• Publisher: Wise Wolf Books (April 26, 2021) • Paperback: 294 pages They told me I was an out-of-control train about to crash… Everything changed when the police officer knocked on the door to tell me – a 16-year-old – that my older sister Kristen had died of a brain aneurysm. Cue the start of my parents neglecting me and my whole life spiraling out of control. I decided now was the perfect time to skip town. It’s the early 90’s, Kurt Cobain runs the grunge music scene and I just experienced some serious trauma. What’s a girl supposed to do? I didn’t want to end up like Kristen, so I grabbed my bucket list, turned up my mixtape of the greatest 90’s hits and fled L.A.. The goal was to end up at Kurt Cobain’s house in Seattle, but I never could have guessed what would happen along the way. At turns heartbreaking, inspiring, and laugh out loud funny, Runaway Train is a wild journey of a bygone era and a portrait of a one-of-a-kind teenage girl trying to find herself again the only way she knows how.
Runaway Train by Lee Matthew Goldberg is the story of Nico, a girl hitting rock bottom after her sister dies. It’s the 1990s and her love for Kurt Cobain and grunge music taps into her heartbreak. As she spirals out of control she decides to run away from her distant and divorcing parents and even her druggie best friends. She comes up with a bucket list and hits the road with her dad’s gas card.
Aside from the back of the book calling the 90s a bygone era 😆this was well done. Nico was not always easy to like, but as one adventure led to another, I got caught up in her pain and wanted to see her well. She’s a teen lashing out, trying to wash away her loneliness with drugs, drinks, and dudes, and it was the wholesomeness of the 90s that saved her from darker experiences 🙂 Music was really a main character here, each chapter titled by a different song.
The ending was satisfying, with some spots being realistically heartbreaking still. There’s already a sequel in the works and I’m looking forward to seeing what Nico’s future holds.
This is a must read for grunge lovers, teens, and anyone with memories of that bygone era, the 90s.
Thanks for having me TLC Book Tours and for a copy of the book!
Highlight of the week… We went to an actual live event as a family. We’ve been so careful, especially with Gage, but spring and sunshine are here and outdoor fun is a must. A local charity that gets books in the hands of local kids celebrated their 5th birthday with a parking lot party with a magician, a DJ, a balloon twister (notice the sword and scabbardish belt), food, a book and swag to each kid, and, of course, a chance for the adults to spend some money on things. I brought home a mystery book date…“Beautifully Ambiguous. Tragedy & Comedy” If you want to guess what it is, I’ll let you know if you’re right 🙂 It was nice to be doing something normal and while we don’t wear masks outside normally, the fact that they required masks made me feel safer in going there.
The rest of the week was your normal end-of-school year stuff. As a homeschooler, Gage needs to take a standardized test OR have a certified teacher sign off on his progress for the year and write a letter. We chose the teacher route. I’ve got 90% of what she wants to see in, but need to decide on the last things. All I really want to do is send her a box in the mail of what he’s done this year and tell her to look through it until she finds what she needs 🙂 Unfortunately, that’s not the way it works. We have decided to do one more year of homeschooling though. It has pros and cons, but in these crazy times, it’s so nice to have more control (and to be honest, I’m loving this time together). And he can still join in the district’s extracurriculars, like chess club, so that’s a big plus.
We finished the Netflix series Ginny and Georgia and started and old season of the British Bake-off series and Amazon’s Counterpart. I’m a fan of all three 🙂
My thoughts on April’s movies are here. Please add your two cents. It’s been a quiet month for my movie watchers.
Plans for the rest of the weekend… Remember when we gutted half of our house three years ago? We’re finally putting in the last of the flooring, lol, so we’ve got prep work to finish.
I read 39 books in April, the most of them picture books, 8 fiction and 5 non-fiction. With 3 more kids non-fiction, that means my total ‘adult’ reading was 23 books with my top three genres being mystery/thriller and fiction with 5 each, and non-fiction with 4. The rest of the categories were inspirational, plays, historical fiction, and poetry. I also watched 1 bookish movie, Fences (I read the play in January).
