Tag Archives: book reviews

Reading Roundup – Spooky Season

Ok, readers, I intended to devote Spooky Season to horror.  I really did, but I just couldn’t do it.  I think the reason is just that I don’t like horror all that much.  Despite the horror renaissance that seems to be going on these days, I haven’t found much that has kept my interest.  Also, other shiny books caught my eye, like the new Beatriz Williams, The Wicked Widow.  ‘Cause we all know readers gonna read.  And most of us can’t stay focused on a theme when our favorite author has a new one.  So, here’s the Spooky season roundup.  Still creepy, just maybe not so scary.

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten

This one caught my eye because of the idea of making a documentary about an abandoned village with a dark past.  I love the Blair Witch Project.  It’s the best found-footage horror movie and I think a just all-around good horror movie.  I also gave this a go because it’s Scandinavian and they usually know their way around horror (and grisly murder mysteries).  But alas, this one didn’t live up to the hype.  It started out good with a group wanting to go out to the middle of nowhere to film and encountering puzzling problems that hint toward the supernatural.  But the story dragged, and the characters were not very interesting despite the author’s attempts to bring in themes of women and the history of mental illness stigmas.  I found myself skimming the last third of the novel.  It had some atmosphere, but the story didn’t deliver.  I wouldn’t recommend it.

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

I read about this one on a list of Dark Academia books.  I’ve really gotten into Dark Academia after reading Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House.  (I’m eagerly awaiting the next installment in that series, but the author seems to be tied up with that whole Netflix series thing.  What’s that about?) Anyway, school experiences are something most of us have in common so setting mysteries and ghost stories in schools seems like a no-brainer.  So, when this came up as a deal on Book Bub, I snapped it up.  We start the story with Oliver, who’s being released from prison after ten years and he decides to tell the detective who arrested him the whole story.  It’s a story that sees seven art conservatory students unravel in their senior year while quoting Shakespeare to each other as if it’s their own language.  Some might find this pretentious and tedious, but I actually loved all the drawn-out Shakespeare scenes because I just love Shakespeare.  This was a much more high-brow mystery and I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the characters were fully rendered.  I would recommend this if you like a mystery wrapped up in young adult angst and the Bard.  Otherwise, you might want to give it a pass.

Magpie Lane by Lucy Atkins

I picked this paperback up at the library’s annual fall book sale and had no expectations.  I was thoroughly impressed by the author’s ability with the unreliable narrator.  This felt inspired by The Turn of the Screw but didn’t steal from it.  It’s an entirely original story but like Joyce kept the reader wondering what was really going on here.  The story is told from the perspective of the nanny who moves into the head-master’s home in Oxford to take care of his selectively mute little girl.  When the girl goes missing, we only have Dee’s viewpoint to tell us what happened.  This was refreshing considering authors are going crazy with the multiple perspectives these days, which really seems like a cop out when Lucy Atkins wrote an incredibly compelling story with only one.  I whole-heartedly recommend this one.

Alright everybody, enjoy Turkey month and I’ll see what else I can wrangle for the next one.  Happy reading, y’all! 

Audiobooks Revisited

Remember when I said I had a love/hate relationship with audiobooks?  It was a while ago, I know.  A lot has happened since then.  A lot.  And then some.  But anyway, I decided I wasn’t into audiobooks at that time.  But I’m older and wiser now, and I’ve decided I really like audiobooks.  And I’ve discovered it’s really good at keeping bad thoughts away.  If I’m working on something that doesn’t require a ton of concentration my mind wanders and that’s not a good thing.  I muse on things I shouldn’t, so the soft drone of the audiobook keeps me from going to those dark places.  So, here’s what I’ve been listening to lately.

Michael Connelly

I love the Bosch Series.  It’s my favorite Amazon Original and LA noir is always up my alley.  And I was stoked to hear they’re going to spin it off and focus on Bosch and Maddie because, in my opinion, the father-daughter relationship was the best part of the later seasons.  So, I got the most recent Bosch audiobooks even though I’ve already seen some of the story lines on the show.  I gotta say, the show really improved on the books.  (Sorry, the-book-is-always-better people.)  Not this time.  Bosch is a hard cookie in the books and doesn’t have many personal relationships.  I think the Bosch on the show is much more likeable and the cast of characters around him is so much more enjoyable on the show.

