tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32745074831202740922024-03-05T18:49:51.573-08:00Miss Em Recommends"Life is good; books are better." ~ Miss EmMissEmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15909750702769220097noreply@blogger.comBlogger292125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3274507483120274092.post-80767120488110467912022-08-02T14:26:00.004-07:002022-08-02T14:26:40.270-07:00Move Your Body, Your Mind Will Follow<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55422668-move" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Move: How the New Science of Body Movement Can Set Your Mind Free" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1635842015l/55422668._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55422668-move">Move: How the New Science of Body Movement Can Set Your Mind Free</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/31998.Caroline_Williams">Caroline Williams</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4785784616">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Subtitle kind of deceptive, it's really about how your body moves your mind into health all over and mental and physical health are dependent; can't have one without the other. Helpful reminders at end of chapters make it good to have on hand for reminders. <br />So much hope is packed into this little book: a mere 200 pages and 20 pages of notes, with a reminder of key points at the end of each chapter. The information here can improve the quality of your life at any age, even the “senior” years.<br />The knowledge is old; the scientific evidence is new. What’s good for your body is good for your mind, and vice versa.<br />As we age, the percentage of us that suffer from chronic conditions grows. We’re slower, our tissues start drying up, it’s harder to get out of bed to face the pain of the day. And this process affects our brain, as well. <br />Current research in brain science shows an amazing, accessible, affordable approach that can prevent and/or mitigate and slow down the progression of dementia and other diseases. <br />Though simple, it’s hard for some to implement, because it mostly relies on personal motivation. Physical activity—more than we usually get in modern lifestyles—is the key to health of body, mind, and spirit, at any age. <br />Here’s the good news: you don’t have to get to a gym, or invest in equipment. The equipment you need, we all have—our bodies. The only other thing we need is to use them, however we can. <br />For physical and mental health, it turns out, aerobic exercise isn’t as necessary as simply moving more. Moving while focusing on your body provides many of the same benefits as “working out” and can be done by anyone—young, old, able-bodied, injured, or chronically impeded. <br />Why is the psoas muscle so important? What does the vagus nerve have to do with health? You’ll find out in this sometimes dry, but mostly engaging book, full of anecdotes and interviews with scientists who have both done the research and the lifestyle changes to see if their research holds true.<br />There’s movement for everyone here, with looks at the benefits of walking, Pilates, Tai Chi, dance, and yoga—even Laughter Yoga—all of which can be modified to practice in chairs. <br />But the main message of the book is, you don’t need a class, you can build more movement into your everyday life, if you choose. And you can enjoy the process! <br />I bought the book.
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MissEmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15909750702769220097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3274507483120274092.post-939072863469702382022-06-26T07:58:00.003-07:002022-06-26T07:58:26.722-07:00<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55278859-must-love-books" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Must Love Books" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1641329969l/55278859._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55278859-must-love-books">Must Love Books</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20679961.Shauna_Robinson">Shauna Robinson</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4609829794">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
I’m always up for a story about people who love books, but I started with the mistaken impression that this was a romance. It’s really more a coming-of-age story, despite the undeniable chemistry & potential between editorial assistant Nora and new star author Andrew Santos. “Must love books” was in the job posting, not a dating profile. <br />Nora has always loved reading, so when she lands her first job after college in the West Coast offices of Parsons Press, she’s ecstatic. Even though they’re a business/academic outfit & Nora loves fiction, it’s a job in publishing—and moving from Oregon to San Francisco is less scary than moving to New York.<br />But that was five years ago. Nora’s bosses & mentors got laid off; she’s been doing their jobs, too. Beth, who started at Parsons the same day Nora did, has moved on to a job in marketing. Then stressed-out Nora’s informed that pay cuts are next. <br />Nora is smart, sweet, kind—and somewhat clueless about life. She’s awkward socially, unless talking about books, and she doesn’t know how to get out of the zombie rut she’s in. Dead starts to sound better than a dead-end job. Her old boss landed at a start-up publishing house, so when they have a catching-up date and Nora hears about some part-time freelance work in acquisitions, she decides to apply—without quitting her current job, without telling either employer. And without telling Andrew, even as they grow close.<br />I usually hate the suspense of waiting for the other shoe to drop—but the publishing setting is so true, the characters so engaging that I was able to press on, and I’m glad I did. The book made me remember how hard it is to be young. While I hope that my nieces would not get themselves in trouble in the way Nora does, I hope that they would get out of trouble the way she does: being honest with herself and others, asking for help, acting on advice. <br />Even though Nora has to face the consequences of her deceit, the ending is hopeful. <br />I think the consequences would be more drastic in the real world, but after the last two years, I could find all the forgiveness barely plausible—though welcome.<br />I’ll heartily recommend this book that shows and tells how to follow your heart in life.
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MissEmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15909750702769220097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3274507483120274092.post-53804083108016596132022-06-26T07:54:00.004-07:002022-06-26T07:54:51.224-07:00<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58284121-love-saffron" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Love & Saffron: A Novel of Friendship, Food, and Love" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1625597972l/58284121._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58284121-love-saffron">Love & Saffron: A Novel of Friendship, Food, and Love</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/137166.Kim_Fay">Kim Fay</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4581415973">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
What a pleasure to be able to wholeheartedly recommend a book! This is a perfect little gem with “all the feels” and brilliant food writing, also. The tastes leap off the page. I can see why so many women have fallen in love with it. I started with a chip on my shoulder about it, however.<br />When I picked it up from the library, I was shocked (and disappointed) to find a novella instead of the promised novel. At 189 pages, including recipes, the author says she designed it to be read in one sitting; since I usually read my novels in one sitting, I had to stretch it out, the way one savors a delicious meal. It’s that good.<br />If you were a woman alive in the 1960s or 70s, you will relate to everything in this book. If you’re from the Western part of our country, you’ll relate even more. It starts out with a young woman from LA writing a fan letter to a columnist of a Pacific Northwest magazine. <br />Correspondence continues, and friendship ensues. There’s a nostalgia, not from the historical setting—it was not a simpler time—but from the exchanged letters: longer and deeper than the quick texts and posts common in today’s social media. Perhaps it was a less hectic time, a less suspicious time, when it was easier to find friendship.<br />You will certainly wonder at how much has changed since then, and how much hasn’t. <br />Imogene, the columnist, was married in 1922; Joan, the fan, graduated college sometime recently when the book starts in 1962. Immy lives in Seattle and on Whidby Island; Joan in cosmopolitan California. As they exchange food journeys and recipes, they discover that kindred spirits have no age, and intergenerational friendship is a marvel. They discover that food makes friends across cultures as well as across generations. While food is central to the novel, it’s really an ode to friendship. So many amazing things in life unfold when we dare to explore another’s heart. Friendship enhances our lives—like spices enhance food—bringing new perspectives and experiences, influences and knowledge. And sometimes you get those friendships that are life-changing. <br />I’m sure you will laugh and cry along with Immy and Joan—it’s like a Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants for grownups, and I want to buy it for all my friends. Highly recommended!
