Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger

“The dead are never far from us. They're in our hearts and on our minds and in the end all that separates us from them is a single breath, one final puff of air.” 

This is one of the most beautiful lines in the book, Ordinary Grace.  Ordinary Grace marks one of my favorite reads for this year, and it is right up there for one of the best books I have ever read (listened to).  This book was recommended by a friend, and the only copy I could find from my local library was an audio version.  

The audio version is fantastic, and the reader, Rich Orlow, is amazing in his narration.  Within a few minutes of listening to the first chapter, I was drawn in.  

Frank is a thirteen year old boy who lives in New Bremen, Minnesota.  He is entering a fateful summer where his family, friends, and the community will encounter great despair, loss, betrayal, and the loss of innocence.  

As we grow up and become adults, we realize that sometimes adults keep secrets.  Once we realize what those secrets might be, do we keep those to ourselves, or do we tell?  

This book reminds me very much of my all time favorite book, To Kill A Mockingbird. This book, like Mockingbird, has a thought- provoking message, and is uplifting - even in the face of extreme tragedy. Sometimes, a child a greater wisdom than adults.

Read this book when you have the opportunity.  I hope it will be on your list of favorites as well as it is on mine. 

“The miracle is this: that you will rise in the morning and be able to see again the startling beauty of the day.”

The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo

How many lives were changed on September 11, 2001?  Many lives were lost that day, but for those of us who were survivors, did we cherish our families more?  Did we decide to push away our fears and take chances that we wouldn't have before?  Were we drawn to certain people because we were together the moment that first plane hit the tower?

Lucy and Gabe meet on the morning of September 11, 2001.  They are seniors at Columbia University, and sit together on the roof of the dormitory to watch the towers collapse.  They are drawn together by the tragedy, and though they don't date each other, they are linked in spirit. 

Fast forward two years, and Lucy bumps into Gabe at a bar in New York City.  Their attraction is immediate, and they spend the next year together in Gabe's apartment.  But 9/11 weighs heavily on Gabe, and he feels he needs to do more to help humanity.  He goes to school to learn photography, and decides to travel to the Middle East to find his dream job. 

Meanwhile, Lucy is brokenhearted, and she decides to stay in her job of writing scripts for a children's television show.  Gabe is never far from her thoughts, but she knows he will never be entirely hers ever again.

This book is a very easy read for those who don't have much time to read long chapters. The content held my attention, and I usually read longer than I intended.  The Light We Lost also makes one think about the love we leave behind because the timing might not have been right, or the distance was too great, or a myriad of other instances. The question remains:   What if? 

Next Year In Havana by Chanel Cleeton

What would happen if there was talk of a revolution?  What would you do?  Would you continue to support the current government, or would you watch, wait, and bide your time?  What would happen to you?  To your family?  To your friends?  Could you walk away from the country and never know when you might return? If ever?

Marisol is traveling to Cuba to write a travel article about its beaches, restaurants, and the beauty of the island.  She is also surreptitiously carrying her grandmother's ashes because being buried in Cuba was her grandmother's final wish.  The travel article is supposedly the main reason she is in the country, but really, the main reason is to scatter her grandmother's ashes somewhere on the island.  Her grandmother never gave Marisol any indication where she wanted her ashes scattered, so it is up to Marisol to decide the most fitting place.

Marisol received many warnings from her great aunts to be vigilant while on the island, but with the death of Fidel Castro, she feels that she will be safe. The Perez family fled the island shortly after Fidel Castro became the dictator of the island and began executing anyone who had ties to the former president, Batista.  Marisol doesn't realize that anyone with the Perez name will be on the radar of Cuban officials. 

Marisol's journey to learning her grandmother's story, and the stories of those of her aunts and uncle leads to even more questions, fear for those she has come to love, and a romance.  The sights and smells of Cuba make it a tantalizing place to visit, but the people of Cuba are still victims of an authoritarian society, so life is still very difficult for most residents of the country. This book is a wonderful read, and just getting to know the island and its proud people makes the story. 

The people of Cuba are survivors.  They will continue to fight for their cause and their rights.

21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari

Where is technology leading us?  Are we making advancements so rapidly that we do not fully understand all of the possible consequences?  How can we fight terrorism?  Is religion even relevant in these time?  How do we decide what is truth, and what are untruths that are repeated so often that we come to believe them?  "In Mein Kampf Hitler wrote, 'The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over.'" We hear the lies, and then they are no longer lies, but truths.

We are living in a world where fake news can help determine a national election.  One can search online for a particular pair of shoes, or a certain business, and then an algorithm is created that starts sending you information about things you 'like."  What can one person do? 

This book helped me understand why I continually feel so helpless with the matters of the world.  What is the future of humans?  How can we deal with some of society's greatest challenges when many people are trying to raise their families, make a living and are not personally affected by some of these issues?

