Before We Were Innocent by Ella Berman

Before We Were Innocent by Ella Berman

Read by Jennifer Jill Araya

11 hours

Published April 2023 by Penguin Publishing Group 

Publisher's Summary: 

A summer in Greece for three best friends ends in the unthinkable when only two return home. . . .

 
Ten years ago, after a sun-soaked summer spent in Greece, best friends Bess and Joni were cleared of having any involvement in their friend Evangeline’s death. But that didn’t stop the media from ripping apart their teenage lives like vultures.
 
While the girls were never convicted, Joni, ever the opportunist, capitalized on her newfound infamy to become a motivational speaker. Bess, on the other hand, resolved to make her life as small and controlled as possible so she wouldn’t risk losing everything all over again. And it almost worked. . . .
 
Except now Joni needs a favor, and when she turns up at her old friend's doorstep asking for an alibi, Bess has no choice but to say yes. She still owes her. But as the two friends try desperately to shake off their past, they have to face reality.

Can you ever be an innocent woman when everyone wants you to be guilty?

My Thoughts: 

Joni drops back into Bess' life after ten years needing a favor and Bess, who has tried to live for the past ten years under the radar, agrees. Why? Because we quickly learn, she owes Joni, or at least both of the women feel like she does. And again, why? 

Ten years ago, Bess, Joni, and Evangeline, three very different girls who would seem to be unlikely friends, but who are inseparable, travel to Greece to stay in one of Evangeline's family's homes. It's the summer after their senior year in high school and they are all headed off in different directions in the fall. This is one last hurrah, one last time for the three of them to be together and to run a little wild. Evangeline has offered to pay for everything, but Bess' parents won't hear of it, insisting on delivering Bess to the airport instead of her traveling in the limousine with the other girls; insisting on paying for her airline ticket, which means that instead of flying first class, in a show of unity, all three fly coach. From that point, fissures begin to appear in the girls' relationships. Weeks stuck in the remote home only serve to make things worse and lead to things that will come back to haunt Joni and Bess later. The arrival of Evangeline's brother amps up the trouble. When the girls decide to travel to another island, things seem to be looking up for a bit...until tragedy strikes. 

The book travels back and forth in time, revealing not only what happened ten years ago, but also the reason Joni needed that favor. A favor that turns out to be much more critical to Joni that it initially appeared to Bess. In traveling back and forth, we gradually learn more about each of the women. The girls they were ten years ago. The women they've become, given what happened to them. The truth as we see it becomes fluid and who did what becomes a bigger and bigger question. 

If you recall the Amanda Know incident, you'll remember the way the authorities and the media treated Knox. You'll immediately understand how Joni and Bess were treated by the Greek authorities and the press, both the Greek and the international press. Think about spending time in a foreign prison as a teenager. Think about the impact that would have on a family and a person's future. When these girls returned, they were different people; people who could no longer be with the people they had been closest to and whose families treated them differently. 

I went back and forth about how I felt about both Bess and Joni and their motives for everything they did from their time in Greece to the present. And about their guilt. Berman kept me guessing right up to the end. The complexity of the relationship between Joni and Bess was interesting - is there anything to hold them together other than the past and is that something that should hold them together or pull them further apart. Berman gives us a good look at the difference between the public image of a person and the reality, especially someone who has died young and those who are accused of crimes. 

I can see why Reese Witherspoon picked novel for her book club - there is a lot to dissect and discuss in this one. Will it make my favorite books of the year list? No. It lacks the warmth, depth, or impact that a book needs to have for it to make that list. And I often wished that it had been edited a bit more; it sometimes felt like it was dragging. But did it make me think? It sure did and that makes it well worth reading. 

Mr. Wrong Number by Lynn Painter

Mr. Wrong Number by Lynn Painter

Read by Callie Dalton and Andrew Biden

8 hours, 27 minutes

Published March 2022 by Penguin Publishing Group

Publisher's Summary: 

Bad luck has always followed Olivia Marshall...or maybe she's just the screw-up her family thinks she is. But when a "What are you wearing?" text from a random wrong number turns into the hottest, most entertaining-albeit anonymous-relationship of her life, she thinks things might be on the upswing....

Colin Beck has always considered Olivia his best friend's annoying little sister, but when she moves in with them after one of her worst runs of luck, he realizes she's turned into an altogether different and sexier distraction. He's sure he can keep his distance, until the moment he discovers she's the irresistible Miss Misdial he's been sort of sexting for weeks-and now he has to decide whether to turn the heat up or ghost her before things get messy.

