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Laureen

    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review The Winemakers Wife by Kristin Harmel

    October 16, 2024
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    I enjoyed this story about the Champagne region of France during the Nazi occupation of World War II. Thanks to my friend Sonia for the recommendation. Here is my book review The Winemakers Wife by Kristin Harmel.

    Reims France

    Although I have traveled pretty extensively in France, Reims is one area I have not been. After reading this book and the history of Reims both during WWI and WWII I think I will add it to my next French itinerary.

    Reims is the focus of The Winemakers Wife. We are treated to two interesting parallel stories; the first is current day when we meet Liv who has just been divorced and is heartbroken in New York City. Her Grandmother Edith comes knocking on her door and whisks her off to France.

    World War Two

    The second parallel story introduces us to Edith as a young women in Reims as well as her best friend Ines, who is married to Michele, a prominent champagne maker in the Reims region known for it’s quality champagne.

    Ines and Edith are caught up in the confusion of the occupation where the Nazi soldiers are taking Champagne and anything else they want, while the French people are nearly starving.

    Two Worlds Collide

    As these two story lines and their characters collide, Liv will find herself astonished by the unknown history of her Grandmother Edith and Reims. Meanwhile Edith has spent 75 years living with regret and oppressive guilt and at 99 years old will finly secure the future for her granddaughter before she says her final goodbye.

    Book Review The Winemakers Wife

    I really enjoyed this book and it kept my interest throughout although there were a couple of too convenient coincidences added to further the plot. However there also was an unexpected plot twist I didn’t see coming…I always enjoy it when that happens.

    ****Four stars for The Winemakers Wife by Kristin Harmel. See last week’s book review I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger.

    We love it when you pin, share and comment about our book reviews. Thank you!

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger

    October 9, 2024
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    I am normally a BIG fan of Leif Enger and have read several of his books. But this one….I struggled with it despite wanting to love it. Here is my book review I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger.

    What is Happening?

    I have read and loved many dystopian novels over the past few years, some of my favorites being Station Eleven, To Paradise and Cloud Cuckoo Land. Going into I Cheerfully Refuse I didn’t realize it was set in the not too distant future. It takes a long time in the story to really grasp it, at least it did for me. Hints are dropped here and there and eventually the understanding comes….

    Dark Times

    Enger introduces us to Lark and Rainy, a couple living in the not too distant, but much changed future. When Lark is murdered, Rainy finds himself on the run in a sailboat. As the reader is pulled into Enger’s beautiful story telling, we realize how crazy the world is, run by billionaires and astronauts, with massive and dangerous climate changes creating havoc. Food shortages are part of life, books are illegal and a rash of suicides occur regularly because no one wants to continue to suffer.

    It’s not a happy book- a dystopian novel of despair and destruction mixed with love and longing. And so different than anything I have read by Enger. Maybe I just wasn’t up to it – feeling the gloom in our planet currently. You’ll need to decide for yourself. I give I Cheerfully Refuse four stars ****. Let me know what you think?

    Thank you for reading my Book Review I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger. See last week’s Book Review The Unmaking of June Farrow. We love it when you comment, pin and share our book reviews. Thank you.

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young

    October 2, 2024
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    I really didn’t know anything about this book when I chose it for an audible book in my car. But it was a lovely well-written and well- read story of family and living a complicated life. Here is my book review The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young.

    Magic or Madness

    Adrienne Young creates a mysterious plot a bit reminiscent of The Time Travelers Wife, or The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. June Farrow believes she is going mad when she begins to see things that no one else can see. Is she crazy, like all the towns people believe is true of all the women in her family?

    The Farrow Women

    Secrets held close in the family about the unusual women in the Farrow family, spill out after June’s grandmother passes away. June is given a locket and a photograph that only create more confusion. When she confesses to her family member Birdie that she has been seeing “things” including a red door, Birdie tells her when she sees the door again, she must go through it.

    1951

    When June builds up the courage and passes through the red door, she is no longer in 2023. Instead she finds herself in a very mixed up world of 1951. Everyone knows who she is…how do they know her, and what sinister thing has happened that creates so much fear and angst among the people she meets on the other side of the door?

