Sarah Can't Stop Reading

Here are three books I gave 5 stars in the month of February 2024. What have you read and enjoyed lately?

Things to Look Forward To: 52 Large and Small Joys for Today and Every Day by Sophia Blackall – Blackall presents 52 illustrated ideas of big and little things that can bring us joy each and every day. This book feels magical and a balm for the soul. Go now, pick this up and smile and sigh as you read these gentle reminders. It’s a hugging book for sure. 

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman – “Rejecting the futile modern fixation on “getting everything done,” Four Thousand Weeks introduces readers to tools for constructing a meaningful life by embracing finitude, showing how many of the unhelpful ways we’ve come to think about time aren’t inescapable, unchanging truths, but choices we’ve made as individuals and as a society—and that we could do things differently.” This was simply terrific. It was hopeful and thoughtful, with humor sprinkled out. It asks important questions that I’m still thinking about. Highly recommend to those of us who love our to-do-lists and getting things done. 

The White Lady by Jacqueline Winspear –  introduces another extraordinary sleuth from the author of the Maisie Dobbs series, which I discovered last year and love so much. I listened to this and could not stop–it was gripping! Elinor White is a former wartime operative of both WWI and WWII and determined now to live an anonymous life in Shacklehurt, a village in Kent, England. That is until she’s drawn into helping the local family of Jim Mackie. Jim is a son from the Mackie crime family and has tried to make a clean break from their doings, but the Mackie family insists that Jim must return. They aren’t afraid to use force on Jim and even his wife Rosie and child Susie. I remember exactly where I was on my walk when I came to the ending of the book. I am pretty sure my mouth was hanging wide open. Jacqueline Winspear is an amazingly talented author, and I recommend this five star read to fans of historical fiction and historical mysteries.