Category: reading

Each month, a different member of my book club picks a book for the group to read and discuss. My turn is coming up in May. So, a few weeks ago, I began the quest to pick a book that both the group and I would enjoy. There are so many good books out there that it’s hard to choose. I settled on “Anxious People” by Fredrik Backman. We’ve read “My Friends,” also by this author, which I very much enjoyed, and the premise of this one, “Anxious People,” seemed like a read I would devour.

A humorous novel about a bank robber bursting into an apartment viewing and taking a group of strangers hostage.

I can’t wait until I pick this one up.

On another “book” note, my interest in reading lately has gone to historical fiction. I recently finished “Carnegie’s Maid” by Marie Benedict. If you like historical fiction and strong female characters, you will probably enjoy her writing.

“Carnegie’s Maid” is the tale of Clara Kelley, a fictitious character who is the lady’s maid for Mrs. Carnegie. Set in Pittsburgh and centered around Andrew Carnegie, creator of the “Free to the People” Carnegie Libraries, I found myself reading on a rainy Pittsburgh day, happily lost in the author’s writing. In the Author’s Note, the author points out that, while some historians have theorized that a personal relationship might have changed this heartless industrialist, there is no definitive evidence for his motives other than a letter Andrew Carnegie wrote to himself in 1868 at the age of 33, pledging to focus on the education and “improvement of the poorer classes.” No one really knows why Andrew Carnegie, the richest man in the world during his day, transformed from ruthless industrialist to the world’s first true philanthropist.

Marie Benedict presents a good tale that it could have been a woman who changed his heart.

The book also shows the immense struggles immigrants endured upon arriving in America during the 1860s.

The other book I read by this author is titled “The Only Woman in the Room,” a book I have previously blogged about. (See my July 2023 blog.) It is the tale of Hedy Lemarr, screen star and scientist.

Another book I enjoyed that might interest historical fiction readers is “The Alice Network,” by Kate Quinn. Written with a dual timeline, it’s based on the Alice Network, a WWI spy ring in France.

I’ve also recently read “West With Giraffes,” by Lynda Rutledge, and am now reading “The God of the Woods,” by Liz Moore. Both of these are book club picks. I’ll post on another blog about these two books at a later date.

I hope my blog book picks give you some ideas for your to-be-read pile, and I hope your spring is filled with lots of great reads!