    Book Review The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young

    Young’s storyline is complicated and reminds me a bit of Alice Hoffman’s writing – one of my favorite authors. The reader will need to concentrate to keep track of the plot as it jumps forward and backward, but a few fun plot twists are waiting. I really enjoyed this surprising book and will definitely look to read more of Adrienne Young’s books in the near future.

    Thanks for reading my book review The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young. See last week’s book review Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange.

    September 25, 2024
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    Like last week’s book review The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson, this week’s book review Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange explores the Native American experience. In particular, the horrific period in our history of the Indian Reform Schools. Here is my book review Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange.

    There There

    Wandering Stars reintroduces us to the characters of Orange’s bestselling novel There There which was a Pulitzer Finalist. In Wandering Stars we meet the ancestors of the characters of There There. The ancestors and survivors of the Sand Creek Massacre.

    Using the Sand Creek Massacre as a turning point, Orange creates characters both past and present in turn to develop the story. The novel traces legacies of the 1864 massacre, the Carlisle Indian Industrial School and the abuse of generations of Native Americans.

    Wandering Stars

    Star is a survivor of the massacre, and a prisoner at Fort Marion Prison. A generation later Charles Star, is sent to the Carlisle Industrial School, under the tutelage of the same man who imprisoned his father. Through the brutal experience Charles meets Opal.

    The story of the ancestors and prodigy of Charles and Opal is how Orange explores difficult topics of addiction, abuse, abandonment and generational trauma of the Native American experience.

    *****Five stars for Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange.

    Read last week’s book also about Native Americans The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson.

    Thank you for reading my book review Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange. We love it when you pin, share and comment on our book reviews. Thank you.

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson

    September 18, 2024
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    Navigating the legacies of their Dakota ancestors, Rosalie Iron Wing grows up with her father in a cabin in the wood. His untimely death will change her destiny. Here is my book review The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson.

    Indian Schools

    From 1880 until 1940 the United States government forced Native American children to live, work and study at Indian Schools. Taken from their families, these children suffered unimaginable verbal and physical abuse for years in these schools.

    Rosalie Iron Wing never knew her mother, or her mother’s family. Nor does she know much about the era of Indian Schools. But her life and legacy have been hugely impacted by the atrocities that afflicted her family and ancestors.

    Growing Up

    After her father’s death Rosalie will be sent to a foster home. No one in the state knows she has family in a nearby town. Eventually she will meet a white farmer named John. He will suggest an arrangement to help her have a home and him to save his farm. They marry and have a child. But a white man married to a Native American women is difficult in the small town with a long memory. Eventually Rosalie begins to realize that giant farms and the fertilizers used are killing the earth…the very earth she was raised to always protect and cherish.

    The Seed Keeper

    After her husband dies Rosalie leaves the farm and returns to the cabin of her youth. She is sure why she needs to be there until she finds the seeds of her great grandmother. Rosalie will to return to the old way of life, plant the native seeds and protect the earth.

    Voices of the Past

    Wilson’s novel is told in the voices of four women, present day and past. These indelible women are remembering who they are, where they came from and why we can not forget what happened to the Native American.

    ****Four stars for The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson

    Thank you for reading my book review The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson. We appreciate it when you pin, share and comment on our posts.

    More great novels about the Native American experience; The Berry Pickers, The River We Remember, The Council of Dolls, Lightening Strikes.

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    Asia & Oceania Travel  --  Europe Travel  --  Inspire

    Here We Go Again The Grand Adventure Part Nine

    The Grand Adventure Part Nine

    September 13, 2024
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    Well, it’s hard to believe we have been in the USA already for four months. I really tried to keep this summer quieter. More open. Free. Ha! Well, I guess I’ll try again next summer. But I have no regrets. We had wonderful time with our adult children, our moms and our friends. What a blessing it is to spend summers in the Pacific Northwest. And now, here we go again – the Grand Adventure Part Nine.

    The Caucuses
    The Stans

    What’s Next?

