tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73663329972290497802024-03-13T12:50:05.543-07:00A Life of BooksCommentary on books that I have read, hoping for interaction/comments from others about the same books or books that they recommend.Sue F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15784595421535239536noreply@blogger.comBlogger570125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366332997229049780.post-60166246372894300182024-02-10T09:16:00.000-08:002024-02-10T09:16:48.238-08:00Good reads in January<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixpTCOWXfZvbYLlCZVug_gKs_Jmvd6h9h2CqZa4oIZaAyP_dvSiMrUXOGQMV98LaGWUiTO8_NVyJCT3TO_WYxWEGoL5NKeeshqGejOzZ7j8zmm-QlX5I8SlWEso9OjYJUS6eXGkGHdOjAemv2gDRLXrUtrQ9_74QaHJ484PuHmDwaoBznyKYtMQcZ1pxI/s1800/IMG_2189.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1350" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixpTCOWXfZvbYLlCZVug_gKs_Jmvd6h9h2CqZa4oIZaAyP_dvSiMrUXOGQMV98LaGWUiTO8_NVyJCT3TO_WYxWEGoL5NKeeshqGejOzZ7j8zmm-QlX5I8SlWEso9OjYJUS6eXGkGHdOjAemv2gDRLXrUtrQ9_74QaHJ484PuHmDwaoBznyKYtMQcZ1pxI/s320/IMG_2189.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">January was a good month for reading at my place! Four good books were read and enjoyed! I can envision two of them in my end-of-the-year countdown!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">1) <b>the storyteller </b>by Jodi Picoult. This was the second time that I had read this. I chose it because I bought this book for one of my granddaughters for Christmas and we decided to read it at the same time! </div><p>It's a good story. A young girl, Sage, worked at a bakery during the night shift so that she would be alone and not have to interact with customers. She was grieving the loss of her mother and attended a grief support group where she met an elderly gentleman, Josef Weber. Josef began coming to the bakery in the mornings as Sage was getting off work and they struck up a friendship. One day Josef decided to share a secret about himself that he had not ever shared with anyone else that was about his younger self. The secret left Sage in quite a dilemma, morally and legally. </p><p>The story is told by several different people and it is quite engaging. Good book!</p><p>2)<b> As Close To Us As Breathing</b> by Elizabeth Poliner. I will start by saying there were so many characters in this story that I ended up writing them all down because this is the book my book group is reading for February and I needed help keeping them all straight! That being said, this is a good book.</p><p>The story takes place in 1948 at a beach house where the Connecticut shoreline was called "Bagel Beach" (because a summer Jewish community came there each year). The story starts off right away with the focus of the book:</p><p></p><blockquote style="font-style: italic;"><b>"The summer of 1948 my brother Davy was killed in an accident with a man who would have given his own life rather than have it happen."</b></blockquote><p>And so begins the saga of the Leibrilsky family. The story includes the brothers and sisters-in-law of the family, along with the children of all the families. It is the story of that summer in 1948. It is a very interesting story of family and loss and grief.</p><p>3) <b>Tom Lake</b> by Ann Patchett. I usually like this author's books, and this is by far my favorite of hers. Many have not cared for the slow pace of the book, but I found it a bit reminiscent of one of my favorite books <b>Gilead</b> (by Marilyn Robinson) in that there is not really a plot per se but instead a slow, but interesting piece of someones' life being shared in story form. </p><p>It is a rather profound book as it tells the story of three daughters learning more about their mother's long-ago relationship with a rather famous actor that occurred one summer at "Tom Lake", a theater company in Michigan. It also was where their mother met their father. Over the time of telling the story, the mother and all three of the daughters slowly examine relationships of their own.</p><p>This book will definitely be a contender for my best book of the year! And it's only January!</p><p>4) <b>Weyward</b> by Emilia Hart. Another contender for the top ten of the year! This novel is about 3 generations (not consecutive) of five centuries of Weyward women. Kate's story is in 2019. Altha's story is in 1619, and Violet's story is in 1942.</p><p>Kate lived in London in 2019. She had recently escaped from an abusive marriage and went to an old. cottage that she had inherited. Her great-aunt Violet left the cottage to her when she had recently passed away. Kate barely remembers the one time she had met her when she was younger. Violet had lived in the cottage after her mother's death. Violet had discovered that her mother's last name was Weyward. In 1619, Altha was awaiting trial for murder/witchcraft. She had learned their "magic" from her mother which was based on plants and healing.</p><p>It is a story of resilience that had passed through generations. It is a great read!</p><p></p><p></p>Sue F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15784595421535239536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366332997229049780.post-7907821936674792382024-01-08T11:52:00.000-08:002024-01-08T11:52:50.522-08:00End of 2023 Countdown of Favorite Books Read<p> It's that time again! I read 68 books in 2023, missing my goal of 70...maybe next year!</p><p>I will share my favorite books of 2023, counting down to #1.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><u><b>Top 16 Books Read:</b></u></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The Sweetness of Water: Nathan Harris</span><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">All The Broken Places:John Boyne</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The Boy in the Striped Pajamas:John Boyne</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Lucy by the Sea: Elizabeth Strout</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Horse: Geraldine Brooks</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The Other Einstein: Marie Benedict</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The Secret Book of Flora Lea: Patti Callahan Henry</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Demon Copperhead: Barbara Kingsolver</span><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Trust: Hernan Diaz</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The Covenant of Water: Abraham Verghese</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The Invisible Hour: Alice Hoffman</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The River We Remember: William Kent Kruger</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">A Fall of Marigolds: Susan Meissner</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Still Life: Louise Penny</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">In An Instant</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Bewilderment: Richard Powers</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><u><b>Top 10 Books Read</b></u></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">All The Broken Places: John Boyne</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: John Boyne</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Lucy by the Sea: Elizabeth Strout</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Horse: Geraldine Brooks</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Other Einstein: Marie Benedict</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Secret Book of Flora Lea: Patti Callahan Henry</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Demon Copperhead: Barbara Kingsolver</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="text-wrap: nowrap;"> </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="text-wrap: nowrap;"> </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="text-wrap: nowrap;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Trust: Hernan Diaz</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Covenant o</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">f Water: Abraham Verghese</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Invisible Hour: Alice Hoffman</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><u>Top 8 Books Read</u></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">[obviously, it's getting harder to eliminate any]</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">All The Broken Places: John Boyne</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Lucy by the Sea: Elizabeth Strout</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Horse: Geraldine Brooks</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Secret Book of Flora Lea: Patti Callahan Henry</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Demon Copperhead: Barbara Kingsolver</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="text-wrap: nowrap;"> </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="text-wrap: nowrap;"> </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="text-wrap: nowrap;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Trust: Hernan Diaz</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Covenant o</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">f Water: Abraham Verghese</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Invisible Hour: Alice Hoffman</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b><u>Top 3 Books Read</u></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">All The Broken Places: John Boyne</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Demon Copperhead: Barbara Kingsolver</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="text-wrap: nowrap;"> </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="text-wrap: nowrap;"> </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="text-wrap: nowrap;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Covenant o</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">f Water: Abraham Verghese</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b><u>Top 2 Books Read</u></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">[this is breaking my heart]</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">[can there be a tie?]</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">All The Broken Places: John Boyne</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Covenant o</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">f Water: Abraham Verghese</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b><u>My Favorite Book Read in 2023</u></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">All the Broken Places by John Boyne</span></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p>Sue F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15784595421535239536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366332997229049780.post-3090577427963321032024-01-08T11:09:00.000-08:002024-01-08T11:11:34.721-08:00Slow December<p> This month I read three fiction books and one poetry book. Slow month of reading for me. December was such a busy month, that I just didn't get the reading in that I would have liked to get! However, I did get eight new books to read! Here's what I read in December:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2SpECBj-H7guAnIA0UVhKkBEAuD5kEGSlCe8kB0Esv5kh5NT3oqWuaOc8mdEiAaZWetT5O6z7PMXOvBfOMG6aE0isU6kggrKenB3YSDIyTkb1NDxEb1TeKojG3u4rXIkZW9pOnSPsGkNBTK-tUYf5vLGIZBcByDE1Gi4OlO2CnR6bt29HuVoszJTbabo/s1800/IMG_2133.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2SpECBj-H7guAnIA0UVhKkBEAuD5kEGSlCe8kB0Esv5kh5NT3oqWuaOc8mdEiAaZWetT5O6z7PMXOvBfOMG6aE0isU6kggrKenB3YSDIyTkb1NDxEb1TeKojG3u4rXIkZW9pOnSPsGkNBTK-tUYf5vLGIZBcByDE1Gi4OlO2CnR6bt29HuVoszJTbabo/w390-h320/IMG_2133.JPG" width="390" /></a></div><br /><p>1)<b> The Winter Guest</b> by Pam Jenoff: This story was really good. </p><p>The book takes place in Nazi-occupied Poland where five children have survived their parent's deaths and are left alone in a small cabin in the woods. Two of the children are eighteen year old twins, and the other three are younger. As the towns people struggle with who to trust, the twins, Helena and Ruth work hard to keep life normal for their siblings.</p><p>One day Helena was out for a walk and went to an old abanded church where she found an injured American soldier. It turned out that Sam, the soldier, was also Jewish which added even more danger to her finding and not reporting him to the authorities. As Helena continued to care for Sam, she kept his existence a secret even from Ruth. And Helena and Sam were falling in love with each other. Meanwhile the Nazis continued to search the area for any strangers. The decisions that they have to make result in decades long heartache.</p><p>I found the ending to be quite unexpected and satisfying and sad.</p><p>2) <b>Secrets of a Charmed Life</b> by Susan Meissner; Ms. Meissner is a recently newly found to me historical fiction writer. This is the third book of hers I read this year, and will continue to seek out her books.</p><p>This book has a dual time line between the 1940's in England and current day in England. It is also about two sisters. In present time, a young student at Oxford had the opportunity to interview 93 year old Isabel McFarland, a survivor of the London Blitz. Isabel was reluctantly eager to share secrets she had kept for the last almost 80 years. Including who und she really was. She and her sister had been sent to the countryside outside of London as children when London was either experiencing or expecting to be bombed the Nazis. They were taken in by a lovely woman who took excellent care of them. But Isabel was about 16 years old, she wanted to work as a dressmaker/designer and wanted to head back to London to try to apprentice with someone there. However, when she was getting ready to sneak out to head to London, her younger sister begged to go with her. She threatened to tell the woman they were living with if her sister didn't take her. So Isabel decided to take her and leave her with their mother when they arrived. Her mother wasn't home, but she left her sister there and later learned that where her mother lived had been bombed. </p><p>This was a really well written sort of mystery. I liked it very much!</p><p>3)<b>The Dark between Stars</b> by Atticus. I have always liked the poetry of Atticus. This book was a disappointment to me. Much of it seemed rather dark, not like his/her poetry I have always loved.</p><p>4) <b>Bewilderment</b> by Richard Powers: This was my second reading of this book-my book club chose it for December. It made for an excellent, interesting discussion. I published my review of it in my blog dated April 23, 2023.</p><p>5) <b>The Ceremony</b> by Leslie Marmon Silko : This book was recommended to me by my niece. It was written more than thirty-five years ago and is praised as "one of the most profound and moving works of Native American literature, a novel that is itself a ceremony of healing" . It is a book that I will read again sometime.</p><p>This novel is the story of Tayo, who served in the military during World War Two and came home deepy scarred by his experience. After he left the military and returned home to his reservation, he continued to experience rejections, just as he had in the military. He had been a prisoner of war by the Japanese and then felt rejection when he returned home to his people. As his friends turn to alcohol and drugs to cope, Tayo turned to his past, learning about the native American past and how to heal by learning their customs.