Zoe's bookshelf: all en-US Mon, 07 Apr 2025 17:16:39 -0700 60 Zoe's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Part of Your World (Part of Your World, #1)]]> 58706519 A refreshingly modern fairy tale and instantĚýNew York Times bestseller thatĚýLove Hypothesis author Ali Hazelwood hails as "an uplifting, feel-good, romantic read."Ěý After a wild bet, gourmet grilled-cheese sandwich, and cuddle with a baby goat, Alexis Montgomery has had her world turned upside down. The Daniel Grant, a ridiculously hot carpenter who’s ten years younger than her and as casual as they come—the complete opposite of sophisticated city-girl Alexis. And yet their chemistry is undeniable. While her ultra-wealthy parents want her to carry on the family legacy of world-renowned surgeons, Alexis doesn’t need glory or fame. She’s fine with being a “mereâ€� ER doctor. And every minute she spends with Daniel and the tight-knit town where he lives, she’s discovering just what’s really important. Yet letting their relationship become anything more than a short-term fling would mean turning her back on her family and giving up the opportunity to help thousands of people. Bringing Daniel into her world is impossible, and yet she can’t just give up the joy she’s found with him either. With so many differences between them, how can Alexis possibly choose between her world and his?"Abby Jimenez’s words are like fairy dust... they sprinkled humor and warmth all over my life. Pick upĚýPart of Your WorldĚýif you’re looking for an uplifting, feel-good, romantic read—and for a beautiful reminder that we should always try to live the life that makes us the happiest." --Ali Hazelwood, New York Times bestselling author ofĚýThe Love Hypothesis Ěý Book of the Month Club Best Book of the Year finalistĹ·±¦ÓéŔÖ Choice Awards finalistBookPage Magazine Best Books of the YearBooklist Best Romances of the YearSheReads RomanceĚýBook of the YearĚýAwardĚýnomination Ěý]]> 401 Abby Jimenez 1538704366 Zoe 0 currently-reading 4.33 2022 Part of Your World (Part of Your World, #1)
author: Abby Jimenez
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]>
The Third Gilmore Girl 207298106 “Come for the Gilmore Girls anecdotes, stay for the revealing truths about what it takes to build a lifelong career in and out of Hollywood� (The A.V. Club) in this candid and captivating memoir from award-winning and beloved actress Kelly Bishop, spanning her six decades in show business from A Chorus Line, Dirty Dancing, Gilmore Girls, and much more.

Kelly Bishop’s long, storied career has been defined by landmark achievements, from winning a Tony Award for her turn in the original Broadway cast of A Chorus Line to her memorable performance as Jennifer Grey’s mother in Dirty Dancing. But it is probably her iconic role as matriarch Emily in the modern classic Gilmore Girls that cemented her legacy.

Now, Bishop reflects on her remarkable life and looks towards the future with The Third Gilmore Girl. She shares some of her greatest stories and the life lessons she’s learned on her journey. From her early transition from dance to drama, to marrying young to a compulsive gambler, to the losses and achievements she experienced—among them marching for women’s rights and losing her second husband to cancer—Bishop offers a rich, genuine celebration of her life.

Full of witty insights, The Third Gilmore Girl is a warm, unapologetic, and spirited memoir from a woman who has left indelible impressions on her audiences for decades and has no plans on slowing down.]]>
256 Kelly Bishop 1668023776 Zoe 4 4.35 2024 The Third Gilmore Girl
author: Kelly Bishop
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/04
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves:
review:
Great comedic reader, articulate, interesting and poised� just like her character, Emily Gilmore. Thoroughly enjoyed getting to know her better through her audio book. At 81+, Kelly is still going strong!
]]>
The Last Letter 213613851 An alternative cover edition for this ASIN B07FCF2GYW can be found here

Beckett,

If you’re reading this, well, you know the last-letter drill. You made it. I didn’t. Get off the guilt train, because I know if there was any chance you could have saved me, you would have.

I need one thing from you: get out of the army and get to Telluride.

My little sister Ella’s raising the twins alone. She’s too independent and won’t accept help easily, but she has lost our grandmother, our parents, and now me. It’s too much for anyone to endure. It’s not fair.

And here’s the kicker: there’s something else you don’t know that’s tearing her family apart. She’s going to need help.

So if I’m gone, that means I can’t be there for Ella. I can’t help them through this. But you can. So I’m begging you, as my best friend, go take care of my sister, my family.

Please don’t make her go through it alone.

Ryan]]>
434 Rebecca Yarros Zoe 4 4.61 2019 The Last Letter
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/06
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves:
review:

]]>
The Things We Cannot Say 40899464
Since she was nine years old, Alina Dziak knew she would marry her best friend, Tomasz. Now fifteen and engaged, Alina is unconcerned by reports of Nazi soldiers at the Polish border, believing her neighbors that they pose no real threat, and dreams instead of the day Tomasz returns from college in Warsaw so they can be married. But little by little, injustice by brutal injustice, the Nazi occupation takes hold, and Alina’s tiny rural village, its families, are divided by fear and hate. Then, as the fabric of their lives is slowly picked apart, Tomasz disappears. Where Alina used to measure time between visits from her beloved, now she measures the spaces between hope and despair, waiting for word from Tomasz and avoiding the attentions of the soldiers who patrol her parents� farm. But for now, even deafening silence is preferable to grief.

Slipping between Nazi-occupied Poland and the frenetic pace of modern life, Kelly Rimmer creates an emotional and finely wrought narrative that weaves together two women’s stories into a tapestry of perseverance, loyalty, love and honor. The Things We Cannot Say is an unshakable reminder of the devastation when truth is silenced…and how it can take a lifetime to find our voice before we learn to trust it.]]>
448 Kelly Rimmer 1525831518 Zoe 0 currently-reading 4.51 2019 The Things We Cannot Say
author: Kelly Rimmer
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]>
The Berry Pickers 123036004 A four-year-old Mi’kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a tragic mystery that haunts the survivors, unravels a community, and remains unsolved for nearly fifty years.

July 1962. A Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family’s youngest child, vanishes. She is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, sitting on a favorite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain distraught by his sister’s disappearance for years to come.

In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective. Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. As she grows older, Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren’t telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret.

For readers of The Vanishing Half and Woman of Light, this showstopping debut by a vibrant new voice in fiction is a riveting novel about the search for truth, the shadow of trauma, and the persistence of love across time.]]>
307 Amanda Peters 1646221958 Zoe 4 4.04 2023 The Berry Pickers
author: Amanda Peters
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/30
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves:
review:

]]>
<![CDATA[Your Second Life Begins When You Realize You Only Have One]]> 40692329 This enchanting, feel-good novel was a runaway no.1 bestseller in France, parking itself in the top ten for 56 weeks.

"You're probably suffering from a type of acute routinitis."
"A what?"
"Acute routinitis. Finding it hard to feel happy despite an abundance of material wealth, a feeling of disillusionment and lethargy, amongst other things."
"But . . . How do you know all that?"
"I'm a routinologist."
"A routino-what?"

At thirty-eight and a quarter years old, Paris native Camille has everything she needs to be happy: a good job, a loving husband, a wonderful son. Why then does she feel as if happiness has slipped through her fingers? All she wants is to find the path to joy and fulfilment.

When Claude, a Sean Connery look-alike and routinologist, offers his unique advice to help get her there, she seizes the opportunity with both hands.

Camille's journey is full of surprising escapades and richly meaningful lessons, as she sets out to transform her life and realize her dreams one step at a time. . .

'It's obvious why this charming book - funny, sweet and not without a few important happy-life tips - hit number one abroad' Good Housekeeping]]>
261 Raphaëlle Giordano 0143789007 Zoe 4 3.51 2015 Your Second Life Begins When You Realize You Only Have One
author: Raphaëlle Giordano
name: Zoe
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/25
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves:
review:

]]>
<![CDATA[The Situation Room: The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis]]> 198493808
No room better defines American power and its role in the world than the White House Situation Room. And yet, none is more shrouded in secrecy and mystery. Created under President Kennedy, the Sit Room has been the epicenter of crisis management for presidents for more than six decades. Time and again, the decisions made within the Sit Room complex affect the lives of every person on this planet. Detailing close calls made and disasters narrowly averted, THE SITUATION ROOM will take readers through dramatic turning points in a dozen presidential administrations, THE SITUATION ROOM is the definitive, past-the-security-clearance look at the room where it happened, and the people—the famous and those you've never heard of—who have made history within its walls.]]>
368 George Stephanopoulos 1538740761 Zoe 4 4.31 The Situation Room: The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis
author: George Stephanopoulos
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.31
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/25
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves:
review:

]]>
Small Things Like These 59016923 "A hypnotic and electrifying Irish tale that transcends country, transcends time." --Lily King, New York Times bestselling author of Writers & Lovers

Small Things Like These is award-winning author Claire Keegan's landmark new novel, a tale of one man's courage and a remarkable portrait of love and family

It is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man faces into his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church.

Already an international bestseller, Small Things Like These is a deeply affecting story of hope, quiet heroism, and empathy from one of our most critically lauded and iconic writers.]]>
70 Claire Keegan 0802158757 Zoe 4
Highlight:
“concluded that nothing ever did happen again; to each was given days and chances which wouldn’t come back around. And wasn’t it sweet to be where you were and let it remind you of the past for once, despite the upset, instead of always looking on into the mechanics of the days and the trouble ahead, which might never come.�

We all are given opportunities to help others, despite our circumstances. How many of us put self-preservation aside, and do the hard things?]]>
4.23 2021 Small Things Like These
author: Claire Keegan
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/22
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves:
review:
A very fast read, but meaningful story. Although fictional, a man encounters one of the “Magdalene Laundries� operated by the Catholic Church in Ireland for several decades, finally closed in the mid-1990s.These buildings purportedly housed “fallen women� who became pregnant out of wedlocked. Their babies were stolen and sold, and they were forced into hard labor, in filthy conditions, with little food. This story talks about a man named Billy Furlong, who manages coal and wood supplies in a small Irish village. Although not well off himself with a wife, five growing daughters, and working 6+ days a week, Billy feels moved to help.

Highlight:
“concluded that nothing ever did happen again; to each was given days and chances which wouldn’t come back around. And wasn’t it sweet to be where you were and let it remind you of the past for once, despite the upset, instead of always looking on into the mechanics of the days and the trouble ahead, which might never come.�

We all are given opportunities to help others, despite our circumstances. How many of us put self-preservation aside, and do the hard things?
]]>
Sipsworth 125432196 Over the course of two weeks in a small English town, a reclusive widow discovers an unexpected reason to live.


Following the loss of her husband and son, Helen Cartwright returns to the village of her childhood after living abroad for six decades. Her only wish is to die quickly and without fuss. She retreats into her home on Westminster Crescent, becoming a creature of routine and “Each day was an impersonation of the one before with only a slight shuffle—as though even for death there is a queue.�

Then, one cold winter night, a chance encounter with a mouse sets Helen on a surprising journey.


Sipsworth is a reminder that there can be second chances. No matter what we have planned for ourselves, sometimes life has plans of its own. With profound compassion, Simon Van Booy illuminates not only a deep friendship forged between two lonely creatures, but the reverberations of goodness that ripple out from that unique bond.]]>
198 Simon Van Booy 1567927955 Zoe 4 4.39 2024 Sipsworth
author: Simon Van Booy
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/22
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves:
review:
This book gave me feelings like “A Man Called Ove� except this time it is a lonely 83 year old woman who moves back to her English town, after having lived her whole adult life in Australia. We learn that she was widowed, and lost her only son in a tragic accident years earlier. She knows no one and presumedly comes home to die peacefully. However, by happenstance she meets a mouse and becomes his unlikely caregiver. Through this chance meeting, she meets others in her small town and broadens her small life over the course of a week. Charming, sad, warm, funny and ultimately a tale of the power of Community.
]]>
Murder in Old Bombay 53721541 Nominated for an Edgar Award for Best First Novel!In 19th century Bombay, Captain Jim Agnihotri channels his idol, Sherlock Holmes, in Nev March’s Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award-winning debut. In 1892, Bombay is the center of British India. Nearby, Captain Jim Agnihotri lies in Poona military hospital recovering from a skirmish on the wild northern frontier, with little to do but re-read the tales of his idol, Sherlock Holmes, and browse the daily papers. The case that catches Captain Jim's attention is being called the crime of the Two women fell from the busy university’s clock tower in broad daylight. Moved by Adi, the widower of one of the victims � his certainty that his wife and sister did not commit suicide � Captain Jim approaches the Parsee family and is hired to investigate what happened that terrible afternoon.But in a land of divided loyalties, asking questions is dangerous. Captain Jim's investigation disturbs the shadows that seem to follow the Framji family and triggers an ominous chain of events. And when lively Lady Diana Framji joins the hunt for her sisters� attackers, Captain Jim’s heart isn’t safe, either.Based on a true story, and set against the vibrant backdrop of colonial India, Nev March's Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award-winning lyrical debut, Murder in Old Bombay, brings this tumultuous historical age to life.]]> 400 Nev March 1250753775 Zoe 4 4.07 2020 Murder in Old Bombay
author: Nev March
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves:
review:

]]>
The Wedding People 198902277 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250899576.

A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew.

It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.]]>
384 Alison Espach Zoe 5 4.11 2024 The Wedding People
author: Alison Espach
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/10
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves:
review:

]]>
Swan Song (Nantucket, #4) 200497570 In the grand finale of "queen of the beach read" Elin Hilderbrand's beloved Nantucket novels, there's a new couple in town... and they instantly shake things up. Amid the extravagant parties on land and sea, there's trouble on the island, forcing Chief of Police Ed Kapanesh to postpone his retirement and changing the fabric of life on the picturesque island forever...

After thirty-five years serving as the Chief of Police on the island of Nantucket, Ed Kapenash's heart can no longer take the stress. But his plans to retire are thwarted when, with only three days left to serve, he receives a phone call. A 22-million-dollar summer home, recently purchased by the flashy new couple in town, the Richardsons, has burned to the ground. The Richardsons are far from hurt—in fact, they're out on the water, throwing a lavish party on their yacht—but when news of the fire reaches them, they discover that their personal assistant has vanished. The Chief is well-acquainted with the Richardsons, and his daughter is best friends with the now-missing girl, leaving him no choice but to postpone his retirement and take on the double case.

On a small island like Nantucket, the Richardsons shook things up from the second they stepped on to the scene, throwing luxurious parties and doing whatever they could to gain admittance to the coveted lunches at the Field & Oar Club (with increasing desperation). They instantly captured the attention of local real estate agent Fast Eddie, and the town gossip Blond Sharon, both dealing with their own personal dramas. Blond Sharon is going through a divorce, and in order to avoid becoming a cliché, she's enrolled in a creative writing class, putting her natural affinity for scandal towards a more noble purpose. To solve the case of the fire and track down his daughter's best friend, the Chief will have to string together the pieces of the lives of all of these characters and more, rallying his strength for his final act of service to the tight-knit community he knows and loves.

The last of Elin Hilderbrand's bestselling Nantucket novels, Swan Song is a propulsive medley of glittering gatherings, sun-soaked drama, wisdom and heart, featuring the return of some of her most beloved characters, including, most importantly, the beautiful and timeless island of Nantucket itself.]]>
400 Elin Hilderbrand 0316259705 Zoe 4 4.28 2024 Swan Song (Nantucket, #4)
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/06
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves:
review:

]]>
Old God's Time 61912531 From the two-time Booker Prize finalist author, a dazzlingly written novel exploring love, memory, grief, and long-buried secrets

Recently retired policeman Tom Kettle is settling into the quiet of his new home, a lean-to annexed to a Victorian castle overlooking the Irish Sea. For months he has barely seen a soul, catching only glimpses of his eccentric landlord and a nervous young mother who has moved in next door. Occasionally, fond memories return, of his family, his beloved wife June and their two children, Winnie and Joe.

But when two former colleagues turn up at his door with questions about a decades-old case, one which Tom never quite came to terms with, he finds himself pulled into the darkest currents of his past.

A beautiful, haunting novel, in which nothing is quite as it seems, Old God's Time is about what we live through, what we live with, and what may survive of us.]]>
269 Sebastian Barry 0593296117 Zoe 4 4.10 2023 Old God's Time
author: Sebastian Barry
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/23
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves:
review:

]]>
Never Lie 62080187
But when they visit the remote manor that once belonged to Dr. Adrienne Hale, a renowned psychiatrist who vanished without a trace four years earlier, a violent winter storm traps them at the estate� with no chance of escape until the blizzard comes to an end.

In search of a book to keep her entertained until the snow abates, Tricia happens upon a secret room. One that contains audio transcripts from every single patient Dr. Hale has ever interviewed. As Tricia listens to the cassette tapes, she learns about the terrifying chain of events leading up to Dr. Hale’s mysterious disappearance.

Tricia plays the tapes one by one, late into the night. With each one, another shocking piece of the puzzle falls into place, and Dr. Adrienne Hale’s web of lies slowly unravels.

And then Tricia reaches the final cassette.

The one that reveals the entire horrifying truth.]]>
286 Freida McFadden Zoe 5 4.09 2022 Never Lie
author: Freida McFadden
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/02/20
shelves:
review:
A great psychological thriller filled with twists and turns, romance, setting and interesting characters. At first I liked some of them, disliked and distrusted others, switched around my feelings based on more of the story� who killed Dr Adrienne Hale and why? Is Ethan a devoted husband or crazed killer? Back and forth between coincidence and planned events. I didn’t guess the ending.
]]>
Homegoing 27071490 An alternate cover edition can be found here.

A novel of breathtaking sweep and emotional power that traces three hundred years in Ghana and along the way also becomes a truly great American novel. Extraordinary for its exquisite language, its implacable sorrow, its soaring beauty, and for its monumental portrait of the forces that shape families and nations, Homegoing heralds the arrival of a major new voice in contemporary fiction.

Two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, are born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman and lives in comfort in the palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle. Unbeknownst to Effia, her sister, Esi, is imprisoned beneath her in the castle's dungeons, sold with thousands of others into the Gold Coast's booming slave trade, and shipped off to America, where her children and grandchildren will be raised in slavery. One thread of Homegoing follows Effia's descendants through centuries of warfare in Ghana, as the Fante and Asante nations wrestle with the slave trade and British colonization. The other thread follows Esi and her children into America. From the plantations of the South to the Civil War and the Great Migration, from the coal mines of Pratt City, Alabama, to the jazz clubs and dope houses of twentieth-century Harlem, right up through the present day, Homegoing makes history visceral, and captures, with singular and stunning immediacy, how the memory of captivity came to be inscribed in the soul of a nation.

Generation after generation, Yaa Gyasi's magisterial first novel sets the fate of the individual against the obliterating movements of time, delivering unforgettable characters whose lives were shaped by historical forces beyond their control. Homegoing is a tremendous reading experience, not to be missed, by an astonishingly gifted young writer.]]>
305 Yaa Gyasi Zoe 3 4.48 2016 Homegoing
author: Yaa Gyasi
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/20
date added: 2025/02/20
shelves:
review:
I really wanted to give this a higher rating, the prose was captivating(I listened in audio), however, maybe because of the numerous characters, their difficult to remember names, and abrupt Segway to other characters, I completely lost the thread of how they were related to one another. It was just too complicated and long for me. Maybe reading it would have served me better?
]]>
How to Read a Book 62365896 A charming, deeply moving novel about second chances, unlikely friendships, and the life-changing power of sharing stories.

Our Reasons meet us in the morning and whisper to us at night. Mine is an innocent, unsuspecting, eternally sixty-one-year-old woman named Lorraine Daigle�

Violet Powell, a twenty-two-year-old from rural Abbott Falls, Maine, is being released from prison after serving twenty-two months for a drunk-driving crash that killed a local kindergarten teacher. Harriet Larson, a retired English teacher who runs the prison book club, is facing the unsettling prospect of an empty nest. Frank Daigle, a retired machinist, hasn’t yet come to grips with the complications of his marriage to the woman Violet killed.

When the three encounter each other one morning in a bookstore in Portland—Violet to buy the novel she was reading in the prison book club before her release, Harriet to choose the next title for the women who remain, and Frank to dispatch his duties as the store handyman—their lives begin to intersect in transformative ways.

How to Read a Book Ěýis an unsparingly honest and profoundly hopeful story about letting go of guilt, seizing second chances, and the power of books to change our lives. With the heart, wit, grace, and depth of understanding that has characterized her work, Monica Wood illuminates the decisions that define a life and the kindnesses that make life worth living.Ěý .Ěý]]>
288 Monica Wood 0063243679 Zoe 4 4.21 2024 How to Read a Book
author: Monica Wood
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/16
date added: 2025/02/20
shelves:
review:
Really enjoyed this book about the power of friendship - especially when the friendships are formed out of necessity in a prison, or through a bookstore and a kind retired teacher. The prose, kindness, insight, laughter and sadness made you feel invested in these characters. I learned a lot about prison life, parrots, forgiveness (even when the crime seems unforgivable), and how to view people through more of an open lens.
]]>
<![CDATA[KIDRAWN! Animals Vol.1 (KIDRAWN! How To Draw Books For Kids)]]> 223256558 40 John Sutton Zoe 5 5.00 KIDRAWN! Animals Vol.1 (KIDRAWN! How To Draw Books For Kids)
author: John Sutton
name: Zoe
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/03
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves:
review:
As an adult, I am probably Not the “target market� for this book, however, it was perfect for me! I never learned to draw as a child, and am always frustrated trying to draw. Mr Sutton’s book provided step-by-step instructions on how to draw many common animals. It was easy to follow and Fun! I have gifted to several friends� children.
]]>
<![CDATA[The Girl with the Louding Voice]]> 50214741 All you have are your words.

Adunni is a fourteen-year-old Nigerian girl who knows what she wants: an education.

As the only daughter of a broke father, she is a valuable commodity. Removed from school and sold as a third wife to an old man, Adunni's life amounts to this: four goats, two bags of rice, some chickens and a new TV. When unspeakable tragedy swiftly strikes in her new home, she is secretly sold as a domestic servant to a household in the wealthy enclaves of Lagos, where no one will talk about the strange disappearance of her predecessor, Rebecca. No one but Adunni...

As a yielding daughter, a subservient wife, and a powerless servant, fourteen-year-old Adunni is repeatedly told that she is nothing. But Adunni won't be silenced. She is determined to find her voice - in a whisper, in song, in broken English - until she can speak for herself, for the girls like Rebecca who came before, and for all the girls who will follow.

]]>
371 Abi Daré 1524746029 Zoe 5 4.40 2020 The Girl with the Louding Voice
author: Abi Daré
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2022/10/28
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves:
review:
This book should be listened to in audible to hear the Nigerian dialect and intonation of all the feelings expressed�. Pain, fear, frustration, anger, hopelessness, determination, heart-break, hope. Hard to believe that there are still so many areas of the world, in this case from rural villages in Nigeria to modern city, where servitude still exists even though slavery was banned a couple of decades ago! As you listen to Adunni’s voice, you can imagine being in her shoes, although 99% of us will never have the slightest idea of what life was/is like in her shoes. Spectacular descriptive imagery and poignant story that needs to be heard!
]]>
<![CDATA[The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Harold Fry, #1)]]> 36515116
Harold pens a quick reply and, leaving Maureen to her chores, heads to the corner mailbox. But then, as happens in the very best works of fiction, Harold has a chance encounter, one that convinces him that he absolutely must deliver his message to Queenie in person. And thus begins the unlikely pilgrimage at the heart of Rachel Joyce’s remarkable debut. Harold Fry is determined to walk six hundred miles from Kingsbridge to the hospice in Berwick-upon-Tweed because, he believes, as long as he walks, Queenie Hennessey will live.

Still in his yachting shoes and light coat, Harold embarks on his urgent quest across the countryside. Along the way he meets one fascinating character after another, each of whom unlocks his long-dormant spirit and sense of promise. Memories of his first dance with Maureen, his wedding day, his joy in fatherhood, come rushing back to him—allowing him to also reconcile the losses and the regrets. As for Maureen, she finds herself missing Harold for the first time in years.

And then there is the unfinished business with Queenie Hennessy.

