The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Volume 2

By: Beth Brower

Libby audiobook  5 hours

Read by: Genevieve Gaunt 

Published: 2019 (this version 2025)

Genre: historical fiction

 

I love this series so much! Each volume is short. I've listened to it and have a print version on hold at the library. The narrator does a lovely job, but I just want to pore over the words. I may write a fan letter to the author!

 

In this one, Emma establishes a communication and even friendship with "the renter." She makes what I think of as a "deal with the devil" in agreeing to trade favors with the duplicitous Jack. They make a daring rescue of Jane Eyre from the school Emma went to. 

 

Just a delightful story and I'll add to this entry after I read the print version. 

 

Lolita

By: Vladimir Nabokov

With an introduction by Claire Messud 

Libby ebook  Part One (33 chapters), Part Two (36 chapters), "Vladimir Nabokov on a Book Entitled Lolita," Author Bio, and Reading Group Guide

Published: 1955 (this edition / intro 2025)

Genre: fiction

 

I only got to chapter five in the first part before I decided I didn't want to read this book. I try to read at least one "classic" work of literature each year, to broaden my horizons. I had some vague notions about this book based on references to it (especially the Police song sung by Sting - Don't Stand So Close to Me - which references "that book by Nabokov").

 

If you're curious about the book, just read the Wikipedia page about it. I'm glad to have a bookmark in my brain for the name Humbert Humbert, but I'll find a different book to spend my time reading.

 

Introduction: The real world around us, seventy years after Lolita's publication, unsettlingly resembles that of Humbert Humbert's account, one in which men are psychotically obsessed with women (or girls, in his case), whose human reality is all but obliterated by their projected fantasy.

 

This creeped me out and immediately brought to mind the Epstein files and the many, many men who lived out their sexual fantasies with underage girls. Nasty. Not fiction.

 

Foreword: Viewed simply as a novel, "Lolita" deals with situations and emotions that would remain exasperatingly vague to the reader had their expression been etiolated by means of platitudinous evasions.

 

From Wikipedia: "The novel is prefaced by a fictitious foreword by John Ray Jr., an editor of psychology books. Ray states that he is presenting a memoir written by a man using the pseudonym "Humbert Humbert", who had recently died of heart disease while in jail awaiting trial for an unspecified crime" So . . . Nabokov wrote the foreword as though a psychology book editor wrote it. Weird. 

 

Chapter 3: . . . . and four months later she died of typhus in Corfu.

 

Holy cow! He's talking about a young love for Annabel and is describing a scene at the beach. This comment comes at the end of a sentence and chapter.   

 

Chapter 5: . . . and soon I found myself maturing amid a civilization which allows a man of twenty-five to court a girl of sixteen but not a girl of twelve.

 

Um . . . yeah. Because that's just creepy. At this point, I went to wikipedia and read the summary of the story. I am not interested in trying to understand this book from an academic point of view and I certainly don't want to read it for "pleasure." So I figured I'd blog this much, return it, and move on. His discussion of "nymphettes" was just too much for me.

Glucose Revolution: The life-changing power of balancing your blood sugar

By: Jessie Inchauspé

Scott County Library hardcover 224 pages plus acknowledgements, notes, and index

Published: 2022

Genre: non-fiction, nutrition

 

This book was recommended to me by an alternative-health person I met this summer. My blood sugar numbers have been creeping up and I do NOT want to have another medication to take, so I decided to read this. The cover also has the blurb "Lose weight, stop cravings, get your energy back, and still eat what you love."

 

I know myself well enough to know that I am not ready to radically change my eating habits. I do, however, want to make healthier choices and avoid being prescribed more medications than I'm already taking. So here are the "takeaways" from this book. (The author wore a glucose monitor and wrote a lot about glucose "spikes" and how our body deals with them. It's worth reading and thinking about.)

 

Page 16: Starch, fiber, fructose, and sucrose - the various forms glucose can take - exist thanks to photosynthesis. 

 

I'm not sure why I marked this, but thinking about food in terms of these "types" and knowing how our bodies process, store, and burn glucose was interesting.

 

Hack 1 - Eat Foods in the Right Order  

 

Page  73: What is the right order? It's fiber first, protein and fat second, starches and sugars last.

 

This is something I'm trying to start. When it's reasonable, I'm getting veggies into me, then protein, then other stuff. Work in progress. A few times, I've done celery with peanut butter before eating my meal.

 

Hack 2 - Add a Green Starter to All Your Meals

 

This . . . just won't happen. ALL my meals? Again, when reasonable, I'll have a green veggie before the rest of my meal. (Salad first is how I grew up, but only at some dinner meals.) 

