Book Journey

As of 1:00 am this morning I am back home in Minnesota. The week long vacation in Alabama was wonderful- beach, sun, books (oh my!!!), adventures, and hanging out with some pretty awesome people in a VRBO with private decks. Not too shabby for Sheila ;P

The weather in Central Minnesota, while chilly – is doable. Currently 22 degrees, not the high 60’s and 70’s of Alabama – however the temp is supposed to continue to climb throughout the week putting us at 40’sand 50’s starting Tuesday.

Buh-bye snow.

I managed to finish two REAL BOOKS in Alabama. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah and The Next Wife by Kaira Rouda. . Both fantastic reads in completely opposite genres.

It’s times like this, when I am able to get away from the day to day “to do’s” that I remember how much I enjoy just sinking into a great read. I am now working my way through a third book, The Whisper Network by Chandler Baker. I am about half way thanks to the plane ride home. I am hopeful that once I get unpacked today and laundry started and a little grocery shopping in that I will have an hour or two this afternoon to dig in again.

Have a great Sunday. What are you all reading?

Sheila

Tish Nelson is young, gorgeous and has the world by the tail. Any man would be thrilled to be seen with her and she knows it. Second wife to the successful John Nelson, owner of a flourishing event ticket company, 4 gorgeous homes, and more money than she could have ever dreamed of. Everything was perfect.

Or almost perfect.

Kate Nelson is the first wife. Also beautiful, and really like an older version of Tish. Kate is also an owner of the flourishing company that she and John had built together from a dream in their first home working out of a garage to what it is today. And of course there is Ashlyn, Kate and John’s College aged daughter who is over dependent, in Tish’s opinion.

What happens next will blow everything up and has Tish, Kate, and Ashlyn all scrambling to pick up the pieces of their world and question everything they ever knew about love and the lengths one will take when wronged.

Holy smokes.
I picked this book up while on vacation and was hooked from the very first page. Each chapter built like riding a roller coaster and going up, up and up until with your heart in your throat – you slip over that much anticipated, much dreaded edge.
I didn’t see it coming.
Two days later after having my nose in this book every chance I had, I closed that final page with one thought. Could Author Kaira Rouda write faster? I am going to need another fix of her deliciously engaging reads.
One of the best books I have read in a while, I highly recommend you pre order The Next Wife, available on May 1st, 2021.
Then… we will chat. Zoom even with a great cup of coffee… or maybe a margarita.

Other books I have read by Kaira Rouda: (more to come… I am digging around Good Reads now…)

Best Day Ever

It is our final full day in Alabama. It’s early yet… I am almost always one of the first ones up if not the first one up, usually by 6 am. I am that way on all vacations… I like to have the quiet time of catching up on emails, drinking my coffee and thinking about my day before the house starts to stir.

This morning is foggy – and to me its perfect. I’ve had plenty of sun the last few days, and plenty of touring and site-seeing. Today I hope to get a little reading in and I have to say – The Next Wife by Kaira Rouda is already blowing me away. I started this book yesterday and it hooked me right away – told in alternating voices I had a hard time putting it down and even now I can not wait to get back to it. I am so hopeful that it is this exciting all the way through.
What are you reading?
~Sheila

In 1921, Texas, Elsa Wolcott is deemed many things… too old for marriage at 25, too tall, too plain, too – everything (according to her mother). The night she meets Rafe Martinelli changes everything in more ways than she could have ever imagined.

By 1934, dust storms are a constant threat. With failing crops, two children to feed, never ending work, never ending dust, and a barely there husband – Elsa once again is put in a position to make hard decisions that there seems to be no right answer to. Yet she is not alone. All over the country people are making these hard decisions to stay or to go – in hope that California will bring work and stability and a sense of peace for her family. And every day these options seem to be less of a choice, then a must is there is any hope for survival.

I had no idea when I picked this book up a couple of weeks ago that I would have trouble putting it down. I thought it was the perfect book in stature and content for the plane and the relaxing-in-a-chair time while in Alabama. I was right.

The Four Winds is not a light tale. You may see comments in reviews regarding it’s sadness, maybe even calling it depressing – and they wouldn’t be wrong. I would still recommend the book. For myself, The Four Winds, brought me to a time that I can only imagine the despair yet Kristin Hannah brought me close to getting a taste of the dust in my mouth, and feeling the weight of nowhere to turn.

And I couldn’t put it down.

Elsa’s journey is one I recommend. It’s a story of a hard life, yet a life all the same. There is hope and there is a fire within the book that you have to read to understand. I finished this book last night and I am still thinking about it. I am left with a feeling I have gained something special having read it.
I wish the same for you.

