TSS: Let the Summer Begin!

Hello, friends, it's been a while! I didn't mean to disappear for so long, but April and May got so busy. First of all, we made it back and are settled in for another CT summer. We closed up the FL house, spent a few days in Alexandria, VA/DC on the drive north, and have even been to central NY to visit my parents and  siblings. Now we're enjoying a relatively quiet (and chilly!) long holiday weekend. 

The big news is that our oldest daughter and son-in-law are moving to CT! They close on their new home next month and it's only 45 minutes away. We're thrilled. Twin A and her husband are still living in NYC, so our regular visits to the city will continue... and that also makes me happy.

Recent reading//

Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson

I've been a fan of Kevin Wilson since Nothing to See Here landed on my favorites list in 2019 and I couldn't believe my luck when I found myself at the top of the library hold list for his latest novel. This one is a zany road trip novel and I loved it! It's the June selection for MMD Book Club and I'm already looking forward to the author chat.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Voices in Summer by Rosamunde Pilcher

This is a slim, lesser-known novel originally published in 1984, but still distinctively Pilcher. It features her lush descriptions of the Cornwall coast, a mostly endearing cast of characters, and a simpler way of life. Despite the predictable ending, it was a lovely read. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Current reading//

Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned While Staying Put

by Annie B. Jones

If you listen to From the Front Porch podcast or have supported  The Bookshelf in Thomasville, Ga, then you know Annie B. Jones. I'm slowly reading/listening to her debut essay collection, which I pre-ordered from her store. It's very good so far.

Hot Air by Marcy Dermansky

My library hold came in yesterday and the first few pages of this book have pulled me in. Just wish I could remember where I first heard about it!  A joyfully unhinged story of money, marriage, sex, and revenge unspools when a billionaire crashes his hot air balloon into the middle of a post-pandemic first date. 

Dracula Daily: Reading Bram Stoker's Dracula in Real Time With Commentary by the Internet by Bram Stoker, edited by Matt Kirkland

Have you every read Dracula? Did you know it is an epistolary novel consisting of journal entries and letters? My answer to both of those questions is no, so I was intrigued when a small group of MMD members decided to start a community read in real time. The first journal entry was May 3 and it concludes sometime in November. We're just getting started, but I think this is going to be fun!

The rest of the weekend//

When we got back to CT, I re-discovered a Christmas gift certificate to a nearby indie bookstore. This afternoon, we'll head over to R.J.Julia and maybe stop for a lobster roll on the way home. Tomorrow is our town's Memorial Day parade and, of course, we'll grill some burgers to kick off the summer season. I'm also planning on a couple hours of reading and relaxing.

How have you been? What are you reading this weekend?

The Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

 

Early April Reviews

Hello, friends. It's Sunday again and, somehow, almost the middle of April! I've read several good books already this month, including two this week. So before I get too far behind, here's a quick review round-up.

A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan

Narrative nonfiction at is finest... this book is about the KKK's rise to power in the 1920s, the evil mastermind behind it, and the woman who ultimately brought about his, and eventually the Klan's, downfall. I was completely unaware of the history presented here, but the northern KKK's reach into the highest levels of local and state governments, particularly in Indiana, was staggering. In addition, its national aspirations and plans were downright scary. And most importantly, I found far too many chilling parallels to the current state of affairs in the US.

Egan's research is meticulous, and his skillful pacing and storytelling kept me turning the pages. Part of the book even reads like a legal thriller. I was positively riveted!  

A Fever in the Heartland  was a read/listen combination for me. Egan narrated the book himself and did an excellent job.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Kate & Frida by Kim Fay

Fay's previous novel, Love & Saffron, was a 5-star favorite back in 2022, so I was thrilled to win a kindle edition of her new novel from goodreads.  In Kate & Frida  I found another delightful epistolary novel, this time set in the early 1990s with letters between two twenty-somethings finding their way in the world. 

Frida, an aspiring war journalist in Paris, writes to a Seattle bookstore and her request is answered by Kate, a bookseller longing to become a writer. The two strike up a correspondence which develops into a true friendship. Along the way they discuss life, books, food, and much more. There are plenty of 90s pop culture references, too. I may purchase a hardcover copy to put on my shelf next to Love & Saffron.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

I've been thinking about an April reread of this classic for a few years, and jumped at the chance to join in a buddy read with some MMD friends. The Enchanted April, first published in 1922, tells the story of four very different English women, previously unknown to each other and each dissatisfied with her day-to-day life, who answer an ad to rent a castle in Italy for the month of April. The combination of the Italian sunshine, sea air, and wisteria cause their spirits to rise and unexpected changes begin to occur. After all these years, The Enchanted April  is still a favorite!

