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Laureen

    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson

    October 30, 2024
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    “Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, and, under a just God, cannot long retain it.” -Abraham Lincoln.

    Erik Larson is one of my favorite authors, his book Devil in the White City one of my favorite reads of all time. In his latest work, Larson tackles the complicated issue of the five months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the start of the Civil War. Here is my book review The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson.

    A Country Divided

    Many authors of late have used the current divide in our nation and in US politics to revisit the not so distant topic of a nation at odds, a country divided and the eventual war that would kill more than 750,000 people and nearly take down the union.

    Only 160 years ago, the United States was on the brink of disaster, bitterly at odds as Lincoln came to office. He inherited the demon of unrest – a bitter south hell-bent on keeping slavery as a way to continue their antebellum way of life, and cotton as king.

    Fort Sumter

    Larson takes the reader through the five months from election to war, writing with intrigue and brilliantly researched. The book is a gripping account of misinformation, egos, errors and betrayals that eventually led to the Confederacy shelling Fort Sumter in Charleston and leading to all out war.

    Book Review The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson

    This is a fascinating and well written and researched account of this important time in history, yet told in a chronological novel narrative. I learned many new facts about this period of history and was intrigued throughout the book. It is suspenseful and heartfelt and should make every reader realize how perilous a nation is, both in the past and present.

    *****Five stars for The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson – a must read for anyone who thinks it could not happen again. Thank you for reading my book review The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson. See last week’s book review Loved and Missed by Susie Boyt.

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review Loved and Missed by Susie Boyt

    October 23, 2024
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    What lengths would you go to to save a little girl, a granddaughter, a life. Susie Boyt imagines it all in this novel. Here is my book review Loved and Missed by Susie Boyt.

    Family

    Despite all her efforts, single mother Ruth has a very difficult relationship with her drug addicted daughter Eleanor. Ruth has done everything she can providing love and support, food and money, advice and distance to help her only daughter. How much can a parent bare, when their adult child is lost and not wanting to be saved?

    Then a Baby

    When Eleanor gives birth and actually marries the father, Ruth is hopeful again. But soon it is clear to Ruth that the child is being neglected in the drug infested home. She takes the baby saying just for a few days…

    Baby Lily will always know her mother, but Ruth will be the real mother as Lily thrives and the two find a new way of life. Lily grows and changes and blossoms into a teenager, though always questioning the lack of her mother’s love. Ruth will also put away her life’s disappointments and focus on bringing up Lily.

    Tragedy

    Boyt’s story is heartfelt and identifiable, especially for any women who has raised a child. This is not a happy book, filled with love, loss, heartbreak and in the end, retrospection. But it’s witty, honest, sweet and perceptive. ****Four stars for Loved and Missed by Susie Boyt.

    Thank you for reading my book review Loved and Missed by Susie Boyt. See last week’s book review The Winemakers Wife by Kristin Harmel. We love it when you pin and share our book reviews. Thank you.

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    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.

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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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