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

Hey all. Yes, I have an accent now.
Spending this week on vacation in Alabama with friends, a little beach, some tasty food, and great reads. At this time I am about half way through the new Kristen Hannah book, The Four Winds.
It is sooooooo good.
If you have read Kristen Hannah before ( The Nightingale, Firefly Lane, Winter Garden, True Colors…) I would say this is in her top books. If you have not read her before, this would be a great place to start.

The Four Winds takes readers to the Dust Bowl, where Elsa Martinelli lives with her in-laws, drunk husband, and two young children. Struggling to survive in every way—physically, mentally, and emotionally—Elsa must make hard choices for the sake and well-being of her children. Should her family stay and try to survive the drought or head west to California, where word of work, sun, and prosperity seem like the Promiseland? Spanning two decades, The Four Winds is a portrait of the grit, courage and sacrifices made by ordinary people trying to achieve the American Dream.

As seen on bookofthemonth.com/

The weather has been cooler but nice. Low 60’s a little cooler than we are used to when we vacation, however time with friends… and we are out of the snow… no complaints here. I do not get a lot of time to just sit and enjoy a good book when I am home so this is a time to sit in a deck chair and do just that – and that… is where I am going now.

If you have read Kristen Hannan, what have you read? Have you watched Firefly Lane on Netflix? When the Nightingale Movie comes out do you plan to see it?

Kya Clark only knows the cove where she was raised. She doesn’t attend school, her family rarely goes to town. Her entire life is within the marsh around her. Her knowledge of the plants and the life within her surroundings is vast, yet she knows little of society and acceptance. She is known as the wild Marsh Girl.
As she grows into a young woman her curiosity about other kids her age and the outside world she catches the attention of two very different boys, Tate and Chase. When the unthinkable happens, everyone turns towards Kya.


This is one of those books I first read a couple of years ago, March of 2019 to be exact, and somehow neglected to review it. Now that it is in the works to become a movie it hits my radar again and I pulled it off my shelf to refresh myself on the world of Kya, the marsh, her father, and her world.

I really enjoyed Where The Crawdads Sing, both times. It is a book that felt different to me, outside the norm. Kya character is raw and oh so real… not caught up in prestige or pretense, her world is more about the beauty within and basic survival. I initially read this with my Book Club and we almost unanimously agreed that this book was a diamond.

I highly encourage if you have not read Crawdads to definitely give it a go. It’s a book you will continue to think about beyond the last page.

My Book Club loves to make food associated with the book and Crawdads is filled with delicious things to try. The pictures below are from our March 2019 discussion of this book. We enjoyed Mussels, Fried Fish, Cheesy Grits, Chicken “Wild Girl” Soup, with Blackberry and Blueberry Cobblers.

This is a great discussion book as well as a darn good read. I hope you enjoy this book. If you have already read it, let me know what you thought. Do you plan to see the movie?

It’s 1936 and Cussy takes her appointed position as part of the Pack Horse Library Project of Kentucky very seriously. Her designated route brings her upon all sorts of characters along the way – some she is in time able to call friends. Cussy, is also known as Bluet due to her bluish skin, part of the last of the rare blue people ancestry. Part of her mission becomes for people to see beyond her color – a lesson that she needs to learn for herself as well.

Inspired by the true and historical blue-skinned people of Kentucky and the brave and dedicated Kentucky Pack Horse library service, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek showcases a bold and unique tale of the Packhorse Librarians in literary novels—a story of fierce strength and one woman’s belief that books can carry us anywhere—even back home. 

There are quite a few books out at this time surrounding the story line of the Pack Horse Women of Kentucky.
The Giver Of Stars by Jo JO Moyes
Down Cut Shin Creek by Kathi Appelt
That Book Woman by Heaver Hensen

The only one I have read on the subject was this one and I found it fascinating. Admittedly I knew little of the Pack Horse Women and even less about the blue people. I cheered Cussy on as she took her job importantly even when others did not see what the big deal was. I admired her dedication to get the books ot the people and help them with their reading. A passion after my own heart.

Honestly, this is not a book I would normally pick up. I am however glad I read it and feel like I now know some pretty cool history surrounding the library. We will be discussing this book on ZOOM on Monday, Febtruary15th at 6:00 pm Central time. If you care to join us you are welcome too – find out full information as well as the ZOOM registration link here. Books Burgers and Brews.

(I may have dressed the era recently for a promo on our Books Burgers and Brews Facebook page and then went on to do a mini photo shoot in the dress because I thought it was funny.)

