Rainy Day Reads

Challenges:   Around the Year in 52 Books: A category from another challenge (my Bingo Board reading challenge) Bingo Board reading challenge: Read The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah Along with “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr I think this was probably the most hyped WWII book of this year. I say this year. Apparently they were actually published in 2015 and 2014 respectively, according to Goodreads, but I feel like this is the year they really became known (and hyped).  This book follows two French sisters during the Nazi invasion and occupation of France. Vianne is quiet, shy and just wants to keep her family safe, while Isabelle is brash and confrontational and looking for anyone to love her like she has been craving since childhood. It’s quite hard to give a brief synopsis of this book as there are so many things going on. Not only is there the Nazi occupation forces to worry about, but the small family has its own deep wounds to try and hea...

I debated whether or nor I should even write a review for this book, as I wasn’t sure I would have enough to say about it. In the end I decided why not? I’m sure I can think of something useful to say.  This book is written by Jojo Moyes, who also wrote “Me Before You”, the latest it-book in the chick-lit genre. It takes place partly in France during the First World War and partly in modern day London. We follow two women who are connected through a painting. This painting is called “The Girl You Left Behind” and it is a portrait of Sophie, the first woman, living in France during the war, painted by her husband. Many many years later the painting is bought by Liv’s husband, who gives it to her as a wedding gift. The husband dies and Liv sees the painting as a tangible connection to him, along with the house he built for them to live in.  When Liv meets a new man he turns out to be on the hunt for her painting, as it is believed to have been looted during the wa...