Eat A Peach by David Chang

Eat a Peach by David Chang
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow, I'm not even sure how to describe this book and my feelings about it. I went into it without knowing much about the author, except that he was a celebrity chef. Much of the book was about his struggles, with mental health- depression, bipolar, thoughts of suicide, as well as his struggles to create food that people would want to eat. By his own admission, he was an a$$hole for many years, fed by his mental health issues and his desire to get ahead. Meeting his wife when he was almost 30 was a big turning point for him, as well as having a child, and the #MeToo movement.
This passage really resonated with me.

This all raises the question of whether depression is something you can control by simply sucking it up. My answer is no, I don't think you can overcome it with willpower, but I do believe that dealing with depression is a choice that needs to be made. You have to choose to stand up every day and keep going.

.

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Wayward Girls by Susan Wiggs

Wayward Girls by Susan Wiggs
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5.0 stars - Definitely one of my favorite books this year. Susan Wiggs is one of my favorite authors, and this book resonated with me in so many ways. The setting was western NY, and the time frame mirrored my own, growing up in the sixties and seventies. The main arc of the story, which centered around abuse in Catholic institutions, babies stolen from teenage mothers, and other atrocities were things I never had experience with (thank God), but totally believe happened. The story told of a group of teenage girls who were sent to a Catholic reform school in Buffalo, NY for various reasons, to keep one safe from a predatory stepfather, another one because her academic parents were being held against their will in China, a third to try to reform her gayness away and a fourth, because she was grabbed during a race riot, who banded together inside for survival, but lost touch for years after escaping. I became invested in the characters, and appreciated both the past and present timelines.
But it was the little things that really sealed the deal for me, the mention of Loblaws giving free tickets to Crystal Beach for good grades, eating beef on weck, and girl who went on to become a librarian from Brockport.
Whether you read it for the main story line, or because you can relate to the local references, it is definitely a book worth reading.

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The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

4.5 stars - Sometimes the stars align and you find a book that is just right at the right time. This book, about three orphaned witches taken in by a motley crew that includes an older gay couple who've been together for 50 years, a middle aged woman, who acts as household manager, and a thirty-ish male librarian with trust issues. They decide they need a witchy tutor for the girls to help them accept themselves and master their talents, and Mika Moon fits the bill. Mika herself grew up without a family, as female witches die young if they give birth. Primrose, the self-appointed leader of the English witch group, took her in and used a series of nanny/tutors to raise her, while being mostly absent. One of Primrose's steadfast rules is that witches need to be solitary, for the protection of all. Mika has been alone, lonely and found it hard to trust others for much of her life. But she finds herself with strong feelings for the girls and their caretakers, much to her chagrin.
This book is about finding ourselves, and our places in the world, and taking risks, and it really spoke to me.

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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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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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The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5.0/5.0 - This debut novel takes place in the Wembley section of London, and is one of my favorite genres - books about books. The reading list contains eight books, ranging from Pride and Prejudice to Life of Pi, with a note - in case you could use this. There are a number of these found in the neighborhood, a few in the library, one in temple, and another on the ground. Who has created the list remains a mystery until the end. But the fact is that each person who finds a list has a strong connection to the same person. A reader herself, this person is loving and giving, and knows people will need something to help them get on with their lives.
These people eventually come together in different ways, but always through the magic of books, and share their thoughts, their weaknesses, and their strengths. The library plays an important role in their lives before the book concludes, even though it may not have before.
This is one of the few books that I could read again and again!
Book 216 of 2021

