The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd, fiction, 4.5/5 stars, 392 pages, 2022
Nell Young’s whole life and greatest passion is cartography. Her father, Dr. Daniel Young, is a legend in the field and Nell’s personal hero. But she hasn’t seen or spoken to him ever since he cruelly fired her and destroyed her reputation after an argument over an old, cheap gas station highway map.
But when Dr. Young is found dead in his office at the New York Public Library, with the very same seemingly worthless map hidden in his desk, Nell can’t resist investigating. To her surprise, she soon discovers that the map is incredibly valuable and exceedingly rare. In fact, she may now have the only copy left in existence… because a mysterious collector has been hunting down and destroying every last one—along with anyone who gets in the way.
But why?
from Goodreads
The Cartographers was in my TBR box last fall and I’m sad that it took me this long to get to it. I didn’t really know much of anything about it and went in blind. Finding some maptastic magical realism along the way made me happy 😁
Nell was estranged from her father and her college boyfriend for 7 years because of a disagreement at the NYPL map division, where they all worked. When her dad is found dead in his office it sets off a hunt that Nell can’t quite quit even at great danger to herself.
I really liked this one. There are a lot of characters, but one storyline. I liked learning more about map making. The mystery was good and told at just the right pace to keep me hooked. If you don’t like bits of magic in your book, you might try a different title.
Aunt Gerald takes in anyone who asks, but the conditions are harsh. For her young niece Goldie Taylor, abandoned by her mother and coping with trauma of her own, life in Gerald’s East St. Louis comes with nothing but a threadbare blanket on the living room floor.
But amid the pain and anguish, Goldie discovers a secret. She can find kinship among writers like James Baldwin and Toni Morrison. She can find hope in a nurturing teacher who helps her find her voice. And books, she realizes, can save her life.
Goldie Taylor’s debut memoir shines a light on the strictures of race, class and gender in a post–Jim Crow America while offering a nuanced, empathetic portrait of a family in a pitched battle for its very soul. from Goodreads
The Love You Save by Goldie Taylor is a memoir you’ll not soon forget. Growing up in East St. Louis Goldie’s childhood was full of trauma, strength, and ultimately survival. The journalist lays bare a period of her life that will surely inspire others to hold on or to reach out. Aided by her love of literature and a teacher who pushed her to excellence, Goldie saw a way to overcome.
Her ever changing relationships with her Aunt and Mother were beautifully told and some of my favorite parts of the book. The way that her Aunt and Uncle took in anyone who needed a place to stay, even with its hardships and tragedies, ended up being a place that she needed to be.
If you’re a fan of memoirs, like the Glass Castle or I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, then you need to pick up this gem.
The writing pulled me in and her honesty did the rest. Thanks to TLC Book Tours for sending me a copy. I’ll be recommending this to many people, but I’m not sure I want to run the risk of loaning it out and not getting it back!
It’s Paris in July 2022, hosted by Thyme for Tea and Readerbuzz. Last year I shared photos and stories of our trip there in 2010, but this time around I’ll be doing some of the usual things, books, movies, puzzles, postcards, food, wine..
Here are some of the books I’ve set aside for the month and it was the extent of my pre-planning, lol, BUT this week I watched James Corden’s Crosswalk the Musical in Paris -Les Miserables again and laughed out loud just like the first time I saw it. Enjoy.
I received my second box from TBR: Tailored Book Recommendations and am excited by my choices. My bibliogist did a great job with my first box so I’m expecting good things.
Have you read any of these? Which would you read first?
Do you get any subscription boxes? I also get Ipsy monthly and Decocrated seasonally (like TBR). Along with my favorite, Completing the Puzzle, a puzzle subscription service.
We started the week with this beautiful dusting of snow. And ended it with Jason’s birthday
We went to the movies for the first time since 2020 and saw Sonic 2. Even though it was Sonic I was so happy to be back in the theater! We went to the noon show on Friday so there were only a few other families in a very big theater.
This week has been ridiculously busy. Jason birthday prep, book sale prep, election training prep, and still managing to finish a book a day! Oh, and trying to get all of our homeschooling stuff together so we can get it approved. I may have even found a camp for Gage for most of the summer, but I’m still waiting for details.
