Monday, March 18, 2024

It's Monday 3/18! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

Life

Life continues to be busy and full, thanks to my greatly improved health! It really is incredible, and I am grateful every day for this amazing turn-around, after ending last year with several months couchbound. My stunning improvement is due to normalizing thyroid function (which took a full year) and finally getting yeast overgrowth (a chronic issue due to my immune disorder) under control with diet changes. So, last week, I went shopping again, both clothes shopping and my first time in Trader Joe's in about six months. I worked out in the yard on three different days, which is a stunning accomplishment for me--the gardens are looking great for spring for the first time in many years! 

 

All the dead stuff cut down - ready for spring!

Buds on my lilac tree!

We went out to a fancy dinner with our oldest friends to celebrate their anniversary. I met two other friends for lunch. The three of us worked together in the early 90's, and I hadn't seen one of them in over 20 years! We had a blast catching up. And yesterday, those same old friends (from the anniversary dinner) came over for our traditional St. Patrick's Day feast, along with our younger son.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

And, of course, as two engineers, we celebrated Pi Day! It was a challenge this year, given our dietary restrictions, but I made a Paleo/keto quiche that was absolutely delicious.

Happy Pi Day!

I'm loving seeing all the signs of spring around me, including my first top-down day of the year!

Daffodils in bloom!

First top-down day!

Pink tree and daffodils

My favorite sign of spring - forsythia!

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On the Blog

I need to step up my review writing this week. Though my new blog policy is only to write reviews of really great books ... it's been an outstanding reading month so far!

Nonfiction Review: The Invisible Girls by Sarah Thebarge - I was so moved by this wonderful memoir about a 27-year-old woman, devastated by breast cancer and other losses, who meets a single-mother Somali refugee with 5 little girls, and how their relationship helped to heal them both. Check out my review and also the 3-minute video at the bottom of Sarah's website for a preview into this heartbreaking, uplifting true story.

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On Video

I don't normally include my chronic illness videos here, but if you yourself have a chronic illness or you are just interested in my current life and what helped me to improve so much, then check out my latest:

Chronic Illness Vlog 3-10-24: Out and About, Still Doing Well!

Friday Reads 3-15-24 - my quick weekly update on what I am currently reading.

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 What We're Reading

I finished reading my first book for Booktopia, the fabulous weekend book event I participate in every spring in Vermont (tickets available; my recap/vlog from Booktopia 2023). I started with Why We Read: On Bookworms, Libraries, and Just One More Page Before Lights Out by Shannon Reed, a nonfiction book that was absolutely delightful! Reed is not only a reader but also a longtime English teacher and now college literature and writing professor. This is a fun combination of memoir and essays, with a hefty dose of humor, and it's very entertaining. Any avid reader will recognize him/herself in Shannon's many memories and observations, plus it is loaded with book name-dropping!

 

Now, I am reading a middle-grade graphic novel, Parachute Kids by Betty C. Tang for Middle-Grade March (fits the prompt "about immigration"). It's about a family from Taiwan that visits California on a vacation, but the parents' plan is for their kids to remain in the U.S. to escape the perilous situation at home and to get a better education. Dad returns home to work, and Mom is supposed to stay with the kids, but the U.S. won't extend her visa. The three kids (two teens and 10-year-old Feng Li) are left on their own. The oldest daughter knows English fairly well, but the 10-year-old knows none and is suddenly in school with American kids. I had never even heard of this term before this book came out, but apparently it is a growing trend for Chinese parents to send their kids to the U.S. for a better education. I wanted to know more and read this fascinating NY Times article last night. The book is excellent so far. 

 


On audio, I finished listening to Iceberg by Jennifer Nielsen for Middle-Grade March (and for the Fierce Reads event). I'm a longtime fan of Nielsen's middle-grade historical fiction (like Lines of Courage and A Night Divided), and as you might guess from the title, this one is about the Titanic. Twelve-year-old Hazel is on a mission to save her family. Her mother has sent her to the docks to board the Titanic for New York, where Hazel's aunt has promised her a job in a garment factory, so she can send money home to keep her siblings from starving. But when Hazel tries to buy a ticket, she finds that all of her family's savings isn't enough for the fare for even a third-class ticket. She finds a way on board as a stowaway. With a dream of becoming a journalist one day, Hazel begins to hear rumors about the ship that make the reporter in her interested--and wary. We all know how the Titanic's story ends, but this was an excellent novel with a wonderful main character (and yes, she survives).

