What I READ in 2023

 I am linking up with Modern Mrs Darcy's Quick Lit. Check out what everyone else is reading. 

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

This is a reread for me. (Previous Review) Sharon Says So book club is reading this. Can't wait for the author meet. I actually liked it better when I discussed it.  I reminded that food is love and memory.

What I Read 2023 - book total = 17 books

Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand

The Revolutionary Samuel Adams by Stacy Schiff

Know My Name by Chanel Miller

The Guardians by John Grisham

The Last Russian Doll

Living the Quaker Way

The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt 

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Educated by Tara Westover

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See

Life in a Jar

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

Things I Wish I Told My Mother by Susan Patterson

Hidden Potential by Adam Grant

Dough by Mort Zachter

The Books I had the Most Ongoing Discussions About

The Revolutionary Samuel Adams

Hidden Potential - I had both my Husband and Mother-in-Law read this.  This is really thought provoking.

The Righteous Mind

The Hardest Book I Read

The Revolutionary Samuel Adams - I am glad I had book club for this book. It was challenging but worth it. It opened my eyes to politics back in the day and how they weren't all that different today.  Samuel Adams was amazing and somewhat erased from history. 

Best Fiction Book I Read

Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See - it was a wonderful story, and I loved the historical context.

What I Read November

 I am linking up with Modern Mrs Darcy's Quick Lit.  Check out what everyone else is reading.

Reading has been on the lighter side recently. 

Hidden Potential by Adam Grant

This was a book club selection. It was the book I didn't know I needed.  Adam is an organizational psychologist.  I love the stories he included about people who discovered their hidden potential especially later in life and how they unlocked it. My husband was on a work trip, and I made him download the audio book. I could of highlighted this entire book. This book I highly recommend.

Things I Wish I told My Mother

The ending of this book made me cry. I thought this was an enjoyable read about a mother and daughter who take a trip to Paris and Norway.  It has a little twist I didn't see coming.  

What I read October

 I am linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy's Quick Lit.  Check out what everyone else is reading.

My month has been dominated by the book below.

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Gann

This is a narrative nonfiction book about the Osage Indian Tribe and the Reign of Terror and the birth of the FBI. During the Reign of Terror, 24 Osage were murdered by various means for their Headrights.  The Osage owned the mineral rights for property rich in oil. There was a giant conspiracy by non-Indians to kill them for their headrights. 

I learned a great deal about this event which I wasn't aware of.  David Gann does an excellent job of telling this story with accuracy.  I read this for a book club I belong to. This is definitely a book that needs to be discussed. 

Of course, there is movie that is coming out on the 20th of October. It is 3 1/2 hours long .

If you are interested in what is happening now with headrights as the Osage wish to get those back that aren't owned by natives. Check out the podcast below and also the Pioneer Woman Connection

In Trust

Pioneer Woman and the Osage Lands

I was lucky last night to attend an author talk with David Grann.  He is amazing and I understand why he picked this story to share.  

What I Read September

 I am linking up with Modern Mrs Darcy's Quick Lit. Check out what everyone is reading this month.

Oh the reading has been eclectic! 

Life in the Jar by Jack Mayer

This is about the true story of 3 high school students that researched Irene Sendler and developed a play on her life for a National History Day Project.  Irene Sendler rescues countless Jewish children for the Ghetto in Poland during WWII.  

She was a social worker and allowed into the Jewish ghetto. This is an amazing story about her life. 

Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See

This was a quick interesting read for me.  Lisa See is a great storyteller and I found this story about a Female Chinese doctor so interesting. Lady Tan was a real doctor and wrote a book. This story is loosely based on her life. This is very well researched. I think this would make an excellent book club read with a tea tasting. Lisa See's Website

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See 

This was a quick read, but this book has a sequel, Dreams of Joy, which I haven't read. It is about 2 sisters, Pearl and May, who live in Shanghai and were models but then were put in an arranged marriage and make their way to America. This is happening during the backdrop of WWII. I had never heard of the term Paper Son or Paper Daughter.  This is an interesting look into immigration at the time.