</p><p>It is a powerful book.</p><p><br /></p>Sue F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15784595421535239536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366332997229049780.post-16531072551675385562023-12-05T12:13:00.000-08:002023-12-05T12:13:06.401-08:00Lacking my reading motivation?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi67vBlyAgPr_boKKwmNjKuTledib5ZEqwI4TQAzfcTbZFIi9ZwTKK_c1Ciy1KV0j8BvRWMvNQek-OPRqGMjBspbgAkXFtwRFpARbeGdTKHPjX3VAPAWnnwgdUXYVB49tLifD_1jkypVaAq2a_07Ul9fRqadt0DlnlC_WbQQd6gp-a2wvFQWSqCVoqJZPE/s1800/IMG_2079.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1350" height="513" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi67vBlyAgPr_boKKwmNjKuTledib5ZEqwI4TQAzfcTbZFIi9ZwTKK_c1Ciy1KV0j8BvRWMvNQek-OPRqGMjBspbgAkXFtwRFpARbeGdTKHPjX3VAPAWnnwgdUXYVB49tLifD_1jkypVaAq2a_07Ul9fRqadt0DlnlC_WbQQd6gp-a2wvFQWSqCVoqJZPE/w385-h513/IMG_2079.JPG" width="385" /></a></div>I really can't believe that I only read three books last month. What happened here? I don't know! Anyway...<p></p><p>1) <b>Unsaid</b> by Neil Abrahamson was a book club choice. The novel was published in 2012. I'm not an animal person, so I wasn't as taken with it as some of our members, but it did have some interesting moments. This debut novel was about a man whose wife had died leaving him with all her many animals. The woman, Helena, had been a veterinarian and had been involved in research with a chimpanzee named Cindy. Cindy had been trained to communicate using sign language. Soon following Helena's death, funding was pulled for the research and Cindy was to be returned to regular animal research which likely would lead to her death. As Helena looks on from death, she was haunted by all the animals who she had helped died. As her husband David, a lawyer, learned more and more about Helena's life, he became determined to help Cindy not be sent away for animal research. The courtroom scenes brought out more and more about Helena's life and some rather explosive news.</p><p>2) <b>Dead Cold</b> by Louise Penny is the 2nd of the Three Pines series (for some reason it is also called<b> A Fatal Grace</b>). At first, I had a bit of trouble getting into the book, but as I settled somewhat, it was quite entertaining. In this book, an unpopular woman was electrocuted in the middle of a frozen lake while watching a curling match and no one there saw how it happened. There emerged several suspects, but Chief Inspector Gamache had his work cut out for him to solve this one! It was a fun read.</p><p>3) <b>Let Us Descend</b> by Jesmyn Ward was the last book that I read in November. This is a rather difficult book to describe. It is about Annis, a young black slave, who was taken from the Carolinas and marched to New Orleans. Throughout the story, Annis calls to her mother and grandmother, recalling and seeking their wisdom and strength to get her through her ordeal. The book is somewhat mystical, but certainly moving.</p>Sue F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15784595421535239536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366332997229049780.post-69362848877579114492023-11-23T08:48:00.000-08:002023-11-23T08:48:43.776-08:00October Reads<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJtcTNPuXWxnYZUsNLSe0YfXkwLnLs_WE6iXMKs3whQTLnU5JMmklSWMV3w-8abSKSEiSPevDfuULoCmqpSLuEAO4yH8_ZWkgaKP6lWjyx-wU0dHz835oCl-UMRrQi84OJHuO2mF8WRdeeTBGvrIbkw9KvoMQqYTXMCmbf6abAd1LwlJCmkHQvYulJmlc/s1800/IMG_1956.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1440" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJtcTNPuXWxnYZUsNLSe0YfXkwLnLs_WE6iXMKs3whQTLnU5JMmklSWMV3w-8abSKSEiSPevDfuULoCmqpSLuEAO4yH8_ZWkgaKP6lWjyx-wU0dHz835oCl-UMRrQi84OJHuO2mF8WRdeeTBGvrIbkw9KvoMQqYTXMCmbf6abAd1LwlJCmkHQvYulJmlc/w367-h376/IMG_1956.JPG" width="367" /></a></div>I can't believe how far behind I am on my postings. Here it is almost December, and I haven't posted what I read in October! I am going to make this a very short post.<p></p><div>I really liked all four of these books. Susan Meissner is becoming a favorite author for me. <b>Surviving Savannah </b>was quite an interesting historical fiction read. <b>Secrets of the Lighthouse</b> was good, also. My favorite read in October was <b>In An Instant</b> by Suzanne Redfearn. It is written well and tells the story of the aftermath of a terrible winter accident. I was quite taken with it and have talked to several others who loved it as well!</div>Sue F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15784595421535239536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366332997229049780.post-24916475083465008462023-10-20T13:09:00.000-07:002024-01-19T10:37:25.866-08:00The Invisible Hour<p> </p><p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Invisible Hour </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">by Alice Hoffman. Oh, how I love Alice Hoffman's books! She</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> can write and create magic so effortlessly (or it seems to me). She took the book, </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Scarlett Letter</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, and turned it into a magical book of her own!</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMnZ92xwxgAivgv3_PUg9V9zit2zUbU1yMcMBAnvbVzrW1QE_s2OMge5oOyhDYisY1F0c4Rny8J26g4nYAPLew8jxVeVPg2iXoxUz3SopvZPfaQMXeXIuS484XghPueQNpb2L5QLfLGBfH0uZT84H_GZ1UYYDN82z5Z0w_XIej5-_iR1wHwh3pkNxlIPY/s2048/IMG_6300.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1357" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMnZ92xwxgAivgv3_PUg9V9zit2zUbU1yMcMBAnvbVzrW1QE_s2OMge5oOyhDYisY1F0c4Rny8J26g4nYAPLew8jxVeVPg2iXoxUz3SopvZPfaQMXeXIuS484XghPueQNpb2L5QLfLGBfH0uZT84H_GZ1UYYDN82z5Z0w_XIej5-_iR1wHwh3pkNxlIPY/s320/IMG_6300.JPG" width="212" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-01e93dd8-7fff-c925-96ac-6c4cd25c0335"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One day Mia Jacob’s mother, Ivy, took her young daughter Mia and ran away to join The Community, a local cult out in the country. There Ivy soon married the cult leader and became totally under his control. The Community had many, many rules, including that books were not allowed. The Community ran a farmer’s market in the local town and when Mia was old enough to work at it, her mother took her to the local Library, where the public restrooms were. Ivy was overcome with all the stacks of books, and soon her mother allowed her to go in there on farmer market days. The librarian began to help Ivy find books that she would enjoy. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mia fell in love with the book, </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Scarlett Letter</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. One day she stole it from the library and hid it in a secret panel in the barn where she could have access to it whenever she wanted. Ivy felt that the two-hundred-year-old book captured what she and her mother’s lives had become. She had never read any book that resounded so much with her. And she fell in love with the words and the author.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It's hard to write more about the book, because I don't want to give anything away. However, the local librarian and her partner eventually helped Mia get away from the cult and have her own life. She also met Nathaniel Hawthorne. (Now that should peak your interest!)</span></p><br /></span>Sue F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15784595421535239536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366332997229049780.post-55466559496234245082023-10-17T13:23:00.002-07:002023-10-17T13:23:39.831-07:00Reading in September<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjNTPG2oJQGDTBAIbmwsqZdqZ211keRuohWoeiq68cbJnF0vX4jnjKo2HrSg37TXD5FzmmKaYyGCywIysBThe1AzzDZS4jQItz0RoCLMtIa0iq_VrlCsqugUTZsFd9FE1py6UrkFmpKnJoNxgONCa6Tw4jFP7yz6eETyhGPuA4uV8V_5aW47wxC8ijdfE/s1800/IMG_1888.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1800" height="369" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjNTPG2oJQGDTBAIbmwsqZdqZ211keRuohWoeiq68cbJnF0vX4jnjKo2HrSg37TXD5FzmmKaYyGCywIysBThe1AzzDZS4jQItz0RoCLMtIa0iq_VrlCsqugUTZsFd9FE1py6UrkFmpKnJoNxgONCa6Tw4jFP7yz6eETyhGPuA4uV8V_5aW47wxC8ijdfE/w421-h369/IMG_1888.JPG" width="421" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">September was a good reading month for me! Probably because I was in a wheelchair the whole month. But that's another story, Here's what I read:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">1) <b>The River That We Remember</b> by William Kent Krueger. This book is not part of the Cork O'Connor series. Still, it is a mystery in Minnesota, reminiscent of the series, involving the local sheriff, some Native Americans, and a murder. A wealthy landowner was found dead in the river that ran through the town and with his murder and the investigation, many long-buried secrets arose. It was a good read.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">2) <b>A Ladder to the Sky</b> by John Boyne. Another good book by the author. He is so talented. Interestingly, this novel was about a want-to-be writer, Maurice Swift, who sought out people's life stories and secrets and then published them without their knowledge. He wasn't an especially good writer but his first book was a story that he got from an older man who was a well-known author and whom Maurice befriended for his own benefit. The story was about the older man's time during WWII. What the book revealed ruined the older author's career.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Maurice continued his writing over the years but never achieved the accolades he was looking for. However, in the end, his ruthlessness and immoral activities were his downfall. The book ended perfectly!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">3) <b>The Exiles</b> by Jane Harper. This is another mystery set in Australia with Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk (the 3rd of a series). A young mother had disappeared a year earlier at the town's festival, leaving her baby alone in the stroller. She just disappeared into the crowd and had never been heard from or seen since. This story involved old friends and long-ago secrets.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">4) <b>When Breath Becomes Air</b> by Paul Kalanithi.<span style="color: #21282d;"><span style="background-color: white;"> I was a bit disappointed with this book. Although It was an interesting story, it just seemed to go on too long. It is a true story of Dr. Paul Kalanithi who, when he was thirty-six, was diagnosed with Stage IV Lung Cancer. the book is about the struggle to handle all that the diagnosis meant for his life and his upcoming loss of life. He studied many questions about his future and that of his family. And what it meant to be a doctor and then a patient. He died before finishing the book.</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #21282d; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #21282d; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;">5)<b> A Fall of Marigolds</b> by Susan Meissner. this is the first book of the author's that I have read. I kept reading good things about her books, so I bought this one at the used book store. I loved it! I will be buying more of her work.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #21282d; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #21282d; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;">This is rather a difficult book for me to explain. It takes place in two different timelines, one being in September 1911, and the other in September 2011. The story involves a scarf that found it's way to both time periods. And changed lives forever. It's a good read!</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #21282d; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #21282d; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;">6) <b>Blood in the Ozarks</b> by Clint Lacey. This was a book that I purchased for genealogy as I continue my years and years researching my Adamson and related people who served in the CSA during the Civil War. It's an interesting history of the War that was fought in the Ozarks.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #21282d; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #21282d; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;">7) <b>Still Life </b>by Louise Penny. This and the first of the book is our October read for bookgroup. It also is a mystery and the first of the Chief Inspector Gamash series. Gamash was called in to investigate a murder of a beloved town member in Three Pines, a small village south of Montreal. There are numerous characters in the book, one as quirky as another. Her murder is first thought to be a hunting accident, but as the Inspector and his team investigate, clues begin adding up.to something more sinister. It was quite a fun read!</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #21282d; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div>Sue F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15784595421535239536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366332997229049780.post-5662863934333262842023-09-11T07:28:00.006-07:002023-09-11T07:28:59.321-07:00My Books<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO8wrnygQZFFqbDI0d0Z8BbUWCVEIC7oHw2ZsExU8zVL2tMmhwWnvq5VIaq9xmXY58ZcJmj7w2LYOnuZbw5McnwVa7w1bzwzYi6H-S2Vt0O2ihX6hTJbM7e9tentyqMwUzJCtzEx-a7zaSFyKvKKM-AfoAFQ4Wz6YVCCDwnA7VaeO2KsOWpFbHp6yLZKY/s1800/IMG_1827.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1800" height="385" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO8wrnygQZFFqbDI0d0Z8BbUWCVEIC7oHw2ZsExU8zVL2tMmhwWnvq5VIaq9xmXY58ZcJmj7w2LYOnuZbw5McnwVa7w1bzwzYi6H-S2Vt0O2ihX6hTJbM7e9tentyqMwUzJCtzEx-a7zaSFyKvKKM-AfoAFQ4Wz6YVCCDwnA7VaeO2KsOWpFbHp6yLZKY/w385-h385/IMG_1827.JPG" width="385" /></a></div><br /> I read five books in August but did not read any non-fiction in August. Two of the books I had seen recommended online and I was glad that I read them! I had never heard of them before.<p></p><p>1) <b>The Lake House</b> by Kate Morton. This is an older book by the author, written in 2015. It's an entertaining mystery!</p><p>The story takes place in Cornwall. Detective Sadie Sparrow was "on leave" from her job, following a rather unprofessional friendship that she had formed with a family. She went to her grandfather's cottage to spend some time and reconsider/reflect on her recent activities. One day, she went for a long walk and came upon an abandoned country home. The detective in her began researching to learn more about the estate. She learned that the Edevane family had lived there and that seventy years ago, in 1933, a baby boy had disappeared from the home. The family that had lived there left the home after the baby's disappearance and never returned. The case of the missing baby was never solved.</p><p>Soon Sadie was able to contact and connect with author Alice Edevane, who was sixteen years old when her baby brother disappeared. Alice was an eighty-three-year-old bestselling author of detective books, who didn't seem too interested in helping Sadie....there were too many secrets involved.