The Radium Girls:The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate MooreMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
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Welcome to my altered journey through life. You never know if I will be into home improvements, knee deep in a good book, on an Alaskan cruise or just being silly. I hope this blog will give you tips, tricks, ideas and books to add to your TBR list. Thanks for stopping by.
11 March 2023
Review: The Radium Girls:The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women
The Radium Girls:The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate MooreMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
View all my reviews
26 February 2023
Review: Her Alaskan Return
Her Alaskan Return by Belle CalhouneMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
When I picked up this book, I expected it would follow the Hallmark-ish type romance formula, and just be set in Alaska, but this one turned out a bit different. Instead of boy meets girl and sparks fly, this one had the boy and girl (Judah and Autumn) as being a former couple and were deeply in love, girl dumped the boy because she was told she couldn't have children. Fast forward to 15 years later and this is where our story takes place, Autumn has just moved back to Alaska and is preparing to start over. Judah's wife and son were killed in a car crash and he just wants to stop. The chemistry is there, but there are so many obstacles.
It is a quick, fun read, I only wish there was a bit more of Alaska in the book because of my obsession, otherwise, this was a nice escape.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me get my hands on this one a bit early.
View all my reviews
19 February 2023
March Monthly Book Pick
I have been waiting for this book to be released so I can share it with you. I really tried to not pick too many WWII books, but I can't help it with this one. Pam Jenoff is one of the greats and you won't be sorry if you read this one.
Here is the review that I wrote last month....
Ms. Jenoff is one of my favorite WWII writers. She always tries to come up with a unique story about a woman that tries to save something. This time Hannah is trying to save Jewish people in a Sapphire Network. She ends up making a mistake that will cost her cousin, Lilly everything. Hannah will now have to try and make amends to her cousin, while still trying to keep herself safe and the man she loves. There's a little twist with that man, watch out for him.
This is a WWII story, there will be death, there will be suffering, there will be sorrow, and war is hell after all....but Ms. Jenoff always finds some good and I think she was so successful. I hope she has a brilliant launch to this book because it is superb.
Please let me know what you think about this one, and if you have never tried a book by Pam before and loved this one, please try another, they are all wonderful.
Review: The Spectacular
The Spectacular by Fiona DavisMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I wish I could give this one 10 stars! Fiona Davis is near the top of my MUST-READ list these days. I have loved every book she has written. If you are not familiar with Ms. Davis, you should be. Every book she writes is set in a NYC landmark and features some type of drama along with that landmark, which often becomes a character too. The Spectacular is set in Radio City Music Hall, where Marion has just landed a job as a Rockette. Marion's family doesn't agree with her decision to dance and there is a bomber loose in the city. The Big Apple bomber has been terrorizing New York for 16 years, and I will not spoil anything about what he does or if he is caught. What you need to know is that this book is just like the title states.....SPECTACULAR!!!
This will be my monthly book pick for June.
View all my reviews
01 February 2023
30 January 2023
Review: I'm No Philosopher, But I Got Thoughts: Mini-Meditations for Saints, Sinners, and the Rest of Us
I'm No Philosopher, But I Got Thoughts: Mini-Meditations for Saints, Sinners, and the Rest of Us by Kristin ChenowethMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
You are not going to like this book if you don't like a person with a bubbly personality, a person that loves God, or a book about a Broadway star. I did the audio so Kristin could read it to me, and I adored that part. She sings to you, and talks about her faith and her beginnings.
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Review: Survive the Bomb: The Radioactive Citizen's Guide to Nuclear Survival
Survive the Bomb: The Radioactive Citizen's Guide to Nuclear Survival by Eric G. SwedinMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book was not quite what I expected, but I did like it. It was full of information that was given to the public about nuclear fallout. Information like what to do, what to expect, how to pack your survival kit and how to build your safe space.