I had to put this book down several times as there is a lot of information to digest.  "If you feel overwhelmed by the global predicament, you are on the right track.  Global processes have become too complicated for any single person to understand."  So, take your time with this book.  Read it. Put it down, then continue reading as there are some glimmers of hope within its pages as well.

There were a lot of takeaways from this book, but here are a few that I will share within this blog.  "Democracy is founded on the idea that the voter knows best." Harari points out that most humans make their decisions based on emotion rather than any rational decision.  The voter may be using his vote to keep "autonomy and power" for himself or others like him.

Harari also recommends that if you want reliable information, pay for it!  If you get your news for free, then you may not be getting an accurate version.  (Social media - I am looking at you!  Social media users - I am looking at YOU if you read it, believe it, and share it!) Don't be part of the problem.

And finally, as an educator, this book made me think about how much information I give my students.  Havari states that students don't need any more information, but they need the ability to process and make sense of the information.  Students need to be able to figure out what information is important and what is not.  We don't know what skills our students will need in twenty-five years, but they will need general life skills.  Our students may have to continually reinvent themselves to order to find employment as jobs that were available when I was a student are now automated.  What other jobs will be automated within the next five years?  What other jobs will be created?  How can we prepare our students for jobs that don't even exist?

Once you read this book. let me know your thoughts.  Let's talk.

This is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel

As a mother, I have often wondered how I would parent a child who was transgender. Would I say the right things?  Would I be able to help this child become the person that he or she needed to become?  What could I do to protect my child from those who have closed minds?  From those who hate?  From those who might intend to harm my child?

Rosie and Penn are the parents of five boys, but from the moment Claude is born, they know that Claude is not typical.  Claude is interested in wearing dresses, barrettes, and bikinis in the summer. "Penn knew in his heart that Claude should be who he was."  Rosie and Penn decides to let Claude be who he is, and Claude decides that she wants to be known as Poppy and be a girl. Penn and Rosie live in Madison, Wisconsin, and even though the Madison area is pretty open-minded, there were still those who would never understand why Poppy's parents would allow such behavior from a child. "How did you teach your small human that it is what's inside that counts when the truth was everyone was pretty preoccupied with what you put on the outside too?"

After a couple of very scary encounters in Madison, Penn and Rosie decide to leave Madison and move to Seattle so their family will be safe, and they can start anew.  But secrets cannot remain secrets forever, and the time comes when their family has to meet their secrets and the pain that those secrets have caused head on.

All around us is intolerance.  I see it every day.  I hear it in the words of those around me.  People share videos and memes on social media.  They think their views are black and white, right and wrong. They have no middle. But what this is really about is fear:  the fear of change and the unfamiliar. When Rosie travels to Thailand, she meets a transgender who explains how to live in the "middle way."  "All is change...The people who do not understand are change.  The people who afraid are change. There is no before and no after because change is what is life.  You live in change, in in between."

I loved this book.  I loved the characters, the poetry of the writing, but mostly, I loved the message.  "Dispelling fear.  Taming what was scary not by hiding it, not by blocking it or burying it, not by keeping it secret, but by reminding themselves and everyone else, to choose love, choose openness, to think, and be calm.  There were more ways than just two, wider possibilities than hidden or betrayed, stalled, or brokenhearted, male or female, right or wrong. Middle ways. Ways beyond."

The suicide rate for transgender children is 41.8% - and that statistic is just from respondents to the survey. (American Academy of Pediatrics) These children feel their families reject them; they endure bullying, and sometimes are the targets of violence. These children do not understand what is happening to them and why they are different from their classmates. When Poppy asks Rosie how to be happy in this life, she tells her, "The real trick is you have to forge your way straight ahead through the trees where there is no path."

What can we do?  We can be more tolerant. We can understand that we are not to judge. It's hard growing up, but it's even harder when we have to endure cruelties.  In the words of the author, Laurie Frankel, "For my child, for all our children, I want more options, more paths through the woods, wider ranges of normal, and unconditional love."  We have love within us.  Let's spread that around.

In Praise of Difficult Women: Life Lessons from 29 Heroines Who Dared to Break the Rules by Karen Karbo

On a recent visit to Los Angeles, I was fortunate to visit Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale.  I admit, I was wondering how much I would like a museum on the grounds of one of largest cemeteries in the country.  However, I was game for some adventure, so away I went!

The drive to the museum was one I will never forget.  The lawn was awash with poinsettias.  It was utterly both sad and beautiful.  Forest Lawn is set up to be more of a park than a cemetery, so people relax and picnic on the grounds, and there is the sound of laughter in the air.  It was on these grounds that I found a very special museum.

