The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Title: The Emerald City of Oz
Author: L. Frank Baum
Publication: Books of Wonder, hardcover edition, originally published in 2010
Genre: Juvenile Fantasy/Series

Description: In this sixth Oz book, Uncle Henry and Aunt Em are faced with bankruptcy as their Kansas farm has failed.

The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn

Title: The Diamond Eye
Author: Kate Quinn
Narrator: Saskia Maarleveld
Publication: HarperAudio, 2022
Genre: Historical Fiction
Setting: Soviet Union and United States

Description: When Lyudmila (Mila) Pavlichenko is sent to the United States during WWII to join Eleanor Roosevelt’s international student conference, Stalin’s goal is to showcase a military sniper whose skill has earned her the nickname Lady Death, hoping she and the rest of Russian delegation can generate American support on the Eastern Front.

WWW Wednesday – May 22

WWW Wednesday is hosted by Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading:

Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra (2022) is this month’s book group selection. It is set at a Hollywood movie studio during WWII that is full of European refugees trying to make a living as screenwriters or actors.

The Striped Ships by Eloise McGraw

Title: The Striped Ships
Author: Eloise McGraw
Publication: Macmillan, Margaret K. McElderry, hardcover, 1991
Genre: Juvenile Historical Fiction
Setting: 11th century Britain

Description: On what seems like an ordinary autumn morning in 1066, eleven-year-old Juliana, daughter of a Saxon thane, follows her usual routine of joining her future mother-in-law, Lady Editha, where she is instructed in embroidery and other household arts. When she slips away to the waterfront, she sees an onslaught of ships striped in red, gold, black and green, and realizes it is invading Normans.

Spell the Month in Books - May

Spell the Month in Books is hosted by Reviews From the Stacks and occurs on the second Saturday of each month or maybe a bit later!

Here is my May installment:

Going Zero by Anthony McCarten - you have two hours to get off the grid!

Title: Going Zero
Author: Anthony McCarten
Narrator: Marin Ireland
Publication: Harper Audio, 2023
Genre: Suspense
Setting: United States

Description: Ten Americans – five skilled, five amateurs – have been chosen to test a new surveillance software in a partnership between the CIA and a no-holds-barred company called WorldShare, run by brilliant Cy Baxter and his girlfriend/co-founder Erika Coogan. Any contestant who can go off the grid and avoid being caught by Cy’s Fusion spyware and brilliant analysts for an entire month will win $3 million tax free.

Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade by Janet Skeslien Charles

Title: Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade
Author: Janet Skeslien Charles
Publication: Atria Books, hardcover, 2024
Genre: Historical Fiction
Setting: France

Description: Jessie Carson, a children’s librarian at the New York Public Library (NYPL) in 1918, is flattered when Anne Morgan, daughter of the most powerful financier in America's history, J.P. Morgan, invites and pays her way to France to help with war relief work.

My April 2024 Reading

Lots of good books in April, including some for the #1937Club, a spine-tingling Orphan X book, a book by Nicholas Stuart Gray I’d always wanted to read, and Mrs. Quinn’s Rise to Fame, which was the most delicious read of the month - I'm surprised I didn't gain weight just reading it!

How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin

Title: How to Solve Your Own Murder
Author: Kristen Perrin
Publication: Dutton, hardcover, 2024
Genre: Mystery
Setting: Britain

Description: In 1965, Frances Adams was at a fair with teenage friends when a fortune teller warns her she will be murdered. Over the years, this changes a lovely, outgoing young woman into a neurotic person who alienates everyone she knows, including her own relatives.

Six Degrees of Separation – from The Anniversary to A Killing of Innocents

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place as other readers, add six books, and see where you end up. This month’s starting point is The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop (2023), a mystery in which the protagonist’s husband falls overboard while they are on a cruise celebrating their wedding anniversary (hello, I can sense an unreliable narrator from a distance).

The Night War by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Title: The Night War
Author: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Maps: Juliet Percival
Publication: Dial Books, hardcover, 2024
Genre: Juvenile Historical Fiction (with a little fantasy)
Setting: 1942 France

Description: Miri and her parents fled Germany for Paris after Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass), when the Nazis accelerated their persecution of German and Austrian Jews in November 1938. They have settled in a Paris neighborhood that welcomed many Jews and have made friends.