View all my reviews
29 January 2023
February Book Pick
Not a WWII book, I am trying so hard to get out of that genre...this one interested me the second I saw the cover. As a matter of a fact, I didn't even read the synopsis, I just started reading and I am glad that I did. Obviously, it features Memphis, TN in some way, but what you can't tell by the cover is this book covers a couple of generations of a family. I just adore these kinds of books that will take us through the lives of a family over the years. Even though there are many characters, I believe Joan is the main one. You see things happen to Joan when she is a child and then see her become an adult that uses art to hopefully change lives.
When I finished the book I read about it, I now see it is a debut novel (exceptionally well done, I must add) and the author said it was the type of fairy tale she wanted to read as a child. Actually, I am going to quote the synopsis from Goodreads because it is written much better than I could.
Inspired by the author's own family history, Memphis--the Black fairy tale she always wanted to read--explores the complexity of what we pass down, not only in our families, but in our country: police brutality and justice, powerlessness and freedom, fate and forgiveness, doubt and faith, sacrifice and love.
This book is perfect for now!!! So far, it is my favorite book of the year (book #12).
16 January 2023
26 December 2022
Review: Satisfying Stitches: Learn Simple Embroidery Techniques and Embrace the Joys of Stitching by Hand
Satisfying Stitches: Learn Simple Embroidery Techniques and Embrace the Joys of Stitching by Hand by Hope BrasfieldMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
While I am an intermediate stitcher and not a beginner, I enjoyed the photos and descriptions that showed me how to do things. I think this book is perfect for a beginner and can challenge even the advanced. An advanced stitcher can skim over the instructions on how to knot and go right to the patterns. The patterns were fun and exciting and Hope teaches you how to transfer these fun designs to your material. Hope even shows us how to do some stitches, many I did not know, and was thankful for the step-by-step photos.
View all my reviews
23 December 2022
First Read with Michelle book pick of 2023
If you are returning to my book pick list, thank you for coming back. If you are new to Read with Michelle, thanks for stopping by and I hope you find some inspiration. Whichever category that you belong to, please be sure to return to my Facebook page and share your thoughts on this book, or any book for that matter, sharing is caring!!! Near the last day of every month, I would love it if you would share all your books that you read that month, whether it is one book or twelve, please just share your love of books!!!
Imagine reading about an icon before she was a household name? We all know her name, Jackie Kennedy, but do we know how she became "Jackie Kennedy"?
*If you are looking for a way to sum up your 2022 reading life, I have created a list here. I find it fun to rate the books I have read in a top ten list and other random facts. I have been making top ten lists since 1996 and it is fun to look back on some of these books and smile at the memory or wonder why did I choose that one?
*If you are looking for a challenge in 2023, here is my reading challenge. I encourage you to be creative with the prompts and remember to read what you like. If you don't like a category, change it!!!
*Follow me on Goodreads if you want to learn about books that are soon to be published, I read a lot of fiction books before they hit your shelves and many of them will end up as a monthly book pick before the year is over.
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Now for January's book pick. I was looking for something fresh and different and NOT a World War II book. What I found was a book about a future First Lady that I found unique and worthy of a share.
Jacqueline Bouvier wasn't sure what she wanted to do outside of spending a year in Paris. Somehow she convinced her mother to let her go to school in Paris for her junior year of college. It would be a year that Jackie would experience freedom from her home life and what was expected and she could just be Jackie. While she is discovering her path, she is traveling through a countryside that still felt the sting of WWII. You will see the characters weave in and out of areas still feeling the destruction from the Occupation and see the strength of Parisians during the rebuilding. I couldn't just quit the WWII books that easily :).
It was nice to see a Jackie that I didn't know, a carefree young woman discovering who she wants to be and experiencing love with Paris as a backdrop.
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Thanks again for stopping by, I hope you will enjoy this year's monthly books. There are many on this year's that are simply spectacular!!! I will try to publish the next pick around the 20th of each month, just in case you want to read the book during that month, but feel free to skip around, mix it up, and do your own thing. Come back and share what you thought on the blog or the Facebook page, Read with Michelle.
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18 December 2022
30 November 2022
2023 Read with Michelle Reading Challenge
Good day to you,
I hope you are doing fantastic today! We are getting so close to the start of 2023. I realized today that I needed to get on my yearly reading challenge and so here it is for you.