I won the March Madness wager this year and so we spent last Saturday watching the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. Yes, over 9 1/2 hours of Middle Earth. It was so much fun introducing Gage to one of our favorites. I most certainly counted it for my book of the day, lol.
Highlights of the Week – Jason decided that he couldn’t take the Cleveland cold and snow for another week and booked us a stay on Lake Norman in North Carolina. He did this late Friday afternoon and we left bright and early Sunday, lol. I was already 100% stressed and when he came to me on Friday afternoon with his plan I have to admit I was pissed. That is not a word I use lightly. My husband came to me with photos of this gorgeous condo on the lake with promises of beautiful weather and all I could think about what how long my multiple to-do lists were. For us, going on a road trip involves some planning mainly due to Gage’s food allergies, but I was able to get that done and our cat to the vet and a week’s work of washing and packing and homeschool planning in a day and a half. It really wasn’t until we got there and I had a glass of wine on the deck that I forgave him.
As I enjoyed our week away, we watched, read, and talked about what was happening in Ukraine and I felt all kinds of entitled for my attitude. It’s truly heartbreaking. Seeing the destruction and death and one man’s insatiable thirst for power is difficult to take. I’ve been praying for Ukraine and even booked a Ukraine Experience on AirBnb on our way home, mainly as a way to feel as though I was doing something (Jason had different opinions, but it gave me a momentary sense of helping).
Now that we’re home, the worries that I left with are still here, but I’m hoping to maintain a level of chill for as long as I can so, here are are pics from our week away.
As I see the end of my book a day challenge fast approaching I am taking a very laid back approach. Lots of picture books and a movie on Christmas (a movie inspired by a classic kids book that I’m reading today) are helping me wind down a very successful reading year.
I’m going to have 3 book wrap up posts and 2 movies posts this week, so keep an eye out for my favorites this week.
The Storm Sister was book two in the Seven Sisters series that I started a few weeks ago. This one was set in the classical music world and I enjoyed learning about something new. I like the different stories of each of the series and the overriding mystery of them all that will keep me reading this series.
The 13th Gift: A True Story of a Christmas Miracle by Joanne Huist Smith. 224 pages, pub. 2014
If you need a quick Christmas listen to get you in the holiday spirit I recommend this audiobook read by the author. The 13th Gift is a true story that will give you all of the Christmasy feels.
After the sudden death of her husband Joanne was having a hard time getting into the spirit of the holidays. Her three kids were still reeling from the loss of their father too when mysterious gifts began appearing on their front porch. With each gift, the family began to heal.
Such an inspiring story. I loved her explanation of what happened and how she finally tracked down her “True Friends” fifteen years later.
I don’t read a lot of holiday stories during December, but I’m so glad I listened to this one!
I started reading How To Marry Keanu Reeves in 90 Days a few days ago and just wasn’t feeling it, so I switched to the audio yesterday and breezed right through. Lu is a single artist in her 40s who is obsessed with The One and when she reads that he is going to get married in 90 days she knows she needs a plan. Enter True. He was her brother’s best friend before he died and has stayed close to Lu ever since. He knows a guy who can get a one-on-one with Keanu and a plan is hatched.
I ended up liking it, even if I had a hard time understanding Lu. True is a great and a worthy choice if Keanu is unavailable 😁
I spent a few days reading The Essential Wisdom of the First Ladies and really enjoyed it. Swipe through to see the book and 8 pages of included quotes that I particularly liked. It went through Melanie Trump and even had a quote about Jill Biden from Michelle Obama so it feels up to date. This would make a great gift!
This one wasn’t my favorite mainly because it was mostly about Uncle Murray, but it was a cute addition to the graphic series for kids and Gage always likes Bad Kitty.
I’ve also read…
We watched Mr. Popper’s Penguins with Jim Carrey as a family on Christmas. It was weird and cute.
I will be editing this post the next four days by adding the books I finish this year.
It’s over a week into October and here I am. October is a crazy month for us, We have 2 birthdays and an anniversary in within a week and half and this year we decided to add a four state road trip into the mix, lol.
I’ve been trying to read some creepy books for this spooky month.
I woke up to find 50 flowers waiting for me. Happy birthday month to me!
I’m intending to read from these stacks worthy of #ripxiv#ripperils 💀. I’ve got ghosts, magic, horror, and mystery waiting for me this month.
What’s your favorite story with a ghost?