A novel of unsentimental charm, humor, and profound insight into the thoughts and feelings we all bury deep within our hearts, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry introduces Rachel Joyce as a wise—and utterly irresistible—storyteller.]]>
338 Rachel Joyce Zoe 4
Highlights:
“And what no one else knew was the appalling weight of the thing they were carrying inside. The inhuman effort it took sometimes to be normal, and a part of things that appeared both easy and everyday. The loneliness of that.�
“acknowledging the truth that everyone was the same, and also unique; and that this was the dilemma of being human.�
“He saw that when a person becomes estranged from the things they know, and is a passerby, strange things take on a new significance. And knowing this, it seemed important to allow himself to be true to the instincts that made him Harold, as opposed to anyone else.�
“It was as much of a gift to receive as it was to give, requiring as it did both courage and humility.�
“miss her all the time. I know in my head that she has gone, but I still keep looking. The only difference is that I am getting used to the pain. It’s like discovering a great hole in the ground. To begin with, you forget it’s there and you keep falling in. After a while, it’s still there, but you learn to walk round it.�
“The walk had been an idea inside himself for so long that when other people pledged their belief in it he was touched.�
“No one knew the real truth about why he was walking to Queenie. They had made assumptions. They thought it was a love story, or a miracle, or an act of beauty, or even bravery, but it was none of those things. The discrepancy between what he knew and what other people believed frightened him.�
“Anybody can do what I’m doing. But you have to let go. I didn’t know that at the beginning but now I do. You have to let go of the things you think you need like cash cards and phones and maps and things.�
“I walked because she saved me, and I never said thank you.�
“As I walked, I have been remembering so much. Things I didn’t know I’d forgotten.�
“You got up, and you did something. And if trying to find a way when you don’t even know you can get there isn’t a small miracle; then I don’t know what is.�
“If we can’t be open, Maureen thought, if we can’t accept what we don’t know, there really is no hope.�
“He saw that people would make the decisions they wished to make, and some of them would hurt both themselves and those who loved them, and some would pass unnoticed, while others would bring joy.”]]>
4.19 2012 The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Harold Fry, #1)
author: Rachel Joyce
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/29
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves:
review:
What appears as a lightweight, silly book ends up having a lot of meaning. Loss, loneliness, friendship, frustration, inspiration� some of the “feels�

Highlights:
“And what no one else knew was the appalling weight of the thing they were carrying inside. The inhuman effort it took sometimes to be normal, and a part of things that appeared both easy and everyday. The loneliness of that.�
“acknowledging the truth that everyone was the same, and also unique; and that this was the dilemma of being human.�
“He saw that when a person becomes estranged from the things they know, and is a passerby, strange things take on a new significance. And knowing this, it seemed important to allow himself to be true to the instincts that made him Harold, as opposed to anyone else.�
“It was as much of a gift to receive as it was to give, requiring as it did both courage and humility.�
“miss her all the time. I know in my head that she has gone, but I still keep looking. The only difference is that I am getting used to the pain. It’s like discovering a great hole in the ground. To begin with, you forget it’s there and you keep falling in. After a while, it’s still there, but you learn to walk round it.�
“The walk had been an idea inside himself for so long that when other people pledged their belief in it he was touched.�
“No one knew the real truth about why he was walking to Queenie. They had made assumptions. They thought it was a love story, or a miracle, or an act of beauty, or even bravery, but it was none of those things. The discrepancy between what he knew and what other people believed frightened him.�
“Anybody can do what I’m doing. But you have to let go. I didn’t know that at the beginning but now I do. You have to let go of the things you think you need like cash cards and phones and maps and things.�
“I walked because she saved me, and I never said thank you.�
“As I walked, I have been remembering so much. Things I didn’t know I’d forgotten.�
“You got up, and you did something. And if trying to find a way when you don’t even know you can get there isn’t a small miracle; then I don’t know what is.�
“If we can’t be open, Maureen thought, if we can’t accept what we don’t know, there really is no hope.�
“He saw that people would make the decisions they wished to make, and some of them would hurt both themselves and those who loved them, and some would pass unnoticed, while others would bring joy.�
]]>
Here One Moment 208894791 If you knew your future, would you try to fight fate?

Aside from a delay, there will be no problems. The flight will be smooth, it will land safely. Everyone who gets on the plane will get off. But almost all of them will be forever changed.
Ěý
Because on this ordinary, short, domestic flight, something extraordinary happens. People learn how and when they are going to die. For some, their death is far in the future—age 103!—and they laugh. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are not far away at all.
Ěý
How do they know this? There were ostensibly more interesting people on the flight (the bride and groom, the jittery, possibly famous woman, the giant Hemsworth-esque guy who looks like an off-duty superhero, the frazzled, gorgeous flight attendant) but none would become as famous as “The Death Lady.�
Ěý
Not a single passenger or crew member will later recall noticing her board the plane. She wasn’t exceptionally old or young, rude or polite. She wasn’t drunk or nervous or pregnant. Her appearance and demeanor were unremarkable. But what she did on that flight was truly remarkable.
Ěý
A few months later, one passenger dies exactly as she predicted. Then two more passengers die, again, as she said they would. Soon no one is thinking this is simply an entertaining story at a cocktail party.
Ěý
If you were told you only had a certain amount of time left to live, would you do things differently? Would you try to dodge your destiny?
Ěý
Liane Moriarty’s Here One Moment is a brilliantly constructed tale that looks at free will and destiny, grief and love, and the endless struggle to maintainĚýcertainty and control in an uncertain world. A modern-day Jane Austen who humorously skewers social mores while spinning a web of mystery, Moriarty asks profound questions in her newest I-can’t-wait-to-find-out-what-happens novel.]]>
505 Liane Moriarty 0593798619 Zoe 5
Highlights:
“Sometimes I worry I’ve lived the last forty years on autopilot,� says Sue, “like I’m always thinking, okay, I’ll just get through this next thing, then I’ll start living: once I’m married, once the baby is born, once this kid sleeps through the night, once this one is at school, once they’ve all finished school, once Christmas is done, once Easter is done, you know how it goes. The hamster wheel.�
“The belief that the probability of future events changes based on past events (assuming those events are independent) is known as the Monte Carlo fallacy, or the gambler’s fallacy�
“Everyone loves a particular version of you and when that person is gone that version goes with them.�
“But that’s the thing about life: both your wildest dreams and your worst nightmares can come true.�
“Was I thinking of death as I boarded the plane and contemplating the fact that everyone on that plane would one day die, and wondering what their causes of death would ultimately be?�
“When you live with someone you love, you share all your most trivial concerns: what time should we eat, what time should we leave, what should we watch, I thought they said that rug would be delivered by now, we’ve run out of black pepper, do I have time for a shower, on and on it goes, an endless daily stream of tiny decisions and opinions and thoughts shared, and you don’t even know it’s keeping you alive.
you must have one person in your life to whom you can complain about the frustration of your local store continually changing the damned location of the damned condiments. (Why? Leave them be!)�
“he decided he would try to find “one good thing� every day and write it down.�

“It is only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on Earth and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up that we begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it were the only one we had. —Elisabeth Kübler-Ros

]]>
4.19 2024 Here One Moment
author: Liane Moriarty
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/20
date added: 2025/01/30
shelves:
review:
This book made me think, as “The Measure� did. But it was also a bit of a thriller. Enjoyed this, as I have many of her other novels! What would you do if a stranger on a plane predicted your time/cause of death?

Highlights:
“Sometimes I worry I’ve lived the last forty years on autopilot,� says Sue, “like I’m always thinking, okay, I’ll just get through this next thing, then I’ll start living: once I’m married, once the baby is born, once this kid sleeps through the night, once this one is at school, once they’ve all finished school, once Christmas is done, once Easter is done, you know how it goes. The hamster wheel.�
“The belief that the probability of future events changes based on past events (assuming those events are independent) is known as the Monte Carlo fallacy, or the gambler’s fallacy�
“Everyone loves a particular version of you and when that person is gone that version goes with them.�
“But that’s the thing about life: both your wildest dreams and your worst nightmares can come true.�
“Was I thinking of death as I boarded the plane and contemplating the fact that everyone on that plane would one day die, and wondering what their causes of death would ultimately be?�
“When you live with someone you love, you share all your most trivial concerns: what time should we eat, what time should we leave, what should we watch, I thought they said that rug would be delivered by now, we’ve run out of black pepper, do I have time for a shower, on and on it goes, an endless daily stream of tiny decisions and opinions and thoughts shared, and you don’t even know it’s keeping you alive.
you must have one person in your life to whom you can complain about the frustration of your local store continually changing the damned location of the damned condiments. (Why? Leave them be!)�
“he decided he would try to find “one good thing� every day and write it down.�

“It is only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on Earth and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up that we begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it were the only one we had. —Elisabeth Kübler-Ros


]]>
Wrong Place Wrong Time 59947696
It is midnight on the morning of Halloween, and Jen anxiously waits up for her 18-year-old son, Todd, to return home. But worries about his broken curfew transform into something much more dangerous when Todd finally emerges from the darkness. As Jen watches through the window, she sees her funny, seemingly happy teenage son stab a total stranger.

She doesn’t know who the victim is, or why Todd has committed such a devastating act of violence. All she knows is that her life, and Todd’s, have been shattered.

After her son is taken into custody, Jen falls asleep in despair. But when she wakes up� it is yesterday. The murder has not happened yet—and there may be a chance to stop it. Each morning, when Jen wakes, she is further back in the past, first weeks, then years, before the murder. And Jen realizes that somewhere in the past lies the trigger for Todd’s terrible crime…and it is her mission to find it, and prevent it from taking place.]]>
416 Gillian McAllister 0063252341 Zoe 4 3.95 2022 Wrong Place Wrong Time
author: Gillian McAllister
name: Zoe
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/24
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves:
review:

]]>
<![CDATA[The Unhoneymooners (Unhoneymooners, #1)]]> 42201431
Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable, unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from eating bad shellfish, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. And now there’s an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs.

Putting their mutual hatred aside for the sake of a free vacation, Olive and Ethan head for paradise, determined to avoid each other at all costs. But when Olive runs into her future boss, the little white lie she tells him is suddenly at risk to become a whole lot bigger. She and Ethan now have to pretend to be loving newlyweds, and her luck seems worse than ever. But the weird thing is that she doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, she feels kind of... lucky.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781501128035.]]>
432 Christina Lauren 1501128035 Zoe 3 3.88 2019 The Unhoneymooners (Unhoneymooners, #1)
author: Christina Lauren
name: Zoe
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/13
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves:
review:

]]>
The Fountains of Silence 43731174
Master storyteller Ruta Sepetys once again shines light into one of history's darkest corners in this epic, heart-wrenching novel about identity, unforgettable love, repercussions of war, and the hidden violence of silence--inspired by the true postwar struggles of Spain.

Includes vintage media reports, oral history commentary, photos, and more.
--penguinrandomhousehighereducation.com]]>
512 Ruta Sepetys 0698174518 Zoe 5
From The Author’s Notes:

“The Spanish Civil War and the ensuing thirty-six-year dictatorship of Francisco Franco are, of course, very real.
History reveals that, amidst war, the highest tolls are often paid by the youngest. Helpless children and teenagers become innocent victims of wretched violence and ideological pressure. Some in Spain were orphaned or separated from their families. Others, like Rafa and Fuga, were sent to social aid “homes,� where they were fed a steady diet of torture. During the postwar period and dictatorship in Spain, young people were left amidst the wreckage to navigate an inheritance of heartache and responsibility for events they had no role in causing. The young adult narrative is what I chose to represent in the story—innocent youths who, instead of pursuing hopes and dreams, became fountains of silence.�
“Studies estimate that over three hundred thousand children in Spain were possibly stolen from their birth parents and transferred or sold to families deemed “less degenerate.� The adoptions and thefts began in 1939 and lasted into the 1980s. During and after the Civil War, some infants were taken as punishment to those who opposed Franco.�

This story captures the oppression of so many in Madrid, and especially the poor surrounding small towns, during Franco’s long reign. The author paints a vivid portrait of daily life told through the young people of Ana, a pretty Spanish housekeeper at the esteemed Hotel Castellana Hilton(where after years of isolation, select industries…tourism, motion pictures, oil, have been invited from America); Julia, the matriarch of Ana’s fractured family, trying to raise her own with few pesatas; Rafa, Ana and Julia’s brother, previously imprisoned and tortured by the Guardia Civil, who still believes in a brighter future; Daniel, the handsome 19year old wealthy Texan wanna-be photographer visiting with his family; Ben, a journalist capturing stories and Dan’s unofficial mentor; Miguel, the kind and introspective camera shop owner; Purificacion â€Puriâ€�, Ana’s adopted cousin and inquisitive employee at the orphanage, trying to live the “rightâ€� fascist life; Sister Hortensia, the stern nun at the orphanage; Fuga, the dark bullfighter “El Toreroâ€�; and a cast of other interesting characters. Interspersed between chapters are real excerpts from historical letters of Presidents, Foreign affairs offices which provide background of how America viewed/interacted with Spain during these years.
I became enthralled in the love story, the desperation of these young people, the secrets, the art, the longing. I felt short-changed when the story took a leap of 18 years ahead, but realized it was necessary to complete the saga.

Imagery:
“They stand in line for blood. The blood will be used for morcilla, blood sausage.�
“…it was a hell-hole, a slaughterhouse of souls.�



]]>
4.35 2019 The Fountains of Silence
author: Ruta Sepetys
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/11
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves:
review:
I knew very little about the Spanish Civil war and Franco’s regime during the mid-late 1900s.

From The Author’s Notes:

“The Spanish Civil War and the ensuing thirty-six-year dictatorship of Francisco Franco are, of course, very real.
History reveals that, amidst war, the highest tolls are often paid by the youngest. Helpless children and teenagers become innocent victims of wretched violence and ideological pressure. Some in Spain were orphaned or separated from their families. Others, like Rafa and Fuga, were sent to social aid “homes,� where they were fed a steady diet of torture. During the postwar period and dictatorship in Spain, young people were left amidst the wreckage to navigate an inheritance of heartache and responsibility for events they had no role in causing. The young adult narrative is what I chose to represent in the story—innocent youths who, instead of pursuing hopes and dreams, became fountains of silence.�
“Studies estimate that over three hundred thousand children in Spain were possibly stolen from their birth parents and transferred or sold to families deemed “less degenerate.� The adoptions and thefts began in 1939 and lasted into the 1980s. During and after the Civil War, some infants were taken as punishment to those who opposed Franco.�

This story captures the oppression of so many in Madrid, and especially the poor surrounding small towns, during Franco’s long reign. The author paints a vivid portrait of daily life told through the young people of Ana, a pretty Spanish housekeeper at the esteemed Hotel Castellana Hilton(where after years of isolation, select industries…tourism, motion pictures, oil, have been invited from America); Julia, the matriarch of Ana’s fractured family, trying to raise her own with few pesatas; Rafa, Ana and Julia’s brother, previously imprisoned and tortured by the Guardia Civil, who still believes in a brighter future; Daniel, the handsome 19year old wealthy Texan wanna-be photographer visiting with his family; Ben, a journalist capturing stories and Dan’s unofficial mentor; Miguel, the kind and introspective camera shop owner; Purificacion â€Puriâ€�, Ana’s adopted cousin and inquisitive employee at the orphanage, trying to live the “rightâ€� fascist life; Sister Hortensia, the stern nun at the orphanage; Fuga, the dark bullfighter “El Toreroâ€�; and a cast of other interesting characters. Interspersed between chapters are real excerpts from historical letters of Presidents, Foreign affairs offices which provide background of how America viewed/interacted with Spain during these years.
I became enthralled in the love story, the desperation of these young people, the secrets, the art, the longing. I felt short-changed when the story took a leap of 18 years ahead, but realized it was necessary to complete the saga.

Imagery:
“They stand in line for blood. The blood will be used for morcilla, blood sausage.�
“…it was a hell-hole, a slaughterhouse of souls.�




]]>
On Beauty 57939765 Winner of the 2006 Orange Prize for fiction, another bestselling masterwork from the celebrated author of Swing Time and White Teeth

Having hit bestseller lists from the New York Times to the San Francisco Chronicle, this wise, hilarious novel reminds us why Zadie Smith has rocketed to literary stardom. On Beauty is the story of an interracial family living in the university town of Wellington, Massachusetts, whose misadventures in the culture wars—on both sides of the Atlantic—serve to skewer everything from family life to political correctness to the combustive collision between the personal and the political. Full of dead-on wit and relentlessly funny, this tour de force confirms Zadie Smith's reputation as a major literary talent.]]>
473 Zadie Smith Zoe 4 3.99 2005 On Beauty
author: Zadie Smith
name: Zoe
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/04
date added: 2025/01/04
shelves:
review:

]]>
<![CDATA[Tell Me Everything (Amgash, #5)]]> 204811915 People) of a novel about new friendships, old loves, and the very human desire to leave a mark on the world.

With her remarkable insight into the human condition and silences that contain multitudes, Elizabeth Strout returns to the town of Crosby, Maine, and to her beloved cast of characters—Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge, Bob Burgess, and more—as they deal with a shocking crime in their midst, fall in love and yet choose to be apart, and grapple with the question, as Lucy Barton puts it, “What does anyone’s life mean?�

It’s autumn in Maine, and the town lawyer Bob Burgess has become enmeshed in an unfolding murder investigation, defending a lonely, isolated man accused of killing his mother. He has also fallen into a deep and abiding friendship with the acclaimed writer Lucy Barton, who lives down the road in a house by the sea with her ex-husband, William. Together, Lucy and Bob go on walks and talk about their lives, their fears and regrets, and what might have been. Lucy, meanwhile, is finally introduced to the iconic Olive Kitteridge, now living in a retirement community on the edge of town. They spend afternoons together in Olive’s apartment, telling each other stories. Stories about people they have known—“unrecorded lives,� Olive calls them—reanimating them, and, in the process, imbuing their lives with meaning.

Brimming with empathy and pathos, Tell Me Everything is Elizabeth Strout operating at the height of her powers, illuminating the ways in which our relationships keep us afloat. As Lucy says, “Love comes in so many different forms, but it is always love.”]]>
326 Elizabeth Strout 0593446097 Zoe 4 4.00 2024 Tell Me Everything (Amgash, #5)
author: Elizabeth Strout
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/03
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves:
review:

]]>
Pike's Path 220949167
Meanwhile, in a nearby suburban neighborhood, the Pike family grapples with their own challenges. Billy Pike, a middle-class man embittered by life's hands, faces a pivotal moment with his son Trey, who has long been a source of strife. As Trey stands at a crossroads, Billy finds himself drawn to the Patriots for Freedom, a potentially dangerous group led by Hank Foster.

Caught between family loyalty and external influences, Billy's decisions carry profound consequences for himself and those around him. Will he succumb to the allure of the Patriots, risking everything he holds dear? And what path will his troubled son choose?]]>
133 Bland Weaver Zoe 5 5.00 Pike's Path
author: Bland Weaver
name: Zoe
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/17
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves:
review:
4 1/2 stars for a first novel! Great thought-provoking novel about many items that concern us�. Racism, mental health, gun control, social issues, the education system, healthcare, controversial political groups, family dynamics, among some of them. Mr Weaver is a gifted writer who intersperses colloquial expressions, which many of us grew up with, along with terse “teen speak�. His knowledge of the central Virginia area, the book’s setting, makes it easy to visualize the characters and their surroundings. I enjoyed the character development and the insight to their thoughts. He crafts the book so that the reader is always guessing “Who is it?� and “What will happen next?�. A book I didn’t want to end, after watching how the central family came together. Looking forward to the next one!
]]>
The Lost Story 199928985 The Chronicles of Narnia, this wild and wondrous novel is a fairy tale for grown-ups who still knock on the back of wardrobes—just in case—from the author of The Wishing Game.

As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West Virginia state forest, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they’d gone or how they’d survived.

Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Rafe is a reclusive artist who still bears scars inside and out but has no memory of what happened during those months. Meanwhile, Jeremy has become a famed missing persons� investigator. With his uncanny abilities, he is the one person who can help vet tech Emilie Wendell find her sister, who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy.

Jeremy alone knows the fantastical truth about the disappearances, for while the rest of the world was searching for them, the two missing boys were in a magical realm filled with impossible beauty and terrible danger. He believes it is there that they will find Emilie’s sister. However, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark since their return for his own inscrutable reasons. But the time for burying secrets comes to an end as the quest for Emilie’s sister begins. The former lost boys must confront their shared past, no matter how traumatic the memories.

Alongside the headstrong Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy must return to the enchanted world they called home for six months—for only then can they get back everything and everyone they’ve lost.]]>
336 Meg Shaffer 0593598881 Zoe 5
“All books are magic. An object that can take you to another world without even leaving your room? A story written by a stranger and yet it seems they wrote it just for you or to you? Loving and hating people made out of ink and paper, not flesh and blood? Yes, books are magic. Maybe even the strongest magic there is.”]]>
3.89 2024 The Lost Story
author: Meg Shaffer
name: Zoe
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/26
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves:
review:
Just a “feel good� adult fairytale loosely based on one of my favorites, “Chronicles of Narnia�. If you just want to be enveloped in a warm story with characters you will enjoy, this is a good one! Part mystery, part fantasy, sprinkled with relevant subjects of abuse, mental health, etc. I loved getting to know Jeremy, Rafe, Emilie and Skya, and all their magical animal-friends.

“All books are magic. An object that can take you to another world without even leaving your room? A story written by a stranger and yet it seems they wrote it just for you or to you? Loving and hating people made out of ink and paper, not flesh and blood? Yes, books are magic. Maybe even the strongest magic there is.�
]]>
<![CDATA[The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet]]> 55145261 A deeply moving and mind-expanding collection of personal essays in the first ever work of non-fiction from #1 internationally bestselling author John Green

The Anthropocene is the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his ground-breaking, critically acclaimed podcast, John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet - from the QWERTY keyboard and Halley's Comet to Penguins of Madagascar - on a five-star scale.

Complex and rich with detail, the Anthropocene's reviews have been praised as 'observations that double as exercises in memoiristic empathy', with over 10 million lifetime downloads. John Green's gift for storytelling shines throughout this artfully curated collection about the shared human experience; it includes beloved essays along with six all-new pieces exclusive to the book.]]>
304 John Green 0525555218 Zoe 4 4.37 2021 The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet
author: John Green
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/05
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves:
review:
John Green is a gifted young adult fiction author, “The Fault in Our Stars� “Turtles All the Wat Down�, etc. so I was interested to hear his personally narrated essays. He covers many topics centers around the Anthropocene argument, “Scientists contend that the pervasive and irreversible signatures of human activity on Earth's geology warrant recognition of new epoch of Geological Time. Alexander Wolfe (right) took core samples from various lakes around the world for his contribution to the study.� Green conveys his personal thoughts about such varied subjects and gives them star ratings� Hailey’s Comet, COVID-19, the Indy 500, Gatsby, the QWERTY keyboard, mental health, Canadian geese, Sycamore trees, the largest ball of paint, etc. But what I gleaned from all was� Hope.
]]>
Same As It Ever Was 199344873
She’s unprepared, though, for what comes next: a surprise announcement from her straight-arrow son, an impending separation from her spikey teenaged daughter, and a seductive resurgence of the past, all of which threaten to draw her back into the patterns that had previously kept her on a razor’s edge.

Same As It Ever Was traverses the rocky terrain of real life, —exploring new avenues of maternal ambivalence, intergenerational friendship, and the happenstantial cause-and-effect that governs us all. Delving even deeper into the nature of relationships—how they grow, change, and sometimes end—Lombardo proves herself a true and definitive cartographer of the human heart and asserts herself among the finest novelists of her generation.]]>
498 Claire Lombardo 0385549555 Zoe 4 3.82 2024 Same As It Ever Was
author: Claire Lombardo
name: Zoe
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/23
date added: 2024/12/23
shelves:
review:

]]>
The Wrong Daughter 199551453
“Do you have a sister, Ms. Fairview?� The little girl’s question, in all its buttery innocence, slices through me, and the answer catches in my throat. It isn’t as simple as yes or no. It hasn’t been, in nearly sixteen years.

