Colorways by Vicki Welsh

I only have 4 books this month because I currently in a very long book that, in length, is about equal to 3 books. I only have a few days left so I’ll be done in a few days.

March kicked off with a very touching book and wa followed.by 3 more that I enjoyed

Please share your favorite books of the month. I’m always looking for more books for.my wish list.

I discovered this book on a book tube channel, and I’m so glad I did. I was listening to this as I finished the memory quilt project, and it was a nice compliment to my work on those days.

Theo is a new arrival in the small town of Golden, GA. No one knows him, where he came from or even his last name. He visits a local coffee shop and notices dozens of drawn portraits on the wall. They subjects are all local citizens and they are done by the same local artist. Theo decides to start start purchasing the portraits and returning them to the proper owners…the subjects.

Through his project, he begins to get to know some of the individuals. With ever exchange of a portrait he hears the person’s story. It’s a beautifully written story about community, connections, generosity and acts of kindness.

If you have Read The Monuments Men by Robert Edsel or watched the movie, you may recognize the name Rose Valland. Before the Nazis occupied France, Rose worked at the Jeu de Paume in Paris. She finagled ways to stay at the museum during the war and kept meticulous records of art that was confiscated, stolen, moved, hidden or, otherwise, was at risk.

The Monuments Men is about a first-of-it’s-kind special platoon that was formed to find, preserve and repatriate art stolen during the war. They were aided greatly by the records and work of Rose Valland.

The book is more than a book about the war. It’s about everything that happened around art, museums and private collections from just before occupation through years of work after the war to find the art. It’s a great companion to The Monument Men. Rose is featured in the original book but this books is a completely different perspective.

If you like WWII history or art history, you will enjoy this.

Mary Anne recommended this book last month. I went to Libby to put it on hold and it was already available so I jumped right in.

This isn’t historical fiction but is is based loosely on a real boxcar library that you can read about here. The novel brings some actual mystery to the fictional boxcar library.

The book is set in 3 decades in the early 20th century and follows 3 women whose paths eventually cross. Millie Lang is working at the Works Progress Administration in Washington DC and is one of the editors for the American Guide Series. The Montana Guide arrives in disarray and Millie is sent to Montana to see what happened and to fix it before congress cuts their funding.

Ten years earlier, Alice is the librarian who works diligently, fighting the mining company and others, to create the boxcar library to serve the men and families working the mining and forestry camps. She hires Colette as the first librarian, no knowing that Colette brings her own history that might risk the library.

It got off to a bit of a slow start as I got familiar with the 3 characters. I’m not sure it was brilliant to make them all young women, but I eventually figured it out and settled into a nice story. I also love books about books. It reminded me of The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek, which I also loved.but my sister-in-law did not.

This is the 9th book in the Tracy Crosswhite series. The series is a police procedural based in Seattle, Washington. Tracy is a department of one working cold cases.

Tracy is visited by Anita Childress and asked to re-open the case of her missing mother. Lisa Childress was an investigative reporter knows for being singularly focused on her work and staying with a story until she had all the information, even if it put herself at risk. One night, about 25 years ago, Lisa received a tip call and was directed to meet someone near a marina. She hasn’t been seen since.

Tracy has to start looking into the stories Lisa was researching at the time. All were focused on issues that powerful people would not have wanted discovered.

I enjoy the Crosswhite series as pretty light reading. You can’t ask too many questions about how things were discovered. There’s a lot of luck involved but the mysteries and characters are interesting.