Foreign Correspondence by Geraldine Brooks

Foreign Correspondence: A Pen Pal's Journey from Down Under to All Over by Geraldine Brooks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have read all the novels Geraldine Brooks has written, enjoyed them all, and have wanted to read this memoir for years. It isn't available in many public libraries, but I was able to get it From UT Knoxville, through interlibrary loan.
I didn't realize that before Brooks wrote novels, she was a foreign correspondent, who grew up in Australia. Her introduction to the larger world was developed through a series of pen friends that she regularly corresponded with from adolescence through young adulthood. It was when she came home to bury her father, as an adult, that she found the many letters from these friends, who came from America, France, Israel, and one from Australia. She decides that she will see what has happened to these people 23 years later. The second half of the book sees her visiting them, or in the case of her favorite friend, who died in her early twenties, her mother. She will continue that relationship for the rest of their lives.
I really enjoyed reading this memoir and seeing clues to some of the themes in her other books.

It was my first childish inkling of the way writing can reveal us to ourselves. It was also my introduction to the notion that Australians have lives that were worth writing about. p. 32

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Violeta by Isabel Allende (a reread 3 years later)

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.

Update 1/24/25 - I didn't realize this was a reread, until I had checked it out. I started reading it at the library, and by the end of the day had devoured it. It was really interesting, having read the earlier book The Soul of a Woman, which was a memoir, and seeing the parallels between her life and the main character's life. Well worth the reread.

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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 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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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 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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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 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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.0/5.0 - This book grabbed and held my attention. It had so many components that ticked boxes, a book about librarians and a library, a mystery, literary references, an alternate universe. While I enjoyed this book very much, I couldn't rate it a 5 star because it did not compel me to run out and read the rest of the series.

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Killer Research by Jenn McKinlay

Killer Research by Jenn McKinlay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 rounded to 4 stars - Of the cozy mystery series that I read, this is probably my favorite one. Of course, I appreciate the library setting, the strong woman characters - especially library director, Lindsay Norris-Sullivan, the recipes and book club questions, as well as a themed craft that the author provides in each book. This offering was the best one yet, because in this one, Lindsay's new husband, Sully is her partner in solving crime, and he is much more likeable than the Robbie character was, in that role. Also a plus, is the character development for Ms. Cole, who began the series as a sour-pussed, spinster librarian, and comes into her own as a person with an interesting life's story and a good deal to offer.
Book 311 of 2021

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The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec

The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.0/5.0 - Very enjoyable story, taken from Norse mythology, that gives life to Angrboda, known only as Loki's wife and the mother of his three children. I read Neil Gaiman's book, Norse Mythology, earlier this year which provided great background for this. In fact, this feels like a companion piece, in that it enlarges individual parts of his story. It explains how Loki and Angrboda met, fell in love, the birth of their children and their parts in the end of the world.
Highly recommend.

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