book recommendations

Book Report: Two New Novels For Your Summer Reading

/ nagneberg48 / Leave a comment

July 11, 2024

Version 1.0.0

The 4th of July holiday week was quiet at our house, and you can guess what I did! I enjoyed the spaciousness of the days with a book on my lap. I moved from the snug to the patio to the comfortable chair with an ottoman in the entryway to the side garden we call “Paris,” and I read. My kind of holiday.

Sandwich by Catherine Newman (2024, 226 pages)

I LOVED this book, and so did Ann Patchett. I will read almost anything she recommends. 

Sandwich is joy in book form. I laughed continuously, except for the parts that made me cry. Catherine Newman does a miraculous job reminding us of all the wonder there is to be found in life.

Every year for the past two decades Rocky and her family spend a week at a modest beach rental in Cape Cod. This year is no exception, but this year Rocky’s husband Nick and their two adult children, Willa and Jamie are joined by Jamie’s girlfriend Maya and also for a couple days by her aging parents. (Why is it parents of middle aged children are always referred to as “aging parents.” Aren’t we all aging? Sigh.)

At one point when both my husband and I were reading on the patio, he actually had to go inside the house because I was laughing out loud so frequently while reading this funny, yet poignant book of family life, past and present. 

p. 24. Forty minutes later, we are walking back to the cottage with two lattes, four chocolate croissants, one scone, three baguettes, and a receipt for sixty-five dollars.

p. 45. ("Dad and I defrosted the chest freezer" is an actual text I once sent in response to a question about our weekend and how it was going.)

p. 97. Menopause feels like a slow leak: thoughts leaking out of your head; flesh leaking out of your skin; fluid leaking out of your joints. You need a lube job, is how you feel. Body work. Whatever you need, it sounds like a mechanic might be required, since something is seriously amiss with your head gasket.
                   You finally understand the word crepey as it applies to skin--although you could actually apply this word to to your ass as well, less in the crepe-paper sense than the flat-pancake one. Activities that might injure you include ping-pong, napping, and opening a tub of yogurt...



So many novels I read about family life, domestic fiction, focus on the dysfunction, but I loved this one for it focuses on the love. This family is not perfect, nor are any of these characters perfect, but they love one another, and they love that they are a family. And yes, there are secrets held from one another–some of which are revealed during this week at the Cape, but once again you sense as a reader that the bond with one another is soul-deep.

p. 121.         Rocky's father says, "It is a privilege to grow old. We are lucky to be here."
                    "We really are," my mother says. I cry a little then, because of the conversation and the wine and this absolute devastation and blessedness, rolled up into a lump in my own throat that I have been trying to swallow for my whole life.
                      Life is a seesaw, and I am standing dead center, still and balanced: living kids on one side, living parents on the other. Nicky here with me at the fulcrum. Don't move a muscle, I think. But I will, of course. You have to.

I repeat: I loved this book and so did Ann Patchett.

One more thing: I think Catherine Newman and I share the same taste in clothes. I am quite sure in her photo on the back flap that she is wearing the same blouse I am wearing right now.

Sorry–one more thing: I also really liked her earlier novel, We All Want Impossible Things. She has written memoirs, too, Waiting for Birdy, and Catastrophic Happiness and you can bet they are now on my TBR.

Real Americans by Rachel Khong (2024, 395 pages)

So often the blurb on the inside cover of a book is overblown, but this time the book lives up to the description.

In immersive, moving prose, Rachel Chong weaves a profound tale of class and striving, race and visibility, and family and inheritance, a story of trust, forgiveness, and finally coming home. Exuberant and explosive grand and entertaining, Real Americans is an inquiry into the forces that roil our new century: Are we destined or made? And, if the latter, who gets to do the making?"

This novel is divided into three parts. In part one Lily Chen is an unpaid intern for a large media company and she meets wealthy Matthew, heir to a pharmaceutical company. Lily’s parents are scientists who fled Mao’s China. Matthew and Lily fall in love and marry. Their son Nick is the focus of part two. Lily and Matthew have divorced and teenager Nick knows nothing about his father–until he takes a DNA test. In part three we learn about Lily’s mother May, beginning with her life in China, eventually fleeing to Hong Kong and then the US. Lily and May are estranged from one another.

The story certainly kept me engaged, although at times, especially in part two when I got tired of the college angst and behavior, I hoped for more answers to unanswered questions. I felt there were gaps along the way, such as why is it that Lily and Matthew got divorced anyway? However, that being said, this book would be an excellent book group selection–lots to talk about.

A favorite quote:

p. 363. Once she had believed that connection meant sameness, consensus, harmony. having everything in common. And now she understood that the opposite was true: that connection was more valuable--more remarkable--for the fact of differences. Friendship didn't require blunting the richness of yourself to find common ground. Sometimes it was that, but it was also appreciating another person, in all their particularity.

My daughter has read this book (actually, she read Sandwich, too, and loved it, as did Ann Patchett), and enjoyed it, too, and also highly recommends the author’s earlier novel, Goodbye, Vitamin.

An Invitation

Did your 4th of July week include any reading time? I would love to know.

Book Report: Two New Novels For Your Summer Reading

/ nagneberg48 / 5 Comments

July 11, 2024

Version 1.0.0

The 4th of July holiday week was quiet at our house, and you can guess what I did! I enjoyed the spaciousness of the days with a book on my lap. I moved from the snug to the patio to the comfortable chair with an ottoman in the entryway to the side garden we call “Paris,” and I read. My kind of holiday.

Sandwich by Catherine Newman (2024, 226 pages)

I LOVED this book, and so did Ann Patchett. I will read almost anything she recommends. 

Sandwich is joy in book form. I laughed continuously, except for the parts that made me cry. Catherine Newman does a miraculous job reminding us of all the wonder there is to be found in life.

Every year for the past two decades Rocky and her family spend a week at a modest beach rental in Cape Cod. This year is no exception, but this year Rocky’s husband Nick and their two adult children, Willa and Jamie are joined by Jamie’s girlfriend Maya and also for a couple days by her aging parents. (Why is it parents of middle aged children are always referred to as “aging parents.” Aren’t we all aging? Sigh.)

