BANNED BOOKS: Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Earlier this year, a small group of friends and I decided we wanted to read some banned books. I suggested the most banned books across the United States: Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult.

According to Pen America, this novel is one of 19 that has been banned in 50 or more school districts with the following four books being the next most frequently banned:

• Looking for Alaska by John Green
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
• Sold by Patricia McCormick
• Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Nineteen Minutes, in fact, was banned 98 times in the 2023-2024 school year. Looking for Alaska was banned 97 times. More than 80% of all book bans (not just the titles I've noted) appear to come from Iowa and Florida. Texas and Utah also came up regularly in the articles I read for this post.

In the case of Picoult's book, nearly every ban is focused on a single page and a single depiction of date rape. They are not at all focused on the fact that the book is about a school shooting in which ten students die and many more are injured. Nor are they focused on the fact that the entire novel centers on a student having been brutally bullied his entire life.

Think about that. ONE PAGE depicting a teenage girl being date raped is the reason for objections to this very long novel. The edition of the novel I read was published in 2013 and is 656 pages long.

ONE PAGE is the focus of nearly every ban of this book. 

A violent video game and description of human characters in the game being slaughtered in a school shooting was not the cause of objection.

A student being mercilessly bullied--even having his pants and underwear pulled down in a school cafeteria and numerous students seeing his penis, which Picoult describes--was not the subject of the objections.

Cold and calculated planning of a school shooting by one student was not the reason for objections.

Blood, injuries, and death of multiple students did not merit all of these objections.

A heavily implied suicide by one character and an explicitly stated plan by another character was not the subject of all of these objections.

Instead, it comes down to one page depicting a date rape that is not nearly as graphically described as the penis of the boy who is subjected to bullying. 

As with pretty much all book bans, I have to wonder how many of those proposing or supporting such bans have actually read the material to which they object. 

I want to encourage you to pick up and read Nineteen Minutes or one of the numerous other books regularly facing bans. 

Picoult's book was long, but it was engaging and I saw myself, at various points, in many of the characters--the parents, the popular girl who felt like an imposter, the teachers trying do right by their students, the boy who was bullied until he couldn't take it anymore. I found myself identifying in some way with most of the characters except for the group of bullies. 

There were parts of the novel that were hard to read due to how emotionally raw and painful they felt, but this was an extremely well written and thorough depiction of modern high school and modern teenage life. It carefully wove together the complicated relationships of students, parens, and community members amid a tragedy, the events leading up to it, and the aftermath. It also laid bare some of the most difficult aspects of being a parent and how parents never truly know their children's deepest thoughts and feelings--even if we experienced similar situations in our own youthful years. 

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult is a moving, but dark novel with a compelling story to tell. I hope you will read it and report back with your thoughts afterwards. 

You can purchase a copy of the book through Bookshop.org HERE.

Sources Linked:

• https://pen.org/press-release/nearly-200-percent-surge-in-school-book-bans-during-2023-2024-school-year/
• https://pen.org/banned-books-list-2024/
• https://apnews.com/article/jodi-picoult-nineteen-minutes-book-bans-c22ff8f0f5c8baddfaa0c8ff5268436e

BOOK REVIEW: We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman

(Links are affiliate in nature. I may receive a small commission or payment at no extra cost to you if you make a purchase through these links. Thank you in advance!)

Years ago, my mom was in a reading rut and asked me for some book suggestions -- like me, she was a voracious reader. It was rare for my mom to find herself in a lull with reading, so I happily supplied a list of 10 books or so and she started in on it. 

After the first three books on the list, my mom came to me and said that she appreciated the list, but she'd no longer be reading from it and would not take reading suggestions from me again.

Her reason? Most of what I like to read is "depressing and sad", according to my mom. That has not changed over the years. 

Case in point: We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman.

This novel is devastating but beautiful.

We All Want Impossible Things is about love, loss, and grief, as well as motherhood and friendship. It really highlights that we are all human and reminded me a lot of something one of my high school English teachers said (she was quoting the author, Wally Lamb, I believe): "The best fiction is often more true than real life." This book was so true to my experience of grief and loss that it definitely felt more true than real life! I've had a lot of heart break over the last few years, and this novel helped to mend some of it.

