Monday, July 21, 2025
But Soft, What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks? It Is The East And Juliet Is The Sun
Sunday, July 20, 2025
Lie For A Million
Janet Daily is the author of Lie For A Million. This novel is set in horse country. Lila Culhane has just become a widow after her husband, Frank, was killed in the horse barn. She is trying to manage the farm on her own with the help of a cook/housekeeper and Roper, a cowhand. A FBI agent is there trying to solve the murder. Frank's first wife wants to take the farm away from Lila. Frank's son and his wife want to take the farm from Lila. Now Frank's young lover tells Lila that she is pregnant with Frank's child. Lila's life is a mess.
Friday, July 18, 2025
Bay State Milling
Whitewater State Park
Thursday, July 17, 2025
Stop Me If You Heard This One
In Stop Me If You Heard This One, a book written by Kristin Arnett, Cherry lives in Orlando and wants to make a living being a clown. Her mother does not approve. She finds some gigs as a clown but not enough to pay the bills. She also works at an aquarium store with a friend and a very lazy third employee. Her fortune looks up when she meets Margo the Magnificent who is a magician. Together with Margo's mentoring, Cherry hopes to make it as a clown. This is a wonderful comedic fiction story.
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
The Three Lives Of Cate Kay
In The Three Lives of Cate Kay, author Kate Fagan writes about the friendship of Amanda with another girl in 3rd grade. Both grew up in difficult households. Both dream of moving to California the day after they graduate from high school. Amanda and her friend starred in all the high school plays. Now they want to become stars in Hollywood. The day before they are due to leave a terrible accident befalls Amanda's friend so Amanda leaves without her. Amanda goes on to become a writer of books and screen plays. Amanda writes under a series of three pen names. Due to the machinations of a jealous girlfriend Amanda is told her friend died from the accident. That is not true. Her friend reads Amanda's books and knows it is her. Her friend writes letters to Amanda that never arrive, again due to the jealous friend. When the letters finally do arrive, Amanda changes course. She goes back to her home town and reunites with her friend. This was a good story. Kate Fagan is a talented writer.
Monday, July 14, 2025
All Fours
Sunday, July 13, 2025
Identity
Nora Roberts is the author of Identity. The story starts out with Morgan and Nina living together in Morgan's house. Morgan works at a construction company during the day and tends bar in the evening. One evening Morgan and Nina hold a dinner party with Nina's boyfriend and a guy Morgan met at the bar. The next evening Morgan comes home to find her car stolen and Nina dead on the floor. All of Morgan's assets have been stolen from her bank. Credit cards are taken out in her name, used to buy things that Morgan is expected to pay for. The FBI tells Morgan that they are familiar with the murderer and that Nina is not his typical victim. Morgan is his typical victim which are blond women under 35 who own a house. The FBI inform Morgan that the murderer will likely come after her next. Morgan ends up selling her house and moving to Vermont to live with her mother and grandmother. She gets a job managing a bar at a fancy resort. Will she be safe there? You had better read the book to find out.
Saturday, July 12, 2025
Now Is Not The Time To Panic
Now Is Not The Time To Panic was written by Kevin Wilson. The story starts off with Franky meeting a guy named Zeke when he asks her to help him catch the greased watermelon in the public swimming pool. Franky sends her 3 brothers to help by promising them twenty dollars. After that, Franky and Zeke, both 16 years old are friends. They hang out at Franky's house. They find an old copy machine in the garage. Zeke fixes it. They design a poster with an image of their two faces with an enigmatic phrase. They post 100 copies throughout their small town in Tennessee. The talk of the town is abuzz with speculation on who put out these posters. Some panic ensues. Neither Franky nor Zeke ever take credit for the posters. Now, twenty years later, a reporter calls Franky and starts asking questions. Franky decides to talk to Zeke after all these years of not speaking. I enjoyed this coming of age novel.
Friday, July 11, 2025
Leave The World Behind
Rumaan Alam is the author of Leave The World Behind, a novel that has also been made into a movie. A loving couple and their two kids leave their home in the Bronx to rent an AirBnb on Long Island. On their 3rd night there someone knocks on the door at 9:30 at night. Turns out the owner of the AirBnb were attending an opera in New York City when the electricity went out everywhere. Their AirBnb still has electricity but the televisions don't work and the internet is down. The owners ask if they can move in with the family until things get figured out. The next day the daughter spots hundreds of deer in the backyard. The daughter and the son go running off into the woods. The son gets a tick bite. The next day the son falls ill. He is vomiting and his teeth start to fall out. The owners will lead the way to the hospital. And then the novel ends and I didn't know if the world had ended or what was going on.
