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.

 

 

I Know This Much Is True

The acclaimed author Wally Lamb is the author of I Know This Much Is True. In this story an unmarried woman with a cleft lip has a pair of identical twins after her father has died. One of the twins grows up to have paranoid schizophrenia. His brother tries to help him. His mother marries a man who abuses all three of them. In 1990 the brother with mental illness takes a military knife to the library and cuts off one hand. He gets sent to a forensic hospital for a year. Eventually he gets released and goes to a group home. This was a long book. I spent over 13 hours reading it on my phone. Excellent story though.

 

  

Definitely Better Now

 In this book about a young woman named Emma becomes sober for a year, the author Ava Robinson, conveys the story in her book Definitely Better Now. Emma works in advertising. Now that her first year of sobriety is over she is ready to start dating again. There is a cute guy in IT named Ben. Both Emma and Ben are assigned to work on the companies holiday party which is a lavish and expensive dinner at a local hotel. This is a darkly funny novel about working life in New York City.

 

 

The Girls Of Good Fortune

Kristina McMorris is the author of The Girls Of Good Fortune. The story is set in Portland, Oregon in 1885 through 1888. Celia awakens to find her self in a locked box wearing men's clothing. She was working for the mayor as a cleaning lady. Her father, a Chinese man, went to Hells Canyon to work in a mine. Some white miners killed 30 Chinese miners. This evil act went to trial but the white men were found innocent. Celia looses her job when the mayor finds out she is pregnant. The mayor's son is the father but the family won't believe that. She is taken to a brothel where she works as a cook and a maid. This is a fascinating historical fiction book about racism in America. 

 

 

The Winds From Further West

Alexander McCall Smith is the author of the Number One Detectives Agency series. He also wrote The Winds From Further West. In this story Dr. Neil Anderson had just started a new position at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He meets Chrissie. Chrissie is intelligent and ambitious. They move into a flat together. Soon he gets into trouble. A students accuses him of making a statement that he did not say. His supervisor wants him to apologize for saying something he did not say. Neil refuses to apologize. Then the student claims Neil assaulted him on the sidewalk. That is a false accusation. Neil resigns from his position. He goes home early to find Chrissie having an affair with another man. Neil packs up his stuff and stays at a friend's house. His friend has a house on the island of Mull. This is a remote area where he can relax and figure out his future. One day, on the island, a boat is abandoned. The boat came from Russia. The captain of the boat left his boat and took off in the island ferry. As they explore the old boat they hear sounds coming from below. In a tiny box under the floor they find two wolf/dogs. They bring the animals to the local veterinarian.  The local vet happens to be a pretty young woman. This gives Neil a chance to figure out his new beginning and a budding romance. 

 

 

Prairie Island

 Yesterday I drove to Prairie Island Park which is past the Prairie Island Campground. Prairie Island is not an island. The far side of the island is attached to the town, so it is more of a peninsula. I went to see birds but hardly saw any. I parked and walked for an hour and a half. I did see more lotus plants and that was cool.

Happy Autumn

 

Old School Indian

Aaron John Curtis is the author of Old School Indian, a novel about a 43-year-old man named Abe Jacobs. Abe has been told he is dying and has a year to live. The doctors in Miami can't help him so he goes north to the reservation to seek healing from his uncle Budge Billings. Abe lays on his uncle's bed with only his boxers on while his uncle massages his body and applies a healing ointment. This book is a striking exploration of love and family, culture and history. 

The Party Line

Carolyn Brown is the author of The Party Line, a novel about what life is like in the small town called Ditto, Texas.  Lila is an accountant in a larger city. When her great aunt Grace died, she left her house and belongings to Lila. Lila comes back to Ditto to live because she can be an accountant and work from home. Her aunt Grace was feisty and kept a secret. Lila wants to find out the secret. Behind the house is a huge field of strawberries. Lila does find out what the secret was, and she will tell no one. I enjoyed this story about Lila and her family.

