The Caine Mutiny

by Herman Wouk

Libby ebook 1,769 pages (on my phone in my font size . . . )

Published: 1951 (this version 2013)

Genre: historical fiction, WWII, navy

 

I try to read at least one "classic" work each year. I recognize so many titles and yet have so many unread! This one was interesting on a variety of levels . . . it's a war story, a coming-of-age story, a love story . . . and a study of human nature.

 

Willie Keith is the protagonist. Wealthy, spoiled, immature. He plays piano and doesn't have much drive. He's a mama's boy who's in for an awakening when joining the US Navy during wartime.

 

Most of the time, I enjoyed the story. Finishing it on Veteran's Day (11/11/22) was ironic. I was subbing and one hour was a panel discussion with members of each branch of the military. I didn't have time to talk with any of the Navy guys, but I wonder how much of the tedious rule-following and quirky leadership translates from WWII to today.

 

Chapter 6: Willie's dad sends him a letter which is pretty amazing in its entirety, but I noted this one part. (Willie is out at sea.)

 

It seems to me that you're very much like our whole country - young, näive, spoiled and softened by abundance and good luck, but with an interior hardness that comes from your sound stock. This country of ours consists of pioneers, after all, . . . people who had the gumption to get up and go and make themselves better lives in a new world.

 

That observation seems to stand true today. Yet more people (of many ages) seem to be much more negative and much less determined to make better lives. (Or perhaps less certain about what a better life entails.)

 

Chapter 6:  Also from dad's letter:

I ought to fill up a dozen more sheets, and yet I feel you are pretty good at getting your way - and in other matters any words I might write would make little sense, without your own experience to fill the words with meaning. Remember this, if you can - there is nothing, nothing more precious than time. You probably feel you have a measureless supply of it, but you haven't. Wasted hours destroy your life just as surely at the beginning as at the end - only at the end it becomes more obvious.

This part almost made me cry. Time is precious. I have zero regrets about the time I spent just sitting with my mom holding her hand at the end of her life. I wish we had much more of Willie's dad in this book! He goes on in his letter to talk about religion and the Bible. 

 

"It's (The Old Testament) the core of all religion, I think, and there is a lot of everyday wisdom in it. You have to be able to recognize it. That takes time. Meantime get familiar with the words. You'll never regret it. I came to the Bible as I did to everything in life, too late."

Chapter 8: I learned a new word. Usually, I can use context clues to figure it out. Not so much this time. Another sailor is sharing too explicitly.

"Willie was first amused, then disgusted, then fiercely bored, but there seemed no way to turn off the sailor's cloacal drone."

Blogger just put a red squiggle line under "cloacal," but didn't offer a spelling suggestion. So of course I googled the definition! "cloaca: a common cavity at the end of the digestive tract for the release of both excretory and genital products in vertebrates (except most mammals) and certain invertebrates. Specifically, the cloaca is present in birds, reptiles, amphibians, most fish, and monotremes." Colloquially, it's sewage.

Chapter 9: The officers on the ship are shooting the breeze. Keefer (the novelist) is pontificating.

"The nub of this Pacific war is the duel of flying machines. Everything else is as routine as the work of milkmen and filing clerks. All uncertainty and all decision rides with the carriers."

It didn't really surprise me that much of what the sailors did was routine and even boring. "Action" is not desirable in my book, but I know that time can drag when everything is going smoothly. Most of the action for the men on the Caine had to do with the commanding officer DeVriess, then Queeg, provided most of this story's drama.

Chapter 9: Captain DeVriess and the officers are talking. Tom Keefer, Maryk, Tom's brother Roland, and other men are discussing the routine life. DeVriess suggests that Tom ask for a transfer (again) and he'll approve it. Keefer was not optimistic.

"I've given up. This ship is an outcast, manned by outcasts, and named for the great outcast of mankind. My destiny is the Caine. It's the purgatory for my sins."

A few paragraphs later: 

The captain regarded Keefer admiringly. "That's the literary mind for you. I never thought of Caine being a symbolic name - "

"The extra e threw you off, Captain. God always likes to veil his symbols a bit, being, among His other attributes, the perfect literary artist."

And many pages later when Keefer is helping Willie to learn some new ways to speed up his work flow:

"The Navy is a master plan designed by geniuses for execution by idiots. If you're not an idiot, but find yourself in the Navy, you can only operate well be pretending to be one."

Ouch. I wonder how Navy folks feel about this perspective? And if things have changed in the last seventy years.

Chapter 10: This was one of those huge red flags that made me think "Oh no!"

Willie took the message and glanced at it. "Okay, okay. I'll break it in a few minutes." He thrust the sheet in his pocket and looked to sea."

Of course he forgot about it. And it was important. And Captain Queeg was on his way to assume command of the Caine.

Chapter 16: The whole Willie and May relationship was so up and down and back and forth. When he's on leave and they succumb to passion, it wasn't really surprising. But this sentence caught my attention!

It happened; and it happened the more easily because they had both read lots of books which dismissed the rules as pretty primitive taboos and asserted that all morals were relative to time and place.

Wow. Ouch. That was written in 1951. This sentiment . . . is painful to me. Not just premarital sex, but the idea that morals are relative. 

Chapter 32: When Willie is talking to May about the future and she suggests that he become a teacher, he responds with the old adage about those who can, do; those who can't, teach. I HATE THAT ADAGE! But I love May's response.

"The world couldn't exist without teachers."

Chapter 32: When Willie is struggling with his feelings for May and her response, the author makes an observation I like.

He had no way of recognizing the very common impulse of a husband to talk things over with his wife.

Willie was often quite clueless, even after he grew up (especially post-typhoon).

Chapter 33: The court martial trial was interesting but also kind of anti-climatic.

Every officer past the rank of junior-grade lieutenant had served, at one time or another, under an oppressive eccentric. It was simply a hazard of military life.

If that's true, that is kind of sad. Leadership is not easy, but it is vitally important in every human group (family, school, business, government, military, etc.)

Chapter 38: Commanding a vessel. Now that Tom Keefer has become the captain of the Caine, he has some sympathy for Queeg.

It's the loneliest, most oppressive job in the whole world. It's a nightmare, unless you're an ox. You're forever teetering along a tiny path of correct decisions and good luck that meanders through an infinite gloom of possible mistakes.

Chapter 40: When Willie becomes captain at the end of the story, he again wants to talk with May. He makes an interesting observation. Going to his new quarters, he thinks of the time he went over a velvet rope at the palace of Versailles and laid on Napoleon's bed.

He was reminded of that now as he stretched out on the bunk of Captain Queeg. He smiled at the association, but he understood it. Queeg was once for all the grand historical figure in his life. Not Hitler, not Tojo, but Queeg.

 

So much of our own experience informs our perspective on history. This reminds me of reading Trevor Noah's book Born a Crime. Many children in South Africa have names like Hitler because that wasn't as offensive as other names like Cecil Rhodes or Leopold. (I just went back and read over my blog entry of that book.) I'm not a history nerd, but I do like to think about things like this. To me, WWII seems like such recent history even though I wasn't alive yet. To young people, I think it seems like old history, along with all the other things they learn about in school (The Great Depression, The American Revolution, etc.)

Chapter 40: I love how Wouk made observations about life and experiences. When Willie knows that he is headed home to decommission the Caine, he is somewhat philosophical.

He spend long night hours on the bridge when there was no need of it. The starts and the sea and the ship were slipping from his life. In a couple of years he would no longer be able to tell time to the quarter hour by the angle of the Big Dipper in the heavens. He would forget the exact number of degrees of offset that held the Caine on course in a cross sea. All the patterns fixed in his muscles, like the ability to find the speed indicator buttons in utter blackness, would fade. This very wheelhouse itself, familiar to him as his own body, would soon cease to exist. It was a little death toward which he was steaming.

This took me a long time to read, but it was worth it. Now when I hear references to Captain Queeg, I'll think of a despotic and petty leader who fixates on control and lacks common sense and wisdom.

 

 

Boy: Tales of Childhood

by Roald Dahl

Libby audiobook 3 hours

Published: 1984 (this version 2013)

Read by: Dan Stevens

Genre: non-fiction memoir

I know I've read this before, but since I can't find a blog entry for it, it must have been prior to 2007 or one I just didn't write about.

Roald Dahl tells stories from his childhood. These stories make it abundantly clear where some of his stories and characters come from! He encountered a lot of awful people in his childhood. I'm glad his mom was lovely. The fact that she saved all his letters (from boarding school, college, his first job abroad, etc.) is so very sweet. 

The narrator did a lovely job. This is a wonderful memoir.

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex

by Nathaniel Philbrick

Scott County Library paperback 238 pages plus notes, bibliography, etc.

Published: 2000

Genre: non-fiction, survival

I'm not intentionally reading books about cannibalism, but this one involved that topic again. (It also made mention of the soccer players of Alive who crashed in the Andes Mountains in 1972.) I don't remember why I wanted to read this, but I know that I have not yet been able to read Moby Dick. I've tried. It doesn't appeal to me. Yet it was inspired by this real life story of the whaleship Essex.

Philbrick is a very good author, but this book wasn't my cup of tea. It was informative and even interesting, but I'll just make note of my post-its.

Page 9: "Pacifist killers, plain-dressed millionaires, the whalemen of Nantucket were simply fulfilling the Lord's will."

It's interesting how he juxtaposed their Quaker faith with their capitalist mindset. 