In my quest to finish a book a day this year, by the end of April I’d finished 140 books and 3 bookish movies in 120 days. Obviously, I’m thrilled that this has been doable. It felt like such a huge goal at the beginning of the year and at this point it feels like a way of life 🙂 Picture books have been such a fun surprise for me. The more we read for homeschool the more I fall in love with them. Go check out a stack of kids books from your library and (I recommend putting everything by Virginia Hamilton on hold that they have) and spend a day being a kid again. I read 5 of her black folktale picture books this month and they were entertaining and educational.
My 5 Favorites in April
Because I pretty much love everything he writes. This was the first in a series about Win, who we know from the Myron Bolitar series. It’s a fast, witty read that was hard to put down. More here.This was our book club pick this month and I loved it. So many triggers to turn people away, but if you love dark and twisty and are willing to feel uncomfortable this is a great debut thriller about motherhood. More here. I loved this historical fiction about Lucy Stone the 1800’s fighter for African-American and women’s rights. A great look at the trailblazers of the time told with heart. More here.A series of essays about America and the values its citizens share. An uplifting book for divided times. More here.I used this book of quotes from Oprah’s interviews for my morning reading for the month and always felt a little more centered and ready to tackle the day. Would make a great gift 🙂 More here.
At the beginning of every month I compile a stack of books for the month. I don’t always stick to it (in April I read 20 of the 30 – not bad), but I feel better with a smaller stack to choose from on a daily basis. It also makes me add some healthy reading, not just all fluff. This month I put them on my new office rug. I got it from Etsy and it makes me happy 🙂
This last week of April reading had been fantastic! Seven books – 1 play, 1 inspirational, 1 thriller, 1 kids fiction, 1 fiction, 1 historical fiction, 1 non-fiction/current affairs. I was all over the genres and it worked 🙂
Listed in the order I liked them best with my Instagram thoughts posted.
Leaving Coy’s Hill is my last book of April and one of my favorites! Lucy Stone isn’t a trailblazer I knew anything about, except to hear her named linked to Susan B Anthony or Elizabeth Stanton. Do yourself a favor and get your hands on this one when it comes out next week (May 4).
Lucy, raised by an abolitionist father, became a skilled orator as she paid her own way through Oberlin in in the mid 1800s. Her skills caught the eye of William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglas and she began touring the northeast for their anti-slavery group. Her experiences led her to start fighting for women’s rights as well.
This is a work of fiction, based on real people and facts. I loved every page and have already done some quick reading on Lucy and her family, so it inspired me to want to know more. I was swept up in the time period and what is was like for women at the time. I’m so glad that I read more about the women and men fighting the good fight for blacks and women when it was dangerous to do so. An immensely readable and inspiring novel.
This was my morning reading for over a month. Some mornings I only had time to read two pages, sometimes more, but my day was better either way. I always found ideas and thoughts to add to my journal.
After 200 interviews for her Sunday show, Oprah decided to compile a book with quotes or parts of interviews broken into 10 areas, like intention, forgiveness, and fulfillment. Some of the speakers that went into my journaling were Father Richard Rogers, Deepak Chopra, Thomas Moore, Devon Franklin, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, Elizabeth Gilbert, Geneen Roth, Glennon Doyle, and many others. You can slide through some random pages I flipped through to take a look.
It’s a beautiful, heartfelt book that’s good for the soul AND would make a great Mother’s Day gift 🌷
I saw the 1957 movie, years ago, and was pleasantly surprised that I liked this at least as much. I’d like to see the movie again and do a comparison. The playwright, Rose, wrote the adapted screenplay so it’s probably as true as it can be to the play. My initial thought is that reading it was much easier to digest than the fighting and arguing over each other of the film.
Twelve men walk into a jury room charged with deciding whether a 16 year old boy lives or dies. Initially, only juror 8 (you never learn their names) is the only one who votes not guilty and he’s not even claiming the boy is innocent. Jeers, jokes, and fights ensue. What does it mean to be a juror in the American justice system? Is there justice in the system? Can regular citizens be expected to set aside prejudices and do the right thing (whatever that may be)?