My Thoughts: 

I recently read and reviewed Lynn Painter's The Love Wager; and, while it wasn't the book for me, I enjoyed the banter and wit enough to give another of her books a shot. Reviews of that one kept comparing it to this one so I decided that if any of Painter's books could make me a convert, Mr. Wrong Number was probably it. 

It wasn't. 

Half of all reviewers on Goodreads give this book 4 or 5 stars. It's clear that for readers of this particular genre, this book gives them everything they want in a book. If you look at the publisher's summary and think this sounds like something you'd like, you probably will. What's clear to me now is that this type of storytelling just isn't for me.  

I struggled from the beginning when Olivia responded to that first text. Because 1) how does she know the text is from a man; and 2) if any man texted me that, I would be done with him. But I got that I needed to buy into that so I kept going. Then it turns out that Olivia is, and always has been, a total screw up. This is a great disappointment to her family, really annoying for her brother's best friend, and something she seems to just write off about herself, as in "oh well, nothing I can do about it." But still, once again, give it a chance, I told myself. And I did; I listened to the entire book. But I never could find any sympathy for a lead character who, while staying at someone else's house drinks half a bottle of previously unopened liquor and doesn't feel like she did anything wrong with it, not even when confronted with the fact that it cost $400; who lies to an employer to get a job; and who accuses Colin of outing her to said employer even though there is no reason for him to do so. 

The storyline itself had potential for me and I was willing to go along with the premise, but it just felt like it could have been so much more. There was opportunity to explore the relationship between Olivia and her mother, for example. Olivia could have come clean to her employer up front and I felt like they still would have wanted her for what she offered. She and Colin could have had more conversations where they learned about each other and found that their assumptions were wrong (I mean, that might have come up while they were lying in bed together after bonking each other). 

All of that being said, again, I just think that this genre is not for me. Others clearly loved this book and Painter's books in general and I'm glad that there are books out there in the wild for readers of all types. As for me, it's time to move on. Perhaps back to what I know, perhaps to give another genre a shot. 

Life: It Goes On - July 21

Happy Sunday - the first Sunday in weeks that it's not sunny on a Sunday morning. Plus side of its having rained the past two days is that I don't have to go out and water plants. Down side is that I haven't been able to get any projects worked on outside. 

Last Week I: 

Listened To: I finished Kelly Corrigan's The Middle Place and started Andrew Pham's Twilight Territory. Last week I referenced it as being the One Book, One World selection for 2024 but this week I'm unable to verify that. Can I find it in my emails where I swear I first heard about it? No, no I cannot. I'm about 2 hours in and I'm not sure if it's something I can continue with due to the violence. Might be easier in print, where I could skim over those parts. I know that was the reality of that time and place (as it is with so many other times and places); I just can't handle reading too much of that at this time. 

Watched: We finally started watching The Bear. It's definitely something you have to pay attention to while you're watching it - things move quickly and the dialogue is rapid fire. 

Read: Finished The Last Mrs. Parrish and today will finish Keep The Memories, Lose The Stuff. Next up, Kate Atkinson's Death At The Sign Of The Rook and DeCluttering At The Speed Of Life. 

Made: Today I'm making rice pudding, something I rarely make in the warm months. But it's cooler today and we somehow have ended up with far more milk that we can consume so it was rice pudding or potato soup and it's not cool enough for potato soup. 

Enjoyed: Not cooking all weekend. Friday we picked up Chinese from a new-to-us place. Last night we went out for burgers...which neither of us ended up ordering. Instead The Big Guy got fish and chips and I got mac and cheese. 

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This Week I’m:  

Planning: Mini-him and Miss C move into a new place next weekend so I'm racing to try to get his dresser done by then. Will pretty much consume most of my free time until then as I've barely started. Will try to remember to get "before" pictures (I'm so bad at remembering to do that!) so you can see where I started and where it ends up...assuming I'm proud of it at that point! 

Thinking About: Mini-him and Miss C are moving on his birthday so I'm trying to figure out how to get his favorite bday foods to the new place for dinner without creating too much extra work. 

Feeling: The overcast skies tend to bring headaches for me so I've been feeling very unproductive the past couple of days. Today I'm feeling better so I'm hoping that lasts. 