Page 16: "First I cry for his departure, then laugh because I'm free."

This is the last line of a poem Eliza Brock recorded in her journal. It's called the "Nantucket Girl's Song." This whole section talks about the women of the island. Left alone for so many months (and years) at a time, they raised the children and were strong, independent people. Lucretia Mott was from Nantucket! The "three-years-away, three-months-at-home rhythm of the whale fishery" sounds awful to me. But it definitely shaped a lot of lives in interesting ways.

Page 23: "If he bungled a job, it was a 'foopaw,' an apparent corruption of the French faux pas . . . If someone was cross-eyed, he was 'born in the middle of the week and looking both ways for Sunday.'"

I love language! This section on some of the peculiarities of 1800s Nantucket whalers' speech made me smile.

Page 46/47: There was a two-page map of the voyage of the Essex. What a route! From Nantucket Island to the Azores to just off the coast of Africa and on to Cape Horn. I marked this map so I could refer back to it periodically. It made me think of how incredible the Panama Canal was in altering shipping routes. (Later, I marked page 179 which showed the different whaleboats and their probable routes.) Too bad they didn't go to Tahiti! It would have been so much easier and they might all have survived.

Page 54: "And as any hunter knows, killing takes some getting used to."

The descriptions of hunting, killing, and dismembering the whales completely turned my stomach. I think if I were up close to a process like that, I might become a vegetarian.

Page 81: "As they pulled themselves up off the deck, Chase and his men had good reason to be amazed. Never before, in the entire history of the Nantucket whale fishery, had a whale been known to attack a ship."

I love how Philbrick built the story from so many different references. First mate Chase left his account, young Thomas Nickerson told the same tale from a different perspective. It was very interesting to learn about this whale attack and what else might have gone on. 

Page 132: "Until this point, it had been the African Americans, specifically the sixty-year-old Richard Peterson, who had led the men in prayer. This was not uncommon at sea. White sailors often looked to blacks and their evangelical style of worship as sources of religious strength, especially in times of peril."

Philbrick pointed out many times the racial issues and how the men were treated differently. Racism isn't over . . .

Page 195: "'I found religion not only useful,' he later wrote, 'but absolutely necessary to enable me to bear up under these severe trials.'"

This is from Thomas Chappel, who was the idiot who had started an island on fire earlier in the voyage. He definitely learned through his adversity.

Page 235: "It is not whaling, of course, that brings the tourists to the island, but the romantic glorification of whaling - the same kind of myths that historically important places all across America have learned to shine and polish to their economic advantage."

I've never been to Nantucket Island, but I can picture how it's pretty much just a tourist trap at this point. Why would you want to "romanticize" whaling? Yuk.

This book was interesting and well-written. Here are my notes from while I was reading:

The Ghost and the Mystery Writer

by Bobbi Holmes

Libby audiobook 9 hours

Read by: Romy Nordlinger

Published: 2018

Genre: Murder mystery, paranormal

 

I thought about abandoning this book, but hit the tipping point where I wanted to find out what happened. There were so many allusions to previous events and people that I felt as though it must be a series book. (Yep. This is #9 in the Haunting Danielle series.)

 

SO. Many. Food. and Eating. Scenes. With so much detail! "He popped a french fry in his mouth." "She carefully wiped her mouth with the napkin and set it down." I love food. I love eating. I realized that I do not love reading lots of food scene detail that does not really advance the story.

 

I *loved* Walt the ghost! He's probably my favorite character. I wish there'd been even more of the scene with him and the chief's son. 

 

The woman murdered under the pier . . . the real details and reasons seem a bit muddy. I think if I'd read the entire series from the start, I'd have a better sense of what's at stake.

 

Interesting. Well read. Not a "must read" for me . . . 

Miscellaneous notes . . .

I don't remember which stor(ies) these came from, but I had a paper with reading notes on it:

 

Exasperated vs. Exacerbated -  I recently listened to an audiobook that mixed up these two words. They MEANT one but used the other. Since I was listening, I don't know what was printed on the page. But these two words mean different things!

 

"Forgetful borrowing" - this was kind of funny. A character left a place with something in hand . . . technically stealing it, but calling it "forgetful borrowing" with the intention of returning it.

"windy" (short i) vs. "windy" (long i) . . . this was so crazy! Again, it was an audiobook. They talked about the "windy river" but it was curving back and forth, not gusting air. The reader referred to it as "windy" (rhymes with "Cindy"). Aggravating!

At Bertram's Hotel

by Agatha Christie

Libby audiobook 7 hours

Read by: ???

Published: 1965 (this version 2012)

Genre: murder mystery

This is theoretically a "Miss Marple" mystery, but it wasn't really focused on her. She rocks! When Chief Inspector Davy (aka "Father") talked with her and realized her perception, those were the best parts of the book. Incidentally, Father was a great character! Deceptively laid back, he was an astute investigator.

Canon Pennyfather . . . dementia? WHY isn't anyone intervening?

Elvira - 17 yo? 19? death concern . . . not sure if she's the mastermind or an innocent bystander

Very interesting story with lots of characters. I enjoyed it but it's not one of my favorite Christie mysteries. The vocal work was great, even though I don't know who did it!

Long Way Home

by Lynn Austin

Hennepin County Library hardcover  371 pages

Published: 2022

Genre: Christian Historical Fiction (WWII)

We had a wonderful book club meeting about this book last week. I was late because I had to finish reading it! Such a good book! It alternated between Peggy's story in 1946 and Gisela in 1938 (both stories moved forward from that point in time and connected, of course, by the end of the book). I marked a LOT of pages and I need to get this back to the library.

Page 29: a conversation between a young Peggy and her neighbor Jimmy

"The minister prays for sick people every Sunday and asks God to heal them, right? But some of them die anyway. My mama went to Mass every week and lit candles when she prayed, yet she and our baby both died. Why do people pray if God doesn't answer them?"

Jimmy let out a long whistle. He took off his cap and scratched his head. "I'm not sure I'm qualified to answer that," he'd replied, "but I'll tell you what I do know." He settled his cap on his head again. "Praying isn't only about asking for a bunch of things on a list. It's about talking to God the same way you talk to someone you love, telling Him what's bothering you and thanking Him for the good things He gives us. God really likes hearing what we have to say. And we feel better after talking with Him."

There's more to this conversation, but I love how Austin brings up ideas that people genuinely struggle with and shines a light on what prayer is. 

Page 109: Peggy's thoughts as her dad's girlfriend tries to insinuate that Peggy should go with Joe.

I opened my mouth to explain that we were trying to help Jimmy get well, then closed it again. Why bother? Donna was writing her own version of this story and probably envisioned us riding off into the sunset on Joe's motorcycle. I wanted to tell her that Joe Fiore might be charming and good-looking, but he drank too much. And I'd spent a lifetime with people who drank too much.

I'm glad that Peggy had open eyes and a good idea of what she wanted out of life. The Bennetts had a huge impact on this neighbor girl's life!

Page 121: Although I preferred Peggy's storyline to Gisela's, both women were fantastic characters. In this scene, Gisela and Sam are commiserating as Belgium is in danger of being overrun with Nazis. 

"All we have is today, Sam. That's true whether there's a war or not. We have our families and each other and we're together. We have enough food to eat and a roof over our heads, and that's all that we need for now. It isn't up to you or Vati or anyone else to figure out a way to save us. God was the One who parted the Red Sea, not Moses and not us."

 

Her faith in God was definitely shaken by what she experienced in being persecuted, but she and Sam bolstered one another throughout their ordeal. (Side note: thinking of a young Jewish girl's sixteenth birthday in Berlin on Kristallnacht . . . how horrifying!)

 

 

Page  181: When Gisela met with Sister Veronica to help her little sister Ruthie go into hiding.

"If there's anything else we can do to help you," Sister Veronica told Sam, "I hope you won't hesitate to ask."

"I don't have words to tell you how deeply grateful I am," Sam replied. "I don't know anything about the Christian faith, but the Christians I've met have been unfailingly kind to us in our time of crisis, taking great risks to hide us, giving us money and food, even when both have been scarce."

"It's what our Savior taught us to do," the nun said with a smile. "You can come to me anytime. . . . "

I love Sister Veronica! Yes, that's what our Savior teaches - to help those in need!

Page 192: When Peggy goes to help the horse Persephone give birth and has to get her hands inside to turn the foal . . . I thought of my daughter-in-law! It made me smile. People who love animals are often very kind and loving people.

Page 197: Peggy talks with Dr. Greenberg, who knew Jimmy during the war. 

"May I ask you one more question? You saw the same things that Jimmy did day after day - how were you able to get past the war and resume your life again? Because Jimmy hasn't been able to do that."

Again, he took a moment to reply. "It helped that I had a job and a family waiting for me back home. Both required my full attention and didn't leave me much time to contemplate the horrors I'd seen. I'd also had the unfortunate experience of losing patients before the war. It never gets easy, but it destroys any illusions one has about the permanence of life and the finality of death. Jim may not have been prepared for those lessons."

"Any illusions one has about the permanence of life and the finality of death" - this line really grabbed me. So often, we drift along in a cloud of blissful ignorance about how precious and short life is.

Page 243: Peggy met with Art Davis, who served as a medic with Jimmy as they liberated a concentration camp.

