I had heard a lot about Next Year in Havanaand I am always a bit skeptical about reading a book that there has been a lot of hype around, however I decided to check it out. The cover looked great (I most definitely do judge a book by its cover) and, as it is historical fiction set in the 1950s, I figured it couldn’t be too bad!
Next Year in Havana is about a fictional family forced to flee to America from Cuba as Castro takes over the country. The story alternates between 1950s Cuba told from the perspective of Elisa, the middle daughter of a sugar baron, to 2017 as told by Marisol, Elisa’s granddaughter, after the death of Elisa.
The story is gripping and we learn about the events leading up to Castro’s takeover. We look back on the very beginning of these totalitarian regimes and wonder how they ever came to exist. What I love about historical fiction is that a good author will show you how. Today’s issues aren’t black and white and neither is history. I enjoyed the peek into what life was like leading up to Fidel’s takeover.
Having read and really enjoyed Next Year in Havana I was eager to pick up When We Left Cuba, a stand-alone sequel to Next Year in Havana. The story is told by Beatriz, the older sister of Elisa who we met in Next Year in Havana, as the family tries to temporarily settle into life in America after fleeing Cuba—just until they can go home. As the months stretch on, the family starts to realize that they will not be returning to Cuba, something Beatriz can’t abide. How can she sit by when so much is at stake in her country? She must do something.
Meanwhile, Beatriz has fallen for a young, handsome U.S. senator, a relationship that will test her allegiance to her country and her love for this man—does she love her country or her man more? As events unfold, she starts doing some spying for the U.S. government to help the overthrow of the Cuban government.
This book offers a peek into what life was like for the Cubans who fled to America from Cuba and then had to start over, as well as what it was like to be a Cuban living in America during the Bay of Pigs, an event in history I never had learned a whole lot about.
Both of these books were gripping and I couldn’t put them down! They illuminate a lot about Cuba’s takeover and I felt both were very well rounded as far as the motivations for each of the characters. Readers should be advised there are a few PG-13 moments in each of these books—especially in When We Left Cuba. While not terribly explicit, be prepared that these are not totally clean historical fiction; however, I would not let that stop you from reading these books and you won’t miss anything by skipping these parts. I believe they tell an important part of not-so-distant history and there are lessons within their pages that we can all learn from.
Recently, I fell down a rabbit hole of spy books about the revolutionary war, and it was not just any spy books. They were ones about female spies and they are all based on real women! I have been in heaven reading these books! I love historical fiction—especially when it is fast paced and reads more like a thriller. I hold the view that the events and people of the past are as exciting as anything that can be imagined- perhaps even more so because these things actually happened. Imagine being an untrained spy and the enemy is boarding in your home with you. To add more suspense to the situation, the particular enemy boarding with you in your home was sent to ferret out the spies that they know must be living in the area. They are hunting you as you are spying on them! This stuff actually happened! This is what history is, and a good author will take you there and make your palms sweat. This is what the following 3 books about the female spies of the American Revolution did for me!
Before I launch into discussing these three books about some of the lady spies of the American Revolution, I want to give you some context for the setting of each of these books. A few years into the American Revolution, things were not going well for us Americans. Washington was in trouble and he knew he had to outsmart the British as there’s no way our little American army could over power them. He, therefore, set up with the help of one of his military men- Benjamin Tallmadge- a spy ring. There came to be 6 members of this spy ring known as the Culper Spy Ring, and without them the outcome of the American revolution could have had a very different outcome. Of these 6 agents, one of them was called 355 and the only name given her in the code book was “Lady,” rather than her real name. The term lady denotes a woman of high status. I won’t give away any spoilers as to the fate of this lady, 355, but rest assured she did exist and she did help turn the tide of the American revolution. There is much room for speculation as to this lady’s true identity. If you want a compelling but factual read about the Culper Spy Ring, I suggest George Washington’s Secret 6 by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yager. Now, onto the lady spies!