Catherine and her partner Melissa, Catherine details the challenges associated with farming sheep that you do not necessarily think about when you decide to have a sheep farm. You know… such as, making them go where you want them to go and the occasional escape. And the fact that Sheep should be sheered. And the opportunities come when their birthing schedule timing does not coincide with your plans and they do this in the middle of a cold Minnesota winter.
You know… stuff like that.
Catherine Friend writes an adventure of a book with great humor as she and Melissa work through the ins and outs of sheep farming (as well as her love/hate relationship with wool).

I adored this book. I absolutely loved the entire book and laughed throughout many of the happenings as Catherine and Melissa figured out their roles as sheep farmers, and of course I rooted for the little sheep that had rough starts. I love d this book so much that I passed it immediately on to a friend who is a veterinarian and a big time animal lover and she loved it too.
Highly recommended.

Now I need to dig into Catherine’s other books:
Hit By A Farm
Compassionate Carnivore Minnesota Book Award in General Nonfiction, 2009

Good morning! I hope you are having a great start to your Valentines day morning. I have completed a little work, finished my workout and now I am writing this (while having my second cup of coffee) while warming up my car and then heading to town to grab a few things for a later this afternoon project (yes, in Minnesota we have to warm up our car this time of year). I recommend keeping an eye on the Books Burgers and Brews Facebook page – some fun things are happening there as Laurel and I are planning to discuss The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek VIA ZOOM tomorrow evening at 6 pm Central time. And yes, everyone is welcome to join in that discussion.

I want to explain the picture I posted here. If you are Facebook friends with me, you may already have read about this. At the Friends of the Library Book Sale, one of our older volunteers would come with her two adult daughters to volunteer at the sales. They would stay with their mom during that week and drive her to and from the sale each day. They also would stay the entire day volunteering so I was able to get to know them both pretty well. June in particular.

June and I for many years would be straightening up the books at the sale and find the funniest titles while doing so. We would capture these titles and hide them until the appropriate time when the other was not aware, and hide these books among their purchases. This was always in the hope (and usually worked) that the new owner of said title would not notice the book mixed in with their other books until days after the sale when they are unpacking their new treasures back at home.

This is how through the years I came home with titles such as:
Everybody Poops
My First Rectal Exam
Stop Being a B****
I wish I could remember some of the titles I sent home with her. If busted trying to sneak the book into the others mix of books, we would laugh so hard we cried. It was a fun tradition.

Now that we have not had a real book sale since September of 2019, I am left to take drastic measures. While browsing a book catalog on line last week I came across this title and instantly new it was for June. It is about to be mailed to her, letting her know how much I miss and her sister at the sales as well as the sales themselves.

Yes, I am that good of a friend. LOL
Happy Sunday all, do something spectacular!

~Sheila

When I sat down at my computer this morning, COFFEE hot and mind ready to rock and roll…. the plan was to work.

Then I remembered that last night I had heard of a book I was interested in listening to …

Then I went to Audible to see if was available…

Then I noticed they were having their February $5 audio sale…

Then time lost all meaning…

On a SUPER CHILLY day in Minnesota… I fell into the online version of a book store and came out of book-coma with 20 new books….

So here is what I picked up for my upcoming vacation -cooking – cleaning – drive time listening…

The Fifth Ave, Story Society by Rachel Hauck (hoping for essence of The Summerhouse)
Mr. Murder by Dean Koontz (I read this forever ago …. feeling nostalgic)

The Half Sister by Sadie Jones ( sounds creepy good)
Troubles In Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand (not sure how I missed this one)
A willing Murder by Jude Devereaux (Jude has been a one-hit-wonder for me, hoping to change that)

Forget You Ethan by Whitney G. (I listened to a snippet, it made me laugh)
The Family Journal by Carolyn Brown (sounds good)
The Things They Carried by Tim Obrien (I’m almost embarrassed that I have not read this yet)

The Sometimes Sisters by Carolyn Brown (sounds about perfect)

The Office: The Untold Story by Andy Greene I love to read about things like this)

The Other Daughter by Lisa Gardner (in a mood for a good mystery)

All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner ( Feel like I am missing out by not having read this)

Wundersmith by Jessica Townsend (heard it is like Harry Potter – purchased first book as well)

MAID by Stephanie Land (I have been planning to read this like Fo-Ev-Ah)

Now That You Mention It by Kristan Higgins (It sounds fun. I like fun.)

Robin by Dave Itzkoff (no explanation needed. It’s Robin.)

All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven (oops…just went on Goodreads – I guess I have read this)

Cake by J Bengtsson (not on Good Reads… WHOA!… but it sounds good.)

The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood (I have yet to read Atwood. I know, I know…)

Blue Heaven by CJ Box (sounds good and an author I am just starting to check out)

And now… I must do what I really am supposed to be doing this morning. Have great day all. Have you read/listened to any of these? Do you like audio books?