This should be required reading for all and at 74 pages it will only take an hour or two, even less time than it would to watch the movie. A look at prejudice and faith in the ideals of America.
Before there was Nomadland the Oscar winning movie there was Nomadland:Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder. Older Americans, lost in the shuffle of a changing economy, are forced into making choices they never thought they would be forced to make, including getting rid of their biggest expense, their home. They move about the country in whatever kind of mobile home they could afford, finding jobs by companies that seem intent on taking advantage of them.
These people lived sometimes day to day, finding a place to move their vehicle and having enough food to eat. There is a subculture that Bruder covers well.
My greatest anger was at some of these employers who clearly take advantage of people who have no where else to go. Although Amazon stories have been told there are many others using this mostly older demographic as cheap labor.
While some chose this way of life or learned to embrace the perceived freedom, it was still a sad book. The people were resilient, but we have failed them as a country, vilifying instead of making their lives a little easier.
I both read and listened and much preferred reading. I liked the book but felt it could have been a bit shorter.
I read the last Virginia Hamilton book I have checked out of the library, Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales, illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon. If you are reading your children fairy tales, please make sure you add a Hamilton book or two to your list. These are so rich in history, which she does a great job of explaining in a paragraph or two at the end of each chapter, and so different that every child should be to exposed to them. Obviously, when they are of fairy tale age, but also at the time that slavery is introduced in their learning. These stories were passed down from slaves and Virginia makes them easier to read and understand.
Loved this 112 page book of 19 stories as much as I have loved all of her others.
So, I read this book in my early 20s and fell in love with Jon and his journey to perfection, or Heaven. I’d never read anything like it. Reading it again in my late 40s, having more than doubled the age when I first read it, I’m less enamored with the tale, but still loved its lightness and spiritual exploration. Definitely a fantastical tale worth an hour of your reading time. Your day will be enriched.
Have you read this classic? What did you think of it?
This is the book that the second Jack Reacher movie was based on and,no surprise, many changes were made. This is the 18th book in the series and the first one with a hint of Reacher showing positive feelings for a happily ever after or kids. He’s also been recommissioned back into the Army.
This is not the first book to try if you haven’t read the others, too many anomalies from the first 17. But if you’ve read the series it was a fun diversion. I’ve grown to really like Dick Hill’s narration of Reacher and enjoy listening as much as reading these books.
You know the drill, add your 5 words (or less!) to mine in a comment and earn $1 for charity. Once we get to $100 the person with the most reviews will choose the charity. Click here to see the past winners, the charities they chose and the other reviews you can add to. Anyone is welcome to join in at any time. Click here to see past movie posts.
So have you read any of these? What did you think?
Fences, 2016 with Denzel Washington and Viola Davis. I read the August Wilson play in January and loved it. This was good too, but different. I’ll be writing a post comparing the two next week. Viola Davis won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for this role. Jason and I watched this on our ‘date night’. Not recommended unless you’d like to spend the rest of the evening talking it out while feeling a heavy sense of sadness.The Push by Ashley Audrain. The Push was our book club choice for the month and it generated some very strong feelings. Personally, disturbing as it was, this was a great book. It’s a complicated story about motherhood, all of the ugly parts no one talks about and the absolute highs when you are exactly the mother you thought you’d be.
Blythe comes from generations of bad mothers. The stories of her mother and grandmother are interspersed throughout the novel. Blythe falls in love, gets married and is nervous to start a family of her own. Motherhood comes and I’ll tell you no more.
This debut novel is well written, perfectly paced, and hard to put down. But it’s not an easy read. It’s difficult at times to take in what’s happening and I think a lot of women could be upset by much of what happens. It’s a love or hate book for most and I’m standing on the love side.Politically Correct Bedtime Stories by James Finn Garner. I read the oldie but goodie, Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, originally published in 1994. I was happy to see how well these stories held up. My favorite was Little Red Riding Hood so I’ll leave you a few quotes…
“One day her mother asked her to take a basket of fresh fruit and mineral water to her grandmother’s house-not because this was women’s work, mind you, but because the deed was generous and helped engender feelings of community.”