I also binged the Lincoln Lawyer series.  I enjoyed Mickey Haller’s legal thrillers, although the court scenes do get a bit long.  I like how Michael Connelly explains what’s going on without talking down to the reader.  I know a good bit more about police procedure and trial lawyer tactics than I would otherwise.

The Virgin River Series

The Netflix series premiered late last year, and I needed something to listen to, so I decided to do these simultaneously.  It was actually an enjoyable experience.  The series departs wildly from the books so they’re really two different experiences.  I’m not normally one for romance books but these were good.  I recommend them for a light read but like many series, it started to get repetitive.  I got to the fifth book and decided I’d had enough romance.  But I’m looking forward to the second season of the show because you really can’t go by the books, and I need to see what happens to Jack. 

There were also some good one-offs like When Life Gives You Lululemons by Lauren Weisberger.  It was just a good romp and I think I enjoyed it more when it was being read by someone in the characters’ voices.  Another was The Identicals by Elin Hilderbrand.  Same case.  But a book like Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James could only be tolerated as an audiobook.  Life’s too short to read Jane Austen and it’s really too short for Jane Austen sequel books. 

So, I’m on the next one.  Happy listening, y’all.

Book Review: Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson

What is there to say about Jenny Lawson?  She’s just great.  Really.  There aren’t many authors who can make me actually laugh out loud.  In fact, she might be the only one.  But I did while reading her newest memoir, Broken (in the best possible way), often and long.  She has a singular talent to make the mundane absolutely hilarious.

I’d been waiting for this book because I loved her first memoir Let’s Pretend This Never Happened.  I love to read about people who are struggling but make it funny.  Because we’re all struggling in some way, maybe not the way she is but we can all understand it.  When she describes her battles with depression, I get it.  Especially when she said it makes her feel “scooped out.”  I’ve actually used those words myself.  Virtual five!  So, yeah, we’ve all been there in some way as evidenced by all the mortifying slips of the tongue and misunderstandings submitted by the Twitterverse.  And I love the stories about her childhood and her conversations with her husband Victor. 

She understands the universal truth that we need to laugh and cry and laugh again because we’re all just doing the best we can.  Sometimes we’re scared and sometimes we just do it anyway and sometimes we can’t get out of bed in the morning but then we get up the next day.  She has more struggles than some, but she captures the ebb and flow of life in amusing and entertaining essays. 

I may not be buying any of her products from Shark Tank, but I will be buying her next book.  I wish you well, Jenny.  Be safe and take care and keep doing what you do.  You’ve got a fan in me.  Five enthusiastic stars.

Thanks to Goodreads giveaways for the ARC of this book.

Reading Roundup – The Buzz

This post (no comments about the length of time since the last one) is dedicated to the books I’ve read recently because there was buzz about them.  You know how they show up everywhere because some famous person has them in a “book club”?  Yeah, I usually don’t get pulled in by that, but a few times I did.  With varying results.

Writers & Lovers by Lily King

Let’s head back to summer 2020 (oh, come on, you’re not that traumatized) to when I picked up this little book.  There’s really not a lot to say about this book because not much happens. A girl waitresses at a fancy restaurant. Then she writes some. Then she goes on dates with two different guys. Then she worries about her finances. And then she sells her book, ta-da! And all her problems are solved because her book is the best one ever written, and she can name her price, and everybody can shut up about how she should have given up and gotten a real job a long time ago. This book just felt like some writer’s fantasy.  It was not the least bit realistic or interesting for that matter.  Because it doesn’t happen that way.  It really doesn’t.  I only finished this one because it was short.  I don’t recommend it.

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

The cover got me on this one.  It’s just so intense and melancholy and beautiful.  And it was everywhere on Goodreads, so I gave it a go.  It’s definitely not something I would normally pick up but I’m really glad I did.  A story about a teen who starts a sexual relationship with her teacher and then a decade later has to decide if she was a willing participant or a victim could easily go melodramatic.  I can see many a YA book going full A Fault in Our Stars on that, but this one didn’t.  I was pleasantly surprised to read about a fully rendered character dealing with a difficult situation.  I totally got the mixed emotions, the need for acceptance, the absolute vulnerability of that age.  And the questions about what would make you a victim.  What part did Vanessa actually play and what is her culpability?  It was written with grace and understanding and even though I’ve never been in any situation like that, I got it.  Kudos to Ms. Russell for a graceful book about a really tough subject.  I’d recommend it but give a caveat about teen sexual abuse.

