Austin and I have been traveling and doing all sorts of fun stuff, and then there's my awesome new job (!!!), but I have been doing some reading. So, here goes!
I bought this book over the summer since it had been on my list for a while. It took me so long to read this book!! But it was worth it. Dagny Taggert is trying to save her family's railroad company, and everyone - even her brother is getting in her way. Hank Reardon, the creator of a new metal - Reardon Steel, is the only one trying to help her, and he has his own problems. The government is limiting how much steel and other metals can be made, and everyone related to industry - car manufacturers, train manufacturers, farm equipment makers, parts makers, etc - are struggling to survive. The parts cannot be made, new track can not be laid, crops can not be delivered, people are starving. Then come the mysterious disappearances of the leaders of these companies. Dagny is still fighting, but how far will she go, and will she be allowed to go, to succeed?
This book has it all - history, politics, philosophy, economics, love, secrets, and scandal. It was definitely worth the time it took to read it. Loved it!
A news article made me put this book on my list. The author of this book, Bill Cheng, is an Asian-American who lives in New York who decided his first book was going to be about African Americans in Mississippi during the 1927 flood. I was intrigued, because what in the world would he know about the Mississippi Delta and all that this area encompasses? Turns out, not a lot.
This book didn't have a plot and the stories were choppy and disconnected. I know that the South is often depicted in a negative way, but it wasn't the lack of education, the prostitution, the racism, or anything else in the book that got to me. It was the way it was depicted. I guess I'm okay with a Southern writer writing about the South, but when someone with no relation writes about it, it's not okay! I read a review that he used vernacular correctly, but I completely disagree. I've read entire books written in a Cajun voice, but I could not understand half of what went on. Cheng got me to read his book, because he wrote about something he has no experience with, so I guess I took the bait!
Mrs. Queen Takes the Train was a cute book that was easy to read. Queen Elizabeth is feeling a little blue, and she decides to sneak out of Buckingham Palace and travel to Scotland to visit her retired Royal Yacht. Here equerry, security officer, ladies in waiting, a Royal Stable staff member, and a clerk at a cheese shop follow her to keep her safe. The book shows the present-day relationships between staff members and talks about the differences and similarities between the relationships now and during Downton Abbey times - and before. So that was interesting to me since I love that kind of stuff anyway. It was a fun read - perfect for a vacation read!
