“Those that truly love, have roots that grow toward each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms have fallen from their branches, they find that they are one tree and not two. “ From Captain Corelli’s Mandolin I randomly spotted this book at my library’s “New and notable” section, and the title, The Lost Love Song , and cover art caught my eye.  The blurb sounded interesting so I brought it home.  And boy was that a good idea.  I read this wonderful book by Minnie Darke in 2 days, and immediately sat down to write this review.   I occasionally play piano, so this tale that starts with a very talented pianist who meets her true love, and composes a love song for him while away on tour, was especially interesting.  But then tragedy strikes and Diana is lost to Arie forever.  But, perhaps her song can get back to him.   Through a crazy turn of fate, this amazing song makes its way from musician to musician in different parts of the world...

Sandra Boynton is one of my favorite children’s board book authors.  I discovered her in a free box of books at a small English library somewhere in Tubingen, Germany.  I cannot remember what the library was called, but I still love The Belly Button Book .  And I then climbed on German Amazon and bought 2 box sets.  The greatest hits Big blue box contains Moo, Baa, La La La!; A to Z; Doggies and Blue Hat, Green Hat.  And then The greatest hits Big Yellow box contains The going-to-bed book; Horns to toes; Opposites; But not the hippopotamus.   I can still recall almost verbatim at least 3 or 4 of these books, since we read them so so many times.  And I would happily read them another 100 times each, except for the fact that my kids have kind of outgrown them, which is sad.  Now I buy a smattering of these for new babies, especially friends who live in South Africa because you can’t get these there. We have also read a number of her other books, ...

 I’ve seen Elizabeth Strout’s books recommended quite a lot, and I’ve previously read My Name is Lucy Barton, which was a fun, short read.  I plan to review it too at some point, but when The Burgess Boys came up in my library list, I thought I’d give it a chance. This author definitely writes what I would call more complicated books, that is to say they’re not your typical beach read, and she’s won some serious book awards for her stories.  But I’m trying to branch out my reading a little, and this book was great for this.  I was definitely a little slow reading it, but I enjoyed it, and even found myself thinking about the characters after I was done reading it. Jim and Bob Burgess left the small town in Maine where they grew up as soon as they were old enough to head to New York City.  As a side note, I love reading about NYC since we’ve visited 3 times, and we can’t wait for our next post Covid visit.  Jim is a successful corporate lawyer and Bob is a ...

The next great Jane caught my attention because I’m a tentative Jane Austen fan, who really enjoys her stories, but has not ever managed to actually read one.  K.L. Going writes an interesting young adult novel here, in which we meet Jane, who loves to write and fancies herself the next great Jane. She has the fortune to meet a famous author who promises to share her secrets for great writing with Jane. Jane doesn’t seem to think the advice is all that revolutionary, but will some unlikely friendships, some science projects and some good old falling in love prove her wrong. This is a fun, quick read, which I can highly recommend for anyone over the age of 10 since it is appropriate for younger readers.  I’m interested to see what some of this author’s 10 other YA novels on Amazon are like - I would happily read any of them based on the enjoyment which I got from reading The Next Great Jane.

 My daughter got Hotel Flamingo Holiday Heatwave for her birthday a few months ago and we only just read it all together over the last week or so.  This easy chapter book of 180 pages is written by Alex Milway.  It’s charmingly illustrated in 3 colors, and with chapters of only a few pages each, it’s a great read aloud for kids as young as 3 I think, and definitely good for a first grader or second grader to read independently. We meet a cast of animal characters and a little girl, Anna Dupont, who together run a hotel in Animal Boulevard.  Their are some seriously fun animals to meet, like Lemmy the Lemur and Madame Le Pig, who is obviously a pig and is the hotel’s chef.   We pick up the story when the king and queen send their envoy to book a stay at Hotel Flamingo for the first time.  They have a very long list of demands, and it’s a race for Anna and her staff to get it all done.  While they’re trying very hard to be as good as The Glitz hotel for...

Four friends is a beach read type novel by Robin Carr has a slightly slow start where we meet three friends, who walk around their neighborhood together in the morning and share the ups and downs of their lives with each other. Gerri’s marriage falls apart first when she finds out a devastating truth about her husband and she cannot figure out how best to handle it in a way that feels right for her and her 3 older kids.  Will she get what she wants and learn something about herself as she navigates this big event or will it ruin everything. Andy’s next bad marriage ends and she finds herself alone once again.  And when she finds herself attracted to someone she would not normally spend time with she has to work out what she really wants and needs. Sonja is normally the one in the neighborhood watching out for and taking care of everyone else, and now her husband has declared he is done with their marriage as well.  How will Sonja cope with being thrust into life on her o...

 There are now 8 books in this wonderful series by Asia Citro, with a 9th set to release later this year. They are early chapter books, great for a 2nd or 3rd grader to read independently and great as a read aloud for ages 5 to 10 I would imagine - Amazon agrees.  We first listed to the first, Dragons and Marshallows when it was on sale through Audible and recommended by Everyday Reading.  My girls really enjoyed this captivating story about a little girl and her mom who can see and assist ailing magical creatures who come to their barn.  Can Zoey figure out how to help the little Dragon who is sick by using scientific principles - you heard me right, these books use basic scientific principles in the stories, which this mommy really loved. We have since also read Merhorses and Bubbles , Catterflies and Ice and Unicorns and Germs .  Each of the books has a different magical creature which Zoey and her mom have to help, using a different scientific method or pr...

 I said previously that I would post about this literary fiction book again once I was done reading it, and I finally finished it a few weeks ago.  It's taken me a few weeks to write about it, partly because I'm not entirely sure what to say about it, and also because I immediately jumped into a few lighter reads.  Am I glad I read The Goldfinch ?   It's a very big, long, slow book. Yes, because now it's no longer on my TBR list.  Yes, because I'm not sure I've ever read a book that won a Pulitzer Prize, and I'm not sure I will again.  But in all honesty, once I was done, I kind of felt like not much happened in the story considering it's well over 500 pages long.   I think perhaps if you're in the mood for a slower paced, book that is clearly super well written and perhaps a breath of fresh air from a typical beach read then this is the book for you.  If you're sick of romcom type books, then this is the book for you.  Definitely w...

This picture book written by Chris Harris and illustrated by Dan Santat is one of the better ones I have read with my girls lately.  If you think your youngster is too old for The Alphabet's Alphabet because they can read, I encourage you to try it anyway.  I think it's worth a read for any child who enjoys picture books, and I guarantee you will enjoy reading it too. You've never seen an alphabet book where each letter is compared and made into family with another letter in the alphabet.  I found it so clever and refreshing.  And the logic equation at the end is super great for the mathematician in me. Give it a try and let me know what you think.