Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life by Queen Noor

Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life by Queen Noor
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Having recently read Becoming by Michelle Obama may have influenced, in a small way, how I felt about this book. It was such a contrast to the other book, although there were many similarities to the women themselves.
Queen Noor, born Lisa Halaby, is a graduate of the first coed class at Princeton, and the daughter of an aviation executive. She was working in the airlines industry when she became friends with King Hussein, an avid aviator himself. They fell in love, and soon married, she becoming his 3rd wife and stepmother to his three children, and eventual mother to four more.
During their twenty year marriage, she developed many humanitarian programs to better the life of women and worked side by side with her husband to promote peace in the middle east. She devoted her life to being a helpmate to the king, while still having her own identity.
I particularly enjoyed seeing a different perspective of the Arab-Israeli conflict, knowing that each story has multiple sides. Queen Noor seems like a generous, gracious woman, who didn't come across as whiny at all, and served her country and the world for many years.

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Warmest holiday greetings, friends

Welcome to the 2022 Myers holiday news letter. I hope your year was wonderful and filled with happy memories, as ours was. It was a busy, productive year the highlights of which include: - Conversion of our garage to a great room/office, where we spent much of our waking hours. It's easily my favorite part of the house. - My sister and brother-in-law moving to Crossville from Gatlinburg in June. Having Gail nearby to do things with has brightened my life! - Visits from the Cayeas, including the grandsons, and Corey and Jess several times. We reciprocated, and went to NY for Arian's graduation, and to Indy several times, including once to see Alton Brown. - Some small trips to Chattanooga for our anniversary, Berea,KY for a crafting weekend, and Athens,TN for a beekeeping conference. - Hobbies such as geocaching, gardening, and genealogy have also kept one or more of us busy this year. The garden did well (squash, anyone?), and the family tree keeps growing. Send me your family stories! - Finally, a couple of big trips created some great memories for us. We went to New Orleans in the spring with John's aunt and uncle (Sharon and Chuck). We've wanted to go back there since 2005, when we first went, a few months before Katrina. And, we recently returned from a trip to Hawai'i to see Matt, Niah, and little Waffles, who is so much bigger than when we saw her a few years ago. Hawai'i was beautiful, and visiting with family was wonderful. Tourist-wise, we made it to Pearl Harbor (twice) this trip, which was such a moving experience. What was the best part of 2022 for you? Please leave a memory or two in the comments section below. In the meantime, enjoy a few photos of the year.

The Storm Sister by Lucinda Riley

The Storm Sister by Lucinda Riley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is told from the perspective of Ally, the second of six (known) sisters based on the Seven Sisters constellation. Ally is a gifted sailor and musician, and is out on the water with her captain/lover when she finds out that Pa Salt (her adopted father) has died, perhaps mysteriously. At the funeral, she and her sisters are given clues that will lead them to their family origin, and feeling at a loss, and unable to bring herself to sail in an upcoming race, Ally decides to follow the clues to Norway, where her story interweaves with a singer from a hundred years ago, Anna Landvik. The book is cleverly interwoven from that point, alternating from Anna's life to Ally's. I loved reading Anna's story, having a Norwegian heritage myself, it helped me to imagine what life might have been like for some of my ancestors. Excellent, though long, book that encourages me to continue reading the series.

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Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Such a powerful book, the ending gave me chills. Jojo and his toddler sister, Kayla, live with their grandparents, Mam and Pop, and the occasional presence of their drug-addicted mother, Leonie, on a farm on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Their father, a white man named Michael, is just being released from Parchman prison, a place that is central to the story. Parchman is a place of evil, where men and women are treated less well than animals, burned alive for escaping or set on by dogs to be torn apart. Pop did a stint there as a young man, and the ghosts follow him still.
This book won many awards, most noticably: National Book Award for Fiction (2017), Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Fiction (2018), PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction Nominee (2018), Los Angeles Times Book Prize Nominee for Fiction (2017), Dayton Literary Peace Prize Nominee for Fiction (2018), National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee for Fiction (2017), Hurston/Wright Legacy Award Nominee for Fiction (2018), Women's Prize for Fiction Nominee (2018), Andrew Carnegie Medal Nominee for Fiction (2018), Kirkus Prize Nominee for Fiction (2017), and several others. It is easy to see why, even if it isn't an easy book to read.


