Over the past few years I‘ve been complaining to friends about the fact that I keep getting library books & ignoring my own sitting on the shelves. Last week I created an Excel sheet to provide a visual. Of the 31 books I‘ve read this year, 29 were from the library and 2 were handed to me by friends to read. Seeing the proof in print was a shocker. Now I‘m seriously clamping down on library books. My shelves would be so happy with 31 fewer books.

I‘m not sure I have the words to express just how sad this book is. It‘s a virtual ‘no one will save you‘ story about Sri Lanka. Competing militant factions, government, the UN, none of them will stop the deaths of civilians. This really is historical fiction at its finest, with the result being that I now know almost intimately the pain this county has experienced.

Over the last few days I kept falling asleep every time I picked this book up. I was getting super annoyed about it. Just found out I have COVID which explains a lot of recent events. It‘s a mild case, so all is well. Just sleeping a lot. 💤💤

I remember each summer that I lived on the commune that one of us would get a horrific infection from chigger bites. Nasty little buggers.

This book blew my mind. Dowd‘s grandfather started his own apocalyptic community years ago. He told followers he would live 500 years. Fire & brimstone/Old Testament was his personal mantra. Dowd‘s father & mother were merciless to their kids. Dowd was basically abandoned and/or punished up thru her teens. How she ended up where she is now-an accomplished writer and professor is astonishing to me. That she forgave her parents is also impressive.

* I had energy this week, which can be hard to come by in the spring when my Lyme symptoms flare up
* My acupuncturist is a miracle worker
* Spring is officially here
* Sold my little cabin by a lake - happy/sad about it. Was my peace-filled spot after a divorce 10 years ago.
* Sold it to a young woman, a family friend, who will love the place as much as I did at a price she could afford.
#5JoysFriday
@DebinHawaii

I listened to this one which I think is the way to go. There was much to like - in fact, stories of her mother were some of the funniest things about her book - but I thought the book was overly long.

* Visited my junior high friend in Massachusetts. So fun.
* We went to the Smith College Botanical Garden on a brilliantly blue sky day.
* The Gardens featured plaques throughout about Sylvia Plath and her time at Smith.
* Saw a cactus with white hair that looked like a mythical creature (see photo above).
* Visited a terrific bookstore & bought several books (of course).
* foliage was all budding and greening. Not like Vermont.
#5joysfriday

Last year I mentioned our local library built a wind phone on their property. This week our local independent newspaper made a video about this one of a kind building in Vermont. My daughter, daughter-in-law, their best friend and the librarian spoke of how valuable it is and how much they use it. I thought folks might be interested in viewing the film. It's a surprisingly vulnerable video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3iQpmINd1Q

Many thanks to @bthegood for passing this book along to me. A simple and poignant story of an 80 year old dying of cancer hitting the road with her husband who has dementia. The wit and snark of Ella was perfect and her care alongside her occasional anger toward her husband felt spot on. Being older myself I could empathize with her review of her life. Happy to pass this book along to anyone, as it too is a traveler.

I keep saying “WHAT?“ as I read this book. Dowd‘s mother is constantly reinforcing the cult‘s theory that men are omnipotent and the author‘s grandfather is the ultimate authority. Women are to be silent and subservient unless they‘re working the crowd that has come to their fundraising events. So many quotable and shocking sentences in this book.

Two used books and two new ones….but my new favorite purchase is this bag. My shopping experience for #independentbookstoreday was enhanced by the annual Vermont Maple Festival. So fun!

I‘ve never watched a second of any of the Duggar‘s shows. 19 children just seemed religiously cult-y. So why did I listen to this? Because it‘s what was available to listen to on Libby. 😊 It turned out to be a thoughtful piece on a person who had to work very hard to separate from her father & a media company. Being the first (and maybe only one) in a family to recognize the wrongs inflicted within a family is very tough & I applaud her.

I closed my eyes and walked down an aisle at the library. A book called to me. I love occasionally finding books this way. This memoir is what I consider to be the real story of what the result was of the Vietnam War. Trussoni‘s father was a ‘tunnel rat‘, entering tunnels to find the enemy or POW‘s. Ultimately, this experience and his divorce broke him. Trussoni spends her childhood/teen years with him even after her mother & siblings move 🔽

“If you had the bad luck to be from Ireland, it felt, you had to suck it up and never have sex or else have the baby.”

You could also include 21 states in the U.S. where this now applies as well.

I‘m sitting at Safelite getting a new windshield with a bunch of very quiet people. Thankfully they don‘t have a tv on. Suddenly I noticed that both my book and my sweatshirt have the same logo. A bit of overkill? If I‘m lucky the folks will think I work at Galaxy. 😊

❤️ I‘m still buzzing from the total eclipse, watching videos of the darkness & people‘s delight. It was amazing.
❤️ I‘m astonished and so grateful it was a blue sky day for the eclipse - so rare in Vermont in April.
❤️ The Boston Celtics are in the first round of the playoffs.
❤️ The Boston Bruins are in the first round of the playoffs.
❤️ Charley, my granddaughter, can‘t walk yet at 15 months but you should see her ride her bike!
#5JoysFriday

Did I really mean to read a book about F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s last few years and Zelda‘s hospitalization? No. But I did want to read an O‘Nan story. Somehow the author kept my interest through his writing style, even as the book began to lag. Not necessarily O‘Nan‘s fault - I mean how many times can you make it interesting that Fitzgerald fell off the wagon yet again? Would I recommend the book? Probably not. But I enjoyed O‘Nan‘s effort.

