Blue Diary

by Alice Hoffman
loan from Kathy Kendall, paperback, 283 pages
genre: realistic fiction

This book made me sad . . . it starts with a husband and wife making love instead of going to work, and ends with dozens of lives being shattered. I don't want to spoil it for other readers, so I'll just make notes on the pages I post-it noted and let you decide for yourself! (The writing is quite good; I just didn't love the story.)

Page 22-23 Neighbor girl Kat - "Maybe that's because everybody was crying at my father's funeral except for me. When you do things like that, when you stand there and shut your mind until all you can hear is the humming of bees, people think you don't have any feelings. They think what they see is what you feel deep inside." This struck a chord with me because I have to remind myself that I don't know what people are thinking or feeling based on what I see. Just because I am extremely expressive (for good or for ill), that doesn't mean others will (or should) broadcast their feelings.

Page 130 - When we learn about the horrible thing that happened, we also learn about the victim. "He saw her diary, there beside her bed, and the key, which was strung on a blue ribbon." I'm always curious about titles of books and their origins. Since this was the first mention of a diary in the book, I marked it. And page 203, the next one I marked, brings it up again. I was pleasantly surprised (but also saddened) by the character James, victim Rachel's brother.

Page 213 - Kat again - "Some people needed saving, and I was beginning to realize that Rosarie was among them. That night I stayed awake, thinking of how I could set things right." A twelve-year-old shouldn't have to protect her older, wild sister, but I ended up changing from dislike for Kat to appreciating her.

Page 215 - I love librarian Grace Henley! She is wise, caring, observant, and sensitive to the lives of her patrons. Just as a librarian should be!

Page 223 - The diary again, this time in Jorie's hands. "Every time she sees it, she is reminded of hos some things are never over; they stay with you until they're a part of you, like it or not." Yep. I can relate to that one!

Page 240-1 Small town judgmentalism . . . also makes me sad. People make assumptions about Jorie and justify their attitudes. Sad, but also sadly true to life.

One thing that did bother me about Hoffman's writing was that chapters often switched to a new point of view, but it took a while to figure out whose it was. A small bit of cognitive dissonance, but I skipped ahead to figure out whose perspective, then went back and started the chapter knowing whose "voice" I was hearing.

Eleanor Roosevelt and the Arthurdale Experiment

by Nancy Hoffman
PRMS discard hardcover 97 pages plus endnotes
genre: non-fiction

I was trying to do more weeding before I left PRMS. This title has not been checked out in the eight years I've been there. It made me think of the Gantos book Dead End in Norvelt . . . and I think I appreciated learning about this topic all the more for having read the fiction title first! Eleanor Roosevelt was an amazing woman! This experiment was pretty expensive (and widely criticized at the time), but it was courageous and life-changing for the families who got to live in this community. This brief book was well-researched and had lots of quotes from people who lived in Arthurdale.

Survival Lessons

by Alice Hoffman
Scott County Library hardcover 83 pages
genre: non-fiction, self-help

Written when the author was struggling with cancer, this book is almost like a devotional (but without the element of faith in God Almighty). It's a beautiful book of reflections, advice, photographs, and wisdom. This is a book I would buy and give to people diagnosed with cancer. It is beautiful.

And I need to make some of these brownies . . . I'm intrigued.