Remember that I never want you to look at anyone's reading habits/achievements but your own!! You own your reading life. It is never about the number you read, or the genre you choose unless you wish for it to be that way. If you read one book a year, or 200, you are a success in your reading life!!
I release a challenge for fun. If you want to use it to motivate you, please do so. If you want to use it to inspire yourself, please, I would be honored if you did so. If you wish to bypass this post, then I support you in that too. My goal is for you to be a happy reader!!! I think you are a successful reader and I just want you to be happy!!!
I hope I do inspire you to get out of any box you feel you are in, and I encourage you to inspire me too!!! I would love to hear how your reading life is going, and new books that you love and I would love to hear about any books you think I MUST read.
I look forward to reading with you in 2023, thank you for your support.
27 November 2022
End of year book checklist-2022
I 100% admit that I am a stat lover when it comes to books. I keep them in many different forms, and an end-of-year checklist gets folded up inside my book journal every single year. For the last few years, I have been making a digital one that I have been sharing with others. My friend, Kristen was talking to me earlier in the year about using Canva for everything and I realized that she was correct, Canva would be a perfect way to showcase my book stuff...including my 2022 stats.
I have attached a copy here if you would like to print it off and use it with your end-of-year lists.
25 November 2022
December book pick
When I was a high schooler, I did enjoy the required reading of The Scarlett Letter. I have probably read it 10 or 15 times over the last 35 years. This book attracted me because of the cover, and then I found out it was about the inspiration behind the telling of The Scarlett Letter.
Isobel married for what she thought was love, to a man she thought she would love forever. He was going to provide everything she needed and he dabbled in medicine. Isobel was a brilliant seamstress, almost witch-like with the needle she was which was fitting as she was descended from witches.
I won't tell you how she and her husband arrived in Salem, but they did. They lived in a little cottage in a town that once murdered "witches". Here is where Isobel meets Nathaniel Hawthorne and the sparks fly, the townspeople mention witchcraft and a book is born.
That's it, I will tell you no more.....just read this, it is a scandalous tale in so many ways, and beautifully written. The cover is equally attractive....look at this gorgeous thing!!
November Book Pick
It is no secret that I am a big fan of Gill Paul. I think I have loved every book she has written. My favorite is still the one about Wallis Simpson and Diana Spencer, The Other Woman's Husband, but I think this one might be my second favorite. I simply love to read about this time period, the Jazz Age. This book is about four women, three of which are writers, and one is an actress, that forges a deep friendship over a game of bridge.
They each have different experiences with romance and careers, but their lives still intertwine at every intersection and with every relationship. Three of the women have their lives more together than Dorothy Parker does, and they seem to always be there to help her in the latest crisis. Dorothy is pretty much all about sex, booze, and jazz, and every once in a while she puts together some brilliant writing.
I could not help thinking the whole time I was reading this, if Dorothy really lived this hard, I just can't imagine how she ever wrote a thing.
Oh, one more thing, one of the girls in this novel, in real life co-founded The New Yorker. I found that fascinating. ENJOY!!
Review: Live Long and...What I Learned Along the Way
Live Long and...What I Learned Along the Way by William ShatnerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a typical Bill Shatner book. I enjoyed it because I adore Bill. If you are not a Shatner fan, you probably aren't going to like this one. Bill will tell you how he manages life and how to not sweat some of the small stuff.
View all my reviews
20 November 2022
20 September 2022
October book pick
Good day to you all,
I am so excited to bring my October book to you, I read this book many months ago and found it thrilling!!! Actually, today, September 20, is the publication day for this book!
It is by Susan Ella MacNeal, the author of the Maggie Hope book series (if you have not read Maggie's books and like WWII fiction, check them out). Susan Ella has written a stand-alone book this time around that kept me on my toes and had me constantly turning the corner and seeing a new surprise.
