Category: NonFiction

The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be

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Mowat, Farley. The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be. Little, Brown and Company, 1957.

Reason read: April Fool’s Day and April is Dog Month.

How much of Farley Mowat’s The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be is imaginative exaggeration? It is hard to say, but nevertheless it is a delightful read for all ages. Mowat looks back at his childhood in Saskatoon with his faithful dog, Mutt, at his side. The addition of “four cent” Mutt, a goofy, intelligent pup full of personality, lends humor into an otherwise typical 1930s household. Mutt has a personality all his own and often gets his loyal and loving family in trouble, especially while duck hunting, tangling with skunks and anything having to do with boats. Every member of the Mowat family bonds with Mutt in special ways but my favorite stories centered around a pair of mischievous owls, Wols and Weeps, who the Mowat family somehow adopts.
Disclaimer: The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be is a bit dated. Hunting practices have changed and leash laws abound these days. The carefree attitudes of the 1930s are a thing of the past.
Confessional: I unexpectedly shed a few tears at the end of The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be. Like all young children with pets, they grow up and leave their animal behind. Humans outlast most furry friends, after all. I knew Mutt was getting old so I was expecting that kind of coming of age, circle of life ending. Not even close. No spoiler alert needed. Just read the book.

Author fact: Mowat also wrote Bay of Spirits which I am slated to read for the Challenge in July of 2031.

Book trivia: The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be was illustrated by Paul Galdone and first published in 1957.

Line I liked, “I did not speak, for I had a certain intuition that silence would be safer” (p 63), “…and in twenty nine years a man can remember a good many things that ought to have happened” (p 177).

Music: “The Bonnets of Bonny Dundee.”

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in two chapters, “Canadian Fiction (p 50) and again in “Humor” (p 116). Also in Book Lust To Go in the simple chapter called “Newfoundland” (p 154).

Brontes: a Life in Letters

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Barker, Juliet. The Brontes: a Life in Letters. Overlook Press, 1997.

Reason read: March is considered Literature Month.

Arguably one of the best researched biographies of the Bronte family and definitely unique. Riding on the coattails of success from Juliet Barker’s first book, The Brontes, she came back with a follow-up. The Brontes: a Life in Letters offers new material in the forms of letters, manuscripts, the reminiscing of friends and teachers, and school documents on the lives of four of the Bronte siblings: Charlotte, Emily, Anne, and Branwell. (Sisters Maria and Elizabeth Bronte both died when they were eleven and ten respectively.) Nineteen new letters are published for the very first time.
Barker’s careful selection of letters creates a humanizing effect. You don’t think about well known “celebrity” types being real people with real feelings and faults. For example, waiting for the reviews of Jane Eyre to come out. As it was, Charlotte suffered from an inferiority complex when it came to social settings. She was truly shocked when people referred to her as a friend. On paper Charlotte had no problem being candid about the political climate of the day or, on a lighter subject, offering book recommendations on all sorts of subjects such as poetry, history, fiction, biography, natural history, and divinity. She and her siblings liked to live in the imaginary world of Gondal and were torn between several callings: teaching or writing or painting? Less is known about Emily, Anne and Branwell. Although Branwell’s involvement with a married woman and subsequent alcoholism complicated the lives of all the Brontes. Like a sniper of the disease variety, tuberculosis picked off the Brontes one by one. Branwell, Emily, and Anne all succumbed to the illness.
One of my favorite parts was learning that the Brontes wrote to established poets to inquire about their own future success as writers. Branwell wrote to William Wordsworth and Charlotte sought the advice of Robert Southey. The biography ramps up in interest when the three Brontes sisters decided to become published authors, cleverly disguised behind androgynous pseudonyms of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. However, The Westminster Review and W.M. Thackery both pegged the Jane Eyre author as being a woman. Charlotte wanted her books to be considered for the words she wrote rather than the sex of the author. What a progressive idea. I can only imagine the material she could have written into her old age.

As Branwell wrote to a friend, “Death only has made me neglectful of your kindness” (p 109). I wish I could send this quote to my friend.