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MissEmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15909750702769220097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3274507483120274092.post-51774345647695241602022-06-26T07:53:00.000-07:002022-06-26T07:53:00.261-07:00<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58636923-search" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Search" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1628532955l/58636923._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58636923-search">Search</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/91696.Michelle_Huneven">Michelle Huneven</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4581369649">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
What an honest, funny, thought-provoking book! It covers a year in the life of a church committee searching for their next lead minister; comedy and tragedy, soul-searching and politics ensue—anyone who has been a member of a board, committee, jury, or group project can relate.<br />We go on this journey through the perspective of Dana Potowski, a cookbook author and food reviewer and member of the Arroyo Universalist Unitarian Community Church— the AUUCC—“awk” for short.<br />The book begins with the “Preface to the Second Edition”—it’s actually the first chapter of this novel-masquerading-as-memoir. It sets the tone for this darkly comic book. <br />In writing as in meals, it helps to have all the flavors: hot, spicy, sour, salty, sweet, umami (depth). This is reflected in the characters and life situations of the disparate members of the committee. A church, or any organization, is a microcosm of humanity, after all. And in choosing the Universalists, Huneven can give us a church that includes avowed atheists, agnostics, pagans, Jews, Muslims, and Christians. <br />The committee is composed of individuals representing each adult decade, 20s through 80s. Dana was asked to apply for the committee because she sidetracked from food writing to attend seminary long ago, and she’s a friend of the current minister. It seems unclear at first the one thing that all those chosen for the committee have in common. I guessed it—but that was the last thing I could predict in the story. <br />You can imagine the wrangling among generations, beliefs, and lifestyles that occurs during meetings, retreats, and—potluck dinners—recipes and delicious descriptions included. Sitting at a common table with a common goal doesn’t always lead to consensus. It’s hilarious, tragic, and painful to see the train wreck coming. <br />It’s a truthful portrayal of how our beliefs both unite and divide us, and the difficulty of putting faith and ideals and good intentions into practice; also the unintended and unavoidable consequences of secrets, truths, and lies. <br />I was left with an assurance and a question. The assurance: individual life, its joys and sorrows, goes on after debacle and disaster. The question that lingers: is a church (or a country) greater than the sum of its parts?<br />The best comedy comes from truth-telling. This wry and hopeful book that takes faith seriously has become one of my favorites; it was delicious. <br />
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MissEmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15909750702769220097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3274507483120274092.post-73112648650284698982022-06-26T07:46:00.003-07:002022-06-26T07:46:31.805-07:00<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58428207-bloomsbury-girls" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Bloomsbury Girls" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1648415985l/58428207._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58428207-bloomsbury-girls">Bloomsbury Girls</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18786953.Natalie_Jenner">Natalie Jenner</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4261463978">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
I hadn’t realized that this book is a sequel to The Jane Austen Society, but it made the book that much more enjoyable to find familiar characters in the new setting of post-war London. Evie Stone from the previous book is one of the central characters, and the rest of the Society members play pivotal roles in the new adventure, a mix of history, mystery, and romance.<br />Evie isn’t hired for a position in academia after she graduates from Cambridge—one of the first class of women admitted. She takes the setback and lands at London’s Bloomsbury Books, a microcosm of the larger post-war world where the men are in charge and the women do most of the work, some chafing at being forced to reduce the scope of their lives after having shown great competencies during the war. <br />Evie’s great desire is to make her life’s work the discovery and promotion of women writers pushed to the margins and trash bins of history—in contrast with Austen, they’re forgotten and uncelebrated. Such treasures might be found in Bloomsbury Books’ rare book department, or in the mess of books acquired but not catalogued that cover the third floor of the building that’s been in the care of Lord Baskin’s family for generations.<br />Evie’s search and its consequences will change the lives of everyone who works at Bloomsbury, especially Vivien and Grace, the only other women employees; Alec, head of fiction; Lord Baskin, the owner; Ash Ramaswamy, head of science and naturalism; Herbert the general manager; and Frank, head of rare books. <br />With appearances by Ellen Doubleday, Peggy Guggenheim, Samuel Beckett, and Orwell’s widow, we get glimpses of the artistic celebrities of the day, both the glitter and the longings of the rich and famous mingling with the talents, aspirations, and longings of their “inferiors” in this world where old barriers of class and prejudice are beginning to crumble.<br />I thoroughly enjoyed the romp, even though I felt fraught the entire time. Would Evie win out in the end? Would Vivien ever get the recognition she deserved? Would Grace be able to grab life with gusto? I was truly invested in the story and I liked it better than the first book.<br />I hope we get to spend more time in this world that Jenner has created so lovingly and so well. Recommended!
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MissEmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15909750702769220097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3274507483120274092.post-21284510641203005662022-02-01T09:37:00.001-08:002022-02-01T09:37:12.013-08:00<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40164365-the-friend" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Friend" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1544364669l/40164365._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40164365-the-friend">The Friend</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6633.Sigrid_Nunez">Sigrid Nunez</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2757321190">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
The Friend won the National Book Award in 2018 and finally I read it and know why. The plot is usually described as: “After the loss of her beloved friend/mentor, a writer adopts his heartbroken dog.” Dogs in books are usually a promise of comfort, and nowadays it’s not just us elders, the military, and health workers that might know more dead folks than living ones; “How does one go on” is more relevant than ever. <br />There’s so much of life and death explored in this very short book: love and loss, aging, pets and grief, suicide and survival, career and relationships, friendship and mentorship, power and privilege. Almost every review has a different take on the book—a sign of how excellent it is. Age, interests, and temperament all have a role to play in how you perceive the book, making it a great pick for bookclubs. Some will get into the East Coast academia setting, some will find it off-putting. Whether everyone enjoys the book or not, most can relate to something in it and there’s so much to talk about, it’ll make a lively discussion! <br />A literal “literary” novel, with writers as main characters and many (very apt) quotes & references to the arts, the book starts as a journal in the form of missives to the departed. It’s not an exploration of the textbook stages of grief, but more a realistic portrayal of how someone’s death—especially someone we’ve known a long time—can force us to re-examine not only the relationship, but our own lives. In this case, so much of the main character’s life requires reframing that she ends up in therapy. Her friend didn’t actually leave her the dog, but the current wife never wanted a dog and won’t keep him. The dog Apollo is bereft, and the writer is also; she takes him in and he becomes the center of both her grief and her healing. Our pets: our relationships, our projections, our selves, our best beloveds. The comfort is there. <br />For me, the book revealed itself in the last forty pages. The Friend is a meditation on friendship—cross-sex and cross-species, an homage to the souls of dogs, and a brilliant, gently vicious exposé of the dead white male. It made me think, it made me cry, and it made me laugh—recommended!