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January reading wrap up

January wrapup
Morning Glory 4 stars (A book about do-overs or fresh starts)
Murder in the Locked Library 4 stars (AtY: A book with a building in the title)
The Silence 2 stars (AtY: A short book (<210 pages by a new-to-you author)
A Woman is No Man 5 stars (PS and AtY: Muslim author or character)
Tender at the Bone 4 stars (A book set in multiple countries)
Return to Virgin River 3.5 stars (AtY: A book by an author whose career spanned more than 21 years)
Murder in the Mystery Suite 4 stars (AtY: A book with a female villain or criminal)
Magic Lessons 3.5 stars (A book you have seen on someone's bookshelf in real life, on a Zoom call, in a TV show, etc.)
The House I Loved 1.5 stars AtY: A book set in a state, province, or country you have never visited)
Never change 3.5 stars (A book by an author who shares your zodiac sign)
Heat Wave 3 stars (A book that was published anonymously)
Murder in the Paperback Parlor 4 stars (AtY: A book that you consider comfort reading)
How to Raise an Elephant 3 stars (A book that has fewer than 1,000 reviews on Amazon or Goodreads)
First Comes Scandal 3 stars (AtY: A love story)
A Clockwork Orange 3 stars (AtY: 3 books related to "Past, Present, Future"/ PS: A genre hybrid)
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake 2 stars (AtY: Siblings as Main Characters)
Downton Abbey: The Complete Scripts, Season Three 5 stars (AtY: 3 books related to "Past, Present, Future"/ PS: A book in a different format than what you normally read (audiobooks, ebooks, graphic novels))
Death Comes as the End 4 stars (AtY: A book to celebrate The Grand Egyptian Museum)
B is for Burglar 3 stars (A book that has a heart, diamond, club, or spade on the cover)
The Midwife 3 stars (A book where the main character works at your current or dream job/AtY: 3 books related to "Past, Present, Future")
The Great Alone 4.5 stars (A book set mostly or entirely outdoors)
Hillbilly Elegy 2 stars (A book about a social justice issue)
Salvage the Bones 4 stars (A book by an author on USA Today's list of 100 Black Novelists You Should Read)
When He Was Wicked (Bridgertons #6) 3 stars (A book with a family tree)
About A Boy 3.5 stars (A DNF book from your TBR list)
To Sir Phillip, With Love (Bridgertons, #5) 3.5 stars (fluff read)
Hawai'i 4 stars (AtY & PS: Long book/longest book)
My Brilliant Life (Translation) 2 stars (AtY: A book whose cover shows more than 2 people)
It's in His Kiss 2 stars (AtY: A book with a monochromatic cover)
Call the Midwife: Shadows of the Workhouse 4 stars (AtY: A book set on an island)
To recap: 30 books/ over 10,000 pages/1 audio/11 ebooks/15 Pop Sugar prompts/18 Around the Year prompts.

Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages by Ammon Shea (from 2018)

Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages by Ammon Shea
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Why I picked this book up: It was on display at the library where I work with a group of books relating to Lexicography. I may or may not have “borrowed” this without checking it out.
What I liked about it: This delightful little book jumped off the shelf at me at work one day. Unlike the OED, which itself is almost 22,000 pages - this book is slightly over 200. There are, give or take, 26 chapters - one for each letter of the alphabet. Each chapter begins with several pages that tell us more about the author and this project and end with a sprinkling of words and definitions - most of which you probably never knew. I particularly enjoyed the intro sections to the letters “F” and “G” because I am fascinated with why people read certain books, in certain formats, and how they came to love reading in the first place. In “F” the author addresses the question “why read the print version, why not read it online?” Why indeed. And “G” describes his search for his lectory (a place for reading), and how he came to rest in the basement of a college library.
Overall impression: Loved this book, would consider owning it. Addressed my fascination with why people read in general, and why the read certain things. 4/5.00
Around the Year in 52 Books prompt: A book written in first person perspective
Popsugar prompt: A book that involves a bookstore or library


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2020 Book recap

Here are some of the best books of 2020. For more details you can view all my reviews here.
BEST CLASSIC: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
I had never read this as a child, but will probably read the rest of this 5 part series

BEST ADULT FICTION: This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
Great characters and setting, happy and sad plot, another book by one of my favorite authors

BEST YA FICTION: Kent State by Deborah Wiles
With a grandson in ROTC and the events in Rochester this summer, this book really spoke to me.

BEST NONFICTION: What You Have Heard Is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance by Carolyn Forché
This author spoke at Brockport in 1984, and I was familiar with her from the Writers Forum. It was a Tales and Talons book club choice.

BEST ON AUDIO: 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
I must have seen the movie, but had never read the book, enjoyed it a lot.

BREAKOUT READ: Book that was surprisingly good or exceeded expectations The Tuscan Child by Rhys Bowen
My favorite Rhys Bowen book so far! Enjoyed the setting and the characters.

MOST RECOMMENDED: Kent State by Deborah Wiles
I would recommend to everyone

BIGGEST PUSH: Madame Fourcade's Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France's Largest Spy Network Against Hitler by Lynne Olson
This book got me out of my comfort zone, both because of the fact that I had committed to writing a review for it, and the subject matter.

TAUGHT A LESSON: The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel
Sadly, what this taught me about myself is that I am a coward, I could never do what this person or Madame Fourcade did.