This was another read/listen combination and I very much enjoyed Eleanor Bron's narration.  I'm planning to watch the 1991 movie again this week, too.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

How is your April reading going? What have you been reading lately?

 

March Wrap-up and April Reading Possibilities

Where did March go? I enjoyed visits from family members, time with friends, great beach weather, and some really good books! March is truly "high season" around here and the island was busier than it's been since before Hurricane Ian in 2022. Around 50% of hotel rooms and condos have been restored and the recovery continues. Restaurants, shops, and the bike paths are crowded. We're still waiting for a couple of favorite restaurants to come back (fingers crossed!) but other cities that have faced similar devastation have told us that it takes a full five years.

March was also my best reading month so far this year, in terms of both quantity and quality.

BOOKS READ IN MARCH

Three Apples Fell from the Sky by Narine Abgaryan - 4.5 stars

World Lit Book Club, fiction, in translation - my thoughts

I'll Come to You by Rebecca Kauffman - 4.5 stars

literary fiction - my thoughts

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler - 4 stars

 fiction - my thoughts

How to Stay Married by Harrison Scott Key

memoir, book club selection, not for me- my thoughts

You Are Here by David Nicholls - 5 stars

fiction - my thoughts

APRIL READING POSSIBILITIES 

A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan

narrative nonfiction, finished, review coming soon

Kate & Frida by Kim Fay

epistolary fiction, in progress

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

classic, fiction, reread

Search by Michelle Huneven 

fiction, MMD May selection

Censoring an Iranian Love Story by Shahriar Mandanipour

fiction, in translation, World Lit book club

,

Wellness by Nathan Hill

fiction, priority TBR

Also in April//

Our time in Florida is winding down and our calendar for the month is filling up! We have a few home maintenance service calls, dinners with friends, a farewell gathering or two, plus another visit from our daughter and her husband coming up. We're also looking forward to Easter in just a couple of weeks. 

How was your month? What was your favorite March book?

Feeding time! Zoom in to see roseate spoonbills, wood storks, ibis, and great egrets.

 

The Sunday Salon: Perfect Beach Weather!

Happy Sunday, friends. It's been another good week filled with family and friends, books, and beaches. We went to a St. Patrick's Day happy hour in our old neighborhood (just a few miles down the road), enjoyed an overnight visit from my sister and brother-in-law, read on the beach for an entire afternoon, and I finally completed my first 5-star read of the year! 

Recent reading//

How to Stay Married by Harrison Scott Key

narrated by the author

I listened to the April selection of the MMD book club and, unfortunately, found it was not for me. This is a memoir about a marriage in crisis following the author's discovery of his wife's infidelity. It's a sad story that is, at times, surprisingly funny. It's also filled with insight, both personal and spiritual. A chapter written and narrated by Key's wife, Lauren, provides her perspective on the situation and, in my opinion, was key to the memoir's overall success. The marriage ultimately survives and, while the book is well done, it's just not a book I wanted to read. However, I do look forward to the discussion.

You Are Here by David Nicholls

This was both my first novel by David Nicholls and my first 5-star read of the year! It was a read/listen combination which I flew through in just 24 hours... starting the audio during a sleepless night and continuing with the ebook the following day.

It begins as one woman assembles a group of friends for a weekend hike through the English countryside. An odd set of circumstances, compounded by bad weather, leads to an unlikely pairing of two previous strangers and an epic ten-day hike from sea to sea. I really enjoyed getting to know Michael and Marnie, and rooted for their budding relationship. I loved the descriptions of their hike, the scenery, and various stops along the way. I'm already looking forward to my next David Nicholl's novel and dream about planning my own English hiking adventure!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Current reading// 

Kate & Frida by Kim Fay

I won another goodreads giveaway!! This is the second in as many months and this time it was a kindle edition. Kim Fay's  Love & Saffron  was a  2022 favorite, and so far her follow-up is just as good.