"We eventually set up a hospital in the former SS barracks and attended to the survivors who were closest to death. Jim would look each person in the eye, and he would ask their name. He would remember them all, too, and call everyone by name whenever he took care of them. They had been treated like animals for so long, Jim said, that he wanted to let them know they were still living people with names and a soul. He said we needed to restore their dignity and humanity as much as we needed to restore their bodies."

Oh my. Dignity and humanity. As precious as food and rest.

Page 266: It was easy to dislike Donna! Peggy is an amazing young woman. She's talking to her dog, Buster (aka "Tripod").

"This is only temporary. I'll find us a place to live - I promise." I heard him whine as I hurried away and tried with all my heart not to hate Donna. A desert began to grow inside me as I drove across town to my lonely room in the guesthouse. Grief howled through my heart like a savage wind. I hadn't felt this bad since Mama and our baby died. It was one thing to leave home voluntarily and quite another to be pushed out of the only home I'd ever known. I felt unloved. Unworthy of love.

Austin is such a good writer! She evokes moods and inspires ideas.

Page 319: the whole page . . . Jim explaining to Gisela about losing his faith in God. 

"I can't shake off the darkness that I've experienced over here, and I don't want to bring that darkness home with me. I love them (his parents) too much to contaminate their idyllic world with the world of my nightmares. I'll go home for a visit and see them briefly, but I don't want to stay there and poison them."

If you haven't read this book, you really should! It is full of heartbreak and joy, doubt and faith.

Page 349: Peggy has a heart to heart with Jimmy. Again, this whole section is great and I'm just sharing a tiny excerpt. Go, Peggy!

"What if every Christian had written a letter to the president, offering to take one of those families on that ship home with them?"

She's talking about the real life event when a ship filled with 900 refugees escaped Nazis, only to be turned away from Cuba and the United States. She's talking about each one of us doing what we can to make a difference. She's talking about the importance of caring and not turning aside in indifference. It makes me think about a lot of recent historical events . . . what am I doing to make a difference?

Page 350: Still Peggy and Jimmy talking.

"The people wanted Hitler as their leader and they got him. Americans chose to turn our backs on Hitler's evil until one day it was out of control. If we learn anything at all from this horrible war, it's that followers of Jesus need to speak up and to act."

Yes! Amen, sister!

Page 353: Bill, Jimmy, and Peggy went up into the mountains for a view, fresh air, and a chance to talk. This time Bill brought it!

"Of course, the spiritual realm is invisible. God's actions behind the scenes are invisible. So all we had to rely on was what we were seeing. But our enemy wasn't just the Nazis. Satan's ploy is to spread evil throughout the world and let it drive a wedge between us and God. His evil is most painful and most dangerous when it seems purposeless to us. When we can't see how God can possibly bring anything good from it."

I almost dislike using these excerpts because there's so much more context and detail in the book!

Page 370: Jimmy shares with Peggy the slip of paper Bill had given him in that big mountaintop conversation.

"I've always wondered. What was written on that paper Chaplain Bill gave you to carry in your pocket? I remember that he told you to use it like a splint for your broken spirit."

Jimmy stopped walking and reached into his shirt pocket, then handed me the wrinkled, tattered page. "I still carry it and read it every day."

It was Romans 8:38-39! Scripture has power!

The Sittaford Mystery

by Agatha Christie

Libby audiobook 2 hours

Read by: full cast (dramatized)

Published: 1931 (as "The Murder at Hazelmoor"), this version 2010

Genre: murder mystery

I usually really like Agatha Christie AND full cast adaptations. This one didn't work for me, though. Not sure if it was because of the role of the seance or that I thought the killer's motive was too much of a stretch, or I wasn't in the mood for this story. Perhaps I wasn't listening very carefully because I turned to Wikipedia to figure out the story line. 

As usual in a Christie mystery, there were LOTS of characters and things going on. The seance, the family that rented a house in an out-of-the-way part of the country, a huge snowstorm, a sudden death, an escaped convict . . . and the young fiancee of the accused killer is the one who solves the mystery. Oh. And the reporter working with her to uncover the truth (for a scoop, of course) declares his love for her and expects her to run off with him.

Not the best Christie story I've ever encountered.

 

City Spies

by James Ponti

Maud Hart Lovelace 2022-23 award nominee

Libby eBook (pages depends on device and size of font!)

Published: 2020

Genre: YA spy fiction

 

This was a delightful read. Sara Martinez is in family court because her plan to expose her foster parents' fraud has backfired on her. She is rescued by "Mother," the man who leads the special spy group of kids as part of MI6. Each kid is renamed based on their city of origin, so Sara becomes Brooklyn. She joins Paris, Rio, Sydney, and Kat (Kathmandu).  

 

Not sure which chapter, but I highlighted this:

"'You're amazing, Kat,' Paris said. 'Absolutely amazing.'

'Maths is amazing, ' Kat said. 'I just know how to use it.'"

The book is lively, action-oriented, and like most kid spy stories, completely unrealistic! But it is a delightful story of talented youngsters working together and appreciating one another's strengths. Also, the back story of Mother trying to find his children after being double-crossed by his wife . . . that is a very interesting story that will certainly need to be revisited in future books. I love that she is the one who came to the rescue at a critical juncture. 

In chapter 34, I highlighted an inconsequential line because it made me smile. "He loved to bake, and his specialty was a type of fruit pastry called a kolach, which he made from a recipe passed down from his grandmother."

Kolache! I remember my first few experiences with them. And the delicious ones Gretchen Anderson made for me from her grandmother's recipe! And I had never heard of them before I started working in New Prague.

Not sure when I'll get around to reading the other books in the series, but this was fun.

Hummingbird

by Natalie Lloyd

Libby audiobook 8 hours

Read by: the author

Published: 2022

Genre: YA - realistic and fantasy . . . 

The realistic part - brittle bone disease, adolescence, middle school relationships, family, . . . 

The fantasy - magic is woven throughout the book

There were times the author's voice was irritating and times it was perfect for the characters.

There were places that Olive was incredibly mature and places where she was a very typical tween. 

This was an engaging story and the ending actually surprised me a bit. The characters were mostly delightful (I think Olive's dad Jupiter and her new friend Grace were my favorites).

Emily Dickinson, homeschooler goes to Macklemore Middle School, a banjo playing old lady, a fantastical library, a magic hummingbird that appears very sporadically (like every 30-60 years) and grants wishes, Hatch Malone turning out to be a very different person than Olive anticipated, . . . 

But I just can't see a librarian being okay with dozens of "support animals" like opossums, llama, birds, etc. being loose in a library! Birds can't really control their sphincter area . . . yuk.

(Two weeks after initial post, I found a scrap of paper with notes. Also, I had used the word "immature" instead of "mature." I really should proofread these before posting!)

Miss Pigeon is *awful*! (So were a few other adults at the school.)

"Fact: I like theatre people." - Olive

Me, too, Olive. Me too.

Mr. Watson :-) Wonderful character. Too bad he was almost exclusively in Olive's first day of school scene and then . . . background.

"joy kabooms" - I love this way of describing the feeling from a wonderful experience.

The "Maddies" - Maddy 1, Maddy 2, and Maddy 3 (who would prefer to be called Madeline).

Birds in the library? No!

The Missing Piece of Charlie O'Reilly

Maud Hart Lovelace award nominee 2022-23

by Rebecca K.S. Ansari

Libby eBook

Published: 2019

Genre: YA fantasy, mystery

I confess that I did not enjoy this book. In fact, I had to force myself to read it.

 

Charlie has been insisting that his little brother Liam is missing for a year. Everyone else has forgotten that Liam ever existed. Charlie's friend Ana doesn't remember Liam, but she tries to help Charlie figure out what happened.

 

Strange dreams of a woman named Brona and a house fire in Ireland. Charlie's mom struggling with depression. Baseball assistant coach Jonathan. The mysterious wreck of the old orphanage that burned down.

 

This book was hard for me to get through. Ironically, I had marked some passages but returned the book before making note of them. I think the author tried too hard to make this profound. It didn't work for me, but I'm sure there are readers who will love it. Especially if they've ever thought they wished they'd never been born or think the world would be better without them in it.

 

Add in charmed necklaces that cannot be removed, creepy salt mines with undead 18-year-olds, and a theme of regrets tying you to your own past . . . and you have this book.

 

I think what I liked was the idea that this "utopia" that Brona tried to create meant that injuries faded away, food had no taste, etc. In trying to protect the children from unpleasantness, she made a meaningless "home."

 

Ansari is a first-time author with this book.

 

Wretched Waterpark

The Sinister Summer Series (#1)

By: Kiersten White

Libby audiobook 4.5 hours

Read by: Keylor Leigh

Published: 2022

Genre: YA mystery

 

From Goodreads:

 "From New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White comes her middle grade series debut! Part Scooby Doo, part A Series of Unfortunate Events, and entirely genius! Meet the Sinister-Winterbottom twins, who solve mysteries at increasingly bizarre summer vacation destinations in the hopes of being reunited with their parents—or at the very least finally finding a good churro.

Twelve-year-old twins Theodora and Alexander and their older sister Wilhelmina Sinister-Winterbottom don’t know how they ended up with their Aunt Saffronia for an entire summer. She’s not exactly well equipped to handle children. The twins are determined to make it a good vacation, though, so when Aunt Saffronia suggests a waterpark, they hastily agree.

But Fathoms of Fun is not your typical waterpark. Instead of cabanas, guests rent mausoleums. The waterslides are gray tongues extending from horrible gargoyle faces. The few people they encounter are very, very odd. And the owner disappeared under bizarre circumstances, lost to the Cold, Unknowable Sea—the wave pool.