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Genealogy 101: Never Assume Murder by Carol Grieshop

Genealogy 101: Never Assume Murder by Carol Grieshop
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 rounded to 4 stars - I loved the subject matter - a genealogist who walks you through the research process while telling a good tale. Even more, I loved the fact that it was based in nearby Rugby, TN, a Victorian utopian village about an hour north of my home. We visited last year and learned some of the history of the village, and the book does a wonderful job of bringing it to life.
This was obviously the author's debut novel, and self-published. There were a few errors that a good editor would have caught (punctuation, one run-on sentence), and a little too much food/clothing descriptions, but overall a nice book that I enjoyed reading and shared with my sister afterwards.

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May We Forever Stand: A History of the Black National Anthem by Imani Perry

May We Forever Stand: A History of the Black National Anthem by Imani Perry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I didn't know about this song until recently. How could that be? This book, written by Imani Perry, a professor of African American studies at Princeton traces the history of the song, from its creation by two brothers in the early 20th century through its adoption by the Black community, NAACP, its drop in popularity during the 1970s and its current rise in prominence since the George Floyd protests. It is a book rich in history and culture, and befitting its academic origin, well documented.
Highly recommended.

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The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman

The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

All the beauty and pain and wonderful writing I've come to expect from my favorite author. No one quite tells the Jewish experience likes Alice Hoffman, or makes you weep with her characters, or understand the strength of women and the love of mothers for their child like she does. This story takes place during World War II and touches on the resistance, the horrors of the Holocaust, and the goodness of people in the midst of it all. I could read this again and again, and see something new each time.

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Montana 1948 by Larry Watson

Montana 1948 by Larry Watson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A small book, tightly written, and wonderfully told, Montana 1948 is a coming of age story, set in a small Montana town in 1948. The Haydens are town aristocracy, the grandfather, the retired sheriff, his two sons, the town doctor and current sheriff. It is told from the perspective of twelve year old David Hayden, as he remembers it forty years later. It is the day he stopped being a child and lost his innocence, when he realized that adults were not infallible, and those he loved could do monstrous things. As he relates the story to his wife, he discovers things about that time he had realized before, looking now through the lens of adulthood, not as a young boy.
I can't say enough good things about this novel, it's succinct, thought provoking, and beautifully written. Highly recommended.

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The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri

The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a powerful book, one that I would think about for days, and possibly reread in the future. Set against the backdrop of the civil war that broke out in Syria in 2011, it is the heartbreaking story of Nuri, a beekeeper, and his artist wife, Afra, who must flee their country and find a way to make a new life for themselves elsewhere, while dealing with severe PTSD and blindness after losing the small son, Sami.
I listened to the audio version of this, which had the advantage of hearing the beautiful language in which the story was told, but the disadvantage of not seeing the skips in the timeline, which was more obvious (I'm told) in a print edition.
This raised my awareness of a situation of which I was only vaguely aware of, and although it was hard to read of the pain the characters faced, I am glad to have read it.

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Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey

Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

4.5 rounded to 5 stars - A wonderful classic by author and essayist Edward Abbey, who spent several years as a park ranger, and who deeply loved the American southwest wilderness and advocated for keeping it that way. Although he occasionally worked for the government, he was an anarchist who was on the government watch list for years. When he died, he requested a "green burial" with his body put in an old sleeping bag and quietly buried in an undisclosed location.
I did a hybrid read of this book, listening to much of it, but also reading along the way. Both methods had things to recommend them. The narrator was excellent, but so were the line drawings in the physical book. The language, descriptive detail and interesting anecdotes makes this a book I would be happy to own, and read aloud on a cold winter night.

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The Light Over London by Julia Kelly

The Light Over London by Julia Kelly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Finally, after a run of just so-so books, I've found one that I really enjoyed. The Light Over London is a dual timeline book, both the story of Louise Keene during the second world war, and the contemporary story of Cara Hargraves. Cara, who works for an antique dealer finds an old diary in a piece of furniture from an estate. She is given permission to keep it, and still reeling from the recent loss of her parents, becomes obsessed with the idea of finding the owner or her family.
Cara's story parallels Louise, in that they are both finding their way in the world, learning to stand independently and make a difference.
My parents were married during the war, and that is part of what interests me so much with this era of historical fiction. I look forward to reading more by this author.