355: A Novel, The Women of Washington’s Spy Ring, By Kit Sergeant
This book is probably the most factual out of the three books I am discussing today. It follows 3 women who played a part in spying in the American Revolution. All 3 of the women portrayed in this book were actual people. They lived and did the things (at least to a certain extent) told in the book. While I really enjoyed this story, there were a few things I would like to mention:1) the book is called 355, yet none of the characters in this book quite fit what we know about the actual lady agent known as 355 in the Culper Spy Ring of New York. That doesn’t mean that these women didn’t do great things for the American revolution. Neither does it mean that none of them could have been agent 355. To this day, the identity of agent 355 still remains a mystery, but none of these women quite seem to fit the bill so if you are picking this book in order to learn specifically about agent 355 you may be a little disappointed. 2) The book came to a rather abrupt ending. I respect and value when an author stays as true to the real history as possible, and as real life doesn’t have neat little endings tied up in bows, neither does this story. The story in this book was good. I felt that the characters did come to life for me by sticking closely to the history that is known about these women the author did well, but I would say this is more of a portrayal of events told, well, than a story with a plot. Read it and judge for yourselves- I’d probably say this is a 4 star rating as far as the story goes, but 5 star if you are reading to learn the history!
Agent 355, by Marie Benedict
This is a short little story (currently only available via audio book) about agent 355 of the Culper Spy Ring in New York. Again, agent 355’s true identity remains a secret but there is a case to be made that the woman in this story is a possible candidate. The woman in the story was a real person, and she could have easily been agent 355. While short, this was a great telling of the events that the true agent 355 is suspected have had a hand in during the revolution. This woman moved in the circles with the social elite of New York during the British occupation of New York in the later years of the American revolution. She had a chance to be a fly on the wall while the British superiors spilled their intended battle plans right in front of her. There is also the social constraints of the day in which a single woman did not wander about the city unchaperoned— Agent 355 therefore would have then had the additional obstacle to face of how to get her information to another agent who could then relay the information to Washington without incriminating herself in the process. Agent 355 was a 5 star rating for me in every sense- compelling plot, lots of history, staying true to the event of those fateful years. My only complaint was that this book was simply, too short!
Rebel Spy, by Veronica Rossi
I couldn’t put this book down!! Out of the 3 books I’m discussing today, this one definitely had the most compelling plot that kept me on the edge of my seat through the whole book! Soo good! While this book also discusses the event that agent 355 is supposed to have had a hand in, the rest of this story is highly fictionalized. This makes for a very engaging read, but not quite as great of a history lesson. If you are reading this to learn about the events 355 played in the revolution read it, absorb the events, but be prepared for the fact that someone like this woman likely did not exist. However, if you are just looking for very compelling and entertaining historical fiction read it and enjoy every minute of it!
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I always hear about “life changing books” and maybe I’m just a skeptic but, while I find many of these “life changing books” to be thought provoking and inspiring, I very rarely find it to be life changing. However, I think I might have just found such a book titled, Rest, of all things.
I came across the book, Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less, and my interest was quickly piqued by the title and am I glad that I did! The book starts by discussing the great thinkers and change makers from the late 19th century and early 20th century and their work habits. The author discusses how these people approached work and the lines they drew between work and their personal life. The author challenges that rather than working all the time in order to win a badge of honor, as it were, these people separated work and their personal life in order that they feel truly rested when they returned to work, thereby increasing their longevity and effectiveness in their field.
The chapter I found most interesting was about the people who were most prolific and well-known in their respective fields, people like Charles Darwin and Charles Dickens, were not people who worked 60-80 hours a week, but rather ones who focused on dedicated work for 20-30 hours a week. (Read more about Charles Darwin and his devoutly Christian wife in my post “Charles and Emma” here). The most influential people of the 20th century rarely broke a 40 hour work week. They didn’t work long, but they did work hard. The author stresses the importance of workflow habits to produce really focused work and, therefore, effective and prolific work. Truly focused work can be draining and because of this many of these people worked in 90 minute bursts with a short break in between, followed by another 90 minute session. Usually after a large break in the day, one last work session in the afternoon would follow. This was very interesting to me! Think about all the side hustles out there today. There is no limit to what one can do in this day and age. But when to do it? If the greatest minds of the last century (and the author did give examples of non-geniuses who followed this work model), could do all that, what could we do with a small amount of truly focused work each day, day after day?