For my first ghostly story I read the kids book The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall and loved it! What a great intro for kids into the the horror stories of the day. It had a little Haunting of Bly Manor feel, only with a 12 year old orphan girl protagonist. There was real danger and scares here.First flowers and this morning balloons! I’m feeling the birthday love and I still have 9 days to go! 🎉
The Flip by Phillip Michael Cash was full of ghosts, just what this month calls for. A newly married couple flips houses and one of them falls in love with an old Victorian, hoping to make it their permanent home. The other feels the presence of spirits not altogether friendly. The ghosts are dealing with issues of their own and you even get their backstory of their time in the house.
A quick and ghostly October read 👻This morning a vintage 1971 wine glass and a bottle of Korbel, added to my earlier balloons, and flowers and I’m convinced I should turn 50 every year! Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!
And I finished up Dragon Tears by Dean Koontz. An evil wanna be god nicknamed Tick Tock because he tells people when they’re gonna die, wreaks havoc. Fortunately, there’s a hero dog that saves the day more than once. A decent audio for October listening. The birthday fairy came again and brought 50 chocolates from @malleyschoc 🧚♂️ You may notice the pack of 2 chocolate covered pretzels is already empty. 🥨🍫
I read the spooky Full Wolf Moon by Lincoln Child and loved it for an October read. People in the Catskills are being brutally murdered. First they say it’s a bear, and then a wolf, but some people suspect a more human element.
This is the most recent of the Jeremy Logan series and even though I haven’t read any of the others I didn’t feel like I was missing anything. I’m tempted to go back and read a few others this month. Think X-Files or Supernatural.My birthday fairy brought some sparkly numbers s as d 2 books on turning 50. At breakfast Gage and I read All the Great Things About Turning 50. I’ll be using it as a journal since it’s 104 empty pages 🤣🤣. The other one, 50 Things To Do When You Turn 50, looked a bit more serious. I’ll keep you posted.
I read Gage the 84 page book, Scary Tales: One-Eyed Doll. Spooky and fun, it was a great atmospheric October read. Siblings dig up an old box from the yard of an abandoned house. Inside the locked box they found a doll. The 5 year old girl takes it home and starts to act strangely forcing her brother to ask questions about the house. Loved the layout of the book and the few pictures included. I’m going to track down some more of this series this month. A few years ago Jason bought me a Keurig and we use the reusable pods because all of this plastic trash everyday would drive me nuts. But I’m not gonna lie, when the birthday fairy brought me an assortment of 50 coffees for the machine I was happy to know that on more difficult mornings I could skip a few steps for my joe. It even came with a fun mug for those mornings 😆
Gage read me Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol: The Sleepwalking Snowman. This is #7 and we haven’t read any of the others, but when the library put up their spooky story display for kids I grabbed randomly. Desmond and his best friend Andres (who happens to be the book’s author) are called upon to solve a case from someone in their school. What the find is a snowball bully and something scary enough to only come to life in a dream.
Loved the humor, the illustrations, and the spookiness of this Halloween thriller for the older elementary school set. We will definitely be picking up more from this series! 120 pages.The birthday fairy doesn’t seem to be pacing himself. Day 7 of his visits brought me shirts that I will be wearing proudly. Most especially the one touting all original parts, although there are a few I wouldn’t mind trading in for newer models. Still 4 days til the big day.
I listened to another from the Jeremy Logan series by Lincoln Child since I liked the other one I read. It was just as appropriate for October since Dr. Logan is a ghost hunter. This one is about a mysterious scientific think tank and the scientists who are going crazy. Logan discovers a secret room with a machine that seems to summon the supernatural. I like Logan, the atmospheric setting, and the moral quandary presented. This is a fun series!Have you ever been mentioned in a book? Thank you Ivy Zelman for the nice mention of Jason is your book, Gimme Shelter: Hard Calls + Soft Skills From a Wall Street Trailblazer.
It’s Ivy who brought us to Cleveland in 2000. Her maternity leave allowed us to live in up in midtown Manhattan for 4 months. She always treated Jason and I well, even inviting us to parties at her home and events for her kids. Thanks to her I attended my first and only Bris. Soon after he started, fresh out of college, I remember her gifting him a $200 dinner wherever he wanted to go. Needless to say, we had to do a little looking to find out where we could blow $200 on a dinner for 2 😂. Now I request Johnny’s downtown every birthday!
