Life: It Goes On - May 3

Happy Sunday from sunny Omaha! I am happy to report that I'm finally able to get my plants into pots. As you know, I'm a happy girl when I can get my hands into the dirt and finally start seeing my vision for this year come to life. 

I contine to struggle with getting Blogger to allow me to add pictures. Every day I have to block cookies and then allow them again, then sign out and back in again to my Google account. Today I did all of that, got to my pics, selected the one I wanted and then it told me it wasn't able to copy photos to my blog. So frustrating. I suppose it means that it's time to move off of this platform but it seems like a lot of work for a blog that's essentially just for me and when so many others that I've always followed have moved away from blogs. Still, after almost seventeen years, I'm loathe to pull the plug. 

Last Week I: 

Listened To: I finished Allen Levi's Theo of Golden (I think you'll be surprised by my thoughts on this one) and started Niall Williams' This Is Happiness (as recommended by Ann Patchett). 

Watched: A little of this, a little of that. An episode of The Gentlemen (at this point, it's so convoluted, I'm not sure what's going on) and an episode of Wednesday (still not enjoying it as much as season one, but we'll finish the season). Also, the Netflix adaptation of Emily Henry's The People We Meet on Vacation. Cute, predictable, just the thing to watch while the Big Guy was gone for an evening.

Read: I finished The Berry Pickers and am about a third of the way through Rebecca Godfrey's and Leslie Jamison's Peggy, which is the story of Peggy Guggenheim, from her early life to her time in Venice. 

Made: Pasta, salads, pizza - nothing that required too much effort. I save a lot of recipes for someone who's not in the mood to actually cook any of them! 

Enjoyed: Buying a mattress. Don't get me wrong, the process of actually trying out twenty mattresses and buying one was NOT enjoyable. But getting to stop thinking about mattresses is very enjoyable. We've been, as you know, talking about them for weeks and weeks! 

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This Week I’m:  

Planning: On finishing up the planting today then enjoying lots of meals on the patio this week. Also, paperwork - ick. 

Thinking About: BG has spent a fair amount of the weekend doing all things Berkshire Hathaway. Once again, he has come home with lots of things sold by companies that BH owns. Every year he buys something that makes me wonder how an intelligent man gets sucked into buying it. This year it was a scoop that I thought was a kitty litter scoop, but which is, in fact, mean for food. It's huge - where am I going to house it? Also, a device that's sole purpose is to cook an egg in the microwave. If everyone else gets as caught up in a buying frenzy as BG does, they must make a fortune at that event. 

Feeling: Lighter, as I always do this time of year, when color and blossoms begin appearing in my yard. 

Looking forward to: Getting our new mattress on Mother's Day. 

Question of the week: BG is talking about getting a Blackstone grill. Do you have one? If so do you like it and how often do you use it? 

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

320 pages

Published October 2023

Publisher’s Summary: 

July 1962. A Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family’s youngest child, vanishes. She is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, sitting on a favorite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain distraught by his sister’s disappearance for years to come.

In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective. Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. As she grows older, Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren’t telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret. 

My Thoughts: 

Any time I pick up a book that features a minority or a different culture, I’m interested to learn more about the author. Is he or she writing from a place of knowledge? In this case, she is. Peters is, according to the book jacket, a writer of Mi’kmaq and settler ancestry, who was the winner of the 2021 Indigenous Voices Award, and who lives in Nova Scotia, where much of the book is set. She is, in fact, of mixed Mi’kmaq and European heritage. This book is inspired by the real-life Mi’kmaq families who pick berries. All that contributes to a higher estimation of the book for me, knowing it’s not just researched, but lived. 

I pondered how I was going to write this review without giving anything away because I couldn't remember reading the summary many weeks ago. Then I copied the summary over here and realized this book isn't even a mystery to anyone who's read and remembers what it says. So bearing that in mind, it won't be a surprise that when I started reading Norma's first section of the book (the book alternates chapters between Joe and Norma) and realized that Peters was either really bad at dropping subtle clues or had no interest in keeping readers in the dark. The truth of the matter is that this is not a book that spends its entirety in search of Ruthie; instead it's a book about the damage that a traumatic event can cause on everyone involved. 

For Joe's family, Ruthie's disappearance is only the first of the traumas the family will suffer. Joe suffers the most visibly, living with the unbearable weight of guilt and loss. His pain manifests as violence, ultimately causing him to commit a violent act that he can't forgive himself for. So he chooses to hit the road, to punish himself and protect those he loves. We learn what Joe's life has been like as he looks back on it as he lies dying from cancer. Norma has suffered her own pain and loss. The emotional damage her parents have suffered hangs over her for the rest of her life. She grows up certain that she wasn't born to her parents but is unable to find the truth, even from those who claim to love her. 

