Tag: favorite books

Tidy Tidbits: Books & More

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READERS’ FAVORITES

Here are a some of the book recommendations I received from my regular readers.  You will see a few familiar titles here as well as new ones. 

And There Was Light by Jon Meacham (nonfiction about Abraham Lincoln)

Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout

Booth by K. J. Fowler

The Swimmers by J. Otsuka

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Memory Keeper of Kyiv by Erin Litteken (historical novel about Ukraine in the 1930’s)

The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley (YA novel by an Indigenous author about two teens’ clash of cultures)

For other recommended titles see the public comments on the blog site at https://www.jauntingjean.com/reading-favorite-books-of-2022/

A NOVEL FOR OUR TIME

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

Boylan & Picoult (mysteryandsuspense.com)

I’m always leery of novels written by two authors, but I’m a fan of much of Jodi Picoult’s work.  She has a history of tackling contemporary issues, often divisive ones, from abortion to racism to genetics.  Her latest novel is co-written with Jennifer F. Boylan, author of several novels and the memoir, She’s Not There, which I can also highly recommend.  

This is a novel about secrets, what we choose to share with others, and what we keep private.  It’s also a love story, a book about how we define ourselves, and a suspenseful courtroom drama.  Olivia and her son Asher escaped to New Hampshire when Olivia left an abusive marriage.  She takes over her father’s role as a professional beekeeper.  Ava and her teenage daughter Lily move from Seattle and California.  Ava is a forest ranger working in the woods.  Lily becomes a student at the local high school, plays cello in the orchestra, and meets and likes hockey team star Asher.  Without revealing too much, these four lives become intertwined in unexpected ways.  

This is an absorbing, gripping, and sensitively written novel.  As the work of two writers, I found it seamless.  And it’s a book I would gladly place on the shelves of any and every high school library! (~JWFarrington)

WATCHING: NEW SEASONS

Whitstable Pearl, Season 2 (Acorn on Prime)

Pearl & Mike (IMBd)

In Season 2, oyster bar owner and private detective Pearl Nolan becomes more of a private eye, and the cases she helps solve are more tragic than in the first series.  Detective Mike McGuire remains dispirited over the death of his wife, but has a new partner, upbeat Kate.  Pearl appears to have moved on with her own new squeeze, schoolteacher Tom, but there are still intense glances between Pearl and Mike.   Overall, the series is darker than Season 1 and, except for one episode I found somewhat silly, entertaining drama.  

Under the Vines, Season 2 (Acorn on Prime)

Griff, Louis, Daisy, Tippy, & Gus (Libertine Pictures)

Daisy and Louis are still together running their jointly owned New Zealand vineyard in this lighter-hearted series.  As the season opens, Louis’s son and wife are both visiting, creating a crowded house, and upending the fragile developing romance between him and Daisy.  Secondary characters, Griff, Gus, and Tippy, bring gay and Māori perspectives to the series.  It’s funny, but not fluffy, and serious at points without being somber.  New episodes are being released weekly on Mondays. 

Note: Header photo of a school library courtesy of az12.org.

 

A Room of One’s Own

JWF 1 Comment

It is now 2 weeks and a day since the movers and we arrived at our Florida place!  And what a whirlwind! We unpacked and sorted, made 2 trips to Ikea, and delivered ten loads of kitchenware, linens, and books, etc.  to Goodwill continuing our downsizing from a 4-story home to a spacious 2-level townhouse.  And we thought we’d given a lot of books away on the west coast—and we had, hundreds of them.

Now I’ve had the pleasure of arranging our remaining books, quite a few, on the shelves.  Deciding which books should be downstairs on the den shelves, which on the common shelves in the 2nd floor loft area and which ones in my, note that, my, study. I found old favorites like Cold Sassy Tree,  thought-provoking and insightful books like Mary Catherine Bateson’s Composing a Life, and the perturbing but elegant memoir, An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison.  As well as many books I have not yet read.  Some of these get prime, front and center space on the shelves, to remind me of their presence and to nudge me to make the time to read them.

Almost as long as I can remember, I’ve had a desk of my own, from the time I was about seven or so, with drawers in which to secret away pens and papers and stuff.  In our various houses, I’ve generally had some sort of space for my desk and a few shelves for favored books.  On Thayer Road, that desk was in a room my spouse and I shared and each of us had a desk facing the window separated by a file cabinet.  In the Bethlehem house, he had a generously-sized study and I had the servant’s cubbyhole. It was connected to a bedroom, but had room enough for a desk, file cabinet and chair, with some lovely old-fashioned built-in cabinets and blessedly, a door.  Cozy, but functional.  In San Francisco, the top floor was wide open space and I claimed the smaller end of this room for its windows and its peephole view of the bay.  My spouse had more space (he has more things), but less of a view.  I think I won out on this one!

Here in Florida, I have a room that was a bedroom, now my study, all to myself.  I have my working desk and computer, a desk chair, a tripartite bookcase seven shelves high on one wall, two file cabinets, and a very simple table-like desk with just a center drawer.  This simple desk is where I write personal notes or work on my laptop.  There is a window and a door and the whole thing is just heavenly!  I truly have “a room of my own.”  My husband says I can close the door and write a novel.  I probably won’t do exactly that, but I will revel in the space, the quiet, and possibly be inspired to do more than just write this blog!