She has written a book about her ascent to the #1 analyst in her field and the lessons she learned along the way. In a male dominated profession she did things differently, not relying on her name or degree at an Ivy League school. I liked getting a different, more personal perspective from a powerhouse woman. And yes, the best page is 74, the one pictured, for obvious reasons.
Jason worked for Ivy for 4 years and she taught him well.
I’m barely holding on to my sanity right now, but my book a day success continues (barely).
My September reads with my favorites front ant center.
❤️ Infinite Hope: A Black Artists’ Journey From WWII to Peace by Ashley Bryan
❤️ Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
❤️ The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab
❤️ I Am Beauty: Timeless Skincare and Beauty for Women 40 and Over by Riku Campo
❤️ March trilogy by John Lewis
What was the best thing you read in September?
A few I haven’t talked about yet…
Are you a library book sale lover? We had our first book sale in 2 years. I helped set up Wednesday and Thursday and yesterday I wheeled 7 carts of books outside and spent the day talking to folks and directing them inside to where we had thousands of books waiting for them.
A few fun happenings… 💵 a man paid with a $2 bill. I joked with him about it and he pulled out a second one and gave it to me as a tip. I don’t think I’ve ever held 2 $2 bills at once!
📖a conversation with a retired librarian led to a few fun personal stories about children’s authors Dav Pilkey and Cynthia Rylant when they lived together in the area way back when. Conversations like this made my day.
❤️ it was around 5 and I had been in the sun since 9, but people were still looking at the carts and I started a conversation with one of the last women about the latest Lisa Kleypas book that she had just checked out. This led to a 15 minute conversation about historical romances where she tried to convince me that I had to read the Bridgerton series instead of just watching the Netflix series. She was just as passionate as you were @oursewgoodlife so I’m in 😁
A fun day day, but I’m burnt and exhausted and taking today off 😁. I did manage to read through Seinfeld Companion about the first 61 episodes of my favorite show ever and it was a fun, light diversion between bookish fun.
I didn’t post yesterday but we watched The Tale of Desperaux as a family. Gage loved the book, calls it his favorite, so it was fun to discuss the many, many changes the movie made and possible reasons why. Even with all of the changes he still really liked the movie too. I always bring home Jack Reacher books when I find them, knowing I’ll get to them all eventually. I didn’t have #20 so I listened instead.
The driving storyline behind this one is horrific on many levels, but it takes awhile to get there so it’s not all dark.
Reacher meets a woman 😱. I know, I know, this is a common occurrence but something different and unexpected happens with this one…and it’s not just that she convinces him to go to the emergency room.
This wasn’t my favorite, but learning a bit more about the workings of the dark web was interesting. Looking forward to following Reacher on his continued journey.What’s up with all of the honey bears around my book of the day? Gage took The World of Honey taste testing class online at @outschool today. We love Outschool classes and this was the first one that we had to order our supplies, but it was so worth it! These honeys came from a farm here in Ohio, Kline’s Honey Bee Farm (you can order these samplers that come with colorful fliers and information on bees and honey on @etsy ). I made him take the class in the kitchen so I could follow along 😂. All three of us had different favorites, but universally hated buckwheat and fall honey.
Do you have a favorite honey?
I picked up my book at the library sale over the weekend. Long Story Short has (mostly) 3 panel comics for 100 (mostly) classics. The illustrations were great and I loved that there were more recent titles like, A Series of Unfortunate Events and The Graveyard Book by Gaiman alongside the oldies but goodies. It fell short in the humor department for me. Maybe it just wasn’t my taste, but I was underwhelmed.
But, hey, the honey tasting was fun! 🐝So, do you think masks like this are creepy or beautiful?
I bought this in Venice on our 2008 Italy trip. I love these masks and find them creepy AND beautiful.
This is the last book I found at the library book sale over the weekend and was a relaxing way to spend some time. A glass of wine is a must. Italian Dreams is mainly a book of interesting photographs with quotes about Italy. The pictures are not your typical tourist shots and are mini works of art. I love Italy and this is perfect for my bookshelf.We read When Sue Found Sue: Sue Hendrickson Discovers Her T. Rex because we’re learning about South Dakota this week. The book is beautifully told and illustrated. Starting with her childhood as a shy girl who didn’t like the same things other kids did and continuing her habit of ‘looking for things’ into adulthood, this book gives hope to all kids everywhere.