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The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There was so much to love about this book. The language is beautiful, there are many memorable passages that especially speak to people who love books. The way that Daniel's life parallels Julian's, the gothic elements, the mystery, and the setting all add to the way it just draws the reader completely into the book.
I alternately read and listened to the book, and both experiences were great. Highly recommend.

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A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny

A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Roger Zelazny is one of my favorite authors, and this book did not disappoint! It takes place in Victorian England during the special month of October when the full moon coincides with Halloween. A very special event takes place when this happens (no spoilers).
Part of the fun in reading this was in figuring out what all the references were, everything from Shakespeare to Lovecraft, Conan Doyle to grade B movies. I might have to purchase a copy and read it each October from now on.
https://lovecraftzine.com/magazine/is...

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The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim Defede

The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim DeFede
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The inspiring story of a small town (pop. 10,000) which was the site of a little used international airport, who hosted over 6,000 passengers and crew when the terrorist attacks on 9/11 caused the United States to shut down their airspace for several days. The airport used to be an important refueling point for overseas flights before newer, more efficient jets all but eliminated the need for it. But it maintained the capacity, both in infrastructure and aviation personnel to allow 38 jets coming from Europe, in the air at the time of the attacks, to safely land until cleared to move on.
The people of Gander immediately opened their doors to those stranded, providing them with meals, bedding, compassion, and even the shirts off their backs, as the passengers were forbidden to access their checked luggage during their almost week long stay. Pharmacists worked tirelessly to obtain and fill new prescriptions for those who needed medication, churches and schools and civic organizations opened their doors to provide places for them to sleep, ways for them to contact loved ones, and to give them a sense of safety in a world gone crazy. The book shared so many examples and stories, it was an inspirational read.

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The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This joins the growing collection of women wartime heroes that I've been reading over the past few years, including The Book of Lost Names, The Nightingale and Madame Fourcade's Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France's Largest Spy Network Against Hitler, to name a few. This book tells the story of Eve, a member of the Alice Network of women spies during World War I, who contributed valuable information on enemy movements and plans, while posing as an unassuming innocent. I enjoyed this book, the dual timelines of WWI and post WWII worked well, the characters were well researched and believable.

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Newspaper, Pennies, Cardboard, and Eggs--For Growing a Better Garden: More than 400 New, Fun, and Ingenious Ideas to Keep Your Garden Growing Great All Season Long by Roger Yepsen

Newspaper, Pennies, Cardboard, and Eggs--For Growing a Better Garden: More than 400 New, Fun, and Ingenious Ideas to Keep Your Garden Growing Great All Season Long by Roger Yepsen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A summer doesn't go by without me reading a new gardening book. This one, from Rodale Press, gave me a dozen new ideas to try, from making a spray from tansy or garlic scapes to use on cabbage worms, to instructions on how to smoke some of my peppers for chipoltes, and using sweet woodruff at the base of our trees (to cut down on weeds) to reusing the winter protection framework for summer bean trellising. Time to go try out some of those new ideas!

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The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5/5.0 - Loved this book that takes place in the NYPL, and a tiny town in upstate NY. A group of cartographic students meet their freshman year at the UW, form a tiny friendship that lasts throughout their academic career, and spend the summer after their PhDs in a small town in the Catskills, after which their lives are never the same. Highly recommend!

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My Name Is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira

My Name Is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.0/5.0 - Mary Sutter is a midwife who lives in Albany, NY when the Civil War begins. She desperately wants to learn to be a doctor/surgeon, but can find no one to teach her, nor be admitted to a medical school. When her brother and brother-in-law go off to fight, she decides to follow, hoping to join the nursing corps headed up by Dorothea Dix. Though rejected by Miss Dix, she travels from hospital to hospital until she finds one who will take her. She develops quite a reputation for her skill and hard work. I enjoyed this book a lot, it was well researched and accurately portrayed the advances made in medicine as a result of the Civil War.