At one point when both my husband and I were reading on the patio, he actually had to go inside the house because I was laughing out loud so frequently while reading this funny, yet poignant book of family life, past and present. 

p. 24. Forty minutes later, we are walking back to the cottage with two lattes, four chocolate croissants, one scone, three baguettes, and a receipt for sixty-five dollars.

p. 45. ("Dad and I defrosted the chest freezer" is an actual text I once sent in response to a question about our weekend and how it was going.)

p. 97. Menopause feels like a slow leak: thoughts leaking out of your head; flesh leaking out of your skin; fluid leaking out of your joints. You need a lube job, is how you feel. Body work. Whatever you need, it sounds like a mechanic might be required, since something is seriously amiss with your head gasket.
                   You finally understand the word crepey as it applies to skin--although you could actually apply this word to to your ass as well, less in the crepe-paper sense than the flat-pancake one. Activities that might injure you include ping-pong, napping, and opening a tub of yogurt...



So many novels I read about family life, domestic fiction, focus on the dysfunction, but I loved this one for it focuses on the love. This family is not perfect, nor are any of these characters perfect, but they love one another, and they love that they are a family. And yes, there are secrets held from one another–some of which are revealed during this week at the Cape, but once again you sense as a reader that the bond with one another is soul-deep.

p. 121.         Rocky's father says, "It is a privilege to grow old. We are lucky to be here."
                    "We really are," my mother says. I cry a little then, because of the conversation and the wine and this absolute devastation and blessedness, rolled up into a lump in my own throat that I have been trying to swallow for my whole life.
                      Life is a seesaw, and I am standing dead center, still and balanced: living kids on one side, living parents on the other. Nicky here with me at the fulcrum. Don't move a muscle, I think. But I will, of course. You have to.

I repeat: I loved this book and so did Ann Patchett.

One more thing: I think Catherine Newman and I share the same taste in clothes. I am quite sure in her photo on the back flap that she is wearing the same blouse I am wearing right now.

Sorry–one more thing: I also really liked her earlier novel, We All Want Impossible Things. She has written memoirs, too, Waiting for Birdy, and Catastrophic Happiness and you can bet they are now on my TBR.

Real Americans by Rachel Khong (2024, 395 pages)

So often the blurb on the inside cover of a book is overblown, but this time the book lives up to the description.

In immersive, moving prose, Rachel Chong weaves a profound tale of class and striving, race and visibility, and family and inheritance, a story of trust, forgiveness, and finally coming home. Exuberant and explosive grand and entertaining, Real Americans is an inquiry into the forces that roil our new century: Are we destined or made? And, if the latter, who gets to do the making?"

This novel is divided into three parts. In part one Lily Chen is an unpaid intern for a large media company and she meets wealthy Matthew, heir to a pharmaceutical company. Lily’s parents are scientists who fled Mao’s China. Matthew and Lily fall in love and marry. Their son Nick is the focus of part two. Lily and Matthew have divorced and teenager Nick knows nothing about his father–until he takes a DNA test. In part three we learn about Lily’s mother May, beginning with her life in China, eventually fleeing to Hong Kong and then the US. Lily and May are estranged from one another.

The story certainly kept me engaged, although at times, especially in part two when I got tired of the college angst and behavior, I hoped for more answers to unanswered questions. I felt there were gaps along the way, such as why is it that Lily and Matthew got divorced anyway? However, that being said, this book would be an excellent book group selection–lots to talk about.

A favorite quote:

p. 363. Once she had believed that connection meant sameness, consensus, harmony. having everything in common. And now she understood that the opposite was true: that connection was more valuable--more remarkable--for the fact of differences. Friendship didn't require blunting the richness of yourself to find common ground. Sometimes it was that, but it was also appreciating another person, in all their particularity.

My daughter has read this book (actually, she read Sandwich, too, and loved it, as did Ann Patchett), and enjoyed it, too, and also highly recommends the author’s earlier novel, Goodbye, Vitamin.

An Invitation

Did your 4th of July week include any reading time? I would love to know.

Book Report: Two New Novels For Your Summer Reading

/ nagneberg48 / 4 Comments

July 11, 2024

Version 1.0.0

The 4th of July holiday week was quiet at our house, and you can guess what I did! I enjoyed the spaciousness of the days with a book on my lap. I moved from the snug to the patio to the comfortable chair with an ottoman in the entryway to the side garden we call “Paris,” and I read. My kind of holiday.

Sandwich by Catherine Newman (2024, 226 pages)

I LOVED this book, and so did Ann Patchett. I will read almost anything she recommends. 

Sandwich is joy in book form. I laughed continuously, except for the parts that made me cry. Catherine Newman does a miraculous job reminding us of all the wonder there is to be found in life.

Every year for the past two decades Rocky and her family spend a week at a modest beach rental in Cape Cod. This year is no exception, but this year Rocky’s husband Nick and their two adult children, Willa and Jamie are joined by Jamie’s girlfriend Maya and also for a couple days by her aging parents. (Why is it parents of middle aged children are always referred to as “aging parents.” Aren’t we all aging? Sigh.)

At one point when both my husband and I were reading on the patio, he actually had to go inside the house because I was laughing out loud so frequently while reading this funny, yet poignant book of family life, past and present. 

p. 24. Forty minutes later, we are walking back to the cottage with two lattes, four chocolate croissants, one scone, three baguettes, and a receipt for sixty-five dollars.

p. 45. ("Dad and I defrosted the chest freezer" is an actual text I once sent in response to a question about our weekend and how it was going.)

p. 97. Menopause feels like a slow leak: thoughts leaking out of your head; flesh leaking out of your skin; fluid leaking out of your joints. You need a lube job, is how you feel. Body work. Whatever you need, it sounds like a mechanic might be required, since something is seriously amiss with your head gasket.
                   You finally understand the word crepey as it applies to skin--although you could actually apply this word to to your ass as well, less in the crepe-paper sense than the flat-pancake one. Activities that might injure you include ping-pong, napping, and opening a tub of yogurt...



So many novels I read about family life, domestic fiction, focus on the dysfunction, but I loved this one for it focuses on the love. This family is not perfect, nor are any of these characters perfect, but they love one another, and they love that they are a family. And yes, there are secrets held from one another–some of which are revealed during this week at the Cape, but once again you sense as a reader that the bond with one another is soul-deep.

p. 121.         Rocky's father says, "It is a privilege to grow old. We are lucky to be here."
                    "We really are," my mother says. I cry a little then, because of the conversation and the wine and this absolute devastation and blessedness, rolled up into a lump in my own throat that I have been trying to swallow for my whole life.
                      Life is a seesaw, and I am standing dead center, still and balanced: living kids on one side, living parents on the other. Nicky here with me at the fulcrum. Don't move a muscle, I think. But I will, of course. You have to.