 

Hack 3 - Stop Counting Calories

 

Page 104: In any case, calories measure heat generated, nothing else.

Page 104: One hundred calories of fructose, 100 calories of glucose, 100 calories of protein, and 100 calories of fat may release the same amount of heat when they burn, but they have vastly different effects on your body. Why? Because they are different molecules.

 

This section made me think of the Eat This, Not That books. It makes a lot of sense that calories only aren't as important as how your body uses what you eat. I remember when I started tracking my food in 2016 - would I rather have a sugar cookie at work or consume those calories in a glass of red wine that evening? Making conscious choices about what to eat is helpful.

 

Hack 4 - Flatten Your Breakfast Curve

 

Page 123: Eating takes longer than drinking. Second, in a whole piece of fruit, sugar is always accompanied by fiber. As I explained earlier, fiber significantly reduces the spike caused by any sugar we eat.

 

Page 123: The more denatured a fruit is, the worse it is for us. An apple is better for us than applesauce, which is better for us than apple juice. Essentially, as soon as it's juiced, dried, candied, canned, or turned to jam, you should think of fruit as dessert, just as you would a slice of cake.

 

Although I completely understand what she's saying here, I think for those of us who easily tend toward unhealthy eating habits, even fruit juice or dried fruit is preferable to a candy bar or doughnut. I love that she advocates for a savory breakfast. I much prefer bacon and eggs to pancakes or cereal!

 

Page 133: A good rule of thumb for a smoothie: don't put more fruit into the blender than you could eat whole in one sitting.

 

Hack 5 - Have Any Type of Sugar You Like - They're All the Same

 

Page 147: . . . remember, sweetness activates the addiction center in our brain. The more we eat it, the more we want it.

 

I didn't used to be a "sweet tooth" person, but I find myself eating more candy and sweet treats the last few years than I used to . . . and I'd like to change that.  

 

Hack 6 - Pick Dessert Over a Sweet Snack

 

I think she talked about saving that sweet snack for after your next meal. Eat it as a dessert instead of snacking on it between meals. 

 

Hack 7 - Reach for Vinegar Before You Eat

 

Page 159: What researchers found was that by adding vinegar before meals for three months, the subjects lost two to four pounds and reduced their visceral fat, waist and hip measurements, and triglyceride levels.

 

I'm not a big fan of vinegar, but I think this is one hack I will try. Once a day instead of every meal, but a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in a big glass of water is worth trying.

 

Page 166: You shouldn't experience any negative side effects as long as you stick to drinkable vinegar - i.e., vinegar with 5 percent acidity (cleaning vinegar has 6 percent acidity, so if it's next to the mops and toilet paper at the supermarket, don't drink it!).

 

I didn't even think about the variability of acidity in different vinegars! Now I want to check and see what I have in my house.

 

Hack 8 - After You Eat, Move

 

Sometimes I'm good about this and other times (too often) I just sit on the sofa.  Going for a walk is much better for my body. This is a habit I could definitely work on.

 

Hack 9 - If You Have to Snack, Go Savory 

 

Again, I like savory, so this is good! I'm just going to throw a pic from page 186 here for ideas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hack 10 - Put Some Clothes on Your Carbs

 

This was about eating "on the go." So if you're having a brownie, ask for some Greek yogurt on it. Or add nuts to your cookie dough. She had a lot of ideas, but I don't think anything really inspired me here. Or maybe I was just already thinking about doing some of the earlier hacks.

 

Cheat Sheets - How to Be a Glucose Goddess When Things Get Hard 

 

She has an instagram account called the Glucose Goddess. She shared some people's testimonials about how her hacks have helped them. This book is worth reading if you're curious, like me. And / or your blood sugar is of concern. She's careful to say that you should consult with your doctor if you have diabetes and are taking insulin. It's well-written and I want to try some of these things. Basically, I am starting with eating more veggies. (A trip to the Farmer's Market was a good thing for me to do last Saturday.) 

 

 

The September Society

By: Charles Finch

Libby audiobook 

Read by: James Langton

Published: 2008 (this version 2011)

Genre: historical murder mystery

Charles Lenox Mystery #2 

 

Right from the get-go I did not enjoy this book as much as the first one. The story opens with British soldiers in India and a reference to the "darkies." I know that it's historically accurate, but Lysander and Juniper and their actions are darker spiritually than the people they're denigrating. Then, too, the story made me think immediately of Sherlock Holmes and the Sign of Four. 

