1) After This: When Life is Over Where Do We Go? by Claire Bidwell: Ms. Bidwell is a therapist who counsels clients dealing with grief issues. Of course, like everyone, clients wonder what happens after a loved one dies. Will we see them again? Can we communicate with them? In her search for answers, Ms. Bidwell personally examined all the different ways that some believe will give them answers. She underwent past-life regressions, talked to psychics, and to spiritual leaders. I found the book somewhat interesting, but was tired of it by the end!
2) Ghost Boy by Martin Pistorius: This was such an interesting book! It was published 10 years ago and is the true story of the author. In 1988, the author was twelve years old, living in South Africa, when he developed a sore throat and from that point, became increasingly unwell, so that after eighteen months he could not speak and had lost control of his body. He was given two years to live. He was initially placed in a special-ed setting at school and was later moved to a care setting for his daily routine. He remained living at home with his parents. When Martin was around nineteen, one of his caregivers noticed that he seemed to react to certain things. She believed that Martin was "still in there".
By the time Martin was twenty-five, he was sent for testing at the University of Pretoria and they confirmed that he was aware and could respond in his own way. At that point, his parents got a computer with software that would allow him to communicate. His life took off after that.
Side note: Martin had been misdiagnosed in the beginning. He has since been diagnosed with Locked-In Syndrome.
3) Take My Hand by Dolen Perez-Valdez: another interesting book, this is a novel based on true events. In 1973 Montgomery, Alabama a young nursing graduate (Civil) began working in the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic. She was optimistically certain that she could make a difference in the Black community where she had grown up. She is stunned to learn that she was to provide birth control to sisters who were eleven and thirteen. The sisters lived in poverty with their grandmother and father out in the country. The younger sister had not even started her period yet. However, the welfare system determined that they should be on birth control. Civil became attached to the family and tried her best to help them better their lives. But soon a horrible event occurred and Civil's career as a nurse ended.
The novel begins and ends with Civil looking back at the case and doing an "apology tour" as she begins her retirement. A very good and important book!
4) Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese: This was a disappointing book for me. I had been looking forward to reading it for a long time, and after I read half of it, I quit. It was a DNF (did not finish) for me. I just did not find myself interested in the story of Hester and Nataniel Hawthorne. And that is about all I can tell you!
5) However, I saved the best for last. I read The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese: Now it is at the top of my 2023 favorites of the year! This novel takes place in Kerala, South India from 1900 to 1977. It tells the story of one family over three generations. The family does not know why, but at least one person in each generation drowns. It begins with a young girl (twelve years old) being sent far away on a boat following the death of her father to marry a forty-year-old widow. Her new husband will not go near water because of the family's history of drownings. And that is how the story begins. The young girl became the matriarch of the family over the years.
This is one of the most beautifully written stories I have ever read. Truly just stunning.
