She Prays: A 31-day Journey to Confident Conversation with God
by Debbie Lindell
4 stars. Thanks to Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, for sending me this book to review. I had previously posted about this book if interested in reading the review in full: http://imchattynatty.blogspot.com/2019/10/she-prays.html. I can tell you that doing this 31 day devotional/prayer journal has made me realize how we can incorporate conversation with God into our every day lives.
Paris
by Edward Rutherfurd
5 stars. Audiobook. I borrowed this book for the max 21 days audio/listening from Overdrive (library APP to borrow audibooks). I needed 22 days of listening. So when it automatically returned to the library Overdrive I quickly checked it out again so I could finish the last day of listening. 809 pages, 30 hours of listening and I came away from this book so glad I have visited Paris and so ready to go back again. I can't really fully describe what was so magical about this book. It is historical fiction (a major love of mine) and is an epic story (another reading love of mine) spanning 1261-1968. That is a lot of history to use as the backdrop and sometimes I felt like character in this story which was also epic as it involved so many different characters. At first I was a little confused and thought I wouldn't last long due to the multiple story lines and the various characters, some which were interwoven due to their stories colliding. However, as the book went on I just really enjoyed the visual pictures that came to my mind when listening. I loved how it made me want to return to a city I've only been to for 9 days out of my 43 years of living on this earth. I am looking forward to reading New York by Rutherfurd in the near future as I think that book, as well, will make me want to return to NYC, just as this one has made me want to return to Paris.
The Gifts of Imperfection
by Brene Brown
4 stars. I'm traveling right now so don't have my "quote book" on me- a book I've kept for years where I write down quotes that spoke to me during the reading of books. This book I wrote several pages of quotes, but alas I don't have the "quote book" with me so I will just state that I love Brene's honesty, genuine writing style and words that demonstrate to me she gets what real life is like. She has some great ideas on how all of us can get to where we want to be- my favorite self-help book- becoming who you were meant to be and want to be combined.
The Secrets We Kept
by Lara Prescott
4 stars. Growing up I watched Doctor Zhivago. I remembered it being a love story. I remembered it involving a married man and his mistress (Lara). I remembered some parts of the movie showing a revolt by groups of people in Russia against the government and of course I remembered Lara's song. So when I heard that this book was going to be about how the book by Pasternak- Doctor Zhivago- was used by CIA to "infiltrate the hearts and minds of Soviet Russia" via women spies (typists working undercover for CIA) I was all in. This book also highlighted the injustice and physical pain an heartache that came to the mistress of Pasternak- Olga Ivinskaya. I struggled a little keeping all the different stories/characters straight and point of view/voice of character changed from chapter to chapter along with different settings: US, Milan, Paris, the Gulag camp, and Moscow/outside Moscow. However, this didn't taint what a good read it was. Another great historical fiction read for me this month.
The Brutal Telling
by Louise Penny
4 stars. The fifth in the Armand Gamache mystery series. Second time reading this book- this time an audiobook listen. I think I liked it better the second time around. Another murder has occurred in Three Pines, this time a little too close to home, with multiple main characters/community members of Three Pines being suspects. I had totally forgotten how this one ended and so was caught off guard with the ending. I feel like this series gets better as it goes along.
That is all for October- 5 books total: 2 audio and 3 hard copy. A great book of reading in my book.