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MissEmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15909750702769220097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3274507483120274092.post-6151239574038540832021-08-06T13:23:00.006-07:002021-08-06T13:23:43.651-07:00A Definite Amusement<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53137970-maggie-finds-her-muse" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Maggie Finds Her Muse" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1589490171l/53137970._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53137970-maggie-finds-her-muse">Maggie Finds Her Muse</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4439132.Dee_Ernst">Dee Ernst</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4158955867">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
<br />This delicious bit of froth is perfect for a blissful escape read. Maggie Bliss is a romance author who's on the verge of achieving Nora Roberts level success. Except her latest book is due in two months, and she hasn't written a word of it—she's been covering up for herself quite well, but if she doesn't turn the book in, the third book in the trilogy—the book tour for volume two is off, the important cable deal is definitely off, and fans will be disappointed and angry. The stress! <br /><br />At least she's finally motivated to dump her latest beau after seven years of growing obnoxiousness. When she finally fesses up about the writer's block to her agent, he offers her an apartment in Paris, complete with hereditary housekeeper, to pull off a miracle—a book in two months. What better city for romance writing than Paris, after all. Also good for meeting her daughter, who appears to be going to stay in Brittany forever. <br /><br />It really is a pleasure to read a book with many likable characters, and who can resist Paris, home of food, fashion, and romance? Of course in this book the romance is not all in the novels Maggie writes. Her daughter has met someone, and also has dreams that her parents will reconnect as lovers, since they've remained friendly in the 20-plus years since their divorce. He's over on an after-breakup visit, as well. <br /><br />And then there's Max, who she finds in her bathtub one morning, the perfect example of swoon-worthy Frenchmen. Max shows her all the wonders of Paris. <br /><br />One of the things I love is that it's not all about the romance; the family & friends come off as real people, not mere place-holders. It's a hard thing to pull off a rom-com about a writer writing a book, and about women of a certain age finding love, and Ernst has done a masterful job. If you've been to Paris, you'll know if she pulled that off, but the lovely city she describes is certainly the Paris I've read about in other books. Good humor is the overall flavor of this book and I was left with the warm fuzzies. I look forward to future books! <br /><br />
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MissEmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15909750702769220097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3274507483120274092.post-23517876208663493762021-06-01T09:22:00.000-07:002021-06-01T09:22:24.578-07:00<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16171239-death-in-sicily" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Death in Sicily: The First Three Novels in the Inspector Montalbano Series--The Shape of Water; The Terra-Cotta Dog; The Snack Thief" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1356120741l/16171239._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16171239-death-in-sicily">Death in Sicily: The First Three Novels in the Inspector Montalbano Series--The Shape of Water; The Terra-Cotta Dog; The Snack Thief</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17350.Andrea_Camilleri">Andrea Camilleri</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3996568489">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
As I waited for the newest Donna Leon mystery, I searched for some read-alikes, and the Inspector Montalbano of Sicily series was the first suggested. Death In Sicily is actually an omnibus edition of the first three books in the series. By the time I finished the third one, I knew I was in for the long haul. <br /><br />The author was a former television producer and director who worked on the Italian production of the Maigret series; he was privileged to observe the playwright who adapted the novels for the screen. It was a masterclass in storytelling, he says. Over the course of these three books, he learned character development, one of the most important things in a series: it’s not only the mystery plot, but the setting and characters that bring the stories to life—particularly necessary when death is a major theme. <br /><br />Inspector Montalbano is a sensualist, delighting in the taste of wine, women, and food. He’s always trying to balance the need to maintain order without the harshness of enforcing the letter of the law. A need for justice and a tender heart don’t coexist comfortably. He’s impatient with his superiors and his staff, and it goes the other way, too. He’s in the process of possibly building a family in these first three books, something he wants and pushes away with the same amount of energy. I overlook how he thinks all the younger women are after him, since the other bits make up for it: interesting plots, village antics, quirky and sympathetic characters, lots of food—worth reading for menu ideas alone! Will Montalbano and his long-distance Livia ever commit to marriage? Will he finally go too far and actually punch one of his subordinates? Or his boss? What delicious strange delicacy will housekeeper Adelina leave for dinner next?<br /><br />I enjoyed Montalbano’s Sicily as much as Brunelli’s Venice. I’m not sure I’ll ever like Montalbano as much as I do Brunelli; he’s a much cruder and more cynical guy. But he is equally as honorable in his job, and that’s his saving grace. As all mystery readers know, a simple seaside village in any country can play host to an infinite amount of murder despite its quaint atmosphere. It’s what keeps us reading. <br /><br />Alas, October 2021 will be the publication of the final, 28th novel.
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MissEmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15909750702769220097noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3274507483120274092.post-67284264849594780552021-04-25T10:14:00.002-07:002021-04-25T10:14:54.036-07:00Flawless Firekeeper<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52346471-firekeeper-s-daughter" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Firekeeper's Daughter" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1595093218l/52346471._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52346471-firekeeper-s-daughter">Firekeeper's Daughter</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19633027.Angeline_Boulley">Angeline Boulley</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3839473085">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Honestly, I think part of the huge buzz about this excellent book is that eager readers are ready to sign up for whatever comes next from this author. The story is told through the perspective of Daunis Fontaine, an eighteen-year-old college freshman. Her coming-of-age story is seamlessly woven into a masterfully plotted mystery, for a read that's satisfying on all levels. Though the book was selected for Reese Witherspoon's YA Bookclub, it has great crossover appeal for older adults: for readers of Frederick Backman’s Beartown certainly, and especially for readers who’ve enjoyed Hillerman's Leaphorn and Chee, Bowen's Montana Métis mysteries, and Stabenow's Kate Shugak stories. <br />When writing about contemporary Native Americans, one must address poverty and prejudice, but this is not an "issues" book, nor is it preachy in any way. Those aren’t the basics of Native culture, they’re social influences. This book has everything in addition to poverty and prejudice: mystery, murder, sports, love, faith—and the indomitable spirit and character of the young Ojibwe woman and the community at its center. It was an honor to be invited into the heart of this community. One of the reasons I love this character so much is that she feels like a portrait of all the Native women the author has known and loved. I see in Daunis something of all the Native women I have known and loved, also.<br />Daunis walks between two worlds, that of her Native heritage and her white heritage, but it's a bit easier to fit in to the indigenous community; in the white world, even though her grandparents are rich, she's illegitimate. She's more accepted in the Ojibwe community, but she's not enrolled in the tribe and gets some flak there as well. She's set to go away to college but her uncle recently died and she decides to do her first year at the local community college to stay close to her fragile mom. <br />Her hockey star half-brother is in his senior year, and when she notices a bit too much about the new guy on the team, Daunis is recruited to an undercover investigation of a new kind of meth that's been showing up in the Upper Peninsula. Deception isn't natural to Daunis, and at first she refuses. But then tragedy strikes very close and she changes her mind. Using her science skills, her own hockey star background and her access to the community, she dances ever closer to danger. <br />It's such a pleasure to read a book that has such great characters, setting, and pacing. I'm hoping that this is the beginning of a series, but for whatever Angeline Boulley writes next, I'm impatiently waiting. Thank you, Ms. Boulley, for following your dream of writing. Highly recommended.