After reading @suvata ‘s review, I happened to see this at the library. Her enthusiasm inspired me. Albom is generally hit or miss for me and over time I‘ve tended to stay away. However, I really enjoyed this one. The structure and pace of the story was great. A boat blows up, there are 11 survivors in a life raft. One of them says they are the Lord. Of course it‘s about faith because that‘s Albom‘s jam, but I thought the story was well done.

My daughter-in-law‘s mother knows how much I love Anne‘s writing and sent me this book. I‘ve read her books ever since she wrote Operating Instructions (a brilliant book if you haven‘t read it) and I go to hear her speak whenever she‘s close by.

The author is many things: a medical biochemist, a botanist, & an author just to name a few. This book, part memoir & part call to action, was what I needed right now. Overcoming her lonely childhood, thankfully living in the summers with relatives who taught her the essential Celtic wisdom of nature and its gifts, to her eventually creating her own vision of Eden by collecting nearly extinct trees from all over the world, this woman is amazing.

In Vermont we are still buzzing from this event. The total eclipse was so beyond anything I could have imagined. The cold, the darkness, the stars, the return of light. Strangers embracing strangers. Grandchildren running wild in the darkness and screaming that it was the best day of their lives. It happened in my backyard and it was sunny (unheard of!) I see why people chase this experience. It has affected me deeply. 💕💕

I‘d never read a Tana French book & @DavidDiamond suggested reading this one before reading her new book. Two great things about it: 1. French was born in Burlington, Vermont (love that fact) & 2. This was set in Ireland and the language and descriptions of Ireland were so good! A retired cop moves to Ireland and ends up, of course, having to find a missing person. I grew to really care for all of the characters and look forward to reading more.

Considering I had 18 inches of snow yesterday and an earthquake rocked my house today enough to make me feel as if I were on a boat, this quote hit home.

Taken at 6:30 am & it‘s still snowing at 4 pm. Power on & off all day. Funny how my mood improves the minute power is restored. A week after reading Day, here is what I remember: a character is living in Iceland & Cunningham‘s description of the cold & the climate is so accurate it puts you right smack dab in that location. I‘ve never been there but I know what the sound & smells are like at -20C. The book is fine, but that part was my favorite.

Up to 20 inches of snow projected to fall over the next few days. I have a multitude of books and magazines to entertain myself with when I‘m not shoveling. This is one book I‘ll be dipping in and out of.

I‘ve written 3 reviews and deleted them. I‘m so angry and want to point fingers at one state in the US that seems particularly heartless - looking at you, Texas - but I‘m sure the fate of foster kids is abysmal everywhere. This is a look at racism in fostering choices and a system that cannot see its way to help families rather than destroy them. It‘s a book worth reading but it‘s a tough one.

All for $1 at the library sale. Some great authors. Now I need to stop going to the library so I can actually read some of my own books.

This was not the outcome I expected from the Tournament of Books. https://www.tournamentofbooks.com/2024/championship-blackouts-v-heaven-earth-gro...

(A random photo of a dove outside one of my windows. I love them and it always feels very special to have them visit.)

After finishing Pet I just had to read more by Chidgey. This fictional novel, thoroughly researched, involves a German administration officer at Buchenwald, his wife & child, a prisoner of the camp, and, randomly, an account from townsfolk. The events going on in the camp are written in such a way as to slowly numb you because, of course, what‘s happening couldn‘t actually be happening. It‘s a tough one to read but masterful in how it‘s written.

I‘m listening to the very disturbing tagged book while also reading a book about Buchenwald concentration camp. Suddenly I had had enough. Too much pain. So I drove an hour to see my granddaughter, Charley. I‘m so close to the end of each book that I‘ll finish them tomorrow but today I was fortunate to play with a sweet little girl and count my blessings.

At first I thought the author included too much information but as I reflect on it I think it was all necessary and added to the book. Divers find a German U-boat in the deep section of the sea. Only accomplished divers can go that deep to explore. Over time, it becomes the mission of two divers to determine which U-boat this is. The dangers involved in exploring the vessel to find the identification of the boat are enormous. Their mission to 🔽

I ran away from home with a former medic in the Green Berets stationed in Vietnam. He was eight years older than me and came home with a heroin habit. The Vietnam War was a nightly nightmare for him that heroin just barely alleviated. This book brought up a lot of memories for me. While it provides a lot of info to those unaware of the history, the romances within it were far fetched and drew me away from what the story could have been.