</p><p>This was quite a good, easy-to-read mystery! I liked it!</p><p>2) <b>Where the Lost Wander</b> by Amy Harmon. So, it turned out that I had read this a few years ago! But I read it again, and enjoyed it more this time!</p><p>This novel is set in 1853 and tells the story of the May family traveling the Oregon Trail. Daughter Naomi May had been widowed when she was only twenty years old. She and her parents and siblings left with other families from St. Joseph, Missouri to move out West. Before leaving St. Joseph, Naomi met John Lowry. It turned out that John, a half Pawnee was the guide for the wagon train. Naomi and John had an instant connection which they both tried to fight before giving in.</p><p>The journey was difficult, and fraught with uncertainty as the families encountered the hardships and deaths that occurred. Just as John and Naomi were preparing to marry while on their journey, an unspeakable tragedy happened and Naomi was separated from all she loved, including John.</p><p>This novel is a good story. It kept my interest all the way through.</p><p>3) <b>The All of It </b>by Jeannette Haien. This is a novel that I read about online. It was written in 2011, a small book that I read in one day. This was Ms. Haien's first novel. It seemed to be a small simple book, but there really is so much more to it.</p><p>The story takes place in a small Irish village. Kevin Dennehy was dying and the parish priest was at his bedside when Kevin declared that he and his wife were living a lie and he needed to confess it. But Kevin then died before he could tell Father Declan. So Kevin's wife, Enda shared the story of their fifty years together as husband and wife, finally telling "The all of it."</p><p>Father Declan is left trying to sort out the morality of it all. I really loved this book, and is one I would recommend to my book group. </p><p>4)<b> The Touch</b> by Colleen McCullough. I had never heard of this book by the author of <b>The Thornbirds</b> until I saw it written about online. This novel was written in 2004 and takes place in Australia.</p><p>Sixteen-year-old Elizabeth Drummond was living with her family in Scotland when her forty-year-old cousin, Alexander Kinross, living in Australia, wrote to his uncle, asking for one of his daughters to be his wife. Alexander had left Scotland when he was a young man in some trouble. From his letter, the Drummond family realized that Alexander was quite wealthy and Elizabeth's father promised her to Alexander and sent her off to Sydney.</p><p>When Elizabeth finally arrived she found that she did not care for Alexander...she was rather scared of him. However, she was all alone there and so went through with the marriage. It remained a loveless marriage. Eventually, Elizabeth learned of and met Alexander's long-time mistress, Ruby, and, strangely enough, Elizabeth and Ruby became close friends. Ruby had a son, Lee, who Alexander had always been very fond of and he helped Ruby with financing Lee's formal education in London.</p><p>There is a lot to the story and it is similar to <b>The Thornbirds</b> in many ways with the different characters and family saga. I was glad that I read it!</p><p>5) <b>The Invisible Hour </b>by Alice Hoffman. Will review it in my next post!</p>Sue F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15784595421535239536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366332997229049780.post-48610308664811304582023-08-27T11:39:00.000-07:002023-08-27T11:39:47.776-07:00July Reads<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgurwIyBNYbIHIfbMLXC0m2UwjYDhywLvtysClbcS3SYy48MbHVmK9G-iynifh6pw5BRf3A67r2-FyhzUuskN_xA0RYFw7mdGE9i6g9JcDCd-ZSMRrM-r6Xtf3LMndMs2U4bQQ57ke6tZW5713E4r_uPMoIo6e6cXG54sey-1Soac77_g073iMYMq-P5MU/s1800/IMG_1792.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgurwIyBNYbIHIfbMLXC0m2UwjYDhywLvtysClbcS3SYy48MbHVmK9G-iynifh6pw5BRf3A67r2-FyhzUuskN_xA0RYFw7mdGE9i6g9JcDCd-ZSMRrM-r6Xtf3LMndMs2U4bQQ57ke6tZW5713E4r_uPMoIo6e6cXG54sey-1Soac77_g073iMYMq-P5MU/s320/IMG_1792.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p><br /></p><span style="font-size: medium;">July has come and gone, and it's almost the end of August! I enjoyed most of my reading in July. Please notice that two of the books were non-fiction! That's a plus for me! And I'll start with those:</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">1) <b>After This: When Life is Over Where Do We Go? </b>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!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">2) <b>Ghost Boy</b> 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". </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Side note: Martin had been misdiagnosed in the beginning. He has since been diagnosed with Locked-In Syndrome.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">3)<b> Take My Hand</b> 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.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">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!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">4)<b> Hester</b> 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!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">5) However, I saved the best for last. I read <b>The Covenant of Water</b> 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.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">This is one of the most beautifully written stories I have ever read. Truly just stunning.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><h1 class="pdp-header-title text-lg-left text-sm-center mr-md-l ml-md-l mr-sm-l ml-sm-l " itemprop="name" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #21282d; font-family: Poynter, Georgia, serif; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px; outline: 0px;"><div class="overview-cntnt" itemprop="description" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; outline: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p></div></h1><div class="sticky-author" id="pdp-header-sticky-author" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #21282d; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; outline: 0px;"><div class="lists authors lists--unstyled text-lg-left text-sm-center no-view-more view-more-ellipsis" id="pdp-header-authors" style="box-sizing: border-box; height: 36px; line-height: 1.25; list-style: none; margin: 0.5rem 0px 0px; outline: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="contributors pdp-book-author" id="key-contributors" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: 0px;"></span></span></div></div><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><div class="commerce-zone-section sticky-cont header-section product-detail-spacing pl-s pr-lg-0" id="commerce-zone" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #21282d; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2rem; width: 614.516px;"><div class="sticky-left d-sm-none d-lg-block" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: 0px;"><header class="pdp-header bd-b-disabled-gray pb-s" id="prodSummary-header" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: row; outline: 0px; padding-bottom: 1rem; padding-top: 0.75rem;"><div class="header-content min-width-header-content" id="pdp-header-info" style="box-sizing: border-box; min-width: 100%; outline: 0px;"><div class="sticky-author" id="pdp-header-sticky-author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: 0px;"><div class="lists authors lists--unstyled text-lg-left text-sm-center no-view-more view-more-ellipsis" id="pdp-header-authors" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.875rem; height: 36px; line-height: 1.25; list-style: none; margin: 0.5rem 0px 0px; outline: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px;"><span class="contributors pdp-book-author" id="key-contributors" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.077rem !important; outline: 0px;"><br /></span></div></div></div></header></div></div>Sue F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15784595421535239536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366332997229049780.post-30042514648726063202023-07-23T13:03:00.005-07:002023-10-17T13:42:02.175-07:00What I read in June<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVTsmaNSn5WTG6Z9nc7T4dXiQWmnbnXTT5w6re5KO7nvEQDt3cnmJ3A7ASmd4QGuqRp9VxnhdjM_Y_xQmu3aS5Ms3HY9Q--TV0Jhz8yeUTcAAB0NY3Snr75ClBrnz4UKEZ1Zg_6lpnvZHYeF__S2aDU_MGsFkV5CBPf6WMvss5WT0sAKotP6UKH8cWoys/s1800/IMG_1776.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1200" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVTsmaNSn5WTG6Z9nc7T4dXiQWmnbnXTT5w6re5KO7nvEQDt3cnmJ3A7ASmd4QGuqRp9VxnhdjM_Y_xQmu3aS5Ms3HY9Q--TV0Jhz8yeUTcAAB0NY3Snr75ClBrnz4UKEZ1Zg_6lpnvZHYeF__S2aDU_MGsFkV5CBPf6WMvss5WT0sAKotP6UKH8cWoys/w316-h474/IMG_1776.JPG" width="316" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I read the two Pulitzer Prize winning books in June, so that was something! Also, I read three non-fiction books! And a book for my book group and then one more fiction. I'm pretty proud of myself!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Demon Copperhead</b> by Barbara Kingsolver was by far my favorite book that I read last month. It's loosely considered a modern take on David Copperhead. It would be kind of hard to believe that any readers do not know the premise of the book. Many have reported finding the book too depressing, I didn't. I was taken right away by both the characters and the writing.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>Demon (real name Damia</span><span>n</span><span>) was born into a quite dysfunctional, poverty-ridden single mother, and,</span><span> luckily, had kin</span><span>d neighbors who watched over him as best they could. However, when his drug-addicted mother was found dead, Demon was placed into the foster care system and endured several years of one kind of abuse after another. Yet, he always (at least for the most part) rose above it. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It is really a wonderful book and, in my opinion, deserved the Pulitzer Prize.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Trust</b> by Hernan Diaz is the other book that won the Pulitzer Prize. It is written in a very unique fashion. The novel is divided into four "novels" written by different authors. However, by the end of the novel, everything has tied together. The first "novel" is "Bonds" about Benjamin and Helen Rask, a wealthy couple living in New York City in the 1920s.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">the other "novels" are "My Life" by Andrew Bevel, "A Memoir, Remembered" by Ida Partenza, and "Futures" by Mildred Bevel.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The whole book is truly fascinating, and one that I will read again!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Foster</b> by Claire Keegan was read for my book group. It's a very quick read-1 to 2 hours. The story took place in Ireland where a young girl was dropped off by her father to live with her mother's relatives, not knowing if she would return home or not. As soon as they arrive at the Kinsella's, the girl began to experience things she had never known. The couple were affectionate with her and slowly, she began to warm up to them. They bought her new clothes and did not expect her to work on the farm. The young girl would sometimes feel torn between her feelings for the two different families. The ending is not clear and offered up a good discussion for the book group as we shared how we felt the ending was.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Beautiful Eucharist </b>and <b>No Regrets</b> were both books from Dynamic Catholic that I found great meaning in.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><b>Sunflower Sisters</b> by Martha Hall Kelly is the third book of a trilogy. The other two books were<b> Lilac Girls</b> and <b> Lost Roses</b>. Sunflower </span><span>Sisters </span><span>is about three women caught up in the Civil War. Georgeanna Woolsey was a nurse for the Union (when most nurses were male). she and her sister traveled to Gettysburg and worked with the doctors. There they met Jemma, an enslaved girl who had run from an abusive plantation. Anne-May was the mistress of that plantation who treated her slaves cruelly. All three lives end up intertwining at the end of the novel.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">As the author's other books were, this novel is based on the Woolsey family history, and their story is incredibly told. I look forward to more of the author's writing. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Built to Move: The Ten Essential Habits to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully</b> by Kelly Starrett is the last book that I read. I had just finished it when I was out the next morning in the parking lot at Schnucks after a nice morning walk when a tendon in my foot ruptured. Needless to say, I haven't been able to be out walking or anything really physical since then. However, I did like the premise of the book and the ten habits that were spelled out. And after my foot recovers, I will get back into it!</span></div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><p></p>Sue F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15784595421535239536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366332997229049780.post-15415590551851325922023-06-07T11:17:00.004-07:002023-06-08T06:26:02.417-07:00May Reading<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheMZkJXiNdiXaw68q2HavJcjE71yFD47l-wH4rBRhvnfnDJBhBKzOBNKjF9UfjF-4gjNeyI4N9mPg-X8gmJThMR6WyYceYcO7NMKEjp3vG4ZourPY3NTR-hz_nNmCRmAb6_KiZn9PXKzTBYEa3QfTfaCHF4kXlo2TMx1-Np1tHvaDe4iUtTf65p-Qy/s1798/IMG_1695.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1798" data-original-width="1012" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheMZkJXiNdiXaw68q2HavJcjE71yFD47l-wH4rBRhvnfnDJBhBKzOBNKjF9UfjF-4gjNeyI4N9mPg-X8gmJThMR6WyYceYcO7NMKEjp3vG4ZourPY3NTR-hz_nNmCRmAb6_KiZn9PXKzTBYEa3QfTfaCHF4kXlo2TMx1-Np1tHvaDe4iUtTf65p-Qy/w225-h400/IMG_1695.JPG" width="225" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">May's reading was good. I would rank three as my favorites for the month and the other three were good.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>The Secret Book of Flora Lee </b>by Patti Callahan Henry was my favorite, not just for the month, but also one of my favorites for the year. It is a lovely story about two sisters and a book of stories that the older sister had written for the younger sister. The younger sister tragically disappeared, seemingly in a flooded creek. Years later the older sister was working in a bookstore and a book with similar stories showed up. This novel is a very touching and well-written story.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Another favorite book read was <b>Maureen</b> by Rachel Joyce. Oddly enough, I was just perusing the bookstore and saw it. I had no idea that there was another Harold Fry story out! This one is about Harold's wife Maureen, who still grieves for her son years later. She does not take a walking pilgrimage like Harold did, but she does get into the car and travels to see Queenie Hennesy's garden, hoping to "find" her son's spirit there. She, and the reader, was surprised at what she did find there. It's a touching story to finish out the trilogy.