today we go home by Kelli Estes

Monopoly Book Challenge - Atlantic Ave. - A book with a mostly yellow cover.
Once Upon a Book Club - October 2019
Historical Fiction

A captivating read that depicts women in the military both currently and those disguised as men who served in the Civil War. The novel alternates between Larkin who has returned from serving in Afghanistan and Emily who served in the Civil War.

The bravery of these women serving our country in the midst of discrimination, inequality and misogyny is incomparable. 

Highly recommended read as well as the research notes and sources by the author!

Summary from Goodreads: Seattle, Washington. Larkin Bennett has always known her place, whether it’s surrounded by her loving family in the lush greenery of the Pacific Northwest, or riding on a dusty convoy in Afghanistan. But all that changed the day tragedy struck her unit and took away everything she held dear. Soon after, Larkin discovers an unexpected treasure: the diary of Emily Wilson, a young woman who disguised herself as a man to fight for the Union in the Civil War. As Larkin struggles to heal, she finds herself drawn deep into Emily’s life and the secrets she kept. Indiana, 1861. The only thing more dangerous to Emily Wilson than a rebel soldier is her own comrades in the Union. But in the minds of her fellow soldiers, if it dresses like a man, swears like a man, and shoots like a man, it must be a man. As the war marches on and takes its terrible toll, Emily begins to question everything she has been told about the freedom she is supposed to be fighting for.

    The Intruder - Peter Blauner                                                                                                      ( "B" book)

#2021monoplychallange - St. Charles Place - book with black cover

First of all,   this book was written in 1995. The world was different then.  Now reading a book that has racial slurs and unnecessary violence was difficult to read. 

Jake is an attorney who makes a wrong decision in trying to protect his family from a man with a mental problem.  Unknowingly he gets involved with a mob guy and soon finds himself  on trial for murder.

This was a decent legal thriller with twists and turns that I did not always see coming.

Goodreads : Sold to Hollywood for nearly $3 million, this blockbuster thriller pulls readers into its stranglehold of terror in the tradition of Cape Fear. Having survived a childhood of beatings and psychological torture, successful Manhattan lawyer Jacob Schiff cherishes his stable family life with his wife, a psychiatric social worker, and his son. But Jake sees it all unraveling when John Gates, a homeless man who has become his wife's patient, starts stalking her and menacing the family.
 

 The Lost Apothecary - Sarah Penner                                                                                     (Historical Fiction) 

OUBC - March 2021

Caroline is in London. She was supposed to be celebrating her 10th anniversary but after discovering her husband's "secret" , she went by herself.  She  finds a blue vial while "mudlarking" in the Thames River and immediately starts researching this strange little bottle.  

The second timeline is 1791 where we meet Nella, the apothecary, who makes well-disguised poisons for women who want to be rid of the men in their lives who have hurt them in different ways.  

This was an enjoyable read. It kept my interest in the happenings to these 2 women,

Goodreads:

A female apothecary secretly dispenses poisons to liberate women from the men who have wronged them—setting three lives across centuries on a dangerous collision course.Rule #1: The poison must never be used to harm another woman.
Rule #2: The names of the murderer and her victim must be recorded in the apothecary’s register.

In present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, reeling from the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. When she finds an old apothecary vial near the river Thames, she can’t resist investigating, only to realize she’s found a link to the unsolved “apothecary murders” that haunted London over two centuries ago. As she deepens her search, Caroline’s life collides with Nella’s and Eliza’s in a stunning twist of fate—and not everyone will survive.

 Accordion Crimes by E. Annie Proulx

Monopoly Book Challenge - Tennessee Ave. - A book with a character in the music industry.
Oldest book on TBR

I have had this book for-ev-er!! I've tried to start it a number of times but it just never seemed to grab me. Yet, I refused to give up on it, believing that I enjoyed this author. Well, I have only read 1 other book by Ms. Proulx - The Shipping News - and while I enjoyed that book immensely, this book did nothing to endear me to Ms. Proulx. Though I can't say it is entirely her fault. She writes beautifully, but I was misled by the book jacket to Accordion Crimes. It is described as a novel, spanning a century and a continent. Actually, it is a book of short stories loosely connected by a green accordion. Goodreads describes it better: "divided into nine sections", but in the end its 9 short stories. I have tried time and time again and I simply am not a fan of short story collections. Maybe if I read 1 story each day I could separate the characters, location, etc. but in each story my mind was recalling the characters from the prior story and getting frustrated that they weren't fitting into the current story. The only continuous character in this aptly titled book was the accordion itself (hence why I made it fit the Monopoly challenge!) And the only reason I didn't give up on this book was because I was waiting for something to be found. I won't spoil it in this review, but I was unsatisfied, but not for the reasons one may think.

While there was some language and xenophobia that made this book uncomfortable, as well as some graphic descriptions of violence - I can appreciate Ms. Proulx's writing.

I did learn some things as this book did span a time period of 1890 to 1980s, from Italy to America to Paris, following immigrants from Poland, Germany, Norway, their food and their polkas!

This Life magazine cover photo of the popular college stunt of phone booth stuffing (though Proulx did not attribute it to the correct photographer?)

And the beautiful Appaloosa horse which was confiscated by the US Government from the Nez Perce tribe and cross-bred almost out of existence.

Summary from Goodreads: Divided into nine sections and spanning a century and a continent, this novel illuminates the lives of the founders of a nation, descendants of Mexicans, Poles, Germans, the Irish, Scots and Franco-Canadians. Through the music of the accordion they express their fantasies, sorrows and exuberance.

Quotes: "Americans understand nothing of how to live, only to get and get and get."

"...he talks too much, they must have vaccinated him with a Victrola needle when he was a baby."