The other chapter that really stood out to me was about deep play. Deep play is something you do that you enjoy and that you lose yourself in entirely that you lose track of time. The benefit of deep play is that it gives your mind a chance to rest, to wander a bit as you tinker, to rest, and will perhaps offer the side benefit of helping you solve a problem on which you were previously stuck.
Other chapters in the book dwelt on the importance of sleep, what walking can do for our creative problem solving skills, and how exercise can help improve longevity in careers. While none of these topics are new, I did appreciate the nuanced approach offered in the book and found it to be very thought provoking.
While some of the advice and models set forth in the book will not work for everyone—hourly workers do not have the luxury of working a 30 hour week—there are nonetheless, little nuggets to be gleaned from this book that I think just about all of us could benefit from. If you are struggling to start a side hustle, know that you don’t have to pour endless hours into it in order to make it successful. You can effect a big difference by truly dedicating a few intense hours to it each day. If you know you need to exercise but are afraid of the time it will take away from your job, read this book and see the evidence of how it could help improve your performance and expand your career life. Lastly, if you are needing permission or a gentle nudge to pick up that hobby, go for it—there will be more benefits from it than you realize.
I’m sure there are people who will not be impressed with this book; but, if you are one of the many people who feel the constant need and pressure to operate at full capacity and never take time for the things that matter to you, I urge you to give this book a go, and see what you think!
If there is one area of my life where I could possibly be a minimalist, it is in my clothing. I love the thought of looking at my closet and seeing only the things I absolutely love! I crave guidelines for curating my wardrobe to be full of pieces that I am excited to wear and am always on the lookout for new outfit “formulas” to fall back on for days when I am rushed or feeling uninspired. Culling through my wardrobe and fleshing out much needed pieces to make my wardrobe better suited to my life is what, The Curated Closet, by Anuschka Rees helped me to do!
The Curated Closet isn’t just another style book, or a book alerting you to the newest trends, instead this is a book about identifying your personal style and building a wardrobe that is timeless to you, built around your style, and usable for your everyday life.
Identifying Your Style
In the first part of the book, Ms Rees takes you through an in-depth study of your own style. She gives you assignments to complete that delve deep into finding and honing in on your specific style. She doesn’t just suggest looking on Pinterest for 20 minutes, rather gives you a step by step guide of where to look for style inspiration and gives you a guide for what to look for in order to identify your personal style. Then Ms Rees then walks you through step by step, how to do a complete overhaul of your closet.
Curate
Ms Rees helps you clarify what you need in your closet; if you work from home everyday you don’t need as many formal pieces, if you hardly ever get dressed up you don’t need a million different pairs of heels. This helps you look at your closet with a critical eye and see the holes in your wardrobe. Ms Rees stresses the importance of taking time to build the core of your closet around quality pieces- and not just rushing out to buy the item to fill the hole. You want the core pieces to be ones that last you because you have spent the time to make sure they are really pieces that you love, then you can spend less on pieces that aren’t essentially to your wardrobe.
Simplify
I started implementing the advice in The Curated Closet early last year, and looking back now I am pleased with how my wardrobe has evolved. I now have several good quality core pieces that I know I can fall back on to build an outfit. I have invested in a few better quality pieces that I know I will have for a long time, and while there are still a few more core items that are on my list that I would still like to get soon, I also know that taking my time to find them will pay off because taking extra time now will give me more time to mull over the decision and help eliminate buyers regret- I haven’t had any buyers regret over the core pieces I have purchased to date!
Ms. Rees also sets forth several different methods to simply your wardrobe and make getting dresses easier. For example: how to build a color palette for your wardrobe, how to implement and use outfit formulas, and how to identify the quality of an item, (Hint: Quality has little correlation with price) and she provides a troubleshooting guide for common clothing issues and how to fix them- I loved this one!!
