What I am reading

 Third time's a winner!!

I greatly enjoyed the other two Natasha Leister books I read, but this third one is my absolute favourite!

The Riviera House, like the other two I read, take place during World War II in Paris. The focus of this one is the art. In WWII, Hitler and his minions made a very deliberate and consolidated effort to steal and also destroy much of  France's art treasures. The Louvre was one of the buildings taken over, and it was there that art was either collected and shipped off to Hitler and Goering, or it was deemed sinful and burned.

Leister did such an amazing job of describing much of this process, and the anguish the local curators felt as they were helpless to stop the process. There was also a very concentrated effort by subversive factions to document which art went where, so that they could hopefully try to retrieve it, should the Allies win.

I would wholeheartedly recommend this one to anyone who has a curiosity about this time period.

What I read this week

 Last year I dove into a new author named Natasha Lester, with her book, the Paris Secret.  I very much enjoyed this book, and while I was in the city at my doctor appointment, I picked up a couple more of her books. 

This past week I entered the world of the Paris Seamstress, and re-entered WWII in Paris, and modern day New York

This book hovers between past and present, and does a good job of it. Far too many I read do that, and I get lost in the story and characters. I admit to a certain fascination about the world of couture clothing and all it entails.

I didn't love this book quite as much as the Paris Secret. I am still glad I read it.

What I read this week

 Yes, I am definitely addicted to stories about the Royal Family. Get that from my mom :-)

This one felt biographical, but of course it was fiction.

The Other Windsor Girl, by Georgie Blalock

This book was designed to give us a peek inside Princess Margaret's life, through a fictional Lady in Waiting.  I always wondered what a more modern Lady in Waiting did, as opposed to the world of Elizabeth I. 

It would appear a lot of it was placating the Royal, providing her with companionship for her outings, and helping to tame, a wee bit, the royal scandals.

I enjoyed this one much more than the biographical Lady in Waiting, by Anne Glencommer.  I guess truth is sometimes less exciting than the fictionalized version.

It certainly shows how a life of no purpose (other than pleasure, and a wee bit of duty to  Crown), can leave one feeling more than a bit lost.

What I read this week.

 Sometimes, when it's been a week, a girl goes back to her staples, hoping for familiar comfort.

I've been reading Danielle Steel since I was 14, and 90% of the time, she does not let me down.

I have always been intrigued by the Women's  RAF (Royal Air Force), and the role they played in WW2. Young women from Canada and the USA joined together with women from Britain.

This book is adjunct to that, and takes us to the world of the Flight nurses on these aircraft, and the critical role they played. They were often called the Flying Angels

One of my good friends from our College Hockey family serves in the military, and she accepted a post to work at Mildenhall in the UK for a couple years. Her stories of the folks she met were quite incredible.

This book captures a taste of some of those stories. It was exactly what I needed.

What I read this week

 I went a little more modern this time with Vintage, by Susan Gloss.

When I read this I am reminded of The Shop on Blossom Street, by Debbie Macomber.

Women of different backgrounds, coming together unexpectedly, and finding in each other, the strength to find themselves.

It wasn't an overly complicated read, but it definitely reminded me the power of connection with people.