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MissEmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15909750702769220097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3274507483120274092.post-67846767535668431192021-03-24T09:25:00.000-07:002021-03-24T09:25:04.810-07:00The Book of Ana<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52698452-the-book-of-longings" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Book of Longings" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1570801291l/52698452._SX98_SY160_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52698452-the-book-of-longings">The Book of Longings</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4711.Sue_Monk_Kidd">Sue Monk Kidd</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3260435684">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
What better time to engage with the roots of Christian faith than the days before Easter, I thought. I could write five pages and do a weekend retreat on this book; it might engage you or enrage you—possibly both. I knew, with Kidd, I wasn’t going to get a fundamentalist approach; if you come from that background, like me, you’ll find plenty of triggers, in addition to a meticulously researched, brilliantly imagined adventure story. <br />It’s soon evident that The Book of Longings could be the title of a scroll found in a cave: Ana, the main character, is the privileged daughter of the head assistant of Herod Antipas. He’s allowed his daughter to read and write; she has all the skills of a scribe. She also has mystical experiences and a hunger for God. She becomes a woman at fourteen and loses her favored child status. She’s betrothed to a friend of her father, inspected in a public market. That horrible day, she has an encounter with Jesus. Their eyes meet across the crowd—you know how that part of the story goes. The Jesus that Ana encounters is a human Jesus, a carpenter and odd-jobber struggling to support his family after his father Joseph’s death. She doesn’t know if she’ll ever see him again, but it’s love at first sight. Ana has an older, adopted brother; his name is Judas, and he’s an agitator, a man fighting against Roman rule. Ana, Judas, and Jesus intersect, and Jesus does marry Ana. These are the years before the Baptist, before the dove.<br />The plot is contrived, but masterfully so. Many Bible parables are woven throughout this book, with the rest of Jesus’ story. It made me check my Nag Hammadi & encyclopedia of religious history, too.<br />Here are some of the themes: women in religion and history; spirit of the law and letter of the law; privilege and poverty; social justice versus status quo. In the relationship between Ana & Jesus there are echoes of Heloise & Abelard, Romeo & Juliet, Clare & Francis, Martha & Mary. <br />In the end, the most shocking thing about this book is that it is the book of Ana, and not the book of Jesus. Nevertheless, it was a good preparation for Easter, for it celebrates the ever-present God of Love and Wisdom.
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MissEmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15909750702769220097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3274507483120274092.post-78873641278907531142021-03-18T10:01:00.008-07:002021-03-18T10:01:45.390-07:00An Inspiration in Desolation<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45046566-a-desolation-called-peace" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="A Desolation Called Peace (Teixcalaan, #2)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1591755459l/45046566._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45046566-a-desolation-called-peace">A Desolation Called Peace</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13803582.Arkady_Martine">Arkady Martine</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3893630456">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Of course you must read the previous book first. If you are a fan of intellectual space opera, you'll enjoy it. Also plenty of action. And you need to be able to enjoy a diverse culture with plenty of queer folk. If you have ever fallen in love with a "savage" culture because of poetry, you will especially enjoy these books. Enjoyed the homage to graphic novels in this one, that was fun. <br />I almost never give five stars after the first book in a series, because the novelty of the world-building is part of that 5th star, for me. After reading almost everything in SFF (started with my dad's 1950s mags in the 70s, went backwards & forwards), it takes a lot to get that 5th star. But this one delivers the same amazement, a perfect balance of art & craft. Brava!
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MissEmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15909750702769220097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3274507483120274092.post-75274883945820813842020-12-20T12:58:00.000-08:002020-12-20T12:58:02.410-08:00<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53845938-humans" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Humans" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1591380637l/53845938._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53845938-humans">Humans</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6906496.Brandon_Stanton">Brandon Stanton</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3706179971">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
This is a book that I wish I could give to each of my friends and family. My heart has been touched, I’ve laughed, I’ve cried at the 400 or so amazing, tender stories presented here. Some folks might remember the work of Studs Terkel, an oral historian whose books of interviews with ordinary people telling of the Depression of the 1930s, on soldiering in our wars, and on working life were excerpted in Readers Digest and hit the bestseller lists in the 1970s-90s. These snapshots of regular people going about their lives and the words that accompany them are the closest thing I’ve seen to another body of work that celebrates our common humanity. <br />Brandon started out telling the stories of people he met on the streets of New York City, and then was able to travel around the world to over forty different countries. His work’s been such a hit because it’s both surprising and comforting to enter the lives of strangers. Stylish people who are deserts inside, homeless people whose hopes rise high: no matter people’s faces, no matter their ages, no matter the country they’re in—no matter what people seem to be like from the outside, our insides are all the same: various degrees of love, fear, judgement, wonder, grief, certainty, hope, despair, confusion. <br />Some of the stories I relate to so much; some make me sad or angry, others make me grateful for my own road taken. People talk about their pets, their relationships—or lack thereof—their joys, their sorrows; their childhoods, children, parents, schools, jobs; their opportunities and life losses. In this wide world, we’re each alone—and yet we’re all connected through shared experiences, through shared stories. All the friends we’ve known were just faces to us once, until we knew their stories. It’s curiously joyful—at the end of this awful year, in the season of love and new beginnings—to acknowledge that despite all the beliefs that divide us, we all have more in common than we fear in this fraught and changing world. <br />The coffee-table size book is good to be dipped into at random, savored in pieces or gulped wholesale, however you care to; it’s just a bit heavy for arthritic hands. It’s on sale at many retailers and I highly recommend this glimpse into the common soul of humanity.