This book made me cry a lot, but despite being so sad, it also made me laugh quite a bit!

We All Want Impossible Things is about a woman whose best friend is in hospice and how she navigates that alongside being a single mom to a teen daughter and a college aged daughter, while still being in love with (and also not in love with at the same time) her ex-husband, and while trying to figure out her own life.

If you enjoy the work of Anne Lamott, particularly the novel Rosie, you'll like this one. It's equal parts sad and funny. My mom would still would have found it depressing.

I found We All Want Impossible Things to be deeply satisfying. It is filled with all the ups and downs of relationships in many areas of our lives, includes good food, cozy living rooms, sex without being gratuitous, awe and wonder at the world around us, and so much more. I will definitely read this one again!

Buy it on Bookshop.org HERE.

Buy it on Amazon HERE.

BOOK REVIEW: No Land to Light on by Yara Zgheib

Links are affiliate in nature and may result in a small commission for me if you purchase through them. Thank you in advance!

No Land to Light on by Yara Zgheib is by far one of the best books I've read in a very long time (in addition to Good Neighbors by Sarah Langan).

This book combines so many emotions: hope, sadness, worry, outrage, love, tenderness, and more!

No Land to Light On features shifting points of view between the two main characters with news editorials sprinkled throughout. The book is the story of a Syrian refugee who has become a legal US resident who falls in love with a Syrian woman who immigrated to the United States in order to attend college at Harvard. They marry and eventually find that she is pregnant. 

The young couple endures the ups and downs of navigating growing love and the prospect of becoming parents while also working through different experiences and different levels of comfort within the United States -- she is far more comfortable and wholeheartedly embraces her new status as an American. he clings to his Syrian roots while feeling the pull of a new way of life. 

Sama left behind bitterness and ran towards opportunity. Hadi left behind parents, friendships, and a love of the land and his father's orchards. He also left fear and violence as he moved towards the promise of freedom and a chance to start over in America, but clouded with fear of the unknown.

Upon the death of his father, Hadi returns to his homeland for the funeral. Little do they know that his attempted return to his legal home in the United States will coincide with a travel ban that includes Syrians -- even if they are legal residents of the United States. 

As Sama awaits his return at the arrivals section of the airport, amid the chaos of protestors, she goes into premature labor and starts her own harrowing journey. 

No Land to Light On by Yara Zgheib, published by Simon & Schuster, is beautifully written, despite the sometimes difficult topics. 

Up next, expect a review of the classic book Animal Farm by George Orwell.

Purchase No Land to Light On by Yara Zgheib:

• At Amazon HERE
• At Bookshop HERE

January and February 2023 Reading Roundup

So far, in January and February of 2023, I've read far more than in the same time period the prior few years! 

In part, I've been making a conscious choice to sit down with a book instead of mindlessly scrolling or watching TV. I've also just been far less stressed than in the last few years, so it's been more natural to pick up a book without having to make a conscious effort. 

Links within the body of this post are affiliate links for Bookshop.org. Links at the end of the post are from Amazon.com. Either way, these may result in a small commission for me if you make purchases through these links. Thank you in advance!

In January, I finished:

• The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (American fiction)
• Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (non-fiction; memoir; autobiography; poetry)

In February, I finished:

• Cold by Mariko Tamaki (young adult fiction; murder mystery)
• The Last Chance Library by Freya Sampson (Contemporary British fiction; chick lit; Rom-Com; lighthearted and sweet)
• Good Neighbors by Sarah Langan (Contemporary American fiction; psychological thriller; family and friend relationships; near future climate crisis)

As of this writing -- the second to last day of February -- I am currently working my way through:

• No Land to Light On by Yara Zgheib (Contemporary fiction; dramatic and tense but EXCELLENT)
• The 100 Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson (Contemporary Swedish fiction; humorous)
• Animal Farm by George Orwell (Fiction; satire)

I have several other books in progress from months past, but these three are at the top of my list.