As I neared the end of the book and struggled with what I thought might be the right way to end the book. Should Peters break our hearts? Or should Norma finally be reunited with her family? Should Joe finally find peace? Let's just leave it at this - I was happy with the way the book ended. If you recall I like a book that doesn't have a happily-ever-after ending. But then, too, some books need one. You'll just have to read this one for yourself to find out. 

One last note: this book will make for a great book club discussion, touching as it does on so many themes.

The Windsor Affair by Melanie Benjamin

The Windsor Affair by Melanie Benjamin

384 pages

Published June 2026 by Random House Publishing Group

My copy courtesy of the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review

Publisher’s Summary: 

Feuding Windsor brothers and their wives—some things, it seems, never change. The Windsor Affair recreates the cataclysmic events that nearly toppled the monarchy and incited the power struggle between Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon and Wallis Simpson. Told from the perspective of both women, the novel propels readers into the fabulous world of the debonair Prince of Wales, café society of the 1930s, and the glittering private lives of the Windsors. The first novel to be dedicated to this infamous rivalry, The Windsor Affair brings us all the gossip and intrigue between the two very different—yet perhaps more similar than they would admit—wives of royals.

As Queen, Elizabeth would become the symbol of British pluck and courage during World War II and remain a British institution the rest of her long life. Wallis would be forever forced to enact the World’s Greatest Love Story even after it sours, as she goes from being admired to vilified and, ultimately, pitied. Against the backdrop of the Abdication Crisis, World War II, coronations, funerals, births, and deaths, these two women maintain a biting, sharp-tongued feud—until age and the long arm of history bring about a kind of understanding. For the last communication between these bitter rivals was a simple, surprising message: “In friendship, Elizabeth.”

My Thoughts: 

This is the eighth book by Benjamin that I’ve read and it gave me everything I’ve come to expect from her. Benjamin's books are always centered around real women who have played a role in history, two topics I love. Frequently they are women whose place in history has been overlooked; sometimes the women are very well known, as in this case. 

Over time, I've read a fair amount about Edward VIII (later known as the Duke of Windsor) and Wallis Simpson and I long ago gave up the idea that theirs was a great love story that stood the test of time. What I didn't know about was the feud between Simpson and Queen Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth was much beloved in England as the Duchess of York, after marrying Albert "Bertie", the Duke of York and second in line to the throne. Her hope was to remain in those roles for the remainder of their lives. It allowed them to spend a lot of time together and with their daughters and allowed Bertie to remain out of the spotlight, where his stammer would be less noticeable. 

The first in line to the throne, Edward, the Duke of Wales was a known womanizer, particularly when it came to married women. Wallis Simpson was American, once divorced, and, at that time, married woman who loved a good party, wore stylish clothing, and had a biting humor who set her sights on Edward. 

In January of 1936, King George V died and Edward became king. The family felt certain that Edward would do the right thing and walk away from Wallis, as it was inconceivable that he could remain king if he married her. Edward insisted that he could, and would, in fact do just that. In the end, he was not, as we know, allowed to marry her as king, abdicating the throne to Bertie. 

And here's what I didn't know about all of that: 

• Stylish Wallis looked down her nose at Elizabeth, who continued to wear clothing designed by the woman who had designed her mother's clothing, and made no secret of it. Elizabeth looked dowdy and was constrained by doing things the right (the royal) way. 
• Elizabeth had once been the apple of the public's eye; but the public, surprisingly, got caught up in the great love story and adored Wallis. 
• Elizabeth was very unhappy with Edward's abdication, putting Bertie, as it did, into a highly stressful and very public role that vastly changed both their private and public lives. 
• Wallis and Elizabeth publicly avoided each other as much as possible and their "feud" was very much public knowledge. 

And here's what I'm not sure if fact or fiction - was Elizabeth instrumental in making sure that Wallis and Edward were not allowed to marry if he remained king? Was she instrumental in making Bertie (King George VI) forbid the royal family from having any contact with Edward and Wallis? In Benjamin's world she did. Given what I know about the amount of research puts into each book, I can't help but think that there's some truth to those things in this book. Regardless, it makes for a wonderful tale of two strong women, neither of whom got what they ended up wanting out of life. 

Life: It Goes On - April 26

Happy Sunday! It's a cool, grey day here in Omaha, with rain in the forecast. But that's not going to stop me from getting outside and starting to plant all of the things I've picked up this week. When I tell you that I loaded up a big cart at the nursery yesterday without paying any attention to what I was spending, I want you to understand that I may need to take on a part-time job over the summer to make up for it! But the minute I started putting tomatoes and herbs onto my cart, my mood lifted. Then I headed in to start getting the pretties and I spent an hour pulling together a color scheme. I can't wait to see it all come together and then to be able to read on the patio surrounded by beautiful plants. 