The American Melody Returns

 

My Name Is Emilia Del Valle

 The book My Name Is Emilia Del Valle was published in 2025 by the great writer Isabelle Allende. Allende was born in Chile but now resides in California and she became a U.S. citizen in 2003. The story starts out in 1866. A young Irish woman is about to become a nun when she is taken advantage of by a Chilean aristocrat. Emilia is raised by her mother and her beloved stepfather. She helped her stepfather teach in their school. In her teen years she starts publishing novel under a male pen name. Later she gets a job with the local newspaper and she does quite well. When civil war breaks out in Chile, she and another reporter travel to Chile.  Her mother wants her to connect with her father so she can be claimed as his heir. She does connect with her father, and he does claim her as his own. Theys two reporters send back frequent columns about the war and human-interest stories. Eventually Emilia gets caught up in the battlefield. She is injured and jailed. The other reporter uses the U.S. embassy to have her released. The war is over and surely it is time to return to California. The male reporter heads back. Emillia stays on to find the plot of land in a remote area that her father left her. This was a great story about love and travel.

The Four Engagement Rings Of Sybil Rain

 This afternoon, after I walked around Lake Winona and saw a record breaking 39 turtles basking in the sun on logs, I read The Four Engagement Rings Of Sybil Rain. The author is Hannah Brown. This silly chick-lit book is about a woman named Sybil who has no luck in getting married. She has a close knit group of four women friends. Since her wedding was called off a year ago, they suggest she use the tickets for her honeymoon before they expire. So off she goes from Los Angeles to Mauri to an expensive resort. She plans to swim, snorkel and relax on the beach. As soon as she checks in she runs into her most recent ex who is there on business for his family's winery. After touching base with her four friends, she decides to be honest with her ex about why they broke up at the altar.

The Senator's Wife

 The Senator's Wife is a psychological thriller written by Liv Constantine. Liv Constantine is actually a pen name for sisters Lynne and Valerie Constantine. In this story Sloane is a philanthropist in Washington, D.C.. She runs an agency that provides shelter for victims of domestic violence. She recently married Senator Whit Montgomery. Her husband and his wife were murdered several years ago so they drew together for comfort. Sloane is used to going to the White House for dinner and to gala events. Due to her diagnosis of lupus she is going to have a hip replaced. To help in her recovery Whit hires Athena, a home health aid experienced in helping people with lupus. After the surgery her health starts spiraling downward. I never saw the ending coming and it was a very satisfying ending to read.

Chana Masala and Naan

 Yesterday Offspring #2 did the cooking and, man oh man, was it delicious. They made home made garlic/cilantro naan from scratch. I have never seen such a thing. Each mouth watering bite was delicious. The chana masala was excellent.

Lilac Lane

Sheryl Woods is the author of the family novel called Lilac Lane. Nearly all of the story takes place in current time in Maryland and on the beach. A smaller amount of the story takes place in Ireland. Nearly all of the characters are Irish or Irish/American. The main character is Keira Malone. She single handedly raised two sons and a daughter after her alcoholic husband abandoned the family. After her father and daughter moved to the Chesapeake Bay area they worry about her because Keira's fiancé died of a massive heart attack on the same day she agreed to take his hand in marriage. Keira decides to join her family. She still has two sons living in Ireland but they took after their Dad and are in and out of jail. Once in Maryland she meets her granddaughter who is 4 months old. She also meets her father's second wife (her mother died 5 years earlier). Will she fit in once she moves to Maryland? Will she win the cooking contest for the best Irish stew at the upcoming town festival? I enjoyed this family drama book.

Kindee Thai

Today, after completing some errands downtown Minneapolis, Offspring #2 and I had lunch at Kindee Thai restaurant. The pineapple fried rice with fried tofu was delicious but too much for me to eat in one setting.

 

Black Woods Blue Sky

If you are interested in what life is like in rural Alaska you should read Black Woods Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey. This story is about a young single mother named Birdie. She never knew her father. Her mother abandoned her and her sister with her grandparents. Her grandmother, fearful she will take off and abandon her daughter like her mother did, is very critical of Birdie to the point she can't take it anymore. She gets a job at a local bar/restaurant that comes with a free cabin. She tried to be a good mother to Emaleen but sometimes she gives into temptation. She meets a guy named Arthur who is anti-social and not mentally well. She is drawn to him because he is different from the other folk in the town. She decides to join Arthur in the wilderness despite the advice of everyone else and town. Birdie, Emaleen, and Arthur take off in a plane piloted by Arthur's adoptive father. Arthur's father tries to keep an eye on them. He flies back with supplies every couple of weeks and checks in to see how they are doing. This was a good story with just a touch of magic. 

