A well written detective story set in Mendocino California. Touches on the themes of childhood adversity, neglect, abuse and suppressed memory. Awareness and control over one‘s environment is a central theme. Outdoor survival parallels mental health challenges leading to a place of healing and hope. Much more than a who done it with a female heroine.

This book delves into our troubling age of existence. political trials, environmental challenges, neurotypical children are all featured. Most importantly this is love story. Love for our natural world, the ever expanding universe, love for humanity. No wonder it won a Politzer Prize.

A very compelling cast of characters in this murder mystery takes the reader from the California coast to the mountains of Montana. Loved the variety in settings but the people more and their attempts to live the lives their given and to right the mistakes of living. The earnest failings and quiet heroism that define this human existence. Loved this story!

A realistic and compelling tale of the Dust Bowl. The heroine coming from the Texas Panhandle. My father‘s family made this same historic immigration, so it is important to me and that it‘s accurately written. Not a word was wasted in the telling and every nuance was revealed. Oh, my heart!

From an authority on how Civil Wars have erupted around the world. Breaking down the erosion of democracy that precedes Civil unrest, we see that America and many Western Democracies are close to descending into Civil War. Social media has accelerated the process as have the recent changes in America to our voting rights.

This was a missing piece to my understanding of how our society and differing generations connect and create historical changes. Simply fascinating!! How crisis periods in history create an era of protected children and those protected children in turn rebel against the authority that protected them. They give their children freedom and in some senses neglect. The cycle of generational impact continues. Here we are in another crisis, 4th Turning.

The Indian diaspora following British indenture from a South Pacific island. This historical fiction was compelling, both exquisitely tender and brutal. The story of migration, of leaving and recreating home over generations. The struggle of mere survival giving way to the hard won success of building, only to give away your small store to move again starting with nothing. The churning of a race of people across the globe. Loss and hope entwined.

What a dear coming of age story. A young boy who lost his “Gam.” He lives only with his older sister and handicapped brother. He pours his energies into raising Gsm‘s hens and selling eggs. A perfectly lovely, ambitious and deeply wounded little child. He finds an unlikely, yet similar grandmother figure in a crusty woman on his route. Her problems become his concerns and she helps him to find a path to live fully again. Sweet story!!

He‘s back!!! Or I should say they are back! King with co-writer Richard Chizmar wrote the sequel to Gwedy‘s Button Box. They didn‘t miss a stitch in weaving this fast paced intriguing tale to a brilliant conclusion. A smidge of happy Trump pounding to boot. Such a pleasant use of a day. Absolutely joyfully compelling jaunt.

Two separate evenings I dove in and tried. I simply can‘t wade in enough to lose myself to King magic. It could be there, but I only felt a strain. It didn‘t grab the gentle reader by the hand and pull them in. I still long for his earlier writing that was inescapably compelling and terrifying. Kind of like there was an early period of Bob Dylan that set the stage for future disappointments. Love me some good old King.

This book explains well the political times we are in, not only in America, but it covers well Poland, Hungary, Briton and a host of other countries. The rise of populism, nostalgia for romanticized past histories, the vilification if perceived enemies. The societal divisions splitting friends and families. Rise of social media and our struggle to filter information and rubrics which pull us down rabbit holes to destructive thinking. Insightful!

Roberto Lovato‘s personal investigative memoir into the genocides within his homeland of El Salvador and his own family histories. As well as diaspora into the United States. It is a raw representation in many ways and highly critical of the US government. I have another point of view now. I have always felt compassion for the immigrants. Now I have even more concern for society in which they live. An extremely traumatized often criminal people.

Some books shake the fundamentals of what you knew. So it is with this book giving an understanding of the truth about indentured servitude in our country. The slavery before African slavery. In hundreds of thousands of cases their servitude was not voluntary, and in the earliest colonies most didn‘t outlive their indenture. Rape, whipping, suffering and abuse was common. Read to understand the scope of English, Scottish and Irish indenture.

Madeline Albright informs the reader on all world leaders who now and in our past, lean to fascism, the working definition of the term, and the hope and need to confront it. Around the world fascist tendencies are rising, as it is here, as it is demonstrated by Trump. She offers remedies, direction to support democratic values. Very insightful read.

