After two snow days this week and bitter cold temps we went to the movie theater yesterday and saw Wonka! The magic was just what we all needed. We followed it up with Aladdin’s Lebanese food and our day was made.
Christmas Presents by Lisa Unger. 3.5 stars, thriller, 260 pages, 2023. I like Lisa Unger’s thrillers and this one was quick and satisfying. Madeline was a survivor of an attack, the same attack where she watched her best friend get murdered. Harley is a true crime podcaster and is looking into the 10 year old story. Not surprisingly, secrets are uncovered and danger abounds.
Simply Sinful by Carly Phillips. 2.5 stars. romance, 272 pages, 2000. I was looking for a quick satisfying romance, but this wasn’t it. Detecctive Kane McDermitt goes undercover to prove Kayla’s business is really a front for prostitution. He requests a date (through her business), sleeps with her on said date, and is then convinced she is innocent. Of course he was.
I’ve read 7 books so far this year.
Currently Reading
Nothing has changed from last week, except I’ll probably finish one of these today.
Movies
Wonka, 2022. Magic and chocolate fun for the whole family! I’m so glad that we saw it on the big screen.
Streaming
We finished up season 2 of Reacher on Amazon. We liked it even better than the first season.
Plans for the Weekend
I’ll share this because I’ll be puzzling some today and maybe it’s an idea that appeals to you. I belong to our local Buy Nothing group on Facebook. Neighbors offer each other things they no longer want or need. For the last few years I’ve offered up a puzzle exchange for the month of January, sort of a Little Free PUZZLE Library. When the weather was good I put them on our front porch shelves and as we’re snowed in I’ve moved them to a bin at the end of our driveway. I started with 7 puzzles that I’d done this year and was willing to part with and told people to come take, trade, or give. It’s been fun seeing the puzzles that have come in. The turnover is high, even a few weeks in.
Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy is our book club read for this month. I had no interest in it during the first bit of listening, but the slow moving story grew on me as it weaved between past and present. It’s one that I’m sure will benefit from a group discussion.
Franny is desperate to find a boat to help her find the last of the Arctic terns as they make their last migration. We feel her despair even though we don’t understand it until the very end of the book when we learn of her past. Frankie was a complicated character, both heroic and prickly, and always, it seemed, utterly true to herself.
I don’t know if I liked it because I went in with such low expectations or if the underlying environmental theme drew me in, but either way I think this will stick with me for a while. And I look forward to our book club discussion.
My friend Diane (Bibliophile by the Sea) sent this to Gage a few months ago, but I’m the first one reading it! I’m curious to see how it works as a kids book because I loved the heartbreaking insight into the tragedy of loss and the beautiful art.
Artist George Butler made his way across war zones and refugee camps to document the people he found there. Looking for the many reasons people choose or are forced to move from their homes to places where they are often unwelcome. The places he visited were in Europe or the Middle East and I was captivated by how much could be gleaned from 4 pages about each place.
I wanted more detail and more stories, but as a book for older kids it worked. A great book to consider what makes a person a refuge or migrant.
This is a great book for preteens/teens who have any kind of sensory issue. It is a positive book with enough science to explain what is going on in their bodies without being overwhelming. It’s full of easy at home weekly and daily exercises to help them gain more control of their body. Will be so useful for many.
Gage has had too many antibiotics in his few years and finding an alternative is sometimes possible, but always more time consuming.
This book is about the family of antibiotics called fluoroquinolones, (Cipro, Levaquin, and others), but I found it’s usefulness beyond that. Author Jay S. Cohen, MD did a good job in laying out the many supplements that are helpful not only for people injured by these antibiotics, but also for those just trying to heal from other toxicity.
*there are times when antibiotics are the only answer, yes.*
❤️ The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage. I always like sharing these kinds of stories with Gage so I can see his complete shock that anyone would think it’s okay to tell people who they can and can’t marry. We ARE making progress. ❤️
Yikes! It’s the 18th and I haven’t posted any of my book a day reads this month! So, forgive me for this catch up post with lots of random books 🙂 I’m limping along with lots of kids books, but I will make it. What are you reading to finish up the year? For me it’s the shorter the better right now!
