Monthly Book Review: March 2022

It's my birthday month and it kicked off with a wonderful weekend of family, friends and food. I am really looking forward to a dedicated weekend with my BFF (first time in four years!) and fingers crossed our rescheduled family trip to Europe (Germany/Austria). This trip was canceled a week before we were scheduled to leave in 2020 due to COVID (borders shut down and all), but we're cautiously optimistic that it's going to happen this time - though I won't allow myself to get fully excited until we're officially through customs at our first destination. I know we'll have to show our vaccination cards constantly so have plastic sleeves for those. but it'ss super confusing about what's required for testing. Do we have to test to get on the plane or only for entry, if so how many hours in advance, is it x hours before departure or arrival, will we need to test again between countries, etc.? Looking forward to a couple of books with dedicated reading time during long flights as well. This month's reads were excellent.

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles - this is a must read if you loved A Gentleman in Moscow (which I did!). Towles writing you on the journey (literally in this case) of Emmett and Billy Watson from Nebraska. There are several other main characters germane to the story and I love how Towles weaves the between each characters version of the same events to connect all the dots. This is one of those stories where you don't want to give too much away because the journey is just as good as the destination. Great ending - left me wanting so much more. 

Address Unknown by Katherine Kressman Taylor was originally published in 1938 and unfortunately is just as relevant today as it was 84 years ago. A short story of two business partners originally from Germany with one of the partners returning to Germany and telling of the goings on there and the impressions abroad for a brief period between the two world wars. Of course Germany was left stinging after WWI which gave rise to the politics of the third Reich. The story is told through letters between the two partners. How each interprets their reality is a stark reminder of how fragile humanity and peace really is.

I made a couple of attempts to get into The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson but just couldn't do it. A healthy dose of honesty and self-awareness caused me to return the audiobook (one of the features I love about Audible). I'm already a third of the way through Our Woman in Moscow so hoping that I get at least three books in this month. Bon Voyage!

TBR List

• Our Woman in Moscow by Beatriz Williams
• A Beastly Kind of Earl by Mia Vincy
• The Good House by Ann Leary
• This Must Be the Place by Maggie O’Farrell
• Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones
• The Joy of X by Steven Strogatz
• Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane