Sunday Salon: Historical Fiction and Contemporary Books

 Now reading: 

The Last Rose of Shanghai by Weina Dai Randel, December 1, 2021, was offered online as one of the First Reads. It's an historical fiction set in Shanghai in 1940, during the Japanese occupation.

 Aiyi, an heiress and owner of a nightclub, falls in love with Ernest, an impoverished Jewish refugee fleeing the Nazis in Germany. The two people are devastated and separagted by war in Shanghai, a city divided into  European and local Chinese sections, all overshadowed by the occupying Japanese.  I'm learning more about this fascinating period in Shanghai's WWII history.

A book I rescued from my give-away pile is The Song Remains the Same by Allison Winn Scotch, a novel about a woman with dissociatie amnesia, having lost her memory after a plane crash and finding herself married to a man she does not remember. 

I am re-reading it and reposting a review I wrote in 2012!

Title:The Song Remains the Same: A Novel
Author: Allison Winn Scotch
Putnam Adult; April 2012
Objective rating: 4/5

Nell Slattery has lost her memory after a plane crash and is lied to by her relatives and her husband about details of her past. She doesn't recognize her husband, her mother, or her sister, and it seems she has become another person - a more outgoing and less stuffy and conservative person she hears she used to be.

Nell slowly discovers the truths about her marriage, her childhood, and the disappearance of her father, a well-known artist. She makes a decision to be a different person from the one she used to be. I thought the ending was a bit prolonged, however, and I was also a bit surprised by Nell's decision re her dad at the end of the book as this didn't seem totally in character. Overall, however, a very good read!

What are you reading this week? 

Linked to The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, Sunday Salon

Book Review: The Song Remains the Same by Allison Winn Scotch

Title:The Song Remains the Same: A Novel
Author: Allison Winn Scotch
Putnam Adult; April 12, 2012
Source: Publisher
Objective rating: 4/5

I was grabbed by the story - Nell Slattery has lost her memory after a plane crash and is lied to by her relatives and her husband about details of her past. She doesn't recognize her husband, her mother, or her sister, and it seems she has become another person - a more outgoing and less stuffy and conservative person she hears she used to be.

Nell slowly discovers the truths about her marriage, her childhood, and the disappearance of her father, a well-known artist. She makes a decision to be a different person from the one she used to be. I thought the ending was a bit prolonged, however, and I was also a bit surprised by Nell's decision re her dad at the end of the book as this didn't seem totally in character. Overall, however, a very good read!

Thanks to the publisher for a review copy of the book.

Sunday Salon: Missing Yoga

Welcome to the Sunday Salon!

Enlightenment for Idiots

I miss my yoga classes.

I thought I'd stop yoga for a while to concentrate on tai chi, but I'm not learning a lot from the class as our teacher goes way too fast for me. As far as I can see, tai chi is supposed to be sloooow. So, I started doing some yoga exercises on my own this morning and it's helping my aches and pains from all the heat and humidity the past few weeks!

 I started a mystery novel, was not in the mood for a mystery, and started reading The Song Remains the Same, a novel about a woman who wakes up in the hospital with severe amnesia after a horrific plane crash. She doesn't recognize her husband, her mother, or her sister, and it seems she has become another person - a more outgoing and less stuffy and conservative person she hears she used to be. Am eager to see how the plot unfolds.

Last week, I did a review of a book of poems for a tour for
Listening to Africa: Poems by Diane M. Raab and also reviewed an historical novel, 
The White Pearl by Kate Furnivall.

Next week is a book tour for

Charlie : A Love Story
by Barbara Lampert


In between I'm writing poetry! and plan to work on my family tree, improve my tai chi, and get through the heat wave that's coming up next week.  What are your plans?