 


Sticking with the Middle-Grade March and Fierce Women Reads themes, I am now listening to Dear Sweet Pea by Julie Murphy, my first novel from this very popular YA author (this is her first middle-grade novel). Twelve-year-old Sweet Pea feels torn apart by her parents' divorce, despite their efforts to keep everything "normal." She splits her time between her mom's house and her dad's, which are identical homes two doors down from each other! She's also still grieving the loss of her first-ever best friend, Kiera, who's found prettier, thinner, more popular girls to hang out with. Luckily, Sweet Pea has Oscar, her new best (only) friend and her cat, Cheese. The novel is very good so far, and I'm interested to see what happens next.

 

My husband, Ken, finished A Ghost of Caribou by Alice Henderson, book 3 in her outdoor thriller series about wildlife biologist Alex Carter. He is now reading a nonfiction book I loved last November, The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman, about a Polish couple who saved over a hundred Jews in WWII Warsaw. I hope he finds it as engrossing and fascinating as I did (my review at the link).

 

Our son, 29, has been very busy with job interviews lately, but he's enjoying a book I gave him for his birthday last year, Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie, one of his all-time favorite fantasy authors (and he has many favorites). This is book 1 in World of the First Law, a spin-off of his hugely popular First Law trilogy.

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What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.
 
 
 What are you and your family reading this week?

 

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Memoir Review: The Invisible Girls

A few years ago, I downloaded The Invisible Girls by Sarah Thebarge from the SYNC annual summer audio book program and finally began listening to this beautiful, moving memoir that I finished reading in print.

Sarah, twenty-seven, was riding the train into downtown Portland, Oregon, one day when she met two adorable little girls and their exhausted-looking mother. Sarah was kind and played with the girls (one of whom fell asleep in her lap) and began talking to the mother, Hadhi. That was the start of a unique friendship that enriched the lives of all involved. Hadhi was a Somali refugee and had five little girls under twelve at home (the older three were in school when they first met). She invited Sarah to their apartment, where Sarah soon understood that the family was barely surviving. There was no food in the house, no furniture, and Hadhi had no means of support. Her abusive husband had recently left them, after a particularly violent episode, and Family Services had moved the family for safety to a new subsidized apartment. But Hadhi was lost in this country and culture that was completely unfamiliar to her, and she knew little English. The older girls were learning English in school, but they also felt out of place in their new country and had been placed in grades well below their age-levels due to the language barrier. All five of the little girls, though, were full of joy and adored Sarah (and Justin Bieber!). Sarah began helping the family in any way she could, though she didn't have much herself. She had recently moved to Portland from the East Coast after a horrific, harrowing years-long experience with breast cancer that had left her physically and emotionally damaged. As Sarah got to know the family and helped them adjust to life in the U.S., she found that their love and friendship helped to heal her.

When I first read the synopsis, I worried this might be a sort of "white savior" type of story, but that's not it at all. It's a story about the power of kindness and connection to heal all kinds of trauma. While Sarah did buy some groceries and other necessities for the family (the girls were so excited to receive socks and underwear as gifts!), much of what she did for this family was from her heart, not her pocket. And in return, they helped her to recover from her own traumas. Sarah had almost completed a Master's degree in journalism when she got cancer, and she is a talented writer, bringing the reader along not only on this journey of friendship and belonging but on everything that came before it (she endured a lot). Brought up in a fundamentalist Christian family with a pastor father, she could relate to some of the challenges that Hadhi and the girls dealt with. She understood what kinds of support the girls needed to grow up to be strong, educated, independent women (which their mother very much wanted). It's a beautiful story of the bonds between two very different but damaged women, and the joyful little girls they both love.

(Note: The audio production was excellent, and I was very much enjoying it, but I only had about half of the audio book downloaded, which was likely my fault and not SYNC's. My son would say "I suspect user error, Mom!")

287 pages, Jericho Books

Hachette Audio

This book fits in the following 2024 Reading Challenges:

 

Nonfiction Reader Challenge - Memoir/Biography

Diversity Challenge

Literary Escapes - Oregon

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!


     
  

Monday, March 11, 2024

It's Monday 3/11! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

Life

In typical March fashion, the last few days have brought warm sunshine, heavy rain, a brief (surprising) spate of hail/snow yesterday, and now cold temperatures and very high winds. It's just howling out there! All that changeable weather gave us a couple of gorgeous sunsets last week.


And we're seeing more signs of spring, with crocuses and snowdrops blooming, and my neighbors' daffodils already opening up (ours are in a shadier spot so are much later). When the sun came out after three days of heavy rain, I even saw beautiful red buds on another neighbor's giant maple tree.

Can you find all 6 cardinals?

Daffodils are starting to bloom!