So far, the best book I've read in 2023 is Good Neighbors by Sarah Langan. Whoa! This book is tense, but I could not put it down! The book takes place in the near future amid a growing climate crisis that is making life nearly unbearable in what is an otherwise very typical suburban United States neighborhood. As the story unfolds, we see relationships  shift between a group of neighbors and their children. The kids are growing up and shifting allegiances. The parents are mostly trying to hold their lives and families together with varying degrees of success. Ultimately, everything unravels when one of the kids disappears into a sink hole. Cracks in all of the relationships -- family units, friends, and so on -- begin to form and unthinkable acts of violence occur under the cover of darkness. Although this was a devastating story, it was also exceptionally written and I highly recommend it.

What has been your best read so far in 2023?

BOOK REVIEW: That Kind of Mother by Rumaan Alam

I have rarely read a book that more completely and accurately captures the sometimes monotonous feelings of motherhood while also capturing the fierce protectiveness of motherhood, the tension between one's responsibility to their family versus to their career, and so on. That Kind of Mother by Rumaan Alam captured it all for me. Additionally, the book is set in the 1980s and 90s -- basically my childhood through my early 20s.

I loved That Kind of Mother, but I'm glad I didn't read it when my son was young and I was in the thick of new motherhood -- I think it might have been too real, too accurate. Alam doesn't portray motherhood as overly negative or messy or anything bad, but he does present us with a mother who, while loving her children fiercely, is also a bit stuck. She fixates on Princess Diana and returns to thoughts of Diana throughout the novel when she feels unable to move on in life or when life is just dragging on and on without anything really interesting happening to her. She channels Diana when she feels the need to be strong or elegant, but relates to Diana when she feels trapped in her own life. Yet, our protagonist, Rebecca, also manages to eventually reach for and achieve her goals in life.

Rebecca is not the most likable of characters. At times she is selfish, ignorant, sheltered. She has no idea what life is like for many of those who are on the periphery of her own life. But, she also allows herself to be confronted with her own flaws and she attempts to learn from such confrontations -- not always fully successfully and not always without stepping into a bigger mess first.

I actually found that I liked Rebecca more because of her un-likableness -- she felt more real and well rounded because of her flaws.

Rebecca struggles to breastfeed after her son's birth, but is met in the hospital by Priscilla, a lactation consultant who gently helps -- if I'd had a Priscilla in my life, I'm sure my own breastfeeding experience would have been much different (it was awful). After returning home post-delivery, Rebecca still finds herself struggling and returns to the hospital in order to seek out Priscilla and help. 

Rebecca feels both overwhelming love and protectiveness for her son, as well as irritation and frustration. But, as parents, don't we all feel both at times? Priscilla helps Rebecca navigate through her complex feelings while also encouraging and supporting Rebecca in her career pursuits as a writer after Rebecca hires Priscilla as a nanny. Ultimately, they form a very tight relationship, but not necessarily with the support of Rebecca's husband. 

All seems to be going well when Priscilla becomes pregnant herself and unexpectedly passes away. Rebecca, by now familiar with Priscilla's adult daughter, ends up taking in Priscilla's newborn son. 

But, I didn't mention...

Rebecca, her husband, and their child are white. Priscilla and her son are Black.

Rebecca loves this little boy and new addition to her family just as much as the son she gave birth to. She dotes on them both and supports both, but as the two boys grow and get older, society begins to treat them differently. Society treats her differently -- the white mother of a Black boy? 

Ultimately, this is a novel about motherhood with an undercurrent of a story about race. I suppose a non-mother or non-parent might see it as the opposite -- a story about race with an undercurrent of a story about motherhood. That would not be wrong. It is also a story about adoption and what it means to be a family. And, it is a story about being a woman, separate from the role of mother. 

We all bring ourselves to what we read, and I read this as a story of motherhood and womanhood first. I also read it as a story of adoption. I am a mother. I am adopted. 

