I highly recommend “The Whalebone Theatre” by Joanna Quinn.  I learned of this book when I happened upon the Queen’s Royal Reading Room at www.royalreadingroom.uk.  I love historical fiction and books about the United Kingdom.

The story follows the three children, Cristabel, Flossie and Digby, of the Chilcombe Estate from the 1920s to World War II.  The Estate is near Dorset in southwest England. The author takes us along as the kids grow up and we learn about their parents, the lifestyle of their parents, the comings and goings of the Estate itself, and of course The Whalebone Theatre. 

While the title is a main portion of the book and all characters are well written, several other areas of the book really pulled me in and made me forget that I was in the early 21^st century near Chicago Illinois USA.   The portion of the book about the war experiences of the kids and the citizens of Paris and France were insightful and gave me a new perspective of World War II.  I also found life on the Chilcombe Estate to be the most interesting and the descriptions of the land and sea took me on a trip to southwestern England.

The author is not shy as she honestly shows us the human side of the kids, the parents, the people on the Estate, and pretty much all the characters the kids come in contact with through the time period of the book. 

The book has five chapters, and each chapter gets better than the chapter before.  I finished the fifth and final chapter in a weekend, the story was that good.  

I highly recommend The Whalebone Theatre.  Be prepared for a book that will take you away on an adventure to the Chilcombe Estate in England and at the same time pull you into a story about the brutally honest sides of human nature in war time.  I plan to look for future book recommendations from the Royal Reading Room. 

Me:  I am Diane M. Spolar and I live in Willowbrook, Illinois (a suburb outside of Chicago) with my husband, son and cat.  I am a CPA by day and a reader by night and on the weekends.  I am a lifelong lover of books.  

I highly recommend “Long Shadows” by author David Baldacci.  The story follows Amos Decker, an FBI consultant, and his new partner Frederica White. The story from all angles – the characters, location and storyline are perfect for a summer time read or anytime a read is needed to provide a bit of an escape with a mystery.   This is the seventh book in the Amos Decker series by David Baldacci.  This is the third Iread in this series, I read “Memory Man” in 2015 and “The Last Mile” in 2017.   

The storyline follows Amos Decker on a case that involves blackmail and of course murder.  Along with the storyline, we get peeks into Decker’s problems on a professional level, he is not typical FBI, and on a personal level, he has memory problems caused by a football injury.  Decker’s memory problems appear to help on FBI cases and hurt on a personal level. 

This novel  takes place in Florida on a case that revolves around blackmailing done on recent events and events that happened about 40 years ago.  The people in the storyline keep me invested in the read from his new partner, Special Agent Frederica White to the characters (both friend and foe) he interacts with to solve the case.  I read this book in two weeks, and I followed right along with the agents to solve the murder.   

I like David Baldacci reads for the summer, the characters and story are interesting and get me hooked into the story fairly quickly.  I find I not only read the story but I try to put a short list together of who I think is the culprit in the case.

I recommend Long Shadows and the Amos Decker series by David Baldacci.  If you like FBI mysteries and are looking for a summer time read or author, check out author David Baldacci.  I plan to catch up with the balance of the series, and read The Fix or the Fallen later this summer.

Me:  I am Diane M. Spolar and I live in Willowbrook, Illinois (a suburb outside of Chicago) with my husband, son and cat.  I am a CPA by day and a reader by night and on the weekends.  I am a lifelong lover of books.  

Summertime,  a somewhat easier pace to life and the chance to enjoy time away from home on vacation or a day trip to the local park or beach.  I want my summer novels to keep up with my summer lifestyle, whether I am in a lawn chair in the backyard or waiting in the airport for a get-away summer trip.  I look for stories that I can count on to keep my interest and offer me a bit of entertainment.  Authors that fit this bill are two current bestselling authors, John Grisham and David Baldacci.   

I have been an avid John Grisham fan for over 25 years, since I first picked up “The Firm”.  This novel follows a newly minted lawyer in his first legal position.  The job takes him to Memphis with a legal firm that is not all it appears to be.   I finished this book in about three days, the story and characters are that good.  I like legal thrillers and this book delivered.

On a side note, the book was made into a movie, “The Firm”, with Tom Cruise, Gene Hackman and Jeanne Tripplehorn.  The movie delivers and almost outshines the book (almost).  I recommend the novel first and then the movie.

I first read David Baldacci in Summer 2010 with the novel “The Winner”, and became a fan of his thrillers which focus on political, FBI and military themes.  The stories are always believable, at times seem to follow current events, and keep me guessing as to the outcome.  I like the novels with recurring characters such as Amos Decker, Will Robie, John Puller and especially Atlee Pine. I like the recurring characters as I like the opportunity to be invested in a person and read more than one novel about their story.   The novels with the recurring characters are stand alone and don’t need to be read from the beginning. 

This summer (2023) I plan to read my first novel by author Elin Hilderbrand, her novel “Summerland”.  I always see her at the top of bestselling book lists.  The reviews of her novels seem to focus on her as the perfect storyteller for the summer.  Look for my review of her book later this summer. 

I recommend you spend the summer with a favorite bestselling author.  If you are in need of an author to spend the summer with, I recommend a book by John Grisham or David Baldacci. 

Me:  I am Diane M. Spolar and I live in Willowbrook, Illinois (a suburb outside of Chicago) with my husband, son and cat.  I am a CPA by day, and a reader by night and on the weekends.  I am a lifelong lover of books.

I highly recommend “Revolutionary Road” by author Richard Yates.  The story was intense, I found at times I didn’t like the characters, and the display of human nature was raw.  I became invested in the story and the outcomes of the characters by the way Richard Yates wrote on the interactions between the characters.  I had a hard time putting the book down.

