Ending the year 2018 with a big historical biography has slowed me down. While it was an amazing book, Clara Barton was a complex individual with a spine of steel, and a depth I had not fully appreciated prior to reading this biography, the dense volume took much time to digest. I ended up taking the last week off before year end with no reading at all. All in all, the year of 2018 was a successful reading one for me. 2019 is looking to be another one.
This year I am continuing with the reading challenges that I found last year. These are right up my alley – one is reading about different cultures – and I am excited to see what I am going to mark off my personal around the world book challenge. The first challenge to be tackled by me, however, is from my TBR list – The Bookshop of Yesterdays.
The main character is named for Miranda in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and the bookstore she inherits is Prospero Books. The story begins when Miranda hears that her Uncle Billy, whom she has not seen or heard from in 16 years, has died. Billy was known for his scavenger hunts – and he sent one to Miranda after his death. She returns from Philadelphia to California to find out what happened. Throughout the story, the mystery of why Billy disappeared on her 12th birthday is driving her forward to reveal the secrets her parents have kept from her. The parallels to The Tempest abound through the book, and I am sure I would have noticed more if I had actually read Shakespeare’s story. If you are familiar with the book, you will solve this much quicker than if you do not. Either way, the characters are engaging, if playing according to the rules of the original. All in all, this was a good read.
The Source 4 Books 