The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement

By: Sharon McMahon

Scott County Library hardcover 281 pages plus acknowledgments and notes

Published: 2024

Genre: non-fiction, history

I had never heard of the author before. Apparently, her Instagram account "Sharon Says So" has made her "America's Government Teacher." I wish I'd had her as a teacher back when I was in school! She is a smart, thorough, thoughtful instructor who gives us a look at some overlooked people in American history.

Ch. 1-3 Clara Brown (freed slave who went west)

Ch. 4-5 Virginia Randolph (educator)

Ch. 6-8 Katharine Lee Bates (writer, America the Beautiful)

Ch. 9 & 12 Inez Milholland

Ch. 10 Maria de Lopez

Ch. 11 Rebecca Mitchell Brown

Ch. 13 France / Hello girls / suffragette groundwork

Ch. 14 Anna Thomas Jeanes (philanthropist, funded Randolph schools)

Ch. 15 William James Edwards (overcomer, worked with Jeanes)

Ch. 16 Julius Rosenwald (& Sears)

Ch. 17 Booker T. Washington

Ch. 18 & 20 Daniel Inouyes

Ch. 19 & 21 Norman Mineta

Ch. 22 Claudette Colvin

Ch. 23 Septima Clark

Ch. 24-26 Civil Rights in the South

Conclusion

I was trying to figure out which twelve people were the ones referred to in the subtitle . . . because she talked about many more than the fourteen I've named in these chapters! I don't think Booker T. Washington, Daniel Inouye, or Claudette Colvin are "unsung," but we all have different understandings of history depending on where we've learned it!

 

I originally got this book for my sister Ann. Her book club was reading it and I requested copies from both Carver and Scott Counties. But when I delivered one to her, she'd already purchased a copy! So I returned one and decided to read the other. Then my sister-in-law had a copy she'd gotten as a Christmas gift and I thought this is kind of a thing. I'm curious! I love to learn. But do I ever have a LOT of post-it notes in this! 

Page 4: Hamilton had been afraid that their efforts at the convention, in which a nation was birthed after the travail of a hot summer's labor, would not be enough. Would the union hold? Would the experiment in a new democracy ultimately prove successful? "In signing that compact he exprest (sic) his apprehension that it did not contain sufficient means of strength for its own preservation; and that in consequence we should share the fate of many other republics and pass through Anarchy to Despotism. We hoped better things."

Reading this in January 2026, I feared that were the Founding Fathers to see what our country is becoming, they would be disappointed. (Of course, they would also be shocked that women can vote and hold office, black people are free, etc.) But I am so sad for our country right now. Trump does whatever he wants and bowls down anyone who disagrees with him.

Page 9: In the distance, I saw them: auroras. The northern lights. Not the more common faint glow of green that we sometimes glimpsed from our second-floor bathroom window, but the kind that choreographed a ballet set to the unheard symphony of the universe.

She is a wonderful writer! I'm tempted to include a picture of these pages where she introduces herself. Plus, I love the northern lights. It's worth reading! Start on the left at the break.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Page 10: In the days before the internet put the entirety of human knowledge at our fingertips, the library was my friend. The library, still the most democratic institution on earth, perched but a block away from my childhood home.

 

I love libraries! I love how she writes about the role of libraries in our society.

 

Page  24: If anyone tries to tell you the Civil War was a war for "state's rights," calmly look them in the eye, and ask, politely and inquisitively, what exactly the states wanted the "right" to do?

She was writing about the Dred Scott case and the real life experiences of Clara Brown who was sold and had her child taken from her and sold to someone else. She spent a lifetime trying to find her daughter.

Page 31: So no, America is not "the worst it's ever been" today, despite what some news anchors might be trying to convince you of, because if they can make you afraid, they can gain your attention and your money. Has anyone been beaten half to death on the floor of the Senate over the topic of whether it's cool to enslave people this week? No? Okay.

I'm not a huge fan of history, but I do know that it's important to study it and to be aware of how the past can repeat itself. I like how she puts things into perspective. (She wrote about Preston Brooks beating Charles Sumner to the point that "he was not able to resume his seat in Congress for three years" back in 1856.) Rhetoric can distract us from issues.

Page 36: Wherever she went, Clara became known for her kindness and her tenacity. If someone arrived in Colorado Territory, scrawny from hunger and with not a penny to their name, Clara would give him a place to sleep and food to eat until he could find employment.

This is the kind of hero I want to read about! This is the kind of person I want to be. 

Page 42: "She took Christianity to mean for someone to be Christ-like if they were a Christian. And I joke with my students that there are people who go to the church, to the mosque, to the temple, and there are those that follow their religion. And those are not necessarily the same people."

This is what Dr. George Junne said in his eulogy of Clara Brown. Religiosity and faithfulness are not the same thing. I love that Clara was Christ-like.

Page 52: From as far back as she could remember, Virginia had been taught to do the next needed thing. Don't worry about tomorrow, her mother reminded her, tomorrow will worry about itself. Virginia was always focused on the task at hand. What I could do next, Virginia thought as she arrived at school one morning, is fix this godforsaken driveway. 

Virginia Randolph was a force to be reckoned with! She moved ahead with educating black children despite no help from the white government. One thing at a time. Progress, not perfection. I like how she made a huge difference just by doing the next needed thing.

Page 55: "However, I would like to think I was chosen because I was a good teacher, and needed to share my knowledge and skills with others.  . . . When Mr. Jackson Davis appointed me to look after his Negro schools . . . he started a trend never to be abandoned; namely, the trend that there will always be someone caring and looking out for the education of Negro boys and girls. I leave the convictions of my parents as the heritage - a genuine belief in the power and glory of education."

This made me think of my parents and their strong beliefs about the importance of education. For Randolph to persist without financial or other supports . . . her perseverance amazes me.

Page 74: Henry Durant expected women who graduated from Wellesley to be fully on par with graduates of Harvard and Yale, and his watchwords were, "Aspiration! Adventure! Experiment! Expansion! Follow the gleam!"

Women's health was poorly understood at the time, and it was a common belief among men that pursuing too much education made a woman unfit for childbearing, as it diverted too great a blood supply to the brain and away from reproductive organs. Durant refuted this, arguing that a proper education strengthens the body and mind.

Wow. This seems so bizarre to me that people actually believed things like this (and probably, some still do . . . ) I'm thankful for people like Henry and Pauline Durant founding Wellesley for women in the 1870s.

