Balance! And the need to have others around us who help us create that balance! I loved this story and the way these two friends learned to use each oBalance! And the need to have others around us who help us create that balance! I loved this story and the way these two friends learned to use each other's assets and aid each other in overcoming weaknesses so that both were stronger because of the friendship. I may need to add this one to my magical spinning bookshelf!...more
This is a book filled with peace and affirmation and hope and those are certainly what is needed in the world today, especially for our children! I amThis is a book filled with peace and affirmation and hope and those are certainly what is needed in the world today, especially for our children! I am glad a friend turned me on to this book and this author....more
This was a cute treatment of the three little pigs fairy tale to offer a way to manage stress and anxiety for children. I especially appreciated the pThis was a cute treatment of the three little pigs fairy tale to offer a way to manage stress and anxiety for children. I especially appreciated the page at the back that outlined specifically how to do the different breathing techniques mentioned in the story. I did laugh at the one response that the librarian told me about when I picked this up at the library. When they read this one to the children for story time they asked them if they thought the wolf in this story was happier than the wolf in the original fairy tale. One little boy chimed right in and stated unequivocally that the wolf in the original fairy tale was happier because he had a full belly. Out of the mouths of babes......more
There is no way for me to express how much I love this book and the idea it plants for the younger generation of the importance of thank you notes andThere is no way for me to express how much I love this book and the idea it plants for the younger generation of the importance of thank you notes and letter writing. I will be purchasing this one for my own library and reading it to any young person who will listen!...more
I find it supremely unfair that on this, World Book Day 2025, I have had to put aside two books that were just painful to read. This is the second sucI find it supremely unfair that on this, World Book Day 2025, I have had to put aside two books that were just painful to read. This is the second such book. I tried but the writing is just not worth it and the characters have no redeeming qualities. So, this one is a do not finish for me....more
This novel was such a mixed bag for me. I rounded up my 2.5-star review because there were a few passages that struck me and I get worked up over the This novel was such a mixed bag for me. I rounded up my 2.5-star review because there were a few passages that struck me and I get worked up over the banning of books. However, I have little patience for creating nuanced characters who believe as the author obviously believes and then creating one-dimensional Neandrathals for all of the characters who believe otherwise. It is a good thing that the author was raised in the South, if not, I would be writing a far more scathing review. But, she has earned the right, I suppose, to ridicule the South to some extent. I have seen it posted a few places that this is a satire and the author may state that to be the case but this is not good satire. I do not believe that there are authors brave enough to create real satire these days. (Can I mention again how much I miss Sir Terry Pratchett?) If you are triggered by language or crudity then you should be aware that this one has quite a bit of both. you "Y'all want to know how to tell if you've been a good parent?" Moxie asked the crowd. "It's real easy. If you have a family that loves each other and children who want to spend time with you, then you've been a good parent."
"According to the book she kept under her pillow, the ancient god of Justice had been female. The Egyptians called her Matt. The Romans, Justitia. In Greece, she was know as Themis. And when Themas was not obeyed, Nemesis, the goddess of retribution, would show up to kick butt and take names."
"The South's greatest gift to the world is its culture. Half the music people listen to these days has its origins here. Hell, the South gave the world barbecue."
"The first of Bernice Hutton's two regrets in life was that she'd ever given a good goddamn what anyone thought. Now that she was old - very old - and she could see just how little their opinions really meant. Sometimes she imagined herself standing on top of Troy's big gaudy courthouse, looking down at the townsfolk scrambling around trying to outdo one another. All of them thinking the differences between them were important. When they reached her age, and gained the perspective it offered, they'd come to know what she'd found out. The only thing that matters is who you've loved. Once they knew that simple truth, they'd wish to God, just like she did, that they'd figured it out while their life was ahead of them."
"When you're very old, people want to know - what's the secret to a good, long life? Bernice would tell them: live and let live. Be true to yourself and let others do the same. It was good advice, but people never seemed to listen, which Bernice found depressing. That lesson hadn't come easily, and she wanted to spare them the suffering she'd endured. But that's not how humans work, she'd realized. We all have to find out the hard way for ourselves."
"Their understanding of the land was key to their survival, and that knowledge was something her grandmother was determined to pass down. The old woman knew everything that lived or grew on the Cherokee reservation. It was not unusual for people to show up at her door with a basket of wild mushrooms, asking for help sorting out the deadly ones. Others would arrive hoping for help with an ailment. Mara's grandmother didn't take patients, but if she liked you, she might make you something that would lower your blood pressure or soothe your sore throat. Mara was far more interested in trawling the creeks for crawdads and hellbenders than in studying toadstools or foul-smelling herbs, but her grandmother insisted she learn. "This wisdom is who we are. For hundreds of years, they tried to steal it or outlaw it. But we never let it go. It has fed us and healed us. We are the only ones who possess the knowledge, and we must pass it down. If we lose it for good, a part of ourselves will disappear, too." And so Mara studied what her grandmother wanted to teach her. The first thing she learned was that few things in the world are wicked. The very same herbs that might poison one person could save another. The trick was knowing what was right for each individual."
