I sadly started my top 10 book list last year and
never posted it.So, I decided this year
to make things simpler by making my list just a list with links to the original
reviews.Let’s discuss what you think of
my list in the comments below.What were
your favorite books of 2017?Were any
the same as mine?
These are the ten books I loved the most that I read
in the year 2017.It doesn’t mean they
were necessarily published in 2017.I
also didn’t count books that I was reading again for the second time (On the
Shores of Silver Lake for example by Laura Ingalls Wilder).These were the books I read and then couldn’t
stop thinking about long after I’d read the final page.They are a mix of non-fiction, historical
fiction, suspense, romance, and a classic that should be on everyone’s list (So
Big by Edna Ferber).
And my top 10 from 2016 that I never published as I
was writing riveting summaries of each one and never got finished!Are any of these books your favorites?
The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir is the type of good book I
like to curl up to at night after a busy day or take a break and read over my
hurried lunch at work.It helps me to
escape to another world while telling a compelling story full of fascinating
characters.The worst part of this book
was that it had to end.I hold out hope
that there will be a part two in the future.
In the beginning days of WWII in England, the start of
the war has meant the disappearance of the sons of the village as well as the
dismantling of the church choir. Taking matters into their own hands, the women
band together to make the first Chilbury Ladies’ Choir.Told through letters, diaries, and snippets
from newspaper articles, the intersecting stories of the village ladies unfold
through the growing horrors of war.Venetia
Winthrop is the spoiled older daughter of a landed gentry Brigadier General who
has fallen in love with a handsome new stranger, who may also be a spy.The Brigadier’s only son has died in the war,
causing chaos as the estate will be entailed away without a male heir.Not wanting that to happen on his watch, the Brigadier
hires a near do well midwife to help ensure that he will have a son.The only woman who can stand in her way is
Mrs. Tilling who is a nurse and has been trained as a midwife.Alone after her son has left for war, she has
a Colonel stationed with her that drives her batty.And so on as more lives of the village
intersect within these stories.Will the
Brigadier get his son?Will Mrs. Tilling
find happiness and uncover the great baby intrigue?Will Venetia find true love?
I loved the intersecting stories that fell along the
life of a small village.I thought all
of the story lines were strong and I was equally intrigued by all of the
characters, which is a great feat in itself.Usually in stories with more than one narrator, I tend to like one
best.I thought the way the story was
told through the letters, diaries, and headlines was unique and carried the
storyline through tremendously.I liked
the everyday lives and how they were affected by the war.There is a real and present danger as the Nazis
get closer. This book reminded me of another one I loved, The Guernsey Literary
and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer.It also helped with my Downton Abbey blues.It was a different time period, but the story
of all in the village from the high and mighty to the maid and the midwife was fascinating.I loved the romance of the novel, but it was
the intrigue in the story with spies and the great baby mystery that really
kept me going.I loved the spirits of the
women and their can do attitudes.
A few of my favorite quotes:
“My mother told me that women do better when they
smile and agree.Yet sometimes I feel so
frustrated by everything.I just want to
shout it out.”
“Maybe we’ve been old that women can’t do things so
many times that we’ve actually started to believe it In any case, the natural
order of things has been temporarily changed because there are no men around.”
“Another life just begun and already over. A faraway
star glows brighter and disappears into the void.What an insignificant, unprepared army of
souls we are.”
“There is a way of life here that I don’t believe any
war can crush, that will endure long after we’re gone.”
“That realizing you’re going to die actually makes
life better as it’s only then that you decide to live the life you really want
to live, not the one everyone else wants you to live.And to thoroughly enjoy every minute.”
“And I realized that this is what it’s like to be an
adult, learning to pick from a lot of bad choices and do the best you can with
that dreadful compromise.”
Overall, The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir is an immensely
enjoyable WWII novel about a group of plucky women, their lives in their
village, and the great strength they had to get through the war’s many changes
to their lives.I highly recommend
it.It would also make a great book club
selection.
I sadly started my top 10 book list last year and
never posted it. So, I decided this year
to make things simpler by making my list just a list with links to the original
reviews. Let’s discuss what you think of
my list in the comments below. What were
your favorite books of 2017? Were any
the same as mine?