Looking forward to: Helping with the move. I know that sounds weird but I love helping people getting settled into new places and watching things come together so it feels like home. Luckily, they hired movers so we won't have to do any heavy lifting this time. 

Question of the week: How has your week been? Have you been keeping abreast of the news politically or are you trying to avoid it as much as possible? 

**The link for this week's book reviews is books that were recommended to me by friends.**

Bear by Julia Phillips

Bear by Julia Phillips

304 pages

Published by Random House Publishing Group - Hogarth

Source: my copy courtesy of the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review

Publisher's Summary: 

They were sisters and they would last past the end of time.

Sam and Elena dream of another life. On the island off the coast of Washington where they were born and raised, they and their mother struggle to survive. Sam works on the ferry that delivers wealthy mainlanders to their vacation homes while Elena bartends at the local golf club, but even together they can’t earn enough to get by, stirring their frustration about the limits that shape their existence.
Then one night on the boat, Sam spots a bear swimming the dark waters of the channel. Where is it going? What does it want? When the bear turns up by their home, Sam, terrified, is more convinced than ever that it’s time to leave the island. But Elena responds differently to the massive beast. Enchanted by its presence, she throws into doubt the desire to escape and puts their long-held dream in danger.
A story about the bonds of sisterhood and the mysteries of the animals that live among us—and within us—Bear is a propulsive, mythical, richly imagined novel from one of the most acclaimed young writers in America.

My Thoughts: 
I can't recall where I first saw this book. I was not approached by the publisher, I don't recall reading any other reviews of it. I can only assume that I found it myself on Netgalley. I would have been drawn immediately to that beautiful cover and then, I assume, to a story about sisters. A look at other reviews will show you that responses to this book are all over the place, much as are my thoughts about the book. Here we have one of those books where I wonder if I just didn't "get" something, where I felt like I needed to spend some time with my thoughts before I decided how I felt about it. 
There's a lot to unpack here. There's an element of the fairytale here. In fact, the book opens with a line from the fairytale Snow White and Rose Red: 

“‘Poor bear,’ said the mother, ‘lie down by the fire, only take care that you do not burn your coat.’”

This line is equally appropriate: 

"The two children were so fond of one another that they always held each other by the hand when they went out together, and when Snow-white said: ‘We will not leave each other,’ Rose-red answered: ‘Never so long as we live,’ and their mother would add: ‘What one has she must share with the other.’"

 At least, it has long been Sam's impression that she and Elena would never be parted, that each of them was the only person the other could trust. It's an impression partly ingrained by the ways life has treated the sisters; but also because of what Elena told Sam years ago, when she told Sam that, when their mother died, the two of them would sell the land and home their grandmother bought and leave San Juan Island. Sam has lived for ten years with the promise that there is hope in her future, that the half million dollar selling price of the land will assure the sisters of a bright future, a chance to put the traumas of their past and a mountain of debt behind them. 

But the bear's arrival begins to expose buried feelings and secrets. Elena finally feels alive and, once again, in touch with the land that fed her soul and helped her survive over the years. In Sam, the bear's arrival raises fear to the surface, not just because of what the threat the bear physically poses but also a because it presents the threat of a rift between Sam and Elena. That fear, coupled with the distrust of authorities so deeply engrained in Sam, causes mounting conflict between the sisters. 

It's hard to find a character in this book that you can attach yourself to, but it's also easy to see how each of them became the person they are now. As the daughters of a woman who works in a nail salon, the wealthier children in town look down on them; as the survivors of an abuser brought into their home by their own mother and whom the system did not protect, they had only each other to turn to; as the caregivers to a dying mother, the sisters are forced to find jobs straight out of high school, jobs that might just pay the bills were it not for their mother's medical bills. 

As the oldest, Elena has always been the one to take charge and she has had to take on not only the care of their mother and a full-time job, but she has also become the person in charge of trying to keep things afloat. Sam moves through life in a bit of a haze, bidding her time for the day she can leave the island and refusing to make any connects with other people who might hurt her. In the end, it's Elena who hurts her; even so, Sam is willing to do whatever it takes to bring Elena back to her with tragic consequences. 