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MissEmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15909750702769220097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3274507483120274092.post-12373268761751965172020-11-28T08:25:00.001-08:002020-11-28T08:25:48.165-08:00Cooking Your Way To A Better Life?<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52144818-miss-cecily-s-recipes-for-exceptional-ladies" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Miss Cecily's Recipes for Exceptional Ladies" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1583484007l/52144818._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52144818-miss-cecily-s-recipes-for-exceptional-ladies">Miss Cecily's Recipes for Exceptional Ladies</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18599789.Vicky_Zimmerman">Vicky Zimmerman</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3667291029">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Reader, I skimmed back through the book to find the most intriguing recipe titles; then I glanced at the back of the book, to find them there as well. If you’re intrigued by the following, you’re going to enjoy the book, I’ll venture. <br />“Tea for a Crotchety Aunt”, “Breakfast with a Hangover”, “Dinner for a Charming Stranger”—recipes with advice for food, life, and love. <br />When I picked up the book, I was expecting a feel-good story about a woman who starts volunteering at an old-folks’ home, and figures out her life thanks to advice from a crotchety old lady with a heart of gold. What I got was a story with more depth, about an intergenerational friendship that made me laugh and cry. <br />Kate is a modern British woman, working an ok job in marketing at a food emporium and trying to bring an ok boyfriend up to scratch so she can start married life. On her fortieth birthday, she and Nick are on vacation in France when he admits, no, he doesn’t want to move in together after all, and Kate has to move back in with her mother temporarily since she’d already given up her flat share. Seeing her floundering in chaos, Kate’s friend talks her into volunteering as a way to get out of her head. Unfortunately, the kitten socializing program is full, so that leaves the care home. <br />Cecily is 97, and she’s been waiting to die for years. She’s impatient, sad, and angry. She can’t enjoy her books any longer, and reading was the only thing that made her life bearable. She’s forgotten more about food than any of the other ladies ever knew, and she’s not impressed with Kate’s first efforts at the cooking demo. One thing age can bring is honesty over social convention; despite a rocky start Cecily and Kate talk about the reality of their lives and friendship develops, giving two lonely people the opportunity to move on from fed up with life to feeding the soul. <br />It’s a perfect read for this holiday season, when friends and family remain physically distant to protect the vulnerable; there’s always comfort food, but sometimes we need to reach out in new ways to learn new recipes for life and love.
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ThoughtMissEmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15909750702769220097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3274507483120274092.post-50886335084737538892020-10-25T08:42:00.000-07:002020-10-25T08:42:02.012-07:00Recipe For Danger<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52584843-miss-graham-s-cold-war-cookbook" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Miss Graham's Cold War Cookbook" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1573290191l/52584843._SX98_SY160_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52584843-miss-graham-s-cold-war-cookbook">Miss Graham's Cold War Cookbook</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/83085.Celia_Rees">Celia Rees</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3359614349">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
This book is getting quite the checkouts at the library, deservedly so. Rees based her spy novel on the possibilities and silences of her own family history, and takes us back to the beginnings of the Cold War: Germany, 1946. <br />Edith Graham has been more lucky than plucky in life, but that’s all about to change. As modern world wars chewed up the available able-bodied men, necessity opened opportunities for women to do more. Edith spent the war teaching in Coventry; she applies to go to Germany, to help re-establish schools after the war. Her sneaky cousin recruits her to try to find someone they knew before the war; it turns out he was a member of the Nazi High Command.<br />She’s led to assume that von Stavenow is to be punished, but she finds out that there’s a competition between the governments of Britain, the USA, and Russia to simply recruit the Nazi top brass and scientists to work for them. The Nazis, of course, would love to be whisked off to new lives and new identities instead of be jailed or suffer alongside their countrymen, starving in the rubble and devastation. <br />Edith’s friends think that those who risked and lost their lives in the war deserve to see the work of the Nazis buried rather than continuing in other countries; they ask her to work for them as well. They’re also trying to find an internal traitor in the War Office and evidence is disappearing in the postwar “cleanup”. Edith is drawn in because of her idealism and her connections, and it’s her idea to send messages through recipes on postcards, using a popular cookbook as the code. What she’s really trying to figure out, though, is how can people you love and share good times with go home and torture other people? <br />Rees doesn’t gloss over the privations and atrocities of wartime, nor the dangers of spying. She’s not shy depicting the difference between those who want justice, those who want payback, and those who just want to continue living the high life, either.<br />The Cold War is the war I grew up with: Britain and the USA against Russia; posturing and propaganda on the surface, proxy wars in Asia, South America, and the Middle East. Like Edith, I’m forced to admit that war continues.
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MissEmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15909750702769220097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3274507483120274092.post-46256992602074971662020-09-26T20:24:00.002-07:002020-09-26T20:24:38.733-07:00Say Amen to Bring On the Blessings<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3733459-bring-on-the-blessings" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Bring on the Blessings (Blessings, #1)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348837683l/3733459._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3733459-bring-on-the-blessings">Bring on the Blessings</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/199260.Beverly_Jenkins">Beverly Jenkins</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3530731462">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
This is the feel-good series I’ve been searching for since March. I saw an announcement that Al Roker bought television rights to the Blessings series, renaming it Hopetown and focusing on foster kids that find their forever families. I was hoping for a combo of Mitford, Miss Julia, and Tyler Perry; I got that and more. <br />Here’s the setup:ex-social worker Bernadine Brown catches her husband cheating on her—on her fifty-second birthday, no less. She hires a lawyer and ends up with $275 million. Raised in the church, she knows that when much is given much is expected, so she asks God to send her a purpose.<br />The purpose turns out to be a town: Henry Adams, Kansas, one of the last surviving townships founded by freed slaves after the Civil War. The failing town is for sale on the Internet; Bernadine buys it.<br />In book one, we meet all the characters: the people of Henry Adams, including town mayor Trent July, from one of the founding families; Bernadine; and the foster kids and families that are going to move into Henry Adams and make new lives for themselves. As the series continues, we get more in-depth and meet more characters. I’ve always been a sucker for inspirational fiction, for orphan stories and found families, and these books (I’m halfway through the ten-book series now) hit just the right heart notes. <br />In addition to the love stories in each volume, we get bonuses of Black history, some of which I knew—there are Black towns in Arizona, too—some of which was new to me, like the Black Seminoles who did a long walk to Texas and still reside there. The July family is one of those split, like the tribes of Southern Arizona who are split across the international border. <br />I highly recommend these stories, told with humor and grace. There’s a long-running thread of a man who loves his pig more than anything, which was particularly funny to me after seeing the 2020 America’s Got Talent. There’s a strong current of Spirit in these books, also—both inside and outside the church.<br />I’m so grateful to have found these stories of faith and community that remind me that every day, people do work together and good things do happen—especially when love and kindness are applied.