    We are making some changes to how we travel and to how we share this all with you. Crazy to think we are starting YEAR NINE of The Grand Adventure. Amazing how much we have experienced over the years. And we are not done yet. We will finish off 2024 with a seven week trip in the region known as the Caucasus and the Central Asian countries often referred to as The Stans. We will be on the go from September 15th – November 1st and then return to our home here in Washington State for the winter holidays.

    Some changes though – I plan to write fewer blogs and instead share more videos and reels, in keeping with the changing audience. I’ll still have blogs but not every Friday, and particularly on this intense itinerary not as frequent. See more about this below.

    Armenia (Canva)

    The Caucasus countries are Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. In spring of 2020 we were supposed to travel by train through these countries as well as visit Ukraine. Well of course Covid put a stop to all of that.

    Georgia (Canva)

    The first three weeks of our seven week itinerary has us spending a week in each of these countries, staying in the capital cities of Yerevan, T’bilisi and Baku and enjoying the cities and day trips from each home base. I am really excited to see this unique region of the world.

    Azerbaijan (Canva)

    Intrepid

    After the Caucasus we will once again join Intrepid Travel for a group tour of Five Stans; Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan.

    Uzbekistan (Canva)

    This is our second time using Intrepid Travel. As you know it’s rare we travel by tour, and even more rare that we do a group tour. But we had such a positive experience with Intrepid on our eleven day tour of Bolivia we are confident and excited to do it again.

    Turkmenistan (Canva)

    This time however we will be traveling for 24 days. It’s a very long tour, we cover a lot of territory and five countries. Fingers crossed it all goes as planned. Lots of moving parts! I remain optimistic.

    Dubai

    On our way back to the USA we will spend a couple of days in Dubai, relaxing and enjoying this beautiful city. We have been here before, and we look forward to seeing a bit more. Then it’s back to the USA for the holiday season before departing again mid January.

    Dubai (Canva)

    Lots of Planning

    This seven week trip has included a great deal of detail oriented planning and we feel we are ready. We are excited to explore new places to us – nine countries in seven weeks.

    I will not be blogging while I’m on the move. Instead I will be focusing on daily videos, reels, YouTube and posts on our Instagram , Threads and Facebook pages. I’m looking forward to sharing in this format instead of blogging but will do in-depth blog posts when I return. Click the links and follow along – . Here we Go Again the Grand Adventure Part Nine! And by the way – if you have been following us on Twitter X we have left that platform so join us on one of our other options.

    Be sure to read last week’s post Travel Wardrobe – Seven Weeks and Nine Countries and you might also like this older post How to Prepare for a Long Haul Flight.

    We love it when you share and comment on our blog posts. We can’t wait for you to follow along on this exciting next adventure. Here We Go Again – The Grand Adventure Part Nine. Thank you!!

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy

    September 11, 2024
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    Sipsworth is a lovely, but also heartbreaking tale about an aging widow and end of life issues. Short and sweet, here is my book review Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy.

    Loneliness

    Helen Cartwright has spent thirty years living in Australia. But after the death of her husband and son, she returns to her childhood village in England to live out her days. Helen doesn’t know anyone in the village any longer, and spends her days alone contemplating when the end will happen. That is until the strangest friend becomes her companion.

    Sipsworth

    Through a series of small events, Helen befriends a mouse she calls Sipsworth. As she cares for the mouse daily, her needs for supplies and advice on mouse health, creates an opportunity for her to interact with people in her community. Helen has avoided getting to know or reaching out to anyone, but now Sipsworth brings her in contact with a shopkeeper, a cardiac doctor, a veterinarian, a librarian and a small boy, and her neighbors.

    Community

    Through this new community Helen finds a family and a reason to live, all because of a chance encounter with a tiny mouse.

    Book Review Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy

    This lovely story explores the topics of aging, loneliness and grief, while also touching on the goodwill compassion and kindness of strangers. A world where many people live out their days alone and in solitude, Sipsworth creates a story of finding a way to move forward and live fully when all seemed to be lost.

    I enjoyed the book very much. ****Four stars for Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy. See last week’s book review Martyr by Kaveh Akbar.

    We love it when you pin and share our book reviews. Thank you.

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