“He burst into the house and ate Grandma, an entirely valid course of action for a carnivore such as himself. Then, not hampered by rigid, traditionalist notions of what was masculine or feminine, he put on Grandma’s nightclothes and crawled into bed.”
I chuckled through all 13 stories.Feels Like Falling by Kristy Woodson Harvey. Feels like Falling should be packed in your summer beach bag. It splits time between two very different women who become friends. One is a recent divorcee and one just left her dead end boyfriend. One is living in one of her million dollar houses for the summer and the other is sleeping in her car. While only 6 years apart the two are decades apart in maturity. I liked it, it tackled serious topics but in a light way, hence the beach recommendation. Gray’s obsession with age got old, but it didn’t ruin the book, just made me like Diana more 😁National Geographic Backyard Guide to the Night Sky. Check out my thoughts form this week here. (Loved it!)The Black Book by Ian Rankin. Rebus is a great detective, so good he often rubs people the wrong way. He’s just been kicked out of his girlfriend’s house and moves back to his apartment, one that’s full of subletting students, and his brother fresh from prison. One of his partners ends up in a coma after investigating a five year old murder, so Rebus takes the reins.
This was not my favorite of the series, it took me too long to get invested, but if you love police procedurals, especially those set in different locales, this is a great series.Ramadan Moon by Na’Ima B Robert. A great, and beautifully illustrated, introduction to Ramadan in a sweet fictional story for kids.Bobbie: The Wonder Dog by Tricia Brown. Bobbie the Wonder Dog: A True Story starts in 1923 Oregon. On a trip to visit family in Indiana the family dog, Bobbie,runs away. The family is sad to have to leave before finding him, but 6 months later Bobbie shows up at their restaurant back in Oregon, having travelled 2800 miles on his own. He became a countrywide sensation. An adventurous and touching story.
Riding To Washington by Gwenyth Swain. Riding to Washington is about a young white girl’s bus journey to the March on Washington with her dad. She was too little to understand everything and yet was able to convey that she understood the importance of the moment. The author’s father and grandfather made the trip in 1963 and she always imagined what it would have been like to go with them.
Stargazing’s too much fun to leave to astronomers. In these inviting pages, “Night Sky Guy” Andrew Fazekas takes an expert but easygoing approach that will delight would-be astronomers of all levels. Essential information, organized logically, brings the solar system, stars, and planets to life in your own backyard. Start with the easiest constellations and then “star-hop” across the night sky to find others nearby. Learn about the dark side of the moon, how to pick Mars out of a planetary lineup, and which kinds of stars twinkle in your favorite constellations. Hands-on tips and techniques for observing with the naked eye, binoculars, or a telescope help make the most out of sightings and astronomical phenomena such as eclipses and meteor showers. Photographs and graphics present key facts in an easy-to-understand format, explaining heavenly phenomena such as black holes, solar flares, and supernovas. Revised to make skywatching even easier for the whole family, this indispensable guide shines light on the night sky–truly one of the greatest shows on Earth!
Gage wants to be a scientist. He tells me this almost every day. He knows a lot about space and loves it. He tells me this most days too. So, when Trish asked if I wanted to be on the book tour for this book I said YES! as fast as I could. As a matter of fact I said yes before I remembered that I had no interest in space, knowing that I prefer to dig my bare feet in the dirt more than sticking my head up in the clouds. Well, I’m happy to say that this beautiful book is packed with interesting and useful information and I devoured it all.
I kept thinking I was going to wow Gage with my knowledge, like this afternoon when I asked if he knew that the moon was moving farther away from Earth every year. He, of course, already knew this. I was able to surprise him by telling him that Jupiter’s moon Europa is ripe for life. I even managed to correct Jason on a few things and he considers himself fairly well versed. As I was reading in bed this evening Jason walked in and started laughing because it was not the type of book he thought he’d ever see me reading cover to cover. While I don’t that’s the best way to experience it, whatever works for you.