I repeat: I loved this book and so did Ann Patchett.

One more thing: I think Catherine Newman and I share the same taste in clothes. I am quite sure in her photo on the back flap that she is wearing the same blouse I am wearing right now.

Sorry–one more thing: I also really liked her earlier novel, We All Want Impossible Things. She has written memoirs, too, Waiting for Birdy, and Catastrophic Happiness and you can bet they are now on my TBR.

Real Americans by Rachel Khong (2024, 395 pages)

So often the blurb on the inside cover of a book is overblown, but this time the book lives up to the description.

In immersive, moving prose, Rachel Chong weaves a profound tale of class and striving, race and visibility, and family and inheritance, a story of trust, forgiveness, and finally coming home. Exuberant and explosive grand and entertaining, Real Americans is an inquiry into the forces that roil our new century: Are we destined or made? And, if the latter, who gets to do the making?"

This novel is divided into three parts. In part one Lily Chen is an unpaid intern for a large media company and she meets wealthy Matthew, heir to a pharmaceutical company. Lily’s parents are scientists who fled Mao’s China. Matthew and Lily fall in love and marry. Their son Nick is the focus of part two. Lily and Matthew have divorced and teenager Nick knows nothing about his father–until he takes a DNA test. In part three we learn about Lily’s mother May, beginning with her life in China, eventually fleeing to Hong Kong and then the US. Lily and May are estranged from one another.

The story certainly kept me engaged, although at times, especially in part two when I got tired of the college angst and behavior, I hoped for more answers to unanswered questions. I felt there were gaps along the way, such as why is it that Lily and Matthew got divorced anyway? However, that being said, this book would be an excellent book group selection–lots to talk about.

A favorite quote:

p. 363. Once she had believed that connection meant sameness, consensus, harmony. having everything in common. And now she understood that the opposite was true: that connection was more valuable--more remarkable--for the fact of differences. Friendship didn't require blunting the richness of yourself to find common ground. Sometimes it was that, but it was also appreciating another person, in all their particularity.

My daughter has read this book (actually, she read Sandwich, too, and loved it, as did Ann Patchett), and enjoyed it, too, and also highly recommends the author’s earlier novel, Goodbye, Vitamin.

An Invitation

Did your 4th of July week include any reading time? I would love to know.

Book Report: June Summary

/ nagneberg48 / Leave a comment

July 4, 2024

June was a month of mainly reading new novels.

  • Long Island by Colm Toibin
  • The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez
  • Family Family by Laurie Frankl
  • Lucky by Jane Smiley
  • The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson
  • The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline WInspear
  • Forgotten Sunday by Valerie Perrin

I wrote about each of these books in my June posts. https://wordpress.com/post/livingonlifeslabyrinth.com/3698 https://wordpress.com/post/livingonlifeslabyrinth.com/3666 https://wordpress.com/post/livingonlifeslabyrinth.com/3634

Summer Reading Plan Check-in and Update

It was also a month to begin my summer reading plan. My intention was to choose one shelf in the library and read whatever appealed to me on that shelf. I chose shelf #14, Barry to Bausch. Often when I go to a bookstore I add at least one Wild Card book to my purchases–books not on my TBR list and even books I may never have heard of. Well, Shelf #14 was my Wild Card Shelf.

Notice I said “was.” This past month I did read two books from that shelf, both by Erica Bauermeister. One was The Lost Art of Mixing (2013) https://wordpress.com/post/livingonlifeslabyrinth.com/3666 and the other was The Scent Keeper (2019). I probably would not have read this book based on a review, for the story of a young girl who lives on an island with her eccentric father who “saves” scents seemed too quirky, too fairy tale-ish for my taste. But Bauermeister is such a good storyteller, often so insightful, and I allowed myself to live in that world.

Grief makes a tunnel of our lives, and it is all too easy to lose sight of the other people in the darkness with us--to wish they weren't there, so their loss would stop rubbing up against ours. My father and I desperately needed open space, clean air for our pain to move into. But all we could do was wait." p. 45


There was one other Bauermeister book on my Wild Card Shelf, No Two Persons, but I had read that already, so my next step was to choose the next Wild Card Book. One by one I read the inside flap of each book, along with the first few pages. And none of them appealed to me. I almost checked out another one, urging myself to take a chance, and then I remembered that I made the rules (guidelines) for my Summer Reading Plan, and if I wanted to change them, ignore them, or even pretend they never existed, I can do that. I have agency in my reading life!

My next step was to see if there were any of my TBR list books on one of the shelves in my library of choice–books I would not have to request–and I found We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange (2021). One of my favorite genres is domestic novels, which always seem to involve family secrets. There were more than one in this book to keep the plot moving. Sunday, the daughter in the Brennan family is in a car accident and charged with drunk driving, and her brother Denny brings her back home to NY from California to recover and because he needs her help. He has gotten himself into a tangled financial mess. Why she moved away from the family has always been a mystery. I must say I was right with the author until the last page or two. I won’t say more, because you might feel differently about the ending.

13 Books: 11 Novels and 2 Nonfiction

The other fiction book I read in June was on my own shelf; one of the books my husband gave me for my spring birthday. Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge (2023) is a fun, light read set in Paris. Tabitha, an American, lives with her French grandfather and becomes good friends with Julia Child, who just happens to live across the road. After a late night party in the Child residence a woman is found dead, and the murder weapon is one of Julia’s chef knives, and there is a note in the woman’s pocket written in Tabitha’s handwriting. Oh dear!

This was not a month of reading much nonfiction. Truth told, I don’t read much nonfiction, but I do always have a meditation, spiritual book as a companion during my prayer time. In June I read Padraig O’ Tuama’s Being Here, Prayers for Curiosity, Justice, and Love (2024. Along with devotions for each day, additional prayers and short reflections were included. A gem of a book, which I have referred to in some of my June posts, and I know I will turn to it again.

Turning to the day
and to each other
     We open ourselves to the day
     and each other.
This is the day that the Lord has made ,
and a day we'll have to make our way through...


I also read Wild Atlantic Women, Walking Ireland’s West Coast by Grainne Lyons (2023). I bought this book at an excellent independent book store in Door County when we were there in April. It was a Wild Card selection. The author who has an Irish heritage, but lives in London decided to undertake a kind of pilgrimage–to walk in the steps of eleven pioneering Irish women and in the process reflect on her own identity. The only woman somewhat familiar to me is the writer Edna O’Brien who is perhaps best known for her novel The Country Girls, which I have not read, but own. (Is it time to read it?) The other women include a scientist, a storyteller, an activist, a lacemaker, a knitter, a “pirate queen,” and a figure of Irish legends, Queen Maeve, and along the way the reader is immersed in the coastal landscape.