The book starts out in a controversial way, the daughter, Veronica is caught up in some drama with a married man. Mom, Violet, sees they have no choice but to relocate to California to start a new life in every way imaginable. Once WWII breaks out, each of the women gets caught up in espionage involving the war effort.
Here is my review on NetGalley....
I am going to tell you one thing that you must know, if you have not read one of Susan Ella MacNeal's novels, you must remedy that soon. Every book that she writes is full of intrigue and moments where I go "NO, that can't happen!!". This book is NOT part of the Maggie Hope series, this one is about a mother and daughter who have to leave their life in New York for a new life in California. Almost immediately they become entangled in a web of Nazi sympathizers and have to figure out a way to bring them down, and enter the spying. I was not happy I had to go to work because I would have loved to finish this book in one sitting. This is perfect for an afternoon by the pool or an excellent road trip accompaniment.
10 September 2022
24 August 2022
September book pick
Good day to you all,
A couple of years ago, I discovered Sara Ackerman and found her books exciting. She writes books set in Hawaii during WWII. The first one that I read was Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers in case you want to check it out too.
This book is all about Izzy and how the death of her brother completely changes the course of her life. I love books that feature the setting as a character and this one falls right into that category.
Here is what I wrote on Goodreads:
This dual timeline book is set in Hawaii during WWII and the mid-1960s. During the wartime plot, Pearl Harbor was attacked and Walt was killed. We meet Izzy a code breaker who has joined the war to avenge the death of her brother, Walt. She also tries to spend all of her free time doing the Hawaiian things her brother loved so much.
In the 1960s timeline, we meet Lu who has been sent to photograph a fancy hotel opening. She spends her time with the hotel owner and a local photographer. When they discover a body in a cave, it brings back the photographer's past and ties the two timelines together.
In the 1960s timeline, we meet Lu who has been sent to photograph a fancy hotel opening. She spends her time with the hotel owner and a local photographer. When they discover a body in a cave, it brings back the photographer's past and ties the two timelines together.
20 August 2022
13 August 2022
07 August 2022
August book pick
 My August book pick is late because I have been at work, I apologize for that. Still, this book is worth waiting for. I have always been a big fan of Jamie Ford, always. I read his first book (On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet) because it was the local "meet the author" event at our local community college. The book was spectacular!! Jamie sent out a digital book on one of the characters from that book and with those two books, I knew I was going to read anything he would write from now on. Fast forward to November 2021, this book was scheduled to be published in early 2022 and I got ahold of an advanced reader's copy. I just adored it!!! The book got delayed and I read it again because I loved it so much. I decided that when it was published, it would be my monthly book pick. The day has finally come, and before I could tell you how much I loved it, Jenna Bush Hager picked it for her monthly book. I am telling you, it is spectacular!!!!! Here is what I wrote on Goodreads: First of all, this was a complete departure from anything I have ever read. Secondly, once I started reading I did not stop until I finished the book, it just sucked me right into its grasp. I was a bit wary of keeping all the women straight, but I worried for nothing because the book was written so that you didn't get lost in the characters, you got lost in the story. Dorothy is our main character and she struggles with life, mentally. Dorothy is a former poet laureate and married to a man that she really doesn't love (maybe doesn't realize it), and absolutely adores her little girl. Her problems arise when her husband tries to make her feel she is inadequate and she feels haunted by the past (enter all the other characters). The book takes you on. the journey of how Dorothy seeks therapy and experimental treatment that is supposed to help her connect these bridges to her past (and the other characters). |
25 June 2022
July book pick
For this month, I chose a book that was spectacular, but I have never featured it as a monthly book pick.
This book is based on the true story of Belle da Costa Greene, the first curator of the Morgan Library. Belle's father was the first black student and graduate of Harvard and he championed civil rights. Belle's father and mother split up and the mother raised the children as white. When Belle got hired as the curator of the Morgan Library, she knew that her boss was a racist, but also knew she deserved this job. Belle did a wonderful job in collecting the materials and continued on as the main librarian even after JP Morgan's death.
Marie Benedict always selects strong women for her books and this one is no exception.
14 June 2022
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