In the kitchen//

This was not a week for trying new recipes, but I did make an old favorite, Sheet Pan Shrimp Boil, from Damn Delicious. I probably shared this a few years ago, but Publix had BOGO frozen shrimp last week and this week it's BOGO kielbasa, so making this recipe again was a no-brainer! It's one of my husband's favorites.

The week ahead//

Nothing especially exciting is on the agenda this week. The main event is a routine colonoscopy, which I'm not looking to but has to be done. I hope you have something more pleasant planned!

How was your week? What have you been reading?

The Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

The Sunday Salon: High Season and Highly Recommended Reads

Hello, friends. It's a sunny, breezy weekend in southwest Florida and high season, along with the resulting traffic, is here! We've been adjusting our schedules to avoid the worst of it, but I can certainly understand why everyone wants to be here this time of year. It doesn't get much better!

Recent reading//

Three Apples Fell from the Sky

by Narine Abgaryan, translated by Lisa C. Hayden

Both the author and title of this novel were completely unknown to me, but the selection of my small World Lit book club turned out to be a delight! It's about a small, mountain-top Armenian village and its dwindling, aging population. Set in the mid 20th century, the village had been plagued by a mudslide, war, and famine. Many villagers lost their lives as a result, and most of those who were spared moved away. The remaining inhabitants are now older and stubbornly clinging to their isolated mountain life. 

The novel reads like a fable, at times playful and tongue-in-cheek... a quality the audio narrator was able to emphasize. (This became a read/listen combination for me when I discovered the audio available on hoopla.) I was reminded of characters from Shannon Bowring's Dalton novels, or maybe even Elizabeth Strout's... they were real and relatable.

The title is from an old Armenian saying: 

And three apples fell from heaven:

One for the storyteller,

One for the listener,

And one for the eavesdropper.

I rated this 4 stars on goodreads, but it's probably closer to 4.5.

⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

I'll Come to You by Rebecca Kauffman

You all know I love a good family drama, but I'm also drawn to a unique or creative structure. Rebecca Kauffman's new novel delivers both. It's basically a year-in-the-life story of a young couple, Paul and Corinne, as they prepare for their first child, but it also follows Paul's divorced parents, as well as Corrine's parents and her older brother. The year is 1995 and each month is a chapter. I loved the gradual unfolding of relationships and getting to know and understand the characters.

This is the third novel I've read by Rebecca Kauffman and she is quickly becoming a favorite. Both Chorus  and The Gunners  were 5-star reads for me, and now I plan to read the rest of her backlist.

⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler

I've been reading Anne Tyler for decades and was happy to win a copy of her latest book from goodreads. Sixty-something Gail Baines' daughter is getting married and this novella (under 170 pages) takes place over the three-day wedding weekend. We learn a lot about Gail, as well as her ex-husband Max. Set near Baltimore, this is classic Anne Tyler! It was a 3.5 star read for me, until the ending bumped it up to 4.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Current reading//

How to Stay Married: The Most Insane Love Story Ever Told

by Harrison Scott Key, narrated by the author

This is the April selection of the MMD book club. So far it's just okay...

On the blog//

February Reading Wrap-Up and a List of March Possibilities

Later today and the week ahead//

 I'm hoping to get in an hour or two of reading this afternoon before heading over to a neighborhood happy hour. My sister and brother-in-law are at their place on the east coast this week. They're planning to come over and stay with us for a night or two mid-week. We always have such a good time when they're around!

How was your week? What are you reading today?

The Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

 

February Reading Wrap-Up and a List of March Possibilities

We're approaching mid-March and I know it's late for a February reading wrap-up, but here we are... The month of February seemed to fly! We finished our Hurricane Ian repairs, furnished and decorated the ground level guest suite, and welcomed our first guests to that space since 2022. What a milestone! We loved having our oldest daughter and son-in-law here for two weeks at the beginning of the month. Then we were delighted to host an old friend from our days by the lake in central NY. And finally, just moments before February ended, Twin A and her husband (minus Winnie the Whippet) arrived for a 10-day stay. 

As far as reading goes, it was a pretty slow month. I spent almost all of February on a long nonfiction classic and credit Tina for keeping me on track. On the fiction side, things were definitely lighter and easier reading!

BOOKS READ IN FEBRUARY

Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson - MMD book club selection, fiction, 4 stars

Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain - nonfiction, classic, buddy read, 3.5 stars

How to Read a Book by Monica Wood - reread, fiction, 'UpLit', 4.5 stars

My thoughts on all three titles are here.