The evening Caitlin and Olivia's parents leave them to go to a dinner party, both girls are bubbling with excitement. At ages 10 and 13, they are at last old enough to stay home alone. After all, in their idyllic town no one even bothers to lock their doors.

As the summer light fades, after TV and popcorn, the sisters finally put themselves to bed. They’re unaware of the figure watching them through an open window. Or of the back door opening once they’ve fallen asleep.

When their parents return, they will find Olivia's bed empty. Their golden-haired, long-limbed, eldest daughter gone. Never to return. Until now.

But is the woman who claims to be Olivia all she seems? Is everything Caitlin said she saw that night the whole truth? Their family have dreamed of this moment, but both sisters are keeping more than one secret. What price will they all pay if they end up believing the wrong daughter?]]>
353 Dandy Smith 1471414639 Zoe 4 4.03 2024 The Wrong Daughter
author: Dandy Smith
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/12
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves:
review:

]]>
<![CDATA[Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books]]> 199119054
Beverly Underwood and her arch enemy, Lula Dean, live in the tiny town of Troy, Georgia, where they were born and raised. Now Beverly is on the school board, and Lula has become a local celebrity by embarking on mission to rid the public libraries of all inappropriate books—none of which she’s actually read. To replace the “pornographic� books she’s challenged at the local public library, Lula starts her own lending library in front of her home: a cute wooden hutch with glass doors and neat rows of the worthy literature that she’s sure the town’s readers need.

But Beverly’s daughter Lindsay sneaks in by night and secretly fills Lula Dean’s little free library with banned books wrapped in “wholesome� dust jackets. The Girl’s Guide to the Revolution is wrapped in the cover of The Southern Belle’s Guide to Etiquette. A jacket that belongs to Our Confederate Heroes ends up on Beloved. One by one, neighbors who borrow books from Lula Dean’s library find their lives changed in unexpected ways. Finally, one of Lula Dean’s enemies discovers the library and decides to turn the tables on her, just as Lula and Beverly are running against each other to replace the town’s disgraced mayor.

That’s when all the townspeople who’ve been borrowing from Lula’s library begin to reveal themselves. It’s a diverse and surprising bunch—including the local postman, the prom queen, housewives, a farmer, and the former DA—all of whom have been changed by what they’ve read. When Lindsay is forced to own up to what she’s done, the showdown that’s been brewing between Beverly and Lula will roil the whole town...and change it forever.]]>
301 Kirsten Miller 0063348713 Zoe 5 4.19 2024 Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books
author: Kirsten Miller
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/08
date added: 2024/12/08
shelves:
review:

]]>
The Glassmaker 200468547
It is 1486 and Venice is a wealthy, opulent center for trade. Orsola Rosso is the eldest daughter in a family of glassblowers in Murano, the island revered for the craft. As a woman, she is not meant to work with glass—but she has the hands for it, the heart, and a vision. When her father dies, she teaches herself to make beads in secret, and her work supports the Rosso family fortunes.

Skipping like a stone through the centuries, in a Venice where time moves as slowly as molten glass, we follow Orsola and her family as they live through creative triumph and heartbreaking loss, from a plague devastating Venice to Continental soldiers stripping its palazzos bare, from the domination of Murano and its maestros to the transformation of the city of trade into a city of tourists. In every era, the Rosso women ensure that their work, and their bonds, endure.

Chevalier is a master of her own craft, and The Glassmaker is as inventive as it is a mesmerizing portrait of a woman, a family, and a city that are as everlasting as their glass.]]>
416 Tracy Chevalier 0525558284 Zoe 4
The forward to this book begins, “The City of Water runs by its own clock. Venice and its neighboring islands have always felt frozen in time—and perhaps they are. It is a city built on wooden piles over a lagoon, veined with canals, and its aesthetic and much of its exquisite architecture have remained unchanged for hundreds of years. The boats may have engines now, but time still seems to run at a different speed from the outside world. One of Venice’s glittering treasures has for centuries been the glass on its attendant island, Murano. Glass is a peculiar substance, the sand it’s manufactured from magically turning translucent or even transparent when melted.�

It took me several chapters to realize that the author really was using time-travel to illustrate how Venezia and Murano truly were perpetually set in the 15th century, in many respects. Technology advancements were not welcomed by the Rosso glassmaking family and their neighbors. So this “figurative stone� represents Orsolla Rosso’s journey as a teen in 1496 to a woman in her late sixties as the novel closes in -2023.
“If you skim a flat stone skillfully across water, it will touch down many times, in long or short intervals as it lands. With that image in mind, now replace water with time.�
This novel captures Venice’s rich art history, the plagues, poverty, Renaissance, and everything in-between through the eyes of a woman in an established glass-making family. In her time, she was one of only a handful of women allowed into the glass-making business. This novel was a solid 4 1/2 stars for me.

]]>
4.18 2024 The Glassmaker
author: Tracy Chevalier
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/01
date added: 2024/12/01
shelves:
review:
Ever since I read “Girl With a Pearl Earring� I became a fan of Tracy Chevalier. Her prose and flair with words, intricate settings and details make her a gifted writer. I was fortunate enough to visit Venice, Italy for a few days, many many years ago. It is a city unlike any other, as is the small island, -1/2 hour away, known as Murano, where the famed glassblowers originated.

The forward to this book begins, “The City of Water runs by its own clock. Venice and its neighboring islands have always felt frozen in time—and perhaps they are. It is a city built on wooden piles over a lagoon, veined with canals, and its aesthetic and much of its exquisite architecture have remained unchanged for hundreds of years. The boats may have engines now, but time still seems to run at a different speed from the outside world. One of Venice’s glittering treasures has for centuries been the glass on its attendant island, Murano. Glass is a peculiar substance, the sand it’s manufactured from magically turning translucent or even transparent when melted.�

It took me several chapters to realize that the author really was using time-travel to illustrate how Venezia and Murano truly were perpetually set in the 15th century, in many respects. Technology advancements were not welcomed by the Rosso glassmaking family and their neighbors. So this “figurative stone� represents Orsolla Rosso’s journey as a teen in 1496 to a woman in her late sixties as the novel closes in -2023.
“If you skim a flat stone skillfully across water, it will touch down many times, in long or short intervals as it lands. With that image in mind, now replace water with time.�
This novel captures Venice’s rich art history, the plagues, poverty, Renaissance, and everything in-between through the eyes of a woman in an established glass-making family. In her time, she was one of only a handful of women allowed into the glass-making business. This novel was a solid 4 1/2 stars for me.


]]>
<![CDATA[The Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games, #1)]]> 52501482
Avery Grambs has a plan for a better survive high school, win a scholarship, and get out. But her fortunes change in an instant when billionaire Tobias Hawthorne dies and leaves Avery virtually his entire fortune. The catch? Avery has no idea why � or even who Tobias Hawthorne is.

To receive her inheritance, Avery must move into sprawling, secret passage-filled Hawthorne House, where every room bears the old man's touch � and his love of puzzles, riddles, and codes. Unfortunately for Avery, Hawthorne House is also occupied by the family that Tobias Hawthorne just dispossessed. This includes the four Hawthorne dangerous, magnetic, brilliant boys who grew up with every expectation that one day, they would inherit billions. Heir apparent Grayson Hawthorne is convinced that Avery must be a conwoman, and he's determined to take her down. His brother, Jameson, views her as their grandfather's last a twisted riddle, a puzzle to be solved. Caught in a world of wealth and privilege, with danger around every turn, Avery will have to play the game herself just to survive.]]>
384 Jennifer Lynn Barnes 1368053246 Zoe 5 4.20 2020 The Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games, #1)
author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/22
date added: 2024/11/22
shelves:
review:

]]>
In Five Years 50093704 Where do you see yourself in five years?

When Type-A Manhattan lawyer Dannie Kohan is asked this question at the most important interview of her career, she has a meticulously crafted answer at the ready. Later, after nailing her interview and accepting her boyfriend's marriage proposal, Dannie goes to sleep knowing she is right on track to achieve her five-year plan.

But when she wakes up, she’s suddenly in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger, and beside a very different man. The television news is on in the background, and she can just make out the scrolling date. It’s the same night—December 15—but 2025, five years in the future.

After a very intense, shocking hour, Dannie wakes again, at the brink of midnight, back in 2020. She can’t shake what has happened. It certainly felt much more than merely a dream, but she isn’t the kind of person who believes in visions. That nonsense is only charming coming from free-spirited types, like her lifelong best friend, Bella. Determined to ignore the odd experience, she files it away in the back of her mind.

That is, until four-and-a-half years later, when by chance Dannie meets the very same man from her long-ago vision.

Brimming with joy and heartbreak, In Five Years is an unforgettable love story that reminds us of the power of loyalty, friendship, and the unpredictable nature of destiny.]]>
272 Rebecca Serle 1982137444 Zoe 4 The rest of the book is about a dynamic friendship between Dannie and her best friend from childhood: sisterhood, loyalty, laughter, terminal illness, etc.
My takeaway, which we all experience at some point in time�. “Best laid plans rarely work out as expected�.

Where will Dannie really be in 5 years? ]]>
3.74 2020 In Five Years
author: Rebecca Serle
name: Zoe
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/20
date added: 2024/11/20
shelves:
review:
Don’t usually read many of these trite rom-com type of books, but glad I did. Having once been that 20-something, goal-oriented, planner that Dannie is, I quickly got engaged. She’s got an ambitious, like-minded boyfriend, just got a position with a top law firm in NYC, the boyfriend proposes�. And then she has a crazy dream that does not really feel like a dream� showing her in an unfathomable future in 5 years.
The rest of the book is about a dynamic friendship between Dannie and her best friend from childhood: sisterhood, loyalty, laughter, terminal illness, etc.
My takeaway, which we all experience at some point in time�. “Best laid plans rarely work out as expected�.

Where will Dannie really be in 5 years?
]]>
Time's Mouth 58956757
Ursa possesses a very special gift. She can travel through memory and revisit her past. After she flees her hometown for the counterculture glory of 1950’s California, the intoxicating potential of her unique ability eventually draws a group of women into her orbit and into a ramshackle Victorian mansion in the woods outside Santa Cruz. Yet Ursa’s powers come with a cost. Soon this cultish community of sisterhood takes an ominous turn, prompting her son, Ray, and his pregnant lover, Cherry, to flee their home for Los Angeles and reinvent themselves far from Ursa’s insidious influence. But escaping their past won’t be so easy. A series of mysterious events forces Cherry to abandon their baby, leaving Ray to raise Opal alone.

Now a teenager and still heartbroken over the abandonment of the mother she never knew, Opal must journey into her own past to reveal the generations of secrets that gave rise to the shimmering source of her family's painful legacy.

From the forests of Santa Cruz, to the 1980s glam of Melrose Avenue to a solitary mansion among the oil derricks off La Cienega Boulevard, and brimming with the double-edged capacity of memory to both heal and harm, Time’s Mouth is a poignant and evocative excavation of the bonds that bind families together.]]>
400 Edan Lepucki 164009573X Zoe 4 4.03 2023 Time's Mouth
author: Edan Lepucki
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/15
date added: 2024/11/15
shelves:
review:

]]>
<![CDATA[The Black Bird Oracle (All Souls #5)]]> 203788140 Diana Bishop journeys to the darkest places within herself—and her family history—in the highly anticipated fifth novel of the beloved #1 New York Times bestselling All Souls series. Ěý Deborah Harkness first introduced the world to Diana Bishop, Oxford scholar and witch, and vampire geneticist Matthew de Clairmont in A Discovery of Witches. Drawn to each other despite long-standing taboos, these two otherworldly beings found themselves at the center of a battle for a lost, enchanted manuscript known as Ashmole 782. Since then, they have fallen in love, traveled to Elizabethan England, dissolved the Covenant between the three species, and awoken the dark powers within Diana’s family line.Ěý Ěý Now, Diana and Matthew receive a formal demand from the They must test the magic of their seven-year-old twins, Pip and Rebecca. Concerned with their safety and desperate to avoid the same fate that led her parents to spellbind her, Diana decides to forge a different path for her family’s future and answers a message from a great-aunt she never knew existed, Gwyneth Proctor, whose invitation simply It’s time you came home, Diana. On the hallowed ground of Ravenswood, the Proctor family home, and under the tutelage of Gwyneth, a talented witch grounded in higher magic, a new era begins for a confrontation with her family’s dark past, and a reckoning for her own desire for even greater power—if she can let go, finally, of her fear of wielding it.]]> 446 Deborah Harkness 059372478X Zoe 4 4.33 2024 The Black Bird Oracle (All Souls #5)
author: Deborah Harkness
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/10
date added: 2024/11/10
shelves:
review:

]]>
The Covenant of Water 63429926 From the New York Times–bestselling author of Cutting for Stone comes a stunning and magisterial new epic of love, faith, and medicine, set in Kerala and following three generations of a family seeking the answers to a strange secret.

The Covenant of Water is the long-awaited new novel by Abraham Verghese, the author of Cutting for Stone. Published in 2009, Cutting for Stone became a literary phenomenon, selling over 1.5 million copies in the United States alone and remaining on the New York Times bestseller list for over two years.

Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. The family is part of a Christian community that traces itself to the time of the apostles, but times are shifting, and the matriarch of this family, known as Big Ammachi—literally “Big Mother”—will witness unthinkable changes at home and at large over the span of her extraordinary life. All of Verghese’s great gifts are on display in this new there are astonishing scenes of medical ingenuity, fantastic moments of humor, a surprising and deeply moving story, and characters imbued with the essence of life.

A shimmering evocation of a lost India and of the passage of time itself, The Covenant of Water is a hymn to progress in medicine and to human understanding, and a humbling testament to the hardships undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today. It is one of the most masterful literary novels published in recent years.]]>
775 Abraham Verghese Zoe 5 4.58 2023 The Covenant of Water
author: Abraham Verghese
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/08/21
date added: 2024/11/04
shelves:
review:

]]>
Becoming Us (Haven Makers #1) 36142303
Five young moms, including beloved Gunn character Christy Miller, gather to share meals and soon become unlikely best friends. The regular gatherings provide opportunities for the women to reveal their stories, and those life stories endear them to each other. They experience their lives naturally meshing as they raise their children together in community. In Becoming Us the group find ways to challenge, encourage, and help each other become the nurturing mothers they wished they'd had when they were growing up. They unite to be remembered for what they do as moms and not for what was done to them.]]>
302 Robin Jones Gunn 0735290768 Zoe 4 4.34 2019 Becoming Us (Haven Makers #1)
author: Robin Jones Gunn
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/01
date added: 2024/11/01
shelves:
review:

]]>
The Thursday Murder Club 54846475 Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves
A female cop with her first big case
A brutal murder
Welcome to�
THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves The Thursday Murder Club.

When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case.

As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it’s too late?]]>
368 Richard Osman 1984880977 Zoe 4 4.08 2020 The Thursday Murder Club
author: Richard Osman
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/24
date added: 2024/10/24
shelves:
review:

]]>
The Little Liar 112975105 333 Mitch Albom 0062406655 Zoe 5 4.54 2023 The Little Liar
author: Mitch Albom
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.54
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/20
date added: 2024/10/20
shelves:
review:
“The Lies we tell and their impact� this is the theme of Mitch Albom’s latest book, written from the POV of “Truth�. The subject of this novel is an 11 year old Jewish Greek boy in Salonica Greece during the Holocaust. This truthful child, Niko, is used as a weapon by the Nazis to lie to all the Jews being herded onto trains to Auschwitz. Niko, his brother Sebastian, their friend Fanny, as the Nazi commander, Udo are followed for the next 40 years as “Truth� compels each character to forgive, seek retribution, and seek Love. The audiobook was very powerful, especially given the current anti-Semitic climate due to the war in the Middle East.
]]>
<![CDATA[The Elias Network (Caspian Anderson, #1)]]> 201915708 Mr. & Mrs. Smith meets political thriller in this heart-pounding series debut about two undercover flames whose new mission risks exposing their true identities to the world…and, worse, each other.

Caspian Anderson is a translator for the United Nations—or so he’s led everyone to believe. No one suspects that mild-mannered Caspian, with his baggy clothes and sensible car, is actually an elite assassin for the US government. And that’s just how he wants it.

For ten years, Caspian has worked under the code name Elias for Onyx, a black program deep within the Department of Homeland Security. His latest mission takes him to Switzerland to kill a target tied to a human trafficking ring. There, Caspian stumbles onto a web of conspiracies involving high-level political figures.

Meanwhile, Caspian’s girlfriend is starting to pull away, and he wonders whether she may have secrets of her own. The truth is, Liesel Bergmann’s a spy. But neither knows the truth about the other�yet. As their covert operations converge, trust becomes paramount. Can they work together to bring down the enemy with their lives—and hearts—still intact?]]>
349 Simon Gervais 1662518528 Zoe 4 4.19 2024 The Elias Network (Caspian Anderson, #1)
author: Simon Gervais
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/14
date added: 2024/10/14
shelves:
review:
This spy thriller really kept me engaged, and certainly on my toes as to who were the “good guys� versus the evil ones! Caspian, aka “Elias� is a UN translator who is also an undercover assassin working for a deeply hidden unit called Onyx with the Dept of Homeland Security. The book starts in Switzerland where Caspian is supposed to carry out a hit on a human drug trafficker. Unbeknownst to Caspian, there are other players trying to assassinate the same target and kidnap his family. There are spirited chases that take us through Switzerland, Italy and the U.S. as Caspian tries to get home to his German accountant girlfriend, Liesl. But Liesl has secrets of her own.
]]>
One August Night 54770859

*THE FIGURINE, the brand-new novel from Victoria Hislop, is available to order now.*'Excellent as ever. Victoria Hislop at her best.' Reader review'Within a few pages I was back in Greece and almost feeling the sun on my face.' Reader reviewBeloved author Victoria Hislop returns to Crete in this long-anticipated sequel to her multi-million-copy Number One bestseller, The Island.25th August 1957. The island of Spinalonga closes its leper colony. And a moment of violence has devastating consequences.When time stops dead for Maria Petrakis and her sister, Anna, two families splinter apart and, for the people of Plaka, the closure of Spinalonga is forever coloured with tragedy.In the aftermath, the question of how to resume life looms large. Stigma and scandal need to be confronted and somehow, for those impacted, a future built from the ruins of the past.Number one bestselling author Victoria Hislop returns to the world and characters she created in The Island - the award-winning novel that remains one of the biggest selling reading group novels of the century. It is finally time to be reunited with Anna, Maria, Manolis and Andreas in the weeks leading up to the evacuation of the island... and beyond.'A return to Hislop's thyme-scented, Aegean-lapped fictional Greece' The Sunday TimesDiscover for yourself why ten million readers worldwide love the novels of Victoria Hislop...'This dramatic, absorbing and good-natured novel abounds Greek Island atmosphere'Daily Mail on One August Night'Immersive storytelling sweeps you along'Mail on Sunday on One August Night'A dramatic story of love, betrayal and allegiances . . . Hislop evokes Greece beautifully'Woman & Home on One August Night'Hislop's love for Greece shines through this wonderfully descriptive and compelling tale'Sunday Express on One August Night'This love letter to Greece will sweep you away to another time and place'The Sunday Mirror on One August Night'Hislop expertly delves into the complex history of a fascinating country in this beautifully written family saga'Daily Mirror on One August Night'Compelling and moving, this is a real page turner'Woman's Weekly on One August Night'The descriptions of Greece leave you feeling like you're right there'Good Housekeeping on One August Night'A beautifully written story that will enchant the reader'The Express ]]>
307 Victoria Hislop 1472278429 Zoe 4 3.79 2020 One August Night
author: Victoria Hislop
name: Zoe
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/08
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves:
review:

]]>
The Exchange (The Firm, #2) 123285511 #1 New York Times bestselling author John Grisham delivers high-flying international suspense in a stunning new legal thriller that marks the return of Mitch McDeere, the brilliant hero of The Firm.

What became of Mitch and Abby McDeere after they exposed the crimes of Memphis law firm Bendini, Lambert & Locke and fled the country? The answer is in The Exchange, the riveting sequel to The Firm, the blockbuster thrillerĚýthat launched the careerĚýof America’s favorite storyteller. It is now fifteen years later, and Mitch and Abby are living in Manhattan, where Mitch is a partner at the largest law firmĚýin the world. When a mentor in Rome asks him for a favor that will take him far from home, Mitch finds himself at the center of a sinister plot that has worldwideĚýimplications—and once again endangers his colleagues, friends, and family. Mitch has becomeĚýa master at staying one step ahead of his adversaries, but this time there’s nowhereĚýto hide.]]>
338 John Grisham 0385548958 Zoe 4 3.39 2023 The Exchange (The Firm, #2)
author: John Grisham
name: Zoe
average rating: 3.39
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/06
date added: 2024/10/06
shelves:
review:
Good legal thriller by the master, John Grisham. I enjoyed as it had been several years since I read one of his books. This book dealt with an Italian associate of a huge international law firm, Giovanna. She is captured while working on a case in Libya and held for a huge ransom. Although her father is a key partner, it is interesting that a firm that does billions in earnings cannot easily come up with a ransom. Mitch and Abby McDerre were the couple featured in “The Firm�, the prequel to this book. Although I read it years ago, I remembered the characters and enjoyed listening to them again.
]]>
The Princess of Las Vegas 181347534
Crissy Dowling has created a world that suits her perfectly. She passes her days by the pool in a private cabana, she splurges on ice cream but never gains an ounce, and each evening she transforms into a Princess, performing her musical cabaret inspired by the life of the late Diana Spencer. Some might find her strange or even delusional, an American speaking with a British accent, hair feathered into a style thirty years old, living and working in a casino that has become a dated trash heap. On top of that, Crissy’s daily diet of Adderall and Valium leaves her more than a little tipsy, her Senator boyfriend has gone back to his wife, and her entire career rests on resembling a dead woman. And yet, fans see her for the gifted chameleon she is, showering her with gifts, letters, and standing ovations night after night. But when Crissy’s sister, Betsy, arrives in town with a new boyfriend and a teenage daughter, and when Richie Morley, the owner of the Buckingham Palace Casino, is savagely murdered, Crissy’s carefully constructed kingdom comes crashing down all around her. A riveting tale of identity, obsession, fintech, and high-tech mobsters, The Princess of Las Vegas is an addictive, wildly original thriller from one of our most extraordinary storytellers.]]>
400 Chris Bohjalian 0385547617 Zoe 4
Vocabulary:expressions highlights:
“found the machinations of crypto byzantine�
“was perpetually in the zeitgeist�
“an eidolon in both senses of the word�
“a beacon of reticence and restraint.�
“a tween autodidact�
“an honest-to-God American oligarch?�
“can be proper chuffed about what she does.�
“I’m here, I’m an enigma�
“but this was just plain slatternly.�
“the sibilance of the word snakelike�
“Humiliated by the milieu�
“parse her conflation�
“transform from one of backstage bonhomie�
“She was a walking simulacrum�
“she saw the phantasmagoric halo that was Las Vegas�
“the coruscating, blinding midday sun�
]]>
3.86 2024 The Princess of Las Vegas
author: Chris Bohjalian
name: Zoe
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/23
date added: 2024/09/25
shelves:
review:
What I liked about this book, in addition to all the references to Princess Diana(who we all loved!), was the rich vocabulary! Especially now in the 2020s when everyone is sending abbreviated text messages with sentence fragments and not writing much. For example, “WAGMI, as in “We’re all gonna make it.� The novel was cute, if not terribly deep. A mystery about 2 somewhat estranged sisters, who find themselves in the midst of a crime syndicate in glitzy Las Vegas.

Vocabulary:expressions highlights:
“found the machinations of crypto byzantine�
“was perpetually in the zeitgeist�
“an eidolon in both senses of the word�
“a beacon of reticence and restraint.�
“a tween autodidact�
“an honest-to-God American oligarch?�
“can be proper chuffed about what she does.�
“I’m here, I’m an enigma�
“but this was just plain slatternly.�
“the sibilance of the word snakelike�
“Humiliated by the milieu�
“parse her conflation�
“transform from one of backstage bonhomie�
“She was a walking simulacrum�
“she saw the phantasmagoric halo that was Las Vegas�
“the coruscating, blinding midday sun�

]]>
<![CDATA[A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)]]> 54386622 A thrilling, seductive new series from New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas, blending Beauty and the Beast with faerie lore.

