June 2024 Reading List

Seven books read this month:

The Seamstress of Acadie is the first book I've read by author Laura Frantz. It is a historical fiction about the forced eviction of the Acadians from their land. (Nova Scotia) I've always thought of them as settling in Louisiana, but this book tells of the ones who settled in Virginia.

Portrait of an Unknown Woman by Daniel Silva is #22 in his Gabriel Allon series. I especially enjoy the ones that feature art works, as this one does. 

Pearl Cove by Elizabeth Lowell is #3 in her Donovan series. I didn't realize this was a series. I may or may not go back to read the first two if my library has them.

Table for Two by Amor Towles is my favorite read this month. Towles' writing is so splendid - such a pleasure to read. This book contains six shorter stories set in New York and a novella set in the golden age of Hollywood. 

Murder in the Tea Leaves by Laura Childs is #27 in her Tea Shop Mystery series. These are what I call cozy little murder mysteries. They all have a similiar theme. They are quick reads with predictable outcomes but I've been reading them for so long I feel an obligation to myself to keep reading them as long as she keeps writing them.

The Proof Of The Pudding by Rhys Bowen is #17 of the Royal Spyness Mystery series. Just as I said about the above book, I feel the same about these books, although I feel these have a little more substance and better story lines than the tea shop mysteries. But maybe that's because these are set in England and I'm a bit of an anglophile. 

Winter in Paradise is the first book in the Elin Hilderbrand Paradise series. I've read several of Hilderbrand's books set on Nantucket partly because of the memories of my visit to that island many years ago. Now I will be reading this new series, set on the island of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, for the same reason - memories of my vacation to all three of the U.S. Virgins and two of the British Virgins a very long time ago. Not only did this novel bring back my memories of that beautiful area, I also learned things about St. John that I didn't know. My son and daughter-in-law have made several trips to St. John the last few years. It is their favorite vacation destination. I understand why. 

The Reef Trail petroglyphs are one the things I learned from the book. I wish I could have seen these.

The two things I remember most about St. John were turquoise waters of Caneel Bay and the Annaberg sugar mill ruins.

I can't imagine my life without books.