My Current Interest

Image provided by Sourcebooks.             I don’t know how many times I have watched The Men Who Built America on the History channel, and yet I’m still not sure I’ve seen it all.   There are a lot of episodes that I seem to always come in partway through.   Despite this, I have found one man in particular that grabs my attention whenever I watch.   That man is the very prominent and successful businessman, Andrew Carnegie.   Why Mr. Carnegie has struck me as the most interesting, I’m not sure.   It might be because of the things he did (he did not seem to always only be out for himself, unlike some of the others), or it might have been because of the actor who played him.   Either way, when my mom and I came across the book Carnegie’s Maid while looking for something else, I thought of The Men Who Built America and knew I had to give this book a try.          ...

            Some may call The White Princess a sequel to The White Queen .   I would call it a continuation of the story.   That’s because The White Princess pretty much starts where The White Queen leaves off.   That place is with Henry Tudor being king, and Princess Elizabeth as his betrothed.                       Despite what may seem to be a good, positive start to a mini-series, it’s actually not.   Henry (Jacob Collins-Levy) and Elizabeth (Jodie Comer) don’t want to be married.   In fact, they can’t stand each other.   Henry hates the fact that Elizabeth not only loved, but was sexually involved with the king that came before him.   It enrages him so much, that Henry becomes determined to humiliate Elizabeth in any way he can.   He tries, and almost succeeds, in sexually assaulting Elizabeth, but she ma...

            It’s always nice, in my view, to see a romantic situation get resolved in a series.   This is especially true when it feels as though things are realistically resolved; meaning not too rushed or done in an implausible and unrealistic way.   I’m happy to say, that none of those things happened with Kathleen and Marcus. The last person librarian Kathleen Paulson expected to find on her porch was her ex-boyfriend, Andrew.   Flying all the way from Boston to Mayville Heights, MN, Andrew is determined to win Kathleen back and have her go home to Boston with him.   Never mind the fact that he’s the one who up and married someone else while dating Kathleen.   According to Andrew, that is something Kathleen is somehow supposed to forget.                 Thankfully, Kathleen has much more sense than to get back together with Andrew just beca...

               I went into Magic and Macaroons a little bit hesitantly, I’ll be honest.   After Declan’s behavior in the last book , I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from him in this one.   Katie deserves to be with someone who wants her for who she is, not someone who will scoff at her for it.   Unfortunately, Declan has turned into the scoffing type.                 It was pretty much like any other spellbook club meeting for Katie Lightfoot and her fellow coven members.   Then a woman looking for Katie banged on the door.   When she was let into the bakery, the woman collapsed onto the floor before anyone could learn who she was or what she wanted.   Of course, these were secondary concerns to that of getting the woman some help.   Once they did, though, then Katie and the coven went about figuring out who the woman was and...

               Here is the final Julian Kestrel novel.   There is a short story which I don’t think I have read, but I will try to find.   Whether I find the short story or not, it is sad to see Julian’s story come to an end.                                Julian Kestrel is traveling across Europe with his dear friend Dr. MacGregor.   While traveling, he comes across the story of Lodovico Malvezzi, a Marchese who was murdered years ago in Italy, and becomes determined to solve the case.   Dr. MacGregor does not think Julian’s investigation is such a great idea.   Julian’s valet, Dipper, doesn’t think it is either.   Julian, however, dismisses their concerns and decides to go to Italy, whether anyone likes it or not.        ...

              This documentary film is such a sad, sweet love story.   In so many ways it’s absolutely heartbreaking, but it is not a film to miss.   If anything, you must see this film to see that great loves truly do exist.                 Jo Byeong-man and Kang Kye-yeol are a South Korean couple who have been married for over seventy-five years.   They live alone in a somewhat rural area, and are madly in love.   Arranged in marriage when Kye-yeol was only fourteen and Byeong-man was about nineteen, this couple has lived the ups and downs of life side by side.   Six of their twelve children died at a young age, and they worked hard to have the possessions they have now.                 Even though they are in their nineties, this couple still acts like a young cou...

              I told myself I would stop reading at 7:00.   Then it was 8:00.   Finally, I stopped reading about 8:17.   A few hours later I picked Last Christmas in Paris up again and read until the end.   Nothing else I had to do mattered.   I was going to read, and finish, this book.                 Structured in mostly letters and telegrams, Last Christmas in Paris is a great love story.   It is also a reminder as to how intimate letter writing can be.   Evie Elliott and Thomas Harding certainly found that out as they wrote to each other during the first World War.   As Thomas was the best friend of Evie’s older brother, Will, Thomas and Evie had known each other practically their entire lives.   They just did not see each other as anything other than friends.   Then Thomas and Will go off to war and the letters s...