As an aside, it was interesting to read about the struggling success of Wuthering Heights when in present day an adaptation is in the theaters.
Interesting sidenote: I read the lines about Charlotte’s death on March 30th, one hundred and seventy years after her passing.

Author fact:  According to her Wiki page, Barker was the curator and librarian of the Bronte Parsonage Museum from 1983 to 1989.

Book trivia: Brontes: a Life in Letters is thought to be a companion read to Barker’s earlier book called The Brontes. Both books are considered groundbreaking.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Literary Lives: the Brits” (p 146).

Last Amateurs

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Feinstein, John. The Last Amateurs: Playing for Glory and Honor in Division I College Basketball. Little, Brown and Company, 2000.

Reason read: in college basketball there is a thing called March Madness. Read in honor of the hype.

John Feinstein spent a season with the basketball players of the Patriots League. What started as an assignment for the Washington Post (even though Feinstein was not working for the organization at the time) turned into The Last Amateurs. This is an in-depth peek into the lives of the players as athletes, students, sons, and brothers. Ambitious coaches become fathers and husbands. Characters become real people as personal lives are explored. Because Last Amateurs is extremely well researched readers will get a play by play of the more significant games and mini biographies of coaches, colleges, and players. All the heartbreak due to injury or losses as well as the triumphs of success. They will also get added detail like the careers and alma maters of the parents of the players. Rutgers, Holy Cross, Bucknell, Navy, Lehigh, Lafayette, Army, Colgate, Duke, Wagner, Yale, Penn State, and Villanova are the institutions to get Feinstein’s extensive coverage. Feinstein’s description of the the game between Lehigh and Lafayette was pretty exciting. I almost could feel the atmosphere in the gym as the players battled for the win.
Confessional: I had never heard of the Patriot League.

The me connection: Feinstein mentions Fairleigh Dickinson University. I earned my Bachelors degree from F.D.U.
Another connection: the Worcester Six. When Feinstein mentioned the horrible fire that took the lives of six firefighters I immediately thought of the race I have run as a fundraiser for their families.
I am always looking for ways to become a better supervisor. When Feinstein said players were always looser when the coach was not in the room it struck a chord with me.

Author fact: Feinstein has written a bunch of books on a variety of subjects. I will be reading another book about basketball and one about the PGA for the Challenge.

Book trivia: Feinstein admitted that every good book needed photographs. The Last Amateurs has a great suite of black and whites.

Music: “Happy Birthday,” and “Amazing Grace.”

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Sports and Games” (p 225).

Breaking the Barnyard Barrier

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Rhodes, Linda. Breaking the Barnyard Barrier: A Woman Veterinarian Paves the Way. University of Nevada Press, 2026.

Reason read: As a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing I get to real really interesting books. This is one of those books.

The year is 1975 Mormon Utah and six months after graduation Linda Rhodes is surrounded by a bunch of worried men and a very pregnant cow trying to give birth to a breeched 150 pound bull calf. The men in the room are not used to a woman taking charge of what is normally their world and, despite it being the middle of the night, their discomfort is palpable. I cannot imagine the pressure Rhodes must have been feeling. Her student loans were coming due and this internship was her one shot to prove she could be a capable large animal veterinarian. This is how readers are introduced to Linda and her memoir, Breaking the Barnyard Barrier.
Throughout Linda’s fight to become a large animal veterinarian she had to endure sexist comments about sewing being a “girl thing” and being called a little lady or dear. The university where she interned did not have a changing room for women. And speaking of clothes, Rhodes had to dress feminine for her interview despite the position being a farm job.
At the same time as trying to prove herself in a man’s world, Linda juggled a long-distance marriage and ailing parents. Her support system was across the country and could do very little to help.
The unexpected bonus of reading Breaking the Barnyard Barrier was learning more about Utah (the roads are numbered in relationship to how far away the towns are from the Temple) and Mormons (they do not drink coffee or have anything to do with the beverage. You can be disowned for drinking coffee!). I also appreciated the black and white photographs. Utah is beautiful.
I truly enjoyed Breaking the Barnyard Barrier and I hope Rhodes writes again. I’m sure there are plenty more stories she could tell.
As an aside, is it standard to ask a new veterinarian to put a nose ring on a bull? Linda is tested with such a task and if I remember correctly, so was James Harriet in All Creatures Great and Small.