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

Perfect for fans of Kristin Cashore and George R. R. Martin, this first book in a sexy and action-packed new series is impossible to put down!]]>
433 Sarah J. Maas Zoe 4
Highlights:
One of Feyre’s quests, to escape the evil, was to solve this riddle:
“There are those who seek me a lifetime but never we meet, And those I kiss but who trample me beneath ungrateful feet. At times I seem to favor the clever and the fair, But I bless all those who are brave enough to dare. By large, my ministrations are soft-handed and sweet, But scorned, I become a difficult beast to defeat. For though each of my strikes lands a powerful blow, When I kill, I do it slow�
(Surprisingly, I figured it out fairly quickly)]]>
4.36 2015 A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/15
date added: 2024/09/15
shelves:
review:
Not my usual genre� fantasy. But, got into the strong female character who delves into a world of faeries and dangerous creatures in order to protect her family. There she meets the handsome, but troubled and secretive Lord of the manor who shape-shifts. Not sure if I’ll continue the series, but it was a quick, engaging read and a good escape.

Highlights:
One of Feyre’s quests, to escape the evil, was to solve this riddle:
“There are those who seek me a lifetime but never we meet, And those I kiss but who trample me beneath ungrateful feet. At times I seem to favor the clever and the fair, But I bless all those who are brave enough to dare. By large, my ministrations are soft-handed and sweet, But scorned, I become a difficult beast to defeat. For though each of my strikes lands a powerful blow, When I kill, I do it slow�
(Surprisingly, I figured it out fairly quickly)
]]>
<![CDATA[A is for Alibi (Kinsey Millhone, #1)]]> 38324083 A IS FOR AVENGER
A tough-talking former cop, private investigator Kinsey Millhone has set up a modest detective agency in a quiet corner of Santa Teresa, California. A twice-divorced loner with few personal possessions and fewer personal attachments, she's got a soft spot for underdogs and lost causes.

A IS FOR ACCUSED
That's why she draws desperate clients like Nikki Fife. Eight years ago, she was convicted of killing her philandering husband. Now she's out on parole and needs Kinsey's help to find the real killer. But after all this time, clearing Nikki's bad name won't be easy.

A IS FOR ALIBI
If there's one thing that makes Kinsey Millhone feel alive, it's playing on the edge. When her investigation turns up a second corpse, more suspects, and a new reason to kill, Kinsey discovers that the edge is closer--and sharper--than she imagined.

"A" Is for Alibi
"B" Is for Burglar
"C" Is for Corpse
"D" Is for Deadbeat
"E" Is for Evidence
"F" Is for Fugitive
"G" Is for Gumshoe
"H" Is for Homicide
"I" Is for Innocent
"J" Is for Judgment
"K" Is for Killer
"L" is for Lawless
"M" Is for Malice
"N" Is for Noose
"O" Is for Outlaw
"P" Is for Peril
"Q" Is for Quarry
"R" Is for Ricochet
"S" Is for Silence
"T" Is for Trespass
"U" Is for Undertow
"V" Is for Vengeance
"W" Is for Wasted
"X"
“Y� Is for Yesterday
The letter Z was unfinished at the time of her death 12/28/2017]]>
214 Sue Grafton Zoe 4 4.03 1982 A is for Alibi (Kinsey Millhone, #1)
author: Sue Grafton
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1982
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/05
date added: 2024/09/05
shelves:
review:

]]>
His & Hers 45885495 There are two sides to every story: yours and mine, ours and theirs, His & Hers. Which means someone is always lying.

When a woman is murdered in Blackdown, a quintessentially British village, newsreader Anna Andrews is reluctant to cover the case. Detective Jack Harper is suspicious of her involvement, until he becomes a suspect in his own murder investigation. Someone isn’t telling the truth, and some secrets are worth killing to keep.

His & Hers is a twisty, smart, psychological thriller. A gripping tale of suspense, told by expertly-drawn narrators that will keep readers guessing until the very end.]]>
304 Alice Feeney 1250266076 Zoe 4 4.03 2020 His & Hers
author: Alice Feeney
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/03
date added: 2024/09/03
shelves:
review:
I enjoyed the audiobook because I could picture the characters a little better. Alice Feeney does it again with all her twists and turns� each time you think you have it figured out!
]]>
Rock Paper Scissors 56269064 Think you know the person you married? Think again�

Things have been wrong with Mr and Mrs Wright for a long time. When Adam and Amelia win a weekend away to Scotland, it might be just what their marriage needs. Self-confessed workaholic and screenwriter Adam Wright has lived with face blindness his whole life. He can’t recognize friends or family, or even his own wife.

Every anniversary the couple exchange traditional gifts � paper, cotton, pottery, tin � and each year Adam’s wife writes him a letter that she never lets him read. Until now. They both know this weekend will make or break their marriage, but they didn’t randomly win this trip. One of them is lying, and someone doesn’t want them to live happily ever after.

Ten years of marriage. Ten years of secrets. And an anniversary they will never forget.

Rock Paper Scissors is the latest exciting domestic thriller from the queen of the killer twist, New York Times bestselling author Alice Feeney.]]>
294 Alice Feeney 1250266106 Zoe 4 3.88 2021 Rock Paper Scissors
author: Alice Feeney
name: Zoe
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2022/05/28
date added: 2024/09/03
shelves:
review:
Good psychological thriller about a couple celebrating their annual anniversaries, alternating POVs between the husband, wife, and later a recluse known as “Robin�. The couple find themselves celebrating an anniversary in a remote Scottish highlands chapel, won in an office raffle. However, the quaint romantic Inn they visualized was Not what was awaiting them. The husband is a writer who lacks empathy and facial recognition, his wife a woman more interested in her rescue dogs than people� both in a last-ditch effort to save their fledgling marriage. Many twists and turns, people who are not who they appear to be, and a desire for true love makes interesting reading.
]]>
The Wishing Game 60864829
Lucy Hart knows better than anyone what it’s like to grow up without parents who loved her. In a childhood marked by neglect and loneliness, Lucy found her solace in books, namely the Clock Island series by Jack Masterson. Now a twenty-six-year-old teacher’s aide, she is able to share her love of reading with bright, young students, especially seven-year-old Christopher Lamb, who was left orphaned after the tragic death of his parents. Lucy would give anything to adopt Christopher, but even the idea of becoming a family seems like an impossible dream without proper funds and stability.

But be careful what you wish for. . . .

Just when Lucy is about to give up, Jack Masterson announces he’s finally written a new book. Even better, he’s holding a contest at his home on the real Clock Island, and Lucy is one of the four lucky contestants chosen to compete to win the one and only copy.

For Lucy, the chance of winning the most sought-after book in the world means everything to her and Christopher. But first she must contend with ruthless book collectors, wily opponents, and the distractingly handsome (and grumpy) Hugo Reese, the illustrator of the Clock Island books. Meanwhile, Jack “the Mastermind� Masterson is plotting the ultimate twist ending that could change all their lives forever.

. . . You might just get it.]]>
294 Meg Shaffer Zoe 5 Without giving away too much of this magical plot, which reminded me of Willie Wonka, Harry Potter and other beloved classics� can Lucy find her “golden ticket� as an adult looking to make her greatest wish, becoming a mom, come true? The characters of Lucy, Charlie, Jack and Hugo are wonderfully developed; plot and games engaging; and messages endearing.

Highlights:
“The stories write us, you see. We read something that moves us, touches us, speaks to us and it� it changes us.�
“quote the supposedly great but mostly incomprehensible Søren Kierkegaard—� Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.�
“Hate is a knife without a handle. You can’t cut something with it without cutting yourself.�
“Always be quiet when a heart is breaking.”]]>
4.22 2023 The Wishing Game
author: Meg Shaffer
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/28
date added: 2024/08/31
shelves:
review:
Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ, why oh why do I start writing reviews frequently and the screen blanks do I have to begin all over?!!(Note: if this happens to others, I recommend clicking “Doneâ€� and Edit, every few sentences). Lucy is a young woman, who as a child with a troubled life, found her solace in books. Maybe that’s why I related to this whimsical story? I’ve always found comfort in books (although not coming from a troubled childhood). The difference with her beloved Clock Island series is that the island, scenery, and many of the “charactersâ€� do exist!
Without giving away too much of this magical plot, which reminded me of Willie Wonka, Harry Potter and other beloved classics� can Lucy find her “golden ticket� as an adult looking to make her greatest wish, becoming a mom, come true? The characters of Lucy, Charlie, Jack and Hugo are wonderfully developed; plot and games engaging; and messages endearing.

Highlights:
“The stories write us, you see. We read something that moves us, touches us, speaks to us and it� it changes us.�
“quote the supposedly great but mostly incomprehensible Søren Kierkegaard—� Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.�
“Hate is a knife without a handle. You can’t cut something with it without cutting yourself.�
“Always be quiet when a heart is breaking.�
]]>
Joan Is Okay 55333768
Joan is a thirtysomething ICU doctor at a busy New York City hospital. The daughter of Chinese parents who came to the United States to secure the American dream for their children, Joan is intensely devoted to her work, happily solitary, successful. She does look up sometimes and wonder where her true roots lie: at the hospital, where her white coat makes her feel needed, or with her family, who try to shape her life by their own cultural and social expectations.

Once Joan and her brother, Fang, were established in their careers, her parents moved back to China, hoping to spend the rest of their lives in their homeland. But when Joan’s father suddenly dies and her mother returns to America to reconnect with her children, a series of events sends Joan spiraling out of her comfort zone just as her hospital, her city, and the world are forced to reckon with a health crisis more devastating than anyone could have imagined.

Deceptively spare yet quietly powerful, laced with sharp humor, Joan Is Okay touches on matters that feel deeply resonant: being Chinese-American right now; working in medicine at a high-stakes time; finding one’s voice within a dominant culture; being a woman in a male-dominated workplace; and staying independent within a tight-knit family. But above all, it’s a portrait of one remarkable woman so surprising that you can’t get her out of your head.]]>
224 Weike Wang 0525654836 Zoe 4 3.65 2022 Joan Is Okay
author: Weike Wang
name: Zoe
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/28
date added: 2024/08/28
shelves:
review:

]]>
Just for the Summer 195834342
Emma hadn't planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka.

It's supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma's toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they're suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected--including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together?]]>
400 Abby Jimenez Zoe 4
Highlights:
“I don’t know how you could forgive someone like that.� She shrugged again and looked up at me. “Why not forgive? In a world where you can choose anger or empathy, always choose empathy.�
“Sometimes the best way to show love or be kind to someone is to meet them where they are.�
“think sometimes the key to happiness is framing those things in a different way.�
“Most of the stuff we hang on to we don’t actually need.�
“What happens when water gets into a crack and it freezes?� “It expands,� I said. “Makes the crack bigger.� “Unhealed trauma is a crack. And all the little hard things that trickle into it that would have rolled off someone else, settle. Then when life gets cold, that crack gets bigger, longer, deeper. It makes new breaks.�
“Being broken is not an excuse for bad behavior, you still have to make good choices and do the right thing. But it can be the reason. And sometimes understanding the reason can be what helps you heal.�
“Not everything that comes out of crisis is bad. Sometimes your traumas are the reason you know how to help.�
“I felt full of cracks all of a sudden. Deep, long, jagged cracks. And they’d always been there. I’d just learned to live with them so long I no longer noticed them. I’d hopped over them and built little bridges and taken other routes, but I never filled them. I never fixed them. I didn’t even know how.�
“I do hope that one day you get some boundaries though.� I laughed a little but she didn’t smile. “You cannot keep caring about her more than you care about yourself.�
““Do you know what to do when she gets small?� I shook my head. “No.� “She’s going to get really detached and distant. Give her space, but don’t leave her alone. And whatever you do, never let her take off.� “Okay…� “I’m serious,� she said. “Keep her near you. Put her in a room, let her isolate, let her sleep, bring her food. Don’t talk to her until she’s ready to talk, give her time to come out of it. But don’t let her leave.�
“treatments for my complex PTSD—another thing I hadn’t known I’d been dealing with but made sense to me once I was diagnosed. I’d talked to Doug, who also dealt with it, and he’d said EMDR really helped�
“The best kind of love doesn’t happen on moonlit walks and romantic vacations. It happens in between the folds of everyday life. It’s not grand gestures that show how you feel, it’s all the little secret things you do to make her life better that you never tell her about.�
]]>
4.47 2024 Just for the Summer
author: Abby Jimenez
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/24
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:
Good summer read! Emma and Justin are two people who feel “cursed� in dating and decide to do something about it. Although a light read, explores concepts of childhood traumas, family dynamics, “family� not always defined by blood, travel nurses, etc.

Highlights:
“I don’t know how you could forgive someone like that.� She shrugged again and looked up at me. “Why not forgive? In a world where you can choose anger or empathy, always choose empathy.�
“Sometimes the best way to show love or be kind to someone is to meet them where they are.�
“think sometimes the key to happiness is framing those things in a different way.�
“Most of the stuff we hang on to we don’t actually need.�
“What happens when water gets into a crack and it freezes?� “It expands,� I said. “Makes the crack bigger.� “Unhealed trauma is a crack. And all the little hard things that trickle into it that would have rolled off someone else, settle. Then when life gets cold, that crack gets bigger, longer, deeper. It makes new breaks.�
“Being broken is not an excuse for bad behavior, you still have to make good choices and do the right thing. But it can be the reason. And sometimes understanding the reason can be what helps you heal.�
“Not everything that comes out of crisis is bad. Sometimes your traumas are the reason you know how to help.�
“I felt full of cracks all of a sudden. Deep, long, jagged cracks. And they’d always been there. I’d just learned to live with them so long I no longer noticed them. I’d hopped over them and built little bridges and taken other routes, but I never filled them. I never fixed them. I didn’t even know how.�
“I do hope that one day you get some boundaries though.� I laughed a little but she didn’t smile. “You cannot keep caring about her more than you care about yourself.�
““Do you know what to do when she gets small?� I shook my head. “No.� “She’s going to get really detached and distant. Give her space, but don’t leave her alone. And whatever you do, never let her take off.� “Okay…� “I’m serious,� she said. “Keep her near you. Put her in a room, let her isolate, let her sleep, bring her food. Don’t talk to her until she’s ready to talk, give her time to come out of it. But don’t let her leave.�
“treatments for my complex PTSD—another thing I hadn’t known I’d been dealing with but made sense to me once I was diagnosed. I’d talked to Doug, who also dealt with it, and he’d said EMDR really helped�
“The best kind of love doesn’t happen on moonlit walks and romantic vacations. It happens in between the folds of everyday life. It’s not grand gestures that show how you feel, it’s all the little secret things you do to make her life better that you never tell her about.�

]]>
Exit West 30688435
Exit West follows these characters as they emerge into an alien and uncertain future, struggling to hold on to each other, to their past, to the very sense of who they are. Profoundly intimate and powerfully inventive, it tells an unforgettable story of love, loyalty, and courage that is both completely of our time and for all time.]]>
231 Mohsin Hamid 0735212171 Zoe 4 3.74 2017 Exit West
author: Mohsin Hamid
name: Zoe
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/22
date added: 2024/08/22
shelves:
review:

]]>
The Bad Muslim Discount 53753649
It is 1995, and Anvar Faris is a restless, rebellious, and sharp-tongued boy doing his best to grow up in Karachi, Pakistan. As fundamentalists in the government become increasingly strident and the zealots next door start roaming the streets in gangs to help make Islam great again, his family decides, not quite unanimously, to start life over in California. The irony is not lost on Anvar that in America, his deeply devout mother and his model-Muslim brother are the ones who fit right in with the tightly knit and gossipy Desi community. Anvar wants more.

At the same time, thousands of miles away, Safwa, a young girl suffocating in war-torn Baghdad with her grief-stricken, conservative father will find a very different and far more dangerous path to America. These two narratives are intrinsically linked, and when their worlds come together, the fates of two remarkably different people intertwine and set off a series of events that rock their whole community to its core.

The Bad Muslim Discount is an irreverent, dramatic, and often hysterically funny debut novel by an amazing new voice. With deep insight, warmth, and an irreverent sense of humor, Syed Masood examines quirky and intense familial relationships, arranged marriage, Islamic identity, and how to live together in modern America.]]>
354 Syed M. Masood 0385545231 Zoe 4
Highlights:
“The thing about being in love is that if you can endure the sight of the idol you’ve fallen for crumbling before you, and learn to love the truth of who your partner is as you discover it, then you’ll have someone to take your hand as she’s reading, and who’ll lean over and whisper in your ear, “Let us be true to one another…�
“Remember that those who do not show mercy will have no mercy shown to them.�
“All men are created equal. Except not really, because some men are created American. Other men are created rich. Some men are created American and rich and are still not content with the world they inherit, so they try to change it. They try to make it more to their liking by painting it with blood and flame.�
“Remember what the Quran says, Safwa. After hardship, there is ease. It is a promise from Allah. After hardship, there is ease. Take comfort in that.�
“Turned out that being with someone is an acquired skill. There is an art to it. Basically, you have to watch your partner take a chisel—or a war hammer, depending on the day—and chip away at the ideal version of them that you’ve created in your mind. The person you fall in love with is always slightly different from the person you need to stay in love with. More real and more flawed, but also more complex and better defined.�
“Like…this world that lies before us like a field of dreams, so beautiful and so new, has really neither joy nor help for pain.�
“Life requires risk�.You have to have courage, Anvar, to get what you want. You have to be bold.�
“Sometimes all you get are dark clouds. Sometimes there are no silver linings. Just make the best move you can and hope the weather will turn.�
“The greatest reassurance of religion is the promise that there is someone out there—someone with all the power in the universe—who cares about you. He records your life, listens to your prayers and wants to ease your pain. The moment that I took God out of the equation, the world became too large, too cruel and too indifferent for me to live in. I decided then that there was a God. There had to be. I needed Him�
“You should never forget that the oppression of love is better than the oppression of war. There is no freedom from oppression.�
“If you tell someone a truth that hurts, a personal truth, then it paints over the lie you feed them.�
“Fearful people are credulous people. That is why entire populations can be manipulated to go along with wars, massacres and atrocities.�
“We live on stolen land,� I finally said, “in a country built on slavery and reliant on the continued economic exploitation of other people. The oppressor always lives in fear of the oppressed. Americans have always been afraid—of those native to this continent, of Black people, of Japanese citizens they interned, and now of Muslims and immigrants. So the real question, I think, is who is next?�
“The best we can do is find some common ground in self-evident truths about how we are, if not the same, then at least similar. We can recognize that our experiences of the world, no matter how various and varied, how tinged with excess or want or joy or sorrow, make us all irredeemably, undeniably, irrepressibly human.�
“Maybe there was still beauty in the world. Maybe you just had to know when and where to find it.”]]>
4.30 2021 The Bad Muslim Discount
author: Syed M. Masood
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/17
date added: 2024/08/22
shelves:
review:
Really enjoyed this book about 2 Muslim families who moved to the U.S. to escape war. Anvar is a teenaged boy growing up in Karachi, Pakistan in the 1990s, caught up between fundamentalists and religious zealots. His family decides to immigrate to the U.S. for a more peaceful life. Meanwhile, in Baghdad, Iraq, a young woman named Safwa is struggling with a hostile father, her mother’s death, and the devastation of war. She also finds her path to the U.S., but in a much rougher manner. Although these two young people live somewhat parallel lives, their stories are very different, as is their Muslim faith.

Highlights:
“The thing about being in love is that if you can endure the sight of the idol you’ve fallen for crumbling before you, and learn to love the truth of who your partner is as you discover it, then you’ll have someone to take your hand as she’s reading, and who’ll lean over and whisper in your ear, “Let us be true to one another…�
“Remember that those who do not show mercy will have no mercy shown to them.�
“All men are created equal. Except not really, because some men are created American. Other men are created rich. Some men are created American and rich and are still not content with the world they inherit, so they try to change it. They try to make it more to their liking by painting it with blood and flame.�
“Remember what the Quran says, Safwa. After hardship, there is ease. It is a promise from Allah. After hardship, there is ease. Take comfort in that.�
“Turned out that being with someone is an acquired skill. There is an art to it. Basically, you have to watch your partner take a chisel—or a war hammer, depending on the day—and chip away at the ideal version of them that you’ve created in your mind. The person you fall in love with is always slightly different from the person you need to stay in love with. More real and more flawed, but also more complex and better defined.�
“Like…this world that lies before us like a field of dreams, so beautiful and so new, has really neither joy nor help for pain.�
“Life requires risk�.You have to have courage, Anvar, to get what you want. You have to be bold.�
“Sometimes all you get are dark clouds. Sometimes there are no silver linings. Just make the best move you can and hope the weather will turn.�
“The greatest reassurance of religion is the promise that there is someone out there—someone with all the power in the universe—who cares about you. He records your life, listens to your prayers and wants to ease your pain. The moment that I took God out of the equation, the world became too large, too cruel and too indifferent for me to live in. I decided then that there was a God. There had to be. I needed Him�
“You should never forget that the oppression of love is better than the oppression of war. There is no freedom from oppression.�
“If you tell someone a truth that hurts, a personal truth, then it paints over the lie you feed them.�
“Fearful people are credulous people. That is why entire populations can be manipulated to go along with wars, massacres and atrocities.�
“We live on stolen land,� I finally said, “in a country built on slavery and reliant on the continued economic exploitation of other people. The oppressor always lives in fear of the oppressed. Americans have always been afraid—of those native to this continent, of Black people, of Japanese citizens they interned, and now of Muslims and immigrants. So the real question, I think, is who is next?�
“The best we can do is find some common ground in self-evident truths about how we are, if not the same, then at least similar. We can recognize that our experiences of the world, no matter how various and varied, how tinged with excess or want or joy or sorrow, make us all irredeemably, undeniably, irrepressibly human.�
“Maybe there was still beauty in the world. Maybe you just had to know when and where to find it.�
]]>
Moloka'i (Moloka'i, #1) 8366378 400 Alan Brennert Zoe 5 Shunned By Their Own, a United Community

“God didn’t give man wings; He gave him the brain and the spirit to give himself wings. Just as He gave us the capacity to laugh when we hurt, or to struggle on when we feel like giving up. I’ve come to believe that how we choose to live with pain, or injustice, or death � is the true measure of the Divine within us. " One of my favorite quotes, of many, in this beautifully written historical fiction. I had never heard of "Hansen's disease" and didn't really understand leprosy much until I read about another exiled community, off the coast of Crete, years ago called "The Island". This story enfolded me and brought the dignified, passionate, beautiful characters to life... Sister Catherine. Rachel, Kenji, Ambrose, Leilani, Haeola and so many more. It makes you wonder how we would handle a similar, contagious disease today? Although AIDs victims in the 1980s can probably relate to the feelings of isolation many conveyed in this book. This will stay with me awhile.]]>
4.33 2003 Moloka'i (Moloka'i, #1)
author: Alan Brennert
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2019/11/16
date added: 2024/08/15
shelves:
review:
Shunned By Their Own, a United Community

“God didn’t give man wings; He gave him the brain and the spirit to give himself wings. Just as He gave us the capacity to laugh when we hurt, or to struggle on when we feel like giving up. I’ve come to believe that how we choose to live with pain, or injustice, or death � is the true measure of the Divine within us. " One of my favorite quotes, of many, in this beautifully written historical fiction. I had never heard of "Hansen's disease" and didn't really understand leprosy much until I read about another exiled community, off the coast of Crete, years ago called "The Island". This story enfolded me and brought the dignified, passionate, beautiful characters to life... Sister Catherine. Rachel, Kenji, Ambrose, Leilani, Haeola and so many more. It makes you wonder how we would handle a similar, contagious disease today? Although AIDs victims in the 1980s can probably relate to the feelings of isolation many conveyed in this book. This will stay with me awhile.
]]>
My Travels with Mrs. Kennedy 61125841 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The #1 New York Times bestselling authors of Mrs. Kennedy and Me reveal never-before-told stories of Secret Service Agent Clint Hill’s travels with Jacqueline Kennedy through Europe, Asia, and South America. Featuring more than two hundred rare and never-before-published photographs.