What I Read August

 I am linking up with Modern Mrs Darcy's Quick Lit. Check out what everyone else is reading. I took July off not from reading but from posting any book reviews.  

Educated by Tara Westover

I read this again for a book club selection. I am looking forward to the author talk. This is Tara's memoir about growing up in Idaho in a very dysfunctional Mormon fundie household where she wasn't educated and essentially abused and neglected by her parents. She goes on to become incredibly educated. This memoir exposes or shares very difficult topics about her family which is now quite famous now.  I loved discussing this with book club. When I read it for book club, I read it quite differently. I think I got more out of it.  Since I read Educated the first time, Tara's mother has written a book that basically disputes what Tara wrote. I haven't read it. 

Recent news article about Westover family

Previous Blog Post

June Booking It

 I am linking up with Modern Mrs Darcy's Quick Lit.  Check out what everyone else is reading.

My reading has slowed to a snail's pace.  I read one book. It is my book club book.

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

This is a tale of two half-sister's born in different villages in Ghana and the different fates of their families. Some of the setting is Ghana and some of the setting is the United States.  Yaa Gyasi is a master storyteller.  I am looking forward to meeting the author. I found this a quick read. I read it like a pleasure book the first half and then attending my first book club meeting on it and found I wanted to read it more closely.  This is a great read however you approach it.

What I read May

I am linking up with Modern Mrs Darcy's Quick Lit. I am late to this party but thought I would post anyways.

Ah, my reading has picked up a little. I have been on a bit of the struggle bus with my book club book. 

The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt

I would have never in a million years picked this book to read. This book was part of Sharon Says So book club.  I learned a bit about moral psychology. This is the kind of book that sticks with you. I am glad I kept reading. There are a lot of takeaways but the one that I got if how we feel comes first and then we find facts to support our feelings. Secondly there needs to be trust and truth to have a democracy. Our book club also got to have a author talk, and I thought Jonathan Haidt had a lot of good stuff to share especially about the current political climate.  I like the pledge he wants people to take.

I will take less offense.

I will give less offense. 

I will pass along less offense.

I

Living the Quaker Way by Phillip Gulley

I picked this book up because I am doing some ancestry research, and this is the only hard copy book that my library had on Quakers.  I thought it was an easy read but mostly about modern day Quaker theology. It does a decent job of discussing the tenants of Quakerism. 

Dough by Mort Zachter

I picked this up from my library. I thought it was well written and a very interesting story.

Mort Zachter's childhood revolved around a small, struggling shop on Manhattan's Lower East Side that sold bread and pastries. His was a classic story—a close-knit, hard-working family struggling to make it in America.

Only they were rich. Very rich.

At age thirty-six, after struggling to work his way though night school, Zachter discovered that his bachelor uncles, who ran the shop, had amassed millions of dollars in stocks and bonds. As he starts to clean out their apartment, Zachter discovers clues to their hidden lives that raise more questions than they answer. And in the end, he comes to realize that although he may not understand his family—and maybe never will—forgiveness and acceptance are what matter most. - Amazon

What I read April

 I am linking up with Modern Mrs Darcy's Quick Lit.  Check out what everyone else is reading. It was a slow reading month for me. I am working on a fairly hard book club book but I am not ready to share yet. However, I did read one book all the way through.

The Last Russian Doll by Kristen Loesch

I am a bit conflicted about this read. It was a quick read but at the beginning a bit confusing. The dolls are really creepy. She really describes these in detail so if dolls creep you out maybe not the book for you. I personally think the author could of have streamlined this story. There is a bit much going on - the fairy tales, the dolls, the characters in the past and present, the mystery, the revolution. However it was a quick read.

What I Read March

 I am joining with Modern Mrs Darcy's Quick Lit.  Check out what everyone else is reading.