While I learned about our planets, stars, galaxies, comets, constellations and more, at its heart it’s a guide to find all of these things from your backyard. It tells you what’s visible when and whether you can see it with the naked eye or if you might need binoculars or a telescope. It even maps out each season and where’ll you find the constellations from 40 degrees north latitude (NYC, Columbus, Ohio, Denver, Colorado, and Northern California). My favorite chapter was on the moon. There are also sections on how to choose the best equipment and best ways to capture the night skies on camera.
If you or someone you love likes to look at the stars or is interested in space in general this is a perfect gift!
Thanks TLC and Hachette Book Group for getting me the book and National Geographic for making me way smarter 🙂
Highlights of the week… We had a Friends of the Library board meeting in record time and, weather permitting, are going to try an outdoor meeting next month. We did a few last summer and they seemed to work well so I’m hoping this happens. Also related to the Friends I made my first bookselling video to put on FB to see if I could sell some books that way. It was a horrible five minute video, but I learned something new and will try again next week (and I did manage to sell a few books :)).
We bought some yard games and had a few warm days to try them out before the freeze kicked in again (there was snow for a bit yesterday!). My favorite, badminton, came last so we haven’t had a chance to play yet.
Jason is a tennis guy and our favorite player is Rafa Nadal, so I ordered some stuff from his Academy for Jason’s birthday. It FINALLY came a week after his birthday, but it came all the way from Spain and I like to think that Rafa personally tried on the clothes before carefully packing them with love. That’s why it was late, of course, because he’s such a busy man. Don’t even try to convince me otherwise.
This has been a weirdly non-fiction reading week. It’s been nice, but I’m craving a quick thriller or romance! I loved all 13 books I read this week (except for those last 3 kids books, I could have skipped those).
Rather talks about our country’s past, present, and future in relation to freedom, community, exploration, responsibility, and character. It’s about what the country is and what it could be if compromised politicians and non truth tellers get out of the way. It was inspirational and also aspirational and made me feel all of the good feels about our country and a desire to do more to shape its future.
This has been our bedtime family reading. We all really enjoyed it and laughed often. Gage fell for the ‘cliffhanger’ at the end of each chapter forcing us do sneak peeks every night :). He made turn into a book guy yet!
Stine is from Columbus and graduated from Ohio State, a little ahead of my time, but I still loved reading about his time on campus and working on the school magazine, The Sundial. He headed to NYC after that and never looked back. Some of his writing jobs were funny and some seemed way wrong, like writing celebrity interviews that he never conducted, but he paid his dues before hitting the fame train. This was a lot of fun and included lots of photos and original drawings from Stine.
I listened to The Affair by Lee Child, #16 in the Jack Reacher series. I’ve read the series in order, but this is a flashback novel and takes place 6 months before the first book in the series. I always love spending time with Reacher and it was a nice change of pace since he was still in the military.
A woman is murdered in Mississippi near an army base and Reacher is sent undercover to assess the situation. He finds that this isn’t the first murder. Not surprising to any Reacher fan he also ends up under covers with a beautiful woman (with a little too much detail, especially when you’re listening to the audio). After 16 books you finally get the WHY of Reacher leaving the military police.
Another solid entry into the life of Jack Reacher.
A Burning, Megha Majumdar’s debut novel, tells the story of ambition from three different points of view. Set in her homeland of India, the politics were different, but sadly recognizable.
Javan, a Muslim is accused of being a terrorist after posting on Facebook. Lovely is a transgender woman who faces ugliness everyday, but still manages to shine. PT Sir, a gym teacher who becomes ‘important’ by doing things he knows are wrong. All three are connected, but will have very different fates.
I liked quite a lot about this book. I was at different times fascinated by the class structure, rooting for justice, and horrified by the lack of compassion. It left me unsettled, as was its intent I’d guess. If you want to try a different kind of thriller this is a good one!
