What I read in February

As promised, I am catching up on my blogging! I read four and a half books last month.  I had a DNF (did not finish) on one of them. The other four were good, however!

1) Lucy By The Sea by Elizabeth Strout: This was my number one favorite book for 2022. I re-read it for my book group! It was even better the second time and wonderful to have a great group of people to discuss it with! For my post on it go to my post in October 2022.

2) The Truth About Magic by Atticus. I have long loved Atticus' poetry and was lucky enough to come across two of his books at a used bookstore that I had never read. If you haven't read his work, I urge you to try it!

3) The Weaver's Legacy by Olive Collins. This book is the second of a trilogy by the author. I had read The Tide Between Us which was the first book and liked it enough to get the second book. The first book was about the O'Neill family coming to America for a new start out West.  They traveled with other Irish families to start an Irish community in the West. This book continues the O'Neill family story. This book is from 1865 and 1937.

Goldie O'Neill was nine years old in 1865 when her family traveled West with others to form an Irish community. They had to deal with the Indians as they traveled and as they lived. One day, the Indians came while Goldie, her brother, and her baby sister were out playing in the woods. Her sister was taken by the Indians and never returned to the family.  Goldie carried her guilt with her for all of her years.  She had made friends with a Lakota Indian boy who vowed he would help her find her sister.

Years later Goldie adopted her brother's daughter, Lucy, after her parents died and she had been placed in an orphanage. Lucy grew up in the community that had been built up by the Irish, but then married and moved to New York City, coming to visit Goldie often. She returned there after Goldie died and as she was there, her "dead" father turned up. As Lucy learned more about the family's past, she decided that she wanted to learn more. 

It is a good story and I hope that the author continues with the trilogy.

4) Thunder Bay by William Kent Krueger: This was the best one of the best Cork O'Connor mysteries yet! I found it quite different from the others that I have read (I still am only about halfway through them). In this one, Cork is asked by his ninety-year-old something friend, Henry Miloux (an Ojibwe medicine man) to find his son who he had never met but came to him in a vision. Cork, Henry, and a friend travel up to Canada and there Cork began to unravel Henry's past and locate his reclusive son. Then an attempt was made on Henry's life and that leads to another mystery. 

I liked this story so much because it mostly was focused on Henry and his past, which hadn't been revealed in earlier books.  

5) The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth: This is the book that I did not finish.  I had read over half of it and I just never felt connected or cared about any of the characters. I felt that I gave it a good try, so I didn't feel bad about it. And, also, it was from the library, so at least I hadn't paid for it!