Page 79: At the turn of the twentieth century, two women who lived together as partners were sometimes referred to as being in a "Boston marriage," with the subtext being that they were quietly in a romantic relationship.

I'm pretty sure I've heard of this before, but I'm writing it here to try to remind myself if I hear "Boston marriage" what it is referencing. Part of me is curious to dig into how this phrase came into being, but I have a lot of blogging left to do!

Page 91: The enduring appeal of the song, she said, "is clearly due to the fact that Americans are at heart idealists, with a fundamental faith in human brotherhood."

I love this positive attitude toward humanity. The fact that "Katie" Bates, who wrote and sang America the Beautiful, acknowledged people's love of her song without being a glory hog makes me happy.

Page 96: My favorite line from "Sister Suffragette" - perhaps one of the greatest lyrics written by the Sherman brothers and delivered perfectly by Glynis Johns - is, Though we adore men individually, we agree that as a group, they're rather stuuuuuuuupid. The look on John's face, with her huge doe eyes and her stilted vibrato, is priceless.

This made me laugh. And go to YouTube to find the clip from Mary Poppins. (This line is at :55.) My curiosity did not allow me to skip this reference . . . McMahon is talking about Inez Milholland and her work as a suffragette.

Page 98: Because they knew that a huge part of the country's opposition to their suffrage was opposition to Black women being enfranchised, white women were often willing to not just look the other way but to intentionally exclude Black women for the purposes of appeasing white men.

Oh, this makes me so sad. I remember when I first learned that voting rights for women and voting rights for black people were often at odds . . . . That last line "for the purposes of appeasing white men" just irritates me. But I know it is true. I'm so glad that God's love isn't dependent upon our skin or our gender.

Page 102: The next day, newspapers around the country published horrifying stories of violence and harassment at the hands of men who would deny women the vote. One of the organizers, Dora Lewis, said, "We were jostled, humiliated, insulted, and deprived of the right of protection. In our ranks were the foremost women of America, college women, social workers, lawyers, physicians, wives of Senators and Representatives, and all these were allowed to be insulted and their lives jeopardized by crowds of drunken men. The police would not even rope off the streets for us . . . the militiamen who were present along the route were all drunk." The granddaughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton was hit by an intoxicated man while the nearby police did nothing. Another attempted to scale a float and throw a woman off it. Hundreds of demonstrating women had bruises creeping across their bodies and faces the next day. The only group that even attempted to help the marchers fend off the swarms were a troop of Boy Scouts.

After the parade, people immediately called for the chief of police to be fired. Newspapers ran images of what the crowds looked like during the suffrage parade compared to what they looked like the next day during the inaugural parade - in one, crowds clog the streets in chaos. In the other, the newly sworn in president is helped to proceed in an orderly fashion down the same road, the crowds standing neatly behind the lines set up by the police.

The Women's Political Union, a suffrage group, sent a telegram to Woodrow Wilson that arrived shortly before his inauguration. It read: "As you ride today in comfort and safety to the Capitol to be inaugurated as the President of the people of the United States, we beg that you will not be unmindful that yesterday the government, which is supposed to exist for the good of all, left women, while passing in peaceful procession in their demand for political freedom, at the mercy of a howling mob on the very streets which are being at this moment sufficiently officered for the protection of men."

Ugh. Sometimes I hate learning about American history. There is so much injustice in our past! And in our present . . . 

Page 105: There are Pueblo ruins in New Mexico that are a thousand years old. Well-organized civilizations existed here long before anyone settled New Amsterdam or Jamestown or even before Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

Yes, many die-hard 'Muricans forget that there were people here before any Europeans showed up . . . McMahon goes on to tell the story of Adam Fortunate Eagle going to Italy and claiming he "discovered" it.

Page 106: But the point was made: Adam Fortunate Eagle was featured in the international news with his "America did not need to be discovered by Europeans, it was already occupied" message.

This is a wonderful story and Wikipedia tells me that his trip took place in 1973. He was born in Red Lake, Minnesota! Interesting man.

Page 112: When her husband died in the 1850s, nearly everything they owned, right down to the clothes on her own back, became property of the state. If she wanted to keep her trunk of wedding gifts, the dishes on which she few her children, the chairs upon which they sat, she would have to buy them back from the government of Illinois. With the exception of the family Bible and a hymnal, she had nothing of her own.

I cannot fathom living in a time when I was the property of my father and then my husband and without them, I could have no rights at all. "Women had few rights of their own - not to own property, not even legal rights to parent the children she birthed." Women of the current era take for granted the rights that other women fought for all their lives!

Page 122: When Rebecca died in 1908, her strength having been slowly sapped by tuberculosis, an article in The Wilsonville Review mentioned that the WCTU was planning a marble monument to her. The Review wrote, "While a monument of marble would serve to perpetuate her memory, far richer monuments are the churches she has fostered, the schools she has founded, the libraries she has opened, the Sunday schools she has established, and men and women who are better men and women for having come in contact with her influence."

What a great testament to her impact! I'm sorry she worked herself to death, but what an amazing woman. I confess when I looked up the Spirit of Idaho Women statue McMahon references in a later paragraph, I saw "the Idaho capital" and thought, "What IS the capital of Idaho? Boise?" Yes.

Page 125: The women did not try to conceal their identities, didn't come armed, didn't break any glass or invade any private offices. They weren't there to kidnap members of Congress; no faux gallows waited outside the building. They came peacefully, stayed in the section designated for visitors, and left peacefully, confident that they had made their point.

The author is making a not-very-subtle comparison to some of the current administration's tactics and excuses for awful behavior, I think.

Page 126: As soon as possible, he said, you will need to get your tonsils removed. But in the meantime, he said, "Here, take these," handing her strychnine and arsenic pills, common (though deadly) treatments for infection in the decades before penicillin.

 

How awful! Instead of helping her heal, Inez Mulholland's doctor was poisoning her!

 

Page  128: They summoned another doctor. This one prescribed strong coffee and more strychnine.

I'm so glad to live in an era when doctors have a better understanding of the body and what is good for it!

Page 135: One of the best-known Hello Girls was a take-charge gal with a baby face named Grace Banker. 

These women who operated the telephone switchboards right in the midst of the war, relaying vital messages, were instrumental in getting things to change for women.

Page 141: Tellingly, Cher enjoyed more retirement benefits than the Hello Girls. That didn't change until 1977, when Merle Anderson of the Signal Corps, with the help of lawyer Mark Hough, finally got the attention of Congress.