BEST BOOK CLUB PICK: Book that sparked discussion Human Touch: A Story in Real Time by Mitch Albom
The first book club choice, this book was reading in real time and made available for free on his website or through Audible.

MOST TIMELY - Book that spoke to our current culture Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
This book was written 70 years ago, how sad that it should remain so relevant today.

BEST TIME MACHINE - Historical fiction book that set the scene Rebel Queen by Michelle Moran
The story of Queen Lakshmi - India's Joan of Arc - who against all odds defied the mighty British invasion to defend her beloved kingdom.

BEST CHARACTERS - Book whose characters stuck with me Midnight at the Blackbird Café by Heather Webber
I enjoyed this book, hoping there is a sequel coming up.

BEST DRESSED - Book with the most attractive cover Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal
I'm not sure whether this actually had the most attractive cover, but I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

BEST PLACE - Book that was set in an interesting environment The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux by Samantha Verant
Set in both NYC and southern France, this was a very interesting book. Hope to read more by this author.

MOST THOUGHT-PROVOKING - Book that made me think the most A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines
Another Writers Forum author, he's most famous for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.

MOST HUMOROUS - Book that kept me laughing Don't Make Me Pull Over!: An Informal History of the Family Road Trip by Richard Ratay
Humor is not my genre, but this memoir made me nostalgic for the freedom of the road trip.

BEST SHOCK - Book that made my jaw drop in surprise The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Deeply disturbing, chilling and thought provoking. Why do we turn one against another when we should stand side by side?

BEST FEELINGS - Book that made me really emotional The Christmas Shoes by Donna VanLiere
Read on the 20th anniversary of my mother's death, this book had me crying the whole time.

BEST FLUFF - Book that broke my routine of misery and heartbreak in books The Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins
I read so many cozy mysteries, Christian fiction and love stories this year, as a way to escape and smile.

WORTH THE PAGES - Book that was long but worth it Hild by Nicola Griffith
I got this out of Lee-Whedon in 2015, decided I would never finish it before it was due, so I purchased a used copy from the Seattle Public Library. Five years later, I finally finished it!

The Last of the Moon Girls by Barbara Davis

The Last of the Moon Girls: A Novel by Barbara Davis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.0/5.0 - Elzibeth (Lizzy) Moon, a young, successful perfumer in NYC, comes from a family of wise women. Women who heal, who have gifts that others don't understand and are often ostracized for them. Lizzy's is the gift of scent, and while she appreciates her gift, she has spent her adult life running away from her legacy - Moon Girl Farm, and all the bad memories that live there. Lizzy grew up on Moon Girl Farm, raised by a loving and wise grandmother, but when she was a young adult that all changed. Two local teenage girls were found dead in the pond on the Farm, and fingers were pointed at and blame placed at her grandmother's feet. Some of the town thought the idea preposterous, Althea was a healer. But in a town named Salem Creek, you can imagine what others thought, and life became unbearable for both Lizzy and her mother, Rhanna. Both left town, Rhanna to carry on her hippie lifestyle, and Lizzy to attend college and become a successful businessperson. Fast forward eight years. Althea has died, Lizzy has inherited the farm, which she intends to sell as quickly as possible. Here is where the story actually begins with twists and turns, some of which I didn't expect.
The best part of the story for me involved Althea, the journals she left, and the gifts of the Moon women. The interaction later in the book between Lizzy and Rhanna was interesting, and spoke to the theme of "family is everything, you don't give up on family." Evvie was another interesting character, a singing beekeeper, but her storyline could have been better developed. I liked the fact that Lizzy wanted to prove her grandmother's innocence, but didn't do it in the typical female detective style. And finally, I loved the "Books of Remembrances" that each woman in the Moon line left as her legacy. I could see this being the beginning of a series, perhaps.
This book reminded me of several others that I've read recently (The Mercies and The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs) which speak to the dangers for women of being different; and Midnight at the Blackbird Café for its grandmother-granddaughter, wise gifted women, coming back home to sell the farm (or cafe) and finding true love trope.
Book 188 of 2020

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The Librarian of Boone's Hollow by Kim Vogel Sawyer