Intervention

 The famous doctor/author of Intervention is Robin Cook.  Jack Stapleton graduated from college 31 years ago. One of his roommates is an archeologist. The other is the Bishop of New York City. Jack is a medical examiner. One day he determines the cause of death for a lovely young woman was caused by a chiropractor. When he cracked her neck he tore the arteries in her neck causing bleeding. Jack unwisely confronts the chiropractor who sues him for coming over. His archeologist friend went to Rome where he stole a box probably containing the bones of Mary, Mother of God. He has the box shipped to his Bishop's house who is now going to get into big trouble because of this. This was a strange story about the friendship of three men.

Where The Rivers Merge

 Mary Alice Munroe is the author of the historical fiction novel entitled Where The Rivers Merge. The author lives in South Carolina and is a conservationist. Her facts about the birds, the plants, and the animals make her conservation work very apparent. The Mayfair estate grows rice and horses. The mother and father have three children. The middle child is a girl named Eliza and she is a tomboy. She would rather be outside riding horses than do any of the womanly work inside. She is a disappointment to her mother but a big help to her father. She pushes back against societal norms. The book starts out in 1908 and ends in 1998 when Eliza is 80 years old. I really enjoyed this book.

American Melody

After lunch I walked through Levee Park on my way to the public library. I saw the American Melody parked and passengers were getting on and off. This ship took off from St. Louis, Missouri and was on it's way to Saint Paul. Just as I walked to the end of the ship I saw an elderly couple. The man used a walker. Just then the American Cruise bus went by and KERPLOW!!!! blew a tire right next to me. The noise was so loud. I could see a 3 inch gash in the sidewall of the tire. I jumped. The man with the walker starting tipping over. I thought he was going to fall but he didn't. My adrenaline was through the roof. Yikes. The ship was still there on my way back from the library a few hours later but it eventually pulled away and headed up river again.

Bird Club

 Tonight I went to my first meeting of the Winona bird club. Our speaker was a woman who is an expert on Prairie Island. She told us where to find which birds. She has seen 67 species of warblers. She told us about the nature trail. Now I want to go down there and walk that trail. There is a lake called Hunter Lake.  There, in the spring, the lake thaws before the river and you can find a large variety of green winged teal, canvas backs, and ruddy ducks. She told us which birds nest on the island. The city of Winona has partnered with the Minnesota Land Trust and will develop a plan to restore the island and remove the invasive species. I look forward to the next meeting. This is a fun group.

The Book Of Lost Sould

 In this delightful historical fiction story we switch the story between 1875 and 1988. Lisa Wingate is the author of The Book of Lost Souls. In 1875 little Hannie watched from the plantation in Mississippi as her mother and siblings are sold away. Lavinia Gossett is the daughter of the plantation owner. Juneau Jane is the plantation owner's daughter with a Creole woman in New Orleans. Together the three girls take off looking for the plantation owner in Texas. While recovering from illness they hide out in a church for a week. On the walls of the church are newspaper articles of former slaves looking for their relatives. Juneau Jane knows how to read and write so she starts collecting information from other people missing relatives and writes the book of lost soles. Juneau Jane teaches Hannie how to read and write. On the other end of the timeline first year teacher Benny Silva comes to Livingston, Alabama. She needs to work off her student loans. The school is shockingly empty of books and teaching materials. She finds a huge library of books in an empty farmhouse behind the one she is renting. She gets permission from the owner to bring the books to school. With her students they begin to do research on the people who lived in this area. Eventually they come to find out that this is where Hannie, Lavinia, and Juneau Jane once lived.

The Female Persuasion

Meg Wolitzer is the author of The Female Persuasion. This novel follows the life of Greer and Cody. Greer met Cody when she was 8 years old. He moved to her neighborhood and now they are in the same grade in school. Both Greer and Cody are the smartest kids in their class. After graduation they were meant to go to Yale together. Greer's parents are not the best. They don't seem to care about her. They both smoke weed in the basement. Greer's father said he would fill out the financial questions on her application for scholarships but he didn't. Now Greer is angry because she has to go to Ryland college. Cody will go to Princeton. In college a friend named Zee convinces Greer to hear Faith Frank, a famous feminist, speak. Greer is so impressed by Faith that they follow her into the bathroom. Faith gives Greer her card and asks her to keep in touch. After graduating from Ryland Greer gets a job with Faith's company. Cody ends up working in the Philippines. He gets a call one day that rocks his world. His mother was backing out the car and accidentally runs over his little brother, Alby, who was lying in the driveway studying his turtle. Cody goes home. After the funeral his father returns to his native Portugal, never to return. Cody's mother is rightfully depressed. Cody stays home to care for her. This delightful book is about wanting to be seen.  