This story takes place on a road trip gone awry. Told from his and her perspectives and then and now time periods, this was a story that entertained. The last third of the book had a few revelations that moved the story in different directions all the while satisfying this romantic’s heart in the end.
Gage read me the first in the Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol series on Thursday. We’d read a later one in the series and liked it and Gage’s writing tutor gave him the first four for his birthday. The books are written by Andres, Desmond’s anxious friend. Desmond loves ghost hunting and Andres loves having a new best friend in his new town. A fun series with great illustrations for the older elementary set.
This is a new series by Dan Gutman about famous figures. I read the Muhammad Ali one earlier this year. Gage and I both loved this one. He loves random and interesting trivia and this fits the bill. It was told with humor that kept him entertained all the way through. And we both learned what happened to Einstein’s brain and eyeballs after his death. Gross!
We’ve been reading The People’s Award book to start our school day for about two months. It says right on the cover ‘Celebrate Equality with 50 People Who Changed the World’ and I appreciated the mix of people from around the world, both familiar and unknown to me. Each award winner ranging from Confucius to Pele had a fun two page spread. It also had a quote from each one which was a good reason for Gage to practice his cursive.
Notes on Teaching by Shellee Hendricks. 176 pages, pub. 2011
Notes on Teaching: A Short Guide to an Essential Skill was a quick read. It took me back to my college days and my English Education classes. Even as a homeschooling mom it still touched on many things that have already made a difference in our day and will continue to do so. It’s always nice to have a pep talk and a reminder of what’s important.
Have you ever been listening to a book and the narration is just so bad that you wonder if it’s a problem with the narrator or the book? Such was the case with this short winter romance. There were two narrators but one came up with voices for some of the characters that were so off-putting I think it must have been intentional.
A young woman goes to Alaska to work for the summer, receives a marriage proposal, goes back to Washington for a great job anyway only to discover dream job is a bust. Will there be a happy ending?
If considering, pick up the book and skip the ear buds.
The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley (book 1 of the Seven Sisters series). 460 pages, pub. 2014
I listened to The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley thanks to a recommendation from my friend Amy and what a good recommendation it was! This is the first in a series of eight books about six adopted sisters who are given hints about their births after their father has died. In this first book the oldest, Maia, travels from Lake Geneva to Rio de Janeiro in hopes of finding her roots. What she finds is a long lost love affair and ties to the famous Christ the Redeemer statue.
Perfect for historical fiction and romance fans. I look forward to learning more about the other sisters and the mystery that binds them. Great audio.
I read/listened to Well Matched, part of a series that’s set in the small town of Willow Creek. I haven’t read the first two but would consider this a stand alone. Single-mother April is about to become an empty nester and gym teacher Mitch is looking for a fake date to a family gathering. I loved easy going Mitch and outspoken and homebody April. Having it set around the local Renaissance Fair was fun and having family and friends invested in their relationship solidified the story. A cute read for this time of year.
Pete Souza was the official White House photographer for both Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama and was self admittedly bitter after the 2016 election. He started his own IG account and began to react to Trump’s tweets with photos of Obama to directly respond. Throwing shade was a term he learned for what he was doing and these posts, with Trump’s tweets from the first two years are what make up this book. I wanted to like it more and there were serious comparisons and more humorous ones, but after 4+ years of hate (tweets) and snark I just couldn’t generate any excitement for it. But, hey, it was free!
Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory. 320 pages, pub. 2020
The Royal Holiday introduced me to a new author AND a middle age romance! It was nice to have a heroine in her 50s and I enjoyed the American going across the pond to fall in love with an advisor to the queen. Can they make it work past her holiday? Keep calm and believe.
The Gifts of Imperfection is about living a wholehearted life. Wholehearted living is based on the process of continually cultivating courage, compassion, and connection in our lives. There are 10 main guideposts, including authenticity, resilient spirit, and intuition that she addresses. This book is based on her research and I loved how she shared it, but it was still just a bit too self-helpy for me to love. I did take away a lot of positive energy and am happy I read it.