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The Red Rose Girls: An Uncommon Story of Art and Love by Alice A. Carter

The Red Rose Girls: An Uncommon Story of Art and Love by Alice A. Carter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5.0/5.0 - Obtained through the generous ILL from UT Knoxville, this biographical volume of three early 20th century female artists and illustrators was fascinating. Jessie Wilcox Smith and Elizabeth Shippen Green had an outstanding career providing illustrations for magazines such as Ladies Home Journal and Good Housekeeping, and for books such as a Child's Garden of Verses and Longfellow's Evangeline. Oakley was a renown muralist with work in Ohio and Pennsylvania state buildings. The three women, along with a non-artist friend named Henrietta Cousins lived together for many years, supporting each other and furthering their works. The name of the book comes from a home the four women shared, called the Red Rose Inn. The book also includes wonderful examples of their work.

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The Saints of Swallow Hill by Donna Everhart

The Saints of Swallow Hill by Donna Everhart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.0/5.0 - Coincidentally, I read this book on the heels of Their Eyes Were Watching God, which also has a turpentine camp during the depression as one of its settings. The turpentine industry was essential to the navy to provide solvent that kept wooden ships watertight. Prior to reading these two books, I was totally unfamiliar with this process. It involved slashing pine trees to obtain their resin, which was shipped off for processing. The work was hard, hot, and the living conditions were poor. The camps were operated on a peonage system, meaning workers were paid in scrip, and perpetually in debt to the company store.
This is the background for the story of Del, Rae and Cornelia. Del comes to the camp after nearly dying in a deliberate corn silo "accident" staged by his employer because he has seduced his wife. Rae comes after her husband dies, and Cornelia is married to the cruel, store owner, Otis. Through a series of circumstances, they help each other survive and escape Swallow Hill.
The author does a good job in bringing both the setting and the characters to life, and I felt like I learned something from the book.

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Little Souls by Sandra Dallas

Little Souls by Sandra Dallas
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5/5.0 - Sandra Dallas is one of my favorite authors, and while this book is good, it isn't my favorite that she has written. I was drawn to the book by both the time period and the location (Denver in 1918, during the Spanish flu) because of a very personal connection to the setting. My grandmother, who was 18 and lived in Salmon, Idaho at the time traveled to Colorado to care for a family (who had moved there from Idaho) whose mother had the flu. It was on the train back to Idaho that she met my grandfather, who had just returned from the war. I loved reading about the setting, and the two sisters who cared so much for each other. I also enjoyed the Easter eggs, where the author mentioned to a place or an incident that took place in another book. Here is one example:

We'd wandered around the town looking at the quaint houses, one of them a mansion with a tennis court that had gone to seed. p. 189

This refers to The Bride's House.
Where the book performed less well for me was in believability. There were too many things happening (view spoiler)[ kidnapping, fiancés dying, the influenza epidemic, several rapes (off page), incest, bootlegging, adoption, etc. (hide spoiler)].
Overall, the good outweighed the bad, and it was an enjoyable book.

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The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a collection of essays, written by one of my daughter-in-law's favorite authors (and through whom I became familiar with him). It is biographical, filled with hope and despair, tackling both heavy topics such as depression, death, and plague and hopeful subjects such as love, family, children and carrying on. He speaks often and lovingly of his adopted city, Indianapolis; and of his struggle during Covid.
The book is a series of reviews, everything from Canada Geese (2 stars - I agree!) to Piggly Wiggly (2.5 stars), Icelandic hot dogs (5 stars) to the plague (1 star), with many more things in between. This is definitely a book for people who appreciate his work already, it shares many insights. I think the Hoosiers among us will get a kick out of it, too.

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So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5./5.0 - This is an important, difficult, uncomfortable book, that if we are able to be honest with ourselves, makes us question so many things we once took for granted. A few key takeaways: racism isn't how an individual treats another (although it's that, too), it's systemic. It's how we have treated others that we see as different than us, for hundreds of years. It's the opportunities that are different, economic situations, and things we don't see because we are blind to them. Another - check your privilege. I never knew what that meant. Basically, look at all the ways your life is different from someone else's that has nothing to do with merit. Things like being raised in an intact family with two parents who were employed, being treated with respect in my everyday life, not being afraid when I see a police car. I could offer many more examples of ways in which this book opened my eyes, but really, just read it for yourself.