What’s Next?

It is only July 4th, but I have read one novel this month and am almost done with another, but you will have to read my post next week to learn the titles. (See what I did there?)

I don’t know if I will select another Wild Card shelf at the library. Maybe I will do some random browsing, but at this point I think I will focus on what’s on my own shelf. My husband and I recently visited a bookstore new to us, only a year old, Big Hill Books in the Bryn Mawr neighborhood of Minneapolis, and we came home with a nice pile. Stay tuned to learn more. https://www.bighillbooks.com

Also, I have accepted a writing assignment from the publication BookWomen to write an article about spirituality books written by and for young women of diverse traditions. That means I will be researching and reading books that aren’t even known to me yet. I have a list of possibilities for books with a progressive Christian perspective, but I welcome your suggestions for books in the Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Indigenous etc. traditions.

As always, happy reading!

An Invitation

Did your reading this past month include a Wild Card? I would love to know.


Book Report: Two Novels by Favorite Authors

/ nagneberg48 / 2 Comments

June 27, 2024

While my husband was manning his garage sale last weekend (A big success. Thanks for asking and for those of you who stopped by, thanks for shopping and for donating to Lutheran Social Service programs for youth experiencing homelessness.)–ok, back to books.

While my husband was manning his garage sale, I was engrossed in two novels: The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear, the last in her 18 book Maisie Dobbs series and Forgotten on Sunday by Valerie Perrin, her first book, which has only recently been translated from French to English and published here in the US.

The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear

Located right below my full shelf of Louise Penney books and right above the Willa Cather and Virginia Woolf collections, live the Maisie Dobbs books, plus the two stand-alone novels written by Winspear–The White Lady (2023) and The Care and Management of Lies (2014). I have read all of the Maisie Dobbs books, but don’t own them all. However, I anticipate correcting that situation, for I know at some point, perhaps this winter, I will decide to read them all again. (I have re-read all of Louise Penny’s books, one after another, and I imagine reading them a 3rd time.)

The Comfort of Ghosts is set in London, 1945, which means we have known Maisie Dobbs since the end of WWI when she was a nurse. Maisie, contrary to acceptable behavior, becomes a private investigator, owning her own business. We follow her through the years, including two marriages, being a widow, adopting a child, and being a good and loyal friend to many. It seems appropriate that this book is set in the reality of the UK attempting to move on after WWII, for in this book we feel Maisie moving into a new future, too. The challenges around her are many, and Maisie becomes involved with a group of four homeless children who were trained as resistant workers, young as they are. Many around her, including her dear friend Priscilla and her former mother-in-law, Lady Rowan are in the midst of change, but once again Maisie exhibits resilience and warmth and intelligence. In a conversation with one of the orphaned children she responds to what is said about keeping thoughts to oneself, “But I was once told by a very wise man to do pretty much the same because keeping the thought close gives you an opportunity to consider a bit more, like looking at all the difference facets of a diamond. When you’ve done that, turned the stone around a few times, you have more to offer by way of an observation.” p. 165

Here’s Winspear’s farewell to Maisie: https://newsletter.jacquelinewinspear.com/i6m4k3q7m7

A poignant and bittersweet book.

Forgotten on Sunday by Valerie Perrin

Fresh Water for Flowers (2018) by French writer Valerie Perrin is one of my all-time favorite books, and I have read it twice. Yes, there will be a third time at some point. I enjoyed her most recent book as well, Three (2020), and think it is worth re-reading, also. That’s a good track record, and I was thrilled to discover that Perrin’s first novel was finally being published in the US– Forgotten on Sunday (2015), but at the same time I was nervous about reading her debut. Would it measure up or would I be disappointed?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, too. For those of you who prefer to read a book in which the narrative moves chronologically from beginning to end, this book is not for you. There are several threads over a range of time periods, but Perrin is so good at developing characters that we can’t help but fall in love with them, and we readers want them to find the love they seek. Is it because she is French, but oh, she writes so tenderly, so wisely about love. It is not a romance book, but it is in many ways a romantic book.

Justine is the narrator. She and her cousin Jules were orphaned when their parents were killed in a car accident. They were raised by their fathers’ parents. Justine, now an adult, is a nursing assistant in a nursing home and more than anything she loves hearing her patients’ stories. One of her patients is Helene, the other main character in the book. The entwining of their lives and all they discover along the way–secrets revealed–is sensitively told, as is Perrin’s style. The title refers to residents of the nursing home who are rarely visited by friends and family.

My one quarrel with the book is the cover, which distorts the profile of the woman on the beach. This black and white photograph seems an odd choice for the cover and unlike what Europa Editions generally chooses. Oh well.

An Invitation

Do you have favorite authors whose new books you will read without question? I would love to know.

NOTE: Next Thursday, July 4, I will post my summary of books read in June. Stay tuned!

Summer Reading Plan

/ nagneberg48 / 7 Comments

June 20, 2024

Here’s the plan:

  • Finish reading the books I’ve requested from the library.
  • Request no books from the library till fall.
  • Focus on books on my own bookshelves waiting to be read.
  • Choose one shelf at the library and read any of the books that appeal to me.

It is now three weeks into June. How am I doing so far?

Library Holds

It has taken me most of this month to complete my library “hold” list. I wrote in an earlier post https://wordpress.com/post/livingonlifeslabyrinth.com/3634 about three of those books, Long Island by Colm Toibin, The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez and Family Family by Laurie Frankel. All three are winners. The last book on the “hold” list was Lucky by Jane Smiley, and I liked that very much, too. I will write about that in my June Summary post on July 4th.

So far I am sticking to my intentions and have not added any titles to my library hold list. This is NOT easy for me, especially as I read about new releases like This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud, Caledonian Road by Andrew O’Hagan, The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley, The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley and….

I know when I begin to create a hold list in the fall, there will be a long waiting list for each of these books. Sigh. And I know my TBR list will continue to grow, as well, but I tend to be obsessed with reading what is new–perhaps that relates to working in an independent bookstore decades ago–and I think it is time to lighten up! Now that being said, I am not opposed to adding new titles to my own bookshelf. After all, summer includes visiting some favorite bookstores, and purchases will be made! Top of my list, by the way, is Sandwich by Catherine Newman.