Facts vs. Opinions vs. Robots by Michael Rex should be required reading for adults and children, but really it’s a quick, fun book for kids. The definitions were spot on. Just because someone says something you agree with doesn’t make it a fact. It also addressed the need to wait for more information before making firm opinions.
Plants on the Move is detailed and visually pleasing. It breaks down the many different ways that seeds from plants and trees reproduce and what trees or flowers do each one. Must have for your young plant lovers.
Twenty-One Steps: Guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a beautifully illustrated book told in first person by the first unknown soldier buried at Arlington National Cemetery 100 years ago.
A well put together kids biography of the creators of Curious George, who may have started with a much more French name than George. Margret and Hans were both from Germany, but didn’t meet and marry until they were both in Brazil where they became Brazilian citizens. They moved back to Paris just in time for the Germans invading the city with the couple barely escaping on homemade bicycles with drawings of a curious monkey in the bike basket.
They managed to escape and make their way to New York, hence my New Yorker magazine cover. The story the pictures and the whimsical drawings make this one I’m happy to have on my shelf to share with Gage.
A Day for Rememberin’: Inspired by the True Events of the First Memorial Day is a beautifully illustrated book about the freed men, women, and children in Charleston who paid homage to the dead Union soldiers who gave their lives so that slaves would be slaves no more.
I didn’t get my last few books of November on here, so I’ll post them after sharing my 5 (technically 6) favorites of November. I focused on graphic novels/memoirs and am so glad that I read more outside my comfort zone this month. So far this year Goodreads tells me I’ve read 380 books this year. I don’t even know how to feel about this number because it is so ridiculous, lol. I’m working on breaking them down into categories and talking about them that way this month.
Born on the Water (link above) – The 1619 Project: Born on the Water is a beautiful book that shows a young girl how resilient and strong her ancestors were. Told in a flowing verse, it chronicles the story of the Africans stolen from their land and brought to Virginia in 1619. I loved the illustrations and the scope of information for younger kids. ❤️❤️❤️❤️
The Jungle, graphic novel by Kristina Gehrmann. Let me recommend the graphic novel of the classic The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. If you read The Four Winds this year that showcased the need for unions in the 1930s west, this is a fantastic companion that shows this same need during the same period in the immigrant heavy Chicago. A terribly sad story based on an interview that will keep you riveted. Loved it!
The Wanderer by Peter van den Ende has no words. Not one word in 96 beautifully illustrated pages. The Wanderer is the story of a paper boat and his journey around the world. Gage and I sat down for our daily together reading time and took turns putting words to the pages and crafting our own story. It was so much fun and I highly recommend it for those of you with kids. There’s even a neat twist at the end that will be open to more than one interpretation.
Drawn Together: Uplifting Comics on the Curious Journey Through Life was fun for a few minutes, but was so short that it felt.. incomplete? Based on the popular Dharma Comics online it was a collection of comics on grief, love, and self-care. As good as some of the individual pages were it lacked the heft it needed to fill the book, IMO.
August 1st brings a new month of reading possibilities. I’ve never been driven to read what’s new. Unless it’s a favorite author I prefer to let the dust (and my expectations) settle first.
For August I’ve decided to read only books published this year. I went a little crazy at the library and here they are, my intentions for the month. Sammi was excited to check them out too!
I started with Own It: The secret to Life by Diane Von Furstenberg and I hope this is not an omen of the rest of my book choices. Set up like a dictionary with with trite thoughts about them, this book failed in almost every way for me. The few bright spots were the short stories that she attached to some words. If the whole book had been that it would have been fun. As it is you get advice such as this…
PINK. Pink is what white does to red. It is the most feminine and flirtatious of all colors.
PURPLE. Purple is what blue does to red. It is a color we either love or hate.
LOSER. I sometimes feel like one, and then I remind myself, only losers don’t feel like losers.
At least it was relatively short.Hairpin Bridge started off strong with a twin sister trying to find the truth behind her twin’s supposed suicide. It ended on the same day after lots of action, storytelling, and revelations. It read fast and had a solid suspenseful idea. It lost momentum in the way it kept going back and forth, but managed to surprise in the end, which is always nice.
