Whatcha Reading: February ’15 Edition

It’s time for one of my favorite monthly threads, where we ask what you’re reading and you tell us and then we all buy tons of books: Whatcha Reading?

I’ll start: I just finished The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell.

Yes, that’s nonfiction. Funny enough, I mentioned this book (it’s giving me Jiffy Pop brain where all the ideas explode in my head at one time) at the Smart Bitches DC gathering at Sona last week (hello to everyone who came!). I was standing next to Maya Rodale, who exclaimed, “Oh, my gosh, I KNOW HER!”

Which was weird, because I’d found this book on my own – by which I mean I hadn’t been emailed about it or anything. I’d read about a book, The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia, in Entertainment Weekly, and when I went to look at it online, I found a link to another book, the interestingly named In Cod We Trust – which was about Norway. As tempted as it was (COD!), I kept clicking book after book and ended up at A Year of Living Danishly, entirely by chance.

But of course the author knows Maya Rodale because there are ONLY romance people in the world, right?

I liked this book a great deal. It’s nonfiction about the writer’s experience relocating from London to Jutland, Denmark, when her husband is hired by Lego. Each chapter takes a month of their year as Russell tries to identify why Danes are ranked by several world measures as the happiest people on earth. I really liked the mix of hard data and interviews with economists, sociologists, doctors, chefs, and government officials – including a person who works for the Danish tax office – and her own personal experiences as she attempts to navigate life in Denmark. Each chapter has given me a lot to think about it, and I’m really happy I stumbled into this book.

Then I started The Shopkeeper’s Daughter by Lily Baxter, about a young woman sent to northern England during WWII. I loved the first few chapters, especially because there was so much detail and tension. I think the first few scenes take place over a handful of days, and the book opens on an air raid, with the heroine, Ginnie, trying to make tea quickly for a sick neighbor in the bomb shelter while Nazi drone bombing aircraft are attacking London. Then the book switches pace very quickly once Ginnie and her sister are in Shropshire, and a few months pass in a handful of sentences. The switch in timeline brings with it a strange case of insta-love on the part of an American soldier and I’m hoping the story gets back to the detail and richness of the first few chapters.

Next I might try Suzanne Enoch’s classic England’s Perfect Hero ( A | K | AB ). All that HarperCollins backlist on Scribd – mmm mmm good. (And don’t forget, there’s a three-months-free coupon for Scribd for Smart Bitches readers, too.)

RedHeadedGirl:

I just finished The Game and the Governess by Kate Noble and I just got The Manservant by Michael Harwood ( A | K | G | AB | Scribd ).

Carrie:

I am in a weird limbo because I just finished Boy, Snow, Bird and I don’t want to be almost done with a book when I get on a plane, because I’m so overthinking the “what to pack and what will I read thing.”  Also I have a cold.

So I’m supposed to be reading You Just Don’t Understand by Deborah Tannen ( A | K | G | AB | Au | Scribd ) but I’m secretly mostly reading random pages of Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) for the 1,000 time.

Amanda:

I’m almost done with At Wolf Ranch. Loving the hero so far and how attentive he is! A sweet Southerner.

After that, I’m moving onto The Master by Kresley Cole ( A | K | G | AB | Au ) and I CANNOT CONTAIN MY EXCITEMENT!

Elyse:

I just finished At Wolf Ranch!

I really liked it but there were some info dump moments

I also just read Playing Dirty by HelenKay Dimon ( A | K | G | AB | Au ) I have about a million rom sus I ordered from Amazon at home, too.

Amanda:

Agreed on the info dump! The beginning also hella confused me.

So, what about you? What are you reading? Anything you recommend and want to share? Or… the opposite of that? Please share!

---

Shopping note:

After a recent Whatcha Reading? discussion, Lisa M emailed me to ask if I could link the books mentioned in the comments to the various retailers to make shopping a little easier. I wish I could! But alas, that isn’t possible.

However, I can drop some retailer links for you right here, so that if you feel like shopping, you can select your preferred retailer. Some of these links are affiliate-enabled, and the site receives a percentage commission from purchases made, so if you use them, many thanks. If you don’t want to us them, no worries, mate! (And if your preferred retailer isn’t here, let me know and I’ll add it for you if I can!)