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Birds, Beasts, and Relatives

by Gerald Durrell, 1969

A second beautiful book about his time in Corfu in the late 1930’s. What a treasure his books are! His writing brings me to a place and time and among people I love. This book covered stories about a wedding party, Gerry’s surprise birthday present of a goat, Gerry witnessing the birth of a baby boy, meeting Sven and his accordion, sea horses and fishing with Kokino using a female cuttlefish, Captain Creech (lecherous old drunk sea captain), the seance lady who is deceiving Margo, the recluse Countess in her enormous villa, night-fishing on the reefs with Taki, olive harvest, grape harvest, and his endless collecting of insects, sea creatures, and land creatures; all beautifully and hilariously described.

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The River

by Peter Heller, 2019

What a disappointing book! Can’t believe it is by the same author who wrote The Dog Stars! Two young men, best friends, decide to canoe a river in Canada. They run into 1. A huge wildfire, 2. A lunatic who tried to murder his wife, and after the young men go back and save her, the lunatic then tries to ambush and murder them, and 3. Two drunk Texans in a motorized canoe who want to molest the ailing woman. It’s full of one word sentences like “Still.” Also full of detailed descriptions of the young men fly-fishing. Was he trying to be cool? One of the young men is a gullible gentle giant who keeps giving the lunatic the benefit of the doubt. He ends up shot to death by one of the drunk Texans. We never get a good reason for the lunatic trying to murder his wife – she can barely speak but mentions she has published more papers than him. This is what you get when an author just has to crank something out.

Where the Crawdads Sing

by Delia Owens, 2018

What a fantastic book! Once the murder trial started, I could not put it down. I tried to go to sleep at 10:00 p.m. but got up at 10:45 p.m. and finished this book by 1:45 a.m.! It was so good! So well-written and what a plot and characters! The main character is Kya Clark, the Marsh Girl, abandoned first by her mother at age 6, then by her older brother, Jodie, and finally by her abusive, drunk father at the age of 10. She lives by herself in a shack in the marshes of North Carolina, near a small town called Barkley Cove, but a world away all by herself. One person, Tate Walker, saves her when she is lost, befriends her, teaches her to read, encourages her to learn about the flora and fauna of the marsh, but breaks her heart when he goes off to college and doesn’t return on July 4th as he promised. Her only other friends in the world are Jumpin’ and Mabel. Jumpin’ is the bait shop owner who saves her from starving by buying her mussels and smoked fish in return for gas for her boat, food, and supplies. His wife, Mabel, gives her clothing and love and comfort as she grows from child to woman.

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The Huntress

by Kate Quinn, 2019

Action-packed historical fiction about Nazi hunters in the 1950s. Characters are very appealing, except for the Huntress – die Jagerin. There are 6 main characters: Jordan McBride, young American girl who wants to be a photographer; Ian Graham, Englishman and former WWII war correspondent, who wants to catch the Huntress because she killed his brother; Nina Markova, decorated Russian pilot who had to escape Russia during the war because her father was a denouncer of Stalin; Tony Rodomovsky, part-Jewish WWII veteran (interpreter) who wants to catch war criminals; Anna McBride, the Huntress, who murdered 6 children because they were Jewish and murdered Ian’s brother, an escaped prisoner; and little Ruth, a little girl who Anna McBride kidnaps after killing her mother in order to escape to America. All of the characters were based on real-life people who did similar things or were an amalgamation of people who did. Got really good towards the end. It is a pretty long book–531 pages.

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Cairns for the Climb, from the Journals of Lygon Stevens

2012

Lygon Stevens died in an avalanche on January 10, 2008, while climbing Little Bear Peak in the Sangre de Cristos in Colorado. She was 20 years old. “Swept downhill over 1000 feet and buried under a mass of snow, she would not be recovered until late June when the snows melted.” (This written by her mother, Sarah Stevens, in the Preface to the book.) Her brother was with her but miraculously survived, and though injured, hiked out 8 miles over 20 hours. He had with him their camera and Lygon’s journal. This book is selected pieces from her journal along with breathtaking photographs of some of the mountains she climbed, including Denali, 4 summits in Ecuador, Mount Rainier, and ‘fourteen-ers’ in Colorado. Her journal entries reflect a relationship with God and a deep love of the Lord beyond her years! It is beautiful – she is beautiful – thank you, Lygon!