The Lowland Scots we‘re cleared from lands they had worked for hundreds of years. They were nudged out by the great agricultural revolution. Sometimes the process was worse than nudging. Big farms expanded taking over their ancestral lands. Some moved to towns to go into other trades: weaving and coal mining. Many accepted the opportunity to emigrate. Ulster Ireland was filled with lowland Scots. They went to Canada, The America‘s and Australia.

A page turner that will keep you up at night long after the reading is done. Could a coding genius corrupt an election? Most assuredly at some point they will. Just a few key precincts would do. Redistricting shenanigans at play. What effect does the increasing monopolization of businesses have on our economy and citizenry? How much foreign ownership of American business? (About 17% currently.) Pepper wove a thought provoking gripping tale!

I became interested in Hedy Lamarr after seeing a documentary and learning that not only was she a movie star but an inventor of encryption technology that helped us in the war effort and is still used today. Don‘t let autobiography fool you. This horrible book was written by a highly salacious uncomplimentary ghost writer. Throwing out seedy generalities about her character with no heart or context. I‘ll find another source to learn more.

Wow! You‘ve taken an emotional journey when you read a Tony Morrison novel. In the case of Sula a raw, painful but oddly right journey. Right only because life depicted in a black community in Southern Ohio at the beginning of the twentieth century was grinding and hard and respites brief. That lives can be so broken they needed a Suicide Day, the only day one would allow themselves to choose to end their suffering. Can unloved ever be lovable?

This was one of the most enjoyable books I have read in a long time. Based in North Carolina alternating between 1939 and 2018. An unfolding mystery from the past. Exploring topics of mental illness, sexual assault, racial prejudice and child parent relationships. It presented complex and likable characters. By the last chapters, I was sighing best book I have read in a long, long time.

What an absorbing novel. Explores the changing culture in the North Carolina mountains. The void and instability in both the tribal nation and the hollers. The flow of drugs imprisoning those who didn‘t have the resilience to leave or find a new way in a changed land. Excellent character development carries the reader well. Gripping!

First time I bailed on Stephen King. I have always loved King‘s character development. He did fine with his protagonist, but later he introduced characters who were not believable. I feel it maybe that he is no longer writing about things he knows. The believability of his Police Chief and the subject of Autism are two places he doesn‘t seem to know. It was a real stumbling block for this reader. King, is off my diet for a good while.

I remembered reading this decades ago. It called me back and I wasn‘t disappointed. That Pearl Buck was able to step out of her culture to really see and respect another was to me deeply appreciated.

Every page was perfect!!! The first book I have read in years that I simply wanted to savor all the way through. That said, the ending simply ripped my heart. Damn it.

Love to read Willa Cather. Rereading this was like revisiting an old friend and discovering that my friend was so much more than I remembered her to be. Antonia showed strength and resilience surviving and finally, inevitably thriving the harsh measure the newly settled prairie commanded. A powerful story.

This was an engrossing page turner for the first half, then bogged down in the middle as the slog of trying to connect many threads. In the middle, I began counting pages until the ending. The last quarter was especially tedious. That said, it wasn‘t a miserable read, it just felt uneven and tiring at the worst points.

Not a heart-pounding, damn you Stephen King, you scared me shitless tale. No, rather one of his curious and compelling stories that take you on a pleasant run. A runner‘s elevation and more. Good fast read.

A novel which looks back at the conduction of slaves to freedom. And the mystical aspects of conduction. The examination of broken family life on the plantation. The losses of loved ones and the struggles to find another way of belonging. A very powerful story. An inspiring inclusion of Harriet Tubman.

“Our lives, the old people say, are witnessed by the birds, by dragonflies, by trees and spiders. We are seen, our measure taken, not only by the animals and spiders but even by the alive galaxy in deep space and the wind blown ice of the north that would soon descend on us.” Linda Hogan

“In face of all the twaddle of the earth, shoot a man rather than train him ( with heavy expense to his neighbours) to be a deceptive human swine.” Thomas Carlisle British historian discusses Westport Workhouse 1849

The second book in the Charles Eagan‘s trilogy about the Irish Famine Diaspora. His writing is well researched and the Ryan family is a compelling group of characters to follow. Perhaps a discomforting choice to read in the time of Covid 19!