This is my first novel by Richard Yates. I selected this novel as I try to read at least one novel a year that is considered a “classic” and from the mid 20^th century.  This novel was published by Vintage Books in 2000, with an Introduction by Richard Ford.  Mr. Ford helped to put the story in perspective of the 1950s and in perspective of its timeless, unapologetic look at human nature.

I can honestly say I didn’t like the main couple in the novel, Frank and April Wheeler, or their neighbors, co-workers or friends.  I understand Frank and April (and the other characters) found themselves in a time and place that was not agreeable to them.  Some of their actions in the story were so raw, that it was difficult to like a character when he or she performed an act of kindness or a moral consideration. 

The redeeming parts of the book and which drew me into the story  were the interactions between the characters.  Several of the interactions were unexpected, were simple and beautiful to read, and so insightful a commentary on us as humans. 

A few interactions I wanted to mention –

• The chapter that ends Part One, April shares her plan with Frank on how to escape their current circumstances.  The plan was from the perspective of 1950s with a focus on Frank’s happiness.  I felt the plan was in truth April’s last chance for sanity.
• The interactions April and Frank have with John Givings, the adult son of a neighbor.  The adult son has problems as defined by the society of the 1950’s.  The interactions shed light on who really has the problems.
• The interaction between April and Shep Campbell (a married neighbor) at  Vito’s Log Cabin.  While the interaction covers a few pages, the last few sentences clearly recap the interaction and define the shared question we deal with daily – who are we?

I highly recommend “Revolutionary Road” by Richard Yates.  The book is intense, so plan on a time to be able to truly get lost in the read.  I consider his works more than just a story and more so a commentary on human nature.    

Me:  I am Diane M. Spolar and I live in Willowbrook, Illinois (a suburb outside of Chicago) with my husband, son and cat.  I am a CPA by day and a reader by night and on the weekends.  I am a lifelong lover of books.  

I recommend “The Last of the Mohicans” by author James Fenimore Cooper (JFC).  This is my first novel by JFC.  I decided to put JFC and his novel on my 2023 reading list after I read about him and his time in Paris in “The Greater Journey – Americans in Paris” by David McCullough. When I draft my book list and goals for the reading year, I include at least one novel written from the 1800s and the 1900s.  This book met my 1800s book goal for 2023.

“The Last of the Mohicans” follows a soldier, two sisters and their Indian guides as they navigate the unsettled landscape of America in the mid-1700s near the Great Lakes and waters of New York state.   The story gives us a raw picture of the hardships the group faced from the land and the Native Americans.  The area they traveled was home to several different tribes of Native Americans.  JFC’s story gives us insight into the mind of the Native American at the time of the story and how they approached life and death. 

I especially liked the way JFC painted his story more than the storyline itself.  His words gave life to nature, people, and other simple aspects of the story.  Here is one of many examples of this “The clouds, as if tired of their furious chase, were breaking asunder; the heavier volumes, gathering in black masses about the horizon, while the lighter scud still hurried above the water, or eddied among the tops of the mountains, like broken flights of birds, hovering around their roosts.” (from Chapter 19)  This is beautiful writing.

I recommend “The Last of the Mohicans” by James Fenimore Cooper.  I liked the storyline.  JFC shares with us a time in our American history and the key players in the history along with the hardships and successes they experienced.   I liked the way the author painted the story in front of my eyes from start to finish.  I felt I was part of the adventure.  JFC will be an author on my 2024 reading list. 

Me:  I am Diane M. Spolar and I live in Willowbrook, Illinois (a suburb outside of Chicago) with my husband, son and cat.  I am a CPA by day and a reader by night and on the weekends.  I am a lifelong lover of books.  

I highly recommend “The Pioneers” by author David McCullough.  I found the topic area of the 1780s perspective on the Western part of America to be our Midwest interesting, as I am a born and raised Midwesterner.  Plus, David McCullough is one of my favorite authors on American history so I knew I was in for a pleasant reading experience.

“The Pioneers” begins in the late 1780s and follows the settlement of the land of the Northwest Territory, primarily the settlement around Marietta, Ohio on the Ohio River.  The story centers around several generations of families that were a part of the settlement from the initial inception of the idea of the territory.  The story takes us on a journey  to the actual physical settlement of the area as a town in the mid-to-late 1800s and the growth of the railroad and telegraph. 

The “Pioneers” were primarily from New England, and the story shows how the settlers applied their ideas and cultures to their new home.  The story balances the hardship the settlers encountered with the land and the Ohio river to the curiosity the settlers felt about everyday life.  A major idea was the commitment to education at all levels.  The Ohio University in 1804 and Marietta College in 1832 (both of which exist today) point to the founding settlers commitment to education.

I also liked the side story of the former President, John Quincy Adams and his visit to the Marietta settlement.  I can imagine the excitement and amazement the settlers had upon the visit not only by a former President and the son of former President John Adams, a signer on the Declaration of Independence.

The other interesting aspect of this book titled “Pioneers” is that it challenges the idea that I had related to the American Pioneer.  I initially grew up with the idea a “Pioneer” was someone that helped establish the frontiers of the west and great plains area of our country in the mid 1800s.  This book shows that “Pioneers” were settling this country 100 years earlier and east of the Mississippi River.  The book clearly shows our American spirit is one of being a pioneer whether the Northwest Territory, the Great Plains or even Space.

I highly recommend “The Pioneers” by David McCullough. This book is a must for history buffs and will show an interesting slice of American history.  David McCullough is a great author of American History. 

Me:  I am Diane M. Spolar and I live in Willowbrook, Illinois (a suburb outside of Chicago) with my husband, son and cat.  I am a CPA by day and a reader by night and on the weekends.  I am a lifelong lover of books.