When Wil goes missing, rule following, cautious Alexander and competitive, brave Theo will have to work together to solve the mystery of Fathoms of Fun. But are they out of their depth?"

 

I thoroughly enjoyed this odd book! It was very engaging, weird and funny. I will definitely read the next one!

 

I am super curious about Aunt Saffronia . . . what is her deal? 

 

 

96 Miles

2022-23 Maud Hart Lovelace nominee

by J.L. Esplin

Libby 245 pages (tablet) 457 pages (phone)

Published: 2020

Genre: realistic suspense, survival

 

Wow! This book was so good! Set in the near future, the protagonist's father has gone out of town for work. When the power goes out (everywhere), John and his brother Stew are well prepared. Their father is a strong believer in preparedness and self-reliance. But when thieves come and steal their water, food, generator, and everything else of value, the two boys must find a way to survive.  

I'm too distracted to blog well, but this is Esplin's first novel. I look forward to reading more of her work! The epilog, author's note, and acknowledgements just made this book all the more rewarding. I love the themes of siblings, survival, what would you do? and more. 

I confess that I would love to know more about HOW the power went out. Was it world-wide? What's the bigger geopolitical story? But for your average middle schooler, there's enough here to keep one turning pages!

Laika

by Nick Abadzis

Scott County Library paperback 200 pages

Published: 2007

Genre: graphic novel 

Based on the true story of Laika, the Russian dog who was the first living being in orbit around Earth, this book is fictionalized and made more touching by giving her a back story.

I think I've read this book in the past, but I didn't find a blog entry. Reading it made me sad, not just because Laika was sent into space without hope of return, but for the Cold War posturing, the "training" the dogs went through, and the poignancy of the humans getting emotionally attached to animals who were being used this way.

I don't care for Abadzis' art style, but I do appreciate his storytelling ability. I got this after listening to the audiobook I had checked out to share with Joshua. He's not ready for this graphic novel, though!

When God Winks: How the Power of Coincidence Guides Your Life

by SQuire Rushnell

Scott County Library hardcover 164 pages

Published: 2001

Genre: Christian . . . theology?

 

When I read my first "God Winks" book three years ago, I remember thinking that it was pretty cheesy, but also very impactful to hear stories of God working in people's lives in unexpected ways. I've since seen a few clips on YouTube of Rushnell sharing "GodWink" stories. I wasn't super impressed, but curious.

 

Then I got this book and finally read it. It's just too gimmicky to me. It's as though he's trying to help people try to get as much out of God as possible by looking for his activity in their lives. It just felt wrong to me. The "power of  coincidence" is his shtick and glorifying God (or actually seeking out God's will for one's life) seem to fall by the wayside. 

 

I had considered buying the first book because the stories truly were impacting. Now I think I'm done with SQuire Rushnell . . . though I am a bit curious about why he capitalizes the Q in his name. 

Betsy-Tacy

by Maud Hart Lovelace

Libby audiobook 2 hours

Read by Sutton Foster

Published: 1940 (this version 2007)

Genre: children's realistic fiction

I realized while listening to this that I typically use "YA (Young Adult)" for things that are actually intended for younger children. This is most definitely a children's book! I have read it before, but not for a long time.

Betsy is five years old and over the moon excited when a new family moves into the neighborhood with a little girl her age. After an initial misunderstanding, Betsy and Tacy become best of friends. They use their imaginations and play games. At the end of the story, they meet Tib.

My favorite part is when Tacy leaves the playground on the first day of school and Betsy follows her. They end up on the shopkeeper's doorstep, crying. They are afraid of getting in trouble and not being allowed back in school. 

The scene where Betsy comforts Tacy after her baby sister dies is sensitive.

The Rent Collector

by Camron Wright

*Young Readers Edition*

Libby audiobook 7 hours

Read by: Emily Woo Zeller

Published: 2012 (this version 2022)

Genre: realistic fiction (Based on a true story!)

 

Oh my! Too bad this was an audiobook, because there were many, many, many places that I would have put down post-it notes if it were print! This book is amazing and definitely worth a re-read.

 

Sang Ly, her husband, and their ill toddler live in the garbage dump called Stung Meachey in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Right away, it reminded me of the YA book Trash by Andy Mulligan.  Sometimes I need to get out of my comfort zone. People around the globe live in garbage dumps because they need to!

This entry will be short, because I didn't jot notes while I drove. The themes of literacy, hope, kindness, community . . . there's so much here! 

One note I jotted is that "Hope died at the dump." It struck me that hope is more crucial for life than food or shelter. Hope makes all the difference!

Oh! The Khmer Rouge and the cultural revolution . . . there are too many parts of human history that I need to learn more about. This book is amazing.

<The above was written on 10.5.22. I just finished reading the print book on 2.22.23 . . . and when I checked my blog, I realized I had already read the print book in 2015! And blogged about it then.>

Furthermore, I was going to highly recommend this book to Ann for her book club. Funny! When I read it in 2015, it was a book had obtained from the library FOR Ann for her book club. I really, really, really like this book. I thought about putting it on my wish list so I could own a copy, but I'm working hard at decreasing my possessions, so that doesn't really make sense.

I put sixteen different post-it notes in the book this time around. Based on what I just read in that 2015 blog entry, I may work on being a bit more concise. 

Page 3 - "'Remember, Sang Ly. When you find your purpose - and you will find your purpose - never let go. Peace is a product of both patience and persistence.'"

Grandfather is a huge part of Sang Ly's life and thought processes. I liked this line.

Page 47 - "In Cambodia, when parents get old, they move in with their children, who offer shelter, food, and happy grandchildren. It's the perfect retirement plan - as long as your children don't live at the city's municipal dump."

As I think about retirement and options, I sincerely hope to not be a burden to our children. It's interesting that in other cultures, it's an expectation that younger generations will care for their elders. I don't know what the future will bring, but I hope that my children don't have to take care of me.

Page 53 - The scene where Sang Ly is looking for letters on wrappers and such at the dump, then sounds out her first word ("samnang" = "luck") makes me smile. Her triumphant joy at realizing she has read her first word all by herself is exhilarating.

Page 67 - This is where Sang Ly hears her cousin Narin's recitation of the night time poem her mother used to say to her. Beautiful. And I love when Narin asks her to write down a copy that she can keep, even though she cannot read. So sweet!

Page 78 - "As the boy's words sink in, I comprehend the trembling, the fear, the child's tears. This stunningly innocent and beautiful girl of no more than twelve is going to be taken by her brother to the city's red-light district and be sold to a brothel as a child prostitute."

The fact that this is fiction, but also painfully true bothers me. I live in a world where young girls are sold and bought for sex. For some men, the younger the better. That disgusts me. And it makes me so sad for the girls whose lives are permanently affected by the greed and lust of others. I'm so glad that in this story, Maly is rescued by Lucky Fat, Sang Ly, her mother Lena, Sopeap Sin, and others.

Page 93 - "'Education is almost always good, especially when it brings us to an understanding of our place in the world."

Sopeap Sin is a very good teacher, even if there were some rough spots in their relationship.

Page 107 - "Words provide a voice to our deepest feelings. I tell you, words have started and stopped wars. Words have built and lost fortunes. Words have saved and taken lives. Words have won and lost great kingdoms."

Yes! Words are powerful. There are some great Scriptures about that, too.

Page 125 - As in my 2015 blog entry, I noted the variety of Cinderella story versions throughout the world. I love this! It fascinates me to see the similarities and differences in these stories. The story of Sarann is told in chapter 15 (pages 110-124 for the actual story). Sang Ly and Sopeap Sin talk about hope and the meaning of the story. "I believe the message of the story that we have just read anchors deeper than our doubts." Sopeap responds when Sang Ly asks if she still has hope. Their conversation after this gets even deeper. On page 127, Sopeap says, "We all want to be Sarann, to have hope for our future. While I also want to have my story end happily, there's a problem that keeps getting in my way - I wake up most days to find I'm just another ugly stepsister."

Page 130 - The leech. This whole scene. I'm 100% with Sang Ly on the reaction to a leech that she cannot pull off her ankle. I, too, would have freaked out and screamed bloody murder. She makes the observation, "In this life we all have our own phobias and fears." Yep. Spiders don't really bother me. But leeches? Cringe!

Page 161 - "'Besides,' she adds, 'I can't die yet. I'm just starting to like you.'" 

Even though it's sad, it made me laugh. The transformation of Sopeap Sin and her occasional humor are delightful aspects of this story!

 

Page 174 - "Because I distance myself from heaven and then complain that heaven is distant."

 

Most people who are contradictory do not seem to recognize this, but Sopeap Sin is perfectly aware of what is holding her back. Sang Ly has asked her about what will happen when she dies and if she believes the ancestors are waiting for her.

 

Chapter 25 includes "The Epilogue" by Sopeap Sin. This tells her story during the revolution and how she became Sopeap Sin. It is beautiful and painful and powerful.

 

Page 220 - "Only later would I realize that there are no words harsh enough, no paragraphs wide enough, no books deep enough to convey the weight of true human sorrow."

 

I know I quoted this in my 2015 entry, but those words carry so much impact. For those of us who love words, to acknowledge that something is beyond expression is saying a lot. She mentions the horrors of the Holocaust and genocide during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, but her experiences during the Khmer Rouge brought home the horrors of suffering personally.