My Bookshelves

So far this month I have read just one of my own books: The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson, and I will write about it in my June Summary. Simonson is the author of Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, by the way, which I own and liked very much. I can imagine reading it again, but first there are other delights awaiting me. I am going to start with the latest (and, alas, last) Maisie Dobbs mystery by Jacqueline Winspear, The Comfort of Ghosts and then I will read Forgotten Sunday by Valerie Perrin who wrote one of my all-time favorite books, Fresh Water for Flowers.

Trust me, I have more than enough books both in the snug and the garret, let alone the living room and the lower level, to keep me happy and engaged for a long time. And did I mention there will be trips this summer to bookstores where it will be impossible not to add to my collection?

A Wild Card Library Bookshelf

How fondly I remember browsing the library shelves when I was a child. There was the thrill of discovering an author or a title unfamiliar to me. I didn’t have a TBR list, but rather was simply open to possibilities, bringing home piles of books. Library trips were a kind of pilgrimage, leading me on new paths and introducing me to new companions.

I realized I rarely browse in the library these days. I go to the library to pick up a requested book when it is available, and I usually check the Lucky Day shelf, but that’s it.

I admit I fear going down the deep rabbit hole of library stacks these day, so instead decided to adopt one shelf; a shelf I will browse in this summer. I decided to focus on Fiction Shelf #14 (I was born on April 14). My intention is not to read all the books on that shelf nor is it to start at the beginning of the shelf and move towards the end. Instead, I will read whatever I want to on the chosen shelf, and if I exhaust what I want to read on that shelf, I will select another one.

My only rule for the Wild Card Shelf is that I will check out only one book at a time.

On #14 are several titles and authors totally unfamiliar to me, including several books by Sebastian Barry. And there is an old book I read many years ago that I think I will enjoy reading again, Love for Lydia by H.E. Bates (1952). But I was most delighted to see three books by Erica Bauermeister. In April I read a nonfiction book by her, which I loved, House Lessons, Renovating a Life (2020) and in 2023 I read one of the novels on this shelf, No Two Persons, another enjoyable read. I decided to start with one of the Bauermeister books.

Wild Card Shelf, Book #1: The Lost Art of Mixing by Erica Bauermeister

The Lost Art of Mixing by Erica Bauermeister (2013) is engaging and insightful, a perfect kind of summer reading experience, whether the day is rainy or too hot and steamy for movement. The book introduces us to a variety of characters who in some way are connected to Lillian, a restaurant owner. Al is the accountant who has a surprising avocation; Chloe, a budding chef lives with Isabelle, who is slipping into dementia. Finnegan is tall and steady as a tree, but almost unseen. And others, each examples of shadow and light in their characters and their lives. A few quotes, and trust me, I could include many others:

Lillian was a woman in love with a kitchen. It was not the love of an architect, the deep satisfaction in a lay-out of counters and cabinets designed to make the act of cooking effortless. Nor was it the love of a grown-up  for the kitchen of her childhood, nostalgia soaked into every surface. Lillian's love for her kitchen was the radiant gratitude of an artist for a space where imagination moves without obstacles, the small quiet happiness of finding a home, even if the other people in it are passing through--maybe even a bit because of that. p 68

Isabelle was used to surprises these days, to playing hide-and-seek with the world. She didn't even need to count before words and ideas, faces and memories would scatter off into corners where she couldn't find them. Sometimes they came back; other times they were simply gone. Isabelle liked to think that perhaps some of them had found each other, had struck up friendships and gone out for coffee, or were hidden behind the couch making love. It was better than thinking they were never coming back. p. 132

It was intriguing how people came at their stories, Finnegan thought as he listened to Isabelle. He had learned to watch the gap between question and answer, having realized that the less obvious the connection the more interesting the material left unsaid. Diving into the gap yourself was rarely productive, but if allowed to talk uninterrupted, the storyteller would eventually build bridges across it, bridges made of memories that felt safe and familiar, anecdotes that had turned solid and durable with the retelling. After a while, you could go fishing. p. 241.

An Invitation

Do you have a summer reading plan? I would love to know.

NOTE: Garage Sale This Weekend

Many of you have shopped my husband’s annual garage sale in the past and know what magic he creates by painting old unwanted furniture. He transforms chairs and dressers and tables and whatever gets in his way!!! (See pictures on Tuesday’s post.) This year’s sale is Friday and Saturday, June 21-22 from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. 2025 Wellesley Ave, St Paul.

All proceeds go to benefit Lutheran Social Services programs for youth experiencing homelessness.

Access to the sale is through the alley only (between Wellesley and Stanford).

Book Report: Summer Reading in the Garden

/ nagneberg48 / 11 Comments

June 13, 2024

Summer reading deserves lovely summer settings, and on perfect summer days, this is where I like to read–our own patio and garden. Now I hasten to add, I have done nothing to make this space so perfect. All credit goes to my husband the genius and hardworking gardener. We have lived in this house for ten years, and he has created a private paradise.

My self-proclaimed job in the garden is to read so I can recommend books to you. Here’s three to put on your TBR list.

