Books I read in May 2013

My apologies to Adam.  These are his least favorite blog posts.  Still, my blog, my posts.  I like my book posts because I have a rare and incurable disease called I Can't Remember Anything I've Read.

May was a good month for reading.  These were some good books:

Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright ***

This was a fourth grade curriculum book.  I enjoyed it.  It's about the adventures of two cousins who discover a hidden place that used to be a lakeside resort community.  Two darling people still live there.  It's a feel-good book that was just the kind of book I loved to read as a child.  It was perhaps too good to be true at times but I don't fault a book for that.  Happy endings are the best kind.

Home Front by Kristin Hannah ****

I love Kristin Hannah and every book I've ever read by her.  This is about a family whose mother is in the National Guard and goes to Iraq.  I cried a lot, even when I was reading it during my hair appointment.  I blamed Jill because she lent me the book.  She said to blame the chemicals at the hair salon.  Everyone passes the blame but it was a terrific book.

The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood ***

This made me want to be a better knitter.  (I can dream.)  It's about a group of people that have all had different tragedies in their lives but they get strength from each other and from the act of knitting.  I want to find a place like they had and gather once a week to knit.  I don't have time for that.  (I can dream.)
 

The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey ****

I loved this book!  It's an homage to Jane Eyre which is one of my all time favorites so how could I not love it?  I was fascinated by how the story was reinterpreted in a different setting (Scotland in the '60s).  There was a variation to the plot which bothered me at first but I think in the end I liked it.  I enjoyed reading about Scotland too.  I have some ancestors from there so that always ups my interest level.

The Winged Watchman by Hilda van Stockum ****

I read this book to Mark.  It's set in Holland during the Nazi occupation.  I loved this book too!  The people were wonderful and the setting was interesting.  I learned a lot about Holland.  I especially loved the mother.  She was heroic and when the father told the sons on the last pages how great the mother was, I cried.  Mark offered to take over but I soldiered on.