Bee Readin'

The Rainbow Comes and Goes; A Mother and Son on Life, Love and Loss by Anderson Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt

April 10, 2018

The Rainbow Comes and Goes is a beautifully written, powerful and honest book of conversations through correspondence between a mother and her son. Anderson Cooper who lives a busy life, as a journalist calls to check in with his mom last minute as he boards a plane to leave on assignment. He is surprised to discovers that at age 91, she has been quite ill. Feeling guilty, and extremely concerned he battles with the thoughts of he should get off the plane and go straight to her, and the responsibility of his job. She tells him he must go, but
Read More

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

March 6, 2018

The Great Alone is author Kristin Hannah’s newest novel and the book was released on Feb. 6, 2018. The story circles around Ernt Allbright, his wife Cora and 13 year old daughter, Lenora, everyone calls her Leni. Ernt is a POW, home from the war, damaged and changed. Physically he is fine, but emotionally and mentally Ernt is extremely unstable. He is volatile, withdrawn and can’t hold a job. When Ernt is told that a military brother who is now dead, left him his rustic cabin in the untamed wilderness of Alaska, he moves his family to the last frontier.
Read More

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

February 20, 2018

The Alice Network is a beautifully written historical fiction novel. The story knits together 3 lives, the tragedy of war and the all woman spy network that operated in Europe during the war seamlessly. The story weaves back and forth between 1947 and 1915 to tell the story of Eve, a woman who was embedded as a spy in The Alice Network during the war, and Charlie, a young pregnant teen in 1947 who is looking for her cousin Rose who disappeared during the war. Finn, helps Eve with her day to day life. She lives in depression, alcoholism and
Read More

10 Most Favorite Books

February 13, 2018

We are well into the New Year and I thought it might be fun to share my 10 most favorite books with you, in case you are looking for something new to read. I hope you find a book from the list that you love as much as I did. Let’s get to it, Flying South, A Pilot’s Inner Journey by Barbara Cushman Rowell A true story written by the wife of famed photographer Galen Rowell. Barbara writes of her adventure of flying solo through South America. She battles her fear, inner demons, injury and storms, but is determined to
Read More

Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah

November 14, 2017

Have you read any novels by Kristin Hannah yet? Winter Garden is the perfect book to read this winter, curled up under a nice fuzzy blanket. Let yourself fall into the pages of this book, I promise you won’t be able to put it down. I first discovered Kristin Hannah’s books through book club several years ago and am working my way down through all of her 20 + novels. She writes so vividly and in color that you feel as though you are sitting in the novel with the characters. After finishing Winter Garden, I just couldn’t wait to
Read More

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

October 31, 2017

Happy Halloween, I just finished the Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline and thoroughly loved the story. The book was published several years ago and has been sitting on my Kindle just waiting for me to finally pick it from the list. The Orphan Train is a historical fiction book that tells one girls story of immigration and being put on one of the orphan trains that traveled from the East coast to the Midwest, and was filled with orphaned children. The children were taught how to present themselves to families looking for foster children or to simply use them
Read More

Dishrags to Dirtbags by Brooke Santina

October 17, 2017

Happy Fall! Fall is my very favorite time of year. I look so forward to cooler days, crisp cool nights, changing colors in the leaves and hot apple cider. But, when you live in Southern California, sometimes fall is just a dream. We are suffering with Santa Ana winds, hot, dry days and the fires have been tragic. Yet, I will turn on the a/c, curl up with a blanket, cup of tea and a book to pretend it is fall outside. I have finished some really great books lately, so watch for them on the blog. The first one
Read More

Blossom on the Road of Dreams by Christopher Lentz

September 5, 2017

Happy September, I hope you all had a wonderful and fun filled Labor Day weekend. School has either already started for some and the rest are going back this week. Labor Day weekend seems to close out the summer for us. While it is a little sad to see the warm and long days of summer end, I love Fall and look forward to the season. To close out the summer, I read the 2nd book in the Blossom trilogy written by Christopher Lentz, Blossom on the Road of Dreams. It was a light and easy read, the perfect ending
Read More

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

August 29, 2017

A few months back I attended a presentation with friends at a local library. Several large publishing houses had sales staff in to give presentations on new books being released. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine was a book they talked about and recommended, especially if you had read Britt Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman and loved it. Eleanor is Gail Honeyman’s first novel. She wrote the book while working full time, which I find surprising as the book is so well written. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, but she isn’t.
Read More

The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B White

August 15, 2017

Summer is slipping away and will soon be a distant memory. I hope you all will have great memories of adventures, vacations and lazy days this summer. I think I told you all that one of my reading goals this year was to go back and re-read a classic book that was a favorite when I was a kid. I thought it would be fun to see if the book still held the same magic it did years ago and would I finish and still love it? Would it hold the same message or would I see something different this
Read More