Kayaking

 

I had a hard time getting my kayak out of storage but now it is out.

The lovely lotus blossoms are abundant on Lake Winona. The only other places I have seen them are at Como Park and on the Mississippi in Cottage Grove.

Today was a fine day to be out on the water. I saw Canadian geese, bald eagles, tree swallows, a great blue heron, a muskrat, two turtles (one was a rather large softshell turtle), many fish. As I kayaked along I could see people walking or biking on the path.

The boat sticker says 2023 so I had better get that updated pronto.

The Burgess Boys

I am a big fan of the writing by Elizabeth Strout. I was very happy to find a book by her at the library that I hadn't read before. This one is called The Burgess Boys. The Burgess boys, James and Bob, along with their sister Susan, grew up in Shadow Falls Maine. Now the brothers live in New York City and work as lawyers. Their sister lives in their family home in Maine. One day she calls her brothers and asks them to come home because her son, Zach, is in a world of trouble. He impulsively took a pig head and rolled it in the door of a building. He didn't know that this building was a mosque. He didn't know his behavior was culturally widely inappropriate. Some people in Shadow Falls are disappointed that so many Somali people are moving to Shadow Falls. This wonderful story is about family bonds and immigration. 

First Ladies

Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray are the co-authors of First Ladies. The story revolves around the unlikely friendship of a black activist by the name of Mary McCloud Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Eleanor and her mother-in-law invited Mary McCloud Bethune to a luncheon at their home in New York City. She is the only black person in the room. Eleanor was unaware that other white women at this luncheon would refuse to dine with a black woman. Bethune knew how it was going to go down but she went anyway thinking racism is their problem, not hers. When Franklin gets elected to be the President, Eleanor and Bethune start working on civil rights together. Eventually Bethune gets hired to work at the White House. Eventually the two women start sharing family secrets and are there to support each other through thick and thin. This is a very good book. 

Isaac's Song

 Isaac's Song is an historical fiction coming of age novel set in Missouri and Chicago. Isaac's father does not approve of his inclinations. His father wants him to enjoy manly things like sports and woodworking. Isaac isn't like that. Isaac's mother has a drinking problem that gets so bad his father moves out. Isaac and his father did get along when they took a road trip to his father's boyhood farm. He learned much information about his father on that trip. After graduating from high school Isaac moves to Chicago for university. There he finds himself. He still holds huge amounts of anger for his father. A therapist suggests he go back to his boyhood home in Missouri. When he does he finds ten or so letters from his father who wrote them as he was dying. After processing the letters the anger abates. His therapist recommends he start writing about his memories and this proves to be a useful method. This was a very good book to read about gender norms and racism.

I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This

 Bob Newhart is the author of I shouldn't Even Be Doing This And Other Things That Strike Me As Funny. In it he talks about his parents and his siblings. He has three sisters. He grew up outside of Chicago. He attended all Catholic schools. He got a degree in business management. He started to go to law school but dropped out before he finished. He got drafted into the Army but managed to stay out of Korea.  He lived with his parents to save money. His father owned a plumbing business but Bob didn't want to get into that. He started doing stand up comedy on the west coast. Eventually he made recordings of his funny stories. He has a dry sense of humor and speaks with a stammer. He played a psychologist on The Bob Newhart show. Suzanne Pleshette played his wife. That ran for six years. Years later he played an innkeeper in Vermont. There he had a different wife. In the best ending in television history they turned the set around to reveal Bob in bed with Suzanne. She says he can't have Japanese food before bed ever again.

Homeseeking

 Karissa Chen is the author of Homeseeking, an historical fiction novel that starts off in China. Suchi is 7 when she first hears a boy playing the violin. Next he is in her class at school. For the first day in school students are supposed to bring a lunch from home, The violin playing boy, Haiwan, probably didn't know that. Suchi gives him half of her lunch, As they grow up together and Suchi spends time in Haiwan's home, they fall in love. Haiwan is trying to get into a musical academy and he spends hours a day practicing on his violin. Just before graduating from high school, he joins the military so that his older brother won't have to go and leave his wife and daughter. Suchi is heartbroken. Both Suchi and Haiwan marry other people. He leaves his violin with Suchi and a note that asks for her forgiveness. Sixty years later Haiwan is walking around Los Angeles and he hears his name called out. There stands Suchi looking at him. They agree to meet for breakfast and that is where she gives him his violin back. This is a story about love and familial sacrifice and the power of longing over distance and time.