"The hatred hung in the air like a virus. Occasionally, you'd get a blast of it from the news playing on the television set of some sweet old lady. Half the country was hooked on opioids or meth, but the big story was always crime 150 miles away in Atlanta and the perpetrators were always Black. Twice a day, Delvin walked past the monument in front of the courthouse that didn't honor the three generations of his family who'd fought for America - but instead commemorated a Confederate general who'd done his damnedest to destroy it."...more
I loved these stories! Yes, I do appreciate the Harley Quin and Poirot ones as extensions of characters that I adore but all the stories grabbed me. II loved these stories! Yes, I do appreciate the Harley Quin and Poirot ones as extensions of characters that I adore but all the stories grabbed me. In fact, one of the stories might be my favourite romance tale ever written (it helps that it involves the British Museum). I cannot recommend this bunch of stories highly enough. Some tastes below...
"The faint grey light of the early morning was stealing into the room. The stillness was extraordinary. At 4:30 A.M. London, weary London, found her brief instant of peace."
"Only the gods really know the word 'ingratitude'. It is to be presumed that the lonely little god knew the black ingratitude of human nature. As a divinity he had unique opportunities of observing it, yet in the hour of trial, he who had had sacrifices innumerable offered to him, made sacrifice in his turn. He sacrificed his only two worshippers in a strange land, and it showed him to be a great little god in his way, since he sacrificed all that he had."
"Miss Lemon adjusted her mind to the strain put upon it. She was not given to mental speculation of any kind unless asked for it. In such leisure moments as she had, her mind was filled with the details of a superlatively perfect filing system. It was her only mental recreation."
"We've got a very nice churchyard here. Nobody's ruined our church yet by restoring it."...more
I am walking away. The characters are one-dimensional and ridiculous and I love Shakespeare's work too much to continue. So, as a birthday gift to mysI am walking away. The characters are one-dimensional and ridiculous and I love Shakespeare's work too much to continue. So, as a birthday gift to myself, on this, The Bard's birthday, I am giving up and taking this one back to the library. It was the Folger Shakespeare Library's book group read for the month and I was not able to attend the discussion but I am guessing that a decent number of them may have also struggled with this one....more
I liked the first one of this series better, but this one was still a nice read. I appreciated that reminder that everyone is somehow connected. I alsI liked the first one of this series better, but this one was still a nice read. I appreciated that reminder that everyone is somehow connected. I also needed the reminder that everyone doesn't know what we know and we need to be patient and willing to teach and work with others in kindness. Ada is a wonderful character and I enjoyed spending time with her over these two novels. But, once again, I need to step away from war books for a bit.
"You must have been terrified," the headmaster said. "I was," I said. "It didn't matter." Fear and what you did with it were two separate things.
"You can know things all you like, and someday you might believe them."...more
This is an interesting backstory for that one verse where we encounter the name Simon of Cyrene in the Bible, a verse that has become one of the StatiThis is an interesting backstory for that one verse where we encounter the name Simon of Cyrene in the Bible, a verse that has become one of the Stations of the Cross. This should have been a quick read but it belabored some of the points and, at the same time, skipped large passages of this man's life and that did not sit well with me. It felt like an incomplete and therefore inauthentic journey. But I understand this was not meant to be a drawn-out story. It offered me some intriguing food for thought and I appreciated this about the book but the characters themselves did not draw me in as I had hoped they would.
"When you asked to be kept safe and you were hurt but survived," Simon proceeded, "do you think it was because you did not ask as well as another time? Why would God answer you differently when your request was always the same?" The captain shook his head. "I suppose I always could do better, but I don't think that's it. I think he answered me in the way I needed to be answered at the time. When I was not harmed, I was grateful. When I was harmed, I found I learned something that helped me be safer after that. Experience has taught me that I should be patient, should wait upon the Lord and see what he has in store for me."
"When you ask your son to do something couldn't you have done the work in half the time yourself? And were he to give up and not finish, would the sun not have risen the next morning?" "Yes, I could have. And I am sure the sun would have been fine. But he needed to learn to work hard, to be responsible, to follow through." "And has he learned those things?" "Remarkably so. He does everything with such commitment. If you need to count on someone, he is the best you will ever meet." The captain waited a moment to let the thought settle in - for both of them. "So I suppose your son needed to wait, to suffer a little - at least in his mind - to be patient as you taught him, so that he might gain the greater gift of responsibility. You knew that. And you let him wait until he learned for himself." Simon shook his head and smiled. "I first heard that phrase 'Wait upon the Lord' many years ago, but this is the first time it has made sense to me."
"Of course you are right, it has made sense. But today it made more sense. That's how this has gone. You hear a truth and it leaves you speechless. You feel it may be the most important thing you have ever learned. Then you learn another, and you realize the first idea was merely a foundation upon which the next should be placed. And so it goes."
"If I took my son Samuel and put him up on a wall, and put out my arms, asking him to jump to me, but instead he climbed down carefully, he would be acting responsibly, but he would not be trusting me that there was a better way. He found one answer, but there was a better answer, and until he trusted me, he would not be able to find it. I think God has been trying for a long time to teach me to trust him. But he has not given up on me, stubborn as I am. I am in awe of how much I think he loves me. I need to do my best to know if I can completely love and follow him. To trust him. To give up everything if he asks me to."...more
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