Somewhere in there, I need to crank out some book reviews. I am so far behind and finishing two books almost every week. Think the next few weeks' reviews will be not much more than bullet points, but I want to get them written before I forget my feelings about the books. 

Last Week I: 

Listened To: I finished Jess Walter's So Far Gone and started Allen Levi's Theo of Golden. 

Watched: College baseball, softball and spring volleyball. Also, we've been watching Masterpiece PBS's The Count of Monte Cristo, starring Sam Claflin. It's so good and has me wondering if I should devote my summer reading to finally tackling that beast of a book. Have you ever read it? 

Read: Elyse Myer's That's A Great Question, I'd Love to Tell You and I started Amanda Peters' The Berry Pickers. 

Made: Not a whole lot this week. Between leftovers we ate on Monday, dinner out, and catch-as-catch-can meals worked around events, it wasn't a week for cooking. 

Enjoyed: Lunch with friends last Sunday afternoon, getting my hair done Wednesday, and the quarterly siblings dinner with the Big Guy's family on Friday night. 

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This Week I’m:  

Planning: On lots of planting. 

Thinking About: Politics. 

Feeling: Lighter. The astrology folks tell me that Scorpios are coming out of seven rough years and this weekend is the turning point. I've never been a believer but I know that past seven years have been extremely difficult. So if life starts to really pick up now, I'm going to have to rethink that position. 

Looking forward to: Getting my hands in the dirt. Can you tell I'm a bit obsessed with this gardening business? 

Question of the week: I finished that latest season of Bridgerton the other night and need something to watch on the evenings when BG is out. For some reason, I tend to watch lighter stuff on those nights, things I would never pick up in book form. Got any recommendations? 

Kin by Tayari Jones

Kin by Tayari Jones

368 pages 

Published /2026 by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

My copy courtesy of the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review

Publisher’s Summary: 

Vernice and Annie, two motherless daughters raised in Honeysuckle, Louisiana, have been best friends and neighbors since earliest childhood but are fated to live starkly different lives. Raised by a fierce aunt determined to give her a stable home in the wake of her mother’s death, Vernice leaves Honeysuckle at eighteen for Spelman College, where she joins a sisterhood of powerfully connected Black women and discovers a world of affluence, manners, aspiration, and inequality. Annie, abandoned by her mother as a child and fixated on the idea of finding her and filling the bottomless hole left by her absence, sets off on a journey that will take her into a world of peril and adversity, as well as love and adventure, culminating in a battle for her life.

A novel about mothers and daughters, friendship and sisterhood, and the complexities of being a woman in the American South, Kin is an exuberant, emotionally rich, unforgettable work from one of the brightest and most irresistible voices in contemporary fiction.

My Thoughts: 

The Atlantic reviewer says “…Jones gives the novel the…sense of inevitable tragedy that animates Edith Wharton’s books.” As a huge fan of Wharton’s work, that would drawn me to this book. But I already knew that about Jones, having read her 2018 novel, An American Marriage. That’s the mark of a good writer – I know I’m going to have my heart broken in the end, but I want to read the book anyway. 

Vernice and Annie are more than best friends, they are sisters, inseparable no matter what the physical distance between them. Both were raised by women who were forced to mother the girls and who were afraid to bond too closely with the them. Because of the way they each became motherless, and the they were raised afterward, they are two very different people who seek healing in very different ways. 

Annie escapes town, headed north to find the mother who abandoned her. Annie doesn’t see that the people she travels with and meets along the way as a family and can’t accept the love she finds, so consumed is she in trying to finding her mother. It’s an obsession that comes with a high cost. 

Vernice escapes through education and makes her way to college in Atlanta There she meets her first love and people who will open her eyes to the Civil Rights movement. When a well-to-do woman takes Vernice under her wing, though,Vernice is convinced that the way to succeed is by marrying, settling down, and doing the "right thing." The woman becomes the mother Vernice has been seeking and soon becomes her mother-in-law as well. 

When Annie finds herself in trouble,  it's Vernice she turns to, despite  and Vernice finds that taking care of Annie is more important to her than following the rules set by society. 

Jones is one of those rare authors that makes you feel like you're in the room with these women. You can feel the emotions of the characters and see them clearly; you can picture the rooms and the roads; you can feel the tension, the fear, the nuances of the characters. Here is a story of grief, sadness, obsession, family and love that, despite the sadness the overwhelmed me throughout the book, made it impossible to put this book down.