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I also really like <b>One True Loves</b> by Taylor Jenkins Reid. In her twenties, Emma Blair married her high school sweetheart and they traveled the world together. On their first wedding anniversary, Jesse left on a helicopter that went missing over the Pacific and was never found. Years later, Emma has finally let herself find love again with Sam and became engaged to him. And suddenly, Jesse was found alive. After years of being gone. And he returned, expecting that he and Emma would return to their marriage and their old life. Thus is the conundrum. Can you love two men at the same time? What should Emma do? It was a good story.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I read two books by Pam Jenoff this past month and liked one, but the other left me wanting.<b> </b>I liked<b> Code Name Sapphire. </b>The story took place in 1942 when Hannah Martel's ship was turned away when she was trying to escape Germany and was headed to the United States. Hannah did not know of anyone who could go to until she recalled that her cousin, Lily, whom Hannah had spent summers with was living in Brussels. She contacted Lily and Lily took her into her home. Soon Hannah found a group working in the underground, called the Sapphire Line, who were taking people in danger to safety. One day Hannah used Lily's identification card and soon Lily, her husband, and her son were arrested and all were placed in Auschwitz. Hannah is torn between loyalties. This was a good book, based on true events. Ms. Jenoff does an excellent job at finding and researching her stories. The second book that I read by her was <b>The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach</b>. I had a hard time engaging with this story. It began in 1941 when Addie was sent to America by her parents to escape what was happening in Europe. She went to her aunt and uncle and at their beach house, she met the four Connally boys. As America got pulled into the war, the Connally boys were pulled in also. The rest of the book is about Addie running from herself, first to Washington DC, then to London, and finally back to America, I just never really got into the story.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And lastly, I read <b>Lone Wolf </b>by Jodi Picoult. It was a book club read. I was surprised at how little I liked it because I usually love her books. The story was just okay for me. The dad was someone who would go off to live with wolves for long periods of time. He was obsessed with wolves. He basically considered the wolves his family, rather than his wife and two children. The wife and the son were who I found quite interesting. Both the son and daughter were keeping secrets that were long overdue to be shared.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><p></p>Sue F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15784595421535239536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366332997229049780.post-84627232633263414322023-05-14T13:34:00.003-07:002023-05-14T13:35:11.404-07:00Reading in April<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_0qMPGZ63fLPXyPD3Ic4Y5LrNfSpMBTnlSB6FM0h79p3q2h_bZ2zIChfBk1jb-Agrca2fFSDgF4YhcPIqGiUNxysXYXrU_v0IIv7ofDQJChEiG8nHJPQJIb-x5LOLLyItLogcczc-WSMKRXPuibV49gp99sXSRqhhdfwIa80_a4VJyK_HkmsXaLGO/s1800/IMG_1667.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_0qMPGZ63fLPXyPD3Ic4Y5LrNfSpMBTnlSB6FM0h79p3q2h_bZ2zIChfBk1jb-Agrca2fFSDgF4YhcPIqGiUNxysXYXrU_v0IIv7ofDQJChEiG8nHJPQJIb-x5LOLLyItLogcczc-WSMKRXPuibV49gp99sXSRqhhdfwIa80_a4VJyK_HkmsXaLGO/s320/IMG_1667.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>April brought some good reading with it. I can't say that any of these five books will make my top 10 list of the year, but they were all worthwhile reads.<p></p><p>1)<b><i> The House in the Cerulean Sea</i></b> by TJ Klune: I have to admit that I had a hard time getting into this book. But others had highly recommended it, so I stuck with it and was very glad that I had. It is a magical type story about forty-year-old Linus Baker, a Case Worker for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. Linus was suddenly assigned to investigate the Marsyas Island Orphanage to determine if it should remain open or not. Six children are living there along with a headmaster and a few other staff. The children are considered dangerous and Linus felt quite over his head with this assignment. However, as time went on, he began to see and understand both the children and staff and long-held secrets came to light. It is quite a charming story!</p><p>2) <b><i>Blackberry Winter</i></b> by Sarah Jio: This was recommended to me by one of my swimming classmates! it was quite good. A "blackberry winter" snowstorm hit Seattle on May 1st in 2010. Reporter Claire Aldridge was assigned to cover the story of this storm and the storm that hit Seattle on the same day in 1933. Trying to find some kind of angle for a story, Clairer discovered that a working woman had left her child one evening on the night of the story in 1933, and the child disappeared. She began digging into the story hoping to find some resolution for the ending and began uncovering clues for the unsolved abduction. It was a good read! </p><p>3) <b><i>Three Sisters</i></b> by Heather Morris: this is the third book in a series by the author. She also wrote <b><i>The Tattooist of Auschwitz</i></b> and <b><i>Cilka's Journey</i></b>. This book is about three Slovakian sisters who had promised their father that they would always take care of each other. After a time all three of the sisters ended up together in Auschwitz and then were sent on a death march in the freezing winter. The story follows their survival and goes on to follow their lives into old age. The book is based on the true story of the Meller sisters. A fascinating story of love and resilience.</p><p>4) <b><i>The Testament of Mary</i></b> by Colm Toibin: This is a very interesting fictional story of Mary. In this story, Mary never believed that her son Jesus was the Son of God and that there had been no point in His death. She lived alone in her old age, refusing to work with the collaborators of the Gospels, living with guilt and regret from her actions the day that Jesus died. I didn't find the story offensive at all, but just an interesting, different take on a story that we really don't know much about.</p><p>5) <b><i>My Name Is Eva</i></b> by Suzanne Goldring: This story was a different take on WWII stories. It was about an old woman in a nursing facility who feigned memory loss and dementia in order to not be held accountable for things she had done during the war. Her husband had been killed and she decided to find the man responsible for his mission and make him pay. She worked in Germany with prisoners returning after the war helping them with relocations, etc. And bided her time. It wasn't the best-written book I've read, but the story itself was good.</p>Sue F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15784595421535239536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366332997229049780.post-9467442936773903492023-04-23T10:36:00.003-07:002023-04-23T10:36:38.230-07:00March Reading-a little late!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMdkxXnMXQyhJyqUaCXlqk-ehbledWHXGL9PwM8_qvalbMny5YnpHkJ7TBlcYmpWqyfWh2Sd8OBMZ09TTKeIC6Ec19kqzs2hsmsAkknrb7Q8mr9UBazfW9BVcHAVWj8bswcm-lWs1bKtBXy2QhGGWHuCgavSAUT2yleorUp1CNFcQ_2BnGqKDJe-HD/s4608/95918975-20FE-44B9-9B78-89F0B31276E8-COLLAGE.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4608" data-original-width="2592" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMdkxXnMXQyhJyqUaCXlqk-ehbledWHXGL9PwM8_qvalbMny5YnpHkJ7TBlcYmpWqyfWh2Sd8OBMZ09TTKeIC6Ec19kqzs2hsmsAkknrb7Q8mr9UBazfW9BVcHAVWj8bswcm-lWs1bKtBXy2QhGGWHuCgavSAUT2yleorUp1CNFcQ_2BnGqKDJe-HD/s320/95918975-20FE-44B9-9B78-89F0B31276E8-COLLAGE.jpg" width="180" /></a></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">I was trying so hard to post this in a timely manner, but then time got away from me once more. I guess that I just have to say that eventually, I will get to my blogging! I had a clear favorite book that I read in March!</span><div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">1)<b> The Heart is a Lonely Hunter</b> by Carson McCullers: This book was in written in about 1940 when the author was twenty-three years old. It was the first book she had written.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">It is a very sad, quite disturbing picture of a small town in the South in the 1930s. A deaf and mute man, John Singer is the main character of the book and the story is about the characters who come in and out of his life. All seem to put their trust in him and divulge their secrets and wants to him. <br /></span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #21282d; font-size: 13px; text-decoration-line: inherit;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #21282d; text-decoration-line: inherit;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">I read this a long time ago and re-read it for my book group. It is a book that elicited a lot of discussions as each character was dissected. A good book, but not one I want to read again.</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #21282d; text-decoration-line: inherit;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #21282d; text-decoration-line: inherit;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">2) <b>Black Cake</b> by Charmaine Wilkerson: One of my daughters loaned this to me to read after her book group had read it. It is a good story that has dual timelines.</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #21282d; text-decoration-line: inherit;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #21282d; text-decoration-line: inherit;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">When Eleanor Bennett died, she left her two children a Black Cake to share together. Her two children, Benny and Byron, had been estranged from each other for some time. When their mother died she also left a voice recording for them telling a story from her past involving secrets that their mother had never told them about her life. As they began to unravel their mother's life, they learn many things, including a possible long-lost sibling. As the two children learn more, there were more questions and more mysteries to solve.</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #21282d; text-decoration-line: inherit;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #21282d; text-decoration-line: inherit;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">As a long-time genealogist, this was a very fun and interesting book to read!</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #21282d; text-decoration-line: inherit;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #21282d; text-decoration-line: inherit;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">3) <b>Bewilderment</b> by Richard Powers: I had a hard time getting interested in this book until it seemed to all come together for me at the end.</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #21282d; text-decoration-line: inherit;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #21282d; text-decoration-line: inherit;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">This was a story about Theo and Robin, a father and son trying to navigate life together after their wife and mother died. Robin was a rather strange boy who spent his time drawing/painting pictures of endangered animals. His father, Theo was an astrobiologist, who worked hard at raising this sweet boy, who one day was expelled from school after smashing another boy in the face. Doctors want to put Robin on psychoactive drugs to help with his behaviors, but Theo didn't want to. Then Theo learned of an experimental treatment that might help Robin with his control issues. </span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #21282d; text-decoration-line: inherit;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #21282d; text-decoration-line: inherit;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">It gets a little stranger after that, but Theo and Robin eventually find their places with each other. The saving grace of this book for me was the absolute love that Theo had for his child.</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #21282d; text-decoration-line: inherit;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">4) <b>The Other Einstein</b> by Marie Benedict: I have to say first of all, that the story is very well written and documented, but I ended up really strongly disliking Albert Einstein. The way he treated his wife and children was just horrible. So I had very mixed reactions to this book.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The book told the story of Mileva Maric. In 1896, she was the only woman studying physics at the university where Albert Einstein was studying. He wooed her away from her lifelong ambitions as a scientist to marry him, then went on to treat her like a little housewife, despite the fact that she was probably as brilliant, if not more so, than he was. He promised they would be equals and then went on without her, going so far as to use some of her research and writings and presenting them as his own. When she became pregnant with their first child they were not yet married. Mileva went to stay with her parents to have the baby and after the baby was born, Albert convinced her to leave the baby with her parents (who lived in another country) and return to Switzerland without the baby so that his career would not be affected by the fact that he had a child.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And things just seemed worse from there.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Learning about Mileva's life was interesting, but a bit disturbing. This was a book that I read for my book group and we had quite a bit of discussion over it!</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">5) Lastly, I read <b>Horse</b> by Geraldine Brooks: This is a wonderful book that tells a story in a way that I had never read. This is another book that has dual timelines and is based on real events.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The story began with a young art historian,j Theo, finding a discarded old painting of a horse in his neighbor's pile of trash. And then with Jess, a scientist studying a horse's bones.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But first, the story goes back to 1850 when a young slave named Jarrett was the groom of a new foal. Jarret and the horse became inseparable as he groomed him to become a racehorse. The horse was called Darley in the early years and went on to be a record-setting winner. A young artist followed the horse's victories and painted him several times. After about three years, Darley was sold, and he was then called Lexington. And Jarrett was allowed to go with the horse.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In 1855, Jarrett and Lexington were sent to Kentucky for a couple of reasons. One to keep Jarrett out of danger with the talk of war coming, and the other was Lexington's health. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Meanwhile, the book goes back and forth between Theo and Jess who had teamed up for the discovery of Lexington.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">It is a fascinating book in terms of learning the story of both Lexington and Jarrett, racing and slavery/racism, and love. It will be undoubtedly in my top 5 books for 2023!</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; outline: 0px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; outline: 0px;" /></p></div></div>Sue F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15784595421535239536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366332997229049780.post-59079150377915810222023-03-04T12:12:00.004-08:002023-03-04T12:12:56.998-08:00What I read in February<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVbyT4SahchQdtrOl6euPJS-87qFN-i3-VGVyXZGMSe1QopOLq2CUWrDewL9hnesaL5Q4VjonFCFyhhH_gEYQHoBegh_WnPGrinD1-ByhSft2VG09UXvsEFOAFMqdpdGoImS29V1DaLrQgdPEr1ZzitI0blwRU2Dk_yELV0yLi6w70UaTMYCRhICcB/s3840/6DEBD4F6-2EE9-4365-A075-1A809C29D6CC-COLLAGE.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3840" data-original-width="2160" height="479" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVbyT4SahchQdtrOl6euPJS-87qFN-i3-VGVyXZGMSe1QopOLq2CUWrDewL9hnesaL5Q4VjonFCFyhhH_gEYQHoBegh_WnPGrinD1-ByhSft2VG09UXvsEFOAFMqdpdGoImS29V1DaLrQgdPEr1ZzitI0blwRU2Dk_yELV0yLi6w70UaTMYCRhICcB/w269-h479/6DEBD4F6-2EE9-4365-A075-1A809C29D6CC-COLLAGE.jpg" width="269" /></a></div><br />As promised, I am catching up on my blogging! I read four and a half books last month. I had a DNF (did not finish) on one of them. The other four were good, however!<p></p><p>1) <b>Lucy By The Sea</b> by Elizabeth Strout: This was my number one favorite book for 2022. I re-read it for my book group! It was even better the second time and wonderful to have a great group of people to discuss it with! For my post on it go to my post in October 2022.</p><p>2) <b>The Truth About Magic </b>by Atticus. I have long loved Atticus' poetry and was lucky enough to come across two of his books at a used bookstore that I had never read. If you haven't read his work, I urge you to try it!</p><p>3)<b> The Weaver's Legacy</b> by Olive Collins. This book is the second of a trilogy by the author. I had read <b>The Tide Between Us </b>which was the first book and liked it enough to get the second book. The first book was about the O'Neill family coming to America for a new start out West. They traveled with other Irish families to start an Irish community in the West. This book continues the O'Neill family story. This book is from 1865 and 1937.</p><p>Goldie O'Neill was nine years old in 1865 when her family traveled West with others to form an Irish community. They had to deal with the Indians as they traveled and as they lived. One day, the Indians came while Goldie, her brother, and her baby sister were out playing in the woods. Her sister was taken by the Indians and never returned to the family. Goldie carried her guilt with her for all of her years. She had made friends with a Lakota Indian boy who vowed he would help her find her sister.</p><p>Years later Goldie adopted her brother's daughter, Lucy, after her parents died and she had been placed in an orphanage. Lucy grew up in the community that had been built up by the Irish, but then married and moved to New York City, coming to visit Goldie often. She returned there after Goldie died and as she was there, her "dead" father turned up. As Lucy learned more about the family's past, she decided that she wanted to learn more. </p><p>It is a good story and I hope that the author continues with the trilogy.</p><p>4)<b> Thunder Bay</b> by William Kent Krueger: This was the best one of the best Cork O'Connor mysteries yet! I found it quite different from the others that I have read (I still am only about halfway through them). In this one, Cork is asked by his ninety-year-old something friend, Henry Miloux (an Ojibwe medicine man) to find his son who he had never met but came to him in a vision. Cork, Henry, and a friend travel up to Canada and there Cork began to unravel Henry's past and locate his reclusive son. Then an attempt was made on Henry's life and that leads to another mystery. </p><p>I liked this story so much because it mostly was focused on Henry and his past, which hadn't been revealed in earlier books. </p><p>5) <b>The Good Sister</b> by Sally Hepworth: This is the book that I did not finish. I had read over half of it and I just never felt connected or cared about any of the characters. I felt that I gave it a good try, so I didn't feel bad about it. And, also, it was from the library, so at least I hadn't paid for it!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Sue F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15784595421535239536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366332997229049780.post-17772976375128018822023-03-03T10:10:00.000-08:002023-03-03T10:10:08.961-08:00January books I read<p> Yes, I know that it is now March...I am still determining where the time has gone since we moved back to Illinois. We love every moment of all of our family time! I apologize to my followers for being so behind on my blogging! I hope to catch up on all of it this weekend!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieOcMxBdIyoCNNx0qUyQKfjUHoqfBzxqkBVL-OpcwSJgj_n-AEm5n7en80xW-FS-Jz-zuCIEfK3lSMg1VMeVVfImpgcmIlt-ueboexFhaWUMFXoJ_NoUumnjJYGgk2eNmaMWQ3z5LRz_X03tRqY4dudNpcpUZ8UOl893KsxpVB717mP2tpBLVHC6_J/s3840/B1E1F787-8B7B-40C1-8472-7A8F1F05A00E-COLLAGE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3840" data-original-width="2160" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieOcMxBdIyoCNNx0qUyQKfjUHoqfBzxqkBVL-OpcwSJgj_n-AEm5n7en80xW-FS-Jz-zuCIEfK3lSMg1VMeVVfImpgcmIlt-ueboexFhaWUMFXoJ_NoUumnjJYGgk2eNmaMWQ3z5LRz_X03tRqY4dudNpcpUZ8UOl893KsxpVB717mP2tpBLVHC6_J/s320/B1E1F787-8B7B-40C1-8472-7A8F1F05A00E-COLLAGE.jpg" width="180" /></a></div><br /><p>January was filled with good reading! I really liked all of the books that I read! Let's get to it!</p><p>1) I re-read <b>The Sweetness of Water</b> by Nathan Harris because my book group I used to belong to before we had moved to Alabama was reading it for January and I had been dying to have someone to discuss this book with. So I drove the 2 1/2 hours to go to book group! This is such a good book. There are several stories taking place in this book, with two main stories. This novel takes place in Georgia a little after the Civil War had ended. George and Isabelle Walker had recently learned of the death of their only child, killed fighting in the War. Two freed Black men, Landry and Prentiss who were brothers, left the plantation where they had been enslaved, and landed on the property next door, hiding in the woods. They were discovered by George Walker who owned the land and they were offered a job to help him develop a peanut farm on his land.</p><p>The parallel story running through this novel is the story of two Confederate soldiers who had been involved with each other before they had headed off to war and were reunited after the end of the war. They would meet in the woods for their rendevous and were discovered one day which resulted in a murder that shook their small town. The aftermath of the murder changed everyone and everything. </p><p>A hauntingly beautiful story.</p><p>2) <b>The Children's Blizzard</b> by Melanie Benjamin. I had wanted to read this book for a long time and finally picked it up. It is based on a true story that took place in January 1888 in the Dakota Territory. Two sisters were teachers at the time, one in her hometown and the other had moved to teach north. The day was an unusually warm day and the schoolchildren went off to school without their usual heavy coats. As school ended for the day, a blizzard blew in with no warning and resulted in a total whiteout. One teacher realized that her children could not see well enough to try to make it home and kept them at school, while the other sister sent her pupils off into the blizzard. </p><p>The book is based on oral stories/histories of the survivors. It is quite a story and very interesting to read. </p><p>3) <b>Other Birds</b> by Sarah Addison Allen. I found this book a little hard to get into, but I could tell that there was more to the story than I learned from the first part of it. I was glad I stuck with it. It was worth the read.</p><p>Zoey had finished high school and traveled across the country to take ownership of her dead mother's apartment in a small town in South Carolina. The apartment was one of five and each apartment had its own secrets. One tenant was found dead the morning after Zoey moved in. She quickly began to meet her neighbors and learns their stories as she shares hers. It is a lovely book and quite touching.</p><p>4) <b>All the Broken Places</b> by John Boyne. I am a big fan of this author and I loved this book!</p><p>This novel takes place during two different time periods. Gretel Fernsby was a ninety-one-year-old widow living in London in the same apartment she had lived in for years. When a family with a young boy moved into the apartment building, Gretel was faced with the biggest secret she had. She had always kept her painful past a secret, especially the part about her father being a Nazi commandant at one of the extermination camps. And she especially never shared her guilt of being complicit.</p><p>As the Allies were coming, twelve-year-old Gretel escaped Nazi Germany with her mother. They had gone on to live in France for a number of years. Eventually, Gretel went to London, married, and lived a quiet life. When the young family moved in, Gretel reluctantly began a friendship with the young son Henry. When she witnessed Henry being abused/neglected, she was faced with saving him or facing her past in a very public way.</p><p>It is a stunning novel and I didn't realize that it was a sequel to <b>The Boy in the Striped Pajamas</b>, which I had never read. So my next read was:</p><p>5) <b>The Boy in the Striped Pajamas </b>by John Boyne. I can't believe that I had never read this book. At first, I was a bit taken back by it, feeling that it was so simply written, but soon I realized that it was told from the little boy's perspective.</p><p>If there is anyone out there in the reading world left who hasn't read this book, it is about a small boy in Germany who had to move when his father got a new job as a commandant at a camp. He, his sister, and his mother were housed in a small modest home that was quite a downgrade for them. There was no one around to make friends with. There was only a camp that was barricaded with barbed wire. One day the little boy went out for a walk and came across another little boy who was behind the barbed wire. They struck up a friendship, which had to be secret. And I can't tell anymore of the story. Only to say that I was so deeply struck by the ending, it still hurts. </p>Sue F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15784595421535239536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366332997229049780.post-63049147235438791772023-01-08T12:30:00.001-08:002023-01-08T12:30:34.053-08:00What I read in December (2022)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg95Xgx4mfFgZFxFBoyqQxX-jCANUsNm-ZJHHsK_cZuV36lbH0t-ZVVj_TfcnsI9roe0d407zR4d2lQN1oARtxk486Y4ni_yZkxKw2wHd7W4Qga31Ircrmw86PC_4yLO0oJ9AwdNRagnSh_5U3oByRIaFMgmsTDOA_h79cTAmsPWr0I3YGz29c_INYf/s4608/89AC65D9-A134-4BEC-8CA7-F553BF96423C-COLLAGE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4608" data-original-width="2592" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg95Xgx4mfFgZFxFBoyqQxX-jCANUsNm-ZJHHsK_cZuV36lbH0t-ZVVj_TfcnsI9roe0d407zR4d2lQN1oARtxk486Y4ni_yZkxKw2wHd7W4Qga31Ircrmw86PC_4yLO0oJ9AwdNRagnSh_5U3oByRIaFMgmsTDOA_h79cTAmsPWr0I3YGz29c_INYf/s320/89AC65D9-A134-4BEC-8CA7-F553BF96423C-COLLAGE.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>Yep, folks, I only read 3 books in December. However, in my defense, one book was 670 pages! And it was December, a rather busy month for me! It is so fun to be back with family and have a home to decorate for the holidays!<p></p><p>1) <b>Mad Honey</b> by Jennifer Boylan and Jodi Piccoult: this was a long book with over 430 pages. It was a good read. It is about new beginnings, young love, a mother's love, and, in the end, a good murder mystery that surprised me.</p><p>Years ago, following a bitter divorce, Olivia had moved back to her hometown with her young son, Asher. Asher grew up there with his best friend, Maya. In Asher's senior year, a new girl moved to town named Lily. Maya befriended her and Asher fell hard for Lily. The three of them became rather inseparable. But Lily had moved to the town for good reason. She had a secret that she was running away from. She and Asher became a couple, and one day, Olivia got the news that Lily was dead and Asher had been arrested for the murder. She was certain that her son could not have done it, but she also was afraid that perhaps he had violent tendencies like his father. The book goes through the trial and the aftermath.</p><p>2) Next I read <b>The Winners</b> by Fredrik Backman: this book is the third book of a trilogy. The first book was <b>Beartown</b>, which I loved. The second book was <b>Us Against Them</b>, which I didn't care that much for. So I was anxious to see how <b>The Winners</b> would be. It certainly did not disappoint!</p><p>In <b>The Winners</b>, two years had passed since all that had happened in Beartown. Much had changed in the two years. When the owner of the much-loved tavern died, Maya Andersson and Benji Ovich returned home for the funeral. Maya was attending college out of town, and Benji had gone to try to make sense of all that had happened two years ago. And while home, tensions between the rivaling towns of Beartown and Hed began to resurface and bad things began happening.</p><blockquote><p>"<i>Because of course that's all she is, all everyone she grew up with in Beartown is; hopelessly simple but horribly complicated. Ordinary, unusual people. Unusually ordinary people. We try to just live our lives, live with each other, live with ourselves. Accepting joy when we find it, bearing grief when it finds us, and being amazed at our children's happiness without falling apart when we think that we can never really protect them." </i></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><i>"This hurts too much to touch wtih words." </i></p></blockquote><p>Such beautiful writing. I absolutely loved this book!</p><p>3) <b>Our Missing Hearts </b>by Celeste Ng: This was an interesting story that I felt touched very close to issues happening (or could happen) right now.</p><p>Ten years earlier, the country had declared laws to preserve "American culture" and the authorities were allowed to relocate children of any dissidents, mainly if there were Asian. Twelve-year-old Bird lived with his father, growing up learning not to draw attention to himself. He and his father lost their home and were living in an old dormitory on the campus where his linguist father now worked stacking books in the university library. Bird's mother had been gone for three years and he did not know what had happened. His mother was a Chinese-American poet, but Bird did not know that nor know her work.