And there, you see, as I thought more about the book, it became clearer to me. Unlike those who either disliked the book or those who loved it, I find myself falling somewhere in between. The Pacific Northwest is vivid and it's hard to imagine wanting to leave it. Phillips has created a unique story, to be sure; it might even be one I'm thinking about long after this.  But I so often wanted to just shake both of the sisters, wanted them to be honest with each other, to stop making stupid mistakes; I struggled with believing that anyone could be so oblivious to the danger as Elena was; and I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about the ending. 

The Morningside by Tea Obreht

The Morningside by Tea Obreht

304 pages

Published March 2024 by Random House Publishing House

Source: my copy courtesy of the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review

Publisher's Summary:

There’s the world you can see. And then there’s the one you can’t. Welcome to the Morningside.

After being expelled from their ancestral home in a not-so-distant future, Silvia and her mother finally settle at the Morningside, a crumbling luxury tower in a place called Island City where Silvia’s aunt Ena serves as the superintendent. Silvia feels unmoored in her new life because her mother has been so diligently secretive about their family’s past, and because the once-vibrant city where she lives is now half-underwater. Silvia knows almost nothing about the place where she was born and spent her early years, nor does she fully understand why she and her mother had to leave. But in Ena there is an opening: a person willing to give the young girl glimpses into the folktales of her demolished homeland, a place of natural beauty and communal spirit that is lacking in Silvia’s lonely and impoverished reality.

Enchanted by Ena’s stories, Silvia begins seeing the world with magical possibilities and becomes obsessed with the mysterious older woman who lives in the penthouse of the Morningside. Bezi Duras is an enigma to everyone in the building: She has her own elevator entrance and leaves only to go out at night and walk her three massive hounds, often not returning until the early morning. Silvia’s mission to unravel the truth about this woman’s life, and her own haunted past, may end up costing her everything.

My Thoughts: 
This is the third book by Obreht I've read (and reviewed) and, as much as I enjoyed the other two, this was by far my favorite of her books. With each book, Obreht explores new territory and new time periods. Inland was set in the American West's past; The Tiger's Wife was set in the Balkans in more or less present day. The Morningside takes us to an unknown land, some time in the future. 

Climate change has wrecked havoc on the planet, wars have taken a further toll. We never know exactly where on Earth Silvia and her mother have finally settled (it might be New York City); it's not particularly relevant, other than to that they have traveled a great distance from a land called Back Home. Which isn't to say that the setting doesn't play an important role in the story - it's, in fact, crucial for Obreht to give readers a full impression of the landscape and the way that rising waters have impacted Island City. Much of what we learn of Island City is in stories told to The Dispatcher, a renegade radio program that allows listeners to tell stories of the city as they knew it and the city as it is now. 

Silvia's mother has told her very little about why they are constantly moving or anything about their family, other than that Silvia has an aunt, Ena. When the Repopulation Program enables them to move to Island City and live in the Morningside, where Ena is superintendent, Ena opens a door to the past and the mystical. Because of Ena's stories (particularly that the three dogs Bezi takes for a walk every evening are actually men), Silvia comes to believe that Bezi Duras might actually be a Vila, a nature spirit capable of vengeful acts when angered. 

Because Silvia can't be enrolled in school, she has a lot of time on her hands. Some of it is spent helping her mother. A great deal of it is spent exploring and trying to determine the truth about Bezi. Along the way, she is helped by Lewis May, a man who used to the be superintendent of the building and makes an arrangement with Silvia whereby she is given a key to the elevator to Bezi's penthouse floor. Even after their deal is completed, May remains a constant in Silvia's life. 

One day a new family moves into The Morningside, one with a mysterious father who isn't much seen but will come to play a big part in Silvia's future, and a daughter who becomes Silvia's only friend and the driving force behind moving Silvia along in learning the truth about Bezi. 

I wouldn't want to be a bookseller or a librarian trying to figure out where to shelve The Morningside; it is equal parts science-fiction (cli-fi, as some are calling it), fairy tale, and dystopian novel. It has an element of magic that I surprisingly loved and some wonderfully unique characters and situations. I wasn't always sure what to make of it. But I loved that I had no idea where the story was going. Even the ending, which ties things up more neatly than I often like, isn't nearly a happily-ever-after and comes with something extra that makes me rethink things right up to the end of the book. Utterly original and one of my favorites of the year. 

Life: It Goes On - July 14

Happy, sunny (here at least) Sunday! It's been a bit of a tough week but things are looking up and the sunshine is definitely helping (even if it is hot out). I read somewhere recently that people with ADHD tend to use parentheses in their writing more because their minds are always going down side tracks. So that's my excuse for that first sentence...and all of the other sentences on this blog that have a ridiculously high occurrence of parentheses! 