Sue found the largest, most complete at 90%, and best preserved T. Rex ever found. And her coworkers named the T. Rex after her in honor of her discovery.
Great for younger or older elementary, especially for girls, any kid who feels different, or those interested in dinosaurs or science. That covers almost everyone right?
This will be a long post, but you can scroll to the end if you want to see my July favorites 🙂
In July I read 31 books and watched 3 movies. 24 were Paris related, 2 were Gage read alongs, 2 were for homeschool, 1 devotional, and 1 for a book tour.
Here’s a link to my Paris in July posts 1234 56 I’m so thankful to Tamara at Thyme for Tea for hosting such a fun event!
Here’s a rundown of what I’ve read this last week…
Sunday was ‘work’ reading. I’ve set aside this week for homeschool prep and this book was a great reminder of what I like most about homeschooling. I thought our first year went well, but I was determined to find a full curriculum this year to make it easier on me. It was nice to remind myself that I am pretty good at making learning fun, if only I keep the expectations at bay. Trying to homeschool like regular school is where many of our struggles came from last year and committing to someone else’s curriculum takes away the flexibility I love so much.
Not to let a July day go by without a little French love, I drank several glasses of Cotes du Rhone while I read the book. And I’ve included a few pics of the beautiful city of Lyon.My most vivid image of Joan of Arc is from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, so obviously, starting at this level 4, 48 page book is where I needed to be. Now I feel liked I have some context relating to the saints Joan the Maid (as she called herself) heard. I’m still not exactly sure what to make of her. Mad skills, mad followers or just plain mad? A tragedy any way you look at it.
Any Joan fans out there? What do you like about her story?
Since were nearing the end of Paris in July I threw in a few photos from Lyon, which is obviously not Paris, but certainly closer than where I am now! I thought I was going to love this book, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. A dark story about a serial killer with the best nose in the world, what’s not to love? Well, quite a bit actually.
In 19th century Paris, Grenouille was born in a fish market to a mother who immediately threw him in the trash just like she had all the ones before him. He survived (his mother did not) but barely, managing an okay existence until his ability to identify any smell landed him as an apprentice to a perfumer. And then his obsession and killing began.
I was amused by the first chapter or two but really struggled to finish this one. I got lost in the writing and that may have been due to the the translation from German, but maybe not since the story also bored me. Even a random city-wide public orgy couldn’t save it 🤷🏻♀️Let’s start with our pics from Montmartre. 11 years later and I still remember our afternoon spent there because I tasted my first crepe with Nutella and banana and it was glorious.
I read Sarah’s Key. It’s been around awhile but I’ve never had a desire to read it even with all of the positive reviews of it. Dual storylines, one in 1942 an one in the early 2000s, both in France. A heartbreaking time in history as the French police rounded up Jewish families. It took me a little while to warm to the current storyline, but I did. I really liked this one. Sammi and I both have the same feeling about this one The Grand Odalisque. A stylish, sexy graphic novel about two and then three women who steal paintings from Paris museums. I’m sure this has a wide fan base, but not so much here. I do like the occasional graphic novel, I’ve read two manga already this month, but prefer more substance. I did like the look of the oversized hardcover though which is half the battle in a picture book for adults 😄Two fantastic picture books today! I recommend them both. Let’s start with the newest one.
Begin with a Bee is a beautifully illustrated book with a full circle story sure to please and educate kids. It’s about the rusty-patched bumblebee, native to the United States (honestly I never really knew the significance of this) and the first bee species put on the Endangered Species list in 2017. The story of a year in the life of a queen bee followed by 2 pages of facts and what you can do to help convinced me that I need to purchase this one after I return this to the library.
A Map to the World is a timely one if you are watching the Olympics with your kids. The family is part of the Hmong community in Minnesota. No it’s not about gymnast Sunni Lee, but I was struck by the coincidence. This is fiction, but based on the author’s own experience. It was touching and sweet. I do wish that there’d been some additional information about the Hmong people at the end of the book.
And drumroll please…
We finished our 1000 piece Paris Night & Day puzzle and had a fun time with it. I’ve also included my five favorite reads of the month, two being non-fiction!
Stacy's Books 