Big Reading Update--Late January is Tops

I don't think I've ever posted two entries in one day, but today is an exception. I needed to do a review of Frankenstein, but also wanted to do an update of what else has been going on in my bookish world.

Winter weather upheavals abounded in the past week. We had 2+ feet of snow  over two full days last weekend, which was immediately followed by wind chill temperatures of 24-36 below zero F on Monday. I went out that day to unbury my car, and when I inhaled, it was unbelievably painful to breathe. Surprised me, really. I don't recall being such a sissy in past years.
Then! Guess what? The temperature suddenly rose into the 30s F and then 42 F and we had well over 2 inches of rain--how impossible is that? And now we're going down to 4 degrees F tonight after crazy, blinding  snow squalls all day today. And somehow or other, in the midst of all this, I managed to get myself a little bit sick, really. It can't be connected to the weather, can it? Sigh.

I felt so crummy that all I could do today, after going out to our two bird feeding stations and after a little bit of tax work, was READ IN BED.

And the  reading was a delight. How wonderful it is to cast aside all cares for a time and retire with lots of books. I continued knitting a scarf and hood set while I listened to the 2018 definitive biography of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg by Jane Sherron de Hart, written over a period of decades, and which is 735 pages long. The listening will take a while, but it's fascinating so far. It's entitled Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life.  

I just finished Messenger of Truth, the 4th Maisie Dobbs mystery. Oh, how I love this series. What makes the Maisie Dobbs series different, or unique, is in the way these books plummet the depths of human experience. We are carefully carried right into the battle zone of the full range of experience. Although  it is now 1931, and the Great War has been over for 13 years, there are still tremendous repercussions in the lives of individuals and families who experienced the enormous losses. There is also a worldwide depression  that is having a negative impact on the lives of people everywhere in England. This book takes us into the heart of an upper-class family and its favorite artist son, and into a poor working-class family, who must struggle for every meal.
I do heartily recommend the Maisie Dobbs series. And although I've read the first four sporadically over time, I'll continue to read at least one book now per year. They are very fine indeed.

And what else today? I'm enjoying a romance, with dogs. In Dog We Trust by Beth Kendrick is set on the Delaware Coast in summertime and is peopled (or doggled) with a good number of Labrador Retrievers who are the ultimate show dogs. Jocelyn signs on to be their caretaker, and before she knows it, the owner dies, leaving all of his wealth to the dogs and to Jocelyn in trust of them. It's very quickly paced, and is a fun, funny read. Romance abounds, and includes strictly Labradorish hijinks. If you know Labs, or if you're acquainted with other sporting dogs or retrievers, I recommend this as a fun, relaxing change of pace.  I learned about this January 2019 book from Book Dilettante and immediately snapped it up at the library last Saturday. Lucky me.