</p><p>One day, Bird received a note in the mail that was just a cryptic drawing. He realized that it contained some clues about his mother and he took off to New York City on his own to find her.</p><p>This book is really well-written and touching. I liked it a lot!</p><p><br /></p>Sue F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15784595421535239536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366332997229049780.post-19012992637720281742023-01-08T11:28:00.000-08:002023-01-08T11:28:28.629-08:002022 Countdown of Favorite Books<p>I read 60 books in 2022. Not as many as I would have liked, but life got in the way! 3 were non-fiction, again, not as many as I would have liked. There are 19 books that I rated as either very good or excellent that I read in 2022:</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Northernmost-Peter Geye</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Tell the Bees that I Am Gone-Diane Gabaldon</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Lost Boy Found-Kirsten Alexander</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Secret Scripture-Sebastian Barry</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The Sweetness of Water-Nathan Harris</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Florence Adler Swims Forever-Rachel Beanland</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Yellow Wife-Sadeqa Johnson </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Grace-t. Greenwood</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The Personal Librarian</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Remarkably Bright Creatures-Shelby Van Pelt</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Once There Were Wolves-Charlotte McConaghy</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The Lost Girls of Willowbrook-Ellen Marie Wiseman</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The Hour of the Witch-Chris Bohjalian</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The Tide Between Us-Olive Collins</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Lucy By The Sea-Elizabeth Strout</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">A Thousand Moons-Sebastian Barry</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Winners-Fredrik Backman</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">These were all good books! I would recommend any of them!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">However, moving on to my top 12 of the list:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Northernmost-Peter Geye</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Tell the Bees that I Am Gone-Diane Gabaldon</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Lost Boy Found-Kirsten Alexander</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The Secret Scripture-Sebastian Barry</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The Sweetness of Water-Nathan Harris</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Remarkably Bright Creatures-Shelby Van Pelt</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The Hour of the Witch-Chris Bohjalian</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Lucy By The Sea-Elizabeth Strout</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">A Thousand Moons-Sebastian Barry</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The Haven-Emma Donoghue</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">And now it starts getting hard. Narrowing the list down to my top 5 meant taking off The Winners, which I really loved! But here's what's left:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-ebc0e3f4-7fff-7684-dd56-51fcd374324c"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Northernmost-Peter Geye</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Secret Scripture-Sebastian Barry</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Sweetness of Water-Nathan Harris</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Remarkably Bright Creatures-Shelby Van Pelt</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lucy By The Sea-Elizabeth Strout</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now it's easy though! Even though I loved each of the above books, one stands out for me as my very favorite:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Lucy By The Sea-Elizabeth Strout</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I hope to read more in 2023 and hope that I have as many good reads as 2022! Happy reading in the New Year!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></b></p></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p>Sue F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15784595421535239536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366332997229049780.post-90949306421857873302022-12-02T13:08:00.001-08:002022-12-02T13:08:15.844-08:00My November Reads<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0AkQM8WVGewgomLPW1vR1AHT00QGLrpk-mJ6wXHDFNIC5kDT7W00eSmUp9rcf7ScO9r_Kd8VhInp1HaBULS_b4DLwVFwB7M0ytEavEGKpe16smbSeJmxR7S852-AAUnk0-qF4apxK_xGUyrSmxntgYm2kY5xg7868LxnFqkkNU23LQSsgWNGs3aFP/s2880/IMG_5065.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2880" data-original-width="2880" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0AkQM8WVGewgomLPW1vR1AHT00QGLrpk-mJ6wXHDFNIC5kDT7W00eSmUp9rcf7ScO9r_Kd8VhInp1HaBULS_b4DLwVFwB7M0ytEavEGKpe16smbSeJmxR7S852-AAUnk0-qF4apxK_xGUyrSmxntgYm2kY5xg7868LxnFqkkNU23LQSsgWNGs3aFP/s320/IMG_5065.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /> November is over already and Christmas is three weeks away! Where, oh where, does the time go? Here are the books that I read in November!<p></p><p>1) <b>Haven</b> by Emma Donoghue: I like Ms. Donoghue's writing. I saw this at the library and swooped it up. It was on the "It's Your Lucky Day" shelf, where you can check out the book but only have a week to read it! This was a reasonably short book, so I got it read in time! It was an interesting concept for a story!</p><p>This story took place in seventh-century Ireland. There was a priest named Artt who was considered the wisest and holiest of all. He had a dream about an island and wanted to take two of the brothers (monks) in the community and go to the island to create another community of brothers. He chose the two that he wanted to go with him and they left with the very barest of supplies because Artt felt that God would take care of all their needs. They sailed away and searched for the island that Artt dreamt of. Eventually, they came across an uninhabited island that Artt approved and they settled there. They sought to do and make everything with what was there on the island and Artt would not let them go out to sea to obtain supplies as theirs dwindled away. </p><p>The ending was superb. It's a book worth reading!</p><p>2) <b>A Thousand Moons</b> by Sebastian Barry: Yes, I am still reading Sebastian Barry. What can I say? I love his writing! This book begins where his book <b>Days Without End </b>ended!</p><p>The story takes place in Tennessee in the post-Civil War time. Winona Cole, a young orphaned child of the Lakota Indians was taken in and raised by John Cole and Thomas McNulty. </p><blockquote><p><i>"Where John Cole abided, there was to be found Thomas with his simple heart. Their love was the first commandment of <b>my</b> world-Thou shalt hope to love like them. We have all to meet many souls and hearts along the way-we are obliged to-we must pray we can encounter one or two Thomases and John Coles on that journey. Then we can say life was worth the living and love was worth the gamble."</i></p></blockquote><p>Winona was a smart young woman living where Indians were not welcome, nor were smart women. She was viciously attacked one evening and that lead to her search for her attacker. She believed it to be Jas, a boy/man who had been interested in her. When Jas was found killed, Wenona was arrested and sentenced to hang.</p><p>This is a spiritual book in some ways. I loved it!</p><p>3) <b>Such a Pretty Face</b> by t. greenwood: I have read many of this author's books and really liked them. This one was a disappointment for me. </p><p>The story has two timelines: present-day and 1970's New York City. Young Ryan's mother, Fiona, dreamed of becoming a movie star. Her dreams were just that...dreams. But one day, young Ryan was discovered and treated as a grown woman rather than the young girl she was (around ten years old). Of course, Fiona was her biggest promoter. Forty years later, Ryan got a text from her oldest friend telling her that a pre-teen picture of her had been found in the possession of a well-known wealthy investor who had just been found to be a pedophile and a sex trafficker. To make it worse, the photo had an inscription written to him by Ryan's mother.</p><p>After this discovery, Ryan began examining her childhood and her relationship with her mother and what it all meant in the present time.</p><p>Some of the story was interesting, but it just dragged on for me.</p><p>4)<b> The Cloisters </b>by Katy Hays: Oh, this was a good one! I look forward to more from this author!</p><p>Recent college graduate, Ann Stilwell, arrived in New York City from Washington (the state) to work for the summer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Instead, she was assigned to work at the Cloisters (at the Museum) where the Museum's medieval art was kept and displayed along with an elaborate garden. There was a small, but seemingly close staff working there.</p><p>Ann soon finds that the researchers there are working on a theory that medieval tarot cards hold the key to telling the future. This leads to much mystery and power-seeking among the staff.</p><p>This book was well written and a great mystery! Read it!</p><p>5) <b>Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy</b> by Blaine T. Bittinger: Ok, so I am able to tell you the name of the book, but that's about as much as I understood. Not that the book isn't well-written, it's that I have absolutely no understanding of anything vaguely scientific. I try, but it just doesn't happen. That being said, there were some (few) parts in the book that I highlighted because I did understand, so that was helpful!</p><p>For those who do understand science, etc. I think that this book would be extremely helpful. And I am hopeful that as I continue to study DNA I will be able to use the book more!</p><p><br /></p>Sue F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15784595421535239536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366332997229049780.post-74621230047812910772022-12-02T11:51:00.003-08:002022-12-02T11:51:49.304-08:00What I read in October<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlEZYAEg2BFcLZzuQtqFrdMZWYF4jv14Xqdbd5tRPwgtEcA6xVo4Ou4YsX7fifoQq8xNpdJRFTgg4mTbOQBQV6XHsAvZqjlvc0c_joc8hHnFFCXG00ANcCSMlXuXWCJLfDbUDiwYDrR3IRorX1tPBKEyM6tvQkj-D1vins7nbSKH7D-ATamVtdf8Yp/s3488/IMG_1375.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3488" data-original-width="3488" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlEZYAEg2BFcLZzuQtqFrdMZWYF4jv14Xqdbd5tRPwgtEcA6xVo4Ou4YsX7fifoQq8xNpdJRFTgg4mTbOQBQV6XHsAvZqjlvc0c_joc8hHnFFCXG00ANcCSMlXuXWCJLfDbUDiwYDrR3IRorX1tPBKEyM6tvQkj-D1vins7nbSKH7D-ATamVtdf8Yp/s320/IMG_1375.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Well, again, 4 books were read this month. Maybe I need winter to set in so I just sit and read! October was full of unpacking from our move back to Illinois and we are just starting to wind down from all of it! The good news? I loved every one of the books that I read!<p></p><p>1) <b>Next Year in Havana </b>by Chanel Cleeton: I was slow to warm up to this book, but by the middle of it, I was hooked! Marisol Ferrera was heartbroken when, in 2017, her beloved grandmother (Elisa) passed away. Marisol had grown up listening to her grandmother's stories of life in Cuba when her grandmother was a girl. Elisa's father was a sugar baron in Cuba and the family was quite wealthy. However, by 1958, Cuba was facing great political unrest, and Elisa had met and fallen in love with one of the revolutionaries. Her family had to flee Cuba and went to Miami where Elisa married and raised her son, Marisol's father. Before Elisa died she asked Marisol to scatter her ashes in her beloved Cuba. Because Marisol was a journalist she was allowed into Cuba and stayed with her grandmother's best friend who still lived there. While in Cuba, Marisol began uncovering some family secrets and had a secret of her own when she became attracted to a man who was a political activist. It was a really good story!</p><p>2) <b>Lucy by the Sea</b> by Elizabeth Strout: I couldn't have loved this book more. It is the last one so far in the Lucy/William series and if you haven't read them, do so ( read them in order, however).</p><p>In <b>Lucy By the Sea</b>, Lucy and William (Lucy's ex-husband) went to Maine to ride out the pandemic soon after it began to hit New York. There they spent the next few months, just the two of them isolated. As time went on, Lucy and William experienced a deep connection as they navigated the pain of not being able to be with their daughters during this time, who were also going through painful times. As time went on, Lucy and William found their love again for each other.</p><p>This is such a beautiful book, especially if you have gone through Lucy's journey in the earlier books. Ms. Strout's writing continues to amaze me.</p><blockquote><p><i>"If I had known what it would be like the next time that I saw them-Well, I did not know then.</i></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><i>It is a gift in this life that we do not know what awaits us." </i></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>3) <b>Time and Again</b> by Jack Finney: My daughter recommended this book to me when we were in New York this past fall. We were looking at the Dakota and that is where this story takes place! That made this book especially interesting to me! This book came out fifty years ago and Stephen King has called it "THE great time-travel story".</p><p>Si Morley was bored with his life. When he was recruited by a secret government entity, he decided to take the opportunity. The entity was studying/working on time travel. Si went from the 20th century back to 1882 numerous times and enjoyed seeing New York City as it was developing. Meeting a young woman there, whom he fell in love with complicated Si's life and he ultimately had to decide if he wanted to remain in 1882 or return to his modern life. </p><p>There is also a mystery involved in the story, which added good interest. It was a good read! </p><p>4) <b>The Many Daughters of Afong Moy</b> by Jamie Ford: This is such an interesting book. It is a novel and is about inherited trauma, which I keep trying to explain to my family about (it was often something that I explored with clients when I was working).</p><p>Dorothy Foy had struggled with depression and dissociative episodes for years, but when her five-year-old daughter began remembering past memories from her ancestors, Dorothy decided that she had to seek help. She was fearful that her daughter might develop the same mental health issues that she had been struggling with and she didn't want that for her daughter.</p><p>Dorothy connected with a therapist who was doing some experimental treatments around inherited trauma. She was able to take Dorothy back to view her ancestor's lives and began to understand how their trauma was affecting her life. </p><p>This story also has a mystery running through it that adds to the pleasure of the story. Another good read!</p>Sue F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15784595421535239536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366332997229049780.post-18497950827810362992022-11-02T11:50:00.000-07:002022-11-02T11:50:16.639-07:00What I read in September<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_wNkPPnUWgUl-5rob3xqs3SYgZYNJUiNy5WgqnHkXlNL77DqAHB8nxgU9szhsCnN9xxAcW1uxXQJUGC6sGMuISZZQ28tRYyqi0FdP8xEEisvoHqxhwQchB9WTiBxF7IhLfnejYY4BU9rq-W4FOW7gPVOH1Pi5g6eabmwjtg19SBRk2M5HPNclx5Yo/s1200/IMG_1358.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_wNkPPnUWgUl-5rob3xqs3SYgZYNJUiNy5WgqnHkXlNL77DqAHB8nxgU9szhsCnN9xxAcW1uxXQJUGC6sGMuISZZQ28tRYyqi0FdP8xEEisvoHqxhwQchB9WTiBxF7IhLfnejYY4BU9rq-W4FOW7gPVOH1Pi5g6eabmwjtg19SBRk2M5HPNclx5Yo/w400-h225/IMG_1358.PNG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div> September and October were consumed with moving across the country and I just never found the time to get to my blog readers. Somehow, however, I did manage to read 4 1/2 books in September and liked all but one (that one I only read the first half and then moved on). Here are the four books that I liked:<div> <div>1)<b>The Lost Girls of Willowbrook</b> by Ellen Marie Wiseman: I have read a couple of her books before and liked them and this one was also good. The story takes place in the 1970s at the Willowbrook State School on Staten Island in New York.
