Slow December

 This month I read three fiction books and one poetry book. Slow month of reading for me. December was such a busy month, that I just didn't get the reading in that I would have liked to get! However, I did get eight new books to read! Here's what I read in December:

1) The Winter Guest by Pam Jenoff: This story was really good. 

The book takes place in Nazi-occupied Poland where five children have survived their parent's deaths and are left alone in a small cabin in the woods. Two of the children are eighteen year old twins, and the other three are younger. As the towns people struggle with who to trust, the twins, Helena and Ruth work hard to keep life normal for their siblings.

One day Helena was out for a walk and went to an old abanded church where she found an injured American soldier. It turned out that Sam, the soldier, was also Jewish which added even more danger to her finding and not reporting him to the authorities. As Helena continued to care for Sam, she kept his existence a secret even from Ruth. And Helena and Sam were falling in love with each other. Meanwhile the Nazis continued to search the area for any strangers. The decisions that they have to make result in decades long heartache.

I found the ending to be quite unexpected and satisfying and sad.

2) Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner; Ms. Meissner is a recently newly found to me historical fiction writer. This is the third book of hers I read this year, and will continue to seek out her books.

This book has a dual time line between the 1940's in England and current day in England.  It is also about two sisters. In present time, a young student at Oxford had the opportunity to interview 93 year old Isabel McFarland, a survivor of the London Blitz. Isabel was reluctantly eager to share secrets she had kept for the last almost 80 years. Including who und she really was. She and her sister had been sent to the countryside outside of London as children when London was either experiencing or expecting to be bombed the Nazis. They were taken in by a  lovely woman who took excellent  care of them. But Isabel was about 16 years old, she wanted to work as a dressmaker/designer and wanted to head back to London to try to apprentice with someone there.  However, when she was getting ready to sneak out to head to London, her younger sister begged to go with her. She threatened to tell the woman they were living with if her sister didn't take her. So Isabel decided to take her and leave her with their mother when they arrived. Her mother wasn't home, but she left her sister there and later learned that where her mother lived had been bombed. 

This was a really well written sort of mystery. I liked it very much!

3)The Dark between Stars by Atticus. I have always liked the poetry of Atticus. This book was a disappointment to me. Much of it seemed rather dark, not like his/her poetry I have always loved.

4) Bewilderment by Richard Powers: This was my second reading of this book-my book club chose it for December. It made for an excellent, interesting discussion. I published my review of it in my blog dated April 23, 2023.

5) The Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko : This book was recommended to me by my niece. It was written more than thirty-five years ago and is praised as "one of the most profound and moving works of Native American literature, a novel that is itself a ceremony of healing" . It is a book that I will read again sometime.

This novel is the story of Tayo, who served in the military during World War Two and came home deepy scarred by his experience. After he left the military and returned home to his reservation, he continued to experience rejections, just as he had in the military. He had been a prisoner of war by the Japanese and then felt rejection when he returned home to his people. As his friends turn to alcohol and drugs to cope, Tayo turned to his past, learning about the native American past and how to heal by learning their customs.

It is a powerful book.