 

My random notes include:

• Most of the story is just traveling back and forth from London to Oxford. Why?! 
• Who are all these people?! Dabney, Goodson, . . . I wasn't listening that well . . .  
• McConnell & Toto marriage troubles . . . baby does not necessarily equal happiness! 
• Dithering over asking Jane to marry him! Just ask her! 
• ballistics - history? 

 

It was an interesting murder mystery but much too convoluted for me. I'm not going to request book #3 at this point . . . but I may continue on in the series later. 

Remarkably Bright Creatures

By: Shelby Van Pelt

Libby audiobook 11 hours

Read by:  Marin Ireland and Michael Urie

Published: 2022

Genre: mostly realistic fiction

 

What an engaging story! I loved Tova, the strong-though-tiny widow who cleans at the aquarium. I really liked the octopus Marcellus (and the vocal work of Urie) even though he came across as supercilious at times. Cameron was a bit too much of a deadbeat for me . . . though he got better as the story went on.

 

I was surprised to see that it's being made into a movie . . . and also that this is Van Pelt's debut novel. It was interesting to think about Tova's life - her Swedish father building the house she lived in, her husband's illness and death, the loss of their son Eric at age 18 . . . the author did a nice job making connections throughout the book.

 

For some reason, I really liked the Grateful Dead t-shirt part of the book. I really disliked Tova's "KnitWit" girlfriends, especially Barb. I wish the author had described some aspects of the characters lives in more depth. Aunt Jean was quirky, to say the least. And Ethan's back story seemed slim. But overall, a very delightful book. Marcellus' chapters really enhanced the story. 

 

I found a scrap of paper after I posted this six days ago. Nothing big, but I wanted to note that Cameron's band was "Moth Sausage," and I loved that Ethan found a shirt with their logo. Early on, I had noted "loser" by Cameron's name. I just didn't like him even though his bio mom had dumped him on her sister, his Aunt Jean. It's hard to have empathy for someone who is a lazy slob with a "poor me" attitude. Tova, on the other hand, was amazing. Interesting how things turn around. 

The Brunswick

By: Callie Murray

Dakota County library paperback 340 pages plus author's note and acknowledgements

Published: 2026

Genre: Christian historical fiction, WWII

 

I didn't make it to the book club discussion last night but I really enjoyed this book. Set in Norcross, Georgia in 1939 and Austria (same time), this first-time novelist really crafted an engaging story. Cora is the protagonist who grew up at the Brunswick, a fancy hotel built by her father after he returned from WWI with his French bride. Alas, Cora's mother left and her father fell into a deep depression. Cora struggles to keep the hotel afloat in the aftermath of the Great Depression.

 

Page 72: What would life look like if her mother hadn't left them? If the financial crash hadn't happened? If her father hadn't served in the war?

She could write a thousand different stories, but the truth was they were living just this one.

 

I flagged this passage because I think most people have had times where they've asked the "what if" questions. It can be interesting to think of how life might have turned out differently, but it isn't productive. Looking ahead at options and choices will be more fruitful than looking back.

 

Page 87: Adults hid their expressions like a secret, while children shared theirs so freely, like little gifts.

 

This made me chuckle, because I tend to show my thoughts and feelings quite freely (like a little child) even though I'm sixty! I've always called it NOT having a good poker face.

 

Page 107: "New York strips for all of us. Medium."

 

This was an odd thing for me to flag, but I strongly dislike the idea of anyone ordering other people's food at a restaurant without consulting them! It really makes me crabby! Granted, Billie as a character was dramatic and  forthright, but she just made me mad with this comment at a restaurant while out with best friend Cora and their beaus.

 

Page 124: "Opening the hotel to the children is the right thing to do, so I'm going to do it," she said with fresh resolve. "And I'm going to trust that it's like you say, Evelyn. Surely my father will understand."

 

Cora and her father did not communicate. For her to make major decisions (like opening the Brunswick to dozens of German Jewish children) without even trying to talk with him about it seemed risky. I kept waiting for him to go completely off the deep end. Her blithe attitude belied an undercurrent of tremendous concern.

 

Page 172:  Billie's jaw dropped and Cora clarified, "Not that exciting."

 

I'm not going to explain the entire conversational context here, but this was a lovely scene between best friends as Billie has just experienced her honeymoon night and Cora and Thomas are starting a romance.

 

Page 206: Cora and Thomas had both learned that if life was just a pursuit of happiness, they were destined to profound disappointment. 

But if life were about love, they could find victory, even in the worst of times.

Even grief was a testament to love.

 

This is really key for me. I want to be a faithful Christ follower and not just pursue my own desires. So many people seem to make decisions based purely on their own personal happiness / wants. That isn't fulfilling. I want to live for eternity while still enjoying the blessings of the here and now. (I can hear Louie saying, "You want it all, Jeanne.") God's still working on me!