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MissEmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15909750702769220097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3274507483120274092.post-68322676805514132232020-09-17T11:25:00.001-07:002020-09-17T11:25:26.233-07:00Love as Long and Deep and Wide as the Universe <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45422268-the-vanished-birds" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Vanished Birds" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1562699959l/45422268._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45422268-the-vanished-birds">The Vanished Birds</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19118126.Simon_Jimenez">Simon Jimenez</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3553546278">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Here’s why this book will be on my top books of 2020: when you read the 6 blurbs on the back of the book, they state with confidence a completely different interpretation of the book. Kirkus: what they’d sacrifice for progress. Publishers Weekly: failing to learn from one’s mistakes. Booklist: found families and lost loves. Indra Das: galactic progress and its crushing fallout. Kate Elliot: blistering commentary on capitalism and colonialism. Library Journal: emotional attachment with time travel? Did they get a prepub draft instead of a preprint galley? It goes through time, but the only real time travel is memory and frozen on a space ship-not “time travel” to most sci-fi readers. <br />At any rate, Simon Jimenez has reached the pinnacle of the novelist’s true dream: to speak in tongues, so that all who read get the message they need. Told through space opera; more of an intellectual and emotional space opera than the shoot ‘em up kind. The shoot’em up kind don’t usually leave lingering flute music in your dreams. Though it may inspire some martial music in your soul. Read, ponder, weep and wonder. Truly an epic. <br />My take? The theme is the vast, unknowable consequences of love.
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MissEmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15909750702769220097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3274507483120274092.post-83127930495453713962020-08-30T12:14:00.001-07:002020-08-30T12:14:56.096-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfJq5BRnJ1HB4yFQcYSJG5T2bPwheKgMmtsV-W3OobR_Ll5pFWhN6hNpMfD7gk8GjU9NxczHSGMSsJN0Fsj3zIYkc_13vh1BS94ezgYSrWGwGObe_fV-ZJOXV-DH1UoQcBJKzGzH3yK6g/s1936/IMG_7801.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="1936" data-original-width="1936" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfJq5BRnJ1HB4yFQcYSJG5T2bPwheKgMmtsV-W3OobR_Ll5pFWhN6hNpMfD7gk8GjU9NxczHSGMSsJN0Fsj3zIYkc_13vh1BS94ezgYSrWGwGObe_fV-ZJOXV-DH1UoQcBJKzGzH3yK6g/s320/IMG_7801.jpg"/></a></div>I entered a sweeps for this book because it was written for me: I’m one of those people avoiding Facebook because people I love dearly are expressing views I disagree with, and I’m afraid to have a confrontation that might devolve to yelling and loss—even if it’s virtual. I’m upset to see the same kind of unrest I grew up with in the 1970s repeating. I know the media is highlighting extremists to sell stuff, but I sputter into incoherence when talking politics—so how do I find out the reasons my neighbors might have for voting for platforms that seem deeply dangerous (to me)? I need help. The psychologist author advocates dialogue as the route to cross the divide, rather than debate or even civil discourse; that sounds doable, even for introverts.
It’s worth the wade through stilted prose to read this book; it’s also a refresher on your freshman speech class. Using cousins Kevin the liberal and Celine the conservative, whose kids want them to socialize again, the author walks you through careful conversations. Aside from the clunky suggested scripts, the principles are sound, and it’s full of further resources. The first thing the author asks you to do is figure out your motivations for talking. Discourse is proving your point, debate is for conversion, but dialogue means listening and understanding. We all want the other guy to switch to our way of thinking, but that’s not realistic or useful. One party or another is going to prevail and the rest of us have to deal, so I really do want to find common ground and understanding of others—even if we do agree to disagree. That might be the true definition of democracy, after all.
What I found most immediately helpful in this book were two charts: one that shows the Miserable Majority, where studies find that only 33% of us are extremists, and the other 66% of us really do just want to get along; the other shows the moral underpinnings of conservatives and liberals—and everyone I know uses both sides of this chart that references loyalty, respect, justice, and compassion.
I have more hope for our country after reading this book. If I’m not quite ready to have a dialogue yet, I’m ready for the work. MissEmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15909750702769220097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3274507483120274092.post-66549780028052325642020-06-28T09:22:00.000-07:002020-06-28T09:22:00.495-07:00On Persuasion <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43557477-the-jane-austen-society" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Jane Austen Society" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1568730506l/43557477._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43557477-the-jane-austen-society">The Jane Austen Society</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18786953.Natalie_Jenner">Natalie Jenner</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3129795412">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
The jacket copy says that fans of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir will enjoy this book; I’m a fan of the first and not of the second, but I did enjoy this historical fiction tribute to Jane Austen and her fans. I think the book was written expressly for them; deeper familiarity with her novels would certainly enhance the reading. I’m not sure that it will convert those unfamiliar with her work; it didn’t inspire me to reread Austen, but it kept my interest because it celebrates reading. <br />Jenner has invented a group of characters who form the Jane Austen Society in the post-WWII village of Chawton (Austen’s historic home). In homage to Austen, she concentrates on illustrating issues of class and romantic expectations in the closed-environment Petri dish of an English village; in service to her own muse, there’s a 21st Century perspective that makes it more bearable to me than Austen’s own works. The author’s outlier characters, Evie and Adam (oh, the symbolism—but no, there’s a huge age gap and they’re never associated romantically) are the ones who made the book interesting to me. I really liked them. Adam, a village farmer, discovers Austen from the visit of an American girl on Austen pilgrimage in 1932, thereby obtaining the gift of companionship and wisdom that books can bring to a lonely life. Evie’s introduced to Austen in school by the dynamic village teacher. Though she has to leave the village school before graduation in order to work in the manor where Austen once lived, she has her master reading list and she’s able to nurture her native intelligence through access to the manor library. <br />Most of the other characters are flawed but sympathetic, just like real life. The village doctor, the village lawyer, and the lady of the manor all have starring roles, along with the teacher and the American—later a movie star who never lost her love for Austen—her movie producer fiancé, and a Sotheby’s assistant director of estate sales. Couples find happiness and the entwined threads all tie up nicely in the end. I’ll look forward to another book from the author, especially if she steps further from Austen’s shadow.
