2019 - Third Quarterly Review

To assist my blog readers, I've decided to summarize my reading four times a year, providing a brief description, the page count, and a grading scale (5 thumbs up - Highly Recommend, 4 thumbs up - Enjoyed, 3 thumbs up - Good, but not as satisfying as I'd hoped, 2 thumbs up - Meh, and 1 thumb down - Regret, wishing I could get back the time invested). I might also document the mention of agents in the acknowledgement section - this is primarily for my own purposes, since it benefits a writer to know what agents represented similar works.

I read the following books during the third quarter of 2019 (for my full review, click on title):


How to Forget by Kate Mulgrew - Well-written memoir about the deaths of Mulgrew's father to cancer and mother to Alzheimer's. - 334 pages, 👍👍👍

The Fast Diet: Lose Weight, Stay Healthy, and Live Longer with the Simple Secret of Intermittent Fasting by Dr. Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer - A 5:2 plan (5 days normal eating, 2 days restricted calorie eating) that seems reasonably easy to follow, but probably not the best book available on intermittent fasting. - 250 pages, 👍👍

Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts - The story of Maud Gage Baum, wife of the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and her intersection with the actress Judy Garland as she played the role of Dorothy in the movie version of Baum's book. - 340 pages, 👍👍👍-1/2

All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda - Told in reverse chronological order, this unique thriller lays groundwork for two missing girls, a decade apart, and slowly reveals the solution to the mystery. - 368 pages, 👍👍👍

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris - Lale Sokolov endures the terrors of the Nazi concentration camp because of his budding love for Gita.  More historical romance than historical expose. - 288 pages (I listened on audio, 6 CDs, 7.5 hours), 👍👍👍-1/2

Rules for Visiting by Jessica Francis Kane - Forty-year-old May Attaway lives with her father and her cat and works in the university gardens. A sudden allotment of time off prompts her to visit four old friends from her past. What follows is deep reflection on friendship in this modern age. With each visit she tends the garden of her soul. - 289, 👍👍👍👍-1/2

Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford - Ernest, a twelve-year-old Asian boy, is raffled off at the 1909 Seattle World's Fair and won by a madam in a brothel. Weaving back and forth between two Seattle fairs, Ernest's life is full of conflict and intrigue. - 320 pages (I listened on audio, 9 CDs, 11-1/2 hours), 👍👍👍👍-1/2

Once More We Saw Stars by Jayson Greene - Memoir of Greene's grief journey after losing his toddler daughter, Greta, in a freak accident. - 256 pages, 👍👍👍

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse - Newbery-winning book about a teen living during the Depression in the Dust Bowl. - 227 pages (I listened on audio, 2 CDs, 2-1/4 hours), 👍👍👍-1/2

Beyond the Bright Sea by Lauren Wolk - Award-winning historical fiction about a young abandoned baby raised by strangers on the Elizabeth Islands, near a leper colony on Penikese Island. - 283 pages, 👍👍👍-1/2

Emily's Fortune by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor - Orphaned and on the run, Emily Wiggins makes her way by stagecoach to her new home with her aunt Hilda. - 160 pages (I listened on audio, 2 CDs, 2-1/2 hours), 👍👍👍-1/2

On the Wings of Heroes by Richard Peck - Davy Bowman navigates the tricky waters of the World War II homefront. - 160 pages (I listened on audio, 3 CDs, 3-1/4 hours), 👍👍👍

How Not to Die Alone by Richard Roper - Andrew works as a public servant seeking clues of kin for those who die alone, but his life is built upon the lie that he goes home to a loving family. When he begins to take an interest in his co-worker, Peggy, he must find a way to come clean without losing everything. - 321 pages, 👍👍👍👍

A Prisoner of Birth by Jeffrey Archer - Danny Cartwright is framed for the murder of his best friend but by a quirk of fate he is able to seek rectification and revenge. An intricate, twisty cat-and-mouse game! - (Found this confusing: Amazon lists the hardback as 512 pages and the audio as 16-1/2 hours, yet my library audio version was only 5 CDs, 6 hours??? doesn't say abridged), 👍👍👍👍-1/2

The Outcasts of Time by Ian Mortimer - In 1348, brothers John and William are given a rare choice to either spend their final six days of life with their family (possibly passing along the plague) or cross time to spend the days with one day in ninety-nine year increments until their final day in 1942. As they travel across time, they encounter the many changes and attempt to do good or earn salvation. - 383 pages, 👍👍

When the Heart Waits by Sue Monk Kidd - Insight into spiritual times of waiting and seeking God's direction for life. - 205 pages, 👍👍👍

The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley - How did a severed finger turn up in Flavia's sister Ophelia's wedding cake? Could someone truly believe the finger holds the power to impart the musical prowess of the dead? If so, I could do with a drink from the dust of Dickens, ha! - 352 pages, (I listened on audio, 7 CD's, 9 hours), 👍👍👍-1/2

The Wit and Wisdom of Downton Abbey by Jessica Fellowes - A compilation of favorite lines from the popular PBS show about the upstairs and downstairs life in an Edwardian English estate. - 128 pages, 👍👍👍👍

The Cross Gardener by Jason F. Wright - John Bevan is having difficulty managing his grief until he strikes up a friendship with a heaven-sent individual who calls himself "the cross gardener," and comforts with the proclamation that "no one dies alone." - 304 pages, 👍👍-1/2

A Risk Worth Taking by Robin Pilcher - Dan Porter's world is falling apart after the loss of his job. Can a trip to Scotland save him? - 304 pages (I listened on audio, 3 CD's, 3-1/2 hours), 👍👍👍