This has got to be one of the coolest playlists yet: Jackson Browne’s “Running On Empty,” Joan Baez, Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone,” Doc Watson, Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl,” “Oh Death,” the Grateful Dead, “Home On the Range,” Joni Mitchell, Dave Brubeck, “Ukulele Lady,” “Somebody Stole My Gal,” Jim Kweskin, and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”

Surviving the Wild

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Kimberly Anne. Surviving the Wild: an Untamed Woman Opens Her Cage. Awaken Village Press, 2026.

Reason read: as a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing, I sometimes get to review fun books. this is one such book.

Kimberly Anne wants her memoir to come with instruction. My takeaways were to not be afraid to take chances, find ways to travel the world, and if you do, bring nice underwear. Kimberly begins her story twelve years earlier on a farm in Wisconsin, divorcing her husband of fifteen years. On impulse she and a girlfriend travel to Belize for a little getaway. Unexpectedly, she meets a beautiful and sexy stranger. On impulse she returns to Belize to live with him. Thus begins Kimberly’s love affair with the Caribbean, if not the man. After Belize came Costa Rica, Panama, and Puerto Rico. And more men.
In truth I would have liked to have gotten to know Kimberly Anne a little better as a traveler instead of Kimberly the horn dog with a libido the size of Alaska. Towards the end of Surviving the Wild Kimberly turns a little didactic about her personal and spiritual growth, but I still didn’t get the sense of who she was before or after her personal transformation. I know way more about her underwear situation than was necessary. She called herself “wild” and “feral” but what exactly did she mean by that? In my mind, feral is living off the land without a single modern convenience. No running water. No cooked meals. No comfy roof overhead. No dependence on anyone or anything.
One cannot help but make comparisons to Elizabeth Gilbert, intentionally or not.

As an aside, when Kimberly talked about a “tiny island” with less than 1,000 residents I thought to myself she should try an island with less than 60 people. You want to talk about knowing everybody and their business!
As another aside, Kimberly reminds me of Kathleen Edwards. Someone once told her she had the face of angel and the mouth of a sailor. I cannot confirm the angel part as there are no photographs or full names in Surviving the Wild but I can confirm the sailor bit.

Confessional: I just spent eight weeks training for a run. My trainer filmed her sessions in Costa Rica and talked about the pura vida spirit of the island. I was surprised Kimberly Anne didn’t mention this during her time on the island.

Playlist: Burna Boy, Snoop Dogg, Romeo Santos, and Taylor Swift.

Soul Food

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Caldo, Enzio. Soul Food: Simple Lessons Served Warm: Kitchen Stories and Life Lessons from Chef Enzio Caldo’s Table. Lucent Trail Press, 2026.

Reason read: as a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing I get to review cool books. This is one such book.

While there are no recipes in Soul Food, Chef Caldo draws comparisons between cooking and navigating life. It is a really cute, whimsical book. Starters such as bruschetta and garlic bread; Comfort foods like soups and stews; mornings of pancakes and eggs; dinners, desserts, and left overs: they all become the vehicles for simple life lessons. This is the kind of little book I would give to a casual friend or acquaintance as a holiday gift. Less than 122 pages with a great deal of blank space, it is perfect for someone who wants a little pick-me-up; someone who reads their horoscope daily and looks for answers in tea leaves.

Calisthenics for Beginners

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Pure Calisthenics. Calisthenics for Beginners. 2026

Reason read: as a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing I am privileged to review interesting books.

Calisthenics for Beginners, although a mere 186 pages long, includes appropriate quotations from influential people, cool illustrations of the targeted areas of the body to be worked, and photographs of each exercise in action. Because the word ‘calisthenics’ has fallen out of fashion I appreciated the definition. While you won’t need weights or machines, you will need some equipment usually found at the gym or in some parks:
1) Long bar
2) Pullup bar
3) Parallel bars or a dip station
4) Jump box
5) a wall
You will be introduced to a variation of pushups, muscle-ups, chin-ups and pullups along with variations of pushups and other exercises which do not need equipment such as squats, bridges, and lunges.
As an aside, I did a doubletake on the section on handstands.
I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to start a fitness program. It is easy to follow and the exercises are straightforward.