The Holdout by Graham Moore

I went for this one because I love mysteries and crime novels and the occasional legal thriller.  This one was billed as all three because it’s about a jury who got sequestered on a super high-profile case ten years ago and are coming back together to do a documentary on the case.  But then one of them ends up dead.  The titular holdout is our narrator Maya who convinced her fellow jurors that the defendant was not guilty.  We go back and forth between the past and present as Maya tries to clear her name for the other juror’s murder.  I finished this book but just barely.  It started off all right but quickly went off the rails.  The premise stretched credulity to begin with, but by the end I was rolling my eyes.  I’ve read a lot of mysteries and this one just doesn’t hold up.  Sorry, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

I hate a book with an agenda.  I’m really confused as to what was supposed to be the focus of this book.  We’ve got a lot of characters all vying for our attention, but no one who’s really our POV.  We’ve got the interplay between the privileged suburban family and the itinerate bohemian artist and her daughter who blow into town and cause some strife, but that storyline was really cliched.  And there’s the whole story of the white family trying to adopt a Chinese girl while her mother tries to win her back after abandoning her.  I can’t reconcile how these two storylines were supposed to fit together.  Were the Richardsons villains and Mia and Pearl heroes?  Were we supposed to pull for the Chinese woman to get her daughter back from the white couple because they would cut the baby off from her birth culture?  The author left these things open, but I feel like there was a “right” answer lurking beneath the surface.  Maybe I just didn’t get it, but this is one Reese’s Book Club pick I wish I had skipped.

So that’s what I have for the talked-about books I’ve dabbled in.  Since three out of four didn’t hit the spot it’s safe to say there probably won’t be many posts about buzzy books.  I’m guess I’m just too contrary for the mainstream.

Until next time (no, I don’t know when that will be, stop asking) happy reading, y’all!

Reading Round Up: End of Summer

It might be the unofficial start of fall this weekend but it’s still plenty hot here in SC.  I’m planning to stay inside and read my Book of the Month books if they get here in time.  Fingers crossed.  Here’s some reviews so you can start planning your weekend reading.

When Life Gives You Lululemons by Lauren Weisburger

I never read The Devil Wears Prada but I saw the movie so I figured I could read this sequel with no problem.  And I was right.  I listened to the audiobook and while that’s not my preferred method, I absolutely loved this presentation.  This book is delightfully bitchy.  It’s like a girl-talk gossip session with no guilt because the people aren’t real.  I wouldn’t want to know Emily Charleton in real life, and I think she makes some bad decisions but she’s a thoroughly entertaining book character.  And getting even with a man who does a woman wrong was an unusually satisfying plot.  This book wasn’t really relatable in the details of the people’s lives, (Upper class NYC and Greenwich bunch) but you know people like this wherever you are.  I’m sure of it.  Because we all have a little bit of bitch in us.  If you’re looking for pure escapism, I recommend it.

Her Last Flight by Beatriz Williams

New Beatriz Alert!  If you’ve been reading this blog, you know I love Beatriz Williams and will preorder anything she writes.  It’s rare to find an author who can do it all and this one didn’t disappoint.  It focuses on a female aviator in the early twentieth century a la Amelia Earhart.  I wasn’t sure that would interest me, but in Ms. Williams’ capable hands it kept me turning pages.  Janey, a journalist, tracks down the missing aviatrix Irene Foster in Hawaii.  An exotic setting, beautiful writing, and characters with ulterior motives make this a compelling read.  If you haven’t checked out her books, you need to.  I recommend this one.  Obviously.

A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight

I wasn’t that impressed with Kimberly McCreight’s earlier work Reconstructing Amelia, but when her new book came up on Book of the Month, I thought I’d give her another chance.  And I’m so glad I did.  A Good Marriage is part mystery, part legal thriller, and part domestic drama.  A lawyer gets pulled in by a client she’s apprehensive about representing while clinging to a crumbling marriage.  I was super impressed that she wrote a 400 pager and managed to avoid the soggy bottom.  The characters felt real and developed and I didn’t feel cheated by the ending.  So, a big win for Ms. McCreight.  I’ll be keeping her on my radar, and I recommend this one for sure.