Covid arrives and the author decides to make a sweater from scratch. From shearing the sheep, spinning and dyeing the wool, and making the sweater. I enjoyed her humor and the particular items she chose to go into depth on, especially color and the origin of particular colors (from bugs). The last quarter of the book got a bit bogged down, but overall I enjoyed it.

February reads. I wish every book could make me speedread like I did with Pet, I love Niall Williams‘ writing (History of the Rain), and Edith Wharton‘s The Mother‘s Recompense was incredibly engaging.

A beautiful teacher comes to town & a class of 12 year olds are enthralled. All of the students want to please her and be the teacher‘s pet. When items of the students begin to be stolen, the story takes off. We follow our main character, still grieving the death of a parent, as she navigates the hierarchy within a teenage world & the manipulative world of an adult. It‘s a page turner I could not put down. Already grabbed another by this author.

So apparently I‘ve abandoned the many books on my shelves and overindulged at the library. The pressure is now on to read them all before their due date. And I have a week coming up that is filled with elections, registering voters, and alphabetizing returning absentee ballots. Yeehaw!

My time spent reading Taylor‘s book included comparing it to the exhaustive study done by Homestead. That‘s not really fair. Taylor‘s book is short and informative. For those who don‘t know of Cather‘s works or her life it‘s a great intro. I appreciated the way he reviewed each book & tied it to her personal experiences. The best part of reading this was hearing my mother‘s voice again, telling me stories of Willa and Edith, my mother‘s aunt. 💕

This book started as a great idea. Studying the mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., James Baldwin, and Malcolm X is a great idea. Behind every great man is a great woman, right? However, I think Tubbs took on more than she could deliver. A pet peeve was that she referred to each woman only by their first name. I spent 3/4s of the audiobook trying to remember which mother she was referring to. 🤦🏻‍♀️ I learned a few things but knew a lot already.

“In April 1990, a fictional library in a Richard Brautigan novel became a real place in Burlington. The Brautigan Library only accepted unpublished books. As the national media spread the news of the library's existence, unpublished manuscripts began arriving from all over North America. The library had visitors from as far away as Los Angeles & London who came to Burlington to experience it. Over 100 local volunteers kept the library running.” 🔽

Grann knows how to tell a complex story in a way that compels you to keep turning the pages. Much like the story of the Endurance‘s struggles, the Wager‘s journey in the 1700‘s highlights just how difficult a journey by boat could be. I‘m often left wondering how I would do in a situation like this: a raging sea, climbing up masts to lower the sails in the middle of snow squalls, starving, & dealing with a murderous mutiny. I‘d give up early on.

I‘m confused. Little random snippets from his diary. He complains about making a movie but I have no idea which movie he‘s talking about. And while I imagine he wouldn‘t have published his own diaries, I do wish he had narrated this book. I‘ll go for another hour but so far it‘s disappointing.

Not book related, except for the fact that my book reading was limited a bit by my spending time/babysitting this sweetie. My 5th grandchild, Charley Jane, had her first birthday. 💕💕

It is so gray here that you can‘t tell that‘s a lovely red fox staring at me as I approached. I‘m fairly picky about audiobooks & usually don‘t like fiction on audio, but this story was great & the audio kept my attention. An elderly woman mourning the death of her son 30 years ago, a young man searching for his father, & an octopus who is delightful. An enjoyable read that kept me occupied on my hour-long drive to City Hall to work on elections.

Lucinda Williams has worked her butt off writing songs and playing guitar since she was 12. Growing up, her mother had serious mental health issues. Meanwhile, her father, a poet, held literary parties with famous authors. Her family moved constantly. In this memoir, Williams takes us through her career, explains the background of many of her songs, and shares stories of her many love/flirty interests. The print version includes photos.

A Russian conscript trying to flee from his duties and a woman leaving a man behind meet on a train. Can the soldier escape his fate with her help? This is a very short book and like @Bookboss I‘m not sure why I‘ve heard so much about it. It was a pick because of the tension provided at the end but otherwise it was just okay.

This is the second book I‘ve read by Williams & I just can‘t say how much I appreciate his writing. While this novel definitely has a plot and characters I grew to adore, it is the writing, the turn of phrase, the truths that so resonated for me that made this special. There is a brief lull where I wondered where we were going and why, but it didn‘t matter ultimately. It‘s a meandering, extremely Irish, tale - one I was delighted to sit with.

The #whartonbuddyread group selected this for February but due to work schedules & Hoopla I jumped right into it. Written a century ago this felt so current. Kate, who left her husband & young daughter behind is called to return to live with her grown daughter. Kate‘s panic as she finds who her daughter intends to marry jumps off the page. Does she reveal secrets or save her daughter from the pain of knowing. This was well written and relatable.

I have lived with this feeling for years!

My great-grandparents to the US came from Ireland. Is that why I love the writing of Williams so much? Ireland is in my blood and each line of this book feels perfectly attuned to what I need in an Irish story. It meanders & digresses. I don‘t understand how Williams writes the way he does. It‘s so potent & creative and funny and surprising. I‘m moving very slowly through the book which just demonstrates the amount of respect I have for him.