Once Upon a Tome

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Darkshire, Oliver. Once Upon a Tome: the Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller. W,W, Norton & Company, 2023.

Reason read: gift at the AIC holiday party. My copy was signed.

While Oliver Darkshire has written other books, I am only reading Once Upon a Tome. I found it humorous and informative (Darkshire will teach you how to identify a cryptid, for one). As Darkshire goes about his day doing inventory in one of the world’s oldest bookstores, decerning what makes a book rare and dealing with the quirky customers like the Spindleman, you can smell the old books and feel the ghosts with their tucked away desks.
As an aside, the physical book of Once Upon a Tome is wonderful to hold. The cover design was by Paul Buckley after anonymous.
And a comment: I wish we lived in a world where we did not have to identified ourselves by how we loved or who we considered family. When someone has to “come out” as gay I am always asking what does that have to do with anything? I don’t walk into a room and announce my preferences. Neither should you. What does it matter who you are intimate with or who you chose to call family?

Line I liked, “The saying goes that once you’ve spent two years in the book trade, you remain there for life because you’ve become unemployable anywhere else” (p 204). Oh. So, that’s what happened to me.

Author fact: As mentioned before, Darkshire has written more than just Once Upon a Tome.

Book trivia: the numerous footnotes were super annoying. I started to skip them after some time.

Music: Wagner

Victorian Gentlewoman

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Foote, Mary Hallock. A Victorian Gentlewoman in the Far West: the Reminiscences of Mary Hallock Foote. Edited by Rodman W. Paul. Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, 1972.

Reason read: February is Women’s History Month.

Rodman W. Paul opens Victorian Gentlewoman with a promise that he has tried to recapture Foote’s autobiography in its “fullest form.” Quotes have been verified and corrected wherever possible. Misspellings and typographical errors have also been corrected. The substantial introduction to Victorian Gentlewoman also covers in detail Mary Hallock Foote’s capacity as a wife to an engineering husband whose drinking escalates out of control. All photographs and illustrations are Mary Hallock Foote’s.
Confession: as the book went on I felt Rodman mansplains a great deal. He was determine to fact check every detail of Mary Hallock Foote’s memoir. He corrects Foote’s inaccurate memories, explains geographical locations, and rights every inconsistency. I did appreciate his mini biographies. Rodman supplemented more detail to Foote’s casual reference to a person.
The first one hundred plus pages of A Victorian Gentlewoman lay the genealogic foundation of family ties, remembering dress and hair color of more notable people. Foote even includes the histories of some of the houses. In addition to Foote’s autobiography she paints a clear picture of the politics and religion (she was raised Quaker) of the time. Abolitionism and constitutional republicanism are the discussion of the day. She is well read and cultured. So, how does a “delicate” woman with a Quaker background from a farm on the Hudson River decide to travel to the western side of the country? By following her wayward husband, of course. She displays remarkable talent as a illustrator, even being commissioned to illustrate The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Following her husband around the country as he went from failed job to failed job afforded Foote time to become a popular author in addition to being a mother and wife.

As an aside, I think it is remarkable to think that Rudyard Kipling lived for a short time in Brattleboro, Vermont. The town is not that far from me.

Lines I liked, “I have always regarded phantasmoria of idealists and propagandists and military cranks and dreamers as one of the great opportunities of our youth shut up as we were and cut off and “laid down”!” (p 54), “We women were eaten to our souls with the horror of debt” (p 87), and “And the etchers, not being peacocks, did not view me with proud eyes because I was in borrowed feathers” (p 365).

Personal connection: I have something in common with Ms. Mary Hallock Foote. We “hide” our precious belongings so well we cannot find them again. She hid a photograph of a dear friend and I cannot find my favorite photograph of Papa.