Race is brought up several times throughout the novel -- when Rebecca meets other mothers or has a parent-teacher conference, when her adopted son's biological family has concerns about "the talk" about being Black in America, and so on. These issues are dealt with carefully and sensitively, as are the issues around adoption.

That Kind of Mother by Rumaan Alam is a great novel with chapters short enough that a busy parent could easily read a chapter, put it down to attend to a child or dinner or whatever else, then come back to it later in the day without getting lost. The writing is clear and focused and you are carried along in Rebecca's story of motherhood and autonomy as a woman as she grows as in both roles over the years, ultimately stepping fully into herself in both roles. 

You can buy That Kind of Mother by Rumaan Alam on Amazon HERE or on Bookshop HERE.

BOOK REVIEW: The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg

Title: The Year of Pleasures

Author: Elizabeth Berg

Publisher: Ballantine 

Year published: 2005

ISBN: 9780812970999

Genre: fiction; chick lit; USA fiction

Pairs well with your favorite flannel pajamas,

a slice of berry or peach pie,

and a glass of Merlot.

As I've noted previously, when I'm in a reading slump, I often turn to a well loved novel that I've read several times over. This past week, that was The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg. 

As a woman who has completely started over more than once in my adult life, I identify closely with the main character, Betta Nolan: after the tragic loss of her husband to cancer, Betta sinks into an understandable period of depression, confusion, worry, loss, and so on. Ultimately, she decides to follow through on a dream she and her husband had involving moving to the middle of the country and starting over in a small town. 

But, of course, nothing is ever as easy as just picking up and moving. Betta does make the move, but it is filled with a sense of directionlessness and a pull towards something that is ill defined yet also tinged with feelings of fate. 

Throughout the story, we learn more and more about the woman Betta was, who she wanted to be, and who she becomes (which is really who she was all along). We meet an adorable cast of characters along the way, ranging from sweet college kids that feel almost like lost puppies looking for their mother to a single mom and her sweet son to a cranky old woman who is dealing with losses of her own, not to mention three old friends from Betta's life before marriage. 

I love this novel for its familiarity, not just because I've read it so many times (at least ten!), but also because I see myself in Betta and her joy in little pleasures that she often denies herself even though her husband encouraged her to indulge. I see myself in her love of fine things, comfortable things, joyful things, heartwarming things. I see myself in her love of quirky things and her joy in creating stories both professionally and as a hobby. I see myself in her use of baking and cooking as a love language. 

Betta starts out lost and very much alone, but throughout the novel, she rebuilds her sense of self, learns to enjoy life again despite a huge loss, and she creates a new home and a new sense of family and community. 

I hope you'll give The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg a chance and that you'll fall in love with the story and the characters just as I did. 

And, I hope you'll come away with the knowledge and belief that it's ok to use the good soap that you set aside for company, the plush towels you keep for guests, the chocolate that you only buy on special occasions. Don't wait for guests or special occasions. Use the fancy soap and soft towels. Eat the good chocolate. Buy the little bowl that you love even though you don't know what you'd use it for. Life is too short not to indulge in some pleasures.

Buy it on Amazon HERE or on Bookshop.org HERE.

BOOK REVIEW: Love, Loss, and What We Ate by Padma Lakshmi

I have enjoyed watching Padma Lakshmi cooking or talking about cooking for several years, but after watching her show "Taste the Nation" on Hulu, I decided to look for her cookbooks at my local library. Naturally, there is a long hold list for the one that my library has -- Tangy, Tart, Hot, and Sweet -- so I settled for her 2016 memoir, Love, Loss, and What We Ate. 

Although the memoir was not the best I've ever read, I still enjoyed it very much. Within the first twenty pages, I was drawn in with both my wanderlust and tastebuds ablaze! Lakshmi has me wanting to travel, to cook, and to eat new foods.

The memoir follows Lakshmi's life back and forth between the United States and India, as well as to London, Paris, and Miland. She describes in beautiful detail her extended family and the importance of food in her life from a very young age and uses food to explore her relationships with her family members, friends, and lovers. 