My Takeaways
These were my big takeaways from The Curated Closet, but another area that Ms Rees spent a lot of time covering is how to stop overspending on clothes- especially clothes you seldom wear! This section got a little bit lengthy for me and since I really don’t shop for clothes that often and therefore do not tend to overspend. I ended up skimming through that section of the book for the most part. I really appreciate the valuable information in this book and I think there is most likely at least a few nuggets of information that would be valuable for anyone- I even suggested to my husband that he might benefit from reading the section on building and identifying holes in your wardrobe!
If you are someone who struggles to find clothes that feel like you, or if you are someone who wants to simplify your wardrobe then I think there is a lot of valuable information tucked within the pages of this book, The Curated Closet, that you will benefit from reading, and if you do decide to read it let me know what you end up thinking of it!
I always hear about life changing books and maybe I’m just a skeptic but while I find many of these “life changing books” to be thought provoking and inspiring I very rarely find it to be life changing. But now I believe I have found a serious contender as far as life changing books go.
I came across the book Rest: why you get more done when you work less, and my interest was quickly piqued by the title, and man am I glad that I did. The book starts by discussing the great thinkers and change makers from the late 19th century and early 20th century and their work habits. The author discusses how many of these people approached work, the lines that they drew between work and their personal life. The author challenges that rather than working all the time in order to win a badge of honor as it were, these people separated work and their personal life in order that they feel truly rested when they returned to work, thereby increasing their longevity in their field.
The chapter I found most interesting was that many people who were most prolific and well-known in their respective fields. People like Charles Darwin and Charles Dickens were not people who worked 60-80 hours a week, but rather ones who focused on dedicated work for 20-30 hours a week. The most influential people of the 20th century rarely broke a 40 hour work week. They didn’t work long, but they did work hard. The author stresses the importance of habit on work productivity and truly focused work. Truly focused work can be draining, and therefore a lot of these people worked in 90 minute bursts with a short break in between, followed by another 90 minute session, then there was usually a large break in the day sometimes followed up with in the afternoon with one last work session. This to me was very helpful! Think about all the side hustles out there today. There is no limit to what one can do in this day and age. But when to do it? If the greatest minds of the last century, (and the author did give examples of non genius people who followed this work model), could do all that, what could we do with a small amount of truly focused work each day, day after day?
The other chapter that really stood out to me was about “deep play”. Deep play is something you do that you enjoy and that you lose yourself so entirely that you lose track of time. The benefit of deep play is that it gives your mind a chance to rest, to wander a bit as you tinker, and perhaps will help you solve a problem that you were previously stuck on.
Other chapters in the book dwelled on the importance of sleep, what walking can do for our creative problem solving skills, and how exercise can help improve longevity in careers. While none of these topics are new, I did appreciate the nuanced approach offered in the book and found it to be very thought provoking.
While some of the advice and models set forth in the book will not work for everyone- hourly workers do not have the luxury of working a 30 hour week- there are nonetheless, little nuggets to be gleaned from this book that I think just about all of us could benefit from. If you are struggling to start a side hustle, know that you don’t have to pour endless hours into it in order to make it successful. You can effect a big difference by truly dedicating a few intense hours to it each day. If you know you need to exercise but are afraid of the time it will take away from your job- read this book and see the evidence of how it could help improve your performance and expand your career life. Lastly, if you are needing permission or a gentle nudge to pick up that hobby, go for it- there will be more benefits from it than you realize.
I’m sure there are people who will not be impressed with this book; but if you are one of the many people who like it, I myself being one too, who feel the constant need and pressure to operate at full capacity and never take time for the things that matter to you, I urge you to give this book a go, and see what you think!
Hey! May I Send You Something?
If you are here, chances are you just might like my writing. (wink) If you Drop your email address in the box below I’ll save you time by emailing you the link every time a new post comes out!
I am always on the hunt for good historical fiction since that is my favorite genre, and though I know there is already more historical fiction written than I could ever read in a lifetime, I still always feel like there can never be enough! The new year has me reviewing my 2020 reading and thinking about what I would like to read more of this year—historical fiction has made the cut again! I made the conscious effort to branch out and be more intentional in my reading in 2020. I picked up several genres that I hadn’t touched in years, and while I enjoyed them, I still want my reading life to be filled with an abundance of historical fiction, not just any historical fiction, but page turning, captivating, historical fiction!