 

Page 260 - "As I near the base of the steps, adjacent to the front door, I find Ki asleep in a chair, still waiting. Of all the stories I have read about heroes, and all that I could ever read, of one thing I'm now certain - he is mine."

 

I love that she sees him as her hero! I love that she worked through her thoughts about Moby Dick, good and evil, right and wrong, throughout the story.

 

I enjoyed this story so much (again!) that I'm requesting other Camron Wright books from the library. Amazing author!

By Way of the Moonlight

by: Elizabeth Musser

Carver County Library paperback 377 pages

Published: 2022

Genre: Christian historical fiction

 

Horses, WWII, polio, mother / daughter relationships, German U-boats on the Atlantic Coast, Tommy . . . I'm surprised that I have so many post-it notes in a book that I enjoyed but was not crazy about.  Nana Dale's WWII story was significantly more interesting than her granddaughter Allie's modern day story. We had a good book club discussion on Monday (even though I had 60 pages left to read).

Page 17: "'Horseshoes are for good luck, Allie . . . I don't like to call it luck, though. I call it faith.'" (Nana Dale)

This made me think of a recent conversation when I was expressing appreciation for my sons' wonderful in-laws. The person I was talking with referred to being "lucky." I was surprised. This doesn't feel like random chance to me . . . 

Page 49: "According to her mother, the chances of this prayer being answered were non-existent. But then again, her mother was only human, and Dale was not praying to her."

I don't like that Dale's mom was discouraging her, but I love Dale's response! God can do the impossible.

Page 58 and page 128: ". . . what I read in Nana Dale's eyes was pure ove." (sic) and "What awful i

rony!" (sic - the "i" was at the end of a line of text and the "rony" was at the start of the next line!!!)

 

PET PEEVE!!! Do editors and proofreaders not exist any more??? At book club, another person had noticed this and one checked their Kindle. Yep. "Ove" instead of "Love." Sigh. And for the word "irony" to be split (with no dash or hyphen in sight . . . ) Okay. I feel better now.

Page 68/69 and other chapter transitions: I love love love that Musser flowed from one story to the next! In this instance, Allie "stopped, turned my face upward, and gave a small gasp. A full rainbow towered above the trees, weaving in and out of the clouds." The next chapter (Dale) starts with "She'd always remember how the rainbow announced his arrival. . . . " It worked beautifully! I definitely liked Dale's story line better, but the two were interwoven so well!

Page 120: "'It will never be enough, Dale, until you decide that you already have it all. You settle in your mind a grateful heart, a content spirit, and everything else will be gravy, girl.'"

Husy (Mrs. Hughes) was more than a nursemaid to Dale! She parented her and guided her in ways her parents were either unable or unwilling to do.

Page 137: "'Don't forget your prayers,' Husy used to say. 'Practice gratitude, Barbara Dale.' Her nursemaid's simple wisdom often drifted into her thoughts."

Gratitude. Prayers. Simple wisdom. Beautiful.

Page 149 just made me cringe. It's the breakup between Allie and Austin. I completely understand her being upset, but I'd be fighting mad. Her grandmother was clearly taken advantage of and the will should be contested in court. You don't roll over and play dead and chase off your amazing fiancé because you're so upset!

Page 203: "The kiss blossomed like daffodils in February, like primroses peeking from under the snow, like the crepe myrtle exploding in fluorescent pink outside her bedroom window, like that giddy feeling in the pit of her stomach when they called her name in first place at a horse show."

I just really liked the descriptive language here!

Page 234: "It could lose almost ninety percent of its water and survive, while most plants could only lose ten percent before they died. . . . Today, I longed for some sort of resurrection too, for it seemed I had lost at least ninety percent of whatever I needed to move forward in my life."

I had never heard of a resurrection fern before, so I found this really interesting. I also liked how the author connected that idea to Allie as a character. I liked her better in the last third of the book.

Page 286: "'It's like learning to ride a horse, Allie. Praying, trusting God - the more you practice, the better you get at understanding how He wants you to live. It doesn't happen overnight."

What Nana Dale learned from Husy, she tried to pass on to Allie. I want to set a good example for Joshua and Benjamin!

Page 352: "'Life ain't fair. It's brutal, sometimes, Miss Dale. And faith don't stop the horrible things. But faith helps you walk through those things, whipped and angry and screaming on the inside. Lord don't mind our screaming and raging. He's done shown us how to do it in those psalms of His that King David wrote.'"

Husy giving good advice as usual!

Page 357: I don't want to leave any spoilers, but I'm relieved that Dale finally told her husband the truth about her past (after ten years of marriage!) "Somehow, it had restored hope in their marriage and given Daniel permission to share his own secrets. And there had been healing."

Horseshoes and diamonds. Hmm. Not sure how I feel about how everything turned out. I still think Allie should have taken Hightower to court.

War and Millie McGonigle

by Karen Cushman

Libby audiobook 6 hours

Read by: Emma Galvin

Published: 2021

Genre: YA historical fiction

Set during WWII, this story is by one of my favorite YA authors. Millie is dealing with the death of her beloved grandmother, scarcity, and war fears. Cushman mixes humor (especially cousin Edna) with gravity. Millie's fears and frustrations are palpable. 

Her grandmother left Millie a book for recording memories. Millie believes she is supposed to record "dead things" in it to ward off the bad things that can happen in life. She draws dead animals she finds on the beach and records names of people who die. 

Her little sister Lily is extremely sickly and thinks Millie would like her better if she were dead, too.

The relationships and the growth in Millie make this book another winner for Cushman. It was odd to listen to this as I was reading our book club book which was also set during WWII at the coast!

The Race to Space: Countdown to Liftoff

part of a series (#2) called "Epic Fails"

By: Ben Thompson and Erik Slader

Libby audiobook 2 hours

read by ? Ben Thompson?

Published: 2018 (this version 2019)

Genre: YA Non-fiction

 

I got this so Joshua could enjoy listening in the car, but I think it was a little too boring for him. It was interesting to me, though.  I wanted to learn more about Werner Von Braun, Los Alamos, NM, Laika, what else was going on in 1957, various astronauts, and Gemini.

I had recently talked about Apollo 11 and the name of the third astronaut. I remembered Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Louie said the third was John Glenn. I was confident that it was NOT John Glenn, but couldn't come up with the correct answer: Michael Collins.

Also, I wondered about Gus Grissom and what he did. I wanted to re-watch Apollo 13 and figure out the Hollywood vs. reality differences. 

Enjoyable. Joshua is *very* into rockets right now.

Call Us What We Carry

by Amanda Gorman

Hennepin County Library hardcover 228

Published: 2021

Genre: Poetry

 

This book is so beautiful! I may need to buy a copy. I had been on the library waiting list for many months. It was due two days ago and I'm not done, but there's still a long list, so I need to return it!

 

Poetry needs to be read slowly and savored. This book asks to be  pondered and re-read. Here are a few of my favorites so far (and I will need to add to this post later!)

Her dedication page says "For all of us both hurting & healing who choose to carry on" and this is such a lovely way to dedicate a book!

 

Page 25 the poem "& So" starts with "It is easy to harp, / Harder to hope." It made me think of a conversation I had recently had with my sister Ann. Complaining is easy, but there is enough negativity in the world. 

Her poem "Good Grief" is one I tagged to share with my brother whose wife died in April. This line especially made me think of him as he works through his grief.

We are built up again 

By what we

Build/find/see/say/remember/know.

What we carry means we survive, 

It is what survives us

I have put this book in my Amazon cart! I don't read poetry often, but this woman is talented! Her work should be read aloud, thought about, and shared. She uses words powerfully and effectively.

Murder of Crows

 by K. Ancrum

"Lethal Lit: A Tig Torres Mystery"

Libby audiobook 6 hours

Read by: Rebecca Soler

Published: 2022

Genre: YA detective, murder mystery

Hmmm. Didn't love it, didn't hate it. Here are my notes and added commentary:

• sound effects - unnecessary and irritating
• It this book 2? Lit Killer, Ollie, serial killer teacher . . . (According to Goodreads, this is book #1 but it is between two seasons of an actual podcast which I haven't listened to. LOTS of references to the previous year and the capture of a serial killer. I was sure I had missed the first book in a series!)
• Tig Torres, Max, Ella, Wynn - four friends on the school newspaper staff
• Lesbian relationships . . . Tig and Wynn? Abuela and what's her face? (Goodreads - this author writes lesbian romance. Makes sense.)
• like a "1970s Willy Wonka creepy" . . . made me laugh! This book is definitely geared to modern young readers. I'm not the target audience and so some of the characters' attitudes or words were irritating to me. 

 

Loved: the artifacts, the hunt for the mystery and the treasure.

Hated: the violence and murders.

 

Hated most of all: Tig's stupidity in confronting the intruder who was much bigger than her. Seriously? I know you've not had great success with 911 and the Hollow Falls police, but at least clunk the guy on the head with a frying pan or something. What a stupid move to just walk in and talk to him.

Dragonsinger

by Anne McCaffrey

Libby audiobook 9+ hours

Read by: Sally Darling

Published: 1977 (this version 1992)

Genre: YA fantasy

 

I'm surprised I don't already have an entry for this book. I've read the paperback numerous times. I had requested this audiobook earlier in the summer to listen to while working at Mackin, but started it on the way home from the lake with my sisters. I had to finish the story, of course! 