Tidal Treasures

Kay Correl is the author of Tidal Treasures. Jenna, an investigative journalist in San Francisco made a mistake that resulted in a man being imprisoned for two years for a crime he did not do. Jenna decides to quit her job and move to an island off of South Carolina. She buys a house sight unseen and starts to fix it up. Her sister disagrees with her decision to move so far away from her. Jenna hires a contractor named Nash to help with electrical and plumbing repairs and to paint the outside of the house. Under a floorboard Jenna finds a metal box full of love letters from the 1920's. She tries to figure out who wrote them. She realizes some secrets are better off left unsolved. 

Collecting Prairie Coreopsis Seeds

 

Today I drove north and west to the Weaver Dunes Nature Conservancy site. With the help of 14 other people we walked through the prairie (and the poison ivy) collecting seeds. We even found a ground cherry which I thought was pretty cool. One guy found two snake skins that had been shed quite a long time ago. We had nice cool weather for our work. One family brought two kids under the age of five and I liked that. One kid found part of a deer antler. This is a remnant prairie. When the DNR does butterfly surveys they come here because of all the butterfly varieties that are found here. This is a really special place.

The Art Of Saying Goodbye

Ellyn Bache is the author of The Art Of Saying Goodbye. The story revolves around five suburban woman, Iona, Paisley, Julianne, Ginger, and Andrea. Paisley is the lift of the party. She invites her neighbors and their husbands and their children to her house for food and drinks and games. Iona feels out of place because she is thirty years older than the rest of them. Julianne is a nurse with a psychic ability to diagnose patients by feel. When Paisley comes in for a pre-operative examination Julianne touches Paisley's belly and knows she has cancer. As the other women cope with Paisley's upcoming death from metastasized pancreatic cancer they come to realize the importance of female friendships and not to take life for granted. When they learn of Paisley's diagnosis they each tie a huge white ribbon on a tree in their yards. At the funeral these white ribbons decorate the top of Paisley's casket.  

Big Chief

 Jon Hickey, a Native American author wrote his debut novel called Big Chief. A young law school graduate named Mitch Caddo. He is an aspiring political fixer returning to the land of his Anishinaabe ancestors. He is helping a childhood friend, Mack Beck, the tribal chief of the Passage Rouge nation in northern Wisconsin. He is also the chief of the  Golden Eagle Casino and hotel. He is up for reelection and an activist named Gloria Hawkins may well beat him. On the eve of the election violence breaks out. Mitch's mentor and father figure dies in a plane crash. The very interesting story is about power, corruption, family ties and a search for belonging.

Tales Of A Female Nomad

Rita Goldman Gelden is the author of Tales Of A Female Nomad. At age 48, on the verge of divorce, and both of her kids in college, Rita sold her belongings and started to travel. She did not accept alimony. She makes some money writing children's books. First she went to Mexico and lived there for a few years. She has lived in Indonesia, Borneo, Bali, New Zealand, Canada, Thailand and the Galapagos Islands. Sometimes her kids would visit her. Sometimes friends would come to visit. She learned to speak Spanish and Indonesian. She trusts people and she makes friends. Very interesting book.

How To Sleep At Night

Elizabeth Harris is the author of this comedic book, How To Sleep At Night. Ethan and Gabe are a loving couple. They hired a woman to bear their daughter, Chloe. Ethan's and Gabe's political leanings have drifted apart. Ethan asks Gabe if he will support him in a run for Congress as a Republican. Gabe doesn't want this to happen but since he loves his husband he can say no. In a nearby town  a suburban housewife named Nicole feels like an accessory to her husband's life. She loves her two children but if bored with her life. She gets in contact with a lover she was with in college named Kate (who is Ethan's sister). Nicole and Kate have an affair. This novel is about romance, sibling love, and how people change over time.

 

The Lost Pilor

I read another historical fiction book. This one is called The Lost Pilot and it was written by Benjamin Johncock. Jim Harrison is a talented pilot with the U.S. Airforce. He flies over the Mojave desert. He and his wife, Grace, yearn for a child. A fertility specialist tells her she is unfertile. To their surprise she does become pregnant. When it comes time to deliver the baby their truck won't start because it is too cold. They travel to the hospital on a motorcycle. They name the baby girl Florence but he often calls her duck.  When she was a baby she often made sounds like a duck. Tragedy strikes. Jim copes by throwing himself into his work. They move to Houston so he can train as an astronaut. This puts a strain on their marriage. The decisions they have made together are both hopeful and hurtful. This is a memorable novel about hurt and being brave in the face of that pain. 

