Share Your Shelf-November

Hello friends. It's the first Thursday of the month which means it's time to share what we've read the month prior. For me it was not a lot, or at least not as much as I would have liked. 'Tis a busy season and time normally spent reading has been spent on other pursuits. 

Share Your Shelf is hosted by Tanya (The Other Side of the Road), Joanne (Slices of Life), Marilyn (Memphis Bridges), and Jenn (My Joyful Life) so hop over if you want to add your own link or see what others are reading. 

Here's how my November looked-

1. Horse by Geraldine Brooks

This was our book club's November selection and I mostly enjoyed it. The story is told with three timelines, the Civil War era timeline being the longest and in my opinion the best. There's a brief 1950's interlude and a modern day (2019) timeline too.  The modern day story  annoyed me in a number of ways, and it was the part of the book where I felt like this wonderfully talented author took the opportunity to push an agenda.

But! The older story line was so good and a delight to read. 

Horse is primarily a work of fiction, but is based on the true story of the record breaking horse called Lexington, a successful racehorse but an even more successful sire. 

In 2019, grad student Theo and Smithsonian osteologist Jess follow separate clues—a discarded horse portrait and a forgotten skeleton—that draw them together in both research and romance. In 1850, enslaved teen Jarret forges an extraordinary bond with the racehorse Lexington, a relationship documented in the diary entries of artist Thomas J. Scott as horse and handler are sold across the South. And in 1954, gallery owner Martha Jackson is stunned to learn that a painting brought to her for appraisal depicts Lexington himself, a horse tied to her own family’s past. 

Geraldine Brooks is a gifted writer, she won the Pulitzer for her book March.  I struggled to rate this one, mainly because the present day storyline didn't work for me. There was still much about the book I did enjoy, so a mixed review. 

2. Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner

This is one that had been on my Goodreads list a long time. In fact, I marked it as 'to-read' ten years ago, and I'm trying to go back and read some of those early titles now. This was a very enjoyable book, and another that lands in the historical fiction category. 

The story follows two sisters in wartime England, Emmeline and Julia Downtree, who are separated from each other during the Blitz. Before the Blitz began Emmy dreamed of designing wedding dresses. That dream was about to become a reality when Emmy made a choice that changed the course of her life, and the life of her sister. 

There's a modern storyline as well, but it's minimal and is used to tie everything together. I enjoyed the setting and the characters were well developed. The reader cares about them and I want to care. Four stars for me. 

3. Theo of Golden: A Novel  by Allen Levi

Oh my. What a beautiful book. Truly one of the best I've read in a long long time. I loved it so much I bought copies for all the readers in my family for Christmas. 

A man known only as Theo arrives one spring morning in the small southern town of Golden. He stops by the neighborhood coffee shop, and is drawn to the ninety-two pencil portraits hanging on the walls there. The portraits are sketches of Golden's residents, drawn by a local artist. One by one Theo buys the portraits and returns them to the people depicted. Each handoff sparks a story, begins a friendship, and changes a life. 

A heartwarming, emotionally rich story that had me from page one. It's the kind of book I wish I could read for the first time again. I gave it five stars. 

Have you read anything good lately? If so please share.