El Paso: A Novel | 
El Paso Littens: check in and let us know you‘re safe.
I picked up a novel set in my new town, hopefully it's good :) I didn't know there was a Forrest Gump book but this was written by the same author.
so-soI decided to get a jumpstart on my 2018 resolution to #readmyowndamnbooks by picking this up. It is an epic western novel set around El Paso during the Mexican Revolution in 1914-1915. It was interesting, but I got bored at places. There are a lot of characters to keep track of. I liked it and I enjoyed being immersed in a world, but I wouldn‘t necessarily recommend it unless I knew someone was interested in reading an epic.
For last year‘s #secretsantagoespostal exchange @Jillsandypants gave me 3 books. I read one, The Absolutely True Diary... by Sherman Alexie, in July for #BookTubeathon. These are the other 2 & I‘m in the middle of both of them right now. Definitely will be done with them by Dec. 31. Just wanted to say thanks again to Jill for the lovely gifts. Also I‘m excited about opening this year‘s gift tomorrow & reading whatever books are in there in 2018!
So this shelf used to be my favorites shelf with my TBR shelf being the one below. But I have acquired soooo many books lately that I had TBR books on the floor. So I switched the shelves. As you can see though, the books take up the entire shelf. So when I get books for Christmas, they‘ll have to go on the floor. My primary reading goal in 2018 is to read my TBR books. Is #readmyowndamnbooks still a thing? It should be a thing.
Always a good day when you get to hear Winston Groom speak. I always walk away with a much more knowledge than I had before. And, a smile on my face, as he has a great sense of humor. #alabamabookfestival
My January TBR pile consists of library check outs... maybe a few extras along the way. #januaryreads #januarytbr
pickWhat was meant to be my last book of 2016 is now my first book of 2017! 🐍🌵☀️🚞🏜
Perhaps Ambitious ... but maybe not. Not going to stress the challenges but hopefully going to enjoy good books #januaryreads #bookishresolutions
I'm diving into this even though I know next to nothing about Pancho Villa.
Bookish Christmas Shopping. This one is for my dad. One of his favorite books is Lonesome Dove. This hits on many of the same notes: western; saga and lots of pages (Dad loves big books 😬)
#bookgifting 🎁📚🎁📚🎁📚🎁
Did some necessary shopping for the *new* library while in Austin today. @bookpeople #shopindie #booksmakemehappy
#photoadaynov16 #novemberfaves
Read a lot of goodies this month. Here are my top picks!
pickWhen a wealthy railroad magnate's family is taken hostage by Pancho Villa, he and his son try to free them while trying to survive the Mexican Revolution. Fantastic. Exciting. Engrossing.
pickThis was a fun book about unlikely circumstances that lead a Boston railroad magnate to take his entire family down to Mexico to confront Pancho Villa in the early 1900's. Groom mixes fictional characters with real, recognizable people (similar to his Forrest Gump) with a western vibe. This book could probably have been about 100 pages shorter, but I enjoyed it.
pickI haven't read a western in a while and this one was a fun time. True to form, Groom makes sure you run into some familiar characters along the way.
Whoo-hoo! Library Books!!! 📚📚📚📚📚
pickI really, really enjoyed this book because it was SO different. This story takes place during the Mexican Revolution with an assortment of varying characters. The story consists of adventure and revenge, cowboys, horseback riding, bull fighting, and gunslinging, airplanes, railways, kidnapping, and the ways of Wild West.
New glasses! The better to read with! #cokebottlelensesrule #not #progressives 🤓
"Out in the West Texas town of El Paso"
So while @BookBabe is at her friend's ladies-only wine-tasting engagement party, where do I go? Yep, the bookstore 😁👍🏻!!! Purchased these two with my birthday cash, and got another one for her upcoming birthday's stash 😎🙌🏻. My job here is done. Good purchases?
Has anyone heard about or read this book yet?! It looks and sounds so lush! And you can't go wrong with the person who gave life to Forrest Gump, right? It's historical fiction in the American Southwest, and I want to purchase this so bad, if only I had the money!
I'm sucked into this novel that is full of the fascinating changing lives of Americans and the World around 1914. I've grown up with this popular image of Pancho Villa gracing the walls of most Texas Mexican Restaurants, but I've never read a novel about him, and how he fit into the times. It's gotten very good. Thanks publishers for the ARC & for printing it. Ok gotta go finish!
I haven't asked for an ARC in a long time. But I saw that this was coming out, and frankly, I'm relieved to find a unique story I genuinely want to read. So, I'm on page 31, and suddenly I'm face to face with Pancho Villa. Can't wait to find out what happens. I enjoyed Groom's book on Jackson and Lafitte (War of 1812, New Orleans). And of course, Forest Gump.
A further embarrassment of riches. Which would you read first?
