Welcome to Bookish Nostalgia for February 2018. I've kept records of books I read for over 25 years and I enjoy looking back through my reading journals to see what I was reading 5, 10, 15, and 20 years ago. Let's see what I remember about what I was reading in those years:
February 1998 - The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas was a very interesting book. The time period is the 1930's. The setting is Kansas during the Depression. There's a women's quilting group that gets together to sew and gossip and improve their minds. One member decides to solve a mystery and eventually the whole group gets involved with unexpected results - really unexpected. This book was maybe the second book written by this author. I liked it very much!
February 2003 - In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming is the 1st book in the author's series set in upstate New York. The main characters are Reverend Clare Fergusson and Chief of Police Russ Van Alstyne. This series now includes 7 more books and I'm hoping that Julia will complete another for us, her fans. It's been my wish to go back and reread the books that I've sampled already and then continue with the ones I haven't read. Clare and Russ take a bit of time to get used to each other and become friends. It's complicated because he is married and she is an Episcopal priest. She's also a military veteran - helicopter pilot. The weather and location play a big part in this first story. It's a good one!
February 2008 - The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick - I read this book when I was still working at the library. It was just a wonderful book and so very unique. The combination of illustrations and narrative was fascinating and it got passed around from staff member to staff member very quickly. The wonderful thing about it was that it won the Caldecott Medal, which is given for children's picture books. This book is over 500 pages and it's not exactly a picture book or a graphic novel or a novel. It's unique. Selznick wrote and illustrated it and there has been a movie made since.
February 2013 - The Distant Hours by Kate Morton - This was the first Morton book that I read. It includes a castle and a mystery and sisters that have secrets. It's a bit Gothic. A long book telling the story of Edie who comes to the area to learn about her mother's experience living there as a child who was evacuated during the war. After reading this book, I knew that Kate Morton would be an author I'd try again.
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And so we end this month's Bookish Nostalgia. Have you read any of these books or authors? Hope you'll join me again next month to see what March books I remember from my journals.
I LOVE Kate Morton. I've read and loved all her books. She doesn't publish often enough for me!
ReplyDeleteI've read IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER, but I didn't continue with the series. Not sure why as I remember liking the book. Hm. I'll have to go back to it. Thanks for the reminder!
I live to fill your TBR up with more books! Truly! LOL
DeleteKate Morton is one of my favorite authors! I'm waiting for her next book to come out!
ReplyDeleteI know - it should be about time don't you think?
DeleteI loved Hugo Cabret too!
ReplyDeleteWasn't that a wonderful book and so surprising at that time (wasn't that many years ago, but still).
DeleteThis is a really good idea! Maybe I should go and look at the boys I loved years ago and do a few share the love posts!
ReplyDeleteI meant books not boys! Jeez I'm stupid!!!
DeleteIt's fun to remember, but then I always want to go back and reread the ones I loved. LOL
DeleteThe Persian Pickle Club! I remember seeing that one everywhere. I have no idea if I ever read it but now I want to. I like the Julie Spencer-Fleming series though it's been years since I read any of the books. And of course Kate Morton! And now I need to look for Hugo Cabaret. You do great reading in February!
ReplyDeleteKatherine, I think you'd like The Persian Pickle Club. Have you read any of Sandra Dallas' other books? Tallgrass is really good too. And you have got to read Hugo Cabret! It wouldn't take you long - at least half is illustrations.
DeleteI've enjoyed all of the books you've mentioned, except for The Distant Hours. How I could have missed a Kate Morton book eludes me! My favorite by Kate Morton is The Lake House, but now I have to check the library for The Distant Hours. :)
ReplyDeleteI really liked The Lake House too. This one was earlier, published in 2010 I think.
DeleteI've read all of Julia Simpson-Fleming's series. It's one of my favorite series and I hope she'll write another soon. This is a great idea, Kay. I've kept lists of the books I've read off and on for years, but until about 10 years ago I didn't save the lists. :(
ReplyDeleteOh, that's sad, Jan! I so wish that I had started noting my books in my 20's or even my teens.