While preparing to sell his home in Alexandria, Virginia, retired Secret Service agent Clint Hill uncovers an old steamer trunk in the garage, triggering a floodgate of memories. As he and Lisa McCubbin, his coauthor on three previous books, pry it open for the first time in fifty years, they find forgotten photos, handwritten notes, personal gifts, and treasured mementos from the trips on which Hill accompanied First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy as her Secret Service agent—trips that took them from Paris to London, through India, Pakistan, Greece, Morocco, Mexico, South America, and “three glorious weeks on the Amalfi Coast.� During these journeys, Jacqueline Kennedy became one of her husband’s—and America’s—greatest assets; in Hill’s words and the opinion of many others, “one of the best ambassadors the United States has ever had.�

As each newfound treasure sparks long-suppressed memories, Hill provides new insight into the intensely private woman he always called “Mrs. Kennedy� and who always called him “Mr. Hill.� For the first time, he reveals the depth of the relationship that developed between them as they traveled around the globe. Now ninety years old, Hill recounts the tender moments, the private laughs, the wild adventures, and the deep affection he shared with one of the world’s most beautiful and iconic women—and these memories are brought vividly to life alongside more than two hundred rare photographs, many of them previously unpublished.

In addition to the humorous stories and intimate moments, Hill reveals startling details about how traveling helped them both heal during the excruciating weeks and months following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963. He also writes of the year he spent protecting Mrs. Kennedy after the assassination, a time in his life he has always been reluctant to speak about.

My Travels with Mrs. Kennedy unveils a personal side of history that has never been told before and takes the reader on a breathtaking journey, experiencing what it was like for Clint Hill to travel with Jacqueline Kennedy as the entire world was falling in love with her.]]>
303 Lisa McCubbin 1982181133 Zoe 4 4.50 My Travels with Mrs. Kennedy
author: Lisa McCubbin
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.50
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/11
date added: 2024/08/11
shelves:
review:
Really enjoyed reading this scrapbook/book by Jackie Kennedy’s Secret service agent, Clint, of many years while JFK was in the White House and a little after. It’s clear that Clint had a deep caring, and respect for the Kennedy family, and it was mutual. Since I grew up in Mass, the Kennedy family was like “royalty� to us back in the day. Like many of my friends, JFK Jr was a heartthrob� even more so than some of the music and film celebrities. So many people were saddened by all the tragedies following the Kennedy’s�. JFK, his brother Bobby, Jackie, and JFK Jr. This book painted some of the happier times of their lives, along with the tragedies. I loved seeing pictures of iconic Mrs Kennedy in her 30s� always elegant and poised.
]]>
Land of Milk and Honey 101673225 The award-winning author of How Much of These Hills Is Gold returns with a rapturous and revelatory novel about a young chef whose discovery of pleasure alters her life and, indirectly, the world

A smog has spread. Food crops are rapidly disappearing. A chef escapes her dying career in a dreary city to take a job at a decadent mountaintop colony seemingly free of the world’s troubles.

There, the sky is clear again. Rare ingredients abound. Her enigmatic employer and his visionary daughter have built a lush new life for the global elite, one that reawakens the chef to the pleasures of taste, touch, and her own body.

In this atmosphere of hidden wonders and cool, seductive violence, the chef’s boundaries undergo a thrilling erosion. Soon she is pushed to the center of a startling attempt to reshape the world far beyond the plate.

Sensuous and surprising, joyous and bitingly sharp, told in language as alluring as it is original, Land of Milk and Honey lays provocatively bare the ethics of seeking pleasure in a dying world. It is a daringly imaginative exploration of desire and deception, privilege and faith, and the roles we play to survive. Most of all, it is a love letter to food, to wild delight, and to the transformative power of a woman embracing her own appetite.]]>
240 C Pam Zhang 0593538242 Zoe 3 3.50 2023 Land of Milk and Honey
author: C Pam Zhang
name: Zoe
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/10
date added: 2024/08/10
shelves:
review:
This was a different type of book for me. Not really sure how to classify� maybe apocalyptic/fantasy/sensory? The audiobook tells the story of a young chef who needs to keep cooking, despite the fact that her world in CA, and the world, is overrun by fog and most of the crops and food supplies are gone. She finds a remote mountaintop compound, cut off from society; and a strange employer who appears to have stores of exotic foods available for this chef to create meals which are unavailable to 99% of the rest of the world. What is this strange place where the chef is forbidden to communicate with her employers guests� many of whom are funding this weird experiment? At the end of the story, I was still kind of confused as to its purpose.
]]>
Whistling Past the Graveyard 16058610
When Starla is grounded on the Fourth of July, she sneaks out to see the parade. After getting caught, Starla’s fear that Mamie will make good on her threats and send her to reform school cause her to panic and run away from home. Once out in the country, Starla is offered a ride by a black woman, Eula, who is traveling with a white baby. She happily accepts a ride, with the ultimate goal of reaching her mother in Nashville.

As the two unlikely companions make their long and sometimes dangerous journey, Starla’s eyes are opened to the harsh realities of 1963 southern segregation. Through talks with Eula, reconnecting with her parents, and encountering a series of surprising misadventures, Starla learns to let go of long-held dreams and realizes family is forged from those who will sacrifice all for you, no matter if bound by blood or by the heart.]]>
307 Susan Crandall 1476707723 Zoe 4 4.08 2013 Whistling Past the Graveyard
author: Susan Crandall
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/04
date added: 2024/08/04
shelves:
review:
A great audible book as the reader embodies the characters so well� Starla: a young southern white girl trying to “do right�, Eula: a poor, pious black woman in Mississippi during segregation in 1963 and others during a time of racial tensions and unrest in the U.S.
]]>
These Silent Woods 57669287 A father and daughter living in the remote Appalachian mountains must reckon with the ghosts of their past in Kimi Cunningham Grant's These Silent Woods, a mesmerizing novel of suspense.

No electricity, no family, no connection to the outside world.

For eight years, Cooper and his young daughter, Finch, have lived in isolation in a remote cabin in the northern Appalachian woods. And that's exactly the way Cooper wants it, because he's got a lot to hide. Finch has been raised on the books filling the cabin's shelves and the beautiful but brutal code of life in the wilderness. But she's starting to push back against the sheltered life Cooper has created for her--and he's still haunted by the painful truth of what it took to get them there.

The only people who know they exist are a mysterious local hermit named Scotland, and Cooper's old friend, Jake, who visits each winter to bring them food and supplies. But this year, Jake doesn't show up, setting off an irreversible chain of events that reveals just how precarious their situation really is. Suddenly, the boundaries of their safe haven have blurred--and when a stranger wanders into their woods, Finch's growing obsession with her could put them all in danger. After a shocking disappearance threatens to upend the only life Finch has ever known, Cooper is forced to decide whether to keep hiding--or finally face the sins of his past.

Vividly atmospheric and masterfully tense, These Silent Woods is a poignant story of survival, sacrifice, and how far a father will go when faced with losing it all.]]>
288 Kimi Cunningham Grant 1250793408 Zoe 5
Highlights:
- “I killed them, and I have to live with it. Bad things happen to people during war, even good people, as it did with Jake. It is no respecter of persons, war. Even if it doesn’t damage your body, it does your soul.�
- “Because if your own child, the person for whom you’ve sacrificed everything, for whom you’ve broken laws as well as your own personal sense of boundaries, has lost confidence in you, and in turn, in themselves and the world at large, then what’s the point of any of it?�
-“a father myself because becoming a parent—it makes something inside of you bloom and deepen. You love as you haven’t loved before.�
- “there is a word for such unmerited favor...That word is “grace.� The thing about grace is that you don’t deserve it. You can’t earn it. You can only accept it. Or not.”]]>
4.17 2021 These Silent Woods
author: Kimi Cunningham Grant
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/03
date added: 2024/08/03
shelves:
review:
It’s been awhile since I had a book I didn’t want to put down - this is one of those! Kept me riveted throughout. I enjoyed the characters of Cooper, Finch, Jake and “the neighbor�. What makes a man go off the grid in the Appalachian mountains, far from society, with only his 8 year old daughter? Coop had demons from his tours in Afghanistan, a brutal accident, and more. Finch is endearing and their life together almost idyllic� if not for the secrets. What lengths will a parent go to in order to protect a child?

Highlights:
- “I killed them, and I have to live with it. Bad things happen to people during war, even good people, as it did with Jake. It is no respecter of persons, war. Even if it doesn’t damage your body, it does your soul.�
- “Because if your own child, the person for whom you’ve sacrificed everything, for whom you’ve broken laws as well as your own personal sense of boundaries, has lost confidence in you, and in turn, in themselves and the world at large, then what’s the point of any of it?�
-“a father myself because becoming a parent—it makes something inside of you bloom and deepen. You love as you haven’t loved before.�
- “there is a word for such unmerited favor...That word is “grace.� The thing about grace is that you don’t deserve it. You can’t earn it. You can only accept it. Or not.�
]]>
<![CDATA[Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil]]> 11539004
It is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of remarkable characters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman's Card Club; the turbulent young redneck gigolo; the hapless recluse who owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man, woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern belle who is the "soul of pampered self-absorption"; the uproariously funny black drag queen; the acerbic and arrogant antiques dealer; the sweet-talking, piano-playing con artist; young blacks dancing the minuet at the black debutante ball; and Minerva, the voodoo priestess who works her magic in the graveyard at midnight. These and other Savannahians act as a Greek chorus, with Berendt revealing the alliances, hostilities, and intrigues that thrive in a town where everyone knows everyone else.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a sublime and seductive reading experience. Brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, this enormously engaging portrait of a most beguiling Southern city has become a modern classic.]]>
402 John Berendt Zoe 4 “When you play songs, you can bring back people’s memories of when they fell in love.�
“Life in Savannah was always easier than it was out on the plantations. Savannah was a city of rich cotton traders, who lived in elegant houses within strolling distance of one another. Parties became a way of life, and it’s made a difference. We’re not at all like the rest of Georgia. We have a saying: If you go to Atlanta, the first question people ask you is, â€What’s your business?â€� In Macon they ask, â€Where do you go to church?â€� In Augusta they ask your grandmother’s maiden name. But in Savannah the first question people ask you is â€What would you like to drink?â€�
“In 1964, Martin Luther King declared Savannah “the most desegregated city in the South.� In 1980, the population of Savannah was half white and half black.�

The author summarizes it best in his Aftermath:
“But underneath all that, Savannah had only one motive: to preserve a way of life it believed to be under siege from all sides.�
“For me, Savannah’s resistance to change was its saving grace. The city looked inward, sealed off from the noises and distractions of the world at large. It grew inward, too, and in such a way that its people flourished like hothouse plants tended by an indulgent gardener.�

I haven’t been to Savannah in over 30 years, but am now anxious to revisit one day and hopefully see all 21+ squares!]]>
4.11 1994 Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
author: John Berendt
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1994
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/28
date added: 2024/07/28
shelves:
review:
Such a great novel about the history of beautiful Savannah, Georgia! The characters, settings, music, architecture, stories, all made you feel like you were there in the story.
“When you play songs, you can bring back people’s memories of when they fell in love.�
“Life in Savannah was always easier than it was out on the plantations. Savannah was a city of rich cotton traders, who lived in elegant houses within strolling distance of one another. Parties became a way of life, and it’s made a difference. We’re not at all like the rest of Georgia. We have a saying: If you go to Atlanta, the first question people ask you is, â€What’s your business?â€� In Macon they ask, â€Where do you go to church?â€� In Augusta they ask your grandmother’s maiden name. But in Savannah the first question people ask you is â€What would you like to drink?â€�
“In 1964, Martin Luther King declared Savannah “the most desegregated city in the South.� In 1980, the population of Savannah was half white and half black.�

The author summarizes it best in his Aftermath:
“But underneath all that, Savannah had only one motive: to preserve a way of life it believed to be under siege from all sides.�
“For me, Savannah’s resistance to change was its saving grace. The city looked inward, sealed off from the noises and distractions of the world at large. It grew inward, too, and in such a way that its people flourished like hothouse plants tended by an indulgent gardener.�

I haven’t been to Savannah in over 30 years, but am now anxious to revisit one day and hopefully see all 21+ squares!
]]>
First Lie Wins 127463547 Evie Porter has everything a nice Southern girl could want: a doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence, a tight group of friends. The only catch: Evie Porter doesn’t exist.

The identity comes first: Evie Porter. Once she’s given a name and location by her mysterious boss, Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the mark: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job.

Evie isn’t privy to Mr. Smith’s real identity, but she knows this job isn’t like the others. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she’s starting to envision a different sort of life for herself. But Evie can’t make any mistakes—especially after what happened last time.

Evie Porter must stay one step ahead of her past while making sure there’s still a future in front of her. The stakes couldn’t be higher—but then, Evie has always liked a challenge. . . .]]>
384 Ashley Elston Zoe 4 4.21 2024 First Lie Wins
author: Ashley Elston
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/21
date added: 2024/07/22
shelves:
review:
Very thrilling with so many plot twists that kept me guessing, unsuccessfully, “who was it�? I’d give this a 5 star except that with so many identities, moving from present/past, etc. I sometimes couldn’t keep track. Maybe because I’m half-asleep when I read at night? Still, very well written!
]]>
Mimi 19416075 A whirlwind Manhattan romance like you've never read before from the Booker Prize nominated author of Ducks, Newburyport.It's Christmas Eve in Manhattan. An eminent plastic surgeon slips on the ice, lands on his butt, and sprains his ankle. So far, so good. A woman such as he's never known yanks him to his feet and conjures the miracle of a taxi. Harrison recuperates with Franz Schubert, Bette Davis, and a foundling cat. Then it's back to rhinoplasties, liposuction, and the peccadilloes of his obnoxious colleagues. It is only when he collides again with that strangely helpful woman that things take a wild and revolutionary turn. Sparkling, polemical, irreverent, slippery, and sexy, Mimi is a love story, a call to arms, and Lucy Ellmann's most tender and dazzling book. It's also the feminist novel of the century. (So far.)]]> 296 Lucy Ellmann 1620400251 Zoe 2 3.00 2013 Mimi
author: Lucy Ellmann
name: Zoe
average rating: 3.00
book published: 2013
rating: 2
read at: 2024/07/17
date added: 2024/07/17
shelves:
review:

]]>
<![CDATA[I Was Hoping to Age Like a Fine Wine But I’m Feeling More Like an Avocado]]> 211423526 I Was Hoping to Age Like a Fine Wine But I’m Feeling More Like an Avocado is a compilation of true stories about getting older, parenting, grandparenting, moving, and trying to purge decades worth of stuff.

In this, her third book, Marlene Kern Fischer writes about the annoying memory lapses that come with aging and how she and her husband frequently play tag-team-recall to piece together things they’ve forgotten. She discusses how getting older requires grace, humor, and good friends who understand where you’re at because they’re there also. Citing her feisty mother-in-law as an example of thriving in old age, Marlene offers practical suggestions on how to keep going even when everything hurts.

Having made the decision to move from the house in which she raised her family, Marlene optimistically begins to whittle down her alarmingly abundant array of stuff, which include her kids� artwork and items from her own childhood. With a dumpster to motivate her, she starts purging, only to find the process daunting and seemingly endless.
Simultaneously, the construction of their new home unfolds as a comedy of errors, plagued by unmet promises from the initial contractor and uninvited geese. Amidst the chaos reminiscent of a Money Pit scenario, Marlene endeavors to maintain her sanity with a newfound hobby in crocheting, albeit with less-than-stellar results, while her husband tries different approaches to get the geese to leave.

As a mother of three sons, Marlene is thrilled when she learns she is going to be a grandmother. Will it be a boy or a girl? What will the baby call her? These questions, along with how things have changed since she had her own kids, are explored in the chapter “Journey Towards Grandparenthood.� With her trademark wit and relatable stories, many of which originally appeared on her Facebook blog Thoughts From Aisle 4, Marlene welcomes you into her world which might feel a lot like your own.

I Was Hoping to Age Like a Fine Wine But Am Feeling More Like an Avocado is your ticket to laughs, tears, and everything in between � whether you're lounging on a beach or cozied up at home.]]>
199 Marlene Fischer 1956867961 Zoe 4 4.38 I Was Hoping to Age Like a Fine Wine But I’m Feeling More Like an Avocado
author: Marlene Fischer
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.38
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/11
date added: 2024/07/13
shelves:
review:
Funny read! I’m about the same age of the author, and could relate to tales of her University in Waltham, MA(the Jewish business university across town from my business university). Her observations are hilarious about her 3 grown sons, her NY neighborhoods, aging, etc! Although the ethnicity is Jewish, I think almost any ethnicity can relate to some of the cultural stereotypes.
]]>
Things You Save in a Fire 42379029 From the New York Times bestselling author of How to Walk Away comes a stunning new novel about courage, hope, and learning to love against all odds.

Cassie Hanwell was born for emergencies. As one of the only female firefighters in her Texas firehouse, she's seen her fair share of them, and she's a total pro at other people's tragedies. But when her estranged and ailing mother asks her to give up her whole life and move to Boston, Cassie suddenly has an emergency of her own.

The tough, old-school Boston firehouse is as different from Cassie's old job as it could possibly be. Hazing, a lack of funding, and poor facilities mean that the firemen aren't exactly thrilled to have a "lady" on the crew—even one as competent and smart as Cassie. Except for the infatuation-inspiring rookie, who doesn't seem to mind having Cassie around. But she can't think about that. Because love is girly, and it’s not her thing. And don’t forget the advice her old captain gave her: Never date firefighters. Cassie can feel her resolve slipping...and it means risking it all—the only job she’s ever loved, and the hero she’s worked like hell to become.

>Katherine Center's Things You Save in a Fire is a heartfelt and healing tour-de-force about the strength of vulnerability, the nourishing magic of forgiveness, and the life-changing power of defining courage, at last, for yourself.]]>
316 Katherine Center 1466847719 Zoe 4 4.12 2019 Things You Save in a Fire
author: Katherine Center
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/11
date added: 2024/07/11
shelves:
review:

]]>
Happiness for Beginners 61361515 An alternative cover edition for this ASIN can be found here

A year after getting divorced, Helen Carpenter, thirty-two, lets her annoying, ten years younger brother talk her into signing up for a wilderness survival course. It's supposed to be a chance for her to pull herself together again, but when she discovers that her brother's even-more-annoying best friend is also coming on the trip, she can't imagine how it will be anything other than a disaster. Thus begins the strangest adventure of Helen's well-behaved life: three weeks in the remotest wilderness of a mountain range in Wyoming where she will survive mosquito infestations, a surprise summer blizzard, and a group of sorority girls.

Yet, despite everything, the vast wilderness has a way of making Helen's own little life seem bigger, too. And, somehow the people who annoy her the most start teaching her the very things she needs to learn. Like how to stand up for herself. And how being scared can make you brave. And how sometimes you just have to get really, really lost before you can even have a hope of being found.]]>
322 Katherine Center Zoe 4
Highlights:

“The most important thing to remember is that getting what you want doesn’t make you happy.�
“Happiness is more about appreciation than acquisition.�
“It’s sadness that gives happiness its meaning.�
“Thank you for this world of miracles. We will try to be more grateful. And less ridiculous.�
“But the things we remember are what we hold on to, and what we hold on to becomes the story of our lives. We only get one story. And I am determined to make mine a good one.”]]>
4.21 2015 Happiness for Beginners
author: Katherine Center
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/08
date added: 2024/07/11
shelves:
review:
Really enjoyed this book about a young woman who had a failed marriage, and a childhood trauma, who took a survivor course in the mountains of Wyoming to try and “find herself�. In the process, she finds strength within that she didn’t know she had, unlikely friendships, forgiveness and love. Yes, it really was a basic course in “happiness for beginners� that we should all aspire to!

Highlights:

“The most important thing to remember is that getting what you want doesn’t make you happy.�
“Happiness is more about appreciation than acquisition.�
“It’s sadness that gives happiness its meaning.�
“Thank you for this world of miracles. We will try to be more grateful. And less ridiculous.�
“But the things we remember are what we hold on to, and what we hold on to becomes the story of our lives. We only get one story. And I am determined to make mine a good one.�
]]>
Last Summer on State Street 60440469 For fans of Jacqueline Woodson and Brit Bennett, a striking coming-of-age debut about friendship, community, and resilience, set in the housing projects of Chicago during one life-changing summer.

Even when we lose it all, we find the strength to rebuild.

Felicia "Fe Fe" Stevens is living with her vigilantly loving mother and older teenaged brother, whom she adores, in building 4950 of Chicago's Robert Taylor Homes. It's the summer of 1999, and her high-rise is next in line to be torn down by the Chicago Housing Authority. She, with the devout Precious Brown and Stacia Buchanan, daughter of a Gangster Disciple Queen-Pin, form a tentative trio and, for a brief moment, carve out for themselves a simple life of Double Dutch and innocence. But when Fe Fe welcomes a mysterious new friend, Tonya, into their fold, the dynamics shift, upending the lives of all four girls.

As their beloved neighborhood falls down around them, so too do their friendships and the structures of the four girls' families. Fe Fe must make the painful decision of whom she can trust and whom she must let go. Decades later, as she remembers that fateful summer--just before her home was demolished, her life uprooted, and community forever changed--Fe Fe tries to make sense of the grief and fraught bonds that still haunt her and attempts to reclaim the love that never left.

Profound, reverent, and uplifting, Landmarks explores the risk of connection against the backdrop of racist institutions, the restorative power of knowing and claiming one's own past, and those defining relationships which form the heartbeat of our lives. Interweaving moments of reckoning and sustaining grace, debut author Toya Wolfe has crafted an era-defining story of finding a home -- both in one's history and in one's self.]]>
220 Toya Wolfe 0063209756 Zoe 4 4.30 2022 Last Summer on State Street
author: Toya Wolfe
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/04
date added: 2024/07/04
shelves:
review:
Written from the perspective of a black 12 year old girl in the high-rise projects in Chicago during the late 1990s. It is a story of lost innocence, family, gangs, drugs, racism� but mostly a tale of 4 young girls trying to have a somewhat normal childhood in an environment of poverty and violence. Author’s writing was raw, hopeful, tragic, and sounded realistic - about a place that most of us cannot even imagine. Can a loving mother, a caring teacher, a weathered but wise older woman, and a church really make a difference in otherwise bleak circumstances?
]]>
Listen for the Lie 150260823 What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn't matter?

After Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer. Lucy and Savvy were the golden girls of their small Texas town: pretty, smart, and enviable. Lucy married a dream guy with a big ring and an even bigger new home. Savvy was the social butterfly loved by all, and if you believe the rumors, especially popular with the men in town. It’s been years since that horrible night, a night Lucy can’t remember anything about, and she has since moved to LA and started a new life.

But now the phenomenally huge hit true crime podcast "Listen for the Lie," and its too-good looking host Ben Owens, have decided to investigate Savvy’s murder for the show’s second season. Lucy is forced to return to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend’s murder, even if she is the one that did it.]]>
338 Amy Tintera Zoe 4 4.22 2024 Listen for the Lie
author: Amy Tintera
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/01
date added: 2024/07/01
shelves:
review:

]]>
Salt to the Sea 39673223
Sepetys (writer of 'Between Shades of Gray') crafts four fictionalized but historically accurate voices to convey the real-life tragedy. Joana, a Lithuanian with nursing experience; Florian, a Prussian soldier fleeing the Nazis with stolen treasure; and Emilia, a Polish girl close to the end of her pregnancy, converge on their escape journeys as Russian troops advance; each will eventually meet Albert, a Nazi peon with delusions of grandeur, assigned to the Gustloff decks.]]>
221 Ruta Sepetys Zoe 4 Florian was a Prussian soldier hiding stolen art treasure; Joana a Lithuanian nurse; and Emilia, a teenage Polish girl pregnant during to unspeakable tragedies. Once their long, dangerous journey takes them to the overcrowded ship(designed to hold 1,800 but over 10,000 boarded), they meet Florian, a narcissistic Nazi sailor. Their four stories are told through alternating POVs, which was interesting given their different backgrounds. The culmination gets thrilling when the ship is hit by Soviet submarine torpedoes. Much more harrowing than the Titanic, considering the many thousands of lives onboard. I’m wondering how many history books ever relayed the story of the ill-fated Wilhelm Gustloff?

