Do you read when you are stressed and anxious, your mind racing over a myriad possibilities, most of them bleak, bereft of hope? And if you do, what kinds of books do you like to read during such times? Do you seek to escape into a different world? Or do you just need some words on a page to engage your brain so that it isn’t obsessively worrying about something?
This month, I discovered which kind of reader I am.
It isn’t that I haven’t ever been stressed or anxious so far in my life — I mean, have you seen the state of the world? I don’t think anyone can live a completely stress-free, Zen-like life!
At the start of this month, though, my beautiful sunshine baby Simba, my 11-year old ginger cat, fell ill suddenly, and we found ourselves in a blur of vet visits and keeping a hawk eye on tracking Simba’s progress and his response to medication. Needless to say, it was a period marked by an almost constant underlying state of anxiety and worry.
Which is when I discovered that I am the second type of reader: I just needed some words on a page to engage my brain so that it wasn’t obsessively worrying about Simba. That’s reflected in some of my reading for this month.
Simba, meanwhile, is doing much better now, though he hasn’t recovered completely. We’re getting there, though…slowly!
Reading wrap-up for May
I read 9 books this month, including one for the Book Bingo challenge. This month saw me traipsing around London in search of a mysterious bird, walking the streets of New York, wandering around the historic town of St. Michaels in Maryland, hanging around the cubicles at Supershops, Inc, and wandering the streets of Europe tracing the history of the notebook.
(Click on the book covers to purchase the book on Amazon.)
The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love by India Holton
Beth Pickering is on the verge of finally capturing the rare deathwhistler bird when Professor Devon Lockley swoops in, capturing both her bird and her imagination like a villain. Albeit a handsome and charming villain, but that’s beside the point. As someone highly educated in the ruthless discipline of ornithology, Beth knows trouble when she sees it, and she is determined to keep her distance from Devon.
For his part, Devon has never been more smitten than when he first set eyes on Professor Beth Pickering. She’s so pretty, so polite, so capable of bringing down a fiery, deadly bird using only her wits. In other words, an angel. Devon understands he must not get close to her, however, since they’re professional rivals.
When a competition to become Birder of the Year by capturing an endangered caladrius bird is announced, Beth and Devon are forced to team up to have any chance of winning. Now keeping their distance becomes a question of one bed or two. But they must take the risk, because fowl play is afoot, and they can’t trust anyone else—for all may be fair in love and war, but this is ornithology.
What ensues is a clash of wits, intense yearning, birding mishaps galore, and an unexpected love story. Imagine a mash-up of Indiana Jones and Laura Croft, but put them in Victorian times and add a dash of magic. It took me a while to warm up to Holton’s irreverent writing style, but once I did, it was a rather fun caper!
A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner (A book released between 2010 and 2020)
This dual timeline novel tells the story of two women, their lives lived a century apart, marked by grief and connected by a single scarf.
In 1911, nurse Clara Wood Nurse Clara Wood managed to escape the deadly Triangle Shirtwaist fire, only to see those who jumped, including a man she had feelings for, fall to their deaths while she stood by, unable to help anyone.
Haunted by the trauma of the fire and the loss of her love, she accepts a job at Ellis Island. There, while caring for a fevered immigrant whose own loss mirrors hers, she becomes intrigued by a name embroidered onto the scarf he carries and finds herself becoming increasingly enmeshed in his story.
In September 2011, on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, widow Taryn Michaels has convinced herself that she is living fully, working in a charming specialty fabric store and raising her daughter alone. Then a long-lost photograph appears in a national magazine, and she is forced to relive the terrible day her husband died in the collapse of the World Trade Towers.
At its heart, Meissner has woven a rather interesting story of love and loss, of finding the courage to overcome survivor’s guilt and the choices we make, and of finding a way back out of that in-between place where grief traps us.