I had no idea Lakshmi had been a model, nor that she'd been a television host in Italy, and until watching "Taste the Nation", I'd never really noticed the large scar on her arm (even though I'm sure I've seen it before!). Lakshmi's background is at once highly familiar and exotic. She had many of the same struggles as a teenager as myself and many others, but she also straddled two cultures. She was raised by a single mom and had to navigate two different stepdads and the resultant challenges in her relationship with her mom and these men. 

Lakshmi also goes into great detail about her difficult marriage to Salman Rushdie and the lingering effects it had on her psyche and her post-divorce relationships, and she is quite frank and open about her struggles with endometriosis and fertility. I took comfort in several aspects of her story, as memoir readers often do, and saw myself reflected in many of her experiences. 

I do wish that the book had a been a bit more tightly edited and that there were more recipes sprinkled throughout. While I don't mind a metaphor here and there, they are quite heavily used in the first half of the memoir -- occasionally so frequently that I almost put the book down. And, I'm a sucker for a memoir that includes recipes, but again, there were several in the first half of the book and then far fewer in the second half. I would have loved a recipe with every chapter or every other chapter, especially since so much of the book revolves around food, spices, and the pleasure of eating. 

Overall, if you enjoy memoirs, food, and travel, I do think Love, Loss, and What We Ate is well worth your time, just be prepared for the metaphors and uneven spacing of recipes. I enjoyed it enough that I likely will re-read it at some point in the future. 

You can find Love, Loss, and What We Ate by Padma Lakshmi on Amazon HERE or Bookshop.org HERE.

Have you read Lakshmi's memoir or used her cookbooks? If so, leave a comment and let me know what you thought of them.

BOOK REVIEW: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

I was BLOWN AWAY by Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi! I was drawn in right away by Gyasi's descriptive and detailed writing style which reminded me a bit of the writher Paul Theroux's style. 

I wish I could say that I read Homegoing straight through and without big breaks, but a friend and I picked it up and decided to read it together back in mid-April when Covid-19 shutdowns were still somewhat new in the United States and we were all still figuring out how concerned we should be. I figured, "Hey, I'll likely have plenty of time to read!" 

And, I did...

But, as I really started to get into the book, I found myself having to slow down and step away a few times because some of the descriptions are so vivid and difficult to read that I had to take a few breaks. And, as I stepped away from the book a few times, the pandemic really ramped up in the United States, followed quickly by the murder of George Floyd and the resulting Black Lives Matter protests -- including protests in my city of Portland, Oregon.

My friend and I could not have predicted the protests, nor the huge surge in interest in reading and learning about racism and bigotry, shopping Black-owned businesses, and so on, so it was coincidental that the book we'd chosen to read was written by a Black woman. And, her novel is rooted deep in the history of slavery. 

Homegoing follows two lines of a family through a pair of half-sisters in 18th century Ghana. The sisters are separated with one being captured and sold into slavery, eventually resulting in a family line in the United States and the other marrying an Englishman who happens to be part of the slave trade but with her line staying in Ghana. 

Gyasi weaves two familial lines together by alternating between them every other chapter. Each chapter follows the life of one generation of the family from the 18th century to near-modern day with the final chapter wrapping up the entire story in a way that I won't spoil for you here other than to tell you this: the end is PERFECT. I don't know that I've read many (if any) books where the ending is so perfectly crafted and makes so much sense. That alone makes Homegoing worth reading.

The novel includes views of the slave trade from the point of view of Ghanian villagers, British slave traders, and those captured and forced into slavery, and shows quite forcefully just how strongly the past clings to the present. Gyasi deftly weaves the lingering echoes of slavery and all of the institutionalized racism that came with it and still exists today into every chapter. Her characters feel complete and real. Those of the last few decades feel like people I might see walking down the city street -- I could picture them and hear them so clearly. 

Even though the two family lines diverge for many, many generations and across two continents, the way Gyasi wrote her story shows the deep connections between the two. What's also interesting about her novel is that you could read it straight through, as my friend and I did, or you could read one story line first and then the other. In fact, I plan to re-read it following one story line and then the other soon. 

