Seaside Sunshine

 I picked up Seaside Sunshine at the Winona Public Library. I didn't know it at the time but this is the sixth in a series of nine novels by Kay Corell. Darlene runs an bed and breakfast on a seaside home on an island in North Carolina. She was abandoned by her young husband before she gave birth so she worked hard to raise her son. Now her granddaughter is helping her run the bed and breakfast. In comes a new customer to the bed and breakfast. Mark comes here to get away from his grief filled like at home. His wife died two years ago. So far he hasn't been able to move any of her things. Her coffee cup is still on the kitchen counter. Her toothbrush is in the bathroom. Mark has not been able to write since she died; not a single word. His editor is putting pressure on him to write the next book. He hopes living in this bed and breakfast will help him escape the writer's block that is crippling him. Staying here with Darlene does help him start writing. Darlene's kind friendship helps as well. This is a cute story. I suppose it would be considered women's fiction but I liked it.

 

 

Flamer

This week the banned book club met at the Winona public library to discuss Flamer, written by Mike Curato. This is a graphic novel about a boy at a summer camp two weeks before he starts high school. He was bullied at the Catholic school he attended before so he is looking forward to the change. He enjoys the time at camp though. His home is not a safe place and he worries about his younger twin brothers. He enjoys campfires, picnics and sleeping in a tent with another boy. Although he hasn't worked it out in his head yet, he is gay. He corresponds daily with a younger girl named Violette and she knows all of his secrets. I am not a big fan of graphic novels but I did enjoy this story. 

 

 

The Last Lecture

 Randy Pausch cowrote The Last Lecture with Jeffrey Zazlow of the Wall Street Journal. Randy decided to write this book after learning he had 3 to 6 months to live. He had pancreatic cancer. His oldest child, a five year old would probably remember him but the two younger kids wouldn't. He decided to put a life time of fatherly advice into this book. He wrote for his children. The book has 9 chapters and is full of good advice. It was a best selling book in 2008. Randy was a Computer Science Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He also worked for six months at Disneyland. His hero was Captain James T. Kirk of Star Trek. He eventually got to meet William Shatner at this virtual reality lab in college. Although the book is sad because the author will die it is also inspirational.

 

 

Absolution

 Alice McDermott is a great writer. In Absolution she writes about Saigon, Vietnam in 1963. Tricia is newly married to a wonderful man who works for an oil company in Saigon. There she meets other young wives among the lush plants, stunningly high heat, and insects. Tricia meets Charlene who is cunning and manipulative. Charlene comes up with a plan to have her dressmaker make clothes for Barbie dolls to distribute at hospitals, orphanages and even a leper colony. Tricia goes along with Charlene's ideas until she doesn't. Fifty years later Charlene's daughter, Rainy reconnects with Tricia and they trade memories of like in Saigon together. This book is wonderfully written.

 

 

WSU Arboreteum

Today I went to Winona State University for a class in the University for Seniors. This class was about the WSU arboretum. On campus they care for every native tree that grows in Minnesota. Many of the trees have a sign at the base of the tree and also a QR code so you can get more information from your phone. We have another class next Friday which will be outside looking at the trees. I am looking forward to that.

 

Anxious People

 I listened to a new book by one of my favorite authors named Fredrik Backman. He wrote A Man Called Ove. This book is named Anxious People. The author lives in Sweden. In this story a real estate agent is holding a viewing for an apartment for sale. Eight people are attending the viewing. Two are an elderly married couple. Another couple is having a baby any day now. Another young couple, an 87 year old woman who comes to viewings because she is bored and a younger man who is paid to disrupt the viewing. The real estate agent hides in a shaft above the closet. A bank robber comes in and takes them all hostage. The bank robber needs the money because her husband left her with her two kids, took all the money. If she can't pay the rent the courts will give custody of the children to him. They spend hours together drinking wine they found in the closet. They order pizza. The police bring up the pizza. The bank robber says she will let them go free. Now the people in the viewing want to protect her. This charming story is humorous, wise and compassionate.

 

 

The Boy From The Sea

 In the book The Boy From the Sea, the story starts in 1973 in a small fishing village in Donegal, Ireland. A boy, merely days old, is found in a bucket in the sea. A man sees him and carries him to down. As the author, Garret Carr, writes, the boy is adopted by Ambrose and Christine who already have a two year old son named Declan. They decide to adopt this boy and name him Brendan. Ambrose has a fondness for Brendan. Declan gets jealous and rightly so. Ambrose is a fisherman more comfortable on the sea than on land. Declan decides to go into the fishing industry so he can be closer with his father. I greatly enjoyed reading this historical fiction novel set in Ireland.