When Sage's identical twin sister, Rosemary died, Sage was devasted. Rosemary had always been a rather "different" child, but she was Sage's best friend. Sage was ten years old when she was told that Rosemary died of pneumonia. A few years later, Sage's mother died in a car crash. In a moment of anger, Sage's stepfather told Sage that Rosemary wasn't dead but had been placed at Willowbrook and he had gotten a call that she was missing. That night Sage left home to go to see her sister. After Sage arrived at Willowbrook, she was mistaken for Rosemary and suddenly her life became one she had never imagined.
It is a good mystery read!</div><div><br /></div><div>2) <b>Tamarack County</b> by William Kent Krueger: I am still working through reading the Cork O'Connor thought that I would finish the series this year, but it's not going to happen! This is okay with me, because I love the books! There were several mysteries going on in this book, which ended up all coming together! Great book! </div><div><br /></div><div>3)<b> The Wonder</b> by Emma Donoghue: I loved this book, although I did find it a bit of a slow read. It is a very interesting story. The story takes place in Ireland in the mid-nineteenth century where an English nurse, Lib, was brought to tend to Anna, an eleven-year-old girl who appeared to have survived for four months without eating. Lib is quite skeptical and was brought to attend to Anna for two weeks to try to see what exactly was going on. The young girl, of course, became a national wonder and people flocked from all over to try to see this miracle. Anna was caught up in religion and superstition after the death of her brother and the rituals of the Church and the beliefs of her family. This is a fascinating book, based on some true stories! </div><div><br /></div><div>4 ) <b>Hour of the Witch</b> by Chris Bohjalian: This story takes place in 1692 in Boston and, yet, was quite timely in many ways! Mary Deerfield was the second wife of Thomas, who was a cruel, mean man, especially when he had been drinking, which was usually every day. After he stuck a fork in Mary's hand one evening, she knew that he would kill her if she stayed in the marriage. She left and went to her parent's home, while the men of the city talked and discussed what was to be done about her leaving her husband. She had begun finding things around around their home, that she was suspected of placing, then a boy she was treating died and suddenly everything she did was examined. She was eventually brought to trial.</div><div>I found this book to be very well-written and a great read.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>5) I read half of <b>Orhan's Inheritance </b>by Aline Ohanesian but found myself not looking forward to going to bed to read it. After reading half of it, I gave up and moved on to better books. Life is too short!</div>Sue F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15784595421535239536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366332997229049780.post-49139157238608332462022-08-31T11:57:00.002-07:002022-08-31T11:57:32.637-07:00August Reading<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF3eEdOIt9LNOBujYRuU-HuFXS3bd1n1zkBaqI11wakEOKblONk8HEXVLWvS9Pg6aVq_qeBlGckfA1rASkYdRLTtyhHjy-h1WnkMxYb5mvdo7KCwxjpNEinIWMXKmIt-Y7uhfaUMzpXEdWA7VBf9gT9SnhzItNNSnfIFW_pRMMM6xXQBmqEj41Pe7s/s3840/IMG_1323.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3840" data-original-width="3840" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF3eEdOIt9LNOBujYRuU-HuFXS3bd1n1zkBaqI11wakEOKblONk8HEXVLWvS9Pg6aVq_qeBlGckfA1rASkYdRLTtyhHjy-h1WnkMxYb5mvdo7KCwxjpNEinIWMXKmIt-Y7uhfaUMzpXEdWA7VBf9gT9SnhzItNNSnfIFW_pRMMM6xXQBmqEj41Pe7s/s320/IMG_1323.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I had a good month reading for August, except for one book, which was a DNF (did not finish). I hated doing that but I just couldn't do it!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">1)<b> The Personal Librarian</b> by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray: This book kind of blew me away! It is a historical novel based on the true story of Belle da Costa Greene who hid her black identity and passed as white. She became the personal librarian for J.P. Morgan and developed and managed his very impressive personal library. She became well-known in New York City as she curated his library to become one of the most important libraries in the world.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">However, she spent her life hiding her true identity, Belle Marion Greener, daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black to graduate from Harvard. Her parents separated when she was young and her father was not around. Her mother encouraged her children to pass as white, as Portuguese Americans and worked hard to instill "whiteness" in them. Her mother wanted better for all her children and so she moved them from their predominately black neighborhood in Washington DC up to New York City. They changed their surname to "Greene". </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So Belle had to live with her secret and protect her secret all her life as she would travel and mix in society all over the world. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The book was such a fascinating story and from what I have read about Belle it seemed quite true to the facts of her life.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The most interesting fact that I found was that it wasn't until after her death that biographers were researching her life and discovered her secret. She managed to keep her secret all of her life!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;">2) </span></span><b>Daughters of Memory </b>by Janis Arnold: This is an "older" book (published in 1991) that I came across while packing books up and decided to re-read it. It was a good book!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;">Two sisters grew up in a small Texas town. One sister, Claire Louise got out of that small town as quickly as she could, running off with her high school boyfriend. The other sister, Macy Rose, stayed home and became the "good sister". She graduated from college, got married, and had children just as was expected of her. She lived in Houston, so was fairly close to the family farm. Meanwhile, ten years had passed with her family having absolutely no word from Claire Louise. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;">Then one day, Claire Louise showed up at her childhood home with her two children. Soon it was evident that both their parents and their beloved grandmother were in failing health. Claire Louise inserted herself into every aspect of the family, taking over all of her parents' lives. Macy Rose decided that Claire Louise would not take over their grandmother's life and at the risk of losing her own family, she became obsessed with saving her grandmother from Claire Louise.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;">The family dynamics in this book are so very interesting. Each chapter is narrated by one of the two sisters, back and forth. By the end, secrets have come out and it appears likely that the animosity between the sisters may be worked out! Good book!</span></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;">3)<b> The Confessions of Frannie Langton</b> by Sara Collins: </span></span></span></span></span></span>this is the book that I did not finish. I read half of it and just didn't care anymore. If anyone has read the whole book, I would be interested in your opinions of it!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;">4) <b>Radical Love</b> by Zachary Levi: while my family was visiting us a couple of weeks ago, I noticed this book that my 18-year-old <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT_Jv_7SRQEmZEZEZN7KeyoOYl7CiLjGTXvJlSEkb_uCfOByXuF8KVSnhOetiP0KVx1kC1CK1Y87mDXgUz_rZt6gP13osa_cyGRQxoc7RO4u_rYAcDHdq2NZJtX7VXKtLuIasqUVlaY6xTOuX86m1yIm2DA8BdWyQLB3moSK0yj8zDpFCg8uG7wBl4/s288/IMG_4771.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="192" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT_Jv_7SRQEmZEZEZN7KeyoOYl7CiLjGTXvJlSEkb_uCfOByXuF8KVSnhOetiP0KVx1kC1CK1Y87mDXgUz_rZt6gP13osa_cyGRQxoc7RO4u_rYAcDHdq2NZJtX7VXKtLuIasqUVlaY6xTOuX86m1yIm2DA8BdWyQLB3moSK0yj8zDpFCg8uG7wBl4/s1600/IMG_4771.JPG" width="192" /></a></div><br /> granddaughter was reading. She began telling me about the book and I realized that I had just recently seen Zackary Levi on an episode of Who Do You Think You Are! So she offered to let me read it when she finished it. It was a good read. He discussed his disturbing childhood and began some of the journey of looking past his parents to his ancestors and how who they were played into who his parents and grandparents were. He discussed his mental health journey and how he has progressed. The subtitle of the book is "Learning to Accept Yourself and Others"...perfect description of the book!</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;">(Note: I had forgotten to put the picture of this book in the collage!)</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;">5) <b>Remarkably Bright Creatures</b> by Selby Van Pelt: this book has been a top-seller for some time so I finally picked it up. It is described as a friendship with an octopus, so I really hadn't been interested in it. However, it turned out to be a lovely story!</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;">Tora Sullivan's son Erik had died mysteriously thirty years ago. Recently her husband had also died and she began working at the Aquarium in her small town. She worked there as a cleaning lady at night, and after a while, she became interested in the octopus who resided there. He was a big one and was named Marcellus.</span></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;">Marcellus, after getting to know Tora, Marcellus figured out what had happened to her son Erik. He just needed a way to prove it and be able to help her uncover his findings. </span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;">There is so much else to this story....I thoroughly enjoyed it!</span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;">6)<b> Once There Were Wolves</b> by Charlotte McConaghy: this was a good book, also and probably one that I will read again. It is a story of twin sisters who grew up spending time alternately between their mother (a police officer) in Australia, and their father who lived isolated in Alaska.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;">Inti Flynn had spent her life studying and working with wolves. She and her team had arrived in Scotland to re-introduce wolves to the country. They ended up having fourteen wolves with them. She also had brought her twin sister with her, hoping that perhaps she, the wolves, and the land can help her sister Aggie begin to recover from the trauma she had endured.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;">Needless to say, the Scottish people in the town were not supportive of wolves being released outside their town, especially those with farms. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;">This is another book with very interesting dynamics going on between people. A very interesting story!</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><p></p>Sue F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15784595421535239536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366332997229049780.post-88629771981353999472022-08-25T11:37:00.000-07:002022-08-25T11:37:21.719-07:00I Am So Behind (July reading)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSnRNAosdG4Lacz2OvFQgLnFUg6rEwdURdoy67mxI2vqCCoZwmZb-PFufM0fGi6qOL2kGKOApw8vVlVW-28lHANprUZaSqPqBZ_ADaGwhMS3sF8yHZXmQBbiI5ITrFP3DfLB3Q3HH2HvzLmZf-770rOqqdSSGWv6_-3dKGLC0DPTOVEoyKMDg-md63/s3488/IMG_1315.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3488" data-original-width="3488" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSnRNAosdG4Lacz2OvFQgLnFUg6rEwdURdoy67mxI2vqCCoZwmZb-PFufM0fGi6qOL2kGKOApw8vVlVW-28lHANprUZaSqPqBZ_ADaGwhMS3sF8yHZXmQBbiI5ITrFP3DfLB3Q3HH2HvzLmZf-770rOqqdSSGWv6_-3dKGLC0DPTOVEoyKMDg-md63/s320/IMG_1315.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> I apologize to those who follow me. We bought a new place in Illinois, and sold our condo in Alabama all within 2 weeks this month, so things have been crazy!<p></p><p>I did have some good reading in July! I can honestly say that I liked each of the above 5 books!</p><p>1) <b>The Measure</b> by Nikki Erlick: On one random day, every person 21 years and older in the entire world woke up to a small wooden box on their doorstep. Inside was a thread, either long or short. It turned out that the measure of the thread you received told you how long you had left to live. Would you decide to open your box? Do you want to know how long you will live? </p><p>The book follows the stories of several different people as they struggle with the decision to know how long they have to live. It is untimely, a quite moving book. The message I took from it was to live a life of meaning.</p><p>2) <b>Wish You Were Here</b> by Jodi Pocult: I hadn't read any of her books for several years, but this one intrigued me. This was such an interesting story.</p><p>Diana, who had her whole life planned out, and Finn, her boyfriend who was a surgical resident at a hospital, were planning to travel to the Galapagos, where Diana was sure that Finn was going to propose to her. Suddenly, the city was hit by a plague and Finn had to stay there to work. He encouraged Diana to go on the trip by herself since the trip was non-refundable. She reluctantly agreed to and that was when things got interesting. As soon as she arrived, the island was shut down, including the hotel where she was to stay and everyone had to isolate themselves. There was barely any wifi, her luggage had been lost and she knew no one.