Monday, August 4, 2014

It's Monday What are you reading?A Bitter Truth, Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend

 Book Journey hosts this weekly event where we celebrate what we are reading for the week as well as books completed the previous week. I use  this weekly meme as a way to give short, concise thoughts on the books I've read.

Sheila at
Good morning all,  it's Monday what are you reading?  Well,  I just finished two books, the first being : A Bitter Truth , Charles Todd. (forgot to scan the cover, sorry).  This was a Bess Crawford Mystery.  Bess is a nurse, serving during the WWI in France.  On her occasional return to England to visit her family, she encounters "mysteries".  I particularly like the relationship between Bess and Simon.  Simon is the silent superhero in Bess' life/mysteries.  Each of these mysteries is a connection to the war and the behind the lines adventures of infidelity and crime. This one focused on orphans of soldiers, left behind when their mothers are killed and fathers return to their wives in England.  The heartbreaking events occur often, soldiers nurses become "fond of" die.  Orphans go missing or are doomed to lives of hardship.  All the while the aristocrats complain about not having enough  luxury.  I love the cars that need to be cranked, and the idea of "dressing" for dinner.  (as you know I like to be in pajamas, my idea of dressing for dinner). I read this book for the War Through the Generations Challenge, and thoroughly enjoyed Bess and Simon and one cannot help but wonder, "where will this relationship go".?  While I like a good love story,  I also think it's so very rare to have a steadfast relationship between a man and a woman based on devotion, loyalty and respect, no sex. So we shall see...

book # 2

memoirs of and imaginary friend, Matthew Dicks.  I suspect the title without capitalization is due to the fact that the imaginary friend doesn't know, or was not imagined to be grammatically correct.

An excellent book.  I thought I'd be more annoyed at the narrator being a young boy,(as I was in The Bear) but if I had read this book when my children were very young,  I would have learned to behave as a better parent.
This is a story narrated by the imaginary friend, of a young boy, with issues.  He's bullied in school, labelled and loved.  He has huge difficulties relating to others, but is very bright.  He is thrust into a scary situation and manages to deal with it, much to the surprise of his parents.  I really hate when parents are portrayed as the bad guys, but perhaps that is what children feel.  I'm sure this is all a passage of time.  However, a must read for anyone ... but especially for mom/dads.  Enlightening and scary all at the same time. I may have Book Hangover.


Up next:  The Illusionist.

5 comments:

Laurel-Rain Snow said...

Enjoy your reading, whatever you choose next.

Here's MY WEEKLY SUNDAY/MONDAY UPDATES POST

Jenny said...

Haaahahaha I am familiar with book hangover, dear Irene. And I like books that make me rethink stuff. We need to self-examine, and better late than never I always say. xoxo

Carrie K. said...

I LOVE the Bess Crawford series - so excited that there is a new one out!

Nise' said...

I want to read the Bess Crawford series.

Donna said...

I am reading The Goldfinch. Long book! It is a compelling tale with the writing style, but the drug use in it is appalling.

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday to my wonderful son,  it's bee 33wonderful years. Hope this year proves to be the best yet.