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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