Ravensbruck a German concentration camp where they operated on women prisoners. They called the prisoners rabbits as they were both used as lab animals and their resulting injuries left them them hopping about camp. This book was brilliantly researched and well told. It profiles the work of Caroline Ferriday an American actress and socialite who arranged for American doctors to provide reconstruction and healing. Well researched brilliant!

Such an unlikely heroine!! Couldn‘t help falling in love with Eleanor. I laughed at her, worried for her, rooted for her and am glad I did. A memorable character. A perfect read.

A couple have their child stolen from them and then are convinced to accept as their own a two year old “foundling”. Advance decades this “foundling”, now a father himself, pursues DNA studies. He discovers his real family and their deep dysfunction. His opportunity of adoption saved him the dark fates if his surviving siblings. A gripping read.

Oh, Stephen King, thank you!! A button box with the potential to make bad things happen. A button for each country. Buttons to destroy people, provide diet chocolate, dispense silver dollars - such intoxicating choices! This reading makes one consider our own powerful weapons. How should we, or should we, use them.

Ariel Castro, father and divorced husband, lured girls into his home and held them hostage. The girls were chained, starved, beaten and raped. This is the story of Amanda Berry who bore and raised a child while held in captivity. Finally able to make a brave escape with her five year old daughter in tow, she writes a brave and honest memoir. A heroic story of survival.

This was a fast read. A story told though letters examining lives and all the relationships and personalities that define them. A lovely coming of age story for those past their middle years.

A page turning tearjerker of a book. I LOVED every word, every image, and every emotion. Thanks for the unexpected ending!

A treasure of a book!! The 1920‘s in Vermont, a Shaker family, you are immersed in the hard scrabble business of farming. Always just keeping hunger and other calamity from drowning them, they stand with their values and earnest hard work to carry them. I researched and the act of weaseling a dog is still a practice. I couldn‘t confirm pulling a goiter out of a cow‘s mouth. As for nuts from a squirrel belly? Hmm... do know I cried at the end!

“I come from a place where breath, eyes and memory are one, a place from which you carry your past like the hair on the head. Where women return to their children as butterflies or as tears in the eyes of the statue that their daughters pray to.” This beautiful story about Haiti and the love and connection between mothers and daughters. The love and bond of generations. The beauty and harsh realities of Haiti are well told.

Beautifully woven tale about the building of maternal relationships and of course the Victorian language of flowers. A sweet love story.

A beautiful land and people consumed by famine and killing snows. Charles Egan writes plainly and reader is brought along through the horrors of this time and place. A wretched time to have lived and the reader can practically smell the black fever and feel the hunger pains and clinching cold. The Irish spirit defined well in the telling.

Beautiful story of love, deep sacrifice and survival set in China during the middle twentieth century. As China moves from socialism to communism and famine grips the country, Lisa See brings the reader on a daring escape. Famine in China so deep they turned to the unthinkable, “Swap Child, Make Food.” Lisa See is a well researched and thoughtful writer resulting in a gripping and heartfelt journey.

Eric Hoffer, the favorite author of President Eisenhower, the longshoremen philosopher, was an enigma. He was an undocumented immigrant into this country with a mysterious past. He was a preeminent thinker of the twentieth century. Thoughtful and intelligent!

Demonstrating the true loving compassion of God in the deepest horrors of those within the walls in a prison in Tijuana, Mexico. Mother Antonia moved into a cell within the prison. Violence and intimidation of the cartels and the lure of fast money to desperate people. She loves the good and the bad, forgives freely and is no one‘s fool. From a twice divorced socialite to build the order the Eudist Servants of the Eleventh Hour. Inspiring!!!

Inspiring and courageous account of John McCain‘s life and the times in which he lived. In the end I found hope. I pray others will read this and reach out to build the common ground again and engage those who differ from you as people rather than as adversaries. The Restless Wave the America he loved dearly and served with all his heart.

Heart songs. Thank you for the gentle voice of John McCain to demonstrate in all times there are people of immense character who forge a path of righteousness forward a make deep and lasting change. All of this and surprising belly laughs along the way. A romping good read!

Trump is an ally to no one. He‘ll gut anyone at anytime. He is erratic and shallow, displaying zero attention span. A writhing puppet to Fox News. A highly detailed gripping account!

Enjoyed Scott Carney‘s writing. Excellent journalism pulling me in and leaving me scratching my head over what happens when a seeker risks everything. Thoughtful and intelligent.