(more…) “Cairns for the Climb, from the Journals of Lygon Stevens”

This Is How It Always Is

by Laurie Frankel, 2017

What a fantastic book! What a fantastic writer! I didn’t want to read this book, but my friend, Christie, read it and said she couldn’t put it down – it was so good! So, I read it and felt the same way, even though the topic, a transgender child, is not one I wanted to read about. But, Laurie Frankel filled this book with such wonderful characters (Rosie, a doctor-wife; Penn, a writer-husband; Roo, short for Roosevelt, the oldest boy; Ben, the smart one; Rigel and Orion, twins; and the baby, Claude, who decides at the age of 3 he wants to be a girl.) The book happens in three parts: Part 1-their lives in Madison, Wisconsin, when Claude is born and when he decides he wants to be a girl; Part 2-the move to Seattle because after Mom (Rosie) tries to save a transgender gunshot wound victim who was accidentally shot but so badly beaten at a fraternity party, that she is consumed with fear that something like that may happen to Claude, who is now Poppy; Part 3-the move by Rosie and Poppy/Claude to live in Thailand briefly while Rosie runs a medical clinic in the northern rural area and Poppy/Claude teaches other children how to speak English. Thailand is where their eyes are opened to a new road – the middle road – because Thai society is so filled with transgender people that they even provide bathrooms for them.

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Grateful American : a journey from self to service

by Gary Sinise with Marcus Brotherton, 2019

After reading this fantastic memoir, I wish Gary Sinise would run for president. I’d vote for him! What a beautiful American he is, and his book is a beautiful message for us all. He thanks God he was in the right place at the right time during high school when a drama teacher walking down the hall looked him in the eye and told him to audition for a play, West Side Story. He went from being a pot-smoking loser who could barely read and write to a phenomenally successful actor and a man with a heart for our veterans. He never wants them to feel unappreciated; it breaks his heart how we treated our Vietnam veterans. His life since 9/11/2001 has been one of service above and beyond the call to veterans, first-responders, and their families. This memoir details it all and is engrossing and uplifting. Thank you, God, for Gary Sinise and thank you, Gary, for writing this and for all you do and continue to do, and for your faith.

(more…) “Grateful American : a journey from self to service”

It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way

by Lysa TerKeurst, 2018

Very helpful book about coping when your life is shattered into dust by heartbreak. The title is so fitting — when I experience major heartbreaks and disappointments, I wonder if God has forgotten me and even if He is a good God. This book offers solid, grounded, biblical reassurance that God never leaves us nor forsakes us and He is good, only good. Thank you, Lysa, I needed that!

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The Night Tiger

by Yangsze Choo, 2019

What a fun romp through British-colonial Malaya (Malaysia) in 1931! Delightful characters (11 year-old houseboy Ren; beautiful Ji Lin, handsome Shin) and mystery (why do these people keep dying and where is that finger) and sumptuous descriptions of Malaysian food and the flora and fauna of the tropics. I loved it!

My Family and Other Animals

by Gerald Durrell, 1956

How I adored this book! He tells of his time on the Greek isle of Corfu in the 1930s. His family moved there from England when oldest brother, Larry, finds out from a friend how warm and sunny it is there. It is laugh-out-loud funny and wonderfully written. It takes you to a gorgeous Greek island full of amazing beauty on land and sea, and wonderful, funny, delightful characters, both human and animal. Gerald (Gerry) is the youngest of four children of a precious, widowed Mother. Gerry loves all things critters and found his heaven on earth on this Greek isle of Corfu. The PBS Masterpiece production captures the essence of the island and the characters but doesn’t copy exactly any of the escapades described in the book. For example, in the book they lived in three different villas: the Strawberry-Pink Villa, the Daffodil-Yellow Villa, and the Snow-White Villa, whereas in the Masterpiece production, they lived only in the Strawberry-Pink Villa.

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The Great Alone

by Kristin Hannah, 2018

Glad I stuck with this book. The first 1/2 seemed like it was written by an amateur for teenage girls. After about 250 pages, however, it was a page-turner. Set in 1970’s Alaska, somewhere near Homer on the Kenai Peninsula, in a town called Kaneq, which I think is a fictional town. Young Lenora (Leni) moves there at the age of 13 with a violent, lunatic father and a mother whom she adores, but who cannot leave her abusive husband.