The Last Flight by Julie Clark

This was a Book of the Month dice roll.  Historically, that hasn’t worked out too well for me but this time I’m happy to report it did.  This wasn’t your typical mystery.  Two women trying to escape bad situations meet in a chance encounter where one ends up assuming the identity of the other.  But she has no idea what awaits her when she starts trying to live someone else’s life.  It makes you think about just how hard it is to disappear in the modern world and how appearances are usually deceiving.  I found both sides of this story engaging and enjoyed the plot twists.  I’d pick it up if you’re spending your weekend avoiding the heat.

Stay cool and enjoy the holiday.  And as always, happy reading y’all!

Reading Roundup: Yikes

It’s that time again.  That’s right, Reading Roundup!  Wha, wha!  So, in accordance with the current state of affairs in this world this post is dedicated to being negative.  These are the books I’ve wasted time on recently.  Will I be recommending them to anyone?  Spoiler: no.

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Thank God I got this from the library because I’d be demanding my money back.  I thought this might be an enjoyable read for a long weekend what with its magic and lost manuscripts and forbidden love.  It might have been if I was really into descriptions of dusty manuscripts and libraries and wine and yoga and wine and tea and more wine.  If he’s a vampire and all he really likes is blood, why does he have so much wine?  And why does this author think we want to read about characters doing nothing but drinking wine and going to yoga and riding horses and hanging out in the library and drinking WINE?  Our main character is pretty chill for somebody who’s in immediate danger.  Is she in danger?  Yeah, I couldn’t really tell so I gave up.  Don’t waste your time and please don’t waste your money.

The Hilarious World of Depression by John Moe

The title is ironic because depression isn’t hilarious.  Or is it?  Let me tell you what isn’t hilarious: this book.  If you’re looking for funny memoirs by people who suffer from mental illness, allow me to direct you to Carrie Fisher or Jenny Lawson.  While this book does have some good info about depression and it may help those “normies” out there understand our old friend “Clinny D” a little better, it just wasn’t that interesting.  He really lost me in the middle when he spent a lot of time on how his brother’s suicide affected him.  I’m sympathetic, but I just didn’t get how that really had to do with his depression.  All of his reactions sounded just like any person dealing with something that horrific.  I’ve seen BuzzFeed articles with tweets and Insta’s about depression that are way funnier than this book.  And if you’ve been there, you know you need a sense of humor to get through it.  A dark sense of humor, but a sense of humor, nonetheless.

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

I usually love Lisa Jewell’s books and I bought this one thinking I’d like it too.  But it just didn’t cut it.  It was a strange book.  There was a family, but they didn’t live upstairs.  They lived locked in a house and they were a cult or trying to be a cult.  And a baby disappeared back then and now she’s an adult playing the violin on the street in France… or something?  Yeah, this book was just a mess.  It was really hard to follow and not very interesting.  I’m surprised I made it all the way through actually.  For a good time, see other Lisa Jewell books.

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

I’m puzzled as to why this is getting made into a TV series.  I know Big Little Lies is awesome and deserves an HBO series, but this book really isn’t thought-provoking or funny or even interesting.  The characters come together for what they think is a wellness retreat but actually it’s the experiment of a wacky Russian-Australian doctor who started to resemble The Brain from Animaniacs more than a legitimate villain.  Don’t think that was what Ms. Moriarty was going for.  I didn’t make it through this one.  Just watch Big Little Lies.  Trust me.

All right, you kids be safe and don’t watch the news.  See you next time and happy reading!

Reading Roundup: Out on a Limb

It’s that time again.  That time when I realize I haven’t written anything for this blog in a long time and I start kicking myself.  It’s also that time when I realize no one’s actually waiting for this blog so I stop kicking myself.  But all the same here’s some reviews.  I chose to cover the ones over the past six months that I went out on a limb for, meaning they aren’t my usual fair.

