52 Ways to Walk by Annabel Streets

52 Ways to Walk: The Surprising Science of Walking for Wellness and Joy, One Week at a Time by Annabel Streets
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 rounded to 3 stars - It's not that the book didn't have some interesting ideas, it's more that it felt it needed to come up with an arbitrary number (52) of them. Some of the better ones:
-Walking in the cold is good, it helps to form brown fat
-Your gait at age 45 can help predict your chances of getting Alzheimer's, but it's unknown whether the changes in your brain affect your gait, or vice versa (I suspect the former).
-Studies show that people who are able to cultivate solitude (walk alone!) are more resilient and contented.
-Don't take pictures, take the time to sketch while you walk. You'll experience and remember more.
-Make it a daily habit, in all kinds of weather, all times of day or night, and in many types of places.
Of course, there is also the ridiculous - Walk backwards! The example given was Plennie Wingo, who, in 1931 decided to walk around the world - in reverse. He did end up going 7,000 miles, but during that time he sprained his ankle, fractured it, and caused a car crash. No thanks.
The irony of this suggestion doesn't escape me. The author, who claims to love to walk, had bad back pain from her seated job. She was seriously considering quitting it to become a walking-tour guide, but decided to buy a desk treadmill instead.

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Holiday Greetings from Crossville

It's hard to believe that 2024 is almost in the books, and that we have lived in Tennessee for more than 5 years now. We may live in Tennessee, but our hearts are with our loved ones, wherever you may be. We did some traveling this year, our first trip to Florida - Pensacola, in January; Hawai'i again in February to see our newest granddaughter; Indy/NY for the eclipse, Missouri in May to see Alden graduate and do another section of Route 66, and back to NY in July for John's sister, Jean's Celebration of Life. We finished our travels with a trip to Virginia for our anniversary and a short trip to do the Illinois section of Route 66 in September. We were blessed with several visits from family, including all four grandsons and Corey and Jess at Thanksgiving. Here are a few of our favorite memories.

That Librarian by Amanda Jones

That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America by Amanda Jones
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm not sure what to say about this book. It makes me angry. I am a librarian, and the idea that anyone would treat this librarian in this way, and would advocate banning books without having read them is outrageous. Libraries correctly have a challenge system available to members of the public who are concerned about the appropriateness and placement of any given book in the collection. The system involves actually reading the book in question, and thoughtfully explaining why you think it is inappropriate. Sometimes books do need to be reviewed, whether for age appropriateness or other content related issues. Sometimes a book just needs to be moved to a different section of the library. Librarians are professionals and as such, are careful with their collection choices. But, they are also humans, and occasionally make mistakes.
Regardless, no one has the right to slander and smear another person in the way that Amanda was treated. She stood up at a public library meeting and stated that public libraries are for all members of the public, including the marginalized. Collection policies are carefully considered, and policies are in place to deal with any book there are concerns about. At no time, did she reference a specific book, or imply that parents did not have the right to oversee what their children read. In fact, she pointed out that was, in fact, the parents' duty, and that many libraries have policies in place that require adult supervision of children. As a result of her speaking out, she was accused of being a pedophile, a groomer and a porn pusher, and had death threats made against her. What is this world coming to?
Chapters 15 and 16 are worth reading, without a doubt. However, there were a few issues that prevented me from rating this book higher. I wish the editing had been tighter, in places it tended to be repetitive. Also, I came away with the message that "all Republicans are bad" and "Fox News is evil and spreads lies." Blanket statements like that, about any group are, in my experience, not the way to build consensus and create a better world.


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Nothing to Fear: Demystifying Death to Live More Fully by Julie McFadden

Nothing to Fear: Demystifying Death to Live More Fully by Julie McFadden
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

4.5 rounded to 5 stars - This was a Nana's book club selection and it took several weeks to get it off reserve, but it was a quick read once I did. It is one of eight books on the End of Life GR bookshelf that I have read, and the only thing you should read into that is that I find the subject of our humanity interesting. When I was much younger, midwives and birthing were the topics, and now death and dying hold a little more interest.
Our society has stigmatized the topic of death. We don't routinely care for our dying ourselves, often sticking them in a hospital to die, too many times, by themselves. But those are not good deaths. The author spent many years as an ICU nurse and watched families agree to procedures and extraordinary measures that, while prolonging the outcome, did not change the fact that their loved one was dying. In the ICU, the rule was life at any cost, and often families didn't realize the futility and pain involved.
She had a life changing moment when she suggested a family conference for one patient, and when the family fully understood the situation, their choices changed. Shortly after, she left the ICU to become a hospice nurse.
The fact is, we all die. We can't change that. But to some extent, we can choose how we die. Hospice facilitates those choices. Will we die at home, or in a hospice center, surrounded by loved ones, having said the things we need to say, shared memories and made plans, and kept comfortable? Or will we die in a hospital, pumped full with liquids our bodies can no longer process, and medications that are really doing anything for our quality of life?
The book is gentle, and while the language may seem too simplistic - sometimes the advice is repeated several places, it is written in a way that allows people to process it, even people who are overwhelmed or grieving. She tells patients and loved ones - this is your end of life journey, what do you want it to look like.
Some of the topics covered in the book include: what does death entail - there is a process our body will go through, sometimes starting weeks or months before we die; what interventions help (pain medication, etc.), and which do not (forcing food and water); what are the most important things a caregiver needs to do for their loved one (keep them clean, safe and comfortable); how to let things go; how to ask for and get help; what hospice can do to help - and what it can't do; and advice for the dying and their caregivers.
This is a book that should live in every home. Read it now, before the time is upon you, read it when you are in the process, and read it again, for the advice on grieving.