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MissEmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15909750702769220097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3274507483120274092.post-80273921739728552572020-06-01T08:25:00.001-07:002020-06-01T08:25:08.912-07:00Post-Apocalypse Hope<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45152976-a-beginning-at-the-end" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="A Beginning at the End" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1563448171l/45152976._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45152976-a-beginning-at-the-end">A Beginning at the End</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1155463.Mike_Chen">Mike Chen</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3352869064">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
The current crop of apocalyptic sci-fi books shows clearly that fiction is a form of thought experiment and that science fiction is really about the present time. I’ve got at least 4 books stacked by my chair that I’ve had to put down because the authors picked pandemic for their apocalypse and I don’t want to read about them. Chen was coming to the Tucson Festival of Books so I started reading his book with its hopeful title in March, having forgotten—if I knew—that he picked pandemic, too. I was able to keep reading this one. Chen’s book centers around people, not ideas, and that’s why it’s readable and hopeful in the current situation. <br />A decade after a global pandemic wiped out most of the planet’s population, the survivors are rebuilding the country, split between self-governing cities, hippie communes and wasteland gangs. The poor, as always, are stuck in one place or the other. Tensions are rising again, along with the threat of new outbreaks. The plot centers around Moira, a former child star voice artist who’s been hiding from her domineering stage dad for years; Rob, a single dad who has to keep proving to social services that he deserves custody of his daughter Sunny; and Krista, an event planner with a big heart and radical friends. Their challenges are both personal and communal, with society in such flux, but people of good heart usually find a way to achieve their dreams, especially with a little help from friends—and they do. <br />There’s definitely a difference between the newer sci-fi authors and the Boomers; Chen is definitely new school. The real feat that Chen pulls off is to embed his hopefulness in an engaging plot, with likable characters, and to keep the politics offstage and out of total war, through compromise. Usually in these books there are clear winners and losers; Chen has written a way into the future that is workable and believable because the only thing that works in our lived reality is compromise: nobody wins everything but nobody loses everything, either. If only the politicians would quit living in the fantasy worlds of total domination and move into the world where the rest of humanity resides. Books like this remind us of what’s really possible. Recommended.
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MissEmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15909750702769220097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3274507483120274092.post-56334325974987049992020-05-27T08:54:00.001-07:002020-06-01T08:18:10.040-07:00Science Doesn't Kill People...<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51600140-sea-change" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Sea Change" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1582086273l/51600140._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51600140-sea-change">Sea Change</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21158.Nancy_Kress">Nancy Kress</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3352848339">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Sea Change is a fast, exciting read that highlights climate change instead of pandemic as its apocalypse generator. In 2022, GMOs were banned. A biopharmaceutical caused the Catastrophe: worldwide economic and agricultural collapse, and personal tragedy for lawyer Caroline Denton and her son. Ten years later, reinvented as Renata Black, she is living in Seattle and a member of the Org, an underground group of scientists hunted by the feds. But the Org’s illegal food-research might just hold the key to rebuilding the world’s food supply.<br />This is another original take in the genre of apocalypse, with the focus on banning a particular type of science. There’s so much material out there floating in cyberspace conspiracy theory that has not been used yet in traditional fiction publishing, and this book is a good example of how one fiction can inform another. With its near-future setting and secret science labs, I was reminded of the spy shows of the 1960s (in a fun way). The book’s main theme, of course, is that science isn’t bad; it’s the way science is used that can be problematic. In other words, “science doesn’t kill people...”.<br />In the end, though, what makes this such a good novel isn’t plot, but character. Renata has always been an activist, but she’s not in the Org because of food science, but because of another project, connected to her son. Through Renata/Caroline’s story we discover no matter how much we wish the world were run by reason (particularly our own reasons and rationales)—our living into the future is propelled by our responses to our loves and losses. This may be both humanity’s greatest strength and weakness; if we could harness the power of the human heart—or set it free—that would be the greatest breakthrough of all time. This is a near-future thriller worth reading.<br />Recommended. (Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-galley for review.)
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MissEmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15909750702769220097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3274507483120274092.post-1516514732294359762020-04-26T12:59:00.002-07:002020-04-26T12:59:54.612-07:00Garden Inspiration<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43212842-emily-dickinson-s-gardening-life" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Emily Dickinson's Gardening Life: The Plants and Places That Inspired the Iconic Poet" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1557786837l/43212842._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43212842-emily-dickinson-s-gardening-life">Emily Dickinson's Gardening Life: The Plants and Places That Inspired the Iconic Poet</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7444.Marta_McDowell">Marta McDowell</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3302992856">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
This reader finds hope and solace in troubling times through both nature and literature, so what better book to try than this combination of both. I’d checked the book out of the library before deciding whether to add it to my personal collection, so extended checkout has enabled me to decide. Exploring Emily’s gardens in Amherst is also a bit of fantasy reading for desert rats, since many of the mentioned plants do not thrive here, and snow blankets boggle the mind. Hollyhocks are August blooms for Emily, but April blooms for us, and plants that sleep for winter there thrive beautifully here and want to drowse through summer’s heat instead. There’s still lots of gardening inspiration and rumination to be had. <br /><br />The author is a prodigious gardener herself, wrote Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life before this, and was the Gardener-in-Residence at the Dickinson Museum in 2018. She does a lovely job combining Dickinson’s life, poetry, and gardening, weaving the story through the seasons—and the half-seasons we gardeners know so well, those transitions when gentle warmth lets tender blooms meet, mingle, and say farewell—not forgetting the sudden harsh times when everything disappears in storm. <br /><br />Illustrated with botanical prints, images of pressed flowers, and Emily’s words from letters and poems, the book is a feast for the eyes as well as the mind. Mostly focusing on ornamentals, as Emily did herself, we still get a glimpse of the family’s vegetable plot, and lessons on over-wintering outside the conservatory. From 1865: <br /><br /><br /><br />With us, ‘tis Harvest all the Year<br /><br />For when the Frosts begin<br /><br />We just reverse the Zodiac<br /><br />And fetch the Acres in- <br /><br />(1036)<br /><br /><br /><br />I had forgotten that all of Emily’s poems are not equally great; the author chose them for their illustrative, not literary qualities. Most work quite well, though some are difficult to parse; our common language has changed so much--and the landscapes of the country. Where Dickinson can be obscure, McDowell can wander to overly florid descriptions that miss the mark; for the most part, however, the language sings with apt observation and the gardener’s vision shines through. <br /><br />All in all, this is a lovely addition to any gardening or poetry library; the gardening is forefront, with tips and admonitions from the author. Recommended.<br /><br />
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MissEmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15909750702769220097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3274507483120274092.post-83427427229522981682020-03-29T08:48:00.000-07:002020-03-29T08:48:26.432-07:00Escape To Venice Leon has been writing about police Commissario Brunetti for well over twenty years, and his city of Venice is one of the main characters, along with Brunetti and his family. The series stands out not only for its setting, but for the almost equal time devoted to Brunetti's home life as to his work; the story is never about the crimes alone, but about the people who are caught up in them.
Twenty-odd years ago, Brunetti's job was petty thieves and stupid murders and working around corruption; his children were young. Brunetti, though he went to college and reads classics—Greek and Roman—for a hobby, is a working class man. His wife Paola is of the nobility, though she was a student radical and socialist; her father is a Count. The early books weave the politics of sex and class through issues of family and justice, a window into Venetian life. Venice is in the water as well as on the water, though, and the later books engage with crime in environmental issues, particularly water quality.