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Violeta by Isabel Allende

Violeta by Isabel Allende
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 rounded to 4.0 stars - This is the first book that I have read by Isabel Allende, it jumped out at me from a New Book shelf at the library. The storyline is epic, covering a full century, but the author does it in just over 300 pages. While this is a very reasonable length for a book, the premise is that this is basically a letter that she is writing (albeit on her computer) from her deathbed to her beloved grandson.
Violeta is born during the 1920s flu pandemic and dies 100 years later during the COViD pandemic. In between she lives an interesting life filled with lovers, revolutions, family, and fortune. From Depression to depression, wealth to poverty, tiny villages to world travel, feminism, Cold War, and the war on drugs, this book encompasses it all in a way that was interesting, but not overwhelming.

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A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There by Aldo Leopold

A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There by Aldo Leopold
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.0/5.0 - I received this book through ILL from the Fisher Public Library in Athens, TN. I mention this because without Interlibrary Loan, it is unlikely I would have gotten to read this book published in 1949, and I enjoyed it very much. The first part of the book describes the flora and fauna over the course of a year around the author's Wisconsin farm, and there were many species I had to look up. Then there is a section written over 40 years where the author traveled around North America. The final section is philosophical, talking about modern life (in the 1940s), and the ethics around the use of land and conservation. He was a professor at the University of Wisconsin, and an important figure in conservation and wildlife management. He died shortly before this book was published, and "The Aldo Leopold Foundation of Baraboo, Wisconsin, was founded in 1982 by Aldo and Estella Leopold's five children as a 501(c)3 not-for-profit conservation organization whose mission is "to foster the land ethic through the legacy of Aldo Leopold."[34] The Aldo Leopold Foundation owns and manages the original Aldo Leopold Shack and Farm and 300 surrounding acres, in addition to several other parcels." Wikipedia

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When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman

When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

4.5/5.0 - I have read several books about the later Plantagenets, this is the first time that I have read about the origins of that line. This is a well researched book, in which the author shares in great detail the 19 years in English history, known as the Anarchy. It was a time of civil war in England, where two monarchs, Stephen and Maude, fought for the right to be recognized as king (or queen). Stephen, grandson of William the Conqueror, and nephew to the king, took the throne when the king died unexpectedly. He had named his daughter, Maude, as his heir.
Although a very long book, the author did a good job of keeping my interest. Perhaps in the future I will tackle further volumes in this saga.

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Groundbreaking Food Gardens: 73 Plans That Will Change the Way You Grow Your Garden by Niki Jabbour

Groundbreaking Food Gardens: 73 Plans That Will Change the Way You Grow Your Garden by Niki Jabbour
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5.0/5.0 - This book was so good, I ended up purchasing a copy for my home library. It's filled with ideas, details, layouts, and suggestions for so many different garden possibilities that you're bound to find one (or more) to fit your needs! From container to truck gardens, victory to specialized gardens - such as a Chicago hot-dog garden, children's garden, beekeepers, herbalist, garlic and pizza aficionados, and so many more are here for the picking. A useful book for any home gardener.

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All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5.0/5.0 - At 531 pages, this is a much longer book than I usually like to read, but it doesn't seem as long because the chapters are so short. It is the story of two young people, on different sides of the war, one, Marie-Laure, blind but brave, the other Werner, brilliant, but questioning to himself everything about the war. Marie's father is a locksmith for the Natural Museum, and is entrusted with a gem, when the museum is forced to close. They travel from Paris to stay with his uncle, Etienne. Werner understand radios and how to fix them, and spends the war as part of a team that hunts down transmitters from the other side. In the end, they meet, and three times Werner save Marie. I found the ending interesting where different things (letters, treasures, etc.) make their ways home to the survivors.

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The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

4.5/5.0 - In the 1700s in Villon, France a young bride-to-be wants a bigger life than what waits ahead, and makes a deal with the devil to life as long as she likes. For 300 years, she travels the world, scrambling to find food, shelter, companionship, but learning new tricks to survive all the time. She enjoys the fine arts, fine food, and is a muse for artists through the age. However, no one remembers her, not her name or her face, once she is out of sight. Until, that is, she meets Henry, in NYC in 2014. She tries to steal a book from the bookstore where he works, and he chases her out, stopping her. Soon they fall in love, give meaning to the other person, all the while keeping a secret.
The story is told in a dual timeline, and the darkness/devil is a major character, showing up on anniversaries, and trying to convince Addie to surrender. Until she does...Loved the ending, did you?