The Librarian of Boone's Hollow by Kim Vogel Sawyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 rounded to 4.0 stars -
This book was a solid 3.5 stars for me, but if I have to round, more deserving of a 4 star rating than a 3 star. The setting is a mining town in Kentucky during the Depression. The story opens in Lexington where Addie and Emmett briefly meet. Addie, a top student, has just found out that she has lost her position in the last week of her junior year, due to her family's financial straits. Emmett is about to graduate with a degree in commerce and is in the library looking for jobs in the want ads. They next meet up in Lynch, Emmett's home town, where Addie has been offered a job as a traveling librarian. It is here she meets Miss West, the library manager, who captures what I love about reading in the following quote:

"A book takes one into another person's thoughts and emotions. Books open up worlds beyond the view from one's own window. Stories can stir compassion, can inspire integrity, can show different lifestyles and problem-solving skills. Books, Addie, have the power to change people for the better." (p. 158 - Miss West to Addie)

Why would you want to read this book? I think it depends on what you're in the mood for. This book is uplifting, light reading. It is Christian Fiction, but not preachy. It is Historical Fiction, but a little light on the historical details surrounding the traveling librarian program. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek does a much better job in that respect. During this difficult year of pandemics and politics, it offers hope for the future. There are lessons to be learned about looking for the blessings in your daily life, even when they're not easily found; about treating others based on who they are inside, not listening to biases other people have about them; and about never giving up.
In short, if you're looking for a deep book with lots of historical details, this might not be for you. But if you're looking for something that will bring you peace and hope, within a historical setting, this is for you.
Book 161 of 2020.
Also reviewed on my blog: http://xbmill.blogspot.com/


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The Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins

The Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.0/5.0 - I really enjoyed this book by Karen Hawkins. It's a story of love, lost and found, and of family - those you're born in, and those you make. It's a story of hope in dark times, the strength of friendship, the wisdom of the elderly and the value of sisters. Oh, and how could I forget? The importance of books!
Book 155 of 2020

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The Inn at Rose Harbor by Debbie Macomber

The Inn at Rose Harbor by Debbie Macomber
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.0/5.0 stars - Reading a Debbie Macomber book is like a warm hug, and this one was a perfect example. Jo Marie is a young, grieving widow who buys a B & B in Cedar Cove on the Kitsap Penisula, with the proceeds of an insurance policy her husband left her. Jo is desperate for healing, and finding a way to move forward with her life, after losing her husband in Afghanistan just months after they were married. The Inn helps her, and her guests, do that. This is a story of love that doesn't die, courage to live the rest of your life, and the healing power of forgiveness.
This book satisfies several prompts:
Fall Reading Challenge: OCTOBER/1. Pumpkin Spice Everything/c. Read a book in which food plays a role in the book.
2020 A-Z Location Challenge - Letter K - Kitsap Penisula
Book 136 of 2020


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The Beekeeper's Son by Kelly Irvin

The Beekeeper's Son by Kelly Irvin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.0/5.0 - Just the book I needed to read right now. Not dark or heavy, but light and light. I enjoyed the story of a family who is grieving but needing to move ahead with their life, who travels from Tennessee to Texas, only to find the journey didn't lead where they thought it would. Still, family and love stand strong in this first book of the Amish of Bee County series.
Book 134 of 2020.

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The Charm Bracelet by Viola Shipman

The Charm Bracelet by Viola Shipman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.0/5.0 stars - Viola Shipman is fast becoming one of my favorite authors. He (yes, he) writes beautiful stories of families that provide strength, love, and faith. His Michigan settings make me want to visit there. His strong women characters give us hope in the face of adversity. And finally, his sensitive treatment and respect for the elders in his stories make me want to read more by this author.
Book 127 of 2020

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The Scent Keeper by Erica Bauermeister - A favorite from a year ago

Loved this book when I read it last summer, so I decided to add it to the blog. The Scent Keeper by Erica Bauermeister
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Emmeline is a small child when she and her father move to a deserted island in the Pacific Southwest. For ten years they live together, separate from the rest of the world, surviving on food they have foraged, and with only each other for company. Emmeline's father tells her fairy tales about Jack who can capture scents, and about a princess who is imprisoned in a white castle. After his death, she will find out these are the stories of his life, and she is left to wonder who she really is. Who are her parents? As she searches and finds answers, she begins to understand both herself and them better, and it will change how she thinks of each one. The Scent Keeper is a book that makes us realize that we never really know the people we are closest to, and that everyone's story can look different through a different set of eyes.
2019 PSC - 4. A book you think should be turned into a movie
2019 Summer Reading Challenge - August 2. Summer is too short for bad books ☀️ Read a book by a favourite author


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