Not long ago I read a book by Sy Montgomery about another farm animal that is not especially appealing to me. That one was about a lovable pig; this one works to convince people of the appeal and intelligence of chickens. I can’t say that either of them moved me to think I might be fond of either of these animals. Though I am persuaded that other species in the animal kingdom have much...
I do love a book that takes me into a new world. This memoir by an indie-rock musician whose mother was Korean, her father American did take me to a new place. Her focus is her time growing up in Eugene, Oregon as a difficult child, a more difficult teenager, and then her mother’s cancer diagnosis and death when she was 25 years-old. After reading comments on Goodreads, I wondered if her...
In 2009 on a break from looking at online real estate listings for houses in his price range, Bill Dedman was distracted by the most expensive house for sale in New Canaan, Connecticut for $24 million dollars. The house had been unoccupied since this owner bought it in 1951. He first learned the name of the owner, Huguette Clark, then everything else he could learn about this reclusive woman...
This 24-hour-long audiobook was ideal for me at this time. And while Robert Massie’s 624-page treatment of Catherine the Great could have been overwhelmed by dull facts or obscure political struggles, it was consistently engaging. I was happy to have this to listen to as I worked on jigsaw puzzles. Catherine the Great lived from 1729 to 1796 and reigned as empress from 1762 until her death...
This is my second book by Claire Messud and it is chock full of bits I want to remember. Essentially it is a fictionalized multi-generational family history, made more interesting by the world events that moved family members around the globe. First we have Gaston and his wife Lucienne, French people who lived in Algeria (pieds-noirs) who were displaced in 1940 by the war, Gaston to Salonica...
I will begin by saying that I prepared for the “worst case scenario” for my medical procedure on January 27 to remove cancer cells from my face by arranging for plenty of food and help, as well as an audiobook and print book that I had underway. It turned out that I was not able to read or listen to an audiobook for about a week. I am happy to be better at last and have finished the...
This book was a good audiobook for a frigid winter week as it takes place during the beach week of a family with grown kids who all love good food. Our narrator is Rocky, the mother, who by her account is always mad and not always sure why, and whose default is to worry about what bad thing might happen. And oh yes, she’s experiencing menopause and has some pretty detailed descriptions of...
It was the enthusiasm of Reading Matters that moved me to put this Booker Prize winning novel by a British author on my Books to Read list in 2023. In the past I have enjoyed seeing videos of Chris Hadfield brushing his teeth in the space station, and that was the extent of my knowledge. This novel does an amazing job of putting you in the minds of those who do this work by following the six...
The author says she has always connected more readily with non-human creatures than with her fellow humans. In fact she credits her pet pig Christopher Hogwood, named for the British conductor, with her increased ability to enjoy other people. She and her husband Howard adopted Chris when he was a runty little fellow on a nearby farm in New Hampshire. He thrived in their care, was able to escape...
This is my eighth Elizabeth Strout book and is distinguished by having so many of the familiar characters show up again. Her first main character, the cranky Olive Kitteridge, is now 90 and living in a retirement home. She is visited by Lucy Barton and the two tell each other stories and sometimes Olive complains that Lucy’s stories are pointless. Lucy, the novelist, tells stories and...