Highlighted passages:
“Through hardship to the stars. It was a Latin phrase he used whenever I complained that something was difficult.�

The background of Florian’s hidden treasure:
“Originally created in Prussia and gifted to Peter the Great, the Amber Room was a glittering chamber of amber, jewels, gold, and mirrors. In 1941, the Nazis stole it from the Catherine Palace in Pushkin, near Leningrad. Packed into twenty-seven crates, the Amber Room was the culmination of Hitler’s artistic dreams. He carefully strategized its safekeeping and after much deliberation the twenty-seven crates were secretly shipped to the castle museum in Königsberg. Dr. Lange was responsible for its protection.”]]>
4.34 2016 Salt to the Sea
author: Ruta Sepetys
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/22
date added: 2024/06/29
shelves:
review:
Engaging read about a group of refugees fleeing from the Red Army(Russian troops) during WW2. The Wilhelm Gustloff was a German cruise liner on the Baltic Sea, designated to take refugees and injured soldiers to safety in January 1945. The ship was real, the stories of these 4 characters, fictional.
Florian was a Prussian soldier hiding stolen art treasure; Joana a Lithuanian nurse; and Emilia, a teenage Polish girl pregnant during to unspeakable tragedies. Once their long, dangerous journey takes them to the overcrowded ship(designed to hold 1,800 but over 10,000 boarded), they meet Florian, a narcissistic Nazi sailor. Their four stories are told through alternating POVs, which was interesting given their different backgrounds. The culmination gets thrilling when the ship is hit by Soviet submarine torpedoes. Much more harrowing than the Titanic, considering the many thousands of lives onboard. I’m wondering how many history books ever relayed the story of the ill-fated Wilhelm Gustloff?

Highlighted passages:
“Through hardship to the stars. It was a Latin phrase he used whenever I complained that something was difficult.�

The background of Florian’s hidden treasure:
“Originally created in Prussia and gifted to Peter the Great, the Amber Room was a glittering chamber of amber, jewels, gold, and mirrors. In 1941, the Nazis stole it from the Catherine Palace in Pushkin, near Leningrad. Packed into twenty-seven crates, the Amber Room was the culmination of Hitler’s artistic dreams. He carefully strategized its safekeeping and after much deliberation the twenty-seven crates were secretly shipped to the castle museum in Königsberg. Dr. Lange was responsible for its protection.�
]]>
Go as a River 63922271 A sweeping, heart-stopping epic of a young woman's journey to becoming, set against the harsh beauty of mid-century Colorado

On a cool autumn day in 1948, Victoria Nash delivers late-season peaches from her family's farm set amid the wild beauty of Colorado. As she heads into her village, a disheveled stranger stops to ask her the way. How she chooses to answer will unknowingly alter the course of both their young lives.

So begins the mesmerizing story of split-second choices and courageous acts that propel Victoria away from the only home she has ever known and towards a reckoning with loss, hope and her own untapped strength.

Gathering all the pieces of her small and extraordinary existence, spinning through the eddies of desire, heartbreak and betrayal, she will arrive at a single rocky decision that will change her life forever.

Go as a River is a heart-wrenching coming-of-age story and a drama of enthralling power. Combining unforgettable characters and a breathtaking natural setting, it is a sweeping story of survival and becoming, of the deepest mysteries of love, truth and fate.]]>
299 Shelley Read 1954118244 Zoe 5 Although not a great American tale, this story does contain many familiar elements� hardships of a beautiful, but tough landscape, poverty, discriminatory mindsets, teen love, family dysfunction, secrets, etc. I found myself pulling for Victoria and later, Lukas.

“wanted to tell him I was ready for him now. I wanted to tell him I knew the pain of displacement and how sorry—how deeply, profoundly, unutterably sorry—I was that I had given him away, that I hadn’t known any other way to save him.”]]>
4.47 2023 Go as a River
author: Shelley Read
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/27
date added: 2024/06/29
shelves:
review:
I enjoyed this book which was set in rural Colorado beginning in 1948 where we meet Wil, a transient teenager(-17 to 20?) when he happens upon this town looking for field work. Unfortunately, prejudice runs rampant during this time and Wil soon hides from the threatening citizens. This is the setting for a young, short-lived love story between Wil and Torie, (the 17-year old daughter of a peach farmer).
Although not a great American tale, this story does contain many familiar elements� hardships of a beautiful, but tough landscape, poverty, discriminatory mindsets, teen love, family dysfunction, secrets, etc. I found myself pulling for Victoria and later, Lukas.

“wanted to tell him I was ready for him now. I wanted to tell him I knew the pain of displacement and how sorry—how deeply, profoundly, unutterably sorry—I was that I had given him away, that I hadn’t known any other way to save him.�
]]>
The Island of Sea Women 41459660 THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A mesmerizing new historical novel� (O, The Oprah Magazine) from Lisa See, the bestselling author of The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, about female friendship and devastating family secrets on a small Korean island.Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends who come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village’s all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook’s mother. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginning a life of excitement and responsibility—but also danger. Despite their love for each other, Mi-ja and Young-sook find it impossible to ignore their differences. The Island of Sea Women takes place over many decades, beginning during a period of Japanese colonialism in the 1930s and 1940s, followed by World War II, the Korean War, through the era of cell phones and wet suits for the women divers. Throughout this time, the residents of Jeju find themselves caught between warring empires. Mi-ja is the daughter of a Japanese collaborator. Young-sook was born into a long line of haenyeo and will inherit her mother’s position leading the divers in their village. Little do the two friends know that forces outside their control will push their friendship to the breaking point. “This vivid…thoughtful and empathetic� novel (The New York Times Book Review) illuminates a world turned upside down, one where the women are in charge and the men take care of the children. “A wonderful ode to a truly singular group of women� (Publishers Weekly), The Island of Sea Women is a “beautiful story…about the endurance of friendship when it’s pushed to its limits, and you…will love it� (Cosmopolitan).]]> 383 Lisa See Zoe 5 Who are the Haenyeo?
Def:
“Haenyeo are female divers in the South Korean island of Jeju, whose livelihood consists of harvesting a variety of mollusks, seaweed, and other sea life from the ocean. Known for their independent spirit and determination, haenyeo are representative of the semi-matriarchal family structure of Jeju.�

The book begins when we meet elderly Young-sook,(-85+ years old) on the beach in Jeju in the early 2000s. She is picking things up on the beach where she is approached by a Korean-American family interested in her background, specifically her relationship with their Mi-ja. The story then moves back and forth over Young-sook’s lifetime. Mi-ja had been Young-sook’s bestfriend from early childhood, but she was the child of a Japanese collaborator, causing her to be reviled by most of the Korean islanders. When the girls come of age -15 they train to be baby-divers under the collective of Young-sook’s mother. Being a Haenyeo was a thrilling, but dangerous livelihood(hypothermia, poisonous sea life, etc.) as the two young girls learned early. Unfortunately, outside forces cause circumstances to threaten the girls� friendship due to family secrets and devastating choices.
This story moves over decades from the Japanese colonialism in the 1930s and 1940s, WW2, the Korean War to present-day when female divers wear wetsuits and use new technologies. Due to See’s descriptive writing and thorough research, I felt like I was right there in Jeju alongside the sea-women.

Highlights:
“If there is happiness at age three, it will last until you reach eighty.�
“Parents exist in children,� Grandmother said to bolster my confidence. “Your mother will always exist in you. She will give you strength wherever you go.�
“They did this to me. They did that to me. A woman who thinks that way will never overcome her anger. You are not being punished for your anger. You’re being punished by your anger.�

History of divers:
“Long ago, Jeju’s men had been divers, but the Korean monarchs imposed such a high tax on their work that it was eventually given to women, who were taxed at a lower rate. It turned out that women had an aptitude for the work. Women, like my mother, were patient. Women understood suffering. Women had more fat, so they were better suited to endure the cold.�
]]>
4.41 2019 The Island of Sea Women
author: Lisa See
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/18
date added: 2024/06/22
shelves:
review:
I love learning about different cultures through Lisa See’s stories, this was another great one!
Who are the Haenyeo?
Def:
“Haenyeo are female divers in the South Korean island of Jeju, whose livelihood consists of harvesting a variety of mollusks, seaweed, and other sea life from the ocean. Known for their independent spirit and determination, haenyeo are representative of the semi-matriarchal family structure of Jeju.�

The book begins when we meet elderly Young-sook,(-85+ years old) on the beach in Jeju in the early 2000s. She is picking things up on the beach where she is approached by a Korean-American family interested in her background, specifically her relationship with their Mi-ja. The story then moves back and forth over Young-sook’s lifetime. Mi-ja had been Young-sook’s bestfriend from early childhood, but she was the child of a Japanese collaborator, causing her to be reviled by most of the Korean islanders. When the girls come of age -15 they train to be baby-divers under the collective of Young-sook’s mother. Being a Haenyeo was a thrilling, but dangerous livelihood(hypothermia, poisonous sea life, etc.) as the two young girls learned early. Unfortunately, outside forces cause circumstances to threaten the girls� friendship due to family secrets and devastating choices.
This story moves over decades from the Japanese colonialism in the 1930s and 1940s, WW2, the Korean War to present-day when female divers wear wetsuits and use new technologies. Due to See’s descriptive writing and thorough research, I felt like I was right there in Jeju alongside the sea-women.

Highlights:
“If there is happiness at age three, it will last until you reach eighty.�
“Parents exist in children,� Grandmother said to bolster my confidence. “Your mother will always exist in you. She will give you strength wherever you go.�
“They did this to me. They did that to me. A woman who thinks that way will never overcome her anger. You are not being punished for your anger. You’re being punished by your anger.�

History of divers:
“Long ago, Jeju’s men had been divers, but the Korean monarchs imposed such a high tax on their work that it was eventually given to women, who were taxed at a lower rate. It turned out that women had an aptitude for the work. Women, like my mother, were patient. Women understood suffering. Women had more fat, so they were better suited to endure the cold.�

]]>
<![CDATA[Summer of '79: A Summer of '69 Story]]> 51001395 Catch up with Blair, Jessie, and Kirby ten years after the summer everything changed, in this "Summer of '69 story" by Elin Hilderbrand -- Available for a limited time

"Summer of '79" will be published in print in Spring 2021 as part of a Dorothea Benton Frank tribute anthology. Get it now in digital form, for a limited time!]]>
61 Elin Hilderbrand 031654180X Zoe 4 3.87 2020 Summer of '79: A Summer of '69 Story
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: Zoe
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/19
date added: 2024/06/22
shelves:
review:
Very quick read, but too short to be satisfying like Summer of �69 was!
]]>
The Measure 56898742 Eight ordinary people. One extraordinary choice.

It seems like any other day. You wake up, pour a cup of coffee, and head out.

But today, when you open your front door, waiting for you is a small wooden box. This box holds your fate: the answer to the exact number of years you will live.

From suburban doorsteps to desert tents, every person on every continent receives the same box. In an instant, the world is thrust into a collective frenzy. Where did these boxes come from? What do they mean? Is there truth to what they promise?

As society comes together and pulls apart, everyone faces the same shocking Do they wish to know how long they'll live? And, if so, what will they do with that knowledge?

The Measure charts the dawn of this new world through an unforgettable cast of characters whose decisions and fates interweave with one best friends whose dreams are forever entwined, pen pals finding refuge in the unknown, a couple who thought they didn't have to rush, a doctor who cannot save himself, and a politician whose box becomes the powder keg that ultimately changes everything.

Enchanting and deeply uplifting, The Measure is a sweeping, ambitious, and invigorating story about family, friendship, hope, and destiny that encourages us to live life to the fullest.]]>
348 Nikki Erlick 0063204223 Zoe 5
I highlighted passages that made me pause:
“And even if we don’t really know what’s waiting at the bottom of the hill, those lights down below make me feel like it’s someplace nice. So, maybe, I don’t know, whenever things feel scary and unfair and confusing for us, there’s another, nicer place that we could find, too.�

� We don’t just march because we hope it will trigger change. We march to remind them of our numbers. To remind them that they can’t forget�

� It is not the length of life, but the depth of life.� You don’t need a long lifetime to make an impact on this world. You just need the will to do so.�

� knew a guy in college who took a job as an investment banker, and he was so worried that he would end up hating the job but sticking around for the money, that he set an alert on his phone to send himself the same message every year on his birthday: “Sit down and ask yourself: Are you happy?�

Definitely a book worth reading, and thinking about.]]>
4.06 2022 The Measure
author: Nikki Erlick
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2022/09/25
date added: 2024/06/19
shelves:
review:
Fascinating, thought-provoking book that deals with the question many have posed, “What would you do if you knew you had only X time left to live?�

I highlighted passages that made me pause:
“And even if we don’t really know what’s waiting at the bottom of the hill, those lights down below make me feel like it’s someplace nice. So, maybe, I don’t know, whenever things feel scary and unfair and confusing for us, there’s another, nicer place that we could find, too.�

� We don’t just march because we hope it will trigger change. We march to remind them of our numbers. To remind them that they can’t forget�

� It is not the length of life, but the depth of life.� You don’t need a long lifetime to make an impact on this world. You just need the will to do so.�

� knew a guy in college who took a job as an investment banker, and he was so worried that he would end up hating the job but sticking around for the money, that he set an alert on his phone to send himself the same message every year on his birthday: “Sit down and ask yourself: Are you happy?�

Definitely a book worth reading, and thinking about.
]]>
The Return of Ellie Black 199798460
It’s been twenty years since Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s sister vanished when they were teenagers, and ever since she’s been searching: for signs, for closure, for other missing girls. But happy endings are rare in Chelsey’s line of work.

Then a glimmer: local teenager Ellie Black, who disappeared without a trace two years earlier, has been found alive in the woods of Washington State.

But something is not right with Ellie. She won’t say where she’s been, or who she’s protecting, and it’s up to Chelsey to find the answers. She needs to get to the bottom of what happened to Ellie: for herself, and for the memory of her sister, but mostly for the next girl who could be taken—and who, unlike Ellie, might never return.

The debut thriller from New York Times bestselling author Emiko Jean, The Return of Ellie Black is both a feminist tour de force about the embers of hope that burn in the aftermath of tragedy and a twisty page-turner that will shock and surprise you right up until the final page.]]>
299 Emiko Jean 1668023938 Zoe 0 to-read 3.97 2024 The Return of Ellie Black
author: Emiko Jean
name: Zoe
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]>
<![CDATA[The Jury Master (David Sloane, #1)]]> 8146267 449 Robert Dugoni Zoe 5
Highlight:
“And that was when I came to realize that what is important is not what is true, but what people believe is true and what they’re willing to do for that belief.”]]>
4.13 2006 The Jury Master (David Sloane, #1)
author: Robert Dugoni
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/11
date added: 2024/06/13
shelves:
review:
Solid 4 1/2 stars. used to enjoy David Baldacci’s crime-writing style and character development. This author reminds me of some of those books. Kept me engaged and curious about the various characters� from the lawyer, the police-detective, covert CIA operatives, political figures to the sweet cleaning lady and legal assistant. I became invested in their stories and interested in how past atrocities impacted current violence. Very well-written!

Highlight:
“And that was when I came to realize that what is important is not what is true, but what people believe is true and what they’re willing to do for that belief.�
]]>
Wildflower 25065522 288 Drew Barrymore 1101983795 Zoe 4 3.58 2015 Wildflower
author: Drew Barrymore
name: Zoe
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/10
date added: 2024/06/10
shelves:
review:
Cute audio by Drew Barrymore told in her warm and funny style. I only listened about halfway through as it didn’t really appeal to me after hearing about her struggles growing up without much parent support, dealing with Hollywood pressures, etc. If I didn’t have 2 other books on hold I probably would have finished, but, felt I heard enough. That being said� love who she is and what’s she’s accomplished!
]]>
The Frozen River 56699106
Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.

Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.]]>
432 Ariel Lawhon 0385546882 Zoe 4 “If not for one diary and the power of words”� such an apt introduction for the impetus for this historical fiction narrative by gifted author Ariel Lawhon.
I’m starting this review with excerpts from the author’s notes, for context.
“Every story moves like a river, from source to mouth, so let this one flow, and I’ll meet you back here at the end�.
“The court system in early America(1780s) was nothing like it is today. At the time this story takes place, the Constitution had existed as the country’s founding legal document for only two and a half years, and the Bill of Rights had not yet been ratified. In Martha’s day there was only the Court of General Sessions(where you could sue your neighbor for petty reasons), the Court of Common Pleas(that considered more serious crimes such as assault), the Supreme Judicial Court(that handled rape, murder, and appeals from lower courts), and the Supreme Court(there were only six justices and its first meeting was in February 1790 - toward the end of when this story takes place). So when I ask you to take everything you know about due process and throw it out the window, that is why.�
“One phrase in her diary is repeated thousands of times over twenty-seven years: â€I have been at home.’â€�
]]>
4.52 2023 The Frozen River
author: Ariel Lawhon
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/05
date added: 2024/06/05
shelves:
review:
4 1/2 stars! From author’s notes:
“If not for one diary and the power of words”� such an apt introduction for the impetus for this historical fiction narrative by gifted author Ariel Lawhon.
I’m starting this review with excerpts from the author’s notes, for context.
“Every story moves like a river, from source to mouth, so let this one flow, and I’ll meet you back here at the end�.
“The court system in early America(1780s) was nothing like it is today. At the time this story takes place, the Constitution had existed as the country’s founding legal document for only two and a half years, and the Bill of Rights had not yet been ratified. In Martha’s day there was only the Court of General Sessions(where you could sue your neighbor for petty reasons), the Court of Common Pleas(that considered more serious crimes such as assault), the Supreme Judicial Court(that handled rape, murder, and appeals from lower courts), and the Supreme Court(there were only six justices and its first meeting was in February 1790 - toward the end of when this story takes place). So when I ask you to take everything you know about due process and throw it out the window, that is why.�
“One phrase in her diary is repeated thousands of times over twenty-seven years: â€I have been at home.’â€�

]]>
Code Name Hélène 50089336 Code Name Hélène is a spellbinding and moving story of enduring love, remarkable sacrifice and unfaltering resolve that chronicles the true exploits of a woman who deserves to be a household name.

It is 1936 and Nancy Wake is an intrepid Australian expat living in Paris who has bluffed her way into a reporting job for Hearst newspaper when she meets the wealthy French industrialist Henri Fiocca. No sooner does Henri sweep Nancy off her feet and convince her to become Mrs. Fiocca than the Germans invade France and she takes yet another name: a code name.

As LUCIENNE CARLIER Nancy smuggles people and documents across the border. Her success and her remarkable ability to evade capture earns her the nickname THE WHITE MOUSE from the Gestapo. With a five million franc bounty on her head, Nancy is forced to escape France and leave Henri behind. When she enters training with the Special Operations Executives in Britain, her new comrades are instructed to call her ±áÉł˘Ă±··ˇ. And finally, with mission in hand, Nancy is airdropped back into France as the deadly MADAM ANDRÉ, where she claims her place as one of the most powerful leaders in the French Resistance, armed with a ferocious wit, her signature red lipstick, and the ability to summon weapons straight from the Allied Forces.

But no one can protect Nancy if the enemy finds out these four women are one and the same, and the closer to liberation France gets, the more exposed she--and the people she loves--become.]]>
451 Ariel Lawhon 0385544685 Zoe 0 to-read 4.39 2020 Code Name Hélène
author: Ariel Lawhon
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]>
Let's Pretend This Will Work 200591165 The search for happiness turns a woman’s life upside down in a warm, quirky, and bighearted novel about the joys and chaos of finding love by the bestselling author of Matchmaking for Beginners.

After too many dates, thirtysomething Mimi Perkins is still single, unmoored, and longing for love. So when Ren Yardley—a handsome, divorced fellow drama teacher and single father—falls in love with her and proposes, she’s sure this is at last the good news her psychic predicted.

Soon after proposing, Ren receives the devastating news that his ex-wife has been in a debilitating car accident, prompting him to temporarily move back into his former home to care for her and his daughters. The unfailingly loyal Ren also wants to keep Mimi close, so she packs up her life in New York City and follows him to New Haven, Connecticut. There, she finds a job and unexpected community at a quirky local daycare. But as time goes by, it begins to seem that Ren and his estranged family might be slowly reuniting, and Mimi has to figure out what she’s willing to fight for and what she needs to let go of.

One thing is for she would have never guessed that her psychic was right after all. Life’s twists, turns, and disasters just might lead her to unexpected happiness.]]>
347 Maddie Dawson 1662515472 Zoe 4 4.04 2024 Let's Pretend This Will Work
author: Maddie Dawson
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/12
date added: 2024/05/27
shelves:
review:
A quirky audiobook that was ok� girl meets guy, they fall in love, he proposes but then has to move to care for his ex-wife who got in a car accident. I found Mimi to be a rather silly woman willing to “stand by� while her fiancé dealt with his family - only to be available to him late at night for sex, not willing to integrate her into his life. However, her involvement in a daycare was interesting and further developed her quirky character. All in all, 3 1/2 stars.
]]>
Love and Other Words 60750697 After a decade apart, childhood sweethearts reconnect by chance in New York Times bestselling author Christina Lauren’s touching, romantic novel Love and Other Words…how many words will it take for them to figure out where it all went wrong?

The story of the heart can never be unwritten.

Macy Sorensen is settling into an ambitious if emotionally tepid routine: work hard as a new pediatrics resident, plan her wedding to an older, financially secure man, keep her head down and heart tucked away.

But when she runs into Elliot Petropoulos—the first and only love of her life—the careful bubble she’s constructed begins to dissolve. Once upon a time, Elliot was Macy’s entire world—growing from her gangly bookish friend into the man who coaxed her heart open again after the loss of her mother...only to break it on the very night he declared his love for her.

Told in alternating timelines between Then and Now, teenage Elliot and Macy grow from friends to much more—spending weekends and lazy summers together in a house outside of San Francisco devouring books, sharing favorite words, and talking through their growing pains and triumphs. As adults, they have become strangers to one another until their chance reunion. Although their memories are obscured by the agony of what happened that night so many years ago, Elliot will come to understand the truth behind Macy’s decade-long silence, and will have to overcome the past and himself to revive her faith in the possibility of an all-consuming love.]]>
450 Christina Lauren Zoe 4 4.27 2018 Love and Other Words
author: Christina Lauren
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/26
date added: 2024/05/26
shelves:
review:

]]>
The Secrets Between Us 35959168 Bhima, the unforgettable main character of Thrity Umrigar’s beloved national bestsellerĚý The Space Between Us , returns in this triumphant sequel—a poignant and compelling novel in which the former servant struggles against the circumstances of class and misfortune to forge a new path for herself and her granddaughter in modern India. Poor and illiterate, Bhima had faithfully worked for the Dubash family, an upper-middle-class Parsi household, for more than twenty years. Yet after courageously speaking the truth about a heinous crime perpetrated against her own family, the devoted servant was cruelly fired. The sting of that dismissal was made more painful coming from Sera Dubash, the temperamental employer who had long been Bhima’s only confidante. A woman who has endured despair and loss with stoicism, Bhima must now find some other way to support herself and her granddaughter, Maya. Bhima’s fortunes take an unexpected turn when her path intersects with Parvati, a bitter, taciturn older woman. The two acquaintances soon form a tentative business partnership, selling fruits and vegetables at the local market. As they work together, these two women seemingly bound by fate grow closer, each confessing the truth about their lives and the wounds that haunt them. Discovering her first true friend, Bhima pieces together a new life, and together, the two women learn to stand on their own. A dazzling story of gender, strength, friendship, and second chances,Ěý The Secrets Between Us Ěýis a powerful and perceptive novel that brilliantly evokes the complexities of life in modern India and the harsh realities faced by women born without privilege as they struggle to survive.]]> 368 Thrity Umrigar 0062442201 Zoe 4 4.48 2018 The Secrets Between Us
author: Thrity Umrigar
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/17
date added: 2024/05/19
shelves:
review:
Such an interesting story centered around two older woman in the poverty slums of Mumbai, India. I loved the audiobook because the accents helped me visualize the characters, their surroundings and struggles. Parvati and Pima both had difficult lives, filled with unimaginable struggles and tragedies. At times, it was heartbreaking to hear of rape, physical and mental abuse, near starvation, ridicule, prejudice and injustice. At other times, heartwarming to imagine the warmth of simple human contact, relating to one another, shared circumstances and acceptance. This historical fiction also helped me comprehend how in some ways Mumbai has developed, modernized and progressed from ancient Bombay, but in other ways, the class system still exists, opportunities still favor the wealthy and educated…just as in other major cities around the world. Really enjoyed this author!
]]>
28 Summers 52588078
When Mallory Blessing's son, Link, receives deathbed instructions from his mother to call a number on a slip of paper in her desk drawer, he's not sure what to expect. But he certainly does not expect Jake McCloud to answer. It's the late spring of 2020 and Jake's wife, Ursula DeGournsey, is the frontrunner in the upcoming Presidential election.