DeleteI adore this feature although it always makes me wish that I’d kept a record of my reading over the years. I read The Distant Hours too but it was my third read by this author at the time.
ReplyDeleteIt's fun to look back. I can see how my reading has changed somewhat and also remained the same as well.
DeleteHas it really been four years since Kate Morton released The Distant Hours? I do love her novels. The touch of Gothic never fails to thrill me.
ReplyDeleteIt's actually been 8 years, Michelle. And, yes, I love her way of bringing Gothic into her stories.
DeleteOh I remember when the Hugo Cabret book was all the rage when it first came out! I probably still have that listed on my TBR list - haha! Love these posts and happy to see this again.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Iliana! I like doing them too.
DeleteI have only read two of the Fergusson / Van Alstyne series. There are things I don't like about those books but they are so engaging I plan to continue the series. I will have to look into The Invention of Hugo Cabret .
ReplyDeleteHugo Cabret is really interesting and unusual. Quite a different JFic book.
DeleteI love the Julia Spencer-Fleming series and eagerly await the next one (I think she had a death in the family, which of course delayed new writing).
ReplyDeleteI've had The Lake House recommended to me so many times I can't believe I haven't read it yet. So onto my list it goes!
The Lake House is very good. I read it with our mystery group and it went over well. Yes, Julia Spencer-Fleming lost her husband to cancer some months ago. So sad.
DeleteI really enjoyed In The Bleak Midwinter when I read it awhile back. I have the 2nd one on my shelves so I need to start reading it sooner rather than later. So many series to keep up with though! It never fails to amaze me that you've been tracking your books for that long! It's awesome!
ReplyDeleteSometimes it surprises me how long it actually is - 1993 to 2018. Though I've said before many times that I wish I had started in 1973. I'd love to be able to think of some of the books I read in my teens and early 20's.
DeleteI love the Hugo book so much! I think I told you that I quit the Spencer-Fleming series after the book that took place in just 24 hours. Maybe I should pick it up again, though not wild about the romance. Did I read the Pickle book??? I think I read something by her. I'll have to go back and check. I may be thinking of another one that involved an attic and something from the past. Clear as mud, aren't I?!
ReplyDeleteSandra Dallas' books are all set in the past I think. Maybe you read the Mattie Spencer book or Tallgrass?
DeleteI'm quite sure now that it wasn't a SD book. I don't think I've ever read her. This book I'm thinking of must be listed in one of my print journals that I wrote for just a few years. Attic, something unknown found, touches of religion.
DeleteHmmm...doesn't ring a bell with me, so I'm no help. Sorry.
DeleteIt's so much fun to look back on our reading over the years. I haven't had a chance to read any of these although Julia Spencer-Fleming's book and Kate Morton's are ones I would like to read someday.
ReplyDeleteIt is fun, though it makes me want to do a lot of rereading.
DeleteAwesome to have a reading diary that goes so far back. Mine may be about 11 years. Read the Kate Morton book.
ReplyDeleteYes, I'm glad I've kept the notebooks. Wish I had done it in my teens and 20's.
DeleteThis is wonderful to be able to look back at what you read years ago. I wish I would have kept track sooner, I know that I was reading mostly true crime novels in my late teens (almost 30 years ago). It doesn't seem that long ago!
ReplyDeleteHa! I feel the same way. I think about my age now and wonder 'how did get here so fast?'. I am glad that I noted down what I was reading way back in 1993. I wish I had started in 1983 or 1973.
DeleteI think I tried The Persian Pickle Club, but couldn't get interested. I did enjoy Tallgrass by her, though.
ReplyDeleteThe Invention of Hugo Cabret is a wonderful book! Did you ever see the movie?
No, I never did. I should look for it.
Delete