Cher was a carrier pigeon. The Hello Girls were trying to gain official military status (and military benefits) since they had worn military uniforms, worked in the military, etc.

Page 159: Anna believed that people could decide for themselves what their community needed, and that people of all races should have equal seats at the table.

Anna Jeanes made life-changing decisions with her money! What a blessing that she asked people what they most needed. She helped especially with small, rural schools and she didn't want recognition.

Page 160: From our vantage point, this is ludicrous. Booker T. Washington has long been criticized for engaging in respectability politics - that if Blacks just acted the way that white people wanted them to, then there could be racial harmony. Washington, some feel, was participating in the system of white supremacy.

McMahon goes on to point out that Washington and other like him were working within an inherently racist system and doing the best that they could. 

Page 161: The Jeanes Story, published by former Jeanes Teachers in 1979, has a complete list of all of the teachers, including pictures of some of them. The overwhelming majority are African American women, but a tiny handful are men.

I'd love to see this book, but I need to get through the pile I already have on hand!

Page 162: They knew their work was important. But they had no way of knowing the true, lasting impact they had on generations of students, on the American South at large, and consequently, on America as a whole.

Yeah for teachers who make a difference in children's lives!

Page 163: But I love what one Jeanes teacher, Mildred Williams, said on this topic: "Gloom and pessimism must not overshadow the good which has grown out of the several years of the Civil Rights laws. Optimism must prevail and persistent movements continue, using every useful weapon at hand to make the dream, as stated by one of America's most recent forth-right Black leaders (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.) a reality."

Yes to optimism and persistent movements!

Page 169: Within a few years, Sears was making money hand over fist. The company figured that the average American had several competing catalogs at their house, and they purposely made the trim size of theirs just a little smaller than their competitors. Logic said that when Edith in rural Kansas neatly stacked the catalogs in her home, the smallest one would go on top. They wanted the first catalog under your hand to be Sears.

Obviously, most of us don't use catalogs for shopping any more, but I thought this was brilliant! I remember the Sears catalog we used to have back in the 1970s . . . 

Page 175: Here again is the AND, the nuance that we must embrace with history. Our minds want to categorize people into one of two camps: Good or evil. Angel or demon. Most often, that viewpoint denies people the fullness of their humanity and can overlook positive contributions or ignore negative impacts.

She really is a good teacher and writer. I'm glad I read this book.

Page 179: Though he had long been generous with his time and money, after turning fifty, he felt lighter, less encumbered by the weight of riches.

She's writing about Julius Rosenwald and his philanthropy. He gave money to Jewish charities, an orphanage, Tuskegee Institute, etc. I love that he realized that he had more money than he needed and chose to be generous!

Page 193: The singular pain of the country of his ancestry attacking the country of his heart twisted his face. In a world where many Americans already hated the Japanese, it was like watching a slow-motion nightmare play out before his eyes.

The bombing of Pearl Harbor obviously changed American history in a huge way, but the seismic shift for Japanese Americans is heart-breaking. I'm kind of shocked at how incredibly patriotic many Japanese Americans were, even though the United States government treated them so badly.

Page 213: He ignored the advice of people who said he's never get elected as a Democrat and insisted that the reason he wanted to be a Democrat was that he thought that the Republicans wanted to protect property - what we have - but the Democrats wanted to protect people - who we are.

She's writing about Daniel Inouye and I've never heard the difference between the two major parties expressed quite like that.

Page 220: Bush said that "one of the important things about Norm's experience is that it reminds us that sometimes we lose our soul as a nation. That the notion of all equal under God sometimes disappears. And 9/11 certainly challenged that premise. I didn't want our country to do to others what had happened to Norm."

It's amazing how much fonder I have become of George Bush since Trump got into office the first time. The author is writing about Norman Mineta and quite frankly, the way she intertwined his story with Daniel Inouye's got a bit confusing. 

Page 241: Education wasn't only liberation, she came to realize; education was self-sufficiency. It was independence. It reduced your vulnerability, because it was much harder to cheat someone who could read and do basic sums. It was connection, allowing you to read and send letters to your loved ones. It was faith, because it let you read your scriptures.

I agree with Septima Clark's estimation of the value of education.

Page 243: Moral panics have been around since this country's inception, with the Salem witch trials being among the first widely publicized (and deadly) panics. Since then, moral panics have been used as a tool to subvert and dismantle movements that the dominant caste views as a threat. And this included civil rights. 

 

I hate that this is a thing and people get whipped into a fury over a non-issue.

Page 256: But these were not fringe beliefs in many of the evangelical churches in the South. This was how most white Christians at that time and in that place interpreted the scriptures. It was what they heard from their pulpits, and what they wanted taught in schools. White supremacy and white Christian identity are inextricably linked in American history. Facts don't require our personal approval for them to be facts.

Oh, this makes me so sad. How did people who love the Lord decide to support racist beliefs and practices as though it was God-ordained?

Page 259: "When I tried to squeeze past him, he raised his bayonet and then the other guards moved in and they raised their bayonets. They glared at me with a mean look, and I was very frightened and didn't know what to do. I turned around and the crowd came toward me. They moved closer and closer. Somebody started yelling 'drag her over this tree, let's take care of that n****r!'" 

These were ordinary white Arkansans whose vitriol was such that they were suggesting that a child seeking an education deserved to be lynched.

 

I had not ever heard of Elizabeth Eckford, but the thought of a teen girl being faced with this much hatred (simply because of her skin color) is just horrific.

 

Page  269: You'd be mistaken if you believe that Black women did not speak up. You'd be mistaken if you thought that Black women did not risk their personal safety to work for justice. You'd be mistaken if you thought these facts were never going to see the light of day again, swept under the rug of today's moral panic, the moral panic of learning about the real, true, beautiful, infuriating, horrific, meaningful history of the United States and calling it by some other boogeyman name like Critical Race Theory (it's not) or labeling it a divisive concept (it's only divisive if lies and cover-ups benefit you in some way.)

What is done in darkness must come to light.

This book is so powerful in presenting the stories of ordinary people who did extraordinary things.

Page 277: Claudette Colvin, the brave fifteen-year-old who refused to give up her seat, asked to have her criminal record expunged. Her request was finally granted in December 2021. She said in an interview when the request went through that she wanted her grandkids to "know that their grandmother stood up for something. Against the injustice in America. The laws will change, and a lot of people, not only myself, paid the price and made sacrifices. We are not where we're supposed to be, but don't take the freedom that we do have for granted."