I HIGHLY recommend Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi! Some descriptions and events in the book are definitely hard to read (the conditions of the dungeon in which slaves are kept, whippings, and so on), but every word of this book has importance and bearing on the entire novel. 

Have you read Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi? What did you think of it? Drop a comment and let me know!

You can buy the novel HERE on Amazon or HERE on Bookshop.org.

Comfort reading during difficult times: When in Doubt, Add Butter by Beth Harbison

2020 has been....not what any of us imagined it would be. Am I right?

For many of us, the stress hasn't been just heightened, it's been completely disruptive to our normal habits and interests. In my case, I haven't been able to focus enough to read a lot, nor to read anything too heavy. 

A friend and I decided to read Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi together with plans to do a virtual dinner date (we'd make the same dinner and then meet via Skype or Hangouts to discuss the book), but I started to find the serious nature and devastating scenes to be too much right now. I had to put the book down (I've since picked it back up).

Instead, I switched to something much easier to read in terms of subject matter, and a book I already have read and love: When in Doubt, Add Butter by Beth Harbison. This is city girl chick lit (can we make that a new category, like a sub category of chick lit?).

Title: When in Doubt, Add Butter

Author: Beth Harbison

Publisher: St. Martin's Press 

Year published: 2012

ISBN: 9780312599096

Genre: fiction; chick lit

Pairs well with a big bowl of pasta,

cupcakes, comfy pajamas,

and your favorite comfort beverage.

Our protagonist, Gemma Craig, not to be confused with Jenny Craig of weight loss diet fame. Gemma is a single woman living in Washington, D.C., and a personal chef with a different client each night of the week. Two are what you might call wanna-be power women -- well to do women who care more about appearances than substance and who are clamboring to be among the D.C. elite. Then, there's the mysterious Mr. Tuesday, a bachelor that she never meets but flirts with by brief notes about the meals she prepares for him. Then we have Lex, owner of a department store and with a personality that's much like a doting and supportive uncle. Lastly, is the mysterious Oleksei family, owners of a lucrative dry cleaning business...or is that just a front for mafia ties? And, along the way, we also meet Willa, an obese, housebound gambler, and a few other supporting characters, not least of which are Gemma's cousin, Penny, and Penny's daughter, Charlotte. 

When in Doubt, Add Butter, will definitely make you hungry -- maybe for dishes you'd never normally try (eggplant in pomegranate walnut sauce, anyone?) -- but it will also warm your heart as you follow along on Gemma's adventures and misadventures as a personal chef, a friend, and a one night stand.

While the book does not include any recipes (pretty much my only complaint...), it is delicious in other ways. I've read other books by Beth Harbison, and this one is my favorite. The characters and plot are just tight enough to keep me interested, but not so tight that I can't reasonably understand what's to come in the story, and the characters are all well imagined with strengths, weaknesses, and the other characteristics that make them feel real. If Gemma were an actual person, I'd want to be her friend (and not just for her cooking skills).

Overall, this is a good, light read and perfectly filled my need for material that wasn't depressing or too serious.

Get your copy of When in Doubt, Add Butter by Beth Harbison now via my shop on Bookshop.org -- you can find it and other chick lit novels I love HERE or click the image below.

Please note, this post does contain affiliate links and I may receive a small commission if you purchase through these links. 

I will be upgrading links across my blog to point to Bookshop.org when possible -- Bookshop.org supports independent booksellers in the United States at a time when many are threatened through competition and under-pricing from mega-corporations. 

A dog person reviews a book about cats ~*~ BOOK REVIEW: Distillery Cats by Brad Thomas Parsons

Title: Distillery Cats – Profiles in Courage of the World’s Most Spirited Mousers

Author: Brad Thomas Parsons

Illustrator: Julia Kuo

Publisher: Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC

Year published: 2017

ISBN: 978-1-60774-897-7

Genre: non-fiction; cats; alcohol

Pairs well with: 

your favorite adult beverage

and a cat in your lap.

