Four books read

 I've been on a reading roll lately.  It feels like I have my groove back! Two so-so books and two good books.  You can't win them all!

1) All Adults Here by Emma Straub: about a mother and her three adult children. The mother has a secret to share with her children but is worried about how it will affect them.  Astrid (the mother) is also dealing with wondering about mistakes she may have made raising her kids. Meanwhile, the three adult children have their own issues to deal with.  I found it entertaining and readable, but not anything to make me think.

2) We Begin At The End by Chris Whitaker.  I was taken by the author's writing right off at the start of reading the book. And the story...and the characters...just wonderful reading! There are two main characters: Walk who was chief of police in his hometown that he had never left.  He continued to struggle with a life-changing event that occurred thirty years past. The other main character is Duchess who was a thirteen-year-old girl, who had spent her life dealing with her addicted mother and protecting and taking care of her five-year-old brother. Both Walk and Duchess have loved and lost and continue to seek the love of a family.

There are many characters in the book, and they all begin to tie together as you read it.  It is a story that has stayed with me for days, especially the ending.  Good read!

3) Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker: I have wanted to read this book since it came out, and when I saw it at the library, I grabbed it.  It is an absolutely fascinating true story about the Galvin family.  The family consisted of both parents, ten boys, and two girls. Of the twelve children, six of the boys were diagnosed with schizophrenia during the 1970s.  The book takes the reader along with the journey of this family over the years and also ties into the research that has been happening in the scientific/medical field studying schizophrenia.  The Galvin family was/is instrumental in the research of schizophrenia.

It is a very readable story that will help others learn about the illness and how it affects families.  Another good read! 

4) The last one I read was The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce: I also saw this at the library and picked it up.  I'm glad that I did, and didn't buy it.  I really didn't find this book very good.  I was quite disappointed because I loved her two books that I have read (The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy-both wonderful books!). Anyway, the story is about a man who has a shop in an area that is being torn down and developed and he meets a woman who comes into his shop, and they share a love of music, then fall in love. Nothing about the story grabbed me.  Sad.

3 Non-Fiction!

 Non-fiction used to be rare in my reading sphere.  I am noticing a trend of reading more and more of it, however! I recently finished up on three non-fiction books, one that I have been reading for a while, picking it up off and on.

1) Wintering by Katherine May: This was the perfect book to read over the winter.  And I took my time with it. The subtitle is "The power of rest and retreat in difficult times".  Winter itself is a difficult time for me (yes, even here at the beach-I'm getting quite spoiled wanting warm summer-type days!).

I found this to be a beautifully written book  It starts in September and ends in late March.  It is the journey of the author's time dealing with hard issues: her husband's illness, her son's beginning homeschooling, and the author having to leave her job for her own medical issues. The book tells of how the author weathered these "setbacks" (my words),  in part by learning to use them for the opportunities they offered.  In other words, finding the positives in the situations and accepting and utilizing the positives. She focuses on the importance of finding the power of resting and retreating.  A lovely book!

2) A Grief Observed by CS Lewis: This is an older book (1961) that the author wrote after his wife had died. It is the journey of losing faith and coming back.  Easy for many to relate to after the death of a loved one. While I didn't find the book to be especially profound, it was interesting to observe his journey of faith.

3) Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell: You may recall that I have read other books by Malcolm Gladwell.  I love Malcolm Gladwell.  I love his books and I love his podcast Revisionist History (check it out-season 5 has just been released).  Outliers is probably the best of his books that I have read to date. The subtitle is "The story of success". I read it in two days...I couldn't put it down!

In this book, Malcolm looks at the surrounding world of successful people, in all sorts of categories (sports, business, etc.).  He argues that it's not just a matter of intelligence, ambition, or personality traits.  Success is more about the opportunities that arise, and the culture one is from (possibly, and usually, going back for generations). The stories he presents are fascinating and quite thought-provoking. I found the book to have excellent insights into factors that make one an outlier!

The Notebook and 84 Charing Cross Road

 I finished and read The Notebook and 84 Charing Cross Road in the last three days. I was actually just using up my reading time until a new book arrives today.

So, let's discuss The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks.  I had watched the movie several years ago and loved it, including sobbing at the end. It's a really good, well-done movie.  So I thought I should read the book and I was terribly disappointed in the book.  I don't know how it ever got the acclaim that it did.  I thought it was poorly written, and had a less than stellar ending. At least it was a quick read.