Music: “Der Freiscutz,” and “Robert le Diable.”

Author fact: Foote was a wife, mother, novelist, artist, and insomniac who suffered from anxiety. Book trivia: Rodman W. Paul provides an extensive list of supporters, contributors, and editors.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Companion Reads” (p 62). I am supposed to be reading Victorian Gentlewoman with Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegman. By reading the biographical note in Victorian Gentlewoman it became clear why these books were paired together. Wallace Stegner based his book Angle of Repose on the life of Mary Hallock Foote.

Old Iron Road

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Bain, David Haward. The Old Iron Road: an Epic of Rails, Roads and the Urge To Go West. Viking, 2004.

Reason read: February is Train Month. Not sure why.

Over twenty-five years ago Bain decided he needed to take his family on a two month epic journey from Vermont to California. He previously written the very successful Empire Express, researching thirty years of American train history, and the endeavor had taken fourteen years of his life. What better way to thank his family for their patience than to take them on a cross-country journey? Using the first transcontinental railroad route as a guide, the family made their way from Orwell, Vermont to San Francisco, California.
This isn’t any typical memoir about a family trip. Along the way Bain paints a vivid picture of the pioneers who went before him with mini biographies of the more famous characters like Mark Twain, Butch Cassidy and Willa Cather. He paints romantic images of the pioneers who traveled his same routes, staying in the very same towns. Bain supplies his readers with history of every region he and his family visit. Readers are apt to learn way more than they bargained for. For example, Wyoming is the Equality State because it was the first territory in the world to introduce legislation giving equal rights to women in December of 1869. Richard Francis Burton visited Chimney Rock in Nebraska. Bain revisits the Donner tragedy again and again.
The best parts were when Bain interacted with his family and shared their adventures. His family sounded wonderful.

As an aside, I was so intrigued by the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument that I looked it up on YouTube. It sounds like an amazing adventure. Note to self: exit 275.
The white crosses that dotted the sides of the highways every few miles reminded me of the southwest trip I took with my family a few years ago. I was startled to think how many people have died along the way.
Another aside, I thought Bain’s respectful treatment of Mr. Hornsby was phenomenal.
And speaking of musicians, every time Bain mentioned Southern Pacific I thought of Josh Ritter and his love of trains.

Phrase that stopped me cold, “…summer storms sometimes blew into my nightmares” (p 89). Me too.

Author fact: Bain had the travel bug from a young age. At twenty-four he drove across the country with a bunch of hippies. At the time of Old Iron Road’s publication Bain still lived in Vermont.

Book trivia: Bain includes a good mix of current and historical photographs in Old Iron Road. The ones of his family are particularly touching considering he lost his wife after the trip.

Music: Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Don’t Start Me Talking – I’ll Tell Everything I Know,” Bing Crosby, Tammy Wynette, Oak Ridge Boys, Randy Travis, Hank Williams, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Hornsby, Grateful Dead, Willie Nelson, Huey Lewis and the News, Elton John, Bob Seger, Don Henley, Bob Dylan, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Stevie Nicks, Leon Russell, Chaka Khan, Yellowjackets, Franz Liszt, and “I’m an Old Cowhand.”

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “The Beckoning Road” (p 19).

Views Afoot

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Taylor, Bayard. Views Afoot, Or Europe Seen with a Knapsack and Staff. Sampson, Low, Martson, Low, and Searle, 1872.

Reason read: Taylor was born in January. Read in his honor.