When stressed, find an easy book with lots of pictures. Distillery Cats: Profiles in Courage of the World's Most Spirited Mousers, written by Brad Thomas Parsons and illustrated by Julia Kuo, fits the bill almost perfectly.

Why almost?

Because it’s about cats and I’m a dog person. But, that little issue aside, this is a terrific little easy, fast read that’s highly entertaining.

Read about different distillery cats and their unique personalities (and owners) in one sitting, over several days, or just dip in for one cat’s story at a time here and there. Doesn’t really matter – the book is terrific no matter how you read it!

I love the idea of distillery cats – kitties chasing mice, rats, and other pests by nightfall and socializing with patrons by day. The cats described all seem to have their own unique personalities and habits as any cat owner will tell you is pretty common among our feline friends.

Each cat biography is accompanied by lovely artwork with illustrations by Julia Kuo that further capture the spirit of each cat. And, each also is accompanied by a little break out set of facts, including the cat’s breed, age, gender, and special qualities. 

Several biographies are also accompanied by recipes for drinks from some of the bars, breweries, and distilleries where the cats make their homes. I’m looking forward to trying the Watermelon Punch recipe from Kings County Distillery in Brooklyn, New York – I think it will be a perfect afternoon refresher for a pot luck I’ll be hosting outdoors this summer on my farm in the Pacific Northwest. Watermelon, basil, lemon, simple syrup and “moonshine”. YUM! The recipe is in the book if you want to check it out!

The book also features several famous quotes and song lyrics about cats, my favorite of which is:

Now, I just need someone to publish a similar book about dogs – but would it be set in breweries and the like? Maybe it should be something like Firehouse Dogs or Mountain Lodge Dogs?

I found Distillery Cats at my local library, but you can find it on Amazon HERE.

Quick poll – comment if you are a cat person or a dog person!

BOOK REVIEW: The Year She Left Us by Kathryn Ma

Title: The Year She Left Us

Author: Kathryn Ma

Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers

Year published: 2014

ISBN: 978-0-06-227334-5

Genre: contemporary fiction

My Rating: 5/5 -- must read!

Pairs well with a comfortable couch,

long and rainy afternoon, 

and your favorite tea and blanket.

Once again, I fully judged a book by its cover and was not disappointed.

Kathryn Ma’s novel, The Year She Left Us, is a stunning, multi-generational, multi-cultural masterpiece, following a Ari – Ariadne Bettina Yun-li Rose Kong; her mother, Charlie; aunt, Les; and her grandmother. It is a story of a family of women, lost amongst themselves and to themselves, finding each other, finding themselves, and finding what really matters.

Each family member has experience loss in their own ways – some more deeply than others, but all losses. Ari, however, is at the center of the story, pulling the others both apart and together, as she navigates childhood and adolescence until a breakdown drives her away from everything and everyone that matter most in her life. I think she would agree that she disappears, even from herself.

Early in the novel, Ari takes an action that is unbelievably shocking and graphic – you are warned – but that also sets up the entire rest of the novel. The action is so disturbing that I became nauseous reading it. You’ll have to read the book for yourself to find out what she did and about the resulting fallout.

If you’ve read The Joy Luck Club or any other work by Amy Tan, I think you will appreciate The Year She Left Us. Ma masterfully weaves the divide between being both Chinese and American and the pull to both cling to and abandon traditions of both sides. She also carefully treads the pains and joys that come with adoption – the joy that a parent feels at becoming a mother and how it spreads to others in the family, but also the pull of feeling abandoned or thrown away that some adopted children may feel. Through it all, it is clear that the three generations of women need each other and love each other, even if they aren’t always aware of it – sometimes they flat out reject one another.

The terrain of the book physically traverses San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area in Northern California, including Clement Street (where one of my best friends comes from), up to Alaska and across to Pennsylvania. And, it spreads to the other side of the world to metropolises in China and the countryside. In Ma’s description of Lushan Mountain, I could practically smell the air, feel the breeze, feel the paths around the lake and into the mountains. It felt so close. I wanted to go there.