Ape House

 Sara Gruen is the author of Ape House. Isabel Duncan is in charge of seven Bonobo apes. These Bonobos know how to sign and understand American sign language.  Isabel is a scientist at the Great Ape Language Lab. There are animal rights activists protesting that the Bonobos are not being well taken care of but that is not the case. A journalist, John Thigpen, working for a newspaper in Pennsylvania, speaks with Isabel and gets to see the Bonobos. Before coming he brought them 3 backpacks of gifts to ensure the Bonobos will want to see them. Soon after he leaves to file his story the door opens and an explosion happens seriously injuring Isabel and freeing the Bonobos. Once out of the hospital she is bound and determined to get her Bonobos back in her care. John Thigpen helps her discover where they are and how to get them back. The Bonobos are thrilled to see Isabel again. Fascinating story.

The Paris Express

 The Paris Express is a historical fiction novel by Emma Donoghue. Based on a true story, the book details who was on a train heading to Paris. There were people from Russia, Pennsylvania, Algiers, Ireland and Cambodia. A secretary tries to convince her boss about the possibility of moving pictures. A medical student suspects a girl on the train may be dying. The engineer is best friends with his buddy who shovels in the coals. A young anarchist has a terrible plan. As the train gets closer to Montparnasse station, the brakes fail. The train is going too fast for this part of town and there is no way to stop it. The book does a great job exploring the glamour, the politics, chaos and speed of 1895.

We Do Not Part

Years ago I read a book written by Han Kang called The Vegetarian. Today I read We Do Not Part. This is a historical fiction book set in South Korea. Two women met at work and often traveled together for work. Kyuhnga gets a call from her former work partner, Inseon. Inseon lost some fingers in a wood working accident. She is in the hospital. She wants Inseon to travel to Jeje Island to feed and water her bird. The birds need food and water today or it will die. Inseon travels first by plane and then by bus to get to Inseon's house. A winter storm is slowing her down. The bus puts chains on the tires and Kyuhnga makes it to Inseon's town. But now it is dark and 3 feet of snow have fallen and Kyuhnga isn't sure she is going to make it. She does make it. When Inseon returns to her home both friends investigate the mass killings that went on in Korea. This is a beautiful story about the importance of remembering and of friendship. 

I'll Be Right Here

Amy Bloom is the author of I'll Be Right Here. This is a historical fiction novel that starts in Paris and ends up in New York City. Samir is the older brother to his sister Gazala. They are orphans. They get separated. After World War II Gazala immigrates to New York City where she becomes friends with two sisters, Alma and Anne.  Samir surprisingly joins Gazala. These four friends make a family together. They annoy each other and cheer each other on.  As the decades go by they have more things to worry about and to celebrate. This made for an interesting story.

Tracks

 Today I read Tracks, a memoir of a trip by Robyn Davidson. In her early 20's she moves to Alice Springs to learn how to train and be around camels. Her goal is to take a trip with camels from Alice Springs to the ocean on the south west side of Australia near Perth. She doesn't have much money. She gets a job at a restaurant who will allow her to sleep in the back overnight. She finds a camel trainer. He is so incredibly rude to her that she quits him after a year. Another camel trainer learned that she managed to stick it out for a year. He is so impressed by that he finishes her training and gets her two camels. Those camels die. A photographer friend of hers suggests she write to National Geographic to sponsor her trip. She does get sponsored by the magazine and takes off with four camels and a dog. For nine months she travels mostly alone. Her photographer friend meets her 4 times. For some time she traveled with an elderly Aboriginal man which is nice because she doesn't get lost as much. Australia has feral camels roaming. This spells trouble during the mating season. She ends up having to shoot several male camels to death. When they reach the ocean the camels are freaking out at the sight of all this water. The camels run and dance and swim in the sea. She takes them to a camel sanctuary to live out the rest of their lives and travels away. Interesting story.

Boat Tour

This afternoon I went on the Winona boat tour. We saw 6 bald eagles, 3 deer running, and a mink swimming across the river. We saw a gaggle of geese and a waddling of Mallards.

Our tour lasted 90 minutes.

We headed up river towards the town of Fountain City. Here we are approaching lock and dam 5A.

This used to be parked next to the U of M in Minneapolis. Now someone in Fountain City bought it and intends to rent it out for weddings or other gatherings.