As a teenager, Bayard Taylor was fascinated with the microcosms around him as well as the greater world he could not see. On January 1844 he got the opportunity to travel with a cousin to Europe. Sailing aboard the Oxford they traveled abroad to Europe. Once in Bruges, Taylor wrote about visiting the Cathedral of Notre Dame. I think he was referring to Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk. Taylor went on to have so many unique adventures like witnessing a burial by torchlight, dancing with friends on rooftops across Germany, traipsing through the Black Forest, and after nearly a year in Germany, moving on to Switzerland to visit an exiled poet named Freiligrath. Italy become a love of his when visiting the Royal Gallery in Florence. He spent four glorious months in Tuscany. As an aside, it was fascinating to hear Taylor’s descriptions of the same art I experienced two years ago. Most stunning is his description of an area I plan to see this May: “Colossus of the Apennines” by John of Bologna outside Florence. I wonder if you can still climb on the rocks of his back, enter his body and peer out of his ear?
Since Views Afoot is comprised of journal entries and letters sent during Taylor’s first two years of travel I did not expect to find a sense of humor, but Taylor is funny. After a night’s stay in a posh establishment Taylor was surprised by the bill and quipped he was charged three francs for “the honor of breathing an aristocratic atmosphere” (p 52).
Despite the title of his book Taylor was not always on foot. Sometimes he and his companions traveled by boat and carriage whenever necessary.
The best part of Views Afoot was the section on travel advice. You must be content to sleep on hard beds. You must be willing to partake of course fare. You must be comfortable traveling for hours in hard rain or worse. Watch your traveling expenses closely. Sounds pretty reasonable for the 1800s.

As an aside, I love it when my books collide. I am reading a book by Kavenna called The Ice Museum in which Kavanna goes searching for the mysterious land of Thule. In Views Afoot Taylor mentions a poem called “The King of Thule.”
Another aside, I want to know if the Christmas market in Romerberg Square still exists. Because if it does I would like to go.

Line I liked, “We breathed an air of poetry” (p 160). I am not even sure I know what that means, but I liked it.

Author fact: Taylor has a sense of humor. He wrote a book called Blah, Blah, Blah. Too bad I am not reading it for the Challenge. I am only reading Views Afoot.

Book trivia: my copy of Views Afoot costs eighteen pence and was first published as a “boy’s record of first travels” in 1847.

Natalie connection: Bayard visited Loch Lomond and I couldn’t help but think of the song of the same name that she sings with Dan Zanes.
Confessional: when Bayard reached Scotland and met with the McGregor family I wondered if they were related to Ewan.

Music: “Hail Columbia,” “Exile of Erin,” the Mountain Boys, Mendelssohn, “Walpurgisnacht,” “Landsfather,” Schubert, Strauss, Beethoven, “Ave Maria,”

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the fun chapter called “Explaining Europe: The Grand Tour” (p 82). Confessional: I keep wanting to call this chapter Exploring Europe.

Composting Simplified for Beginners

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Weimer, Anissa. Composting Simplified for Beginners: A Complete Guide to Fix Common Compost Pitfalls, Create Fertile Soil and Enjoy a Lush Productive Garden. W4 Publishing LLC, 2024.

Reason read: as a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing I often get to read interesting books. This is one such book.
Why I Requested This Book: I have a very modest raised garden and a few containers where I grow tons of herbs, tomatoes, jalapenos, and the occasional tomatillo. I would like to expand the annual bounty.

This book is true to it’s title. Simple and to the point. Despite its beginner language and content I did learn a few things. For example, never heard of Bokashi composting before. I also never considered composting to have its own mythology, but I am glad Weimer separated fact from fiction. Additionally, I appreciated Weimer mentioning browns and greens and making sure there is an even balance of the two, but she mentions this a lot. There is a little repetition to Composting Simplified for Beginners. Weimer mentions landfill methane gas more than once and don’t get me started on how many times odors or smells were covered. She spends a lot of time addressing the potential smelliness of composting.
The most useful section (for me) was the pest prevention information. I currently deal with woodchucks, squirrels, racoons, chipmunks, rabbits, coyotes, deer, bears, voles, mice, foxes, stray dogs and cats, snakes, skunks, opossums, and even a mountain lion has been in my yard once. Knowing how to keep these critters away from my composting is critical.
The second section most useful to me was the 30 Day Checklist. Knowing when and how to start being spelled out makes the process less daunting. Watching for the different colors of mold was also helpful information.
Less helpful was all the information about involving family members. What if the reader is a single male with no children or even roommates? Least helpful were the testimonials by fellow composters. They seem to reiterate the information already given. Despite the book only being 160 pages long, I skipped these sections.