 

Menolly is in the Harper Hall now, but still doesn't really know her role. The snooty girls in Dunca's cabin are nasty. Piemur is a blessing! I love how Menolly befriends Camo and Piemur and holds her own with the teachers. This is a favorite of mine from my middle school years. 

I listened to this in September 2022 and again in September 2023! :-)

Better Place

 by Duane Murray and Shawn Daley

personal paperback 159 pages

Published: 2021

Genre: YA graphic novel, grief, parenting, aging

This book jumped out at me (and I love graphic novels). It has layers of depth to it that make it a re-read, share, talk about book. Young Dylan loves to hang out with his grandpa. They dress as superheroes Red Rocket and Kid Comet and go on missions. Dylan's mom is stressed with work, parenting, and watching out for her elderly dad. When tragedy strikes, lives get upended. This book is beautiful. (It is not a Christian book, but raises some of the questions that a Christian could answer!)

Postcards from Summer

 by Cynthia Platt

Libby audiobook 20 hours

Read by: Jean Ann Douglass and Bailey Carr (Emma and Lexi)

Published: 2022

Genre: Realistic fiction, YA?

Read a summary online to get a sense of the story. This entry will be full of SPOILERS and it is not a positive review. If Cynthia Platt or one of her fans reads this, I apologize. It was just not the right book for me . . . but I listened to the entire thing anyhow. 

Since it was an audiobook, I have lots of little scraps of notes that I jotted as I was able. I was interested in the story at first. In modern times, Lexi wants to learn more about her mom Emma (who died when she was a little girl). Her dad (Matthew) isn't very forthcoming. When her maternal grandmother dies and leaves a box of Emma's keepsakes to Lexi, she goes on a search to learn more. Most of the story is told from the perspective of Emma "then" (early 2000s, by my reckoning). 

I was approximately halfway through (TEN Hours of listening!) when the story started to bug me. But halfway through . . . means push through. Ugh. This book had some wonderful scenes and characters, but should have been more intentionally edited. Here are my notes and the commentary I added later:

• OARS in "slots" in a CANOE?! ROWING a CANOE? What?!?!? Canoes have paddles. Just saying.
  
• "Cynic" (JR) / "Perky Princess" (Emma) / Island art - / Ryan and sis Linda / Then and Now
• Mackinaw Island - I'm curious to go online and see more. (Okay, I'm not losing my mind. This is "Mackinac Island" and there's a story behind the name. Looks like an amazing place to visit!)
  
• Angry / disappointed dads (Emma, Ryan, Lexi, JR, . . . )
• Irritating similarities / young Emma & Lexi / over and over and over . . . repetitive! I get that they are mother and daughter and similarities are expected, but the same words were used to describe so many things! Anxiety attacks, worries about disappointing parents, self-doubt, etc.
  
• Positive: I love how others describe Emma. She sounds like an optimistic, sweet, creative, ray of sunshine person. But then she agonizes as though she is the center of the universe - hurting Ryan, disappointing her parents, trapped into a life she doesn't want, . . . 
• "Then" = 2004? (Emma's storyline)
  
• Duh! Both guys like you. Idiot.
• 1/2way thru . . . won't ditch it, but getting irritated
• Lexi's bio dad - Ryan or JR? (wink emoji)
• WHY wouldn't she look thru ALL the stuff in her mom's box right away?!?! I get that it gives the author a way to move the story forward, but it doesn't make sense. If I were desperate to learn about my mother's life, why would I hold this treasure chest of notes, date book, etc. and find something I hadn't "noticed" before? UGh! This dragged on way too long! 
• Emma is such an idiot! Stop being such a drama queen!
• Will RJ show up in the end of the story? What happened to him? (Yes.)
  
• Emma born in 1986. . . has a 17 yo in 2022? Do the math! If Lexi is 17 in 2022, she was born in 2005 or earlier. Her mom would have been 19 or younger.
• Definitely preferred Lexi's POV to Emma's. Liked Miss Van Hill, Caleb the Librarian, and others.
  
•  Melodramatic. Overwrought. Romance is the point? Too whiny to be attractive in any way.
• Lexi - box to hold important memories (heart) 
• Why was this called "PostcardS from Summer"???? There was only one postcard. And Lexi mailed it. And Linda came to find her and talk with her. Which bugged me so much! Why didn't Lexi take a brand new postcard and send it to the address rather than mailing the one her mom had written out? Perhaps Linda wouldn't have come if she hadn't recognized Emma's writing, but the panic Lexi had after sending away that "piece" of her mother . . . dude, how are you going to survive college if you can't problem solve better than just "I either hang on to this postcard or I mail it" and you don't think of any other possible ways to communicate with this address? (After 15+ years of sitting in a box . . . ) Ugh!
• Vocal work was solid. I like that they used two different people. Especially since the text was so similar in places!
  

Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors

by Piers Paul Read

Libby eBook 528 pages

Published: 1973 (this edition 2016)

Genre: Non-fiction survival

I was curious enough after finishing the Parrado book to want to know more. Read (author) interviewed many different people before writing this account - survivors, their family members, searchers, etc. I don't necessarily think it's a well-written book, but it was interesting. He focused a bit too much on the cannibalism, but there were other aspects of the story (like all the search efforts) that were absent from Parrado's account. I was six years old when this plane crashed into the Andes in 1972. It's amazing that as many people survived as did.

Chapter 7 / page 72: "Since every seat contained such a rectangle of aluminium (sic), there were soon several water-makers at work." 

I think I highlighted this because I liked the "teamwork" aspect of survival and also the ingenuity to figure out how to more efficiently get drinking water for all survivors.

Chapter 1 / page 361 (not sure which part it was chapter 1 OF. . . ): " . . . he now took the same tone with his Creator. 'You can make it tough, God,' he prayed, 'but don't make it impossible.'"

Canessa was not the most faithful of young men in the group, but he was clearly also not the most skeptical. I like his conversation with God. Many of them saw life and mortality in a whole new way which drew them to deeper faith.

Author's Note: "When I returned in October 1973 to show them the manuscript of this book, some of the survivors were disappointed by my presentation of their story. They felt that the faith and friendship which inspired them in the cordillera do not emerge from these pages. It was never my intention to underestimate these qualities, but perhaps it would be beyond the skill of any writer to express their own appreciation of what they lived through."

I like that he added this. It seems very honest and heartfelt.

Count Me In

by Varsha Bajaj

Libby eBook 192 pages

Published: 2019

Genre: YA realistic fiction

2022-23 Maud Hart Lovelace nominee

I enjoyed this book for the most part. It focuses on Karina and her neighbor Chris. Karina's grandfather is Indian and the three of them are walking together after school one day when they are attacked by a racist. The incident shakes up the two youngsters and lands grandpa in the hospital. Karina's love of photography and online posts quickly go viral. #CountMeIn, #WeBelong, #IAmAmerican, and other hashtags catch on in her community.

"I typically have my nose in a book, because I have a genetic flaw that does not allow me to catch, throw, or whack a round object. Also, I don't want to be laughed at." (Chapter 1)

I could so relate to Karina's observations at that stage of life!

"It's cool to think about stuff bigger than ourselves." (Chapter 8)

As Karina and Chris develop an actual friendship, it's nice that they can get past stereotypes and talk about things that are more significant. I love this about kids' transition in middle school - they're stretching their thinking.

"Are we (safe), though?We thought we were safe a few hours ago, when we were innocently walking to our car, reciting rhymes from an old picture book. I hear the hurtful words that were flung at us. That man is still out there in the world. How can we be safe?" (Chapter 11)

It is heartbreaking when a terrible incident robs someone (especially a young person) of their feelings of security. 

"I remind myself that all brown people are not terrorists and that all people with blue eyes are not mean haters." (Chapter 11)

"Like Mr. C says, you have to be able to imagine a better world to make it a reality."

Chris' relationship with Karina's grandpa (Mr. C) was one of my favorite parts of the book. The math tutoring was good for both of them!

"Dear Karina, You may not know who G.K. Chesterton was, but he said, 'We are all in the same boat upon a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty.' I am here for you, Amelia Trotter." (Chapter 18)

I love her teacher's words and actions! 

"It means that I cannot be quiet anymore. Count on me to speak up." (Chapter 25)

 

The social media / going viral / hashtags part was anticlimactic for me. I shouldn't have waited so long between finishing it and blogging this. I enjoyed it but it wasn't one that really stuck with me. This book would be a really fantastic discussion book. I'd be curious to hear a group of students talk about it.

The Record Keeper

by Charles Martin

A Murphy Shepherd Novel

Scott County Library hardcover 288 pages

Published: 2022

Genre: Christian realistic fiction

 

This trilogy is action-packed and intense, dealing with commando-style rescuers going for the victims of sexual trafficking. We had a good book club discussion on Monday night. And some different opinions about the meaning of the ending! 

 

Page 9 - "I, as much as anyone, knew that hope is what feeds us. It's the currency of mankind. The fuel of the soul. Without it, we wither and die."

 

This is something I agree with wholeheartedly! Hope is so powerful and necessary. One of my favorite t-shirts from Feed My Starving Children has a nautical theme and the saying "Hope is an anchor for the soul."

 

Page 62 - "We didn't know who we were, and more importantly, we didn't know whose we were - forever proving that identity precedes purpose. You can't know who you are until you've settled whose you are."

 

Identity is a strong theme in this book. Knowing "whose" you are - the power of knowing I am a child of God has made all the difference in my life!

