Recently I have been reading some very moving books!  Picked up Elizabeth Strout again, with the novel, Amy and Isabelle. This was a very good telling of a mother-daughter relationship as the daughter comes of age, including the inevitable conflicts that just might occur.  I did enjoy this book, but must now take a break from Ms. Strout, not in an unfriendly way, just moving on.


I also finally read The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah, after hearing for so long just how good it is.  This also describes close family relationships, specifically sisters and a justifiably cranky father, but with the looming shadow of  WWII.  It was the elegant portrayal of  family misunderstandings that moved me so much with this book, because of the love that became possible as time endured. Perhaps this is the greater message of this time in history, so this story made some heartfelt mending possible of a difficult time, though not without tears.  In any case, I'm now taking a break from books about this time period.


Now I'm reading a book about a different time, the eighties, though also again, I'm visiting sisters and family.  The book with which I'm currently involved is Tell the Wolves I'm Home, by Carol Rifka Brunt.  Utterly engaging, and filled with foreshadowing, it is a beautifully written story that I curiously visit in my free time, though not altogether without anxiety because of my concern for the characters.  It is very good, thankfull, and is speaking to me about the redeeming effects of art, which just might be the takeaway lesson of these three books.


I'm totally going to read health and wellness books for a little while, read maybe some happy children's stories, and then paint and just color pictures while my brain heals emotionally.


Please take good care!

My new favorite author really just might be Elizabeth Strout!  While it is true that I might just fall for every author that I read, I did read a couple of her books recently upon recommendation, and they were great!


First, I read My Name is Lucy Barton, which was exceptional.  It was a quick read, but definitely a pleasant one, despite some tough issues at some parts, but that's books. 


I was so blown away by the first book, that when I was literally handed a copy of one of her other works, Abide With Me, I was excited to read it.  This is a compelling look at the life of a minister, painting him and his flock as very real and quite human.  It is so easy to forget this when one interposes the Almighty with a community of believers, but Strout presents her characters in a compassionate, and eventually hopeful way, despite the inevitable tragedies and tests of life.


It may happen that I read more of her books, which would be an edifying activity, surely.  I was definitely moved by both of these books. 


Now I'm reading health books for awhile.  Wish me luck!

Right now I'm almost finished with a book that is so lovely that I just had to mention it here!  It is The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs.  This is a volume that makes one glad to be a woman, and ever so appreciative of female relationships.


I'm so close to being done, that probably I'll finish it at lunch today.  Thankfully, there are further books in the series, because I do not want to leave my new knitting friends!


Of course, I'm also reading another book,  Avenue of Mysteries by John Irving.  This is pretty fantastic also, although maybe not for every audience of readers.  I was sort of thinking that maybe John Irving was my favorite author, but then I got further caught up by my knitting ladies.


Yes, there is a bit of contrast in my current reading selections, but thank the Lord that the world is so full of books that all one has to do is open one up and read it for fun.  I forget also that some of the adult themes in books may be  objectionable to some readers, you know, like conservative adults, but I guess I'll just be careful in my recommendations.


Like on my obnoxious blog, that anybody can read.  Really, let's just all be grown ups and think for ourselves, and let's not forget the cardinal rule of book-reading, that you can always close it up and forget about it, if you feel like it.


Best wishes!

I'm sorry not to have been here in so long, dear readers.  I think my reading got stalled briefly, but now I've got a few more books going.  Yay!


I read The Guilty, by David Baldacci, after it was recommended by one of my favorite ladies.   Now, I knew that it would be a thriller, but since I usually don't read those, it was totally intense for me.  It was good, despite some awfulness, but the ending was surely a reward.  I doubt that I'll read another thriller for awhile, though, because of the intensity.  I get freaked out by violence!


So I'm also reading another book!  The Friday Night Knitting Club, by Kate Jacobs.  Okay, so this is about ladies who get together at a knitting shop regularly, and they do have interesting lives and relationships.  This book was also a recommendation, and I'm so much enjoying it.  It is the book that I read at lunch.  Lovely characters make for a pleasant read, and this book has surely got them.  And it's a series!


I'm also dabbling in nonfiction, but mainly books about being shy.  Oh yes, though, I'm also reading Albert Ellis, and am becoming ever so rationally emotive.


Thank you for following my reading journeys.  Good ol' blog.

My love affair with Jojo Moyes has continued, as I read After You, the follow-up to Me Before You, that I so dearly loved.  While that was a hard book to follow, this sequel is not only inspiring, but a great and entertaining read, with romance and everything.  It did not have a super fantastic ending, but one that is ordinary yet full of promise, like life.  Thank you, Ms. Moyes for these great books.


With love on the mind still, I read another great book, Our Souls At Night, by Kent Haruf, that was not really a love story exactly, but a lovely meditation on human connection and consolation.  This was so great that I really don't want to give away too much of the story, as it is quite a lovely journey of discovery, as much for the reader as the well-drawn characters.


Now I'm delightfully reading P. D. James, The Private Patient.  I think that I really just want to be British,  but at least it does suffice to read these novels by British authors.  And I must say that the English, really do have a nice grip on the English language, unlike myself, I suppose.  Oh well, I'll just write my silly little blog, and enjoy reading.


Hopefully the weather is treating everyone all right currently!

10% Happier, by Dan Harris, is a great report on meditation, and how it can actually be practiced without magical thinking, etc.  As a newsman, Mr. Harris is ever-skeptical, but his journey as described in this book is a very convincing endorsement for this practice.


Thankfully he reports scientific evidence, and interviews many practitioners of many faiths (debunking the mystical and religious association of "Enlightenment" as the goal) and really comes to describe a health measure of great benefit.  He even concludes the book with an appendix of no-nonsense guides to the practice, vetted by well-known meditation teachers.


The moral of this story is just to sit quietly and pay attention, to the breath, and to those thoughts that will arise, but not defeat us as we recognize them as just thoughts and part of our human "monkey minds" that are just going to think.  While Dan Harris explains how he began to tame his thinking patterns, and to derive greater focus, we also see how he can embrace this "peace-lovin' hippie" practice and not lose his edge as a successful and timely reporter, while gaining emotional resilience in light of the suffering of the world that it is his job to report.


I loved this book!  It was not annoying, and just funny at times and serious as well.  Although I do not try to convert folks to meditative practice, being not so good at it myself, I do believe that this is a right course for humanity as we all strive toward maturity and good sense.  Much gratitude to Dan Harris for writing this book, and for sharing an invaluable gift, without wrapping it up in a mysticism that detracts from this goal of simple self-care.

Read  a nice little book about unrequited love, An Unexpected Guest, by Anne Korkeakivi.  I just happened to see it on the book shelf at the library, and checked it out. 


Oh my goodness, if it is not satisfying to read about a love that meant so much, yet that those involved were able to move on and create meaningful lives despite the heartache.  Add to this the  intrigue of an ambassadorship and past political unrest, and there results a story that captures the attention as well as the heart.


Resolving the past is never an easy task, and this lovely story adorned with the pleasant details of arranging a state dinner, makes the journey a significant one.  Perhaps we are all this important, like statesmen and their families, as we create our lives that build upon the past by each meaningful day, with secret treasures of memory in our hearts.


This book does transition between past and present nicely, with all accompanying emotion.  The characters are interesting to say the least, and the involvement of the readers' emotions with the allure of mistakenly unrequited love is ever-entertaining, or at least I think so.  Some readers might not be interested, but I enjoyed it, and was glad to have read it.