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The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5.0/5.0 - Another beautiful book by this young Latinx author. My daughter-in-law loaned this to me a few months ago, and I just now picked it up. I couldn't put it down, the prose poetry, the story, the emotions so beautiful that my life felt a little bigger when I was done.

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EveryDayCook by Alton Brown

EveryDayCook by Alton Brown
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.0/5.0 - I like Alton Brown, we've been watching him (although not lately) for more than 20 years. In fact, I actually bought my husband his first book, I'm Just Here for the Food: Food + Heat = Cooking. And, we're going to see his show this weekend. But this one was really hard for me to rate. I settled on a 3 because although the writing and humor is a 4, there were very few recipes I would actually try (maybe the mushroom stroganoff, gf peanut cookies, and bourbon bread pudding), but these aren't enough to justify spending the bucks to buy the book which too often calls for ingredients we never use, or gadgets that we don't need.

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Find Your People: Building Deep Community in a Lonely World by Jennie Allen

Find Your People: Building Deep Community in a Lonely World by Jennie Allen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.0/5.0 - I was immediately drawn in by the title, my biggest concern about moving to a new state when I retired 3 years ago was leaving my community. Building a new one has been the single biggest challenge, exacerbated by the societal disruption of COVID. The author talks about the three layers of people we have - acquaintances, people you may know through social groups, social media or even work; a smaller, closer group she calls your village, and within that your 2-5 best friends, who you can be completely honest with, and share even uncomfortable things. So many things rang true to me, such as how difficult it is to open up and be vulnerable, I am more a listener than a sharer, people rarely know when I am hurting. Also, how we aren't look for our friends (or spouse) to solve our problems, but to help us come up with a solution ourselves, by asking questions or sharing resources. She suggests ways to develop this community by identifying people in different areas of your life, neighborhood, church, work, children's activities, who you would like to get to know better, and then taking that small step (inviting them out for coffee, running errands together, etc. Lots of practical suggestions as many of us try to find a new normal in this post-COVID world.

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The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 rounded to 4 stars - Interesting tale of Belle da Costa Greene aka Belle Marion Greener who helped build and curate the collections of JP Morgan's private library from 1905-1948. She traveled the world acquiring treasures, and after JP's death in 1913, convinced his son and heir, Jack, to open the library to the public, to honor his father. She did this while hiding her heritage as a black woman, knowing that none of the doors would be open to her, otherwise.


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The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy

The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in 1973, this memoir recounts Pat Conroy's year of teaching poor, isolated children on Yamacraw Island. Out of a class of 18 5th-8th graders, none knew the name of their country, only a handful knew the alphabet or could count to ten. Conroy throws the textbook away, and listens and talks to the children, bringing in speakers, films, and records to introduce them to the larger world. He fights racism and ignorance as he tries to make a difference in this segregated school of the late 1960s. In many ways this reminds me of To Sir, With Love.

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Board Stiff by Elaine Viets

Board Stiff by Elaine Viets
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.0/5.0 - This got better as it went on. Since it was book 12, but the first book of the series that I had read, it took a bit for me to get my bearings. The premise was that Helen had left her high paying job in the corporate world, divorced her no good husband, and been traveling around working at various dead-end jobs. In the meantime, she met her new husband, Phil, and they formed a PI agency, now in Florida. She and Phil have a falling out halfway through the book, much like Melanie and Jack in The Attic on Queen Street, which I just finished. But in the end, they bring home the case, the bacon, and the love. One thing that I particularly liked about the book is the epilogue, where they summarize what happened to each of the characters. All in all, a pretty good little book, but I'm not sure I'm inspired enough to read the rest of the series.
Book 37 of 2022

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Flying Angels by Danielle Steel

Flying Angels by Danielle Steel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.0/5.0 - This is one of my favorite Danielle Steel books. The time period is World War II, and the story centers around a diverse group of women, who have chosen to become nurses and volunteer for the dangerous job of flight nurses. The back stories on the nurses are interesting, as is their friendships and courage. My own parents would have been contemporary to the story, my father was in the navy when he met and married my mother. I think reading it through this lens added to my enjoyment.