  1. Long Island by Colm Toibin (2024), 294 pages. If you have read Brooklyn (2009), you will already be familiar with the main character, Eilis Lacey, an Irish immigrant. The plot of this book begins when a stranger shows up on her doorstep to inform her that his wife is pregnant by Eilis’s Italian-American husband Tony, and the minute that baby is born, he plans to leave it on her doorstep. She wants nothing to do with this baby, but doesn’t confront Tony with his infidelity. Her mother-in-law, who, trust me, is a piece of work, has a plan. Eilis comes up with her own plan: go to Ireland to visit her mother who is turning 80–and, again, trust me, she is another piece of work. Eilis reconnects with a man from her younger years who has never married, but he’s secretly engaged to Nancy. These are complicated characters, each one of them, richly drawn, even if they are at times frustrating. The ending makes me wonder if this book will be #2 of a trilogy. An excellent summer read.
  2. The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez (2024), 237 pages. This book did not disappoint. Alma Cruz is a writer, a successful writer, born in the Dominican Republic and one of several sisters, who frankly, I couldn’t keep straight. It doesn’t matter. When their father dies, Alma inherits a piece of land in the Dominican Republic, and she decides that is where she wants to bury her untold/unfinished stories. She commissions an artist to make the monuments and hires a groundskeeper, Filomena. Of course, the stories are not content to be buried, and the characters in the stories talk to each other and to Filomena and to us, the readers. In many ways the stories and characters are connected and related and that is part of the fun, the intrigue, and the richness in this book by a masterful storyteller. I love that Alvarez quotes this piece of scripture from the Gospel of Thomas, “If you bring forth what is inside you, what is inside you will save you. If you do not bring forth what is inside you, what is inside you will destroy you.”
  3. Family Family by Laurie Frankel (2024), 380 pages. India is pregnant the last year of high school and decides to have the baby placed for adoption. She always insists on the word “place,” rather than “give up.” She goes on to attend a prestigious acting school, her dream, and has great success. But guess what? She gets pregnant again in her senior year and places that baby up for adoption. She becomes a famous actress on Broadway, but also in Hollywood where the work is more regular and allows her to maintain a more stable life with her two children –not the two children who were adopted as babies. After she makes a movie with adoption as a theme, she expresses what turns out to be controversial ideas about adoption–that it isn’t always a trauma for the birth mother or the children or the adoptive parents–and she becomes a social media target. The result? I’m not telling. I especially appreciated the author’s skill with dialogue. Each character has his/her own voice. My daughter listened to this book and thoroughly enjoyed it too. One favorite quote:
It seemed to her that women did this all the time, weathered things that were hard and heartbreaking, but also chosen and even strived for. It seemed to her they often made tough decisions to let go, to lay down, in order to pick up something else because they knew--maybe in their bones, maybe having learned it again and again--that having all the things you wanted all at the same time was rarely on the table. It seemed to her that the people who had decided all birth mothers were regretful and unhappy and had been forced to do something they didn't want to do were probably men. p. 238

What I’m Reading Now

I am almost done with Lucky by Jane Smiley and like it very much. Stay tuned for a review. This book is the last of the books I had on my library hold list, and I’m forcing myself not to reserve others. Instead, I plan to read books on my personal hold list, including the newest (and last) Maisie Dobbs book by Jacqueline Winspear, The Comfort of Ghosts; Forgotten on Sunday by Valerie Perrin; The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson; and two more books in the Lane Winslow mystery series by Iona Whishaw.

This doesn’t mean I haven’t been adding to my TBR list, however. Here are a few of those titles:

  • The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
  • Housemates by Emma Copley Eisenberg
  • Real Americans by Rachel Khong
  • Sandwich by Catherine Newman
  • You Are Here by David Nichols
  • This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud
  • Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy
  • All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whittaker
  • How to Read a Book by Monica Wood
  • Safekeep by Yale var der Wouden
  • This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

And even some nonfiction:

  • Life After Doom, Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart by Brian McLaren
  • Shopkeeping: Stories, Advice and Observations by Peter Miller
  • Any Person is the Only Self (essays) by Elisa Gabbert
  • The Editor: How Publishing Legend Judith Jones Shaped Culture in America by Sara B. Franklin.

An Invitation

Where do you most enjoy reading in the summer? I would love to know.

Book Report: May Summary

/ nagneberg48 / 4 Comments

June 4, 2024

Twelve Books in May

Nine Fiction

  1. Three Mysteries
  • The Hunter by Tana French (2024) 467 pages. I probably should have read her earlier book, The Searcher, to know some of the backstory set in Ireland, but I think I followed it ok. Cal is a retired policeman from Chicago who has no connection to the village but has found home there and has created a new avocation for himself as a woodworker. The story involves a scam–supposedly discovering gold in the mountains there. Lots of ins and outs, but I loved some of the Irish vernacular. “She’s ninety-two years of age, hasn’t left the house since God was a child…” p. 339.
    Don’t keep me hanging about, I’ve a mouth on me like Gandhi’s flip flops.” p. 347.
  • Close to Death by Anthony Horowitz (2024). I didn’t enjoy this book as much as Horowitz’s earlier books, but that may be because I read it in small chunks and didn’t feel the flow. A resident of Riverview Close is murdered with a crossbow; a man who was disliked by every one in that community of old homes.
  • The Mystery Writer by Solari Gentil (2024) 366 pages. Again, an ok mystery and I liked her earlier book, The Woman in the Library much better. Plus, the number of proofreading errors, more than I’ve ever noticed in a book, distracted me. A young writer meets an older writer, and they have an affair. His literary agents shows interest in the younger writer’s book. Get ready for conspiracy theories and survivalist groups.

2. Two Family Sagas

  • Mercury by Amy Jo Burns (2023) 315 pages. The story of the Joseph family: father Mick, Mother Elise and three grown sons, Baylor, Waylon, and Shay –all with complicated personalities. “In the Joseph family Mick aimed for the impossible, Waylon hoped for the best, Baylor planned for the worst. And Shay? Shay baby was all right, always. Like the mail coming every weekday at four, like Lake Erie freezing over in January.” (p. 136) Waylon is married to Marley and they all live in the same house. Marley tried to create order in the family’s roofing business and to assert her individuality. The story unravels. “At some point a marriage must become a junkyard of things, unfinished sentences and earring backs scattered across the floor.” (p. 274) Well worth reading.
  • Leaving by Rosanna Robinson (2024) 327 pages. See my review of this book in my May 30 post. I loved this book.https://wordpress.com/post/livingonlifeslabyrinth.com/3557

3. One Book Set in the Future: I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enter (2024) 329 pages. Ron Charles book reviewer for the Washington Post calls this book a “sweet apocalyptic novel,” and that feels about right. Set in the near future on Lake Superior, Rainy is a musician married to Lark who owns a bookstore–a dangerous occupation. He embarks unexpectedly on an odyssey after tragedy upends his life. Climate crisis, economic disparity and political decay are in the background of this book, along with references to 16 wealthy families called “astronauts” who control everything, book banning, closed libraries, and an illiterate president. I was not surprised to like this book by Enger, for I have loved his other books, Peace Like a River, So Brave, Young and Handsome, and Virgil Wander, but I was surprised by the dystopian quality.

4. One Book Where Structure is Almost a Character. Trust by Hernan Diaz (2022) 402 pages. See my review of this book in my May 30 post.https://wordpress.com/post/livingonlifeslabyrinth.com/3557

5. One Book Set In Paris. The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl (2024) 265 pages. No surprise, this book is charming! No surprise because the author is food critic/writer, this book includes lots of references to food. Mouth-watering food. When Stella’s estranged mother Celia dies, she leaves her tickets to Paris; a trip that brings Stella home to herself. Along the way she meets wonderful people and offers her a mission–the search for paintings by a woman who had been a model for many famous male artists. That part of the story is true. I loved all the references to the famous bookstore, Shakespeare and Company, too.

