Okay, I'm a bookworm...

Yup, I guess you'd call me a bookworm.. I just have to have a book or two on the go. I have finished two more and am almost through the third... First was My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira, loaned to me by my friend Monica. (Thanks Mo!!) It is probably not a book I would have picked up off the shelf, but Monica was right- it was excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed this story set during the American Civil War. Mary Sutter is a gifted young midwife who dreams of becoming a surgeon. Determined to overcome the prejudices against women in  medicine, she leaves her home in New York state to travel to Washington D.C. to attend the war wounded. She pursues her medical career against all odds with unwavering determination and dedication. Rich with historical detail, this book really makes one appreciate how far medicine and surgical techniques have come. Frustrated as one can be these days with our health care system, this story makes me very grateful I live in the present day of antibiotics and sanitary practices....  For sure.
A light summer read is sometimes just what one needs and A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley fills the bill. The book flap sums up this one nicely: "Award-winning author Alan Bradley returns with another beguiling novel starring the insidiously clever and unflappable eleven year old sleuth Flavia de Luce. In the hamlet of Bishop's Lacey, Flavia had asked a Gypsy woman to tell her fortune - never expecting to later stumble across the poor soul, bludgeoned in the wee hours in her own caravan. Was this an act of retribution by those convinced that the soothsayer abducted a local child years ago? Certainly Flavia understands the bliss of settling scores; revenge is a delightful pastime when one has two odious older sisters. But how could this crime be connected to the missing baby? As the red herrings pile up, Flavia must sort through clues fishy and foul to untangle dark deeds and dangerous secrets."   Bradley is a Canadian author, born in Toronto and raised in Cobourg Ontario, and I have enjoyed his first two tales of Flavia's sleuthing in The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (winner of multiple awards) and The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag.
I am nearly finished Sonoma Rose by Jennifer Chiaverini, which I won in a blog giveaway. I'll save that review for another day....
What are you reading these days??

Peace,
Linda

"If anybody would make me the greatest king that ever lived, with palaces, and gardens and fine dinners, and wine, and coaches, and beautiful clothes, and hundreds of servants, on condition that I would not read books, I would not be a king." ~ Thomas B. Macaulay