July reads

 My reading seemed down a little in July, probably because we were so busy traveling for three weeks!  Hopefully, it will be picking back up!  I read three books this month, two I liked, one I was a bit disappointed in.  For regular readers of this blog, you may have noticed that I have switched to the Goodreads widget on the side of the blog to show what books I've read.

The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda is a pick for the library book club here for August.  This will be my first time attending, so I hope I like the group!

I did like the book! It was an easy read, kind of a good read for summer! The story took place in a small town in Maine, that was a vacation spot for the wealthy.  Avery had lived in the town all of her life, but Sadie was one of the summer people.  They had developed a friendship over the years and would be inseparable during the summers when Sadie was there.  But the last summer Sadie was there she died.  It was determined to be a suicide, but Avery was convinced that it wasn't. When Sadie's family returned the following year, Avery was determined to learn the truth.

The story was a good mystery and well-written!

I loved Mrs. Lincoln's Sisters by Jennifer Chiaverini!  The story is told in different time periods, going back to 1825 to 1882, but each chapter was well-labeled so I did not have any difficulty keeping up with the book. I didn't realize until I was done reading it that it was a sequel to Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker, so now I will have to read that sometime!

The story centers around Mary Todd Lincon and her sisters and begins in 1875, several years after the death of Mary's husband, Abraham Lincoln.  Mary had been declared insane and was in an institution. Her sisters had great concerns about her as did Robert Lincoln, her only living child.  In the story, the sisters all played a large part in Mary's story, and the book is quite good at describing all of the differences that were between Mary and her sisters as they grew. And how they tried to help Mary after the death of her husband.

I found the book to be fascinating.  I want to learn much more about Mary and about her sisters! 

I just finished City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert and was disappointed with it.  For one thing, it is a huge book! (I had found a hardback copy at the used bookstore and bought it, even though I always prefer paperbacks.) My disappointment was that on the second page of the book, we learn that there was a man involved with Vivian Morris, who was the love of her life.  It's not until page 400, that the reader learns who this man was. 

In-between pages 2-400, the life of Vivian is told.  And it is an interesting story, but way too long for me. She had been asked to leave Vassar after her first year, so her parents sent her to New York to stay with her Aunt Peg.  Aunt Peg owned a run-down theater where she and her staff put on plays for the neighborhood audience. Vivian became their costume designer and made all of the costumes. She was introduced to the nightlife of New York by the showgirls who worked for her Aunt Peg. 

It was all interesting, but I wanted to know more about the man she loved! Ms. Gilbert is certainly a talented author so I don't mean to disparage that.

"Love like that is a deep well, with steep sides.

       Once you fall in, that's it-you will love that person always. "