I just finished The Lost Book of Names. I hadn’t planned to read another World War Two story, but I kept seeing this one on my social media feeds, so decided to check it out. And I ended up liking it. I didn’t like everything about it — I found the mother character annoying. But it held my interest and kept me turning the pages. Also, it had a lovely ending. And a bad ending can ruin a book for me!

For book club this month, I’m reading Andy Weir’s Hail Mary. So far, I’m intrigued, but there are a lot of scientific details! I enjoyed his book/movie The Martian, so will stick with this for a while. What’s your first read of the new year?

Mary-Lane Kamberg, co-leader of the Kansas City Writers Group put together a compilation of some of her snippets into a delightful book. It’s an easy read; one to pick up for a quick diversion in this busy time.

I’ve been reading some pretty amazing kids’ books. My writer friend, Annette Whipple, is in the middle of her non-fiction series: The Truth About… Rich with pictures, facts, animal dialog, humor, and extras in the back matter. I love them. Whooo Knew? The Truth About Owls, Woof! The Truth About Dogs, and Scurry! The Truth About Spiders are the first 3 of 5 books in the series. 

I love history. But I don’t like learning it by memorizing dates. When a story is added with the event, history comes alive. Theresa Hupp is masterful at her craft of historical writing. Her newest book Safe Thus Far does a great job of showing what life was like during the Civil War in the western U.S.