Postcards 2019: Eagle's Nest

2019, this year I am going to highlight postcards from places that I have never visited!! I know many of you think that I have traveled all over the world and I have been to many places, but there are places here in the USA and all over the world that are still on my bucket list. So this year, I will be sharing postcards from places that I have not visited yet!  There are still many areas of Germany and Austria that I have not visited. I need to go back and tour more thoroughly 

Books I read in May 2019

The Missing Pieces of Sophie McCarthy by B. M. Carroll  This book was recommended by Liane Moriarity and I have enjoyed so many of her books. This one was not as good as the Liane Moriarity books, but I did enjoy it a bit.
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn (library) Great fictional book based on the true story of women spies during WWI and spanning into WWII. The author has a bibliography at the end of the book of more non-fiction and fiction about this period of history and these women. Highly recommend.
The American Agent by Jacqueline Winspear (library) A Maisie Dobbs book, this one takes place during the London Blitz and Maisie must solve the mysterious death of an American War Correspondent.  Very good book and I really care about these characters. Can't wait for the next one.
The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See (library) a fascinating part of the history of Korea that I had never thought of before reading this book. These women divers were amazing and their history and stories are fascinating. Lisa See of course creates a fictional story, but it is based on real life and real history. In her acknowledgements at the end of the book are more references for stories about these women.
The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8 Lee Very entertaining book about Chinese Food and the Americanization of Chinese food Highly recommend.
Hangman by Jack Heath (library) dysfunctional detective I quite enjoyed.
The Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson (library) I read a lot of dysfunctional southern family fiction and this one is set in present day, which is refreshing (many seem to be 1950's-1970's) And I enjoyed the modern elements
The Huntress by Kate Quinn (library) Really good WWII fiction. I especially liked the parts about the "night witches"
White Nights by Ann Cleeves (library) I am reading all of Ann Cleeves Shetland books and I liked this one (the whole idea of white nights fascinates me)
In The Unlikely Event by Judy Bloom (audiobook) how multiple plane crashes affect the citizens of Elizabeth, NJ in the 1950's. Very "father knows best", "leave it to beaver" type stories in that the period details are spot on.

Postcards 2019: Big Bend, TX

So many fabulous National Parks in the USA and I still need to visit more of them! Big Bend is at the top of the list. Could this be the year that I visit Big Bend??

Postcards 2019: Napoli

2019, this year I am going to highlight postcards from places that I have never visited!! I know many of you think that I have traveled all over the world and I have been to many places, but there are places here in the USA and all over the world that are still on my bucket list. So this year, I will be sharing postcards from places that I have not visited yet!  I have been to Italy, but I have never been to Napoli (Naples)  So glamorous and high on my bucket list. 

Postcards 2019: Morocco

The theme of my postcard blog this year is places that I have never been, but I am lucky to have friends who send me postcards from their travels to far flung places like Morocco! 

Postcards 2019: Buenos Aires

2019, this year I am going to highlight postcards from places that I have never visited!! I know many of you think that I have traveled all over the world and I have been to many places, but there are places here in the USA and all over the world that are still on my bucket list. So this year, I will be sharing postcards from places that I have not visited yet! 