I love looking back over the titles I’ve read in the past year and there are always a few titles that jump out at me more than others. You know the ones—they are the books that pull you in so much that you find yourself thinking of the characters more as friends than just characters in a book. Or you’ll find yourself thinking of a scene like you would a t.v. scene and realize it was from a passage in a book, painted so realistically that you got sucked into it!
Below is a list of books that I read in 2020 that sucked me right in, some of them I have talked about before, and others I haven’t mentioned. Regardless, they are all ones that pulled me in, held my interest, and painted a vibrant world that I find my thoughts still drifting back to.
The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff I listened to this as an audiobook and I couldn’t stop!! It is told from the rotating perspective of three women, the author, Pam Jenoff, does a great job of keeping you enthralled through the entire tale. This is a story about the women spies, stationed in France, who worked for the British intelligence during World War II. One wrong move could mean death, not just for one of the spies, but for all in their network. The women are working diligently and making progress when a few odd things start to occur and it seems they may also have a spy among them…
A decade later, young Grace Heasley discovers an unattended valise tucked under a Grand Central Station bench. Opening it, she finds 12 photographs of young women, around her own age. Grace impulsively tucks the photos into her purse and leaves. Overcome with guilt for stealing the photos Grace returns later that day hoping to replace the photos—but the valise is gone!
Grace now begins to feel a responsibility to the girls in the photos and pressure to seek the owner of the valise, a task that proves near impossible. Why were their pictures being carried about in a suitcase? Grace can’t stop her inquisitive nature and so begins her journey to get to the bottom of this mystery, a journey that ends up being much more much than Grace bargained for.
Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton I did not know much about life in Cuba, either before Castro took over, while he was in power, or what life is starting to look like after his death. If you want a real life depiction of what totalitarian control looks like, this book will give it to you.
Not that this book is all doom and gloom—far from it! Marisol has lived her whole life in Florida, the granddaughter of a Cuban refugee who fled to America when Fidel took over. Now that both Fidel and her grandmother have passed on, Marisol is tasked with traveling back to Cuba to spread her grandmother’s ashes, per her grandmother’s last wishes. She travels to Cuba and stays with her grandmother’s dear friend and childhood neighbor, and her handsome grandson. Escorted about Cuba by the handsome grandson, Marisol slowly uncovers family secrets she never could have imagined she’d find.
Lovely War by Julie Berry This book takes place during WW I and is narrated by the Greek Gods, which I thought was really fun! Aries tells the war scenes, Aphrodite tells the love story, and Hades tells the parts when someone dies. The story is about 4 young people who all find themselves on the war front in WW I. You will follow each one of these young people as their lives crisscross and intersect, and you will see how war will take its toll on each one of them. War takes a toll on everyone. (See my other post where I mention Lovely War Here) {5 books}
The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner This book takes place right after WWII in a small village in England that has the fortune to have the home that was Jane Austen’s in the later part of her life. Throughout this book a group of people who, for their own reasons, have taken solace in Austen’s work, band together to try and save Austen’s house and her legacy.
The story was good, based on real events, the people are fictional although there were real people in the village who did what the characters in the book do, but what really pulled me into this book was the believability of the characters and the descriptions of the English village. This is one of those books that my mind wanders back to the characters, more so than to the story. Not to say that the story wasn’t compelling—it was! But if you enjoy really getting to know the characters of a book then you will be enthralled with this one.
As Bright As Heaven by Susan Meissner I bought this one for my mom and my aunt for Christmas after reading it! I talked about it at length in my post, As Bright as Heaven, but let me just say again this is one of those books that will pull you in and keep you turning pages. This book kept my interest as the story is told from the alternating points of view of the main characters, and thus always has you on the edge of your seat eager to hear from all of the characters. You will discover what life was like from the point of view of an undertaker’s family during the Spanish flu pandemic in the early 1900s.
I hope this helps give you a few more titles to check out for your future reading. Don’t forget to connect with me on Instagram and tell me about the books you have been enjoying lately!
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