6. One Fantasy. The House in the Cerulean Sea by T. J. Klune (2020) 396 pages. Many people have recommended this book to me, and I am so glad I finally read it. Linus Baker is a case worker for the DCOMY, the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, and he is sent to investigate an orphanage on an island. He sets off with his ever-present book of Rules and Regulations, but he didn’t count on being intrigued by the children he met there. For example, Talia is a female gnome who has a beard; Phee is a sprite; Lucy is short for Lucifer and you know what that means. The master is Parnassus and turns out to be a …..read the book and find out. This is a book about tolerance and believing in one’s self and standing up for what is right and also, true love.

Three Nonfiction

  1. An Unfinished Love Story, A Personal History of the 60s by Doris Kearns Goodwin. (2024) See my review of this wonderful book in my May 25th post. https://wordpress.com/post/livingonlifeslabyrinth.com/3525
  2. Somehow, Thoughts on Love by Anne Lamott (2024) 191 pages. I reviewed this book, which I also really liked, in that same May 25th post. https://wordpress.com/post/livingonlifeslabyrinth.com/3525
  3. How To Walk into a Room, The Art of Knowing When to Stay and When to Walk Away by Emily P. Freeman. (2024) 218 pages. Ok, now that I have devoured this book and underlined almost everything, I intend to re-read it slowly, carefully. Freeman is the a spiritual director, author of The Next Right Thing and has a podcast of the same name, and she often focuses on questions of discernment, using the metaphor of rooms. Is it good to stay in a “room,” or is it time to leave? And what about the “hallways” of our life? I like her acronym, PRAY which stands for point and call, remember your path, acknowledge presence, and yield to the arrows. Freeman offers both practical guidelines and inspiration for deeper reflection. I have been recommending this book to everyone–and now to you!

Twelve Books in May–and now on to June!

An Invitation

Have you read any of the books I mention? I would love to know.

Book Report: Two Novels — One I Loved and One I Appreciated.

/ nagneberg48 / 4 Comments

May 30, 2024

The Book I Loved: Leaving by Roxana Robinson

Love found. Love lost. Love found again. Love –well, that would be a spoiler wouldn’t it?

Sarah and Warren meet and fall in love in college and move towards getting married, but when Warren proposes embarking on what Sarah considers a dangerous and unwise trip, she has second thoughts about who he is. They go their separate ways and marry other people. Decades later they recognize each other at an opera and soon begin an affair. Sarah is divorced and Warren’s marriage, he realizes, is unfulfilling. As Warren begins divorce proceedings, he faces not only deep distress from his wife, but also the wrath of his daughter who threatens to cut him out of her life completely. Both Sarah and Warren confront the moral responsibilities of their love for and history with their families and each other.

This book is an example of much of what I love in a book: complex, but believable characters. Characters who struggle to learn about themselves and one another and grow. The ending doesn’t need to be happily ever after, but it must make sense. Along with being well-written–a must–I want to learn something about myself on the pages. In this case I thought about all the different lives possible within us with just a slight change of direction or a different decision.

And this book is not just well-written, but beautifully written. One example is early in the book as Sarah and Warren become reacquainted:

“I wanted to hear about your life,” she says. ” You go along from year to year and you think you’re part of the lives of everyone you’ve known. You sort of feel you own them, even if you don’t see them, because they live inside your mind. Then you’re sixty, and you realize the people you knew have been leading their lives apart from yours. Remember in To The Lighthouse, when someone tells Mrs. Ramsay about friends she hasn’t seen in years? They’ve built a conservatory. Mrs. Ramsay remembers the time they went on the river together, and she was so cold. She can’t believe that they’re the sort of people who would build a conservatory. She’s shocked to realize that they have been carrying on their lives without her.” She smiles at him. “I wanted to know what happened to you. If you’d built a conservatory.” p. 42

It doesn’t hurt that they are the kind of people who read and loved Virginia Woolf, but more than that I love the intelligent and sensitive and deep conversations and interactions. I must say, however, I found both Sarah’s and Warren’s adult children annoying and not as well drawn.

Robinson has written other novels and short stories and a biography of Georgia O’Keefe, which I think I may have read. More for the TBR?

The Book I Appreciated: Trust by Hernan Diaz

What stands out for me in this book is the intriguing construction.

The book is divided into four sections, beginning with a novel within the novel: Bonds about 1930’s Wall Street tycoon Benjamin Rask and his wife Helen. The next section, My Life, is notes for another book, similar to Bonds. Andrew Bevel narrates his life in finance and his philanthropic wife Mildred. The reader wonders, “What is going on here?” The third section introduces Ida Partenza, the daughter of an Italian immigrant who is hired by Bevel as his secretary and ghostwriter. Bevel’s intention is to refute the version told of his life in Bonds. He wants to set the record straight. And the 4th section, well, it’s Bevel’s wife’s Mildred turn to share her version. Huh? Really?

I supposed I should not have been surprised that a book titled Trust invites the reader to question everything. What is fact? What is fiction? Whom and what should I trust?

Trust is a 2023 Pulitzer Prize winner, along with Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver–a book I loved. I admire Trust as a mastery of manipulation and I, like many reviewers thought about Edith Wharton and Henry James as I read this book. And also The Great Gatsby and even the song about money from the musical Cabaret. I am glad I read it and I encourage you to read it, too, but it felt more like an intellectual exercise than a companion.

Additions to My TBR

I just learned, thanks to Anne Bogel’s Summer Reading Guide https://members.modernmrsdarcy.com/product/2024-summer-reading-guide/ that French author Valerie Perrin’s first novel, Forgotten Sunday, will be released here in June. Her book Fresh Water for Flowers is one of my all-time favorite novels, and I will set aside anything I am reading for this work by her.

Thanks to Anne, I have added a number of other books to my TBR:

  • Real Americans by Rachel Khong
  • Sandwich by Catherine Newman
  • You Are Here by David Nicholls
  • All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
  • How To Read A Book by Monica Wood
  • Shopkeeping: Stories, Advice and Observations by Peter Miller

Both Parnassus Books (Ann Patchett’s book store in Nashville) and Arcadia Books, Spring Green, WI have forced me to add these books to my TBR.