We took our first half day of school on the road to Penitentiary Glen, about 30 minutes from us. We decided to take the book on a bit of our hiking trail. We took Yang Warriors with us on our morning walk to Shadow Lake. This 40 page, beautifully illustrated book tells the true story of a group of children in a Thai refugee camp. The author lived at the camp with her family when she was five. Her sister was part of a group of children who snuck out of camp to gather fresh food for the weak and sick younger kids, giving them all hope of better days. Those kids were, and still are, viewed as heroes in the eyes of those they fed at much risk to themselves.
It didn’t explain why the kids were there or even what a refugee camp was so if reading this with your child it would be helpful to talk about that before reading the story. Otherwise, it was a great book with kids providing inspiration to other kids. Bravery has many faces and it’s important that kids see as many of them as possible. My mom loaned me How Lucky telling me it was different. I agree and that’s what I really liked about it. Confined to a wheelchair and unable to speak, Daniel lives in Georgia near his best friend since birth who makes sure he has a social life. Daniel sees a girl kidnapped and tries to do the right thing, even if the police are not especially helpful.
There was the mystery of the disappearance, but it was the story of his life with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, past and future that kept me reading and interested. He was a great character and I loved his relationships with friends.I picked this up purely for the fun cover and had a fun time hanging around Hampstead Heath. What Abigail Did That Summer is #5.3 in the Rivers of London series, but I had no problem jumping right in to the world of the talking foxes and the fae.
Abigail is still in school and must pass Latin before her uncle will let her begin training in magic. She spends the summer with a new friend investigating strange disappearances.
It was mostly light and fun and Abigail was a hoot.I loved this sweet throwback story. Rosetown Summer is 84 pages about friendship and family in a small Indiana town in 1974. Ten-year-old Flora doesn’t like change, loves quiet, and has many anxieties about things out of her control and I think any child who fits that description would probably like this one.
This is a sequel to Rosetown.We started half days of homeschool this week, each day a different park to explore. We hiked, enjoyed swings and playgrounds, and still managed to carve out some book learning at picnic tables. This is our August plan and a great way to ease into 5th grade.
I is for Immigrants was recommended to us and counts as a new book since it was just released. We both had fun going through the alphabet picture book full of words that describe the immigrant experience. So much great discussion. Recommended.
Journey: Based on the True Story of OR17 The Most Famous Wolf in the West. A recent news story told in a fabulous way alternating between the wolf’s journey and a 10 year old following his path. Great facts pages at the end. Highly recommended for older elementary kids who love animals or nature.
I met V when she and her husband were living in the Cleveland area and the four of us became fast friends. E is from France, came to the US for college and was working at his first job after. V is from Belgium, met E on a trip to LA and married him. Jason and I don’t speak French and what little I picked up from them I’ve forgotten. We were so sad when they left shortly after their first daughter was born so that they could be closer to family, but agreed to visit them two years after they moved. I’ll share some Lyon pics, where we stayed with them for half of our trip this week, but didn’t want to keep talking about Paris without saying why we went in the first place. To be honest, I had no desire to visit the country (oh, how wrong I was!).
Jason and I were lucky enough to attend the French Open on our 2010 trip. I purchased the tickets for us (and our friends who met us in Paris) months ahead of time as a surprise for Jason. He was thrilled and it was a great day to watch clay court play. I remember feeling the pregnancy more that day than any other, sitting in the heat so long.
I listened to The Paris Wife by Paula McLain, although you can see I have a copy of the book. McLain is local and I went to hear her speak a few years ago and had this and another of her books signed. Here’s the recap of the fun event.
This book is about Hadley, Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, and the time that she and Ernest lived in Paris. It actually started with their courtship in Chicago, but this is mainly about their life in Paris. I was surprised at how much I liked this one. Hemingway married four times, but this first marriage shows us the writer before his fame. The voices of both came through to show a marriage from loving beginning to sorry end.
Recommended for historical fiction fans, Hemingway fans, or those who like to read about history from a woman’s perspective. I admit that I’ve spent some additional time on the internet reading more about this fascinating family.
Any Hemingway fans? I’ve only read A Farewell to Arms. What about you?
