I'm Reading a Lot

As I wait for the illustrations to be done for Charlie's Dream, and as I wait for my daughter Meaghan to finish the graphics for my Study Guide and Lesson Plans for Use with The Storm, I have been doing little except for reading. I'd like to share a couple of titles that I have enjoyed very much.

I just finished a book called Innocent by Erin Kingsley. I can't tell you too much because that would be a spoiler alert, but I can give you the general gist of the novel. A youngish couple with a three year old daughter are extremely devoted to one another and their child. One evening, they go out to a wedding with numerous guests. There is a murder. The police have very few clues to work on but things are not what they seem. The wife secretly comes to believe that her husband is not who he says he is. The ensuing confusion just grows deeper and more complex as other characters enter the picture and the murderer eventually comes forward. This novel is very much about the human psyche and where our beliefs originate. The characters are very real and compelling. If you figure out the identity of the murderer before the book is done, you'll be way ahead of me. It was a great read. Sorry that I can't be a little more transparent but I definitely would not want to spoil this one for you. I gave it five stars.

The book I am currently reading, The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak, caught my interest because, as you all might know that I am enamored of trees. The title was intriguing. What I found inside was even more so. The main character is a sixteen year old girl living with her father because her mother died. Her father, a lovely man, is a tree lover and studies botany. He tends to a delicate fig tree brought to England from Cyprus where he and his wife met. He was Greek and she was Turkish which complicated their courting days as the Greeks and Turks battled each other. This is very important historical knowledge but in no way does it impede or digress from the storyline. What's so interesting about the fig tree is that is given a voice as a narrator every other chapter or so, explaining the life skills of trees and how they communicate with each other through their roots. Very charming.

Ada and her father are visited by his deceased wife's sister, a flamboyant woman who loves to cook and feed people. This is a chance for Ada to find out more about her mother and she does. That's all I've read for now but this book definitely has promise. I would recommend either of these books as a nice little gift for someone special. Hmmm, Christy's birthday is coming up... Happy reading everyone!

Blessings,

Barbara