May Wrap-up + June TBR
Hello again!
This seems like a common occurrence, but I was unable to complete my TBR for May. However, I am making it a point to not stress over how many books I read. I know I can read about three books max a month as I read the Inheritance Games trilogy in a month. I have found it hard to get into reading certain books but I also don’t have the heart to set a book aside or to DNF a book (i.e., never picking it back up again). This could be for a variety of reasons, one of which will be mentioned below. Let me know in the comments section if you have struggled to get into a book but just can’t set aside for another time or have the heart to DNF it.
Here is my May wrap-up.
The Night Portrait by Laura Morelli
Pages: 451
Published by William Morrow in September 2020
Genre(s): historical fiction
star rating: ★★★★☆ (4.85 stars)
(this review may seem repetitive as I also gave a small review in the Reading Challenge Blog)
As mentioned in the Reading Challenge blog, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I love watching Monuments Men and was very intrigued by this book. This book is centered around World War II (WWII) and Leonardo Da Vinci’s Italy (1430s). The book starts in Da Vinci’s point of view (POV) with him dreaming about war machines of the future. This is when he begins longing to create war machines, especially for the Duke of Milan.
The next POV is told from Cecilia. Cecilia was set to marry into a wealthy family until her father passed and all but one of her brothers gambled her dowery away. The next POV is Edith, a curator during WWII (late 1930s), who is tasked with giving a presentation about famous paintings in Poland and around the world. She is told Hitler wishes to protect them from the hands of the United States. The next POV is Dominic’s whose POV is dated early 1940s. He lands at Normandy and is later given a task with one of his buddies to join the Monuments Men as MPs, or Military Police, for their protection.
I won’t give too much away but it is interesting to see the numerous people in the art world who are German and are against the scheme to collect as many “stolen” paintings and art objects as they can. It provides this idea that some things aren’t always as they seem. Again, this is historical fiction and I am not trying to say that any of this is 100% true. In terms of layout, I understood the need to have four POVs with four different timelines, which eventually came together to make two different timelines. However, I felt that Da Vinci’s POV wasn’t really necessary. At most chapter were a max of two pages and then it went to Cecilia’s POV.
Once Da Vinci became apart of Cecilia’s timeline, his POV wasn’t needed. I would have preferred one or the other, especially when I was more curious about Da Vinci’s dream in the first chapter. I was more interested in seeing how his dream tied into WWII, assuming that was the war taking place in his dream. Nonetheless, I also understand that Da Vinci’s POV was important to Cecilia’s POV when it came to his thoughts of the portrait of Cecilia as well as his opinion of her and her marriage to the duke.
Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow
Pages: 398
Published by Ember in 2018
Genre(s): novel, fiction
star rating: coming in June’s wrap-up
When I read the first 30 pages, I seriously questioned if I should soft DNF the book. I found the lack of clearly marked chapters a bit odd. I am so used to reading books with clearly marked chapters that I felt myself wondering if the lines at the top of every so many pages were meant to be page-breakers or new chapters. I often wished there was something in place of the lines or just below the lines that could signify a date or time to help with the flow of the timeline. What kept me from moving to another book was wanting to know more about Charlotte, also known as Charlie. I was confused when the book started as she is waking up in a hospital of sorts and remembers the first time she entered the hospital in which she was found on the lawn wrapped din bloody sheets. Later you learn she was brought to the hospital by two friends of hers who I would not see as friends after they put her in danger.
Charlie is clearly troubled by many things and is mute. She refuses to sleep at night as she fears her father (I believe that’s who it was) can come find her at any time despite being told she is safe. This story goes through her life and includes background on the people at the hospital, like her roommate and the people who attend group with her. I am intrigued but the timeline switching after each dividing line or break is confusing. Sometimes it seems like it’s the next day and others it feels like it’s just later in the day. I plan to continue reading this in June, and I will give my rating then.
June TBR
The first four books in the first row above are the books on my June TBR. If I have time I will read the Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard. As per usual, feel free to send me book recs, ideas for reading challenges, and ideas for future reading blogs at blueoceans.sanddollar@gmail.com or comment down below.
See you next blog.