Claudette Colvin was another extraordinary teenager who stood up for what she believed was right.

Page 281: I'd want you to know that despite all the things Gouverneur Morris got wrong - like the unfortunate whalebone - there was something he got very, very right. America at her best is just. She is peaceful. She is good. And she is free. And it is us, the small and the mighty, who make America great.

Not again, but always.

Nice. She wrote a wonderful book that I can finally return to the library!

Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don't Know You Have

By: Tatiana Schlossberg

Hennepin County Library hardcover 236  pages plus acknowledgments and notes

Published: 2019

Genre: Non-fiction, environment

Schlossberg died recently and as I was reading about her, I got curious about this book. Requested and received, it's due back today. Time to blog!

 

Her book had four main sections in addition to the introduction and conclusion. Technology and the Internet, Food, Fashion, and Fuel. Of course, each of these topics is interrelated. She did a good job of presenting the issues concerning the environment.

Page 6: I hope I can help you understand how complicated this stuff is - if something sounds simple, it probably isn't.

 

She writes in a way that makes the complex understandable without dumbing it down. 

 

Page 8: It's up to us to create a country that takes seriously its obligations to the planet, to each other, and to the people who will be born into a world that looks different than ours has for the last 10,000 years or so. If we aren't paying attention, others with destructive intentions or different motivations might make the decisions for us.

 

I think this is already happening. As I was reading this book, I reflected that people seem to already be "on board" with concerns about the environment or defiantly opposed to changing things to protect the environment.

 

Page 16: That became Sprint, which was an acronym for Southern Pacific Railroad Internal Network Telecommunications.

 

I just put this here because I didn't realize "Sprint" was an acronym! I love learning new things.

 

Page 26: People who study energy and efficiency call this phenomenon the rebound effect: when savings from efficiency or dematerialization are canceled out by corresponding growth of use.

 

This is an interesting concept . . . "rebound" - save money by becoming more efficient, but use more because there is more use.

 

Page 52: Lithium ion batteries have changed the way we use technology: we can have cell phones and laptops because the batteries can be shrunken down enough to power an iPhone, and they are rechargeable.

 

Battery technology both fascinates and horrifies me. I am saddened by how many devices in my life (and toys for kids) require batteries. Perhaps I need to be more deliberate in what I buy and use. (Says the woman who's in love with her hybrid, plug-in car.)

 

Page 54: Some lithium comes from the Atacama region in Chile and in the salt flats of Argentina, harvested from lands where indigenous groups hold surface and water rights, though the vast profits from lithium production are not shared with them. These communities struggle with sewage treatment and drinking water and are often unable to heat their schools.

 

It's heart-breaking that the rich and powerful get what they want and the poor suffer. This is a global problem!

 

Page 56: Spread out over a lot of people, it's not a lot for each one of us, but the point is the aggregate: as a society, we're just throwing energy away.

 

She was writing about vampire power here. Again, I'm guilty of leaving things plugged in while not in use. It's easier . . . but I could make better use of power strips. We do like our conveniences, don't we?

 

Page 61: Using your electricity-guzzling game console to stream movies is probably, overall, less impactful to the planet than buying a new device altogether. But the important thing is to put any of these devices and all of the resources they use into context. I know that's not a satisfying answer. But it turns out there aren't really very many satisfying answers. Sorry.

 

Just as with the "rebound" idea, it's interesting that there is this balance between older devices which use more energy than more efficient ones and upgrading (wasteful and uses more energy to produce more devices.) Also, I like her conversational tone. It's part of what makes this book so readable.

Page 87: "It's become a social norm to waste food; no one thinks it's abnormal to eat half a burger and throw away the rest."

 

This one caught my attention for the opposite reason. My family was a "waste not, want not" household. We grew up thinking there was nothing worse than throwing food away. So my siblings and I continue to eat even when we're sated, to the point of unhealthy eating habits. I'm fine with putting food away for leftovers, but I've had to teach myself that throwing food in the garbage (or compost) is okay. 

 

Page 88: And more than thirty years later, there are still no national laws about dating foods.

 

Although she makes a joke about "dating" foods, it is troubling that there are no standards for labeling foods in the US. I know many people who will throw away anything past the date on the container. Sniff it; look at it. I eat "past date" food often. It's usually fine. Wastefulness and overconsumption are horrible, especially when so many people on planet Earth are going hungry.

 

Page 111: First, it accepts the current energy-intensive, industrialized agricultural system, and it advocates outsourcing our emissions to other countries. . . . . Second, it obscures the dizzying amount of food and everything else that we ship around the world because we can, and because it's become cheaper to grow food in one place and ship it to another.

 

Yes, we are accustomed to getting what we want when we want it. But we are part of a global society. It's not the 1800s when eating "local" was a necessity. I'm not sure what she's advocating we do. The more I read, the more frustrated I got. She identifies problems but doesn't provide much in the way of suggestions and solutions.

 

Page 113: Of all the things I've written about so far, writing about fish has been among the most challenging. Is it because I think fish are kind of gross? Probably. Is it because I don't really like to eat fish, and I don't think that most people do, either, but they pretend because they want to seem better than me? Also probably yes that is true. All because they "want to eat healthy"? Sure, fine. But without making this about me (why stop now?), it's also because writing about fish is possibly even more complicated than some aspects of the food system I've discussed up until now . . . . 

 

She's kind of funny here, but also a little bit irritating.

 

Page 124: She also told me that Stella McCartney, a fashion brand and designer committed to sustainability, has at times tried to figure out how to source a certain product in a sustainable way, but the employees discover they can't find any information and end up commissioning reports and studies themselves . . . 

 

Interesting that there's less research on the issues around fashion . . . because it's a "women's" topic. Also interesting that Stella McCartney tries to work sustainably.

 

Page 137: Currently, humans are rapidly consuming groundwater without knowing when it might run out, especially in some of earth's driest places.

 

This! The issue of water is a huge one for me. I'm so thankful that we have lots of lovely water in Minnesota. I would not buy property in Arizona (or anywhere in the Southwest US) due to this very problem.

 

Page 143: . . . ocean plastic, for the most part, has been broken up by ultraviolet radiation, wind and waves, tide and time. 