 

Page 137 - "From the first page, I knew you were the one. Maybe the only one. I would have given anything to publish you, and yet you were so easy on me. In all my professional life, I have loved nothing more than giving your beautiful, innocent, powerful words to the world. To this day I don't know how you do it. How you string them together and suck us all in."

 

In this scene, David Bishop / Murph Shepherd's agent is gushing over him. It made me giggle, thinking of Charles Martin having a conversation with his editor about this. 

 

Page 171 - "'Round here, you don't think about it much when you're young, but as you age, you start to thinking that the end is closer than the beginning, and one thing all us old guys think about a good bit is who's going to lay us to rest. A friend, or just some guy sent to dig a hole?'"

Oh my! This scene with Clay and Murph at the prison cemetery is so powerful. Life and death, aging and eternity . . . big things to think about.

Page 208 - "Of course. I'm a woman. You're a man. I swear, sometimes you're dumb as a bag of hammers."

Angel is such a great character! Her "bag of hammers" comment made me laugh.

Page 219 - "'Your training is officially over. Congratulations. You've graduated.'"

I don't want to put a spoiler here, but this conversation between Bones and Murphy . . . ah.

Page 229 - "A sow can reproduce three times a year and birth eight or more piglets each time, proving to me that they're just overgrown rats."

Again, a little levity helped balance the incredibly intense content and action. He has just described the violence the pigs wreak on the island. 

"Then Bones." - I am curious about what Martin is writing next.

Dragonsong

by Anne McCaffrey

Libby audiobook 7 hours

Published:  1976  (this version 1992)

Narrated by: Sally Darling

Genre: YA fantasy

I have read this book multiple times over the last forty years. I got the audiobook because I wanted something I could listen to while working and not have to pay close attention. I think this book appealed to me when I was a teen because of how unkind / unfair everyone in Half Circle Sea Hold is toward Menolly. The fire lizards and her music are delightful, but mostly the surprise and pleasure of the Harpers at finding her . . . this is just fun.

I re-listened to this in 2023 . . . just a year after I last listened! It truly was a favorite for me in my middle-school years.

 

Song for a Whale

 by Lynne Kelly

Scott County Library hardcover 299 pages

Published: 2019

Genre: YA realistic fiction

I read this two weeks ago and so the story has faded for me a bit. I remember enjoying it but not feeling super strong about it. I did put some post-it notes in it, though.

Page 6 - "She'd checked out a library book about it, so that made her an expert. Some people have the kind of confidence that lets them get away with being clueless."

The protagonists's classmate Nina tries using sign language to communicate with Iris, but Iris is just irritated with her poor attempts. I laughed at this "kind of confidence" because I am sometimes guilty of it!

Page 26 - "I took out my phone to text Grandpa. It was the kind of thing he'd pick up for me before someone else grabbed it. I typed a few words before I caught myself. Sometimes I'd think of something to tell him, before remembering he wasn't there to answer me. Then I felt bad for forgetting. Shouldn't I always feel it? Missing him?"

Ah, yes. Grief. Wanting to call, text, or see someone who isn't there anymore. I love the relationships between Iris and her deaf grandparents. So sweet.

Page 225 - "Time and distance smooth out the memory of what was lost."

First of all, I love the sign language word game that Iris had played with her grandpa. Second, I love that her grandma was willing to play the game with her on the cruise. Third, I love that grandma is finding some healing from her own grief. Beautiful.

Page 262 - "At least I'd brought Grandma to the sea, and it washed away the drizzly November in her soul."

Such beautiful language. This is a well-written book.

Page 283 - Grandma decides to live on a cruise ship full time! I marked this because it's one of the ideas swirling around in my head about what retirement could look like. It's not one that I'm seriously considering, but it made me laugh when it came up in the book.

Page 289 - This is the start of the author's note. She writes about whale communication and the 52-Hertz Whale. Super interesting!

Page 295 - The author writes about deafness. "The Deaf community is a strong one, and despite the isolation and frustration its members experience because of the language barrier, most wouldn't want to change their deafness, any more than the rest of us would be willing to give up our friends, language, and culture. Like everyone, Iris does wish to feel heard, and for a place she belongs."

Overall, an enjoyable book. Iris is an interesting character. Her older brother and her friend Wendell add to her "story." But my favorite part was her connection to her grandparents. Fixing radios and wanting to communicate with a lonely whale were also neat.

I Take My Coffee Black

by Tyler Merritt

Libby audiobook 11 hours

read by the author

Published: 2021

Genre: memoir

 

Wow. I'm not sure how this initially got on my radar, but I'm so very glad to have "read" it.  Since it was an audiobook, I don't have as many notes as usual, but I just have to say that this is an impactful book. Please read it!

 

I wondered at times what reading a print version would be like . . . He is super personable and cracks jokes that I don't think are in the print book. There was one story he shared that he said was edited out of the print book for length. That (and listening to him) were worth experiencing the audio version. Also the phone calls with his mom and his dad . . . priceless.

"Maybe friends are given to us by God as a very good gift." I had to stop my car and write this down! I love how he shares the positive impact of good people in his life.

Broken Frame is the name of his band. I looked up one of their songs on YouTube. He has led an interesting life!

When he talked about seeking his dad's approval (as a child AND as an adult), there were definitely tears in his voice. It's incredible to think about the power parents have to shape, encourage, and support their children. (Or in some cases, to tear them down and squash them.)

His Wizard of Oz analogy when he was in Nashville was sweet. He's a very good writer and speaker. 

This book was so so so good. It's a perspective more white people need to hear. At points, it was funny. At others, it was heart breaking. When he reads the names of unarmed black people shot to death by police . . . it reminded me of Angie Thomas' The Hate U Give (also an incredibly powerful book). So sad to have skin color define our relationships and ability to communicate.

The swearing was more than I expected, but not overwhelming. Still . . . I wish he'd left some of it out. My ears are much more sensitive to this than they used to be. "Let no unwholesome word come out of your mouths . . . " is a Scripture I've worked on in my own life! But his swearing at times does not detract from what he is sharing about his life and learning. This book is worth reading!

 

(I wrote the above on 8.19.22. I "got" the print version yesterday. I had been on the waiting list for a few months. I skim read it and returned it right away. I had hoped for photographs - of his parents, his band, him from youth . . . But there was only one photograph of the coat he wore to camp. I'm adding this on 10.26.22.)

Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting

by Pamela Druckerman

Hennepin County Library hardcover 263 pages

Published: 2012

Genre: non-fiction parenting

 

This book was recommended by my grandson's substitute ECFE parenting education teacher. . . and I'm glad I got it and read it! Although I don't need to deal with parenting issues much these days (my sons are in their thirties and are lovely men), there were ideas that I would have appreciated knowing about when I was raising children.

Druckerman was in Paris, France with her partner and writing a book on infidelity. She noticed the stark contrast between how young children behaved in public there than at home in the United States. She started asking questions and had her own child ("Bean") and wrote this book. Fascinating perspective! I have a LOT of post-it notes in the book (and a few fell out as I was toting it around) so I'll try to keep this brief. My upshot: I loved some of the ideas (food exposure, limits - the "cadre", teaching children to wait and be patient, parents not being 100% focused on their children at all times) but I am not a fan of some aspects of French parenting that seem a bit too impersonal and even selfish. Druckerman's writing is fantastic! She openly recognizes her own shortcomings and makes some really insightful observations. I won't comment too much on the excerpts . . . because there are a lot!

Page 45: "For Cohen, this pause - I'm tempted to call it "La Pause" - is crucial. He says that using it very early on makes a big difference in how babies sleep. 'The parents who were a little less responsive to late-night fussing always had kids who were good sleepers, while the jumpy folks had kids who would wake up repeatedly at night until it became unbearable,' he writes."

Page 46: "If parents do The Pause in a baby's first two months, the baby can learn to fall back to sleep on his own. So his parents won't need to resort to 'crying it out' later on."

Page 52: "Laurence adds that a crucial part of getting a baby to do his nights, at any age, is to truly believe that he's going to do it. 'If you don't believe it, it's not going to work,' she says. 'Me, I always think that the child is going to sleep better the next night. I always have hope, even if he wakes up three hours later. You have to believe.' . . . Perhaps we all get the sleepers we expect, and the simple fact of believing that babies have a rhythm helps us to find it."

Page 59: "Could it be that making children delay gratification - as middle-class French parents do - actually makes them calmer and more resilient? Whereas middle-class American kids, who are in general more used to getting what they want right away, go to pieces under stress?"

Page 60: "Having kids who can wait makes family life more pleasant."

 

Page 62: "This is exactly what I've been seeing French parents doing. They don't explicitly teach their kids distraction techniques. Mostly, they just seem to give them lots of opportunities to practice waiting."

 

Page 74: "In the French view, I'm doing Bean no service by catering to her whims. French experts and parents believe that hearing 'no' rescues children from the tyranny of their own desires."

 

(I just love that last phrase! Rescuing "children from the tyranny of their own desires" is a fantastic concept!)

 

Page 118: "Granted, I'm in the middle of Paris, surely one of the world's least friendly places. The sneer was probably invented here. Even people from the rest of France tell me that they find Parisians cold and distant."

 

Page 127-8: "I also like the neutral, pragmatic French formulation 'paying attention' over the value-laden American one, 'being good' (and it's guilt-ridden, demoralizing opposites: 'cheating' and 'being bad'). If you've merely stopped paying attention and had some cake, it seems easier to forgive yourself and to eat mindfully again at the next meal."