Buenos Aires

Books I read in April 2019

Phantom Prey by John Sandford (audiobook) Listened to on a road trip to Oregon, a book that I have enjoyed in the past.
Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher (library) a fun little book written as a series of letters. So it was gimmicky, but I enjoyed it.
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (library) I found this very enjoyable. It read very easily. And I love Russian stuff, so I really enjoyed the setting and time period.
You by Caroline Kepnes (library) a story about a stalker....very good and it is a series on Netflix now too. So you can read it and immediately see it on screen. (I think they did a great job of translating the book to film).
Red Bones by Ann Cleeves (library) another book to video, I have been watching the British TV show, Shetland, and I found it that it was based on books by Ann Cleeves, so now I am reading the books too!
America The Farewell Tour by Chris Hedges (library) extremely depressing. It appears that we are in a handbasket headed you know where....
Tear It Down by Nicholas Petrie (library) loved it....great Jack Reacher type hero, this time set in Memphis, TN
Educated by Tara Westover (library) more cult/end of days survivalistm type stuff...I am kind of over it, so did not enjoy it as much as I might if I came at it from another perspective.
The UnThinkable: Who survives when disaster strikes by Amanda Ripley  Very interesting, especially for me, who is trained to survive an airplane crash and how much we do not tell passengers....
O Pioneers! by Willa Cather (audiobook) I quite enjoyed this on audiotape in the car while driving around. I had never read it before.
I, Richard by Elizabeth George short stories by Elizabeth George, very good, highly recommend.
We Were The Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter (library) a Holocaust story about how a Polish family survived WWII. Very good and I highly recommend.
This One is Mine by Maria Semple  I am a little over this author, I do not find her heroines that sympathetic, they start to annoy me and then I wonder why I am reading about these spoiled whiners.
Citizen Keane by Adam Parrfrey and Cletus Nelson (audiobook) The Story of the "Big Eye" paintings.  I had read this before and now listened to it again in the car. I like to "reread" books on audio, because I do not have to concentrate as much and can pay more attention to my driving since I already know the story.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris (library) I was not sure if I could handle another Holocaust story so soon after reading "We Were The Lucky Ones" but this was recommended by so many folks and it is a bit shorter (a thinner book for sure) and it was very good and I recommend it also. Another survivor story.
Nine Pints by Rose George (library) Non-fiction about Blood. History of blood, the history of typing it and transfusing it and donating it....I really enjoyed it, learned a lot.
Maid by Stephanie Land (library) Very good, about a single mother struggling to pull herself up out of poverty by working as a maid. (set in the PNW for you guys out here!) It is a memoir, so based on her true story.
Say You're Sorry by Michael Robotham  (library)
Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget by Sarah Hepola (audiobook) One woman's story of her road to alcoholism. Very good

Postcards 2019: Riga

2019, this year I am going to highlight postcards from places that I have never visited!! I know many of you think that I have traveled all over the world and I have been to many places, but there are places here in the USA and all over the world that are still on my bucket list. So this year, I will be sharing postcards from places that I have not visited yet!

Riga, Latvia’s capital, is set on the Baltic Sea at the mouth of the River Daugava.

Postcards 2019: Liechtenstein

2019, this year I am going to highlight postcards from places that I have never visited!! I know many of you think that I have traveled all over the world and I have been to many places, but there are places here in the USA and all over the world that are still on my bucket list. So this year, I will be sharing postcards from places that I have not visited yet!   

Liechtenstein is one of the smallest countries in the world, and I have never been to it.....YET

Postcards 2019: Colorado Springs

2019, this year I am going to highlight postcards from places that I have never visited!! I know many of you think that I have traveled all over the world and I have been to many places, but there are places here in the USA and all over the world that are still on my bucket list. So this year, I will be sharing postcards from places that I have not visited yet!     
I have never been to Colorado Springs...

Postcards 2019: Sarajevo

2019, this year I am going to highlight postcards from places that I have never visited!! I know many of you think that I have traveled all over the world and I have been to many places, but there are places here in the USA and all over the world that are still on my bucket list. So this year, I will be sharing postcards from places that I have not visited yet!

Sarajevo is the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the Miljacka River, surrounded by the Dinaric Alps. 

Postcards 2019: Nigeria

2019, this year I am going to highlight postcards from places that I have never visited!! I know many of you think that I have traveled all over the world and I have been to many places, but there are places here in the USA and all over the world that are still on my bucket list. So this year, I will be sharing postcards from places that I have not visited yet!     
Never been to Nigeria but I love these postcards!!