I read 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff yesterday.  It's a very small, charming little book of letters between the author and what I pictured as a quaint little used book store in London.  Helene lived in New York City and came across an ad for the store. She began a correspondence ordering books from the store in 1949, primarily dealing with Frank, but also over the years various other employees, and with Fred's wife.  The letters (at least in the book) ended in 1969, a few months following the unexpected death of Frank. In their letters, they shared their love of books and really had a twenty-year friendship develop.  I noticed that the book was dedicated to Frank, which was sweet.

2 more books: The Shadows We Hide and The Book of Angels

 In 2014, I read The Life We Bury by Allen Eskins.  I blogged about it on the 19th of November 2014. I didn't realize that the author had written a second book in 2018 with the same main character.  I was excited to earn this and to go get the book and read it! The second book is The Shadows We Hide.  Both books are mysteries with the main character being Joe Talbert.

In The Shadows We Hide, Joe Talbert gets a lead on his father, who had left his mother before Joe was born and never returned to meet his child.  However, the lead was an obituary for the man. Because the deceased man's name was also Joe Talbert, it appeared that this was his father.  Joe headed to the town where the man had lived, and there he found all kinds of mysteries going on! First, was this his father? Who killed him and why? Does he really have a half-sister? And these are just a few of the things that Joe was trying to learn.

I love the author's writing.  His writing is very easy to read, the characters are well-developed, and the stories are worth reading!

The other book that I just finished is The Book of Angels by Sophy Burnham. It was an interesting read, although I ended up skimming some of it. I did enjoy the stories that people shared about their experiences with angels!

2 books-Commonwealth & A Sorrow Shared

 I had Commonwealth by Ann Patchett sitting on my TBR pile for a long time. I finally picked it up to read and really liked it!

Commonwealth spans fifty years.  It's about two families that have their lives turned upside down when the mother of one family left and married the father of the second family.  So then there were four parents and six children trying to work out how their lives together would work.  Fast forward about twenty years and one of the children became involved with a well-known author. After she told him stories about her family, he wrote a book using their stories.  The book became a bestseller and the children (all adults by then), along with the parents had to face just what their lives were and the things that they had done.

It was a very interesting book.  It stayed with me. 

A Sorrow Shared by Henri J.M. Nouwen is actually a combined edition of two short pieces that Fr. Nouwen wrote after the death of his mother. In Memoriam was written shortly after his mother had died in 1978 describes his feelings about being with his father and his siblings as they sat and waited for their mother's death. 

I would guess that most people my age have gone through the journey of their mother's deaths. I did find this book comforting.

"Yet by letting her go, I did not lose her. Rather, I found that she is closer to me than ever."

A Letter of Consolation is a bit longer than Memoriam.  Fr. Nouwen wrote it to his father about six months after the death of Fr. Nouwen's mother.   I would sum it up with:

"Love is stronger than death."

The Four Winds

 The Four Winds is by author Kristin Hannah. I have read many, if not all, of her books, with The Nightingale being, by far, my favorite. 

The Four Winds begins in 1921 in Texas with the main character, Elsa. Elsa had been ill when she was young, and so her parents never allowed her to do much of anything, including going to school after she turned fourteen. She was told that she was not pretty like her sister and by 1921, she was considered a spinster.  However, one night she began considering her life and what she wanted  She realized that if she didn't do something, she would live and die in her parent's home never knowing what it was like to have her own family.  And she was ready to change all that.

Elsa cut her hair and secretly made a new dress for herself, then one night announced to her parents that she was going to the speakeasy that night.  Her parents forbade it, but she ran off and went.  And there she met a younger man than herself, a good-looking Italian man named Rafe.

By 1934, Elsa had been living with Rafe's parents ever since her and Rafe's quick marriage. The drought had settled over the area and Elsa had to make a decision for her and her children. Elsa decided to leave Texas with her children for California as a part of the Dust Bowl migration, with the promises of jobs and a good life. 

Things aren't always as promised and rough times were ahead for the family.  

The novel is about Elsa's strength and love for family that she never knew she had. It's a rather heartbreaking story, but also one of hope.  It has stayed with me ever since I finished the book.