 

This sounds encouraging, but it's just adding to the microplastics problem. Reading this made me think we might be closer to the Rapture and Armageddon than not . . . 

 

Page 152: We get rid of about 60 percent of the clothing we buy within a year of its being made; we used to keep our clothing at least twice as long.

 

This made me laugh! I rarely buy new clothing and have several garments in my wardrobe that are ten years old or more. (I have a mock turtleneck my mom bought for me and she died in 2014. I also have a sweater of hers from the 1950s.) My lack of fashion sense is very good for lower consumption of resources!

 

Page 166: Call it poetic license; call this book poetry; call me Ishmael.

 

Again, there are times her casual writing style got a little much . . . She used the phrase "whole hog" and went off into this little side joke.

 

Page 182: But the TVA officials (they had brought the president of the agency and chief engineer to meet with me, the cub reporter, which felt like a little much) were telling me that there wasn't anything to see here.

 

Reading this made me think of Erin Brokovich and the Julia Roberts movie made about her investigating PG&E. Big companies with lots of money generally don't care about the people who suffer because of their polluting.

Page 185: When Andrew Wheeler, Pruitt's replacement and a former coal lobbyist, became acting administrator of the agency, the first rule he signed was the revision of the coal ash rule . . . 

 

Almost all of Trump's cabinet appointments during his first term were horrific. Putting a coal lobbyist in charge of the EPA is insane!

Page 185: Part of the goal of this book is to explore how we are all in this together, how the systems we participate in affect all of us, even if not directly.

 

Exploration . . . again, people reading this book are likely already on board (like me) and people who are opposed are probably not going to read this book. I was frustrated with the lack of suggestions and solutions.

Page 186: And that starts with understanding how this works, because for those of us who had the luxury of not knowing what coal ash is, our lack of awareness if part of the problem - that's how these problems start and how they become so entrenched as to seem unsolvable.

 

Okay, awareness is good. Once we have awareness of the problems, what can we do?

Page 195:. . .  Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming, a book that ranks one hundred of the most effective solutions to end global warming . . . 

 

Perhaps I should have read this book instead!

 

Page 201: But it would seem colonialist and patronizing if more developed countries like the US, EU member states, and Japan were to tell these developing countries that they shouldn't get to have air-conditioning because it would use too much electricity, as we sit here, cool and comfortable, basking in the artificial breeze of privilege.

 

Yes, it would seem pretty awful for us to tell others they ought to conserve energy when we indulge ourselves.

 

Page 225: . . . because so much of our built environment was built when the car existed, and so our society is largely organized around the car.

 

This is uniquely American, right? Society organized around cars? I'm guilty - I use my car extensively and regularly. 

 

Page 230: The problem is we want everything to be everywhere, and we want to be there too,as quickly as possible. We want to be cool in our homes without paying too much for it, get our things on demand, stream video, get in our cars or rideshares and do whatever else we want, and also have our southern forests protected. So really, once again, the problem is us.

 

Yes, the problem is us. How to solve the problem?

Page 232: . . . we have pushed the planet to its limits, unconsciously sacrificing the future to meet the needs, real or imagined, of the present. In the name of convenience or immediate gratification or profit, we've created a world where we use resources because we can, with little attention paid to our waste and the problems it creates.

 

This is the heart of her book. 

Page 233: You may feel like I've laid out a set of enormous problems and not given you a way to solve them. But I don't think that's true.

Her suggestions are too little, too late. They aren't actionable steps. I've requested Drawdown from the library. Rest in peace, Ms. Schlossberg.

The Dressmaker

By: Rosalie Ham

Scott County Library paperback 275 pages

Published: 2000

Genre: historic realistic fiction

I am surprised at how many post-it notes I have sticking out of this book. I may have to skip blogging about each one! I saw a few YouTube clips of the movie made based on this book. I requested both the book and the movie from the library and got them quickly, along with a number of other titles! I wanted to read the book before watching the movie and I think that was a good call. The story went places I didn't expect based on the clips I've seen and it gets pretty dark in places.

Overall, it's a look at small town life and how people behave. Many of the people in 1950s Dungatar, Australia are written as very distinctive characters. There were just so many of them it got hard to follow at times! So many of them were so awful, not just to protagonist Tilly Dunnage, but just as humans in general. Stop reading here if you don't want spoilers! I've finished the book and have watched the movie, so I'm going to include info that you may want to discover for yourself. (The movie was slightly less "dark" than the book; but I recommend both. Ham's writing is quite good and the movie is well-done.)

My favorite parts were toward the end when Tilly and her mom Molly had a heart-to-heart. I wish they'd been able to come to terms with the past sooner! I liked Sergeant Farrat and his love of fine fabrics. 

Page 37: Tilly placed an apologetic hand, lighter than pollen, on Mrs. Almanac's cold, stony shoulder. Irma smiled. "Percival says God is responsible for everything."

She used to have a lot of falls, which left her with a black eye or a cut lip. Over the years, as her husband ground to a stiff and shuffling old man, her injuries ceased.

 

Mr. Almanac seemed creepy enough looking through other people's photos and passing judgment, but this line about his wife's injuries chilled my blood. Sweet little Irma, being a devoted wife, dealing with pain. . . how dare he act as though he is God's instrument. What an awful man!

Page 81: The quiet, dull drone of the radiogram wound through the house.

 

There were a few places where "radiogram" was mentioned. It made me think of a medical device, but I knew it was referencing an actual radio. It just made me giggle a bit.

 

Page 87 - He'd lathered raw duck egg into his hair and snotty streaks of it slid down his forehead, merging at the end of his white eyebrows with the aloe vera pulp face mask.

 

Sergeant Farrat is luxuriating in his bath, but the author's description in this sentence amused me. I thought about including the entire paragraph, but resisted. The "snotty streaks" of egg was a visual worth noting.

Page 88: He turned the catalogue and pushed it towards her. She looked down at the pattern, her chin receding into her neck.

"I need you to write down for me in plain English what these abbreviations really mean." He leaned to her ear and whispered, "Code. I'm trying to de-code a message from HQ. Top secret, but I know you're good at secrets."

 

Beulah was such an incredible pain-in-the-you-know-what and a huge busybody. Sergeant Farrat's true desire to understand the knitting pattern was hidden in his ridiculous request to her.

Page 89: Ruth stood by her electric kettle steaming open a fat letter addressed to Tilly Dunnage.