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Miss Cecily's Recipes for Exceptional Ladies by Vicky Zimmerman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.0/5.0 - This book could easily been or a 4 or higher rated book for me, if it was shorter, spent less time on the Nick/Kate relationship or actually included some of the wonderful recipes! It started and ended strong, but dragged in the middle. The evolving relationship between Kate and Cecily was interesting, Cecily was the more interesting character.
Apparently, the Cecily character was based on the author's eponymous grandmother, who actually wrote two of the books mentioned, "Thought for Food" and "Tell Me Again." I think I'll look them up.

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Seasonal Work: Stories by Laura Lippman

Seasonal Work: Stories by Laura Lippman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5.0/5.0 - I quite enjoyed this book, in fact I could see myself reading it again sometime. As a rule, I don't enjoy nor read short stories, so this was a pleasant surprise. Most of the stories in this collection were written between 2007-2019, with the last one, Just one more, a COViD-related story, written to finish out the book.
The first story introduces us to Tess Monaghan, Lippman's famous detective, and the second to her mother. I loved all the cultural references in this book, from GoodReads, to Columbo, to so many books that I have read. Oh, and The Book Thing, in Baltimore!
Anyway, it was a fun collection and one that I could imagine owning.

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Julie and Romeo by Jeanne Ray

Julie and Romeo by Jeanne Ray
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.0/5.0 - I loved this book. I love the fact that this Tennessee author did not start writing until she was 60 and that she writes about that age group (to which I may or may not be part) as people who still have life to live. The title may give away the fact that this is a riff on Romeo and Juliet, but a humorous one. There is a sequel to this that I might read sometime, if the mood strikes me.
I first read this author in 2019, after coming across a letter from a friend written in 2004, recommending Step-Ball-Change.

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Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley

Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley


5.0/5.0 - My first 5 star book of 2022. I loved the main character, Daunis, a college freshman, who is close to her family and her tribe, although not an enrolled member. She gets caught up in a drug investigation when her beloved uncle dies of an overdose, and then several of her friends do, as well. She is a brilliant, strong Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman) who wants to help protect her community, but doesn't know who to trust. The book is realistic, believable, and unsettling. The author, an Ojibwe woman herself, does a wonderful job describing and honoring the culture.
I read that this has been optioned for a Netflix series, I will watch for it.

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The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.0/5.0 - This is hard to review without giving away the plot, which has so many twists and turns and leaves you questioning what you would do for love, and how much you really know anyone. Let's just say that I enjoyed this book, and especially enjoyed the author's notes that she shares on the GR page. I understand she is working on a sequel, and depending on how soon she finishes it (this book ten years to write), I will probably read that one, too.

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Merry and Bright by Debbie Macomber

Merry and Bright by Debbie Macomber
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 rounded to 4.0 stars - Reminiscent of Twelve Days of Christmas that I read last year, this short book takes place during the holiday season. Merry is a temp working long hours for a grumpy boss. But she is a sweet girl who doesn't complain, and who loves her family. At 24, her mother thinks she should be doing more than working, so she and Merry's younger brother set her up on a dating site. There she meets a man that she really likes online, and he, her. They talk for weeks before setting up a meeting. Read the book, telling more would be a spoiler.
I needed this quick, easy romance now. The book isn't great literature, it was just the right book at the right time. And sometimes, that's what counts.

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The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street by Karen White

The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street by Karen White
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.0/5.0 - I was very conflicted about this book. On the one hand, I love books about old houses, mysteries, southern living. On the other hand, it didn't feel very resolved. Perhaps it was having read books one and two of the series more than ten years ago, and not having read the remaining books that precede this one, that left me confused about the back story. Some series are good at having individual books stand alone, this one is not. It's like episodic tv, the ending sets you up for the next episode and if you don't watch it, you're left wondering. I'm debating whether it would be worth my time to go back and read the series from the beginning, or whether to just let this one go. If you have an opinion, please comment below.

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A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean

A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.0/5.0 - This is a hard book for me to review. It's a story about a Scottish Presbyterian minister, and his two sons, and fly fishing. It is literary fiction, a tough genre for me, but the prose was so beautiful. Fathers and sons, siblings, what do you do for love? How do you help people when they might not need or want your help? So much to think about and ponder in this little book.

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