The Year She Left Us is also unique in that chapters alternate between all four women, but the story is told in the first person by only two – Ari and her grandmother. It did take me a few chapters to get into the rhythm, but by the midpoint of the novel, the structure made perfect sense and even felt necessary. By the last chapter, it was obvious that this was the only format for the story of these four women ranging from 18 years old to 80. At some point, the novel references an assisted living facility called Four Winds. The characters themselves are like the four winds all blowing against and away from each other, only to finally come together in a cohesive manner.

I loved this novel and know I will read it again. I hope you’ll give it a try and won’t be turned off by the grotesque scene I mentioned – that’s really the best word for it, but it is only truly described in detail once.

I’ll leave you to make up your own mind about which of the women the “she” in the title refers to.

I found The Year She Left Us by Kathryn Ma at the library, but you can find it on Amazon HERE.

***Links may be affiliate in nature. Purchases made through these links may result in a small commission to me at no extra cost to you. Thank you in advance!

BOOK REVIEW: The People We Hate at the Wedding by Grant Ginder

Book: The People We Hate at the Wedding
Author: Grant Ginder
Publisher: Flatiron Books, an imprint of Macmillan
Year First Published: 2017

ISBN: 9781250095206
Genre: contemporary fiction, dysfunctional family

Pairs well with a flute of champagne,

chocolate covered strawberries,

and a fainting couch.

I had really high hopes for The People We Hate at the Wedding by Grant Ginder, and although I did enjoy reading it, it wasn’t as stellar as I wanted it to be – maybe because I saw some of myself in each of the main characters? Maybe I didn’t like what I saw?

Whatever the reason, I do think this is a worthy read, regardless. The book centers around a brother and sister, their mom, and their half-sister. None of them are particularly nice, but they are all written in a manner that makes them painfully human and real.

First, there’s Alice. She used to be carefree and up-and-coming until a personal loss – a tragedy, really – sent her fleeing from real life into a pseudo-existence in Los Angeles where she (and if she were a real person, I think she’d agree) became a cliché. And, she’s doing her best to avoid dealing with her loss, even if it means pushing others away.

Second, we have Paul. Paul and Alice are brother and sister. Paul has all kinds of relationship issues ranging from a manipulative boyfriend to an overly protective mother to a father that wasn’t at all the person Paul thought his dad to be.

Next, we come to Eloise. Eloise is posh and poised. She’s Paul and Alice’s older sister – nay, half-sister – and they never really let her forget the “half” part of that equation. Eloise is the one getting married and Paul and Alice revel in picking apart every aspect of the wedding plans. For Eloise, outward appearances are almost everything, and she spends extensive amounts of time second guessing herself in order to put on an outer shell, masking what might be a rich inner life. She just wants everyone to be happy.

Then, we come to the matriarch – Donna. On the one hand, Donna is a great mom. She loves all of her children deeply and thoroughly and would do just about anything to protect them. On the other hand, I think she’s tired and just wants her kids to grow up already and to find happiness. She tries very hard to help them, but at the same time she has her own issues to deal with related to a failed marriage to Eloise’s dad (he’s charming, but a cad) and with the death of Alice and Paul’s father who turns out not to be quite what Paul thought he was.

Grant Ginder managed to write characters that are so real that I think most of us will see ourselves or those we know in these people.

And, while I mentioned that The People We Hate at the Wedding wasn’t all I had hoped it would be, the very last several pages redeem any shortcomings. Ginder ties up all the loose ends and pulls it all together in a satisfying manner that had me smiling and thinking, “Yes. These people are real and I so want them to carry on with one another and to keep trying to be the people they want each other to be.” Ginder doesn’t give us a “happily ever after” ending, but one that is real and satisfying. I definitely recommend The People We Hate at the Wedding for this alone (although the rest of it is worth reading too!).

What was the last book you read that left you satisfied and glad you’d read it, even if it wasn’t what you’d hoped it would be? Drop a comment and let me know! 

While I found The People We Hate at the Wedding at my local library, you can also find it on Amazon HERE.