Last Week I: 

Listened To: I finished Before We Were Innocent and am about 2/3 of the way through Kelly Corrigan's The Middle Place. Next up is the One World, One Book selection for 2024, Twilight Territory. My dad has started listening to it as well so it will be fun for the two of us to talk about it. 

Watched: A whole lot of HGTV and Magnolia Network. 

Read: Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout. Now finishing up this month's book club selection, The Last Mrs. Parrish. 

Made: Ham sliders and roast beef sliders with King's Hawaiian rolls. What else? No recollection whatsoever. Clearly that meal planning and prepping I talked about doing a few weeks ago and not manifested. 

Enjoyed: My sister and her husband are here this weekend. Friday night we did something that we've never done before - the ladies went off to eat one place and the guys off to another place. I surprised my sister by inviting one of her dear friends here to join us and it was such a cathartic, relaxing and fun evening. I left and was disappointed I had not thought to take a picture of the three of us. Then I remembered that it was good to have been so in the moment that it never occurred to me to pull out my phone. Well, except for the ten minutes or so when all three of us had our phones out while we were talking books, making recommendations, and adding things to our library holds! 

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This Week I’m:  

Planning: No choice now but to get to working on Mini-him's dresser. He and Miss C have found a new apartment and will be moving to a place where they will finally have room for it again. 

Thinking About: A friend died this week of lung cancer. She's been battling it for over three years. Logic completely left me when it came to her diagnosis and ongoing setbacks. I just knew that she would be the person to beat the odds so it's hit me harder than I would have expected to find out that she wasn't. 

Feeling: After months of being mentally exhausted, I find myself finally starting to have the energy to get myself up and moving. I've accomplished so much in the past couple of weeks that has needed to be done for so long. It feels good.  

Looking forward to: Book club on Tuesday. 

Quote of the week: “There are never enough 'I love you's.” - Lenny Bruce

*This week's connection between the books I've reviewed is only that they are books that I read through Netgalley. 

The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom 

384 pages

Published February 2010 by Atria Books

Publisher's Summary: 

Orphaned during her passage from Ireland, young, white Lavinia arrives on the steps of the kitchen house and is placed, as an indentured servant, under the care of Belle, the master’s illegitimate slave daughter. Lavinia learns to cook, clean, and serve food, while guided by the quiet strength and love of her new family.

In time, Lavinia is accepted into the world of the big house, caring for the master’s opium-addicted wife and befriending his dangerous yet protective son. She attempts to straddle the worlds of the kitchen and big house, but her skin color will forever set her apart from Belle and the other slaves.

Through the unique eyes of Lavinia and Belle, Grissom’s debut novel unfolds in a heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful story of class, race, dignity, deep-buried secrets, and familial bonds.

My Thoughts: 

This is a book that's been on my to-be-read list for years. When I was creating my book club's reading list for 2024, I looked at that list for ideas and noted that this one was also on a lot of lists of best books for book clubs. Before I get into my thoughts on this book, let me tell you two things that may sway your opinion of the book. Number one - every one in my book club really liked this book. Number two - it was a great book for a discussion. That may be, in part, due to my opinions about the book, which pushed people to have to defend it. 

• It felt quite melodramatic and was made more so because everything terrible that could possibly go wrong did. To the point that it lost any tension - I already knew what was going to happen. 
• Too many stereotypes for me - the evil overseer (a la Simon Legree in Uncle Tom's Cabin), the mamee who mothers both her own children and the those in the big house, the damsel in distress lady of the house. 
• Entirely too many cases of miscommunication that lead to tragedies for years. 
• I felt like Grissom missed the boat with Marshall. Fair enough, so many terrible things happened to him growing up - an absent father, sexual abuse at the hands of a man his father defended, his mother's lack of caring for him and idolization of his sister, an attachment to a man who lead him astray, a growing hatred of the enslaved people, and alcoholism. One reviewer suggested the book would have been better if Marshall had been an attentive, loving husband to Lavinia and then an evil man with Belle and the other blacks...a Jekyll/Hyde. I definitely agree. We never see anything redeeming about him after a point. 
• I honestly just want to slap Lavinia again and again. Yes, she was young when she came to the plantation; yes, she was white but raised by and lived with the enslaved people. They were her family. Still, she never really seemed to grasp the division between the two. Then there was a very important packet she saw delivered and then completely forgot about for nearly the entire book; the marriage to Marshall, a man she had already known to have a fiery temper; and her belief that Belle's son's father was a man she might have ended up with had it not been for this and her inability to see what was plain to see just by looking at the boy. 