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

A girl gets a free ride to Yale because she can see ghosts.  Um, what?  I took a chance on this one from Book of the Month and I’m really glad I did.  Trust me it all makes sense when you get into the world of Alex Stern.  She reluctantly takes a position monitoring the secret societies of Yale who don’t just party.  Alex has the ability to see ghosts which is really useful when you’re policing frat boys dabbling in the occult.  And when a town girl is murdered, she’s the one with the heart to pursue the case.  This is intended as a series and I actually can’t wait to see what happens to Alex and Darlington.  It’s a little bit Harry Potter and a little bit Veronica Mars and I’m in.

The Banker’s Wife by Cristina Alger

This one is half whodunit and half international espionage.  I’m not usually a big spies and governments fan but this one was okay.  Our character Annabel is a naïve wife of a banker who goes missing.  Determined to find out what happened to him, she’s pulled into a web of high finance and offshore accounts.  Unknowingly aided by Martina, an intrepid journalist, she risks her life with terrorists and blood money.  I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed it.  I would recommend it, but I enjoyed Alger’s new novel Girls Like Us more.

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katerine Arden

In January I was in the mood for something completely different, so I got this one from the library.  Set in a fantasy medieval Russia, this story reads like a fairy tale where a girl must fight for her identity and to save her village.  Like all fairy tale stepmothers, Vasilisa’s is cold and unloving and against anything having to do with the old magic.  But it’s the old magic that Vasilisa must tap into to stop the evil that’s threatening her home.  Rich language and tons of atmosphere make this a fun read for a cold winter night.  I recommend it if you’re looking for something off the beaten path.

Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty

I love the Big Little Lies series on HBO.  So, I decided to see what else Liane Moriarty had.  I have to say I was bit disappointed.  This one started out good with the non-linear timeline circling the events of a barbeque attended by three couples.  We gradually learn their secrets and motivations culminating in a traumatizing event.  I think this book just went on too long.  I kept waiting for it to end and it seemed like it just wouldn’t.  Are we going to just keep following these people forever?  Some editing would have helped.  I don’t think I would recommend this one.

Beartown by Frederik Backman

This is another one that’s pretty out there.  I loved Backman’s A Man Called Ove, so I wanted to see what else he had.  He spends a good bit of time introducing his characters which works here because then he hits you over the head with tragedy and it hurts.  It really does.  It’s really impressive how he makes you care so much about what happens to this tiny town in the woods and about hockey.  This is a book about people and no matter what sports we’re playing or where we are in the world, we can relate.  I recommend it and going in knowing as little as possible.

That’s it for now.  Until next time, happy reading y’all!

The Pursuit of History: The Monarchy

I’m on a mission.  I’m attempting to learn about all the English kings and queens from the Battle of Hastings to Elizabeth II.  Why?  No idea.  It’s just something I’ve become interested in.  Probably because of all the shows they’ve been creating about different historical figures.  There’s The Crown, The Tudors, Victoria, The White Princess, The Spanish Princess, and my personal favorite, The Hollow Crown.

PBS’s The Hollow Crown is approximately fourteen hours of Shakespeare history plays spanning the Middle Ages from the deposition of Richard II to the death of Richard III at Bosworth Field.  (A lot of Henrys in between, by the way.)  I guess that’s what got me interested in knowing what the story was, all the kings and the players in between.

That led me to Dan Jones last year.  I started with The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England.  It’s a great overview of the Middle Ages up to the Wars of the Roses.  Dan Jones is fantastic at making history palatable for the lay reader.  So many non-fiction books are dry, but he definitely has a gift.  This volume gives insight into the time and condition in England and explains some of the things I had only glanced over before like the Crusades and the legend of Richard the Lionheart and the stories of Robin Hood.  (He wasn’t real, sad to say.)  And the stories of the people involved were fascinating.  If you can keep them all straight.  Between the Richards and the Henrys and the Catherines and the Marys I wasn’t always sure who was plotting against who, but it was a great read.  It definitely got the lineage of the monarchy straighter in my head than it’s ever been.  The sequel, The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors, was just as good.

 I understand not everyone wants to read 1000 pages of Medieval history, but I did.  And I thought I would share because there might be some other person out there who wants to make the British monarchy their new obsession.  Now all I need is for Dan Jones to get out of the Middle Ages and write a history of the Stewart dynasty and the Georges who ruled in the 18th and 19th centuries because that’s where my gap is right now.

Anyway, whatever literary pursuit you take on next, happy reading, y’all!