MARCH READING POSSIBILITIES

Three Apples Fell From the Sky by Narine Abgaryan (completed)

in translation, for World Lit Book Club

I'll Come to You by Rebecca Kauffman (completed)

fiction, new release 

How to Stay Married by Harrison Scott Key (in progress)

nonfiction, memoir, MMD April selection

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler

fiction, new release

You Are Here by David Nicholls

fiction, from my shelves

... and we'll see what else catches my eye!

What your your favorite February book? What are you looking forward to reading in March?

The Sunday Salon: A Peaceful Week!

Hello friends, happy March! Despite the disturbing dramas playing out on our national stage, things were pretty quiet around here last week. I enjoyed the MMD author talk with Charmaine Wilkerson on zoom, but otherwise tried to keep my schedule light so I could carve out an hour or two of reading time each afternoon... and it worked. I managed to finish three books!

Recent reading//

Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain

This chunky nonfiction classic from 1933 chronicles Vera Brittain's experiences as a young woman during the years surrounding WWI. 

 "Abandoning her studies at Oxford in 1915 to enlist as a nurse in the armed services, Brittain served in London, in Malta, and on the Western Front. By war's end she had lost virtually everyone she loved. Testament of Youth is both a record of what she lived through and an elegy for a vanished generation. "

I read this book with Tina and, to be honest, it was a bit of a slog... primarily due to the language. Brittain was such an intelligent woman, but her words seemed formal, stilted, and dated. Though the book is less than a hundred years old, it often felt older. I sometimes wondered if my time might have been better spent just watching the movie. That being said, I still found her account of the army hospitals in Malta and on the Western Front and her other war experiences fascinating. In general, the war sections were much easier reading and moved faster than the pre and post war years. I expect the film version would focus more on her personal life and losses, so I might not have gotten as much military and medical insight if I'd gone the film route.

My knowledge of WWI is embarrassingly limited. This is the only account from a woman's perspective I've read and I appreciate that it broadened my horizons. Of course from that era rampant misogyny was expected, but what really struck me was the sheer tragedy of it all... an entire generation of altered and lost lives. I'm glad I read this book, but doubt it would appeal to most readers.

⭐⭐⭐💫

Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson

This newly-published novel is Charmaine Wilkerson's follow-up to Black Cake. A short plot description  says, "the daughter of an affluent Black family pieces together the connection between a childhood tragedy and a beloved heirloom." That is true, but there is so much more to it. A dual time line takes us from 1800s southern plantations, pottery sheds, and various seaports to present day life in coastal CT, Massachucsetts, and a tiny village in France. The novel explores the effect childhood trauma on adult life, along with race, freedom, and identity. I was rooting for the main character Ebony (Ebby) Freeman and her family throughout the novel. I appreciated the author's writing and googled to learn more about enslaved potters in South Carolina.

My only reservation was that the short chapters, which I usually love, made the time hops feel a little choppy. As a result I initially had trouble following the various generations and characters in the historical storyline. But overall, I enjoyed my reading experience and ultimately liked this book more than Black Cake. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐

How to Read a Book by Monica Wood

I loved this book when I read it last summer. In July I wrote on goodreads:  Books, Maine, forgiveness and second chances. This feel-good story was a quick read - perfect for a summer weekend!  It was every bit as good the second time around, even though it wasn't a summer weekend. I reread this in preparation for a Modern Mrs. Darcy book club discussion and author chat later this month. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

Current reading//

Three Apples Fell From the Sky by Narine Abgaryan, Lisa C. Hayden translator

I just started this last night, but think I'm going to enjoy it. More next week...

In the kitchen//

I've been on a salmon kick this winter,  preparing it almost weekly. Since my recipe repertoire is limited, I tried another new one last week -  Sheet Pan Crispy Honey Mustard Salmon with Broccoli from Gimme Some Oven. I love sheet pan dinners and this was no exception. My husband wasn't as wild about it... he said with all the "stuff" on top, he could hardly taste the salmon. But for me, that's part of the appeal ;-)

The week ahead//

Our other NYC daughter and son-in-law are here for the week. This time she is working remotely and he is on vacation. We have a few activities planned and a couple of dinner reservations, too. I'm sure there will be plenty of beach walks and maybe a bike ride or two.

How was your week? What have you been reading?

The Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.