There must be a mistake, Link thinks. How do Mallory and Jake know each other?

Flash back to the sweet summer of 1993: Mallory has just inherited a beachfront cottage on Nantucket from her aunt, and she agrees to host her brother's bachelor party. Cooper's friend from college, Jake McCloud, attends, and Jake and Mallory form a bond that will persevere -- through marriage, children, and Ursula's stratospheric political rise -- until Mallory learns she's dying.

Based on the classic film Same Time Next Year (which Mallory and Jake watch every summer), 28 Summers explores the agony and romance of a one-weekend-per-year affair and the dramatic ways this relationship complicates and enriches their lives, and the lives of the people they love.]]>
432 Elin Hilderbrand 0316420042 Zoe 0 to-read 4.13 2020 28 Summers
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]>
Salem Falls 6265397 From #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult comes a compelling and “multilayered tale of small-town intrigue� (Glamour) about a prep schoolteacher accused of rape by a group of young girls, the woman who stands by him, and the repercussions of the case in a New England town where the past is only a heartbeat away.Love can redeem a man...but secrets and lies can condemn him. A handsome stranger comes to the sleepy New England town of Salem Falls in hopes of burying his past. Once a teacher at a girls prep school, Jack St. Bride was destroyed when a student’s crush sparked a powder keg of accusation. Now, washing dishes for Addie Peabody at the Do-Or-Diner, he slips quietly into his new routine, and Addie finds this unassuming man fitting easily inside her heart. But amid the rustic calm of Salem Falls, a quartet of teenage girls harbor dark secrets—and they maliciously target Jack with a shattering allegation. Now, at the center of a modern-day witch hunt, Jack is forced once again to proclaim his to a town searching for answers, to a justice system where truth becomes a slippery concept written in shades of gray, and to the woman who has come to love him in this unputdownable novel that will keep you “constantly guessing� (The Dallas Morning News) until the very last page.]]> 464 Jodi Picoult Zoe 4
Highlights:
“Missed opportunities were never superficial wounds; they cut straight to the bone.�
“The Inuit say that the stars are holes in heaven. And every time we see the people we loved shining through, we know they’re happy.�
“a heart with so many stress fractures would never be anything but broken.�
“I wanted readers to understand that rape trials are such a crapshoot that a defense attorney might indeed recommend to his wrongfully accused client that he simply plea-bargain for a misdemeanor rather than risk a felony conviction by a jury.�
“A lie can outpace the truth every time, even though the difference between them is paper-thin. And that you never really know anyone as well as you think you do.”]]>
4.05 2001 Salem Falls
author: Jodi Picoult
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/09
date added: 2024/05/09
shelves:
review:
Solid 4 1/2 stars from another one of Jodi Picoult’s novels where I learned a lot� about rape, Wiccans, familial relationships, prejudices and more. I loved that Jodi drew upon a childhood favorite classic, “The Crucible� to loosely base this modernized novel. Jack is an early 30s male from a small town in NH where is wrongfully accused, and convicted of sexual assault. After serving 8 months, he finds a new town hoping to start over. However, his past follows him and jeopardizes his job; relationship with Addie, a young woman who also had horrific things is her past; and his settling in the community.The real issues that male teachers/coaches have to be ever vigilant about when dealing with teenage girls, complicated by their dalliances with the Wicca religion that they don’t really understand. Picoult deals with so many complex matters with thorough research, twisting storylines and characters we can empathize with.

Highlights:
“Missed opportunities were never superficial wounds; they cut straight to the bone.�
“The Inuit say that the stars are holes in heaven. And every time we see the people we loved shining through, we know they’re happy.�
“a heart with so many stress fractures would never be anything but broken.�
“I wanted readers to understand that rape trials are such a crapshoot that a defense attorney might indeed recommend to his wrongfully accused client that he simply plea-bargain for a misdemeanor rather than risk a felony conviction by a jury.�
“A lie can outpace the truth every time, even though the difference between them is paper-thin. And that you never really know anyone as well as you think you do.�
]]>
The Connellys of County Down 59419107
While she works to build a new career and hold her family together, Tara finds a chance at love in a most unlikely place. But when the Connellys� secrets start to unravel and threaten her future, they all must face their worst fears and come clean, or risk losing each other forever.

The Connellys of County Down is a moving novel about testing the bounds of love and loyalty. It explores the possibility of beginning our lives anew, and reveals the pitfalls of shielding each other from the bitter truth.]]>
288 Tracey Lange 1250865395 Zoe 4 3.87 2023 The Connellys of County Down
author: Tracey Lange
name: Zoe
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/28
date added: 2024/04/28
shelves:
review:
Enjoyed this novel that was a story based on family dynamics/dysfunction between 3 adult siblings who lost their parents as kids and teens. How this loss impacted each of them in different ways and the effect of actions on one another. The main plot is the youngest sister, Tara’s, recent incarceration for drug transport and her reintegration back into the family and community. We learn that things aren’t always how they appear, and learn to appreciate what people will do for those they love.
]]>
A Flicker in the Dark 57693172
Now 20 years later, Chloe is a psychologist in private practice in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. She finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she’s worked so hard to get. Sometimes, though, she feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. And then a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, and that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, and seeing parallels that aren't really there, or for the second time in her life, is she about to unmask a killer?

In a debut novel that has already been optioned for a limited series by actress Emma Stone and sold to a dozen countries around the world, Stacy Willingham has created an unforgettable character in a spellbinding thriller that will appeal equally to fans of Gillian Flynn and Karin Slaughter.]]>
357 Stacy Willingham 1250803829 Zoe 4 3.96 2022 A Flicker in the Dark
author: Stacy Willingham
name: Zoe
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/21
date added: 2024/04/21
shelves:
review:
I really wanted to love this thriller book, but the characters didn’t wow me. Dr Chloe comes across as whiny, weak and unable to deal with her life� making you wonder how she managed to become a psychiatrist? I may have found it better to read, rather than listen to this in audio format. Her choice in boyfriends is also questionable. Given that her father had been convicted of serial murders years earlier, why would she get engaged to a man who “surprises her�(knowing surprises terrify her) and gripping her from behind? Plus I figured out the “whodunnit� pretty much halfway through when things didn’t seem to make sense.
]]>
<![CDATA[Being Henry: The Fonz . . . and Beyond]]> 65215014 From Emmy-award winning actor, author, comedian, producer, and director Henry Winkler, a deeply thoughtful memoir of the lifelong effects of stardom and the struggle to become whole

Henry Winkler, launched into prominence by his role as “the Fonz� in the beloved Happy Days, has transcended the role that made him who he is. Brilliant, funny, and widely regarded as the nicest man in Hollywood (though he would be the first to tell you that it’s simply not the case, he’s really just grateful to be here), Henry shares in this achingly vulnerable memoir the disheartening truth of his childhood, the difficulties of a life with severe dyslexia, the pressures of a role that takes on a life of its own, and the path forward once your wildest dream seems behind you.

Since the glorious era of Happy Days fame, Henry has endeared himself to new generations with roles in such adored shows as Arrested Development, Parks and Recreation, and Barry, where he’s been revealed as an actor with immense depth and pathos, a departure from the period of his life when he was so distinctly typecast as the Fonz that he could hardly find work.

Filled with profound heart, charm, and self-deprecating humor, Being Henry is a memoir about so much more than a life in Hollywood and the curse of stardom. It is a meaningful testament to the power of sharing truth and kindness and of finding fulfillment within yourself.]]>
246 Henry Winkler 1250888093 Zoe 4 4.10 2023 Being Henry: The Fonz . . . and Beyond
author: Henry Winkler
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/21
date added: 2024/04/21
shelves:
review:

]]>
<![CDATA[The Collected Regrets of Clover]]> 61364899 What’s the point of giving someone a beautiful death if you can’t give yourself a beautiful life?

From the day she watched her kindergarten teacher drop dead during a dramatic telling of Peter Rabbit, Clover Brooks has felt a stronger connection with the dying than she has with the living. After the beloved grandfather who raised her dies alone while she is traveling, Clover becomes a death doula in New York City, dedicating her life to ushering people peacefully through their end-of-life process.

Clover spends so much time with the dying that she has no life of her own, until the final wishes of a feisty old woman send Clover on a trip across the country to uncover a forgotten love story––and perhaps, her own happy ending. As she finds herself struggling to navigate the uncharted roads of romance and friendship, Clover is forced to examine what she really wants, and whether she’ll have the courage to go after it.

Probing, clever, and hopeful, The Collected Regrets of Clover turns the normally taboo subject of death into a reason to celebrate life.]]>
320 Mikki Brammer 1250284406 Zoe 4
Highlights:
“Shepherding a dying person through the last days of their life is a privilege� especially when you’re the only thing they have to hold on to.�
“The most important thing is never to look away from someone’s pain. Not just the physical pain of their body shutting down, but the emotional pain of watching their life end while knowing they could have lived it better. Giving someone the chance to be seen at their most vulnerable�
“Grief plays tricks on you that way� a familiar whiff of cologne or a potential sighting of your person in a crowd, and all the knots you’ve tied inside yourself to manage the pain of losing them suddenly unravel.�
“It frustrated me that society was so determined to quantify grief, as if time could erase the potency of love. Or, on the other hand, how it dictated that grief for someone you knew fleetingly should be equally as fleeting. But while a mother who miscarries might not have ever �
“That was the day that I began to realize how hard it is to be anything but what the world already thinks you are. �
“The truth is, grief never really goes away. Someone told me once that it’s like a bag that you always carry� it starts out as a large suitcase, and as the years go by, it might reduce to the size of a purse, but you carry it forever. I know �
“Don’t let the best parts of life pass you by because you’re too scared of the unknown.�
“Grief, I’d come to realize, was like dust. When you’re in the thick of a dust storm, you’re completely disoriented by the onslaught, struggling to see or breathe. But as the force recedes, and you slowly find your bearings and see a path forward, the dust begins to settle into�

My favorite: “Be cautiously reckless�
]]>
4.29 2023 The Collected Regrets of Clover
author: Mikki Brammer
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/06
date added: 2024/04/07
shelves:
review:
What started out as a quirky book about a lonely 36 year old woman working as a “death doula� quickly became engaging. I enjoyed reading about Clover’s chosen profession, which I had never heard of before. Finding out how her loneliness and guilt from not being present when her grandfather died, the man who raised her and was her best friend, was assuaged somewhat by helping others transition was fascinating. Clover meets an older woman named Claudia, who teaches her a lot about life, love, and taking risks. By helping Claudia, Clover starts to deal with her internal pain.

Highlights:
“Shepherding a dying person through the last days of their life is a privilege� especially when you’re the only thing they have to hold on to.�
“The most important thing is never to look away from someone’s pain. Not just the physical pain of their body shutting down, but the emotional pain of watching their life end while knowing they could have lived it better. Giving someone the chance to be seen at their most vulnerable�
“Grief plays tricks on you that way� a familiar whiff of cologne or a potential sighting of your person in a crowd, and all the knots you’ve tied inside yourself to manage the pain of losing them suddenly unravel.�
“It frustrated me that society was so determined to quantify grief, as if time could erase the potency of love. Or, on the other hand, how it dictated that grief for someone you knew fleetingly should be equally as fleeting. But while a mother who miscarries might not have ever �
“That was the day that I began to realize how hard it is to be anything but what the world already thinks you are. �
“The truth is, grief never really goes away. Someone told me once that it’s like a bag that you always carry� it starts out as a large suitcase, and as the years go by, it might reduce to the size of a purse, but you carry it forever. I know �
“Don’t let the best parts of life pass you by because you’re too scared of the unknown.�
“Grief, I’d come to realize, was like dust. When you’re in the thick of a dust storm, you’re completely disoriented by the onslaught, struggling to see or breathe. But as the force recedes, and you slowly find your bearings and see a path forward, the dust begins to settle into�

My favorite: “Be cautiously reckless�

]]>
Plain Truth 6397204
One hundred miles away, Philadelphia defense attorney Ellie Hathaway has achieved an enviable, high-profile career. But her latest court victory has set the sands shifting beneath her. Single at thirty-nine and unsatisfied with her relationship, Ellie doesn't look back when she turns down her chance to make partner and takes off for an open-ended stay at her great-aunt's home in Paradise. Fate brings her to Katie Fisher. Suddenly, Ellie sees the chance to defend a client who truly needs her, not just one who can afford her.

But taking on this case challenges Ellie in more ways than one. She finds herself not only in a clash of wills with a client who does not want to be defended but also in a clash of cultures with a people whose channels of justice are markedly different from her own. Immersing herself in Katie Fisher's life -- and in a world founded on faith, humility, duty, and honesty -- Ellie begins to understand the pressures and sacrifices of those who to live plain. As she peels away the layers of fact and fantasy, Ellie calls on an old friend for guidance. Now, just as this man from Ellie's past reenters her life, she must uncover the truth about a complex case, a tragic loss, the bonds of love -- and her own deepest fears and desires.]]>
432 Jodi Picoult Zoe 4 Picoult’s story is about a young Amish teen girl who gave birth in a barn, unknown to anyone that she was pregnant, only to find the baby buried dead in a corner later that morning. Young Katie is charged with murder. The story revolves around Katie’s family and the Philadelphia non-Amish cousin, attorney Ellie, who not only (somewhat unwillingly) steps in to defend her, but ends up living the “Amish way� with the family on the farm for many weeks, as a condition of no jail time prior to Katie’s trial. During this time we learn about Plain ways, beliefs, family, work ethic and a lot more. The struggles are real for Amish and English. In a peace-loving society, can a mother really kill her own newborn? This was such a gripping story, with Pucoult’s usual thorough research, and caring storytelling. I will miss these characters and am thankful that I learned more.]]> 4.21 2000 Plain Truth
author: Jodi Picoult
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/28
date added: 2024/03/29
shelves:
review:
I always learn so much from Jodi Picoult’s books, and this one was no exception. Though realistic fiction, it explained a lot to me about the Amish, or “Plain� as they refer to themselves, and how we “English� can often misunderstand them. I know I had inherent biases, based partly on societal views, and partly from my limited exposure. As a young woman I visited a friend in Pennsylvania Dutch country and viewed the Amish men traveling in their buggies. I attempted to smile and wave, and received no greeting in response. I considered it rude behavior, until learning that they consider it disrespectful to approach a married man. Hmm� cultural difference, not a rude gesture.
Picoult’s story is about a young Amish teen girl who gave birth in a barn, unknown to anyone that she was pregnant, only to find the baby buried dead in a corner later that morning. Young Katie is charged with murder. The story revolves around Katie’s family and the Philadelphia non-Amish cousin, attorney Ellie, who not only (somewhat unwillingly) steps in to defend her, but ends up living the “Amish way� with the family on the farm for many weeks, as a condition of no jail time prior to Katie’s trial. During this time we learn about Plain ways, beliefs, family, work ethic and a lot more. The struggles are real for Amish and English. In a peace-loving society, can a mother really kill her own newborn? This was such a gripping story, with Pucoult’s usual thorough research, and caring storytelling. I will miss these characters and am thankful that I learned more.
]]>
The Invisible Hour 63357538 The Scarlet Letter was written almost two hundred years earlier, but it seems to tell the story of Mia’s mother, Ivy, and their life inside the Community—an oppressive cult in western Massachusetts where contact with the outside world is forbidden, and books are considered evil. But how could this be? How could Nathaniel Hawthorne have so perfectly captured the pain and loss that Mia carries inside her?

Through a journey of heartbreak, love, and time, Mia must abandon the rules she was raised with at the Community. As she does, she realizes that reading can transport you to other worlds or bring them to you, and that readers and writers affect one another in mysterious ways. She learns that time is more fluid than she can imagine, and that love is stronger than any chains that bind you.

As a girl Mia fell in love with a book. Now as a young woman she falls in love with a brilliant writer as she makes her way back in time. But what if Nathaniel Hawthorne never wrote The Scarlet Letter? And what if Mia Jacob never found it on the day she planned to die?

Nathaniel Hawthorne “A single dream is more powerful than a thousand realities.�

This is the story of one woman’s dream. For a little while it came true.]]>
240 Alice Hoffman 1982175397 Zoe 5
Highlights:
“Books may well be the only true magic.�
“Freedom is not what you think it is. It’s cold and hard and bright. That was what it felt like to change everything. To pick up the ashes and let them blow in the wind. �
“In a place where books were banned there could be no personal freedom, no hope, and no dreams for the future. �
“Some people are who you think they are. Some people hide the wolf inside of them, but you can hear them howl. �
“They thought I only had a life that I lived here, but I had found other possibilities every time I read a book.�
“In every fairy tale the girl who is saved is the one who rescues herself.�
“In books, no one helped a girl who didn’t help herself and every fairy tale ended with the same lessons. Trick your enemy, do what you must, believe in enchantments, save yourself. �
“Real life is unbelievable. Souls are snatched away from us, flesh and blood turn to dust, people you love betray you, men go to war over nothing. It’s all preposterous. That’s why we have novels. To make sense of things.�
“He knew that all things begin with kindness and that all hope began with trust. �
“once a girl walked into a library she could never be controlled again. �
“Sometimes walking away is the bravest thing you can do. When you get there, you’ll know where you are. “]]>
3.89 2023 The Invisible Hour
author: Alice Hoffman
name: Zoe
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/17
date added: 2024/03/17
shelves:
review:
Really enjoyed this book that was filled with time travel, magic, a cult-like compound, literary genius, family, and friends that become family. The various settings in Massachusetts resonated with me, especially the hills of Berkshire county, where I grew up. I was always fascinated by the Salem witch trials, the Puritan culture of intolerance to others who differed from them, and New York Public library. Nathaniel Hawthorne was a prominent character in this historical fiction, magical realism novel about a young woman who escapes from a warped society where people had no rights except to follow a crazed, narcissistic leader. When Mia escapes from Blackwell(in western Massachusetts), she travels back and forth in time� to current day Boston, where her mother grew up; Concord, where she met her true “family� in the form of a loving couple, Sarah and Constance; New York and a library career with her beloved books; and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Salem and his young manhood. “The Scarlett Letter� saved her� even before it was written. I didn’t want this story to end.

Highlights:
“Books may well be the only true magic.�
“Freedom is not what you think it is. It’s cold and hard and bright. That was what it felt like to change everything. To pick up the ashes and let them blow in the wind. �
“In a place where books were banned there could be no personal freedom, no hope, and no dreams for the future. �
“Some people are who you think they are. Some people hide the wolf inside of them, but you can hear them howl. �
“They thought I only had a life that I lived here, but I had found other possibilities every time I read a book.�
“In every fairy tale the girl who is saved is the one who rescues herself.�
“In books, no one helped a girl who didn’t help herself and every fairy tale ended with the same lessons. Trick your enemy, do what you must, believe in enchantments, save yourself. �
“Real life is unbelievable. Souls are snatched away from us, flesh and blood turn to dust, people you love betray you, men go to war over nothing. It’s all preposterous. That’s why we have novels. To make sense of things.�
“He knew that all things begin with kindness and that all hope began with trust. �
“once a girl walked into a library she could never be controlled again. �
“Sometimes walking away is the bravest thing you can do. When you get there, you’ll know where you are. �
]]>
The Women 126918788 From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah's The Women—at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie� McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.]]>
472 Kristin Hannah Zoe 4 4.71 2024 The Women
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.71
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/09
date added: 2024/03/14
shelves:
review:
4.5 stars. I knew so little about Vietnam, sadly, like most Americans. Sadder even were the nurses and other women serving in this controversial war who were not even recognized for such a long time. The raw horrors, struggles, losses, tragic love stories, treatment of returning veterans, and PTSD were hard to read about. The fierce friendships and power of Veterans� organizations inspired hope in an otherwise hopeless historical period. Frankie, Barb and Ethel will linger in my mind for a long time. Everyone needs to read more about these unsung heroes. Very well-researched and written!
]]>
The Paris Apartment 58468990 From the New York Times bestselling author of The Guest List comes a new locked room mystery, set in a Paris apartment building in which every resident has something to hide�

Jess needs a fresh start. She’s broke and alone, and she’s just left her job under less than ideal circumstances. Her half-brother Ben didn’t sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a bit, but he didn’t say no, and surely everything will look better from Paris. Only when she shows up � to find a very nice apartment, could Ben really have afforded this? � he’s not there.

The longer Ben stays missing, the more Jess starts to dig into her brother’s situation, and the more questions she has. Ben’s neighbors are an eclectic bunch, and not particularly friendly. Jess may have come to Paris to escape her past, but it’s starting to look like it’s Ben’s future that’s in question.

The socialite � The nice guy � The alcoholic � The girl on the verge � The concierge

Everyone’s a neighbor. Everyone’s a suspect. And everyone knows something they’re not telling.]]>
360 Lucy Foley 0063003058 Zoe 4 3.63 2022 The Paris Apartment
author: Lucy Foley
name: Zoe
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/14
date added: 2024/03/14
shelves:
review:
Engaging audiobook about a mysterious disappearance in Paris. I listened to this book in anticipation of a trip to Paris to “get in the mood�. Although it did point out a few cafes, streets, courtyards in the settings, it didn’t give me a huge French-feel, but, the storyline was engaging. Half-sister Jess shows up in Paris from England to crash at her brother Ben’s apartment for awhile and get herself straight. But, responsible Ben isn’t there and Jess finds his disappearance frightening. His cat is there meowing for food, his keys, cell phone, wallet, etc. Also, strange that his neighbors don’t seem to recall when they last saw him. Jess proceeds to enlist the help of a journalist and her resourceful spirit to figure out what’s really going on in the apartment building owned by a powerful French family.
]]>
Hang the Moon 61341819 From Jeannette Walls, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle, comes a riveting new novel about an indomitable young woman in Virginia during Prohibition.

Most folk thought Sallie Kincaid was a nobody who’d amount to nothing. Sallie had other plans.

Sallie Kincaid is the daughter of the biggest man in a small town, the charismatic Duke Kincaid. Born at the turn of the 20th century into a life of comfort and privilege, Sallie remembers little about her mother who died in a violent argument with the Duke. By the time she is just eight years old, the Duke has remarried and had a son, Eddie. While Sallie is her father’s daughter, sharp-witted and resourceful, Eddie is his mother’s son, timid and cerebral. When Sallie tries to teach young Eddie to be more like their father, her daredevil coaching leads to an accident, and Sallie is cast out.

Nine years later, she returns, determined to reclaim her place in the family. That’s a lot more complicated than Sallie expected, and she enters a world of conflict and lawlessness. Sallie confronts the secrets and scandals that hide in the shadows of the Big House, navigates the factions in the family and town, and finally comes into her own as a bold, sometimes reckless bootlegger.

