Upcoming Books:
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is reading Simon the Fiddler by Paulette Jiles for September Book Club.
Simon the Fiddler by Paulette Jiles follows her, bestselling and National Book Award Finalist book, News of the World. This was a Bextraordinaire Book Club favorite. Simon the Fiddler takes us back in time to Texas at the end of the Civil War. The main character, Simon is a man on a mission after he spots Doris Dillon, for the first time while he plays fiddle at a formal dinner for the officers. Doris is the Irish governess for a Union colonel, under contract and off limits to a lowly fiddle player. This does not stop love or destiny. Simon has a dream of owning property, buying a ring, and marrying Doris Dillon. Jiles' descriptions of the adventures of Simon and his band crossing the Texas landscape are vibrant. "The lamps in the saloons burned coal oil or whale oil, the beams overhead creaked in the wind off the Gulf, the streets were incandescent under the gas lamps. Sometimes bats streaked through the white light, moths dance in a city of seagulls and scarred buildings." You find yourself walking those same streets. I sped through this book and enjoyed every page. I couldn't wait to see if the star-crossed lovers make it in the end. Don't miss this great video, Simon the Fiddler by Paulette Jiles
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