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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

by Betty Smith, 1943

A gift from Christie for my birthday last year, I finally read it and absolutely loved it. All of the characters are so lovable and endearing, and the setting and time (1912-1919 Brooklyn) are captivating. It’s 481 pages long but so well-written and engrossing, it was enjoyable and hard to put down. LOVED this book, especially every single one of the characters: Francie Nolan, our narrator from the time she is a little girl until she is a young lady of 19, going off to college; Katie Nolan, her mother, a beautiful, young, hard-working and sensible woman; Johnny Nolan, her Papa, a lovable, very handsome and charming singing waiter who dies too young of his alcoholism; Neely, sweet brother of Francie, only 1 year younger, as handsome and talented as his Papa but determined to never be a drunk; and baby sister Laurie, who is born 5 months after her Papa dies.

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Playing for Pizza

by John Grisham, 2007

Quick, easy read about an NFL quarterback (Rick Dockery) who is banished from the league because he throws too many interceptions. He’s had 3 major concussions. His agent finds him a job in Italy so he moves to Parma, Italy, and finds love and purpose among some Italians who love the game of American football and play for pizza.

The Left Hand of Darkness

by Ursula K. Le Guin, 1969

This one was difficult to get into so I almost didn’t finish it but I did and it did get better towards the end. It was our last book club selection of the year. The characters, unappealing except for one: Estraven, also called Therem, also called Harth. The place, a planet with endless winter called Winter. The story line – idiot king doesn’t trust the envoy who wants to include planet in the Ekumen, the alliance of 84 countries, the nearest of which is 17 light years away, so banishes him to the other side of the planet. The words – like shifgrethor- so difficult to pronounce, not defined, and why bother: it takes so much effort to figure out how to pronounce them so I skimmed over them, which means I skimmed over much of the book. If you’re going to make up words, at least make them pronounceable.

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Exit West

by Mohsin Hamid, 2017

Very interesting premise–Nadia and Saeed, two people living in some unnamed Mid-Eastern country, fall in love at the same time that their country deteriorates into chaos and war. They hear about hidden doors that appear and disappear but allow you to escape the country. They pay an agent and escape first to Mykonos for a few months, then to London for a few years, and finally to Marin, California. As they adjust to the new world, they fall out of love.

(more…) “Exit West”

On Tyranny

Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century

by Timothy Snyder, 2017

Short book about how the 2016 election of Donald Trump and his presidency have many similarities to the rise of Hitler and Communism in the twentieth century. I wish everyone would read this book, especially Trump supporters. They have been duped.

(more…) “On Tyranny”

Ways of Grace

by James Blake with Carol Taylor, 2017

In New York City during the afternoon of September 9, 2015, James Blake was standing outside his hotel when a cop charged him, picked him up, slammed him to the ground, and handcuffed him. They held him, would not believe him when he told him who he was, but finally released him after another officer checked into his story and found it was true. The police department issued a statement that was full of lies-that he was only held for less than a minute, was not manhandled, not handcuffed. Fortunately, James checked the hotel to see if they had a security camera, and sure enough, the entire event was captured on film; tackled and thrown to the ground, held for 12 minutes, in handcuffs for 10 minutes. James decided to go public because he knew that he might be able to help change things. This book is a result of his desire to change the climate of police brutality against blacks.

(more…) “Ways of Grace”

The Unwinding of the Miracle

by Julie Yip-Williams, 2019

Brutally honest book written by young wife and mother, Julie Yip-Williams, who was born blind in Vietnam, almost euthanized at the age of 2 months, escaped Vietnam with her family on a boat at age 3 or 4, ends up a Harvard-educated lawyer, world-traveler, married with 2 daughters, and diagnosed with Stage IV Colon Cancer at age 37. She decided to write her story mostly for her two young daughters so they could know her and remember her after she is gone. She fought the cancer for 5 years, trying just about everything, but she died in March of 2018. Her husband, Josh Williams, wrote the Epilogue.

(more…) “The Unwinding of the Miracle”