  • The Rachel Incident by Emma O” Donoghue (now in paperback)
  • Safekeep by Yale van den Wooden
  • Housemates by Emma Copley Eisenberg

Next Thursday, June 6, I will post the summary of my May reading and also my intentions for summer reading. Stay tuned and happy reading!

An Invitation

Have you added anything to your TBR recently? I would love to know.

Book Report: Nonfiction Stars–Anne Lamott and Doris Kearns Goodwin

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May 25, 2024

Anne Lamott

I never think twice about buying the latest title by Anne Lamott. The only question is which independent bookstore will I be in when I first see it. This time I was in Excelsior Bay Books and quickly added Somehow, Thoughts on Love, Lamott’s twentieth book, to my pile.

I am an Anne Lamott fan.

I remember hearing her speak to a sold-out crowd in a chapel at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland following the publication in 1999 of Traveling Mercies, Some Thoughts On Faith. I think I had read Bird by Bird, Some Instructions of Writing and Life (1994) by then, and was already hooked on her. Bird by Bird is one of those books I return to now and then, especially when I need a writing boost. Her words, realistic, encouraging, and down to earth basic, are better than caffeine and sugar, although, I hasten to add, Lamott does not discount the power of caffeine and sugar.

I have not read all of Lamott’s books. In fact, I am not sure I have read any of her fiction, but it is clear from the stack of books on my spirituality/theology bookshelves that Anne Lamott is one of my spiritual guides. That is the case, I think, because she brings humor and humility to the messiness of her own life. Never pretentious. Never hidden. She is generous in her ability to share her own struggles and her own ongoing learning and how others have played active roles in the twists and turns of her life on a labyrinth. I also love how even though she is a famous author who is beloved by so many, she continues to teach Sunday School in her small Presbyterian Church in Marin City, California. (She and President Carter have something in common.)

In this most recent book, Somehow, Lamott draws, as always, from her own experiences, the loves of her life and the ways she has been loved by others and feels the love of God. And sentence after sentence she opens herself in ways readers can understand.

  • P. 7. “God can never tell you not to love someone. God can only tell you to do a better job loving someone.”
  • P. 12 “We are all called to be the love that wears socks and shoes.”
  • p. 23. “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
  • p. 28. “I’ve often been a kind of spiritual ATM for Tim when he has felt stuck and rattled by the powerlessness du jour. I listen and dispense pretty much the same advice every time: breathe, pray, seek wise counsel, be friendly with yourself, and so on. I bore myself blue sometimes, but that’s all I know.”
  • p. 101. “Life is such a mystery that you have to wonder if God drinks a little.”

In the chapter titled “Hinges” she describes hinges as something that fixes something in place, but also helps us open. She says “I don’t know” is a kind of portal, but it is also a hinge. Think about it. And while you are thinking you might keep in mind the acronym WAIT, “Why Am I Talking?” At some point in the book she seeks the advice of a friend about a challenging situation in her life. Lamott wonders if she should confront the person who is causing her pain and the friend says, “Not today.” Think about all the times in your life when that advice could have been beneficial. A pause.

I also appreciated her reference to these two quotes.

Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day I can hear her breathing. Arundhati Roy.

You can survive on your own. You can grow stronger on your own. You can even prevail on your own. But you cannot become human on your own. Frederick Buechner

Perhaps it is time to build your own Anne Lamott library. My collection sits near books by Elizabeth Johnson, Sue Monk Kidd, Buddhist Jack Kornfield, Brian McLaren, and others (Just think of the conversation they must have when I leave the garret!), and includes:

  • 1994. Bird By Bird, Some Instructions on Writing and Life
  • 1999. Traveling mercies, Some Thoughts on Faith
  • 2005. Plan B, Further Thoughts on Faith
  • 2007. Grace (Eventually), Thoughts of Faith
  • 2012. Help Thanks Wow, The Three Essential Prayers
  • 2013. Stitches, A Handbook on Meaning, Hope and Repair
  • 2014 Small Victories, Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace
  • 2017. Hallelujah Anyway, Rediscovering Mercy
  • 2018. Almost Everything, Notes on Hope
  • 2021. Dusk Night Dawn, On Revival and Courage
  • 2124. Somehow, Thoughts on Love

One more word from Lamott. She reminds us that “we all have an unknown expiration date.” p. 101.

Doris Kearns Goodwin

Towards the end of Richard Goodwin’s life (died 2018), he and his wife Doris Kearns Goodwin, decide it is time to go through the many boxes of documents and other writing and memorabilia he had saved from his life serving as a speech writer and consultant for JFK, LBJ, Robert Kennedy, and Eugene McCarthy. He even wrote Al Gore’s concession speech. The boxes, which Goodwin called a “time capsule of the decade,” contained an inside view of the turbulent and pivotal 1960s and who better to write this memoir than Doris Kearns Goodwin? She, of course, is known as the author of many books about important figures in American history–Lincoln, LBJ, Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt, the Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, and others. The result is An Unfinished Love Story, A Personal History of the 60’s.

Yes, it is history, but it is also history from a personal vantage point, and I loved reading the interactions between the the couple, their different perspectives, her insightful questions, and his willingness to reflect. I was also fascinated by the insights into the process of being a speech writer–the collaborations, the ability to write in someone else’s voice and the restraint of the writer’s ego in favor of the person delivering the speech.

As a teenager in the 60’s I remember many of the events that are central to the book, such as the assassinations of JFK, MLK, Jr, and RFK. I remember the passage of the civil rights and voting rights acts and, of course, the Vietnam War. I graduated from college in 1970 and participated in a number of anti-war demonstrations–peaceful ones. Once again our country is facing scary turbulent times, and it helped me to read how brilliant and wise and caring individuals worked diligently to protect what this country wants to stand for.

Even if you aren’t a big history reader, put this one your list.

What I’m Reading Now

After reading both of these books, I had trouble settling into something new. That often happens after I have read something so compelling. During one evening I started and set aside several books. That doesn’t mean they aren’t worth reading or wouldn’t appeal to me at another time, but they just didn’t grab me. Eventually during my meditation time, I started reading How To Walk Into A Room: The Art of Knowing When to Stay and When to Walk Away by Emily Freeman and it is GOOD. More about this later, I am sure. For my fiction reading I am almost done with The Paris Novel by food critic/writer Ruth Reichl and am enjoying that.

Happy reading!

An Invitation

Do you ever have trouble finding the next book to read after finishing a book you loved? I would love to know.