My book club worked hard to change my mind; but, in the end, I felt like this book missed its very real potential. 

The House of Lincoln by Nancy Horan

The House of Lincoln by Nancy Horan

Read by Sarah Welborn

10 hours, 30 minutes

Published June 2023 by Sourcebooks

Publisher's Summary: 

Nancy Horan returns with a sweeping historical novel, which tells the story of Abraham Lincoln's ascendance from rumpled lawyer to U.S. president to the Great Emancipator through the eyes of a young asylum-seeker who arrives in Lincoln's home of Springfield from Madeira, Portugal.

Showing intelligence beyond society's expectations, fourteen-year-old Ana Ferreira lands a job in the Lincoln household assisting Mary Lincoln with their boys and with the hostess duties borne by the wife of a rising political star. Ana bears witness to the evolution of Lincoln's views on equality and the Union and observes in full complexity the psyche and pain of his bold, polarizing wife, Mary.

Along with her African American friend Cal, Ana encounters the presence of the underground railroad in town and experiences personally how slavery is tearing apart her adopted country. Culminating in an eyewitness account of the little-known Springfield race riot of 1908, The House of Lincoln takes listeners on a journey through the historic changes that reshaped America and that continue to reverberate today.

My Thoughts: 

In all honesty, I didn't even read the summary of this book before I checked it out from the library. I should have. In an effort to get it "read," I chose the audiobook version. I shouldn't have. 

What Didn't Work For Me:

• Sarah Welborn's narration so grated on my nerves that I raised the speed of the audiobook to get through it sooner. For me it felt so stilted. 
• The story telling felt disjointed to me and I was unclear much of the time as to whose story this is. Is it the Lincolns, as told through Ana's eyes? If so, why didn't Horan have her travel with them to Washington? Is it the blacks and how Lincoln ended up effecting their lives? If so, why wasn't the lead character Cal? 
• Once we really got into the story of political Lincoln, the book felt like it was racing along out of control as Horan got to her ending when things slowed back down to get to the part of the story most readers will be unfamiliar with. There wasn't much new material here for me, except that ending. 

What I Liked: 

• The ending of the book and the look at the Springfield race riot of 1908. It was not only a great learning experience for me but a great reminder that the enslaved people may have been emancipated, but that didn't change the way all too many people felt about them. In fact, it may have made life worse for some as whites became fearful of what emancipation might mean for them. 
• Learning the immigrant experience of the Portuguese Protestants, through Ana's family. 
• Horan working in the Douglass/Lincoln debates which allowed for a comparison to present day politics. 

While this wasn't necessarily the book for me (although reading it in print might have helped), I do still believe that there would be a lot here for book clubs to discuss. Horan's Loving Frank was one of my book clubs reads the year it came out and it led to one of our best ever discussions. Certainly, there are a lot of readers who might not read as much (or have been raised with history ever-present, as I was) and who might find a lot to learn from this book. 

Life: It Goes On - July 7

Happy Sunday! Were you all lucky enough to have a four-day weekend, thanks to the Fourth falling on a Thursday? I have thoroughly enjoyed the nice long break but still would like another couple of days since Thursday and Friday flew by. 

Miss H arrived Wednesday night for a short visit; long enough to celebrate both the Fourth and Miss C's birthday. Miss H, Mini-him, Miss C, Big Guy and myself took breakfast to my dad on the Fourth since he is no longer able to get to Lincoln for his old neighborhood's Fourth of July breakfast. We didn't shoot off a single firework (much to Miss H's disappointment) but saw plenty and ate our way through the day. 

Last Week I: 

Listened To: Ella Berman's Before We Were Innocent. Will finish that one this week then I don't know what will be next. My next hold won't become available for eight weeks so I'll either do a little searching today for something that will be available sooner or spend the next few weeks catching up on podcasts. 

Watched: Penelope with Miss H, something we'd watched when she was young but neither or us have seen since. It's got quite the cast but I can see why it never made it big - it's a tough one to put in a handy niche. 

