Some of our Menomonee Falls adults were busy reading in January and February! Seventy people logged at least some minutes on Beanstack, and forty-four completed the challenge of reading at least 21 hours. Altogether, our readers logged 117,198 minutes (or over 1953 hours!).
Congratulations to our Grand Prize winners and to our weekly book drawing recipients. If you didn’t win this time, please try again when the summer challenge starts in June.
Check out some of the reviews that our participants wrote:
Bonjour Tristesse
Reviewed by Sandra M. on Jan 28, 2022
Bonjour Tristesse was a huge bestseller in Europe and the U.S. in the fifties, buoyed by it’s enfant terrible author Francoise Sagan who just turned eighteen. It is the melancholy and frequently acidic account of a spoiled, hedonistic seventeen year old girl who lives, in joy, with her philanderer widowed father. All is bliss. The father has mistresses who change monthly and cause no harm to the father-daughter relationship. Then the father falls for his late wife’s intellectual and very proper friend to whom he proposes, much to the dismay of the daughter. In turn, the fiancee cuts off the girl from her somewhat older boyfriend and even locks her in her room when she refuses to study. The young girl hen works to break them up with devastating consequences. A short novel, quite readable and very, very French in it’s attitudes and subject matter.
Defy Or Defend
Reviewed by Tamara T. on Jan 17, 2022
The second in Gail Carriger’s Delightfully Deadly is Sparkly and fun, with just the right amount of oddness that gives the HoneyBee her story after the finishing school series. I was laughing out loud at places in the story, and quite amazed in others by just the “Victorian Englishness”. Another really good read.
Regretting You
Reviewed by Gina D. on Feb 15, 2022
Regretting You dives into the complex relationship between a parent and a child, the challenges of growing up and seeking independence, & how to move on after a tragedy. It was comforting to read about love & kindness making a difference.
What else did our community read this winter? Find more of your book reviews here!