Ugh. Most of the people in this town are so reprehensible. They were so incredibly rude to Tilly and Molly (and the McSwineys) yet they themselves were the dishonorable ones.

Page 103: When she went inside she found Molly had dismantled her sewing machine entirely. It took her three days to find all the parts and put them back together.

"Mad" Molly's behaviors would have driven anyone else crazy, but Tilly rolled with it. So did Teddy McSwiney when he started spending time with Tilly.

Page 107: "Most poems are too long; that one wasn't."

William should have known Gertrude wasn't the "one" for him when she responded this way to him reading a Shakespearean sonnet and asking what she liked about it.

Page 112: Myrtle stood still, up against the wall. He walked backwards looking at her with his devil eyes. Myrtle knew what he was going to do, it was his favourite. He put his head down like a bull and ran ran ran at her as fast as he could, head first at her tummy, like a bull charging.

 

This flashback scene comes much earlier in the book than in the movie. In the movie, the question of "did Tilly murder Stewart Pettyman" is a central plot point. The movie also went places the book did not. This scene in the school playground showed Stewart's nastiness. Tilly stepping aside to prevent her own pain and injury are not murder; he killed himself by running into a brick wall. She was ten years old and treated like a criminal!

 

Page  114: But William was always overcome and would shove the entire egg into his mouth quickly, gorging himself, and be left both satisfied, and strangely not.

I love how the author compares his childhood habit of eating a chocolate egg to his adult consumption of his wife. The idea of being both satisfied and not satisfied . . .

Page 126: "We've several Gestetnered copies . . . "

I had to look this one up! (Though I understood from context that it was like a photocopy, I was curious.) A Gestetner is a stencil duplicator developed in 1881. It's basically a mimeograph machine!

Page 128: 

This was the second time in the book that a word was divided between two lines without a dash. (See "table" on lines 3 and 4.) I'm always baffled by an editing process that allows things like this through. 

 

 

 

Page 129: "O'course," said Hamish, "it all started to go wrong when man domesticated crops so there was a need to protect the crop and to gather in groups, build walls to stave off hungry neoliths."

"No," said Septimus, "the wheel sank humanity the deepest."

I was amused by these men discussing the state of humanity during their poker game.

Page 182: She felt sick - bile rose in the back of her throat and her body ached from crying. She was exhausted, but her mind raced with venom and hate for herself and the people of Dungatar. She'd prayed to a God she didn't believe in to come and take her away.

Oh, this broke my heart. Poor Tilly! So much heartbreak and sorrow. I wish she had believed in God and found healing in Him. Teddy's brother Barney was a bright spot in this town of awful people.

Pages 216-217: Oh, another heartbreaking scene. Molly, Mr. Almanac, Sergeant Farrat, Tilly . . . and the end of all things starting here.

 

 

How to Speak Dragonese

How to Train Your Dragon book 3

By: Cressida Cowell

Libby audiobook 3 hours

Read by: David Tennant

Published: 2005 (This version 2013)

Genre: Children's fantasy

Initially, I planned to enjoy this series with my grandson. But we don't spend much time in the car together, so now I'm just enjoying them on my own!

 

In this adventure, Hiccup and Fishlegs are in their poorly made boat, trying to find a peaceful fishing boat to board as part of their Boarding-an-Enemy-Ship lessons. Instead, they make an assault on a Roman galley ship filled with warriors. There they also find their old nemesis Alvin, intent on capturing all the dragons to retrieve the treasure which is deep underground.

 

The kidnap of Toothless and Hiccup's reaction was tender.

 

Another rollicking tale with a saucy heir of the Bog-Burglars. She's a fun character and I hope she shows up in another book!

First Comes Marriage . . . Then Comes Murder

By: Donna Mumma

Jodi's copy, paperback 298 pages plus author's note and acknowledgements

Published: 2025

Genre: historical Christian fiction

This is a sequel to The Women of Wynton's and I still really liked the main characters - Vivien, Mirette, Audrey, Gigi, Mary Jo, with the additions of Libby and Immogene. I am not a huge fan of all the descriptions of beautiful clothing, but that may be either because I can't really visualize it well or I just don't care about fashions.

Page 9: Kind words trampled down wrath. And truth set folks free.

Miss Vivien is dealing with a bridezilla and choosing diplomacy. I love how she handled Mary Hadley and her mother, but I dislike mean, snotty people. (I was always incensed by Nellie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie.)

Page 57: Unless they worked at Wynton's, Coloreds weren't allowed in the store without a note from a white employer.

Throughout the book, Mumma uses historically accurate information like this (1950s in the South) but it is still jarring to read about characters like Immogene and Lilla being treated so poorly for their race. 

Page 66: Mary Jo traced her finer along the curlicue pattern on the Formica tabletop. She was ashamed to admit what she was about to tell Miss Vivien. But if she didn't, she feared her head or her heart were going to shatter from the pain of it.

"Sometimes when I'm driving to the store after dropping the girls off at school, I play around with the idea to keep driving. Maybe find a new place to live where no one wants something from me."

I felt this! Poor Mary Jo, with an ill father, a nagging critical mother, a depressed husband, two daughters, and a job . . . I have wanted to run away from my own life when under a lot of stress. I'm glad she confided in Miss Vivien.

Page 70: The truth in his words pulled at her heart as she forced herself not to wince when he worked harder than usual to remove his breakfast from the bag. Nelson's aging seemed to have sped up in the past few weeks, and she'd been so preoccupied she'd failed to see.

There was less of the Audrey / Nelson interaction in this book, but I love that she continued to bring him coffee and a pastry each day. He was a black garage attendant and she was basically second-in-command at Wynton's.

Page 80: She's been tasked with pushing the scent-of-the-day at the store, and three times those brands sold out in a single day.

I love that Gigi was so successful in Cosmetics! I don't like that she was treated like garbage by the other "girls" and by her boss Jane, though. 

Page 88: "Even if you were, I've reached the age where I'm too old to care."

Miss Vivien is definitely the hero of this story. It's not just age; wisdom plays a role in her attitude. As bad as things got, I'm glad she trusted in the Lord and had good friends at her side. She made this comment in response to Mary Jo telling her that she and Gigi hadn't been gossiping about Vivien.

Page 156: "Do not talk about Kenny like that again."

Yay! Mary Jo finally stood up to her verbally abusive mother. She was struggling with being obedient to the Lord's Commandment to honor one's father and mother, but her mother pushed too far. The relationship between Mary Jo and Kenny was one of the very best storylines in the book.