This is all explored within the context of daily living; Brunetti's relationships at home and at work develop and change as everyone ages. There’s the ebb and flow of politics and of the canals, the rustic countryside fading away as the city grows, the customs of old fading as tourists become prevalent. Brunetti and Paola, a professor of literature whose other love is Henry James, discuss philosophy, psychology and ethics over dinner and pillow talk.
In this book, we’re trying to figure out whether a crime has even been committed. Brunetti’s colleague Claudia Griffoni is featured; we always see his boss and his secretary Signorina Elettra, the most beautiful hacker in Italy, but Brunetti’s colleagues take their turn. Griffoni’s from the south of Italy, not Venetian; regional prejudices feature in the stories, too, echoing life outside the pages. They’re called to a deathbed, where the dying widow gives them not a confession, but a mystery. Who killed her husband, if he was killed?
I hope I’ve intrigued you about the series; I hope you begin at the beginning. After all these years, reading Leon is like spending time with an old friend, congenial and satisfying.
(Thanks to the publisher for the advance copy to review!) MissEmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15909750702769220097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3274507483120274092.post-87731434532873074252020-03-29T08:22:00.001-07:002020-03-29T08:22:37.595-07:00What's Really Behind Those Schoolwork Packets, Or, Modern EducationElden does a great job portraying a year in the lives of high school teachers at fictional Brae Hill Valley High School. The story takes place in Texas but teachers from all over will recognize themselves in the frustrations and hopes of these characters.During the course of the school year the tale switches back and forth from Language Arts (Lena is a spoken-word poet) to Science (Hernan has a green thumb and a crush on Lena) to Math (Maybelline has a teenage daughter at home) to Football (Coach Ray has a bellow and a soft heart) to idealistic Social Studies teacher Kaylee and tired Principal Dr. Barrios. It’s like reading a script for Parks and Rec or The Office, funny and touching at the same time. We get glimpses of their home lives and personal dreams as well as their teaching days and hopes for their students. These characters reminded me so much of teachers I have been and known, including my parents. Their hopes and dreams aren’t much different than those of the students, just more seasoned. There’s a satirical thread running through the course of this academic year: Brae Hill Valley has been chosen to model the next great packaged education system! Guaranteed! (Not.)
It’s hard, when teachers have been teaching for millennia, to have to put up with fads in education; the underlying satire in the book pokes at academic and marketing professionals who proffer “expert” advice without ever having experienced the job itself. This is the cliché of modern life; it’s just particularly ironic in education. The real guarantees of education come from caring about the kids, about the subject you’re teaching, and having different strategies for different learners.
This would be a great book club book; there are some reading group questions at the end—might remind you of English essays in your past, and a good author interview in the back of the book. Recommended. MissEmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15909750702769220097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3274507483120274092.post-90411811286580187152020-03-10T11:50:00.001-07:002020-03-10T11:50:39.629-07:00<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52241772-the-queen-s-bargain" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Queen's Bargain (The Black Jewels #10)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1563288741l/52241772._SX98_SY160_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52241772-the-queen-s-bargain">The Queen's Bargain</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/26897.Anne_Bishop">Anne Bishop</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2997466695">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
After I read The Queen's Bargain—I won it in a goodreads giveaway!—I immediately re-read the rest of the Black Jewels books. That’s how good it is in re-kindling the love for the Dark Jewels universe. Bishop's work focuses on the uses and abuses of power. (There are abuse triggers in her work, for those who need to be aware of this.)<br />This book takes up where the last left off, early years in the marriage of Surreal and Daemon. Their daughter Janaelle has been gifted the Twilight jewel at her ceremony, even though she is not Witch reborn. She’s going through growing pains. Jillian, the young Eyrian witch who helps raise Lucivar's young children, has finally hit puberty and started dating, another form of growing pains. Dillon, the young Lord she's dating, has some problems, and Lucivar and Daemon might become two more for him. <br />Daemon and Surreal aren't communicating with each other or their friends, and their relationship faces real consequences. Marian, Lucivar’s wife, isn’t recovering from her last birthing. Dillon and Jillian are young people making choices that have real consequences. Bishop explores consequences. <br />The balance of power between lesser and greater, the dance of power between duty and desire: these are the underlying themes of the work, interlaced with explorations of acceptance in diversity, not only of gender but of race and species. Those are the pleasures of a Bishop book—in addition to great storytelling. So far I've loved all of them. <br />Scelties abound, Karla (kiss-kiss) visits, and love is forever—the barriers between life and death notwithstanding. The door to new adventures is always open, and I'll follow Bishop there every time. Recommended.
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MissEmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15909750702769220097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3274507483120274092.post-27922683624316381012020-02-23T09:02:00.000-08:002020-02-23T09:02:12.135-08:00A Mad World, or a Moral World?<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43798285-the-institute" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Institute" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1549241208l/43798285._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43798285-the-institute">The Institute</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3389.Stephen_King">Stephen King</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3021664166">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Once again, Stephen King writes a novel that shows true horror lies not in the supernatural, but in the choices humans make. The world sees Luke Ellis as pretty special; he's got an incredible brain, and gifted with caring parents, he has reasonable social skills as well. He’s only twelve, but he’s all set to begin college classes in the coming fall. Except he wakes up in the middle of the night to his own kidnapping. His parents are also murdered, though it takes him a while to realize that fact. <br />Luke wakes up at the Institute, where a bunch of other kids are also imprisoned. They’re experimented on in Front Half and then disappear into Back Half and are never seen again. They each have a psychic gift, and all this murder and torture is enabled by taxpayer dollars diverted to a shadow government program.<br />The kids bond together, and Luke is not the only hero. In fact, the book starts out with the story of our adult hero, a cop who’s drifting his way on to a new future. <br />This would make a great movie, of course. <br />King is a master storyteller, keeping the suspense at a constant but tolerable level. We want the kids to escape, just like in the fairytales. This is the appeal of genre books and popular fiction: it’s clear who the good guys are, even if right and wrong get murky. The world is a scary and dangerous place and the only thing that helps is love and kindness; that’s what the stories are there to teach us. <br />The lesson is always hope, and the moral is always kindness, in the fairytales where horror was born. <br />King does a good job showing how people can let themselves torture kids for a living, either not caring in the first place or fooling themselves with the pretense of necessity camouflaged as national security. With this particular story, King asserts that no matter how lofty the goal, there is never a moral excuse for keeping children in cages. <br />(I won a Goodreads giveaway for the book, yay! and thanks!)
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