When we were in Paris in 2010 we hopped on a train and spent the day at Versailles. It did not disappoint. I’d say at least 20% of the photos I took of our 10 day trip were from that day. It was beautiful. It was raining most of the day but we took advantage of the breaks to explore the gorgeous gardens. The ‘house’ wasn’t so bad either, but the gardens will win every time.
For my book a day challenge, Jason and I watched The DaVinci Code. This was his idea and since much of my reading time is decidedly anti-social I went with his choice 🙂 We’d both read the book and saw the movie when it came out, but it was a fun way to spend a little time at the Louvre.
Have you been to Versailles?Jules Verne, born in 1829 France, was a man ahead of his time. Often called the Father of Science Fiction, he merged science and literature and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea brought him international fame. He was a real visionary who loved adventure and writing. This book told a little about what he correctly predicted and what happened to his unfinished works after his death.
I’m not sure exactly how I’ve reached this age and never read one of his books. What have you read by Verne?I finally finished French Exit and am happy to put it behind me. I listened to over half of it and then switched to reading so I could finish it up an was surprised by how much more I preferred reading to book. Obviously the audio performance was skewing the characters for me.
Long story short, Frances, an eccentric widow, her grown son who still lives at home, and their cat who possesses the soul of her dead husband have lost all of their riches. They move to Paris and pick up a wide range of colorful characters. Something happens at the end and you’re done. I enjoyed some of the dark humor, but didn’t feel satisfied after I was done. I’m still not sure exactly what it all meant 🤷🏻♀️
The donuts are from my Instagram pic. I received the puzzle and the postcard on the same day 🙂
When I decided to participate in Paris in July, I reserved books at the library, bought some French wine, ordered a few puzzles, and…visited Etsy! I only let myself order two things and one came this week all the way from France.
The Eiffel Tower shaped tea bags from Tea Heritage are adorable and tasty. What a fun way to add a little pizazz to my morning tea. They have all kinds of shapes and, as you can see, the shapes and tea sachets are a great size.We finished our 1500 piece Ravensburger Paris puzzle last night! It was a fun one, although I had a hard time with the dark section on the right. My eyes aren’t what they used to be 😂
I also finished My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud’homme, published 2006, 336 pages. I listened mostly but did like having the actual book so I could look through the pictures included throughout. I liked this so much more than I thought I would!
It’s about food, France, friends, foreign service, and fame late in the game. There were lots of names of people and places and, to be honest, I’m glad that I listened. If I had read it I may have become caught up in the details 🤣. As it was, I felt like I was listening to an accomplished and happy woman tell tales from her life to me and a group of friends and it worked.
Have you ever watched Julia on screen or tried one of her recipes? I haven’t but feel like I need to now. I’m not saying that having friends drive you through some of the prettiest areas of France was a gift, oh wait, I am saying that! Look at the cover of today’s book an compare to my photo from our trip. 😍. We spent a day admiring the views and visiting small villages and it was a breath of fresh air. This was the Beaujolais area.
You Me Everything by Catherine Isaac (published 2018, 384 pages) is a great beach read. A single mother takes her 10 year old to France for 5 weeks so that he can spend quality time with a father he rarely sees. She’s leaving a scary situation with her mom, bringing a few friends, and harboring a serious secret. There are heavy topics, but they’re done with a light enough touch. I can’t say I loved any of the characters, but i enjoyed the audio.
I’m drinking a lovely Bordeaux, Chateau Moulin Lafitte. I love the lightness of the full bodied wine. This was an impulse buy when I visited Barnes and Noble last month and I’m so glad I brought it home just in time for our (modest) vacation planning. It helped awaken the wanderlust 😁. So many gorgeous pictures. Paris had 4 pages of pics, this is just the first.
What’s the most exotic place you’ve ever visited?
And this book went perfectly with the postcard I received yesterday from Poland. I love the whole world in his hands photo. Zuzuka told me the last movie she saw was Birdy (Ptasiek in Polish).
What’s the last movie you saw? We just binged the rest of the final season of Bosch last night so we’re looking for a good movie next.I listened to Jane Smiley’s most recent (Perestroika in Paris), told from the perspectives of a horse, a dog, a raven, two ducks and a few rats. These animals are living in Paris on their own and have loosely banded together. They understand and use money to pay for things 😒 The story meandered along at a snail’s pace, but the happy ending was nice.
