What About Will? Ellen Hopkins Emerging Adult label - older than Young Adult - It's a Novel in Verse which is very popular now. It deals with sibling angst, family dynamics, drugs, attempted suicide. I enjoyed it and the poems made it a fast read, but pithy.
The Home for Unwanted Girls, a novel set in Canada
I’m trying to get through “I Have Some Questions for You” by Rebecca MAKKAI but this is not as good as I had hoped. It’s billed as a “literary thriller” but I don’t see anything literary about it, I think they just mean it’s a mainstream novel that happens to have as its plot device an unsolved murder.
I mean, it’s OK, and I think I’ll finish it, but I do not agree with all the allocades it received from critics.
Little Heathens - author tells her story of growing up on an Iowa farm during the Depression. Pretty entertaining and also informative on how resourceful that generation was.
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy. Delightful little book. Takes all of 15-20 minutes to get through - longer if you look at the drawings for a while. Apparently there is a video/movie on Youtube, but I can't seem to play it for free.
To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer." Mahatma Gandhi
Be nice whenever possible. It's always possible. HH Dalai Lama
In a world where you can be anything - be kind. Unknown
Okay---You kids know how I'm fascinated with true-crime documentaries. And I know how you kids are fascinated with anything to do with alphabet people. Yup. Well, there's a book that came out(ha) several years ago called: The Book of Matt...... by Stephen Jimenez. Yup. So, anyway---it's aroused some controversy, because it tends to revise the popular media narrative that ended up making Matty the poster boy for hate crimes against Alphabet people. Those 'pisscopalians even have his mortal remains enshrined in their cathedral in D.C.! Like he's a Martyr. Yup. Well, what the deal is, is that jimenez(who is a self-proclaimed alphabet person himself) says he did some in-depth first-hand research to delve into the REAL Matty Shepard, and guess what? He says that Matty was a meth dealer, and knew one of his attackers personally, for quite awhile prior. Jimenez also says that one of his attackers had assaulted several people by pistol-whipping them, like he did Matty, within a 24-hour period around the time of Mattys' assault. So, the real story is about the crazy behavior of meth-heads, rather than hatred of alphabet people in the heartland. I ordered up a used copy o' the book, which is on it's way, after I listened to a presentation by the author at Bard College. But yeah--don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger here. Bottom line though, is how Big Media can spin things to give a false picture of events that affect public policy. Hope that helps you some.
Last edited by littlebittybobby; 7-6-23 at 6:34pm.
Horse a novel by Geraldine Brooks
The Great Plant-based Con, by Jayne Buxton, subtitled "Why eating a plants-only diet won't improve your health or save the planet." She's preaching to the choir with this reader, who's "been there, and done that" and was rewarded with sarcopenia and a nice case of metabolic syndrome. So far, it's a satisfying read, but I'm hoping to follow it up with something lighter.
Poverty, by America (Matthew Desmond). Just finished Demons of Good and Evil (Kim Harrison) and a re-read of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts (Gabor Mate). Still reading/rereading Winter Recipes from the Collective (Louise Gluck)-because I can't often can't decide if I like or dislike poetry on the first read-, and also started Ocean's Echo (Everina Maxwell), as I'm trying to find more Sci-Fi that I enjoy. Also looking for more historical fiction, so I just ordered some books by Mariah Fredericks, recommended by somebody or other. So many books, so little time to read!
Just finished "The Trackers," by Charles Frazier. I was excited to read this since the premise sounded promising, and I loved his "Cold Mountain" so much.
I was a bit disappointed. I think this story might make a better movie than a book. It is set during the Great Depression, in Wyoming. An artist from the East Coast is commissioned through one of those WPA-type programs to paint a mural in a rural post office. I need to research this some more, and that is the part which intrigued me. Murals in post offices to lift up the poor masses during the most trying time in memory.
Anyway, he ends up living in a bunkhouse on a ranch owned by someone whom the Depression has not touched and who is interested in entering politics. The artist gets part way through the mural and gets involved with the disappearance of the rancher's wife. She is a former hobo, thrown to the wolves to fend for herself so the younger kids could survive. The rancher saw her singing in a bar or saloon and took her to be his wife as she was beautiful and I'm not all sure why besides that. I wanted to like her, but she was not too nice. There are tough cowboys and nasty thugs along the way, too.
I feel like the characters are not quite developed enough. I really didn't always think the plot was feasible, but the whole art thing along Route 66 was intriguing. I'd be interested to hear how anyone else liked it.
My therapist told me the way to achieve true inner peace is to finish what I start. So far today, I have finished two bags of M&Ms and a chocolate cake. I feel better already!
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