 

(Losing weight . . . body image . . . post-birth mom body . . . this is another whole area of discussion! But I do love the idea of "paying attention" to what I eat and do.)

 

Page 129: "What's different about French moms is that they get back their pre-baby identities, too. For starters, they seem more physically separate from their children. I've never seen a French mother climb a jungle gym, go down a slide with her child, or sit on a seesaw - all regular sights back in the United States and among American visiting France."

Page 139: "The practice of narrated play is so common that Cohen included a section in his parenting book called Stimulation, which essentially tells mothers to cut it out. 'Periods of playing and laughing should alternate naturally with periods of peace and quiet,' Cohen writes. 'You don't have to talk, sing, or entertain constantly.'"

Page 157: "Saying bonjour signals to the child, and to everyone else, that she's capable of behaving well. It sets the tone for the whole interaction between adults and children."

(The idea of children greeting adults is not that revolutionary . . . yet reading this section reminded me of how off-putting and rude it feels when children behave as though they are the center of the universe and acknowledging me is not worth their bother.)

Page 199: "And then there are snack foods. When I'm with friends and their kids in America, little bags of pretzels and Cheerios just seem to appear all the time in between meals. Dominique, a French mother who lives in New York, says at first she was shocked to learn that her daughter's preschool feeds the kids every hour all day long. She was also surprised to see parents giving their kids snacks all throughout the day at the playground."

Page 221: "Saying no isn't exactly a cutting-edge parenting technique. What's new is Fredrique's coaching me to drop my ambivalence and be certain about my own authority. What she tells me springs from her own upbringing and deepest beliefs. It comes out sounding like common sense."

(By now, the author has twin boys in addition to Bean. She writes honestly about her struggles as well as her observations and research on cultural differences in child rearing.)

Page 228: "Marc adds, 'We have a saying in French: it's easier to loosen the screw than to tighten the screw, meaning that you have to be very tough. If you're too tough, you loosen. But if you are too lenient . . . afterward to tighten, forget about it.'"

(That made me think of the teacher adage "Don't smile until Christmas." It's a similar principle.)

I really enjoyed reading this book. But it also made me wish for a similar perspective on other cultures. What makes child rearing in other parts of the world unique? There are some things about American culture that really concern me for the future. This book was instructive and insightful.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

by Ian Fleming

personal copy (via my mom's classroom library - Mrs. Somers) paperback 126 pages

Published: 1964

Genre: children's adventure, fantasy

I saw a stage production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang last week that my daughter-in-law Stacie had stage managed. It was a lot like the Disney movie (that I haven't seen for about forty years) and the songs got stuck in my head! I had this book on my shelf and was curious about the connection between Fleming's original story and the musical version. My goodness! Radical differences . . . 

The hero of the story is the car, of course. But it was interesting to me that in the book, Mimsie (the mom) is part of the quartet with Caractacus Potts and the two children Jeremy and Jemimah. In the musical, Truly Scrumptious plays the love interest. Mimsie is dead?

Also, the book has no child catcher or evil empire trying to steal the car. There is a mobster named Joe the Monster who kidnaps the children after the Potts family blows up his cache of weapons in France.

The book is three quick chapters. I went online to read about it and when Ian Fleming wrote it in relation to his James Bond stories. He wrote this for his son, Caspar. It made me sad that Fleming died on Caspar's twelfth birthday and Caspar committed suicide at age 23. So much sadness.

I have requested the movie from the library. It's been so long since I've seen it and I'm even more curious now about how this little book got turned into a full-length musical. According to Wikipedia:

 "Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang was loosely adapted as a 1968 film of the same name with a screenplay by Roald Dahl and Ken Hughes; a subsequent novelisation was also published. The film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli, co-producer of the James Bond film series. The story was also adapted as a stage musical under the same name."

 

Oh! One of my favorite characters from the movie is grandpa . . . who is not in this original story as a character.

<Above posted 8.5.22. Below added 11.17.22.>

Rewatching the movie has been interesting! There are obviously a lot of correlations with the stage production (the county fair, hair-cutting machine, etc.). But there are a few things that I hadn't noticed in the past:

 

When they're having a picnic on the beach, Mr. Potts starts to tell a story about pirates to his children. There's a "dream sequence" floatie effect onscreen. So . . . the evil empire wanting to steal the car are a figment of his imagination? This didn't come across in the stage version! It's all a story he's telling, with Vulgaria, the ruler wanting to steal his car, the child catcher, etc.

I love the song and dance sequences. I wonder if the movie was written with Dick Van Dyke in mind. It was funny to recognize the toy maker! I went online to make sure, but yes! It's Benny Hill. Funny.

 

The child catcher is super creepy. I remember disliking him from my childhood. The long pointed nose, the scary eyes . . . so creepy!

 

The stage version had two funny and cute spies who cropped up in lots of scenes. They're funny in the movie, too, but they don't show up until after the "pirates" scene.

 

I like how Truly points out that Caractacus commenting on the difference in their stations in life would be identified as snobbery if she had said it. There are more socio-economic themes than I remembered.

 

Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home

 by Nando Parrado with Vince Rause

PRMS discard, hardcover 284 pages

Published: 2006

Genre: Non-fiction, memoir, survival

A chartered plane crashed in 1972 (I was six years old) and some young men on the plane survived. What a harrowing story! It is not one I would highly recommend, but if you like survival stories and against-the-odds outcomes, you may enjoy it. Parrado grates on me a bit . . . I may look for the 1974 book Alive by Piers Paul Read. Or I may not.

 

Page 169 - "When we first started eating human flesh, we consumed mostly small pieces of meat cut from the large muscles. But as time passed and the food supply diminished, we had no choice but to broaden our diet. For some time, we had been eating livers, kidneys, and hearts, but meat was in such short supply now that we would have to split skulls to get at the brains inside."

 

 Even though the question of food for survival had already been written about, when I got to this part I got incredibly grossed out. What would you do to survive? Eat another human? At least the people they were eating had already died on the mountain; it's not like they committed murder. Still, what a horrific way to stay alive . . . 

Page 227 - "'That's Argentina,' Garcia said. 'The High Andes. That's more than seventy miles from here.'"

While Nando and Roberto were walking, walking, walking, I wondered how far they were traveling. Up the mountain, over, down the mountain, through the valley, along the river, . . . when it got to this line I was stunned. To walk SEVENTY MILES while malnourished, weak, and without proper gear? That is simply amazing.

Page 232 - "Then he reached into his pocket and drew out the little red shoe I had given him when I left the fuselage. He was beaming at me, his eyes lit with joy and his face only inches from mine."

I love this scene! Not just the rescue, but the reunion of Carlitos with Nando. It took Nando and Roberto ten days (walking seventy miles in the mountains) to find help. The men left at the fuselage did not know if their friends were still alive, much less successful. The little red shoes that Nando's mother had bought for her grandchild were symbolic. So bittersweet.

Page 247 - "This is how life would look if I had died, I thought. I did not leave a very big hole. The world has gone on without me."

Grief affects different people differently. Nando's dad, thinking he would never again see his wife, son, or daughter Susy, got rid of Nando's belongings. Back home, Nando sees that life goes on. He didn't seem to have the same understanding as some of his peers, though. He's a bit too much of a party boy to me.

Page 262 - "In the years since the disaster, I often think of my friend Arturo Noguiera, and the conversations we had in the mountains about God. Many of my fellow survivors say they felt the personal presence of God in the mountains."

 

He goes on to talk about how he didn't sense God's presence and he thinks what saved them is love of other people. He has his own philosophy and waxes about it then says "I don't want to understand these things." How sad that he cannot see what Arturo saw. 

 

Page  283 - "And all of us, sooner or later, will face the inevitable nearness of death. . . .'We all have our own personal Andes.'"

I do like that as a public speaker, he can empathize with people who are struggling with other issues and feel a connection to his story.

Page 284 - "As we used to say in the mountains, 'Breathe. Breathe again. With every breath, you are alive.' After all these years, this is still the best advice I can give you: Savor your existence. Live every moment. Do not waste a breath."

 

That is very sound advice! Since this book was a discard, I plan to leave it in a little free library. I enjoy reading and I am working on clearing some of the clutter in my home. 

I loved the photographs in the middle of the book and the drawn map on page 239 showing the walk out for rescue. Very cool.

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

 by Philip Yancey and Dr. Paul Brand

Libby audiobook 6:34 hours

Read by: Don Reed

Published: 1980 (this version 2008)

Genre: Non-fiction, Christianity, anatomy

I really enjoyed this book a lot and thought about buying my own copy! It was a bit confusing at times to know what was Yancey's part in writing it. Most of it is told from Dr. Brand's perspective . . . but perhaps I missed something. I did  go back and re-listen to the Foreword to try to understand what each of the men brought to the book. A print version would probably help!

Each section and chapter dealt with part of the human body and made an analogy with the body of Christ. There were fantastic story illustrations, mostly from Dr. Brand's years of working as a surgeon with lepers. What an incredible life he led.

The section on bone was really impactful. It's like that firm foundation we need our lives to be built upon. The chapters on skin and touch were also super impactful. Some of the gender / race stuff was a bit outdated, but his message came through well. The importance of touch is truly powerful. 

This book is definitely worth a re-read. The analogies were well thought-out and meaningful. I think I'll get a print copy if I decide to read it again. Reed's vocal work was great, but it was hard for me to discern when it was Dr. Brand's words and when Yancey was "speaking" through the text.