I was completely the wrong reader for this one. I don’t usually care for these kinds of first person animal stories, but I wanted to try something different set in Paris and this was definitely that. I think Gage would have enjoyed it more than I did.
Make sure you visit Tamara at Thyme for Tea for more Paris in July posts.
I’m adding 13 books to my June count, finishing up the month with 44 books and 3 bookish movies.
Since this is also the md-year point, let’s do an update on my two challenges. The Book a Day Challenge has been easier than expected. As you’ve noticed, I’ve read a lot of kids books and that’s helped, but I’ve also watched a lot less bookish movies than I thought I would. I’ve read 217 books and watched 7 movies. This challenge, that I update daily on IG, is a fun challenge that I’m loving.
My other challenge was my lose 50 by 50 challenge. Let’s just say that it’s not going well, and for my own mental health all I’m going to say is that I’m a work in progress 🙂
Here are the books I read since last week…
The Husbands by Chandler Baker. Published 2021, 352 pages
Nora was on a fast track to senior partner with a 4 year old daughter and a baby on the way. She was stressed and needed more help and understanding from her husband. When she is welcomed into a close knit suburban community full of accomplished women with doting husbands she begins to imagine a new type of marriage.
I liked the idea of this, but it took me a while to get into it. Once I did I enjoyed the modern spin on the Stepford Wives concept. How far are you willing to go for a perfect marriage?
There are 3 chapters and lots of photos. The chapters (lighting, seeing, creating) are just as much about how to see than they are about how to take the photo. It’s a lovely book I’m happy to have in my house to look at anytime I want (I’m looking at you Cleveland winter!).
I read Answers for the 4A Epidemic: Healing for Kids with Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies. Cannizzaro is an MD who makes the very solid case for kids who have any of these diagnoses to have an integrative doctor onboard. I couldn’t agree more.
He does a great job of explaining the often complicated processes of out of sync bodies and what we, as parents, can do to help. He was great at explaining the breakdown, with some places to start with diet, if interested. Obviously, not for every kid, but diet makes a big difference here.
Creekfinding by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and Claudia McGehee. Published 2017 pages, 36 pages.
I loved the illustrations and the true story about a man who buys property and resurrects a creek that had been filled in. The man? Michael Osterholm who is currently on President Biden’s Covid Advisory Council.
Dark Was the Night by Gary Golio and EB Lewis. Published 2020, 32 pages.
Dark Was the Night: Blind Willie Johnson’s Journey to the Stars was such a treat. Johnson, who went blind as a child, played in street corners in Texas. Now his music is flying on Voyager I outside our galaxy on the Golden Record.
Small Room, Big Dreams: The Journey of Julian and Joaquin Castro is a great new book about the twins and how they have always been involved in wanting to make life better for people.
Nacho’s Nachos by Sandra Nickel and Oliver Dominguez. Published 2020, 32 pages.
Nacho’s Nachos: The Story Behind the World’s Favorite Snack takes place in Mexico, but it was included in my search because in 1940 Mamie Finan came from just over the border to The Victory Club and inspired Ignacio Anaya (Nacho for short) to create the first delicious snack that bears his name.
Diary of Sarah Gillespie has entries from the teen’s diary growing up on a 100 acre farm in the 1880’s. There was added definitions, clarification, and photos.
I’ve been reading, 190 books so far this year. For these first 11 days in June I watched one movie based on a book I read in February (The Sun Is Also A Star) and read 17 books, 8 of them picture books by or about the celebrated illustrator Jerry Pinkney. I also read 4 fiction/thrillers, 1 play, 1 chapbook about aliens, 1 non-fiction, 1 YA fiction, and 1 kids fiction. I’ve really needed the fiction escape it seems!
The first 5 on this list (I’m counting all of the Pinkney books as a whole) I would heartily recommend.
Anna is agoraphobic, which began after a trauma the year before. She’s separated her family, has one therapist/frend, and access lots of alcohol and medication. She also has a camera and likes to keep an eye on her neighborhood. When new neighbors arrive at her doorstep, Anna’s carefully crafted (sad) life begins to unravel.
