Monday Moments - The Eights by Joanna Miller

 The Eights by Joanna Miller is an excellent piece of historical fiction.  Well written with engaging characters, this book takes us back to 1920 Oxford. For the first time in over a one thousand year history, females are admitted, and they are eager to forge a path. 

Now, don't get too excited. This is a tough new world.

 Four women, Beatrice, Dora, Marianne, and Otto are in  Corridor Eight. They come from all walks of life, each have secrets, and they are driven for different reasons.  They also find that there are still  many restrictions for  women.  

cover blurb: The shadow of the Great War still looms providing a turbulent world to  navigate.  Misogyny is rife, influenza threatens, and the ghosts of war don't always remain dead. 

The author obviously did plenty of research. She  alternates with back stories for each young lady, and then gives us their  daily lives at  university. The history,  traditions, and  now the  new  paths  being forged are presented well.

I enjoyed this book and were proud of these ladies.  When you really  think about that time period, these young ladies were quite bold and brave. This was my grandmother's  era, back in  the day in the U.S., and apparently she participated in suffragette parades. It's hard to picture, but The Eights brings the time period  to life in  England.  Well done!  

Finally Friday - The Widow by John Grisham

 John Grisham churns out reliable, entertaining books. His latest, The Widow, does not disappoint. 

Simon Latch, a small town lawyer in Virginia, is struggling. He's doing the usual boring paperwork for folks, which isn't big income. He's on the cusp of divorce, so that price tag is hanging over his head. And he has a small gambling problem. 

A widow, Eleanor Barnett, walks in and needs a new will. Her late husband was frugal but invested in Coca-Cola stock (he worked for them), and Wal-Mart. Otherwise, house is paid for and she lives a quiet life. Simon is filled with  glee at this good luck.  He does proper paperwork and counts on continued income for him when it's time to process it.  She has no contact with her stepsons, and plans to give money to charity. 

cover blurb - When she is hospitalized after a bad car accident, Simon realizes that nothing is as it seems. He finds himself on trial for a crime he swears he did not commit: murder. 

I can't tell you more, but there are plenty of twists and turns in Simon's life. The Widow is a page turner. 

Plenty of  surprises abound.  Enjoy!

Whatever Wednesday - Hamnet

 Lots of buzz for Hamnet. Golden Globe nominations, etc. 

This was a very intense, rather sad, but a wow movie.  The acting was superb. 

Directed by Chloe Zhao and based on the book by Maggie O'Farrell (who also co-wrote the screenplay with Zhao), Hamnet is a fictionalized version of the creation of the famous Shakespeare play Hamlet. 

We watch William Shakespeare (a magnetic Paul Mescal - oh, his eyes) fall head over heels for Agnes (Jessie Buckley - tremendous).  He's off to London to try to pursue this playwriting thing.  She's home with children. She's a strong woman, known for her forestry skills and wildness. She has to deal with his mother, Mary (a strong Emily Watson).   When Will's home, Agnes and he are a hot passion on screen. 

Agnes has to deal with "the pestilence" when it hits her eleven year old twins - Judith and Hamnet.  Alas, Hamnet ( a superb young actor Jacobi Jupe) dies (this is true in 1596).  She mourns.  She thinks Will doesn't care.  

Only when she goes to London and witnesses Will's new play Hamlet does she realize the depth of his mourning.  (cool fact - the young man playing Hamlet (Noah Jupe) on screen is the much older brother of the young actor playing Hamnet. Lots of talent in that family)

Have your tissues ready.  This film is quite intense and just hits the gut at multiple times.  Gotta love creative cinema.  Kudos. 

Monday Moments - Pickleball, Anyone?

 Happy Monday, everyone.   Ray has a new pickleball partner.  Anybody up for a game?

Tis the season here.  Feeling festive.  We have some projects going on out front (awaiting worker bees), so no decorations.   Then Santa arrived (found him at At Home, on sale) and decided he could wave to everyone for now. 

It's mid-December.  Hope everyone is staying healthy and having some fun... and a Christmas cookie or two. 

Finally Friday - Heart the Lover by Lily King

 Heart the Lover by Lily King is a new connective thread book (from Writers and Lovers).  We see Casey in her senior year of college meet and fall for Sam and Yash - stars of 17th century  lit class.  

cover  blurb - She discovers the pleasures of friendship, intellectual ambition, the intoxicating world of academic fervor, and rapid fire banter and fun. But youthful passion is unpredictable, and soon she  finds herself at the center of a charged and intricate triangle. Choices will be made that alter these three lives forever. 

Decades later, Casey's a successful  novelist. She's  married with children. But there's a surprise visit. Unexpected news.  Now she needs to make amends, consider decisions made, and complete a circle from  youthful bonds.

I read this fresh after the first related book. Lily King really knows how to write about relationships and actions and consequences. A very fresh twist took me by  surprise and I found myself tearing up. (I swear Ray always walks into  a room just as I'm sniffling  over a novel).  

I will say I heart both books, the characters, the plot  lines, and the finale.  Well done. (have a tissue ready)

Whatever Wednesday - Writers and Lovers by Lily King

 cover blurb - Blindsided by her mother's death, and wrecked by a recent love affair, Casey Peabody arrives in Cambridge MA, summer of 1997, without a plan. A child golf prodigy, she now waits tables and rents a tiny side garage room where she works on the novel she's been writing for six years.

In Writers and Lovers by Lily King, we follow Casey's fight to fulfill ambitions, balance demands of art and life, juggle two new very different  men, and avoid crisis after crisis. 

Casey is a likeable character, as are the two men in her life. But I wanted to  shake her too. King does a good job of exploring artistic passion, ambition, and the terrifying and  exhilarating leap between the end of one phase of  life and the beginning of  another. (cover blurb) 

Monday Moments - Santa Stranger Danger

 I got permission from my niece  to post this. 

My grandnephew, Myles, now 8 months old, recognizes stranger danger.  

This Santa dude - not having it!

Oh, this is one for the memory vault.  On his wedding day, we'll pull out this pic. 

Merry Christmas December everyone!

Cheers