You will fall in love with Sallie Kincaid, a feisty and fearless, terrified and damaged young woman who refuses to be corralled.]]>
368 Jeannette Walls Zoe 4 4.14 2023 Hang the Moon
author: Jeannette Walls
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/28
date added: 2024/03/10
shelves:
review:
Interesting story about a young woman trying to find her place during Prohibition, determined to prove that women can run a business as well as, or better than, men. Sallie is in the boonies of Virginia and has to face tragedies, prejudice, and poverty as she tries fiercely to run her father’s business and household. Very inspirational!
]]>
<![CDATA[Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown]]> 58161599 New York Times bestselling author Steve Sheinkin presents a follow up to his award-winning book The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon, taking readers on a terrifying journey into the Cold War and our mutual assured destruction.As World War II comes to a close, the United States and the Soviet Union emerge as the two greatest world powers on extreme opposites of the political spectrum. After the United States showed its hand with the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, the Soviets refuse to be left behind. With communism sweeping the globe, the two nations begin a neck-and-neck competition to build even more destructive bombs and conquer the Space Race. In their battle for dominance, spy planes fly above, armed submarines swim deep below, and undercover agents meet in the dead of night.The Cold War game grows more precarious as weapons are pointed towards each other, with fingers literally on the trigger. The decades-long showdown culminates in the Cuban Missile Crisis, the world's close call with the third—and final—world war.Winner of the 2022 Kids' Book Choice Award for 6th to 8th Grade Book of the YearA Shelf Awareness Best Children's Book of 2021A Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Book of 2021A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book of the YearPraise for A Newbery Honor book A National Book Awards finalist for Young People's LiteratureA Washington Post Best Kids Books of the Year title“This is edge-of-the seat material that will resonate with YAs who clamor for true spy stories, and it will undoubtedly engross a cross-market audience of adults who dozed through the World War II unit in high school.� —BCCB, starred review�...reads like an international spy thriller, and that's the beauty of it.� —School Library Journal, starred review“[A] complicated thriller that intercuts action with the deftness of a Hollywood blockbuster.� —Booklist, , starred review“A must-read…� —Publishers Weekly, starred review“A superb tale of an era and an effort that forever changed our world.� —KirkusAlso by Steve The Notorious Benedict A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & TreacheryThe Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football TeamMost Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam WarWhich Way to the Wild West?: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About Westward ExpansionKing What Was His Problem?: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About the American Revolution]]> 333 Steve Sheinkin 1250149029 Zoe 4 4.42 2021 Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown
author: Steve Sheinkin
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/25
date added: 2024/02/25
shelves:
review:

]]>
<![CDATA[Winter in Paradise (Paradise, #1)]]> 31933069
Join New York Times Bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand on the stunning beaches of St. John for the beginning of her thrilling new winter series-The Paradise. Welcome to Paradise, the first book in the Paradise series, has everything that readers have come to know and love about an Elin Hilderbrand novel, plus a healthy dose of intrigue. Irene Steele’s idyllic life-house, husband, family-is shattered when she is woken up by a late-night phone call. Her beloved husband has been found dead, but before Irene can process this tragic news, she must confront the perplexing details of her husband’s death. He was found on St. John island, a tropical paradise far removed from their suburban life. Leaving the cold winter behind, Irene flies down to the beautiful Caribbean beaches of St. John only to make another shocking discovery: her husband had a secret second family. As Irene investigates the mysterious circumstances of her husband’s death, she is plunged into a web of intrigue and deceit belied by the pristine white sand beaches of St. John’s. This exciting first book in the Paradise series will transport readers to a new beach locale-another world that Elin knows as well as her beloved Nantucket-and have them longing for winter]]>
310 Elin Hilderbrand Zoe 4 4.03 2018 Winter in Paradise (Paradise, #1)
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/14
date added: 2024/02/14
shelves:
review:
Good characters, mystery at sea on a tropical island, family dynamics and squabbles, romance all make for a fun book. I’ve enjoyed others by author better, but this was a good light, beach read. Didn’t realize this was the first of a series until the ending cliffhanger.
]]>
The Only One Left 62703226 At seventeen, Lenora Hope
Hung her sister with a rope


Now reduced to a schoolyard chant, the Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929. While most people assume seventeen-year-old Lenora was responsible, the police were never able to prove it. Other than her denial after the killings, she has never spoken publicly about that night, nor has she set foot outside Hope’s End, the cliffside mansion where the massacre occurred.

Stabbed her father with a knife
Took her mother’s happy life


It’s now 1983, and home-health aide Kit McDeere arrives at a decaying Hope’s End to care for Lenora after her previous nurse fled in the middle of the night. In her seventies and confined to a wheelchair, Lenora was rendered mute by a series of strokes and can only communicate with Kit by tapping out sentences on an old typewriter. One night, Lenora uses it to make a tantalizing offer�I want to tell you everything.

“It wasn’t me,� Lenora said
But she’s the only one not dead


As Kit helps Lenora write about the events leading to the Hope family massacre, it becomes clear there’s more to the tale than people know. But when new details about her predecessor’s departure come to light, Kit starts to suspect Lenora might not be telling the complete truth—and that the seemingly harmless woman in her care could be far more dangerous than she first thought.]]>
383 Riley Sager 0593183223 Zoe 4
Two quotes that sum it up:
“i’m sorry I’m not the person you thought i was�.
“Our Lips are Sealed�(title of Gogo’s song)

Definitely a captivating read! As Lenora would say, “A humdinger of an ending�!]]>
4.12 2023 The Only One Left
author: Riley Sager
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/04
date added: 2024/02/04
shelves:
review:
This “whodunnit� kept me guessing, changing my hypothesis throughout the book! Creative twists and interesting characters centered around Lenora, a wealthy older woman, the sole survivor of her family, a mute paraplegic except for the use of one hand, and; Kit, a young woman caregiver, with her own secrets. The year is now 1983 and Lenora and Kit are located in a huge, rickety, remote mansion on top of a cliff� away from prying eyes, with only a handful of servants remaining decades after multiple murders took the lives of other family members (at the time of the Great Depression). What mysteries will this Maine mansion, Hope’s End, reveal?

Two quotes that sum it up:
“i’m sorry I’m not the person you thought i was�.
“Our Lips are Sealed�(title of Gogo’s song)

Definitely a captivating read! As Lenora would say, “A humdinger of an ending�!
]]>
Hello Stranger 61884987 Love isn’t blind, it’s just a little blurry.

Sadie Montgomery never saw what was coming . . . Literally! One minute she’s celebrating the biggest achievement of her life—placing as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition—the next, she’s lying in a hospital bed diagnosed with a “probably temporary� condition known as face blindness. She can see, but every face she looks at is now a jumbled puzzle of disconnected features. Imagine trying to read a book upside down and in another language. This is Sadie’s new reality with every face she sees.

But, as she struggles to cope, hang on to her artistic dream, work through major family issues, and take care of her beloved dog, Peanut, she falls into—love? Lust? A temporary obsession to distract from the real problems in her life?—with not one man but two very different ones. The timing couldn’t be worse.

If only her life were a little more in focus, Sadie might be able to find her way. But perceiving anything clearly right now seems impossible. Even though there are things we can only find when we aren’t looking. And there are people who show up when we least expect them. And there are always, always other ways of seeing.]]>
323 Katherine Center 1250283787 Zoe 4 Cute story, fun characters and an interesting condition I had never heard of. I really enjoyed the audiobook! ]]> 3.92 2023 Hello Stranger
author: Katherine Center
name: Zoe
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/02
date added: 2024/02/02
shelves:
review:
Interesting audio book about a young female artist who hits her head and ends up with prosapagnosia, or “face blindness�. Sadie is an adorable character who is struggling to make her way as an artist and is a finalist in a top Portrait contest just as this occurs. Will this be a temporary condition or is she destined to not recognize people the rest of her life?
Cute story, fun characters and an interesting condition I had never heard of. I really enjoyed the audiobook!
]]>
<![CDATA[The Plot (The Book Series, #1)]]> 56048747 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!
The Tonight Show Summer Reads Winner
A New York Times Notable Book of 2021
"Insanely readable." —Stephen King
Hailed as "breathtakingly suspenseful," Jean Hanff Korelitz’s The Plot is a propulsive read about a story too good not to steal, and the writer who steals it.

Jacob Finch Bonner was once a promising young novelist with a respectably published first book. Today, he’s teaching in a third-rate MFA program and struggling to maintain what’s left of his self-respect; he hasn’t written—let alone published—anything decent in years. When Evan Parker, his most arrogant student, announces he doesn’t need Jake’s help because the plot of his book in progress is a sure thing, Jake is prepared to dismiss the boast as typical amateur narcissism. But then . . . he hears the plot.

Jake returns to the downward trajectory of his own career and braces himself for the supernova publication of Evan Parker’s first but it never comes. When he discovers that his former student has died, presumably without ever completing his book, Jake does what any self-respecting writer would do with a story like that—a story that absolutely needs to be told.

In a few short years, all of Evan Parker’s predictions have come true, but Jake is the author enjoying the wave. He is wealthy, famous, praised and read all over the world. But at the height of his glorious new life, an e-mail arrives, the first salvo in a terrifying, anonymous campaign: You are a thief, it says.

As Jake struggles to understand his antagonist and hide the truth from his readers and his publishers, he begins to learn more about his late student, and what he discovers both amazes and terrifies him. Who was Evan Parker, and how did he get the idea for his “sure thing� of a novel? What is the real story behind the plot, and who stole it from whom?]]>
317 Jean Hanff Korelitz Zoe 4 I was a bit disappointed having heard rave reviews about this downtrodden author/teacher who finally finds “the story”� only problem is that it’s someone else’s story. Yes, there are twists but it was fairly obvious to me.]]> 4.06 2021 The Plot (The Book Series, #1)
author: Jean Hanff Korelitz
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/23
date added: 2024/01/23
shelves:
review:
The first half of the book was -4 stars with an interesting premise, but, second half became predictable which ended at about 3 1/2 stars for me.
I was a bit disappointed having heard rave reviews about this downtrodden author/teacher who finally finds “the story”� only problem is that it’s someone else’s story. Yes, there are twists but it was fairly obvious to me.
]]>
<![CDATA[The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World]]> 56198657 The international bestselling novel sold in 21 countries, about grief, mourning, and the joy of survival, inspired by a real phone booth in Japan with its disconnected “wind� phone, a place of pilgrimage and solace since the 2011 tsunami

When Yui loses both her mother and her daughter in the tsunami, she begins to mark the passage of time from that date onward: Everything is relative to March 11, 2011, the day the tsunami tore Japan apart, and when grief took hold of her life. Yui struggles to continue on, alone with her pain.

Then, one day she hears about a man who has an old disused telephone booth in his garden. There, those who have lost loved ones find the strength to speak to them and begin to come to terms with their grief. As news of the phone booth spreads, people travel to it from miles around.

Soon Yui makes her own pilgrimage to the phone booth, too. But once there she cannot bring herself to speak into the receiver. Instead she finds Takeshi, a bereaved husband whose own daughter has stopped talking in the wake of her mother’s death.
Simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming, The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World is the signpost pointing to the healing that can come after.]]>
416 Laura Imai Messina 1647003571 Zoe 4
The simple, beautiful prose is captivating. The story is somewhat slow and stilted, probably by design. Can an inoperable “wind� phone booth in the middle of nowhere really help bereft loved ones heal? For Yui, Takeshi, Hana and the other endearing characters, we truly hope so.

Highlights:
“Time may pass, but the memory of the people we’ve loved doesn’t grow old. It is only we who age,�
“She just had a feeling that certain complex things like happiness had to be taught by example rather than words. We need to possess joy in abundance before we can bestow it upon others�
“In normal day-to-day life, outside that place, the mad were perhaps lonelier than the others. But here they were less so. The very things that drove sane people crazy with pain somehow liberated the mentally ill ones, made them feel less different.�
“participants were told to hug. The research found a significant decrease in cortisol levels (the stress hormone) in the blood of the subjects who had been hugged compared to those who hadn’t. A famous citation from the American psychotherapist Virginia Satir (1916�1988) reads: “We need four hugs a day for survival. We need eight hugs a day for maintenance. And we need twelve hugs a day for growth.�
“You need practical things to set you straight.�
“It was an act of pure faith to pick up the receiver, dial a number, to be answered by a wall of silence and speak anyway. Faith was the key to it all.�
“Ultimately, that was what he wished for everyone who came there—that each person would find a place where they could tend to their pain and heal their wounds. That place would be different for each one of them.�
“life decays, countless cracks form over time. But it was those very cracks, the fragility, that determined a person’s story; that made them want to keep going, to find out what happens next. �
“For me, the Wind Phone is mainly this: a metaphor that suggests how precious it is to hold on tight to joy as well as pain.�
]]>
4.08 2020 The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World
author: Laura Imai Messina
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/17
date added: 2024/01/18
shelves:
review:
Poignant story of loss and grief following a tsunami in Japan on 3/11/11. The first thing that intrigued me was the date of the tragedy, similar to 9/11/01 for the terrorist attack in the U.S. that resulted in the Twin towers collapse and immense loss of life. I never knew much about tsunamis until a noted tv personality lost his partner in Sri Lanka back in 2004. The sudden devastation of survivor’s testimonials were so raw that I felt that I needed to read this book.

The simple, beautiful prose is captivating. The story is somewhat slow and stilted, probably by design. Can an inoperable “wind� phone booth in the middle of nowhere really help bereft loved ones heal? For Yui, Takeshi, Hana and the other endearing characters, we truly hope so.

Highlights:
“Time may pass, but the memory of the people we’ve loved doesn’t grow old. It is only we who age,�
“She just had a feeling that certain complex things like happiness had to be taught by example rather than words. We need to possess joy in abundance before we can bestow it upon others�
“In normal day-to-day life, outside that place, the mad were perhaps lonelier than the others. But here they were less so. The very things that drove sane people crazy with pain somehow liberated the mentally ill ones, made them feel less different.�
“participants were told to hug. The research found a significant decrease in cortisol levels (the stress hormone) in the blood of the subjects who had been hugged compared to those who hadn’t. A famous citation from the American psychotherapist Virginia Satir (1916�1988) reads: “We need four hugs a day for survival. We need eight hugs a day for maintenance. And we need twelve hugs a day for growth.�
“You need practical things to set you straight.�
“It was an act of pure faith to pick up the receiver, dial a number, to be answered by a wall of silence and speak anyway. Faith was the key to it all.�
“Ultimately, that was what he wished for everyone who came there—that each person would find a place where they could tend to their pain and heal their wounds. That place would be different for each one of them.�
“life decays, countless cracks form over time. But it was those very cracks, the fragility, that determined a person’s story; that made them want to keep going, to find out what happens next. �
“For me, the Wind Phone is mainly this: a metaphor that suggests how precious it is to hold on tight to joy as well as pain.�

]]>
Tom Lake 195745636 In this beautiful and moving novel about family, love, and growing up, Ann Patchett once again proves herself one of America’s finest writers.

In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.

Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart. As in all of her novels, Ann Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics. The result is a rich and luminous story, told with profound intelligence and emotional subtlety, that demonstrates once again why she is one of the most revered and acclaimed literary talents working today.]]>
316 Ann Patchett Zoe 4 3.86 2023 Tom Lake
author: Ann Patchett
name: Zoe
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/26
date added: 2024/01/15
shelves:
review:
I listened to this audiobook because Meryl Streep narrated it. I’ve always been a big fan! Listening to her voice was like watching a movie, and imagining all the characters. The story started slowly, two highschool girls managing the tryouts for a local production of “Our Town�, but, when Lara ends up starring as Emily, the story develops to Lara’s future, and then her past. How she became an actress starring in Summerstock version of “Our Town� and meeting Peter Duke. Young love and heart-break that followed her many decades later when she has her own young adult daughters, all back on the family farm in Michigan, due to COVID. Heartwarming and an ode to the past. It makes me want to go back and watch Our Town!
]]>
Only the Beautiful 56687771
California, 1938—When she loses her parents in an accident, sixteen-year-old Rosanne is taken in by the owners of the vineyard where she has lived her whole life as the vinedresser’s daughter. She moves into Celine and Truman Calvert’s spacious house with a secret, however—Rosie sees colors when she hears sound. She promised her mother she’d never reveal her little-understood ability to anyone, but the weight of her isolation and grief prove too much for her. Driven by her loneliness she not only breaks the vow to her mother, but in a desperate moment lets down her guard and ends up pregnant. Banished by the Calverts, Rosanne believes she is bound for a home for unwed mothers, and having lost her family she treasures her pregnancy as the chance for a future one. But she soon finds out she is not going to a home of any kind, but to a place far worse than anything she could have imagined.

Austria, 1947—After witnessing firsthand Adolf Hitler’s brutal pursuit of hereditary purity—especially with regard to “different children”—Helen Calvert, Truman's sister, is ready to return to America for good. But when she arrives at her brother’s peaceful vineyard after decades working abroad, she is shocked to learn what really happened nine years earlier to the vinedresser’s daughter, a girl whom Helen had long ago befriended. In her determination to find Rosanne, Helen discovers that while the war had been won in Europe, there are still terrifying battles to be fought at home.]]>
400 Susan Meissner 0593332830 Zoe 4 Roseanne was a 16 year old working at a California vineyard in 1938 when her family was tragically killed. She was adopted/taken in as a servant, by her family’s employers. Unfortunately, she finds herself pregnant by her employer and then placed into an institution due to her visions of “color�, seen as a mental disability. From here Rosie’s horror begins� her infant is torn away from her and placed for adoption and Rosie is sterilized.
While this takes place in the U.S., Rosie’s former employer’s sister is dealing with the horrors of War in Europe, where she has spent most of her life as a nanny. As a child advocate, she works on trying to save disabled children from Nazi internment camps.
Although this was difficult to listen to, Eugenics are an important historical subject that not many people are aware of. Well done!]]>
4.42 2023 Only the Beautiful
author: Susan Meissner
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/10
date added: 2024/01/10
shelves:
review:
4.5 stars. A powerful book about the horrific practice of eugenics in the U.S. during the 1930s. Although a work of fiction, the author did extensive research which revealed over 60,000 people were subjects in the U.S, against their will.
Roseanne was a 16 year old working at a California vineyard in 1938 when her family was tragically killed. She was adopted/taken in as a servant, by her family’s employers. Unfortunately, she finds herself pregnant by her employer and then placed into an institution due to her visions of “color�, seen as a mental disability. From here Rosie’s horror begins� her infant is torn away from her and placed for adoption and Rosie is sterilized.
While this takes place in the U.S., Rosie’s former employer’s sister is dealing with the horrors of War in Europe, where she has spent most of her life as a nanny. As a child advocate, she works on trying to save disabled children from Nazi internment camps.
Although this was difficult to listen to, Eugenics are an important historical subject that not many people are aware of. Well done!
]]>
The Echo of Old Books 62060274
With no trace of how these mysterious books came into the world, Ashlyn is caught up in a decades-old literary mystery, beckoned by two hearts in ruins, whoever they were, wherever they are. Determined to learn the truth behind the doomed lovers� tale, she reads on, following a trail of broken promises and seemingly unforgivable betrayals. The more Ashlyn learns about Hemi and Belle, the nearer she comes to bringing closure to their love story—and to the unfinished chapters of her own life.]]>
431 Barbara Davis 1542038154 Zoe 0 to-read 4.27 2023 The Echo of Old Books
author: Barbara Davis
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]>
<![CDATA[The Things We Leave Unfinished]]> 53345408 Told in alternating timelines, The Things We Leave Unfinished examines the risks we take for love, the scars too deep to heal, and the endings we can’t bring ourselves to see coming.

Twenty-eight-year-old Georgia Stanton has to start over after she gave up almost everything in a brutal divorce—the New York house, the friends, and her pride. Now back home at her late great-grandmother’s estate in Colorado, she finds herself face-to-face with Noah Harrison, the bestselling author of a million books where the cover is always people nearly kissing. He’s just as arrogant in person as in interviews, and she’ll be damned if the good-looking writer of love stories thinks he’s the one to finish her grandmother’s final novel…even if the publisher swears he’s the perfect fit.

Noah is at the pinnacle of his career. With book and movie deals galore, there isn’t much the “golden boy� of modern fiction hasn’t accomplished. But he can’t walk away from what might be the best book of the century—the one his idol, Scarlett Stanton, left unfinished. Coming up with a fitting ending for the legendary author is one thing, but dealing with her beautiful, stubborn, cynical great-granddaughter, Georgia, is quite another.

But as they read Scarlett’s words in both the manuscript and her box of letters, they start to realize why Scarlett never finished the book—it’s based on her real-life romance with a World War II pilot, and the ending isn’t a happy one. Georgia knows all too well that love never works out, and while the chemistry and connection between her and Noah is undeniable, she’s as determined as ever to learn from her great-grandmother’s mistakes—even if it means destroying Noah’s career.]]>
473 Rebecca Yarros 1682815889 Zoe 4 Summary:
Georgia is the great-granddaughter of the most revered romance novels of the 20th century, Scarlett Stanton. When Scarlett dies, Georgia is devastated as this was the woman who raised her in an idyllic setting of Colorado. Georgia returns from NY, recently divorced from a snake of a producer, to clean out Scarlett’s estate. There she discovers pages of the last manuscript that is about 2/3rds written. Who can do justice to finish this last novel, based on Scarlett’s own life, as a WW2 fighter pilot’s wife in England?
I loved this story that went back and forth between two love stories, Scarlett’s and Georgia’s, interspersed with conflict between Georgia and her own mother, tragedies of war, accidents, divorce, sisterly devotion, etc. So many emotional roller coasters. I did find the convention of interweaving letters from Scarlett and her husband sometimes confusing the timeline� what was fact and what was fiction? But, loved the way the stories wrapped up and the twist towards the end!

Highlights:
“Romance isn’t about unrealistic expectations and sex. It’s about love and overcoming adversity through what can be considered a universal experience.�
“But I wanted her. I was supposed to know this woman� I felt it with every fiber of my being.�
“I used to think their love was built into it. That’s why she always had it repaired, never rebuilt.�
“i see the way he looks at her, like she’s the reason the seasons change and the sun rises until they’re a hundred and one years old.�
“Georgia, can’t you see it? It’s in every line of this place. This isn’t a mausoleum, it’s a promise, a shrine to that love.�
“Without the potential for disaster, would we ever really know what we have?�
“There’s a warning, a sound your heart makes the first time it realizes it’s no longer safe with the person you trusted.�
“Perhaps the kindest thing I could do for the characters would be to leave their stories unfinished. Leave them with their possibilities, their potential, even if they only exist in my own mind.�
“Sometimes the only way to keep what you need is to let go of what you want.�
“Life is too short to miss the lightning strike and too long to live it alone.”]]>
4.46 2021 The Things We Leave Unfinished
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Zoe
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/10/27
date added: 2024/01/08
shelves:
review:
Hard to determine which genre this one fell under: Modern romance, Fiction, Historical fiction?
Summary:
Georgia is the great-granddaughter of the most revered romance novels of the 20th century, Scarlett Stanton. When Scarlett dies, Georgia is devastated as this was the woman who raised her in an idyllic setting of Colorado. Georgia returns from NY, recently divorced from a snake of a producer, to clean out Scarlett’s estate. There she discovers pages of the last manuscript that is about 2/3rds written. Who can do justice to finish this last novel, based on Scarlett’s own life, as a WW2 fighter pilot’s wife in England?
I loved this story that went back and forth between two love stories, Scarlett’s and Georgia’s, interspersed with conflict between Georgia and her own mother, tragedies of war, accidents, divorce, sisterly devotion, etc. So many emotional roller coasters. I did find the convention of interweaving letters from Scarlett and her husband sometimes confusing the timeline� what was fact and what was fiction? But, loved the way the stories wrapped up and the twist towards the end!

Highlights:
“Romance isn’t about unrealistic expectations and sex. It’s about love and overcoming adversity through what can be considered a universal experience.�
“But I wanted her. I was supposed to know this woman� I felt it with every fiber of my being.�
“I used to think their love was built into it. That’s why she always had it repaired, never rebuilt.�
“i see the way he looks at her, like she’s the reason the seasons change and the sun rises until they’re a hundred and one years old.�
“Georgia, can’t you see it? It’s in every line of this place. This isn’t a mausoleum, it’s a promise, a shrine to that love.�
“Without the potential for disaster, would we ever really know what we have?�
“There’s a warning, a sound your heart makes the first time it realizes it’s no longer safe with the person you trusted.�
“Perhaps the kindest thing I could do for the characters would be to leave their stories unfinished. Leave them with their possibilities, their potential, even if they only exist in my own mind.�
“Sometimes the only way to keep what you need is to let go of what you want.�
“Life is too short to miss the lightning strike and too long to live it alone.�
]]>