The Guardians by John Grisham

I picked this up at the local library book sale.  This book features a lawyer/minister that works for a justice project trying to free his innocent client. This is typical John Grisham, but I do have to say there is one scene in the book in a old house attic that really creeped me out. I think I watch too many ghost shows. I thought this was a good book. 

Know My Name by Chanel Miller

This is my book club book. In so many ways this is an all too familiar heartbreaking tale of sexual assault. I got so much out of the discussion of the book. This is one book that needs to be discussed.  Something that was brought up in the discussion that 1 in 4 women are assaulted. So, chances are you know a woman who has been assaulted but also some who has assaulted a woman. I applaud Chanel for writing this book for the courage to speak out for victims everywhere.

TBR list in screenshot form

 TBR is book people language for "To Be Read" I noticed since the first of the year.  I have been taking screenshots of books I would like to read.  Does anyone else do this.  I actually made a folder in my pictures for this purpose. So below is my screenshot TBR list. I haven't read any of these books yet.

Screenshot TBR

How to Human by Carlos Whittaker recommended by Sharon Says So.  Podcast episode with Carlos Whittaker

Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee recommended by Ali Edwards

Uprooted by Grace Olmstead recommended by Jill Winger

Nature's Best Hope by Douglas Tallamy recommended by Kate from my Littlekatecod

All the Beauty in the World by Patrick Bringley recommended by Gretchen Rubin

Things We Hide from the Light by Lucy Score (2nd Book in Series) Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score (1st Book in Series)  recommended by Victoria The Pallet People ** looks like these are free on Kindle Unlimited

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle recommended by Victoria The Pallet People

The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker recommended by Ann Bogel

Lost & Found by Zoe Field recommended by Erin at Floret Flower. Erin's interview with Zoe This looks like a stunning beautiful book

American Jezebel recommended by my friend Sandy who is a member of DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) Here is some information about their bookclub

The Power of Moments by Chip Heath and Dan Heath recommended by EliseJoy

Walkable City by Jeff Speck recommended by Ann Bogel 

What I read February

I am linking up with Modern Mrs Darcy's Quick Lit.  Check out what everyone else is reading.

 

The Revolutionary Samuel Adams by Stacy Schiff

Listen, my children, and you shall hear

Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, 

On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five: 

Hardly a man is now alive

who remember that famous day and year.

The book opens with the ride of Paul Revere. A lot of us are familiar with the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem.  But do we know who specifically Paul Revere is riding to warn the British are coming? I probably wouldn't have picked up this title on my own. It was a book club read and it is challenging. I think this is the slowest I have read a book in a while. That being said, it is a worthwhile read. Samuel Adams is very interesting and not to be confused with his younger cousin John Adams. Samuel Adams is described as, "all the smoke, flame, and lava."  This was also said about Samuel Adam, " if there was a subversive act, he was somewhere near or behind it." I think the vast contributions that Samuel Adams made are somewhat lost to history. Maybe that is what he intended. This made me think differently about the Revolutionary War.  We have such a sanitized version we are taught. 

Who Do You Think You Are? by Megan Smolenyak

I am reading this as part of my genealogy education. This book was published in 2010 so there are many more digital resources now, but the information is a good foundation for a family history buff.  I would like to get a thrifted copy to have as a reference.  Megan makes family history accessible to all. It also made me watch a lot of Who Do You Think You Are? on tv. 

What I Read January

Hello, Booking It 2023.  I am linking up with Modern Mrs Darcy.  Check out what everyone else is reading.

 Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Technically finished this at the end of December. This true tale is haunting in so many ways. Olympic Runner Louis Zamperini turned soldier. He is a soldier who is shot down during WW2.  Survives on a lifeboat for 46 days only to be captured by Japanese.  He is imprisoned by the Japanese.  Then finally liberated by United States. Louis struggles at home but is saved by Billy Graham.  This is an incredible true tale and reads like fiction. You can't help but like the spirit of Louis Zamperini and be horrified by the treatment that Japanese POWs suffered at the hands of their captors.