</p><p>Diana slowly acclimated to where she was as she began to meet some people willing to help her. She ended up on the island for a long time, and eventually, Diana was able to get back to her home. But when she awoke, she wasn't where she thought she was going and.....</p><p>That's all I'm going to tell you! </p><p>3)<b> The Paper Palace</b> by Miranda Cowley Heller: another fascinating book with a very interesting ending!</p><p>Elle, went to the paper palace, as it had been called, with her family one August and everything changed in her life in a moment. She had been going to this place every summer growing up and her oldest friend Jonas had been there also. Now, coming there when Elle was 50 years old, happily married with 3 children, one night Elle and Jonas discreetly left the party happening inside and had sex for the first time ever with each other, while their spouses were still inside at the party. Now Elle was left with a decision....she had always been in love with Jonas and when she was younger had thought that they would have married. Now years later, the attraction was still there and she struggled with what to do.</p><p>This was a very simplified version of this story...there are many family dynamics at play in the story, along with some tragedy. It is a good book!</p><p>4)<b> The Sanatorium</b> by Sarah Pearse: This novel is about the happenings in a long abandoned sanatorium that was developed into a very minimalist, rather exclusive, hotel up in the Swiss Alps. Elin Warner was a detective that was taking some needed time off. An invitation to her estranged brother Isaac's engagement party came to her and she decided that perhaps she could mend fences with her brother and reconnect with his fiance, Laure, who she had been childhood friends with. However, when Elin arrived at the hotel the vibes were not good. And the next morning, Laure was missing.</p><p>So, of course, Elin was back in detective mode as other things kept occurring. This was a good mystery. I had not realized that it is the first of a series, so I am looking forward to reading more about Elin!</p><p> 5) <b>A Good Neighborhood </b>by Therese Anne Fowler: I will say, right off the bat, that after I finished this book, my first thought was "This would make a great book for a book club!"</p><p>Valerie lived in a good neighborhood, raising her biracial son, Xavier, by herself. Valerie was a college professor and soon Xavier was headed off to college. All was great until the Whitman's arrived. They tore down the house next to Valerie's, including the beautiful old trees, and built a mansion-type showhouse. Valerie was a professor of forestry and ecology, so everything the Whitmans were doing to the property was hard for her to take. And they also had a troubled teenage daughter to boot who, of course, got involved with Isaac. </p><p>This book raises so many questions, about friendship, love, neighbors, and race. It was a very heart-rendering read, but a very good read.</p>Sue F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15784595421535239536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366332997229049780.post-92167492674481949292022-07-06T08:56:00.002-07:002022-07-06T08:56:25.374-07:00My Reads in June<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQJnYHlkVGt1gfdjg0lYkFIe501-BZM8a5gHdyq7t7L-iCA_pgnxt2zh5jiLl3XMshc1D_DBeV8heudbKsZJ4CZ4SFpDA-ZQNgwgGlzQ0_v7wD374AEpF3gDXZ4rQPLDcbMa9JxD2J9v1uvGUUZhDqK5lUhTU6f9MR0X-dDNxmaS_KFFn4DgMQsZ0X/s1818/IMG_1280.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1818" data-original-width="1818" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQJnYHlkVGt1gfdjg0lYkFIe501-BZM8a5gHdyq7t7L-iCA_pgnxt2zh5jiLl3XMshc1D_DBeV8heudbKsZJ4CZ4SFpDA-ZQNgwgGlzQ0_v7wD374AEpF3gDXZ4rQPLDcbMa9JxD2J9v1uvGUUZhDqK5lUhTU6f9MR0X-dDNxmaS_KFFn4DgMQsZ0X/w320-h320/IMG_1280.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /> I am vacationing and visiting our kids and grandkids this month, so this will be brief! I actually finished four of the above-pictured books. I read 186 pages of <b>A Single Thread</b> and gave up! I just never got into the characters or the story and had other books I wanted to read!<p></p><p>I really liked <b>The Yellow Wife</b> and <b>Grace.</b> And I read two more of the Cork O'Connor series.</p><p>I hope your summer reading is going well and you are finding great reads!</p>Sue F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15784595421535239536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366332997229049780.post-15841626398644779332022-06-05T11:58:00.001-07:002022-06-05T11:58:34.091-07:00What I Read in May<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ_I46HBz_sTUjBUENI1w7jI5uOJEnPiF9K7oBLz-LuZu56oOk34DJm712cFpXcyD_uHil-Nidp8WDr0u4r6wgbnc12Ooc0aUW-X0GAIXkWqLVHAf-ynIIPVUSwmyUHfqmGue1GYJEnjRUtm-GVPUFtJNDgvn8dQ7pZw6PGMHwuAzcQqR04hEoVk7S/s3488/IMG_1231.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3488" data-original-width="3488" height="381" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ_I46HBz_sTUjBUENI1w7jI5uOJEnPiF9K7oBLz-LuZu56oOk34DJm712cFpXcyD_uHil-Nidp8WDr0u4r6wgbnc12Ooc0aUW-X0GAIXkWqLVHAf-ynIIPVUSwmyUHfqmGue1GYJEnjRUtm-GVPUFtJNDgvn8dQ7pZw6PGMHwuAzcQqR04hEoVk7S/w436-h381/IMG_1231.JPG" width="436" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I read six books in May, all fiction, with three of them by Irish authors. That seems to be a theme for me in 2022! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">1) <b>The Temporary Gentleman </b>by Sebastian Barry. This was the second in the McNulty family trilogy and I would say it was the second-best of the three. It is the story of Jack McNulty who was writing his life story as he sat in his small home in Accra, Ghana. His life was a sad story: his commission in the British Army in WWII was not permanent, he traveled the world as a soldier, then was an engineer. His marriage failed in the end. He was a man who did not have much positive to say about how his life had been. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">2) <b>Four Letters of Love </b>by Niall Williams. Another Irish author and story. This book is about two people who had lived rather tragic childhoods. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">When Nicholas was twelve, his father heard from God that he was to become a full-time painter, so he quit his job to paint...the father sold the car, sold most of their furnishings and the family struggled to survive. Nicholas was made fun of at school.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">When Isabel (who lived on an island off the opposite coast where Nicholas lived) was eleven, she and her younger brother went out for the afternoon. Her brother, Sean, was a musical prodigy and was pretending to play the fiddle while Isabel danced. Suddenly the music stopped and when Isabel turned around she saw Sean having a seizure. He had lost all speech and movement. Isabel blamed herself.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Go forward years later, and Isabel and Nicholas met on her wedding day. Isabel was marrying someone that she did not love. Nicholas was trying to locate his father's last surviving painting, which Isabel's father had won years ago. So it was that Nicholas was at Isabel's home, and so it was that Sean began to speak, sing and move. After a while, he was well enough to go with Nicholas to see Isabel on the mainland. And that is when Nicholas and Isabel fell in love with each other.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The "four letters of love"? Nicholas wrote them to Isabel. What became of them? What became of Isabel and Nicholas? You will have to read the book!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">3) <b>When the Stars Go Dark </b>by Paula McLain. This book is a mystery, not the usual writing of Ms. McLain. I hope that she continues to write mysteries! It was very good. It is about a detective from San Francisco who specializes in missing persons. She needed a break, both personally and professionally, so she took some time off and went up to a cabin in Medicino. Right away, she learned of a missing girl, then more missing girls, until a pattern became clear and she and the local sheriff began working together.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It is quite a good story!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">4) <b>The Deep Dark Descending </b>by Allen Eskens. I have long been a fan of Mr. Eskins writing. This is a mystery about a homicide detective whose wife had been killed in a hit and run years before. Suddenly, he learned that her death was actually a murder. Now he is faced with choosing to be a revengeful man or a law-abiding police officer. This is a very good read!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">5) <b>A Thousand Voices </b>by Lisa Wingate. I enjoyed this book! It is the story of lovely, talented twenty-year-old Dell Jordan who had just returned from a year abroad with a traveling symphony. Her foster parents who have raised her since she was thirteen, wanted her to go to Julliard, but Dell was not sure that is still what she wants. What she wanted most was to learn more about her Native American father. All she had to go on was his name on her birth certificate and a place in Oklahoma that her birth mother had mentioned to her years ago. She went to the area and began to investigate who and where her father was.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">6) <b>History of the Rain </b>by Niall Williams. Yes, it is also by an Irish writer and takes place in Ireland. This is a very slow reading- book. I couldn't quit reading it, but it was a bit of a chore. However, for once, I was rewarded with an ending I liked that made the whole book worth it!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Ruthie Swain was home from college after having collapsed. No one knew what was wrong. Her bedroom was up on the third floor, full of her dead father's books. She decided to try to find/know her father through his books. Along the way, she uncovered her family history in Ireland, and found that, just maybe, she is going to be fine! </div><br /><p></p>Sue F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15784595421535239536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366332997229049780.post-31919575428007475822022-05-07T13:03:00.001-07:002022-05-07T13:03:41.241-07:00April Reading<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp8pBfeh3wRA0qpC-l1dcuWLFku5w2dRC4-W46umjOn9Vch21_cGWmkywTFu4J7ena8RfQRtoueiwbaocpat4WZXXFDs_CI8QnHfANjyxQLU_4RSK5d4uXhUFSzaM1rzGzJZpBOfzau8xWwf__m3jddGk-3DrqMt--FA7q0LbTD4XAw-RSXTsPmQiF/s3840/IMG_1190.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3840" data-original-width="3840" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp8pBfeh3wRA0qpC-l1dcuWLFku5w2dRC4-W46umjOn9Vch21_cGWmkywTFu4J7ena8RfQRtoueiwbaocpat4WZXXFDs_CI8QnHfANjyxQLU_4RSK5d4uXhUFSzaM1rzGzJZpBOfzau8xWwf__m3jddGk-3DrqMt--FA7q0LbTD4XAw-RSXTsPmQiF/s320/IMG_1190.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>April has come and gone! I had some good reading last month! I even got a non-fiction book in the mix! <p></p><p>1)<b> The Sweetness of Water</b> by Nathan Harris: This book has so many layers. It takes place right after the Civil War ended. Two brothers who had been slaves, but were now free, were hired to help work the farm in Georgia owned by a couple who were grieving the loss of their only son, who had been reported to have been killed in the War. The brothers' goal was to save enough money to head north in search of their mother who had been sold away years before.</p><p>During this time, there is also a story of two Confederate soldiers who were in a relationship with each other and were discovered one day in the woods. The ramifications were immense throughout the town.</p><p>The author did a splendid job tying the two stories together. I couldn't put the book down, it was that good. And, get this, it's a debut novel! I highly recommend it.</p><p>2)<b> The Drowning Kind</b> by Jennifer McMahon: I struggled to try and like this book. I finished it and was deeply unsatisfied. I kept waiting for it to get better and I was disappointed. The premise was intriguing to me: Jax received 9 missed calls from her older sister who was found dead in the pool of their grandmother's estate. The older sister had fairly recently moved there and was trying to uncover the history of the property. In 1929, the property had once held a famous, modern hotel with a natural spring. There were mysteries and secrets connected to the property and the springs. </p><p>I hated the ending.</p><p>3) <b>On Canaan's Side</b> by Sebastian Barry: Another book by this author. It was similar to <b>The Secret Scripture</b> in that it was narrated by a ninety-five-year-old lady reviewing her past. Lilie Bere was devasted by the loss of her grandson, Billy. She tells her story beginning in her life in Ireland, being forced to leave and come to the United States. It is a rather sad life that she lives.</p><p>The story spans seventy decades and Lily's life was spent in fear, betrayal, loss, grief, and love. Billy had been the saving grace for her world. It was a good story and I liked it well enough!</p><p>4<b>) Emotional Inheritance</b> by Galit Atlas PhD: the subtitle is "A Therapist, Her Patients, and the Legacy of Trauma". This book made me miss being a therapist. Her style seemed reminiscent of mine, where I would try to help clients examine family secrets, dynamics, etc. to help them understand how the past of their ancestors (parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc) affect their own lives, in many different ways. In that way, clients can begin to make changes for themselves as they begin to understand what had led them to where they were. This book shared stories of Dr. Atlas's work with clients and how they were able to change. It was quite good and very interesting!</p><p>5)<b> Florence Adler Swims Forever</b> by Rachel Beanland: I had read about this book for ages and finally picked it up on clearance one day. I'm so glad that I did! </p><p>The story takes place in 1934 in Atlantic City. Esther and Joseph Adler had two daughters, Fannie and Florence. Fannie was pregnant and on bed rest in the hospital so her daughter Gussie was living in the apartment with the family, along with a young girl that Joseph had insisted on bringing over from Nazi Germany as the war began to progress. Florence had always been a prizewinning swimmer and had been practicing to swim the English Channel. Until one day tragedy struck and everything changed for the family.</p><p>This is another story where family decisions are affected by family secrets and it's not always clear what is the right thing to do.</p><p>There are many layers of relationships going on in this book, also, and the author does an excellent job bringing them all together. I liked the ending of the book very much. I think that the family will be ok.</p><p>My favorite books for April: <b>Florence Adler Swims Forever</b>, and <b>The Sweetness of Water.</b></p>Sue F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15784595421535239536noreply@blogger.com0