Books I read in March 2019

News of the World by Paulette Jiles (library) the story is of a man who travels around reading the news to people on the frontier. A child who was abducted by Indians for several years and now liberated, is given into his care to return her to her family.  Very interesting. I enjoyed it.
The Library Book by Susan Orlean (library) I LOVED this book. It is basically about the history of the Los Angeles Public Library and about a fire that basically gutted the place in 1986. I have been to this historic building and I had NO IDEA that there had been a fire there!! I was fascinated by this book and I thought the writing was great too. The descriptions of books and reading the the importance of libraries to our communities had me in tears. I highly recommend this book.
The Personality Brokers by Merve Emre (library) About the Myers-Briggs Personality test and how it was invented and the women who created it! Very interesting.
Nighthawk by Clive Cussler read this for a book club that I am in!! LOL
The Regulars by Georgia Clark (library) I enjoyed this one a lot. It is about some girls in NYC who take a potion that makes them pretty and how they deal with it. It was a fun read.
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (library) This book was recommended to me by several people and then when I was reading it....I had people come up to me to tell me how much they loved the book. (I read at airports and on the airplane, so I am in public much of the time that I am reading) I liked the book too, but I am still gonna say The Library Book is my favorite of the year so far!! LOL But I recommend Where the Crawdads Sing also. If  you like To Kill a Mockingbird and/or Nicholas Sparks books and/or stuff like that. It has a mystery and romance and coming of age and it is set in North Carolina on the coast during the 1960's.
The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa (library) Another great book this month about the MS St. Louis, a ship that had over 900 Jewish refugees from Germany and was turned away from Cuba, the United States and Canada. It is told from the point of view of a young girl and how her family deals with fleeing from the Holocaust. I recommend
The Line Between by Tosca Lee  (library) Yet another good book this month!! A Thriller, it reminded me a lot of some Dean Koontz books because there is a guy and a girl and a dog!! LOL and they are trying to save the world. Lots of action and it just zipped along, I couldn't put it down.  It is the first in a series that this author is writing. The premise is "ripped from the headlines" and the author includes information at the end about the articles that inspired her to write this book. Very good and I highly recommend. I can't wait for the next one to come out.
Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain (audiobook) listened to while I was in the car. I quite enjoyed. There is so much more detail than in the movie.

Postcards 2019: Branson, MO

My theme this year is places that I have never been....I have never been to Branson, MO

Postcards 2019: Taj Mahal

2019, this year I am going to highlight postcards from places that I have never visited!! I know many of you think that I have traveled all over the world and I have been to many places, but there are places here in the USA and all over the world that are still on my bucket list. So this year, I will be sharing postcards from places that I have not visited yet!

The Taj Mahal in India

Why the new Nancy Drew: Hidden Staircase movie should acknowledge Sammy Keyes

Why the new Nancy Drew: Hidden Staircase movie should acknowledge Sammy Keyes

I was very excited to see the new Nancy Drew movie and as I watched it, I was stuck by how similar it was to another young detective, Sammy Keyes. The movie opens with Nancy Drew sporting some skateboarding moves that would not be a problem for Sammy Keyes. The Sammy Keyes books started with Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief, which was written in 1998 by Wendelin Van Draanen and ended after 18 books in 2014 with Sammy Keyes and the Kiss Goodbye. Sammy starts as a seventh grader and of course is a few years younger than Nancy Drew, so she gets around town on a skateboard much of the time. Through the course of the Sammy Keyes books, she deals with some school bullying which is exactly how the new Nancy Drew movie starts with Bess being bullied by a school jock, and something that was not in original Nancy Drew books. Sammy often comes to the defense of her friends and just like Sammy, Nancy comes to the defense of Bess and in the process is forced to do community service. Sammy Keyes is no stranger to community service. She begins the book Sammy Keyes and the Sisters of Mercy by doing community service at the local Catholic Church. She was also suspended from school in the first book of the series. I believe that the Nancy Drew books did not address bullying by peers because the original Nancy Drew was not in a school setting. Other books written at the same time (Like the Dana Girls) do have more peer bullying.

Nancy Drew starts off the movie clashing with the local Sheriff and Sammy Keyes is no stranger to run ins with the local police. Officer Borsch in the Sammy Keyes books is very leery of Sammy, even when her motives are pure. The relationship between Nancy Drew and the Sheriff in the new movie immediately reminded me of Officer Borsch and Sammy Keyes. In the original Nancy Drew books, Nancy has a good relationship with the police. They respect her father and her as his daughter and often believe her hunches and ask for her help on mysterious cases.

There are differences also, Sammy lives with her grandmother and has a mother who is working in Hollywood and she is not sure about who is her father. Nancy Drew lives with her father and an aunt (created for this movie and appears to be a hybrid of Aunt Eloise and Hannah Gruen from the books) and her mother died recently (in the movie, not in the books). The main mystery in the new movie is taken directly from the Hidden Staircase; the second Nancy Drew book which was originally written in 1930. I really enjoyed the new Nancy Drew movie and I highly recommend it. It will only be in theaters for a few more days and will be released on DVD April 2nd. And if you like the movie, you might want to pick up a Sammy Keyes book. They are targeted for a somewhat younger audience, but do not let that stop you from reading some top notch mysteries!

Postcards 2019: Budapest

My Postcard theme this year is places that I have never been, but now that my airline flies to Budapest, I could go there very soon!!