I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue
As far as socially awkward Jolene is concerned, her interactions with her colleagues should start and end with her official duties as an admin for Supershops, Inc. Unfortunately, her irritating, incompetent coworkers don’t seem to understand the importance of boundaries.
Her secret to survival? She vents her grievances in petty email postscripts, then changes the text color to white so no one can see. That is, until one of her secret messages is exposed.
Her punishment: sensitivity training, led by the suspiciously friendly HR guy, Cliff, and rigorous email restrictions.
But when an IT mix-up grants her access to the entire organization’s private emails and DMs, how can Jolene resist finding out what her co-workers are really saying? When she discovers layoffs are coming, she realizes this might just be the key to saving her job. Her plan is simple: gain her boss’s favor, convince HR she’s Supershops material and beat out the competition. But as Jolene is drawn further into her coworker’s private worlds and secrets, her carefully constructed walls begin to crumble.
Sue’s debut novel is a beautifully told story about a deeply traumatized, anxious woman navigating hostile co-workers and petty office politics with a side of humor and a dash of romance. As a socially awkward introvert I could instantly relate to Jolene and her difficulties with navigating office politics, speaking up at meetings, and making small talk with co-workers.
I went in expecting this to be a sarcastic, somewhat edgy book, but it’s kind of sweet, corny and occasionally funny, and I absolutely loved it!
The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen
We see notebooks everywhere we go. But where did this simple invention come from? How did they revolutionise our lives, and why are they such powerful tools for creativity? In this wide-ranging exploration, Allen travels from the bustling markets of medieval Florence to the quiet studies of our greatest thinkers, revealing how the notebook became our most dependable and versatile tool for creative thinking. He tells the notebook stories of artists like Leonardo and Frida Kahlo, scientists from Isaac Newton to Marie Curie, and writers from Chaucer to Henry James.
As a lover of notebooks and writing, I really wanted to like this book, but it is such a drag! There are some gems scattered throughout: the introduction and the story of how Moleskine became a cult hit is brilliant. I enjoyed some of the sections on Renaissance artists sketchbooks and some of the later ones on the more modern uses of notebooks. I also found the sections on Florentine bookkeepers and Italian zibaldonis fascinating.
And while I appreciate that the book went into an exploration of how notebooks changed and enhanced almost every aspect of human life, from sea faring to book keeping to medical record keeping, police notebooks and more, the spark of storytelling that was promised in the introduction was sorely missing. The writing was dry, almost like Allen decided he should adopt a more academic tone, though I suspect the book would have been much more palatable had he stuck to storytelling.
Oh, and also, the title should more accurately be A History of American & European Thinking on Paper, considering Allen completely disregards the records kept by the rest of the world.
In Time series by Susan Reiss
When Emma Chase moves to her uncle’s quaint cottage on land that was once part of Waterwood Plantation, she finds an antique plantation desk languishing in his shed. Wondering why her Uncle Jack relegated the desk to the shed, Emma has it brought into the main cottage, and decides she will write her children’s book there. But the next morning, a letter dated 1862 appears on the desk, declaring undying love and a plea for Emma to reply. Thus starts a unique adventure connecting the past and present. As Emma Chase corresponds with the mysterious Daniel, trying to find out who is the Emma he searches for, she is soon caught up in a murder investigation, a search for treasure, killers who will stop at nothing, and greed dating back to the Civil War.
Each of the novels in this series is connected in some way to the life and times of Emma, the mistress of Waterwood Plantation, the tumultuous time of the Civil War, and the secrets buried at the plantation.
I read the five books in this series while I was grappling with Simba’s illness. They met my need for some half-way engaging words on a page to distract me from obsessively worrying about Simba. The stories were all rather interesting, especially the historical aspects of it, but it could have done with better editing.
The series is on Kindle Unlimited, if you’re interested in the 1800s and the Civil War period. It isn’t the most scintillating fare out there, but if all you need is a distraction, these books will do you well.
Over to you: What was on your reading list this month?
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