Read: I finally finished Julia Phillip's Bear and I started Elizabeth Strout's latest, Tell Me Everything. I'm only about 25 pages in, but I'm loving being back in the world of Lucy Barton. 

Made: Onion dip, maple bacon dip, steak and chicken kebabs, egg casserole, vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, red velvet cake and my first ever German chocolate cake. Miss C requested German chocolate for her bday and I always make whatever someone requests, but I've had to rely on other people's opinions as to how it turned out since I don't eat coconut. Or pecans. 

Enjoyed: Lots of time with my family, including an unplanned visit from my brother Friday night

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This Week I’m:  

Planning: My sister and her husband arrive for a long weekend visit to see their fathers. So this week is all about getting ready for more company. 

Thinking About: As I rearranged and Tetris'd things into my fridge this past week, I couldn't help but wonder how in the world home organizers, who show us those beautifully organized refrigerators,  account for things like a couple of cakes and extra groceries that need to fit in. And what about containers of leftovers? I've pretty much given up on the idea that I could ever make my refrigerator look organizer beautiful - the best I can hope for is to keep the expired food out of it. 

Feeling: Tired. Haven't been sleeping well the past couple of nights and I'd like nothing more than to sleep for a couple of hours this afternoon. Instead I'll probably pull out a furniture piece to work on and power through. 

Looking forward to: Having my sister here. 

Question of the week: How did you celebrate the Fourth this year? 

Happy Fourth of July

As you gather today with friends and family to celebrate the Fourth of July, I hope you'll take some time to remember that what we're really meant to be celebrating is the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which says: 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. 

Let us not forget that the men who wrote these words, the men who signed this document, and the men and women who fought to make it a reality, were fighting against tyranny in any form and for a government that listened to the will of the people so that those people might be allowed their inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

The Keeper of Hidden Books by Madeline Martin

The Keeper of Hidden Books by Madeline Martin

Read by Saskia Maarleveld

10 hours, 53 minutes

Published August 2023 by Hanover Square Press

Publisher's Summary: 

All her life, Zofia has found comfort in two things during times of hardship: books and her best friend, Janina. But no one could have imagined the horrors of the Nazi occupation in Warsaw. As the bombs rain down and Hitler's forces loot and destroy the city, Zofia finds that now books are also in need of saving.

With the death count rising and persecution intensifying, Zofia jumps to action to save her friend and salvage whatever books she can from the wreckage, hiding them away, and even starting a clandestine book club. She and her dearest friend never surrender their love of reading, even when Janina is forced into the newly formed ghetto.

But the closer Warsaw creeps toward liberation, the more dangerous life becomes for the women and their families - and escape may not be possible for everyone. As the destruction rages around them, Zofia must fight to save her friend and preserve her culture and community using the only weapon they have left - literature.

My Thoughts: 

Aggghh! This is one of those books that I didn't write a review for soon enough and my thoughts have kind of been lost to me so I'm going to piece things together as best I can. As always, let's start with the things that didn't work for me and work our way to what I liked about this book (I always like to end things on a positive note, when I can!).

What Didn't Work For Me: 

• Books played a major role in this book, and Zofia's life, until they didn't. Suddenly, she became a resistance fighter for that last quarter (?) of the book. Nothing wrong with that, it felt true to Zofia's nature, but it seemed to veer away from what the premise of the book had been. 
• Even before the Nazis invade Poland, Zofia, Janina and another friend are already reading, as a group, books that Hitler has banned in Germany. A couple of other girls in their school horn in on their group, girls it's clear that Zofia doesn't really like. But it quickly becomes clear that these girls have interesting thoughts about the books and are really contributing to the discussions. I never felt like they really became part of Zofia's circle or that she acknowledged that she may have misjudged them so it felt odd to me that they brought into the story and remained there, as peripheral characters, to the end. 
• Things began to feel rushed to me as the book went on and time sort of collapsed. 