The Four Doors: A Guide to Joy, Freedom, and a Meaningful Life is written by Richard Paul Evans of The Christmas Box (etc.) fame. It’s based on a talk that he has given to different audiences around the world. There are four doors, choose one or choose them all, each will lead to a richer life. Believe there’s a reason you were born. Free yourself from limitation. Magnify your life. Develop a love-centered map.
I admit that I really didn’t have high hopes for this so I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this short book. He is God centered, but this book didn’t feel church centered. He included quotes from a wide array of unexpected people, like Emerson, Dostoyevsky, Churchill, and Einstein, as well as a multitude of quotes from his books.
He glossed over some things, but in the spirit of an hour or two with an uplifting book that may change your perspective I’m giving it a thumbs up. I really liked it.
Jason and I listened to a little of it together and I read the rest (reading is the way to go on this one). You need to be prepared to just take it in, without getting defensive. That is not to say you have to agree with everything she says (I didn’t) but giving yourself the time and space to reflect on what she says is important.
Why is it so hard to talk about race without people (whites in this case) retreating behind excuses and denials without really taking the time to try and understand? The book is spot on in the things I’ve heard people say, myself included, that completely dismiss racism, whether intentional or not. I am SO GLAD I read this.
This is a book to understand a bit better how our whole way of living here in the States was built and is maintained by at least some level of racism, and how you define racism is important.
It did not make me feel bad about being white. It made see ways that I can be better as a person. We should all strive for more knowledge and perspective.
This is for older elementary as there is lots of reading, but the story, illustrations, and information page at the end are fabulous. It generated discussion all through dinner. Jean Laffite was a privateer (a new term for me) whose ancestors had been kicked out of Europe for being Jewish. He grew up wanting to take out his revenge on Spanish ships on the open seas. And he did. How did this boy from the Caribbean go from thief and slave trader to national hero with a pardon from the President? If you don’t know the story I’m not going to spoil it! We both loved this book.
Art From Her Heart: Folk Artist Clementine Hunter. When Clementine was 50 years old she began painting and eventually became so famous her art was hung in museums.
A fictional story about Shorty, a kid who played in a second line band and learned about dedication, tradition, and love. (Based on the author’s experience)
I always thought Jesse was born in Cleveland, but he didn’t move here until he was 9, even though his middle name is actually Cleveland! When he ran for Ohio State he broke FIVE World RECORDS and tied a sixth all within 45 MINUTES! How is this humanly possibly? Lots of pictures and commentary about his place in the social issues of the time.
Highlights of the week… The rockets with friends got off to a slow start after getting the first rocket ready and realizing that the batteries in the starter no longer worked. Jason went to the closest drug store. When the rocket went off it went so high that we lost it, most likely across the main road. We had more engines and spent the next hour setting off the smaller ones and managed to keep track of the last rocket. I’m having trouble loading the one video I have so I’ll try again later.
It was Jason’s birthday this week and we made him waffles for breakfast and went to a new metropark in the afternoon with my mom that had a street full of blooming cherry blossom trees. So beautiful.
For the first time in about 35 years I wrote poetry. It was an enjoyable and relaxing way to finish a day and I may have to keep at it.
Our library and 7 others closed for a day this week when someone that goes to all 8 branches (delivery or maintenance most likely) tested positive for Covid. They spent a day doing a deep clean and then opened back up. I’m glad that they are choosing to take precautions in addition to mask mandates. I always feel safe when I visit.
And last but not least, with Gonzaga’s meltdown last Monday, GAGE WINS A YES DAY! He’s been coming up with ideas this week, including a family water gun fight before breakfast to start and spending the night in a tent in our yard to end the day. I’ll keep you posted when this day is officially on the calendar, lol.
Currently reading…
Finished this week… (in the order I liked them best linked with my review)
We’re watching the third season of Schitt’s Creek. Such a fun show that guarantees laughs. Because so many people keep talking about Supernatural (all 15 seasons of it) we gave the first few episodes a try last night.
Movies…
Really enjoyed this one!Hm. I spent the second half only half watching while working on a puzzle 🙂
Adult books (reviews 
Kids books (reviews 
Stacy's Books 