by Helen Zoe Veit, 2026 This book was recommended by the Economist. It gives you detailed history of childrens’ diets since the late 1800s to present. It was very clear that children were NOT picky in the late 1800s until the 1950s when we incorporated bad psychology, along with modern conveniences like electricity, supermarkets, refrigerators, […]
Author: bookhound
Brave New World
by Aldous Huxley, 1932 Wayne suggested reading this book for years. The Parkwood Estates Library had a copy of it, so I took it and finally read it, at the age of 67! It starts out horrible – a baby factory! Thousands of babies being manufactured, decanted. They decant them in different castes. Some are […]
When You’re Ready: A Love Story
by Kareem Rosser, 2025 Christie told me about this book. She read it and loved it. Kareem continues his life story. He meets and falls in love with a rich, white, beautiful girl named Lee Lee Jones. She was a horse-girl, participating in Eventing Competitions, which Kareem considered more difficult than Polo. Her family was […]
The Colorado River: Chasing Water
by Pete McBride, 2024 Coffee table-sized book full of pictures and information on the Colorado River from where it starts in our Rocky Mountains to where it peters out in the desert. It’s heartbreaking, though, because the Colorado River used to be a powerful river that flowed all the way to the Gulf of California […]
A Fine Romance: Falling in love with the English Countryside
by Susan Branch, 2013 Neighbor Sara recommended this book. I started reading it soon after we sent Jojo to heaven and it was the perfect escape. She writes about a trip she and her beloved husband, Joe, made across the Atlantic from Martha’s Vineyard to England and back on the Queen Mary 2 (not a […]
The Whole-Brain Child
by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., and Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D., 2011 Danette recommended this book. It’s from a podcast that she and Adam listen to. They already own the book. They’re using the concepts as they raise Eliya. When she falls down and gets hurt and cries, they say, “That must have hurt,” rather than, […]
Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives
by Siddharth Kara, 2023 Adam suggested this book. It’s about mining for cobalt in the Congo. It is unbelievably heart-breaking. The injustice, the oppression, the evil that is taking place is so awful. I had no idea. China and the major companies that use lithium-ion batteries, of which cobalt is one of the major ingredients, […]
A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon
by Kevin Fedarko, 2024 Adam recommended this book. It’s by the author of The Emerald Mile, the book about Kenton Grua’s fastest run down the Colorado in 1983 in a wooden dory named after a stand of Redwood trees that were partially clear-cut. That was an excellent book. This one is even better. Kevin Fedarko’s […]
Theo of Golden
by Allen Levi, 2023 Ben and Lola gave this book to Wayne for me to read when he was over there telling them about the sidewalk replacement that was going to happen. They both loved this book and wanted me to read it. They said it was “uplifting” and “heartwarming.” I loved it! It was […]
My Broken Language
by Quiara Alegria Hudes, 2021 I got this book from a Little Free Library in the neighborhood. It is a memoir and won the Pulitzer Prize. I apologize I cannot figure out how to put the accent mark over the “i” in Alegria. Her mother is Puerto Rican (“Philly Rican”), one generation removed; her father […]
God Promised Me Wings to Fly: Life for Survivors after Suicide
by Janet V. Grillo, 2021 The library’s monthly biographies email recommended this book. I don’t know. She is a sweetheart, but she is so child-like, innocent, gullible. Her husband, Tony, committed suicide. Then she found out he was having one affair after another and she had to get tested for STDs. Thankfully, she didn’t have […]
Just Kids
by Patti Smith, 2010 I got this book from a Little Free Library (Smith Street?). I wanted to read it because Wayne has her album, Easter, and she has always intrigued me; her lyrics and the album cover photo of her. I knew nothing about her, except for her hit song, Because the Night, which […]
Beautiful Ruins
by Jess Walter, 2012 I got this book from a Little Free Library (I think the one on Smith Street). I LOVED IT! It’s set in Italy on the Cinque Terre, a little village called Porto Vergogna, Port of Shame. The main characters are Dee Moray and Pasquale Tursi. Dee is a beautiful American actress […]
Harbour Street: A Vera Stanhope Mystery
by Ann Cleeves, 2014 Fun murder mystery set in seaside town called Mardle, near Newcastle in England, modern day. Police detective, Vera Stanhope, and her team looking for the murderer of Margaret Krukowski, a 70-year old beautiful woman, living in the attic room of an inn on Harbour Street. Loved the characters, the setting. Vera […]
We Did OK, Kid: A Memoir
by Anthony Hopkins, 2025 Excellent book by Sir Anthony Hopkins, telling his life story. He never mentions when he was born, just that he is 87 years old, and the book was published in 2025, so I’m guessing he was born in 1938, just like Mom. He was born and grew up in Wales, the […]
Homeward Hound
by Rita Mae Brown, 2018 I picked this book out from Parkwood Estate’s Library; there were a lot of Rita Mae Brown books. I love the cover. It was disappointing. Her style is very clipped sentences, talking animals (foxes, hounds, horses, cats), and a mystery that never really made sense, even when you find out […]
Murder in Mesopotamia
by Agatha Christie, 1936 Fun mystery set in the desert of Iraq, near Baghdad. A nurse, Nurse Amy Leatheran, is sent to help the anxious wife (Mrs. Leidner) of an archaeologist (Mr. Leidner). They all live together in a gated compound with 8 other people who each have various jobs on the dig: Miss Johnson […]
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: One-The Lightning Thief
by Rick Riordan, 2005 Read this book because Anza and Isabel were talking about it in the context of a movie or TV show coming out that would have the effect that the movies Lord of The Rings had on Wayne and I – we loved those books but now our images of the characters […]
The Loop
by Nicholas Evans, 1998 I got this book from a Little Free Library. It was about wolves, ranchers, and Federal biologists. Set in a fictional town called Hope, Montana. The beginning is SCARY – a big black wolf almost snatches a baby (the rancher’s grandson) out of his carriage on the front porch. The dog […]
Super Gut: A Four-Week Plan to Reprogram Your Microbiome, Restore Health, and Lose Weight
by William Davis, MD (author of Wheat Belly), 2022 Danette’s Aunt recommended this book; it helped her lose 30 pounds and feel so much better all around. His premise is that modern life has wreaked havoc on our microbiome and that destruction and proliferation of bad bacteria up the digestive tract, SIBO and SIFO – […]