 

Page 214: It was one thing to wrestle with fear yourself. It was much harder to wrestle the fears of another.

 

It's interesting that such an observation would come from Charlotte, a child. But some children are quite perceptive. She wants to alleviate her parents' worries and the other children's worries . . . but cannot.

 

Page 232: Nobody understands what one is experiencing, she agreed. Sometimes least of all the one experiencing it.

 

This reminds me of the importance of empathy. I may not really know or understand what you're going through, but I care about you and I see your struggle. In this scene, they're waiting for the children to get off the train. Cora wonders what the children are feeling as they come to a safe place but without their parents, and in a strange world with a different language.

 

Page 234: "Worry is a waste of the time we have left."

 

John (the father of Dean, Thomas, and Anders) says this to Cora. He has seen his wife sicken and die from ALS. He has been ostracized because of his German heritage. He has seen troubles befall his sons. But he shares this wisdom with Cora. Scripture says a lot about not worrying!

 

Page 251: It seemed that joy and sorrow weren't on opposite ends of a pole as she once thought. Instead, they felt like circles that often intersected.

 

Cora was a wonderful protagonist with strengths and flaws. I really like this observation. I, too, can laugh and cry in a short span of time.

 

Page 279: He pulled up a watermelon deep from the dirt and . . . 

 

What?! Watermelons don't grow "deep" in the dirt! This stopped me short. A watermelon isn't a carrot.

 

Page 286: . . . John had experienced so much heartache, yet, unlike her own father, he hadn't succumbed to it. Even in the midst of the current hardships, he seemed to be coming back to life again, sprouting after a long winter.

 

Cora's observations about John and her own father don't leave her bitter. She is wondering about the difference and marveling at John's recovery from deep grief.

 

Page 289: "Look, people will always fear what they don't know. The only remedy I've found is just to get to know the unknown."

 

I love Meredith! True salt of the earth, that woman. She certainly takes life in stride.

 

Page 296: Peace emanated from her, filled the room.

How did she manage?

Hope. He heard the word as if it were whispered.

 

When Thomas is being interrogated by the Nazis, he thinks back to his mother as she was suffering and dying. Her example gave him strength.

 

Page 299: She had never understood his patterns - awake all evening, asleep all day. But now for the first time, she could understand how one's mind could work at a different pace as one's body, how they could depend on each other so fully yet let each other down all the same.

 

I like this both for Cora gaining a better understanding of her father and for the concept that our minds and bodies don't always cooperate with one another! It can be maddening to be exhausted and need sleep, but to have your mind running around keeping you awake.

 

Page 307: What could victory even look like in this broken paradigm? Thomas and these children were now free of the Nazis' threat, but the emotional war was just beginning. Fear had given way to guilt and grief, tempered only by the occasional rush of thankfulness, of joy.

Cora watched Ben's face as he felt the blow of each of these, a crushing wave one after another.

Grief and gratitude, like the tides.

 

Freedom is a powerful thing. To be free in your mind and soul isn't the same as being physically free in your body.

 

Page 325: Time had been Cora's enemy, a relentless force that was always far too fast or too slow. 

 

Cora is learning to live in the moment. But this idea that time in an enemy is interesting . . . time is just time. But when "time flies when you're having fun" and it seems to crawl when you want to move on. . . . time can seem to be an entity unto itself. 

 

Page 329: "Dignity's like a lightning rod, it seems."

 

Thomas has "woken" Cora's dad from his stupor. I'm not sure this is a very realistic scenario for someone who's been sunk in a depressive stupor for years, but this comment has some truth to it. As a woman, I need to be more cognizant of how men view "help" from women. It's too easy to have an emasculating effect on men when you are a strong, determined woman.

In her author's note, Murray wrote several things that caught my attention. This novel was partially based upon the real-life story of Eleanor and Gilbert Kraus as told in their granddaughter Liz Perle's book and film 50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus. I really want to see this! I've requested the book from the library. It appears that the documentary can be watched on YouTube.

 

The author also wrote about how elements of Cora's life paralleled her own. She also struggled with weakness in her hands and tremors, feared ALS, and found that a stomach infection had caused a malabsorption of nutrients. "So much of what we felt we had lost was returned to us, but that experience was intensely formative. 'Open hands' became our mantra." The image of open hands, ready to receive, was a beautiful part of this book.

 

This woman is so amazing! I love how she wove so many different elements into this story without it becoming cluttered or overdone. I really wish I'd been at book club last night. And I hope Murray writes more books!