This being birthday month for The Mother (yay!) and lots of reads! Please read on and review!
The Whisper Man by Alex North
“The truth of something can be in the feeling of it as much as the fact.”
The Whisper Man is a decently dark, suspenseful thriller with the complexities of fatherhood at its core. It is a multi-generational tale—told in six parts—about a father and son caught in the crosshairs of an investigation to catch a serial killer preying on a small village in Featherbank, England.
Summary: After the sudden death of his wife, Tom Kennedy believes a new town, a new house, will help him and his six-year-old son Jake with a fresh start and the beginning of slow, difficult healing.
But their new destination has a very dark past. Twenty years ago, a serial killer abducted and murdered five young boys. The serial killer was nicknamed "The Whisper Man," for he would lure his victims out by whispering at their windows at night.
Just as Tom and Jake settle into their new home, vulnerable Jake begins acting strangely. He hears a whispering at his window.
Tulipomania The Story of the World’s Most Coveted Flower & the Extraordinary Passions it Aroused by Mike Dash
Historian Mike Dash’s short book Tulipomania details how the frenzy for tulip bulbs came to be. A timely (it’s almost spring and tulips should be everywhere soon ) and interesting read, Tulipomania is full of Dutch merchants, thieves, rogues, academics, Emperors and Sultans.
Summary: The centerpiece of Tulipomania is a stunning two months, December 1636 and January 1637, when fortunes were made and lost in the Netherlands, in tulip bulb futures trading. At the height of the tulip craze in the 17th century, a single tulip bulb in Holland was worth many times its weight in gold. It inspired the creation of the first futures exchange in history and the tulip “bubble”.
Also, this book has fascinating fun facts. I learned there are hundreds of variations in tulip colors, and the Dutch merchants gave those variations crazy names. That you could eat tulip bulb as if they were onions. That there were tulip thieves who scoured the countryside.
This book is really a combo platter for readers interested in the technical aspects of economic speculation, human folly, and the history of one of the world’s most revered flowers.
Verity by Colleen Hoover
I finally read my first Colleen Hoover book—she is highly rated, as was this book—and was completely disappointed. The premise of the book was really interesting, but that’s where it stopped. For me, Colleen’s writing was juvenile and underwhelming and the ending is a bit implausible, relying on characters acting in contrived ways in order to make it work. If you’re looking for low-quality literature with a bit of irritating entertainment and a truly failed attempt at a “twist”, then this is the read for you.
Summary:Verity is a thriller-mystery romance set in present day. It follows the journey of protagonist Lowen Ashley, a writer who travels to Vermont to work as the new co-writer for a popular series of books written by the renowned and now incapacitated Verity Crawford. In the process of looking over Verity’s notes, Lowen discovers an autobiographical manuscript written by Verity that reveals violence, trauma, and truth.
The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu
The Book of Joy chronicles a week-long conversation between the revered spiritual leaders Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. A non-fiction, the authors draw upon their own experiences of suffering and hardship, as well as their respective religious traditions, to offer practical advice on how to cultivate joy and overcome obstacles to happiness.
Along with insight into finding greater joy and meaning in life, the book is discerning as it also features scientific research on happiness and well-being, and includes practical exercises and meditations to help readers apply the teachings in their own lives.
The Book of Joy is a gratifying and thoughtful read, full of uplifting and inspiring message and peppered with wisdom and humor from its two iconic authors.
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