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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review The Editor by Steven Rowley

    November 15, 2023
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    I loved this book by the author of The Guncle, which was one of my favs from last year. Rowley has a engaging an thoughtful writing style which is perfect for the topic of this book – Jackie Onassis. Here is my book review The Editor by Steven Rowley.

    This is a work of fiction, but is based on the very real Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Rowley introduces us to Mrs. Onassis during the period in her life where she served as an Editor at Doubleday Books in New York City.

    Just imagine if you are a young author and your very first novel has been tapped by Doubleday. You walk into your first meeting with your Editor, and OMG. It’s her. Jackie Kennedy.

    This is how the story begins when James Smale is dumbstruck in the offices of Doubleday. Why would Mrs. Onassis like his book?

    As the plot unfolds we learn that James has written a book, loosely (well not so loosely) about his own dysfunctional family. Growing up with a father who was angry and not engaged and a mother who was often mentally absent, James tells the truth, but changes the names to protect the…well who exactly?

    Mrs. Onassis finds a connection to this story, and over the next year she will skillfully guide James to write the real story and find the real ending…all while she is quietly suffering in her own private world.

    I really enjoy Rowley’s writing and in this novel he managed to bring me to tears, which rarely happens for me. I can’t imagine anyone who wouldn’t love this book. Thank you for reading my book review The Editor by Steven Rowley.

    *****Five stars for The Editor by Steven Rowley.

    See last week’s book review Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead

    My current read is Sidhartha by Herman Hess

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review The Art Thief by Michael Finkel

    October 25, 2023
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    I learned about this book when my friend Wendy posted on social media that her friend Michael Finkel had a book on the New York Times best seller list. So I decided to check it out. What an amazing true-crime it was. I loved it and I think you will too. Here is my book review The Art Thief by Michael Finkel.

    Obsession

    This is the true story about Stephane Breitwieser, a young man in Europe who would become one of the most obsessed art thief’s in history. It boggles my mind how long he got away with it and how many relics and masterpieces he was able to just walk out of museums and cathedrals with. He stole more than three hundred objects over an 8-year period, with the help of us girlfriend who served as lookout and his mother who turned a blind eye.

    Possession

    Finkel brings us into Breitwieser’s bizarre world, helping the reader feel at once part of each heist yet also astonished and breathless at the sheer audacity of this criminal. Breitwiser was never in it for the money, he just had an insatiable need to possess rare works of art. He hid all his works in a secret hiding place for years.

    The Crash

    He is of course eventually caught (thus this book), after he makes one major mistake. Breitwieser, his mother and his girlfriend will all suffer from this years long and senseless crime spree. In the end, many priceless works will be lost, burned or never found.

    Thanks for reading my book review The Art Thief by Michael Finkel. A remarkable story of true crime and brilliantly written and engaging.

    *****Five Stars for The Art Thief by Michael Finkel

    See last week’s book review Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton.

    My current read The Crook Manifesto.

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

    October 18, 2023
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    Wow this book. I went into this without any knowledge of the plot or any previous reads of reviews. It is a mind-bender. My husband thought I would like it, and we both had enjoy The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton a couple months ago. So I started Birnam Wood and I was blown away. Here is my book review Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton.

    Like the Luminaries, Birnam Wood is set in New Zealand but this time in the modern times. Released in early 2023 Catton has developed a unique story for our time. We are introduced to Mira and the people behind the unregulated, philanthropic but sometimes criminal gardening collective that plants crops wherever no one will notice, in an effort to grow food for the world. When a giant landslide (not unheard of in New Zealand) cuts off the town of Thorndike, Mira and Birnam Wood decide to take over a farm and hope they can go unnoticed.

    But also taking advantage of the currently abandoned property is American billionaire Robert Lemoine who tells Mira he is building his bunker for the end of the world. Is that the truth? Far from it as Lemoine has no intention of the world coming to an end…rather he is money grabbing, untrustworthy and ruthless tech wizard and no one is safe around him.

    This is a psychological thriller with a horrific plot that gets worse as the story unfolds. How many will die for the sake of their beliefs or for the insatiable need for money and power? Thank you for reading my book review Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton.

    *****Five stars for Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton.

    Read last weeks book review Dare to Travel by Katherine Leamy

    My current read Chenneville by Paulette Jiles

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review Dare to Travel Solo by Katherine Leamy

    October 11, 2023
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    Over the years of my travel blogging life I have had the unique opportunity to get to know other travel bloggers, vloggers and authors. Katherine Leamy is one of those. Although we have never met (yet) we have a great deal in common. I was very excited to read her new book written to explain how she became “The 5 Kilo Traveler”. Here is my book review Dare to Travel Solo by Katherine Leamy.

    Just a Regular Mom

    Katherine is many things,but not always a solo traveler. She is a wife, a mom, a nurse, a friend. And yet something was nagging at her and she felt she needed to get out of the box and try something new and daring. No her marriage wasn’t falling apart, or her job driving her crazy. She just felt the need to embark on a solo adventure and see what she might find there.

    Croatia

    So, with the blessing of her family, she embarked on her first ever solo trip, with only a backpack, to Croatia. Dare to Travel Solo chronicles her day to day adventures, the people she met, the experiences she had, and how she conquered her fear. This trip set her on a course to be a solo traveler, and to encourage other travelers to travel light with a back pack only.

    A Following

    Along the way she discovered there are many people like her interested in making the leap to solo travel and lightweight travel. And so the book became a goal too – a guide to help others see their own possibilities. As I type this, I’m in the Philippines and my friend Kathrine is on her way to Japan to hike…carrying as little as possible for her next adventure.