Page 199: What had she done to cause all this? She'd prayed hundreds of times these past weeks for the answer so she could make amends and stop this madness. None came, and now dread filled her from the moment she awoke until the moment her brain stopped spinning at night and she slipped into fitful sleep. Every day she had to worry about which of her brides was next on this killer's list.

Poor Miss Vivien! Someone murdering young brides and leaving clues pointing directly to her. It kept getting worse.

Page 246: Vivien scanned the group. Most of her friends were on their feet, talking amongst themselves or trading comments across the room with one another. Those who sat with their heads down and hangs in their laps pained her the most. They disagreed with the call for her ousting, stayed out of the fray, and would not join in the soft mudslinging.

They also remained silent.

This really struck me because of what's happening in Minneapolis right now. I don't mean to stay silent, but I'm not sure how to speak up in a Christ-honoring and constructive way. I'm horrified by the violence of the ICE agents and the tactics being used by our government to try to rewrite reality. This country was built by immigrants! We're all from immigrants! This is despicable and I don't want to stay silent and just watch it happen.

Page 269: The best part of their nightly talks was their conversations went off in any direction and nothing was off-limits. Daddy had once told her discussing religion or politics was the best way to lose a friend, but she and Mirette had talked, argued, agreed, laughed, cried, and at times stopped speaking to one another over everything under the sun.

I love friendships like this! It's nice to have a safe space to talk about what you're thinking and feeling.

I enjoyed the book but guessed the killer early. I had a few alternate theories, but it was as obvious as it seemed. I look forward to book club tonight and appreciate the loan of the book! (I had tried all four library systems I typically use and also looked on MNLink. No dice and I didn't want to buy it.)

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Flora & Ulysses

By: Kate DiCamillo

Libby ebook 68 chapters plus an epilogue

Published: 2013

Genre: Children's fantasy / realistic fiction

I didn't like this book as much as I expected to, but it was another wonderful DiCamillo title. I think I would have enjoyed a print copy more, but the drawings and cartoons were nice. I'm trying to decide if I want to see a movie version . . . I had heard someone rave about it but I like what my imagination came up with just fine. (Okay, I just watched the trailer. Looks cute.) I put both fantasy (squirrel can fly and type) and realistic fiction (kids dealing with relationship issues with parents) because it has both. Flora and her neighbor's great-nephew William Spiver become friends with irritation after a squirrel is sucked into a powerful vacuum cleaner and survives.

Chapter 2: Huge portions of what is loosely termed "the squirrel brain" are given over to one thought: food.

This made me smile. Ulysses the squirrel was constantly thinking about food. He didn't always get to eat when he wanted, though. There was a lot of humor around this theme.

DiCamillo uses fantastic vocabulary (throughout the entire book) like cogitation, malfeasance, heinous, multiplicity, melodious, sepulchral, . . . I love her words!

Chapter 10: Flora was a cynic and didn't care whether her mother loved her or not.

It made me sad that Flora and her mother had such a strained relationship. For Flora to even think that her mother preferred the lamp Maryann to her own daughter is not funny.

Chapter 11: "Do not hope; instead, observe."

Flora kept referencing things she had read in Terrible Things Can Happen to You! This one came up often as a sort of life philosophy.

Chapter 12: "Holy unanticipated occurrences!" 

This phrase was from The Illuminated Adventures of the Amazing Incandesto! which was Flora's favorite superhero comic that she and her dad shared.

 

There's a whole passage in chapter 15 about electric chairs that I highlighted but am too lazy to type here. DiCamillo is a wonderful, creative author. I love how she writes to her audience with respect and humor.

 

 Chapter 21: Every superhero had an arch-nemesis.

That Flora suspects William Spiver of being Ulysses' arch-nemesis stems more from her initial dislike of him than anything else. Her neighbor, Tootie Tickham, is an absolute delight. She's the nutty lady who "gets" weird kids like Flora.

Chapter 24: In any case, he wasn't thinking about dying. He was thinking about poetry. That is what Tootie said he had written. Poetry. He liked the word - its smallness, its density, the way it rose up at the end as if it had wings.

Ulysses loves words. He uses Flora's mom's typewriter to express himself. He's a very sensitive squirrel.

Chapter 25: Considering the human beings she was surrounded by, believing in a squirrel seemed like an increasingly reasonable plan of action.

Flora's dad is a bit of an odd duck, but a very nice man. He would introduce himself in any random situation.

Chapter 25: Tootie put a hand on her chest. "This is Rilke," she said. "'You, sent out beyond your recall, / go to the limits of your longing. / Embody me. / Flare up like flame / and make big shadows I can move in.'"

Ulysses stared up at Tootie, his eyes bright.

I love that the squirrel and the neighbor lady both loved poetry and bonded over it. So sweet!

Chapter 27: Overflowing trash cans, just-cut grass, sun-warmed patches of pavement, the loamy richness of dirt, earthworms (loamy-smelling, too; often difficult to distinguish from the smell of dirt), dog, more dog, dog again (Oh, dogs! Small dogs, large dogs, foolish dogs; the torturing of dogs was the one reliable pleasure of a squirrel's existence), the tang of fertilizer, a faint whiff of birdseed, something baking, the hidden hint of nuttiness (pecan, acorn), the small, apologetic, don't-mind-me odor of mouse, and the ruthless stench of cat. (Cats were terrible; cats were never to be trusted. Never.)

This stream-of-consciousness of Ulysses (sniffing with his head out the car window) as he and Flora travel to the donut shop with her father amused me, especially as it relates squirrels to dogs and cats.

Chapter 36: What was the apostrophe doing there? Did the doctor own the Meescham? And what was it with exclamation marks? Did people not know what they were for?

It felt as though DiCamillo wrote this for me. I notice signs and misused punctuation marks. I loved Dr. Meescham, though.

Chapter 36: Someone inside the apartment was screaming. No, someone was singing. It was opera. Opera music.

Again, this resonated for me. My mom sometimes listened to opera on the radio. I would always ask her why she wanted to listen to people screaming.

Chapter 38: Good grief, thought Flora. What did he paint when he was old and depressed?

Oh my! Dr. Meescham has just told Flora that the dark painting of a squid about to attack a boat was a reminder of her late husband when he was "young and joyful." Flora's mental response is funny.

