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TheAromaofBooks
The Dean's Watch | Elizabeth Goudge
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Pickpick

I've had mixed results with Goudge's books, but this one was a win for me. She tends to write books that are more like interconnected character sketches for the first half of the story, so it's a slow start. But she also writes compellingly realistic and relatable people. Religion plays a big part here, but her characters don't use it as a crutch or a bandaid or an excuse. ⬇

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) She also writes about struggling with depression (at a time when that “wasn't a thing“) in a way that just kind of rips your heart out, in a good way lol And when one of the characters dies in the end, it doesn't feel remotely gimmicky or manipulative, but a genuine reflection on that also being a part of life.

Highly recommended, especially if you've ever clung to faith in a dark time.
6d
TheAromaofBooks “Why should we always want a light? [God] chose darkness for us, darkness of the womb & of the stable, darkness in the garden, darkness on the cross and in the grave. Why do I demand certainty? That is not faith. Why do I want to understand? How can I understand this great web of sin and ugliness and love and suffering and joy and life and death when I don't understand the little tangle of good and evil that is myself? I've enough to understand.“ 6d
See All 6 Comments
BarbaraJean Ohhhhh, I need to read this. It‘s been on my list for so long! It sounds so good, and I‘ve heard it‘s set in (or that the setting is based on) the cathedral town I lived in as a child. This cover most definitely features that cathedral! 6d
willaful I don't think I ever encountered this one. 6d
TheAromaofBooks @BarbaraJean - It's a very quiet story. I didn't love it as much as The Scent of Water, which lowkey changed my life, but I still found this one to be so beautiful. Some of her books I've been quite ambivalent towards, but then I read one like this and it just hits a chord for me. 5d
63 likes1 stack add6 comments
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LiseWorks
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Eggs Perfection 🥳 (edited) 2mo
27 likes1 comment
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Gissy
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#12Booksof2023 @Andrew65

Fantastic middle-grade book with beautiful illustrations and the audiobook is amazing. It deserved the award.

Other great book that month was Grapes of Wrath.

Andrew65 Looks great. I love The Grapes of Wrath. 3mo
35 likes1 comment
review
BarbaraJean
Watch Hollow | Gregory Funaro
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Pickpick

This was a fun, creepy MG tale that reminded me a lot of Jonathan Auxier‘s The Night Gardener. A father & his two kids move into a creepy old mansion for the summer, tasked with fixing the old clock that generates power for the house. It‘s isolated, there‘s no electricity, they‘re surrounded by a sinister-looking forest that gradually inches closer and closer to the house…nothing could go wrong here, right?! This was a perfect October read for me.

36 likes1 stack add
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sarahgreatlove
Pickpick

I‘ve been wanting to read more middle grade and was interested in this one for how it combines art and story. An extremely beautiful book which ironically I don‘t have a photo of. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Gryffleclaw95
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I adored “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” as a child, and I still found this story enchanting many years later. I loved the drawings sprinkled throughout the story, and the ending was even better than I remembered.

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sophiekinnett

“He could feel the cogs and wheels in his head spinning in different directions.“

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sophiekinnett

This book is close to me because I read it when I was in the 4th or 5th grade. I want to teach the older grades so I want to capture chapter books as well as just children's picture books. I loved this book because it made me feel like I was an amazing reader. the book was very big but not everyone knew it was a lot of pictures. It was also helpful to know that chapter books can still have pictures. I would give this to less confident readers.

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sophiekinnett
Pickpick

This book was published in 2007 and is a Caldecott medal winner. It is about a young orphan boy who lives in the walls of a train station by himself. He keeps the clock tower going. He tries to keep to himself until one day he comes in contact with a girl and a man who owns a toy both at the train station. He comes across a cryptic message, a notebook, a key, and a hidden message from his father.