I am reading The Gilded Hour :: Sara Donati.  It is set in 1883 New York City. It is the life of two female doctors mostly good. Drags on in some spots. Book is really heavy to hold up at night. Really thick pages!! Lovely quality.

I am so ready for spring. What are you all reading this March?

I am listening to People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks and I am loving it! 

My nighttime book is Kydd by Julian Stockwin. I am enjoying this book, and I think it (and the series) will continue to get better as I get more comfortable with sailor's terminology and vocabulary.

Kelly

I just finished The Counterfeit Lady by Kate Parker and loved it.  The revelation of the spy was a complete surprise to me, but I did feel the ending with the apprehension was a bit of a letdown.  Next up is Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner.  Alice and Jeanne, how about that--two HF in a row!

I'm reading Seven for a Secret by Lyndsay Faye.  I really love her style of writing.

I, too, am ready for spring.  This winter, while not so awful as past years, has bounced around the thermometer.  Two days ago it was in the 60's; I woke up to 21 degrees this morning!    Such a tease!!!

I like Lyndsay Faye too Carolyn! Think I'm going to start Plague Land by S D Sykes today....never read anything by this author so I'll see how it goes.

Our weather has been pretty warm already - low to mid 80s and I'm afraid we may be in store for an early summer - ugh

Good for you Una - what an adventurer you are! Hope you like them - I've not read the books you're reading.

Not h/f but I am reading Disgrace by Jussi Adler-Olsen.  This is the second book featuring his cranky but entertaining detective, Carl Morck.

Cheryl - if you get a chance to lay your hands on any audio versions of the Dept Q books, give them a try. The narrator is so good and these books are very enjoyable to listen to!

I'm planning to start Plague land by S D Sykes

You are doing good Una. We will turn you into an HF diva!!

Just finished River God by Wilbur Smith.  I really enjoy his novels.  This lengthy read is told by Taita, a slave in the land of Egypt whose life is devoted to Queen Lostris and Tanus, her lover.  It depicts their lives even when they are driven from their beloved cities and must explore the Nile and find a place to recover and rebuild so they can drive out the Hyskos who invaded their country.  It's a fascinating read.

I just finished Hidden Dragons Dragon Knights by Biance D'Arc.  I'm counting it as HF.......even though I haven't thought of this series as such.  To me they were always just PnR.  But, set in a world similar to Medieval times.  No cars or electricity.  This is the most recent of the series.  Not one of the best IMO, cuz all the action was off-page.  Story centered around the 2 Knights and their mate.  I'd love to see another book with these characters and I'm REALLY glad she is continuing the series!

Thanks Jeanne, good to know!

I am reading When Falcons Fall by C.S. Harris #11 in the Sebastian St Cyr series.  So excited.

Jerelyn,

I just started that series. I've only read the first one, but I have the whole series, including the newest book. I lent my cousin book 2, and now I'm impatient to continue the series! Lol

I am jealous that you are getting to meet Sebastian St. Cyr for the first time! Be prepared to lose your heart! Isn't it a wonderful thing about literary romances ... we can easily share them! Love Sebastian!! Love him! Enjoy, Jerelyn & Carolyn! 

So. As a lover of books and a lover of history, how could one not love a book that explores the history of a book - a Jewish Haggadah in this instance - that is 500 years old? Add to that the skillful writing of Geraldine Brooks (Year of Wonders & March among others) and you have, in my opinion, a 5-star book! That she remained true to the known history of the book and did careful research is bonus.

People of the Book is a fictionalized story of the Sarajevo Haggadah. We trace its history in reverse order from the Bosnian war when a Muslim museum librarian saved the precious book to WW II when a Muslim scholar saved the book to 1894, Vienna Austria, when it was both rebound and partially desecrated to the early 1600's, in Venice, Italy, when it was saved from burning by the Catholic Church to its first authorship in 1492 (Tarragona, Spain) to the date of the wonderful illustrations that make this book so special in 1480 (Seville, Spain). Interwoven with these "short stories" is the glue that holds it all together - the story and work of the book conservator who examined and conserved the book in 1996.

And, additional bonus! As well as having the print copy of the book in my hand, I also listened to it on audio, deliciously narrated by Edwina Wren who brought all the characters to life with her wonderful accents and linguistic narration. 

I may be the last one of the group to read this book, but if you have not, I encourage you to take a look & see if it might interest you. I highly recommend it!

Kelly

~Kelly

Really looking forward to reading that one, Alice.  My first Susan Meissner book was A Fall of Marigolds which I thought was wonderful and I just finished Secrets of a Charmed Life which was absolutely fantastic.  I gave it 5 stars.  I love the way she takes history and weaves it into a superb fictional story.  The time and place of this one is London, WWII, around and during the time of the blitz.  Would highly recommend the book.l

Oh, Alice I just read A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner.  It was a beautiful read that goes back and forth from Ellis Island and the immigrants who came to this country and the life of a woman who lost her husband in 9/11.  The thread that binds the two eras together is a beautiful scarf.  It's about hope, love, enduring and looking to the future.

Carolyn, you'll enjoy them they just keep gettting better and better.  I finish When Falcons Fall and it was a real page turner.

I watched the last episode of Downton Abbey last night. It was very good. I will miss this show.

Alice

Me too, Alice. I am sad to see Downton Abbey go.

I loved People of the Book, Kelly, and most of everything else that Geraldine Brooks has written, but I just couldn't get into her latest, The Secret Chord.

I'm reading Named of the Dragon by Susanna Kearseley which is off to a good start and listening to a long nonfiction, The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

I am going to curl up and start The Winter Crown: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine :: Elizabeth Chadwick

You can't go wrong with Elizabeth Chadwick. Good night all

Just finished The Hollow Hils by Mary Stewart and have moved on to Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz.  Hollow makes the third book in a row I've given five stars.  Great to be into such wonderful reading.   Now if the library only has the rest to the series I'll be soo happy.  I've been working on some series I have on my shelves.  It's time to move them out.

REK ---- Is this your first read of the Mary Stewart books???  They are some of my all-time favorites after all these years.  I read each one as it was released and so wished there could have been more.

Alice and Donna, have you read the Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard? I think they would work as a Downton Abbey fix, although I have to tell you I have never seen the show, so I have zero credibility here. The books cover the every day lives of an aristocratic family, the running of their homes and servants as they all prepare for ww2, and so I imagine they are maybe Downton Abbey-esque. But, even if they aren't, they are still really good reads! The first one is titled The Light Years. 

No, Becky, I read the first one in Stewart's series when we did a read-along on HF one year.  I had forgotten how much I loved that book.  Glad to hear that you liked them so much, too.  I've been participating in a TBR game where you read a book that you have been meaning to read for some time.  I chose this one, misplaced it and had to choose another.  Just found where I had put last week!  I'm also reading Pat Barker's series about treating emotionally injured soldiers.  It's great, too.