Thursday, July 10, 2025
By Any Other Name
This is an unusual book for Jodi Picoult. By Any Other Name is a novel with two threads. In the 1500's Emilia Bassano is educated and witty. She writes plays. But women are not allowed to write plays. Instead, in order to support her family, she gives her plays to William Shakespeare and he prints them under his name. The performances are widely attended. In the current time, Melinda Green researches her ancestor Emilia Bassano. Melina is also a playwright. In college her work is disparaged. Ten years later, her play about Emilia, is turned into a contest with the name Mel Green. Melina has to get around the misogyny of the judges. Her play wins the award so the convinces her male roommate and friend to pose as Mel. I loved this story about how women can do beautiful work despite the prejudices of culture.
Wednesday, July 9, 2025
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
Solito
The author of Solito, Javier Zamora, was born in El Savador in 1990. His father fled to the United States when Javier was one year old. His mother left when he was five years old. He migrated to the United States, unaccompanied, when he was nine years old. This book is a memoir about his journey. The 3,000 mile journey was supposed to take two weeks. He was headed north through Guatemala and Mexico. His journey was much longer. Another man took Javier under his wing. Together with a mother and her daughter they pretended to be a family. When they finally made it into the USA they were caught by border agents and deported back into Mexico. This was a harrowing and emotional story to read.
Monday, July 7, 2025
Fox Creek
The acclaimed author from Saint Paul, MN wrote Fox Creek. This is one of William Kent Kruger's series of tales about Cork O'Connor who lives near the Canadian border. Cork used to be a police officer but now he runs a burger joint. Less stress for him and his family selling burgers. One day a man comes in looking for help to find his wife. He knows Cork does some private investigation work. He claims his wife is having an affair with Henry. Cork knows Henry. Henry is 105 years old and a spiritual leader in the local tribe. Henry is also an uncle to Cork's wife. Cork goes to visit Henry where he also finds his wife and the missing wife. When Cork shows the wife a picture of her husband on his phone she says that is not him. This starts an ordeal as 4 people come hunting for the wife. Henry leads the two women out into the wilderness for their own safety. Cork and other tribal police follow the hunters to assure the safety of Henry and the two women. This was a fascinating tale about survival in the wilderness.
Sunday, July 6, 2025
Tom Lake
I listened to an audio version of Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. As a special treat the book was read by Meryl Streep who is a very good reader. In 2020 the 3 daughters of Lara come home to the Michigan cherry orchard to help with cherry picking. The three daughters ask Lara to tell the story of dating a now famous actor. When Lara was in high school a talent scout flew her from her east coast home in Maine to Hollywood for an audition. Lara ended up getting the part. After a couple years in Hollywood she flew to northern Michigan to work in a summer theater. This is where she met the actor and his brother and also her husband. After the summer theater Lara married the cherry orchard keeper and settled down to lead a happy life. The actor always remembered the cherry farm. He actually tried to buy it on a few occasions. Eventually his brother settled his ashes on the cherry farm. Ann Patchett is fine writer.
Friday, July 4, 2025
Turn Of Mind
Alice La Plante is the author of Turn Of Mind. The story is told from the perspective of Doctor Jennifer White. Dr. White is a retired orthopedic hand surgeon who just retired because she has dementia. When her frenemy/neighbor is found dead from a head wound and with four fingers removed, Dr. White is a prime suspect. Dr. White can't remember if she murdered her neighbor or not. The police interview her multiple times despite her daughter, Fiona's, strong objections. By the end of the book we come to understand what happened. Sometimes listening to Dr. White's confusing thoughts, I became confused too. This was a really good book to read.
Thursday, July 3, 2025
Chimney Swift Neighbors
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Last night I went to listen to the municipal band play patriotic songs. |
Tuesday, July 1, 2025
The Children Act
In Ian McEwan's book, The Children Act, a judge in England is named Fiona. She presides over cases such as child custody, maltreatment, and family court. In one case she had to rule about two boys who were co-joined. Together they shared a bladder. One boy was stronger than the other. His heart was working for himself and his brother. He wasn't able to do the work of two boys for ever. If the boys were not separated, both would die. If the boys were separated, the weaker boy would die. People were impressed with her wise judgement. She gets a new case about a 17 year old boy who will die without a blood transfusion. His parents told the hospital they will not allow him to have a blood transfusion. Fiona hears the case in court and then travels to the hospital to meet the boy. Meanwhile, at home, Fiona's husband has told her he wants to have a sexual encounter with a younger woman before he settles into old age with her. He seems to think she would be okay with an open marriage. Fiona is not okay with this idea. This was a terribly interesting story. I hear it has been made into a film starring Emma Thompson as Fiona.
But Soft, What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks? It Is The East And Juliet Is The Sun
Yesterday I attended a matinee performance of Romeo And Juliet at the Winona State University Defresne Theater. Winona has a great river Sha...

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A yellow rail, one of THE MOST ELUSIVE birds around, sound like a manual typewriter. And if you're too young to know what a manual ty...
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My class was on television. I am pretty good at hiding from the cameras! http://kstp.com/news/anoka-county-residents-citizens-academy-poli...
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Jacqueline Windspear is the author of her memoir This Time Next Year We Will Be Laughing. She starts out with her parent's stories. H...