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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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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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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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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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 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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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 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 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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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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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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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 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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Seeing Ghosts: A Memoir by Kat Chow

Seeing Ghosts: A Memoir by Kat Chow
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 rounded to 3 stars - Memoir by a young Chinese American woman as she tries to come to terms to the early loss of her mother. The book covers approximately 15 years, and much of it is written as if she was talking to her mother. This book really didn't touch me emotionally, and considering I lost my own mother in December, that's saying something. The book was fine, it just wasn't special.


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