Crocuses have come up

Snowdrops in full bloom

Red buds on the maple tree

It was a busy week, with a visit to my elderly Book Buddy (a program through our library), an hour-long appointment on Zoom with one of my medical specialists, and a shopping expedition (including the dreaded bra shopping - the worst!). It's a good thing I'm feeling well enough to go shopping now because none of my clothes fit. I'm trying to get used to tucking in my shirts again, after 20 years of wearing everything loose. And we finished out the week by having old friends over for dinner Saturday; we always enjoy catching up with them.

Thanks to everyone who voted for my book in the AllAuthors Nonfiction Book Cover Contest! I made it to the second round, so please take a moment to vote for it again.

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On the Blog

Fiction Review: Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall - warm, funny, moving story of the unique, healing relationship between a nine-year-old white girl and a Black woman in 1963 Mississippi that digs into some serious issues while also entertaining. Lots of plot twists but also lots of heart.

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On Video

February 2024 Reading Wrap-Up - my monthly summary, an all-fiction month with some outstanding, though very different, novels and great reads for Black History Month.

Friday Reads - brief update of what I am currently reading, in print and on audio.

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 What We're Reading

I finished reading Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane, a buddy read with my friend Nikki of the Red Dot Reads YouTube channel. It focuses on two families whose lives are intertwined and begins in 1973 when Francis, a recent Irish immigrant, and Brian, an Irish-American meet as trainees and then rookies on the NYPD. They end up buying houses next to each other in a small town outside of the city, where their children grow up together, until a tragedy changes the lives of both families. Keane is one of the featured authors at Booktopia at the end of April! I can't wait to meet her and read her latest book, The Half-Moon. Nikki and I both loved this novel, with its twisty plot and emotional complexity, and as always, it was made even better by discussing it.

 

Now, I have started reading my first book for Booktopia, the fabulous weekend book event I participate in every spring in Vermont (tickets available; my recap/vlog from Booktopia 2023). I started with Why We Read: On Bookworms, Libraries, and Just One More Page Before Lights Out by Shannon Reed, a nonfiction book. Reed is not only a reader but also a longtime English teacher and now college literature and writing professor. This is a fun mix between memoir and essays, with a hefty dose of humor. I'm really enjoying it. Any avid reader will recognize him/herself in Shannon's many memories and observations, plus it is loaded with book name-dropping!

 

I finished listening to Butterfly Yellow by Thanhhà Lai, my first book for the Fierce Reads event (for International Women's Day). I also thought I was reading it for Middle-Grade March, but it is actually a YA novel. It won the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. At the end of the Vietnam War, Hằng takes her brother, Linh, to the airport to try to get on one of the flights to America for orphaned children. But Linh is torn from her arms and put on the plane, and Hằng stays in Vietnam. Six years later, in 1983, she makes the perilous journey to Texas to find her lost brother. Now a refugee with limited English, she is lost herself in this strange new place until a young cowboy-wannabe named LeeRoy agrees to help her. I'm glad I listened to the audio, where the language barrier and her struggles with American pronunciation are very clear (and I heard the correct pronunciation of the Vietnamese words). This was an outstanding novel. Determined to find her brother at all costs, Hằng certainly fits the prompt as a fierce female character!

 

Now, I am reading what I am certain does qualify for Middle-Grade March (and also works for the Fierce Reads event), Iceberg by Jennifer Nielsen. I'm a longtime fan of Nielsen's middle-grade historical fiction, and as you might guess from the title, this one is about the Titanic. Twelve-year-old Hazel is on a mission to save her family. Her mother has sent her to the docks to board the Titanic for New York, where Hazel's aunt has promised her a job in a garment factory, so she can send money home to keep her siblings from starving. But when Hazel tries to buy a ticket, she finds that all of her family's savings isn't enough for the fare for even a third-class ticket. She finds a way on board as a stowaway. With a dream of becoming a journalist one day, Hazel begins to hear rumors about the ship that make the reporter in her interested--and wary. We all know how the Titanic's story ends, but so far, this is an excellent novel with a wonderful main character.

 

My husband, Ken, is reading A Ghost of Caribou by Alice Henderson, book 3 in her outdoor thriller series about wildlife biologist Alex Carter. Here, Alex is in northeastern Washington state to investigate whether rumors of a caribou sighting (extinct in the contiguous United States for years) are valid. Ken says the story is already gearing up into Henderson's typical action-packed suspense!

 

Our son, 29, has been very busy with job interviews lately, but he's enjoying a book I gave him for his birthday last year, Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie, one of his all-time favorite fantasy authors (and he has many favorites). This is book 1 in World of the First Law, a spin-off of his hugely popular First Law trilogy.

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What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.

 What are you and your family reading this week?