What I Liked: 

• Of course, I loved that so much of this book centered around books being a driving force in educating people, in being a part of their culture, and in being a way to help them survive the worst. I loved seeing these people so passionate about saving these books not only because books are so important to them but also as an act of rebellion. These people were, quite literally, willing to put down their lives in defense of books. 
• Zofia's and Janina's relationship. Their friendship never wavered and Zofia was willing to do anything (and did) to protect and help Janina. 
• In fact, a lot of the relationships, including Zofia's and her mother's, which changed tremendously throughout the book. Also, I appreciated that while Zofia and a young man who joins their group are clearly falling in love, nothing happens between them until the very end - it's logical that strong emotions would occur but a romance in the middle of the book would have felt out of place. 
• I've read a lot about what the Nazis did to the Jews in Germany, much less about what happened in Poland so I found this book a good reminder of what it was like to be in Warsaw and Poland, not just as a Jew but as a Pole. And, if I'd known, I'd forgotten, that the Soviets came into Poland, not so much to chase out the Germans but to take over. 

Overall, I enjoyed the book and would definitely recommend it for book clubs as there is so much to discuss in the book. 

The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez

The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez

256 pages

Published Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill

Source: my copy courtesy of the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review

Publisher's Summary: 

Alma Cruz, the celebrated writer at the heart of The Cemetery of Untold Stories, doesn’t want to end up like her friend, a novelist who fought so long and hard to finish a book that it threatened her sanity. So when Alma inherits a small plot of land in the Dominican Republic, her homeland, she has the beautiful idea of turning it into a place to bury her untold stories—literally. She creates a graveyard for the manuscript drafts and the characters whose lives she tried and failed to bring to life and who still haunt her. 

 Alma wants her characters to rest in peace. But they have other ideas and soon begin to defy their author: they talk back to her and talk to one another behind her back, rewriting and revising themselves. Filomena, a local woman hired as the groundskeeper, becomes a sympathetic listener to the secret tales unspooled by Alma's characters. Among them, Bienvenida, dictator Rafael Trujillo's abandoned wife who was erased from the official history, and Manuel Cruz, a doctor who fought in the Dominican underground and escaped to the United States.
 
The Cemetery of Untold Stories asks: Whose stories get to be told, and whose buried? Finally, Alma finds the meaning she and her characters yearn for in the everlasting vitality of stories. Julia Alvarez reminds us that the stories of our lives are never truly finished, even at the end.

My Thoughts: 

A little more than five years ago, my husband and I went to hear Julia Alvarez speak. At that time, I had a couple of her books on my to-be-read list, but hadn't actually read anything she'd written. I was so impressed with her that I knew I needed to rectify that. This is now my third of her books and I've several things to be true of her books: 

• The themes of family (especially sisters), the immigrant experience, home, and storytelling will appear. 
• The writing will be beautiful. 
• The book will make me really think and I'm bound to learn from it. 
• It's possible that I may feel like I'm in over my head. 

This book was no exception. I'll admit to wondering, in the beginning, if this book might be more cerebral than what I was up to when I began reading. But I also knew that I wanted to see how it would play out so I continued reading and Alvarez began pulling me in, even when it became apparent that magical elements were going to be involved (and you all know how tricky that it for me!). 

For a bit I felt pulled about, from one person's story to another's, from Alma's story to Filomena's story. Gradually they became one and the need for that background for each of them became apparent as the stories told by those buried characters begin to emerge. 

Manuel Cruz is Alma's father, a man who long ago spoke of a of mysterious place, a place his daughters mocked him about. Then one day he stopped speaking of it and, as he slipped into dementia, he stopped telling his girls anything about his past. 

Bienvenida is based on the real wife of Rafael Trujillo. Her she is a woman who gets swept up in the make-believe world Trujillo creates in wooing her and remains blind to the person he really is until she is forced to leave the country so that he can marry a new woman who can give him children. 

Filomena is a woman who grew up in the slums, whose mother abandoned her as a child and whose father was abusive. She and her sister, Perla, get tricked into coming into the city and working as maids for a wealthy family. When Perla becomes pregnant by the family's son, they are forced to marry. When he lands in trouble for going against Trujillo, the young family is sent to New York City and Filomena is deprived of the sister she's become estranged from and her beloved nephew. 

As Filomena listens to the stories in the cemetery, we begin to see how Alma's father's, Bienvenida's, and, eventually, Filomena's mother's stories are intertwined. 

As the book moved between the stories told by the characters in the cemetery and the real lives of Alma and Filomena, I never found myself confused or trying to race through one story to get to the next. For me, everything was laid out and unfolded perfectly. I grew to care deeply about these characters, even those who were more deeply flawed. In just 256 pages, Alvarez took me from doubting this book to wishing it were longer, not because it didn't feel complete; but because I wanted to hear more of the stories.