Reading Roundup: General Fiction

I am sooooo behind on my book reviews.  I know you’ve all been clamoring for one.  Not really, but I’m going to say that because it makes it sound like I have real readers.  So, without further ado (or needless self-deprecation), here it is.

Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

This one has been hovering around my Want To Read shelf for a while.  I kept putting it on and taking it off and putting it back on again.  Finally, this summer it stuck.  I love stories told in unique ways and this one is really clever in that it tells its story through a dossier of emails, letters and news stories.  Bernadette Fox is a reclusive genius architect who runs away when her daughter wants her to go to Antarctica on a family trip.  Her daughter is desperate to find her and she’s the only one who doesn’t think her mom’s crazy.  I thought it was amusing and a light read.  I recommend it for squeezing in between those Scandinavian thrillers.  You know the ones.

The Golden Hour and The Wicked City by Beatriz Williams

I’m endlessly impressed by Ms. Williams’s productivity.  Her new one-off historical novel The Golden Hour came out this summer and the follow-up to The Wicked City will be released in December.  I’m lucky if I get a blog post written every two months.  But anyway, The Golden Hour, set in the Bahamas during WWII, was a bit of a disappointment.  We’re following a gossip journalist in the inner circle of the former king of England and his wife Wallace Simpson.  What I didn’t get was that our POV character has the inside scoop, but she doesn’t share it with the reader.  I always felt like I was missing something, and I didn’t like that.  In preparation for the next installment of the 1920’s series, I picked up The Wicked City.  It’s got an interesting main character and I look forward to seeing more of her, but the current day storyline seemed extraneous.  Just because it’s historical fiction doesn’t mean we always have to have two timelines.  Just saying.  It wasn’t the best Beatriz by any means, but I have a soft spot for the 20’s so I’m going to continue the series.  Bottom line, I wouldn’t recommend The Golden Hour because it just couldn’t keep my attention.  I thought The Wicked City ran a little long, but it’s got potential for the series.  If you love Art Deco like me, pick it up.

The Garden of Small Beginnings and The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman

I picked up Abbi Waxman this summer and I’m so glad I did.  She’s hilarious, y’all.  In The Garden of Small Beginnings we meet Lillian, a widow with two little girls.  She’s an illustrator who’s sent to a gardening class to get up-close and personal with her subject.  Not everyone could make a story about moving on from the loss of a spouse funny, but Ms. Waxman does it brilliantly.  She has a wry wit that really speaks to me.  And that wit was on full display in The Bookish Life of Nina Hill.  I loved this book.  Nina is a bookworm who doesn’t like people and has no problem not having any family.  So when the father she never knew dies and leaves her with a ton of relatives and a mysterious inheritance, she’s thrilled!  Just kidding.  I recommend both these books with relish.  You can read Nina Hill without having read Garden but the characters overlap and I thoroughly enjoyed that.

Until next time.  Happy reading!

The Pursuit of History: Northern Ireland

I recently spent a weekend absorbed in Patrick Radden Keefe’s Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland.  I love a good nonfiction and when I saw this book advertised, I realized that even though I had heard U2’s Sunday Bloody Sunday, I had no real knowledge of the time in Ireland known as The Troubles.  I decided that needed to change.

I found the book fascinating and informative.  One complaint about it was that it doesn’t explain where the sectarian discrimination came from and I think at the is point no one really knows anymore.  It’s there and it’s crazy and lives have been lost and destroyed because of it.  This book is not for the faint of heart.  The 1970’s were particularly brutal and are described in detail.  The story details the activities of the IRA and one woman who was “disappeared” for being an informant.  It was a sad and effecting story.  I would recommend it for anyone who wants an overview of the Troubles especially with the controversy surrounding Brexit.  Many believe the UK’s exit from the EU will threaten the tenuous peace in Northern Ireland.

Happily, Derry Girls, the Netflix series from Ireland supplemented my study of the Troubles with wit and humor.  Say Nothing can be a bit of a downer but combining it with a comedy series helped to take the sting out.  Not that we should ever forget what those people went through and God forbid it should happen again.  But that show is hilarious, and I recommend it too.

Whether you claim Irish heritage or not, it’s history worth knowing.  So, if you have a weekend to kill, curl up with it.  But remember: whatever you say, say nothing.