Chapter 39: "Pascal," said Dr. Meescham, "had it that since it could not be proven whether God existed, one might as well believe that he did, because there was everything to gain by believing and nothing to lose. This is how it is for me. What do I lose if I choose to believe? Nothing!"

I had heard of "Pascal's Wager" before, but I had forgotten. I love when I learn / relearn things like this!

Chapter 53: It was comforting to have William Spiver act just as annoying in a dream as he would in real life.

I'm not sure why this amused me, but I've always found dreams to be fascinating.

Chapter 54: Cat revenge was a terrible thing. Cats never forgot an insult. Never. And to be thrown down a hallway (backward) by a squirrel was a terrible insult.

Cats can act as though they are evil geniuses, plotting revenge on anyone who has wronged them.

Chapter 58: Was Flora strange?

He supposed so.

But what was wrong with that?

She was strange in a good way. She was strange in a lovable way. Her heart was so big. It was capacious. Just like George Buckman's heart.

I love that Ulysses sees Flora as she is and loves her that way. I find it distressing that her own mother wants her to be more "normal."

Chapter 66: "The truth," said William Spiver, "is a slippery thing. I doubt that you will ever get to The Truth. You may get to a version of the truth. But The Truth? I doubt it very seriously."

I could open up a discussion on truth here, but I shall not. I love that DiCamillo is writing for children, but her writing definitely has room for stretching thinking.

Chapter 67: "Normalcy is an illusion, of course," said William Spiver. "There is no normal."

And so William Spiver points out a truth and the story ends with Ulysses' poem Words for Flora. I'm a bit surprised I've blogged so much about a children's book!

How to Be a Pirate

By: Cressida Cowell

Libby audiobook 3 hours

Read by: David Tennant (yes, the Dr. Who actor!)

Published: 2004 (this version 2013)

Genre: children's fantasy

 

This second book in the series continues the growth of Hiccup Haddock Horrible on his journey to becoming a full fighting member of the Hairy Hooligan tribe. Questions of who is the rightful heir to the chief and if Hiccup can overcome his challenges draw the story along. Alvin (who claims to be a poor and honest farmer) convinces the tribe to go on a dangerous quest, then attempts to overthrow the Hooligans. Leave it to Hiccup and his dragon Toothless (along with best friend Fish Legs) to save the day! 

 

This series is quite enjoyable. I've already requested book three.

What's So Amazing About Grace?

By: Philip Yancey

Libby audiobook 3 hours

Narrated by the author

Published: 2003

Genre: Christianity

I loved this book until I got to the very end . . . and found out it was abridged! I do not generally check out abridgements, preferring the author's full text. I've just looked at the description and it clearly says, "Edition - Unabridged." Grrr.

I've now checked out the revised edition which is ten hours long . . . So I'll blog that at the end of this once I've finished.

This book is fascinating and fantastic. God's grace is truly too often overlooked or ignored. Some of his stories were hard to hear (a prostitute selling time with her two-year-old daughter . . . ) but others were quite familiar. He told stories about his own mother and grandmother, without acknowledging the relationship (I only know because I've read his memoir). 

I didn't jot down any notes or quotes, but perhaps I'll capture some when I listen to the full-length version.

<Above posted 1.8.26. Below added 1.26.26.>

The full length book has so very much more in it (no surprise) but I almost appreciate the more concise version. This ten hour audiobook got much more into history, politics, sociology, etc.

In the section on homosexuality, I really appreciate that Yancey led with a story about a friend. I am curious to read Mel White's Stranger at the Gate, but I have too many books on my list right now! I love the irony (and also it makes me sad) that members of the Metropolitan Community Church (an LGBTQ church that believes in Jesus) was singing "Jesus Loves Me" at angry Christian protesters. 

Yancey goes on to say "Why do Christians hate so much?" Too often, Christians lash out in anger and even hatred toward others who do not believe as they (we) do. Yancey mentioned that in interviews with Bill Clinton, Clinton shared some of the angry, hateful letters he had received from Evangelicals. Listening to this made me wonder how do these same Christians view Trump? He lies, cheats, brags, and does so many unethical things! (That's coming from me, not Yancey.)

Yancey refers to the opposite of grace as "ungrace." I think that's too kind of him. 

There was a section when he talked about unclean animals and the whole dream sequence Peter has in Acts 10. His sermon "What does God have against lobster?" led to the conclusion "No oddballs allowed" for many churches. (Fit in or leave.) This is an example of ungrace.

I started to try to copy a section but just marked it as part 3, chapter 15 with the time. Yancey was talking about his school's legalistic approach to things like hair length, clothing, cigarettes, drinking, etc.

"Strict legalism pulls in the bounds of deviance. We might sneak off to a bowling alley but would never think of touching liquor, or horrors! Drugs. Though I can find nothing in the Bible against cigarettes, I am glad that Fundamentalism scared me away from them even before the Surgeon General mounted a bully pulpit. In short, I have little resentment against these particular rules but much resentment against the way they were presented. I had the constant, pounding sense that following an external code of behavior was the way to please God. More, to make God love me. It has taken me years to distill the gospel out of the subculture in which I first encountered it. Sadly, many of my friends gave up on the effort, never getting to Jesus because the pettiness of church blocked the way."

There is so much more to this. I like that Yancey is nuanced and thoughtful in considering the topics he writes about. I love his focus on grace and how Christians are sometimes not very Christlike in showing grace. He is a wonderful author and I really like this book.

What Does It Feel Like?

By: Sophie Kinsella

Hennepin County Library hardcover 120 pages plus author's note and acknowledgements

Published: 2024

Genre: realistic fiction

Oh my. I read a reference to this and requested it from the library. I'm not a huge Kinsella fan, but am aware of her fiction, especially the Shopaholic series. After reading this book, I went online to find that Kinsella died December 10, 2025. Less than a month ago, she was alive. She was just shy of her 56th birthday. Wow.

This book is fiction, but she called it her "most autobiographical" book so far. It's her final book, unless there are other manuscripts that will be published posthumously. Eve is a writer with a devoted husband and five children. She wakes up in a hospital one day, struggling to remember what happened. She had a brain tumor, a cancerous glioblastoma, removed. Onward to chemotherapy and radiation.

The book is short, touching, and worth reading. Some of her anecdotes on dealing with cancer treatment ring reminders for me of my friends who have traveled that path. Her husband's loving devotion and her clear concern for her children brought tears to my eyes. This is a beautiful and painful book (painful knowing it is fairly true to her life).