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The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians: True Stories of the Magic of Reading by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann

The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians: True Stories of the Magic of Reading by James Patterson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 rounded to 4 stars. This was a little all over the place (rating-wise) for me. It started out strong, a 5, floundered a bit in the middle, and came back in the end. What worked for me: the diversity of stories, public libraries, academic, small independent bookshops, many Books-A-Million stories, but they all had the love of reading and books and talking to people about books, in common. Each story was just a few pages, and told of communities and how libraries and bookshops affected the lives of the people in them. It talked of creating readers by introducing them to books and characters they loved, or in some cases, saving a reader's life by helping them find the book that convinced them they weren't alone in this world. But it's a symbiotic relationship, as communities came together to fight censorship by schoolboards, help bookshops survive the pandemic, or start over after a natural disaster. What didn't work as well was when the book seemed to be repetitive in the middle.
I loved some of the anecdotes, one that sticks out is a man asking a bookseller to find several puzzles, ring them up, remove them from their boxes, and wrap them for him. He explains that he doesn't like to see the picture in advance, it keeps his mind sharp to put them together that way. Another story I enjoyed was by Judy Blume, where she talks about deciding, at the age of 78, that she no longer wanted to spend the rest of her life writing, she'd rather interact with readers more. To that end, she and her husband, George Cooper, moved to Key West and bought a small, independent bookstore called Books & Books @ The Studios of Key West, and how different that side of the business was. The flip side of this, is that I was very disappointed that there wasn't a story from Ann Patchett, who owns Parnassus Books, in Nashville. Finally, there were two stories about librarians who provide services to incarcerated people. Diego Sandoval Hernandez works at the Brooklyn Public Library and is in charge of Jail and Prison Services, including those for the inmates at Rikers. They do some wonderful things, including helping incarcerated parents connect with their children by reading and recording stories for them. This reminded me of the fiction book, How to Read a Book that I recently enjoyed reading.

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The Ride of Her Life by Elizabeth Letts

The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America by Elizabeth Letts
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.0/5.0 - My first thought about this book is that I wish my father-in-law was still alive because I think he (and my dad) would both have enjoyed this very much. I wish I could ask them whether they remember hearing about the journey that Annie Wilkins took across America, from Maine to California, in the mid-1950s. They both grew up around horses, and were young men at the time. I think they would have been fascinated by this, as many of the people of America were, at the time.
Annie is 63, when she is given just a few years to live, after being hospitalized for what might have been thought to be TB. She remembers a dream of her mother's, to see the Pacific Ocean, and decides that she has nothing to lose (she knows she can no longer hold on to the farm in Maine, by herself), and manages to save enough money to buy a horse and sets out in November, 1954 to ride across the country with her dog, trusting that strangers will let her sleep in their barns, etc. along the way.
A newspaper gets word of the story and she becomes something of a celebrity, people in the towns she travels through often put her up for a night, or longer, and her horse(s) are always given a place in a stable. The police act as escorts through towns and offer her a place to sleep in the jail, when needed. Overall, people are very kind to her and her animals. In Tennessee, a town gives her a second horse, a Tennessee Walker, to help her along the way.
This was an interesting book, in a simpler time, and I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys animals, travel or history.

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The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan

The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a wonderful book. Covering a little over 5 years (from Sept. 2017 - Dec. 2022), author Amy Tan shares a selection from nine natural journals with sketches, reminiscences and observations gathered during hundreds of hours studying the birds in her backyard. In the beginning, she could only identify three birds, but over time and through keen observation, she eventually identified over sixty-three species.
From the beautiful pencil sketches to full color drawings, each offering is a gift and a labor of love. She wrote of the effects of various wildfires on the local ecosystem, birds that normally wouldn't appear in her area were driven south by the smoke, as well as of the comfort of watching the birds go about their normal lives during COVID, when the world seemed turned upside down for many humans.
I highly recommend this book!

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