The Forest Lawn Museum was hosting a special exhibit that was called Women of Vision. The works of eleven photojournalists from National Geographic were highlighted within this exhibit.  I was awed by the beauty, yet sensitive nature of the photos.  Some of these women spent four years living side by side with people from other cultures to learn about their thoughts, hopes, and fears.  But I digress...

On the way out of the exhibit, I perused the gift shop, and two life-changing things happened.  The first was as I was viewing a painting called Song of Angels, 1881 by William-Adolphe Bouguereau. Within that painting, I saw my mother, and she was an angel.  I sucked in my breath, and it was all I could do not to break into sobs. One of the angels depicted within that painting looks just like a younger version of my mother.  I took a picture of the banner advertising the exhibit, but it isn't the same as viewing the painting.  The second extraordinary thing that happened was finding the book In Praise of Difficult Women on the shelves of the gift shop.

I didn't buy the book on the spot, but I did take a picture of the cover so I could check with my local library to see if the book was available.  Inside the pages of the book are the abbreviated biographies of twenty-nine difficult women - twenty-nine extraordinary, sassy, mouthy, difficult women.

Some of these women's stories were heartbreaking, devastating, and life-altering, but each story speaks of strength, tenacity, and well, being difficult.  From Frida Kahlo, who at the age of eighteen suffered a horrific street car accident, to Carrie Fisher, who suffered a lifetime of mental illness, these brief glimpses into the lives of twenty-nine women push me to become...well, more difficult. 

"These difficult women give us permission to occupy space in our worlds, to say what we think, and to stand our ground.  They give us permission to be ambitious, passionate, curmudgeonly, outspoken, persistent, sassy, and angry.  They tell us by their words and deeds, that it's all right to occupy our humanity."

I have been told many times that I am a "difficult" woman.  I don't always follow the "rules" by being a submissive female.  I once walked away from a job because the owner thought women only should clean and mop, not to be involved in the business aspect.  I had a department head once tell a member of my department that I "asked too many questions."  As a chair of a church committee, I once had a high ranking state church official tell me that meetings would on his schedule, not on my committee's schedule.  (For the record, the meetings were on my committee's schedule, and being called "Little Missy Chair" was reported to his superiors.)

Thanks to my father, being difficult is in my blood.  I will continue to be difficult, and I hope you will be difficult along with me. Stand for what you believe.  Don't let anyone tell you that you cannot follow your dreams, and live the life you were meant to live. 

Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland

What can I say?  I love, love, love this book!  I was only able to listen to the audio version as the ebook was not available, but I was hooked from the first few lines.  Imogene Church does a magnificent job of narrating, and I made good use of my new airbuds (Thanks D and L)! 

Loveday Cardew found books at an early age, and since her childhood was a bit traumatic, she could hide within the safe pages of books from the library.  Books were her escape, and books also helped her survive.  Loveday has tattoos of the first lines of books on her body as each line tells part of her life story because "First lines did not define last pages in real life the way they did in books." Anna Karenina, Jane Eyre, and many other books helped define her as a woman when she grew too old for The Railway Children. She finds work in a bookshop after she finishes school, and thus is able to spend her days with words.  Loveday also can blend in and not be noticed in a bookshop.

As much as Loveday wants to hide, she finds that her past can no longer remain in the past, and she is forced to deal with the wounds that haven't healed. And now, someone knows her secrets.

I found myself laughing aloud, nodding in agreement, and crying as I listened to Loveday's story told in a series of flashbacks, as well as the present.  Loveday doesn't particularly like humans as "This is why I don't like talking to people.  I never think of anything interesting to say.  I need time to find words, and that's hard when people are looking at me.  Also, I don't like people much.  Well, some are okay.  But not enough to make it a given." 

The characters are well developed,  such that I didn't want the book to end.  They are people that I want to get to know better and attend the weekly Poetry Read with them.  This is a book that I will add to my personal collection.  I want to savor the words this time.  I recommend you do the same.

An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena

It is January, and winter storm watches and warnings have been the norm for the last two weekends where I live.  As I sat down to read this book, I was preparing for a possible ice storm, as well as up to several inches of snow.  There is nothing better than a good mystery book on a snowy day.  So snuggle up in your blanket, and grab a copy of this whodunit. 

It is also winter in the Catskills, and several people from New York City are headed to Mitchell Inn for a much needed getaway.  There is no internet, and the hotel is in a remote location, so it is the perfect place to recharge, or hide - that is, if you are a killer. 

We all have secrets, as do the characters staying at the Mitchell Inn.  What secrets are worth killing to keep? 

This book reminded me of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians, as there were some similarities in setting and characters, but the book was a fun and easy read.  I figured out the murderer, but I was completely sure until the very end of the book, and even then, there was a slight twist that I didn't expect. 

