story, very sad at times.

Grace Newton, who is an adoptee and writes about it on her blog Red Thread Broken,  recalled a conversation she had on a flight to China.  Because she is Chinese the seatmate "launched into the familiar spiel about how "lucky" she was: "I didn't tell him how unlucky it is not to know your first family, to not know your medical history, to not know who you are and  have to fly seven thousand miles to try and figure it out, to feel like a foreigner wherever you go. Adoption has given me great opportunity,  but it was at a great cost," she wrote on her website.

The tags on this book are History, Adoption, China, Asia, Nonfiction, Memoir.

352 pages, 4.5 stars.

Linking up with Shelleyrae at Book'd Out for the 2026 Nonfiction Reading Challenge. Category: History

2026 Nonfiction Reader Challenge at Book'd Out

 It's that time of year to think about the 2026 Nonfiction Challenge hosted by Shellyrae at Book'd Out.  Count me in this year.

Here is the signup intel and here are the categories below which I shamelessly copied from Shelleyrae's blog. 👇

Choose a goal:

Nonfiction Nipper: Read & review 3 books, from any 3 listed categories

Nonfiction Nibbler: Read & review 6 books, from any 6 listed categories

Nonfiction Nosher: Read & review 12 books, one for each category

Nonfiction Grazer: Read & review any nonfiction book. Set your own goal, or none at all, just share the nonfiction you read through the year.

Categories:

History
Memoir/Biography
True Crime
Science
Health
Food
South East Asia
Humour (Humor)
Lost or found
Television
Subculture
Published in 2026

I have a few books in mind for next year:

Wild Ride: I.V. Drips and Rocket Ships by Halley Arceneaux

A Time Remembered: American Women in the Vietnam War by Olga Gruhzit-Hoyt

Daughters of the Bamboo Grove by Barbara Demick

A Bunker in Kyiv: The Astonishing Story of the People's Army Defying Putin

I'd love to know some of the nonfiction titles on your radar.  This year I am signing up for the Grazer but hope I can manage 12. Join in, it's always fun!