    Like me, Katherine encourages others to find what works for them in travel, seize the moment without fear and get out there! Do it now, do it soon and don’t find yourself regretting never doing it.

    Dare to Travel Solo

    ****Four Stars for Dare to Travel Solo.

    Are you ready to travel solo? Thanks for reading my book review Dare to Travel Solo by Katherine Leamy. Have fun Katherine!! https://www.instagram.com/the5kilotraveller/

    Read last week’s book review Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio. We appreciate your comments and shares.

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio

    October 4, 2023
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    I’m not sure how this book go on my to read list…because it is pretty old. Published in 2001 but I had never read it, or anything by this author. I am definitely glad I found it though. It was heartfelt and uplifting. Here is my book review Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio.

    Rural Kentucky

    It’s the 1950’s in rural Kentucky. A tight knit community but poor and misunderstood. We meet a little orphan girl named Icy. Icy lives with her grandparents – a loving and hard working couple whose only daughter was Icy’s mother.

    There Is Something Different

    But there is clearly something different about Icy. Not only does she feel shame about her being an orphan, but Icy suffers from an undiagnosed disorder that causes her to have “fits” – today we know this disorder as Tourette Syndrome.

    But for little Icy her childhood and teenage years are a life of humiliation because of her illness which causes her to jerk, croak, tick and yell. Misunderstood and shunned, laughed at and chastised, Icy retreats into her small farmhouse and never goes anywhere.

    Empathy

    This character Icy really pulled at my heart strings as she navigates life with confusion and sadness. Her only friends, an obese woman named Miss Emily and her grandparents, a grown-up Icy narrates the story of her childhood pain with humor. I felt so much empathy for this dear young girl.

    Eventually Icy will receive a diagnosis, an education and find her way to give back in a world where few have been kind to her, but she comes out shining on the other side. I enjoyed this sweet girl and this often laugh out loud story.

    Thanks for reading my book review Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Miller

    ****Four stars for Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Miller

    Read last week’s book review Skylight Confessions by Alice Hoffman.

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review Skylight Confessions by Alice Hoffman

    September 27, 2023
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    Alice Hoffman is one of my favorite authors and I have read a lot of her work. My favorites include The Museum of Extraordinary Things and The Dovekeepers. Skylight Confessions, one of her older books published in 2007 was very good, but not my favorite of her work. Here is my book review Skylight Confessions by Alice Hoffman.

    Paranormal

    Like all of Hoffman’s vast collection of novels, there is a mystical element to Skylight Confessions. But Hoffman’s gift is to seamlessly weave the magic and paranormal into a realistic plot with normal characters. In Skylilght Confessions opposites attract early on in the book when John and Arlyn have a powerful magnetism that results in a lifetime of regret. A loveless marriage filled with infidelity will result in two children, the first named Sam finds life and acceptance difficult from the start.

    Death

    Death visits the family when Arlyn dies and leaves a devastated John who turns to the neighbor for physical love. Arlyn’s death also crushes George, her one true love. But most of all it changes young Sam’s entire world and he will never be the same.

    Haunting

    Meridith joins the family as a nanny, but Meridith’s presence is only as a result of her ability to see Arlyn’s ghost. Arlyn is unable to cross over and haunts the families mansion and her husband John. The weight of this paranormal presence will create chaos and unhappiness through the decades, fracture the family even further and cause Sam and his sister Blanca to hate their father and stay as far away as possible.

    Book Review Skylight Confessions by Alice Hoffman

    This is a sad story of how love, mistakes, dishonesty and grief disintegrate lives and a family…but the ending will give you hope for healing.

    ***Three stars for Skylight Confessions by Alice Hoffman.

    Thank you for reading my Book Review Skylight Confessions by Alice Hoffman.

    Read last week’s book review The Furrows by Namwali Serpell

    Book Review The Furrows by Namwali Serpell

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review The Furrows by Namwali Serpell

    September 20, 2023
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    A strange book. I spent a lot of time wondering what was happening…but I stuck with it. Liked but didn’t love it. Here is my book review The Furrows by Namwali Serpell

    A Celebrated Novel

    This book, much celebrated and awarded just didn’t do it for me. Sometimes it happens. My mood? My stress level? Who knows, but I struggled. But other’s have certainly found this book remarkable – New York Magazine claiming it “A triumph”.

    I can certainly say it was unique. A wild ride through a families grief after the loss of a child. A mystery of sorts as you navigate an ever changing narrative of how this child died. Or did he die? Is he just missing?

    Grief

    At its core, this novel is about grief and the multitudes of ways people negotiate grief. Cassandra, who was the only witness to her brothers death is plagued with uncertainty through out her life, her multitude of therapists, her visions and dreams…is she mentally ill?

    Her mother, neurotic and obsessive, with no body ever found, she refuses to believe Wayne is dead. Could a seven year old survive alone somewhere? Has he been kidnapped? Her unwillingness to process through the grief leaves the family torn, disembowled, breft.

    Cassandra’s relationship with her parents – one who stays and focuses only the lost child and one who leaves and starts a whole new family – will be all she has for her entire life following Wayne’s death. Until she meets someone who also is searching…searching for a life without doubt.

    It’s a grim story of mourning and memory, letting go and living.

    Thank you for reading my book review The Furrows by Namwali Serpell.

    ***Three stars for The Furrows by Namwali Serpell

    Read last week’s book review The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

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