If you would like a light mystery with solid characters, sit down with this book during the next winter storm.  (probably next weekend)

Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman

You find the love of your life, and you plan to spend the rest of your life with him.  You marry, and head off to a fabulous vacation in Bora Bora where you will spend time swimming, diving, and enjoying time together - just the two of you.  

The honeymoon is heavenly until Erin and Mark find something while on a dive.  They decide to move forward instead of walking away, and this decision changes their lives forever.  They can never go back to the way things were....before.  

Decisions must be made, and risks must be taken in order to live the new lives they have chosen for themselves.  But is it worth it in the long run?

I have to admit, I cringed sometimes when the characters in this book would make a hasty decision.  Jumping into a life altering decision isn't something that I often do, and there are many risk-taking decisions in this novel. It is also interesting to think about what I would do if I were put in the same circumstances as the book's characters.  Would I make some of the same choices?  

If you enjoy books that twist and turn, this is a book for you.  Once you feel like you have figured out the plot, another development occurs, and once again, we try to figure out the antagonist.  

The Twelve Days of Books - 2018

Happy 2019! We are running a bit late this year for our Twelve Days of Books, but life sometimes turns us in other directions.  However, here are the books that have been recommended by the experts!  By the way, we have way more than twelve books to choose from!  Happy reading!


1.  The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland. "A jaded bibliophile comes to terms with her dark past and learns to live in the present."  (Kirkus)  Recommended by Erin

 2.  We Have No Idea:  A Guide to the Unknown Universe by Jorge Cham  ?In We Have No Idea, they explore the biggest unknowns in the universe, why these things are still mysteries, and what a lot of smart people are doing to figure out the answers (or at least ask the right questions)."  (Goodreads)  Recommended by Kelly

3.  "Yuval Noah Harari's 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is a probing and visionary investigation into today's most urgent issues as we move into the uncharted territory of the future." (Goodreads)  Recommended by Kelly.

4.  I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara.  "A masterful true crime account of the Golden State Killer—the elusive serial rapist turned murderer who terrorized California for over a decade—from Michelle McNamara, the gifted journalist who died tragically while investigating the case."  Recommended by Rita

5.  Calypso by David Sedaris  Sedaris realizes that it is impossible to take a vacation from yourself.  "Deeply personal and darkly hilarious."  (Goodreads) Recommended by Rita.

6. Eat Up:  Food, Appetite, and Eating What You Want by Ruby Tandoh.  Celebrate the fun and pleasures of food.  Recommended by Rita.

7. Feel Free: Essays by Zadie Smith.  A collection of essays broken into five sections that pose important questions.  Recommended by Rita.

8. The Silence of the Girls  by Pat Barker.  A retelling of the Illiad through the eyes of Briseis.  Recommended by Jess.

9. Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco - An interesting whodunit take on the identity of the Ripper. Recommended by Jess.

10. The Crossover - Kramer Alexander  All novels are written in verse.  He is a phenomenal speaker for students!  Recommended by Corey.

11.  Before We Were Yours - Lisa Wingate
12.  Daughters of the Dragon - William Andrews
13. While the World is Still Asleep  (The Glassblower Trilogy)  Petra Durst Benning
14.  All the Wonderful and Ugly Things - Bryn Greenwood
15.  The Librarians by Christy Sloat
16.  Dumplin' by Julie Murphy  (All recommended by Brittany)

17. Gamache Novels - Louise Penny
"Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec digs beneath the idyllic surface of village life in Three Pines, finding long buried secrets--and facing a few of his own ghosts. Louise Penny's highly acclaimed, New York Times bestselling mystery series has won the New Blood Dagger." (Goodreads)  Recommended by Tara.

18.  The Next Person You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom  Recommended by Korinne.

19. Expeditionary Force - by Craig Alanson "The main character is an Army grunt so as a former grunt myself, it felt like a old friend telling war stories. Well, at least, it DID until they got into space and all that. It's a fantastic series full of action, wit, and peril. Military Sci Fi is a wonderful genre that is not often appreciated in the book world."  (Goodreads)  Recommended by James.

20. The War that Saved my Life - Kimberly Brubaker Bradley   It was a Newbery Honor in 2016. Just gut wrenchingly excellent. The sequel is even better. I just sucked in the characters and setting. FYI - the abuse was difficult to read through.  Recommended by Lynn.

21. Tools of Titans -Tim Ferriss  " Well worth the time to crawl into the head of some of the US's biggest movers and shakers."  Recommended by Brian.

22. Sally Ride:  America's First Female in Space by Lynn Sherr " It was a fascinating look at the challenges that women in aeronautics have had to overcome."  Recommended by Brian.

23. The Decision Book - Michael Krogerus and Roman Tschappeler not a cover to cover read, but rather a book that outlines fifty models for strategic thinking and decision making. Also recommended by Brian.

Here they are!  The best books of 2018 recommended by some of my favorites!