Read Bridge of Scarlet Leaves by Kristina McMorris.  It's a very good story about a musically talented young woman who falls in love with a very bright Japanese American.  When his parents announce that they have arranged a marriage with a suitable woman from Japan, they get married without telling anyone.  The morning after their first night together they learn that Pearl Harbor has been bombed and their lives spiral out of control.  No Julliard for her and no senatorial apprenticeship for him.  This is a wonderful tale with so much research behind it that the author's comments were as fascinating as the story she wrote.

Hello, all!  

REK - That sounds like an interesting book.  

I'm currently reading The Family by Mario Puzo, which is another retelling of the story of the infamous Borgia family.  I'm about halfway through, and I like it.  I haven't started a new audio book yet.  Busy catching up on some podcasts. I'm also spending a fair amount of time reading some non-fiction.  

Yes, it's a great read.  My DD read it first and when she returned it told me how wonderful this read is.  If you haven"t reat it, look for a copy and enjoy!  Now reading The Shadow Queen by Sandra Gulland, an author I enjoy reading.

I finished a very good book, The Nature of Fragile Things  Author: Susan Meissner. Set in 1905 San Francisco during the big earth quake and fires. Couldn't put the book down.

I'm reading The Cellist by Daniel Silva.  Not HF.  I needed a break from the genre,

Carolyn:  I like Daniel Silva.  Good author.  And, Alice, I just had to order The Nature of Fragile Things.  Found it in the library!  My next historical fiction book is The Moor's Account.

Hello!  Nothing really new to report, other than I started an audio book last week - A Column of Fire by Ken Follett.  Not sure why I decided to start such a behemouth of a book, but it's what appealed to me at the time.  I'm almost done with The Family by Mario Puzo, which I am enjoying. 

I started What the Devil Knows by C.S Harris. I bought it back in April when it came out, but withheld reading it so that when I do finish it the wait for the next book won't be so long 

(There is no logic to my logic) lol

Just finished Rodin's Lover: A Novel by Heather Webb, which is a most interesting book.  I knew little about Rodin and nothing about his lover Camille Claudel, who was also a sculptor.  She was as brilliant an artist as her more famous lover.  A woman who was trying to break into a man's era she was frustrated time and again when critics recognized her talent but denied her pieces because she was a woman.  Coming from a family where her mother seemed to hate her and her father and brother loved and cherished her, she is obsessed by making figures with her hands.  She was especially talented in working with difficult mediums but mental illness followed her until at last she was committed to an asylum.  It's a passionate although a sad read as I felt so deeply her isolation from the world.  

R E K - That sounds like a great book.  I love books about artists.  I've often wondered why so many of them seem to be tortured souls who suffer from mental illness.  Perhaps all that internal struggling leads to beautiful things. 

I'm listening to A Column of Fire by Ken Follett, which I like but as usual with his books, he often throws in phrases or terms that I'm pretty sure weren't used in the era in which he is writing.  One of the characters in this book thought another character was a "dreamboat."  Really?  People in the 16th century used the term "dreamboat" to describe an attractive man?  LOL!  There have been a few other things that irritated me as well.  I know authors have to use the modern vernacular for the most part to make it more understandable for us in the present day, but "dreamboat" seems a little over the top.  

I finished The Family by Mario Puzo, and I enjoyed it.  Hard to beat the notorious Borgia and their shenanigans.  I started reading The Painted Veil by Somerset Maugham last night.  Only got about 16 pages in but the main character drives me nuts already.  I like the writing, though, and I think she's supposed to be irritating and not very likeable.  

I started A Taste for Death by P.D James. I'm never really sure what the the time period for these books are supposed to be...the 1970s? 

Did read The Nature of Fragile Things  by Susan Meissner and, yes, I enjoyed it.  Anytime I see this author I try to obtain her book.  Thanks for sharing, Alice.