A fast-paced thriller perfect for summer. I really liked it. She’s an old movie buff, which I loved, and I need to go back and make a list of all the movies she mentioned so I can watch them (without a bottle of wine and pills).
Two women on opposite coasts are both in dangerous situations. They switch identities and flights and hope to evade the men sure to come looking for them. But one of the flights crashes.
Two compelling women with two compelling stories. I liked the back and forth and the switch between then and now. I was even surprised at the end (but probably shouldn’t have been).
I picked up John Boyne’s young adult historical and breezed right through it. He has the rare talent of writing unlikeable characters and still putting together a compelling story. A Ladder of Years is my favorite, but others will remember The Boy in the Striped Pajamas best.
In this short (260 pages) book, 7 year old Pierrot loses both parents, his best friend, and his home city of Paris as he sent to an orphanage. His aunt finds him and brings him to Berghof, where she is head housekeeper. Of course, this is also Hitler’s home in the Bavarian Alps. Hitler takes a special interest in the boy and Pierrot’s fate is sealed.
Can he recover from the things he did while so young? A good book about how any child’s future is shaped by their circumstances as well as their spirit. A tragic story but not one without hope.
I loved this one! A teen who had no support, a man who needed her for a kidnapping scheme, death, stolen babies, changed identities and a lifetime of guilt. What’s not to love? And I really love the cover ❤️
Philadelphia born artist Pinkney has won numerous awards for his illustrations of children’s books, novels, magazines, and even a series of postage stamps starting in 1977. He’s still sharing his passion with the world at 81.
The Talking Eggs was my favorite. A sister is abused by her mother and sister, but is rewarded with her pure heart. It was a little more detailed than the other retellings of this Creole folktale and I loved it.
My other favorite was the classic John Henry, also different than other versions I’ve read, but I’m always up for a story about the legendary man. The song I learned as a kid still goes through my mind every time. Anyone else?
They’re all good. A Place To Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech That Inspired a Nation is his most recent work (2019) and the first time he used collage. And The Lion and the Mouse (2009) is a wordless book that tells one of Aesop’s fables. And I always love reading the African tales about that wily Spider 🕷
I Survived The Joplin Tornado, 2011 was our before bed book for the week. I thought it was scarier than the last one we read about the Chicago Fire. At the end of a few of the chapters I wasn’t sure he’d make it – then I reminded myself the book I series is called I Survived 😆
The writing is simple and the books have a few pictures for interest and that makes them something Gage enjoys. So, for that I am grateful. Finding books that he is interested in reading continues to be a bit of a struggle and this series is a safe bet.
Tornadoes scare me. Have you ever experienced one firsthand?
I both listened a read and much preferred the audio. I liked that it was different, but I can’t say I loved the book.
Harriet, 79, is a recent widow with a shaky relationship with her kids. Her marriage was meh and she’s stuck in a rut. Enter the Alaskan cruise her late husband had won and his visits from beyond the grave and you have the start of an interesting story. I just didn’t care for the this-is-your-life way the story moved from one time to the next.
Strange Land from Poet’s Haven Digest, 2017 is a chapbook given to me by a friend at the library who just happen to write the very first poem, #greenlivesmatter. There were poems and stories all with a different take on our alien friends and their feelings on us Earthlings. Made more interesting by the government’s recent acknowledgment of UFOs 👽 It was a fun, fast read perfect for the unofficial start of summer.
I was hoping that this would provide insight into the classic movie, which I don’t like at all. Unfortunately, I ended up disliking the characters even more 😂
Blanche comes to live with her sister Stella and Stella’s husband Stanley. The three of them bump into and around each other in a small apartment until damage is done. Unlikeable characters in a sad tragedy of a story. But, hey, it’s a classic for a reason, so what do I know?
The book, while tongue in cheek, isn’t quite funny enough for satire. It does its best to lower expectations at work, at home, in relationships, but, unfortunately, I couldn’t let go of my hope for more.
What’s been your favorite June read so far? Anything I need add to my reading list? Extra points if it’s on the shorter side 🙂
(review 
Stacy's Books 