Talk About a Good Read

Saturday evening I finished a book I had started before Christmas, The Cranberry Inn: A gorgeous and feel-good Christmas romance.  It was a nice little easy read.  Definitely, a feel-good kind of read.  With it being set in the Adirondacks, the descriptions of sledding and skating gave a nice winter feeling.   If looking for an easy read and pretty much G-rated, I would recommend it.  

Looking for another read to occupy the mind, I chose another of the Amazon Unlimited digital books. The Last Rose of Shanghai is written by Weina Dai Rande.   The setting is Shanghai during the Japanese occupation in WWII.  I am a fan of period novels often choosing the 1930-1950 time frame.  

Read a couple of chapters Saturday night.  Sunday to avoid football and basketball games, I again picked up the book.  I could hardly put it down for meals and other essential interruptions.  It was easy to set it aside when our Son dropped by for a short visit.  The book was finished a bit after 3:00 AM this morning.  

The storyline centers around star-crossed lovers.  One is a German Jew that escaped to Shanghai.  The other is a young woman from a wealthy Chinese family.  (The fact that European Jews had sought Shanghai as a place to seek shelter had totally illuded me until this book.) The challenges for all refugees and persons from other nations living in Shanghai kept me enthralled.  In addition, the tension between the conquered natural citizens of Shanghai and the Japanese soldiers was palpable.

With the conflicting cultures of the main characters in the play, I could not stop.  The mystery to be solved as well as concern for who would survive the war kept me engaged.  If you choose to read this book you will find that crude language is a minimum, less than on prime time TV!  

As for me, I am on to the next book.  I did have to do a few of YAM's puzzles and finish one I had put aside because my eyes were crossing.

Y'all stay safe.

Janice