As an aside, I wasn’t sure of the purpose of the QR code to scan for the supply guide. If the information is included in the book, why do I need to download the information as well? The list of supplies looks pretty straightforward and logical: outdoor bin, indoor bin, pitchfork, thermometer, and tarp.

Author fact: Kasey Bayr’s name is on the cover while in the copyright Anissa Weimer “has the moral right to be identified as the author.”

Book trivia: there are some great photographs and illustrations to emphasize the information.

Stray

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O’Brien, Shannon. Stray. Roam Light Publishing, 2025.

Reason: as a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing I get to read fun books. This is one such book.

When her ex-boyfriend John committed suicide in 2006, his sudden death prompted Shannon O’Brien to live her life a little differently: she became more fully aware of life passing her by. She decided to see the world with eyes wide open and a promise to be ready for anything. For more than fifteen years she has been doing exactly that. As a Lonely Planet enthusiast she planned to to spend six months in South America, traveling through Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, and Bolivia.
Shannon kicks off Stray with her best friend and a tour of La Paz’s famous prison (and tourist attraction) where the prisoners give tours and rule the prison. In Bolivia the pair volunteer for Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi – a nonprofit deep in the jungle which cares for exotic animals of all kinds. Fun fact: O’Brien was in charge of feeding twenty spider monkeys. Next, she and a new travel companion named Noah get lost hiking in a canyon without food or water. They celebrate their survival with a trip to Argentina to rent bicycles and drink Malbec and fernet con cocoa before moving on to the Australian Outback for a year. After Noah came teaching in Nepal and experiencing the Teej festival. After meeting Xander, it’s to India in time for the Diwali festival. Her experiences in Thailand are harrowing. Then she meets Blake in Cambodia. They travel to Thailand before partying and paying for it in Portugal. Where she ended up is anyone’s guess. The story ends there.
What I appreciated most was that throughout Stray Shannon displays a deep knowledge about the cultures and histories of each region she visits. While it took me a very long to finish Stray is/was enjoyable.

As an aside, some of Shannon’s details didn’t make sense to me. For example, it seemed as if she and her family (father and sister) were staying in a little town two hours south of Bangkok. When her sister and father had a tragic swimming accident Shannon traveled between Hua Hin and a Bangkok hospital to see them. Does that mean she spent four hours a day going back and forth between the two Thai towns?

Music: The Doors, The Who, U2, Dark Angels, Los Blinkers, Fleetwood Mac, Arctic Monkeys, Backstreet Boys, “Sexual Healing,” and Keith Richards.

Valleys of the Assassins

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Stark, Freya. Valleys of the Assassins, and Other Persian Travels. Century Publishing Company, 1936.

Reason read: Stark was born in the month of January. Read in her honor.

There is no doubt that Freya wanted to live a life full of adventure that was challenging, rewarding, and more than a little dangerous. While she carried letters of introduction to give her access to key people, Freya relied heavily on her own wits to maintain her safety while in Persia. She recognized villains when she saw them. She played upon her novelty, knowing no European woman had ever been in various regions before. She would further confound the natives by putting the fragments of a skull in a jar as a keepsake or best them at their customs of all possible polite greetings and the responses one could go through. Freya demonstrated her sense of humor even when she was in sticky situations. Her attempt to find hidden treasure in a cave was both heroic and hilarious.
When people asked Freya why she wanted to travel the way that she did she blamed “the trouble” on an aunt after this relative sent Freya a copy of Arabian Nights for her 9th birthday. Freya was instantly bitten by the adventure bug. Most children would snuggle down in their beds and dream of spitting camels and endless sand, but Stark’s dreams took her to ride real camels across real deserts. Confessional: Freya never mentions camels. Her mode of transportation was a mule.
Part One takes the reader through Luristan, as it was a country where one is less frequently murdered, but the threat is not completely out of the question. As Freya maps the area for British Intelligence her actions put her in constant danger of being thought of as a spy. At the same time, Freya becomes a healer of sorts; being called upon to parse out quinine and castor oil; administer care for for snake bites, broken limbs and mysterious ailments.
Throughout Valleys of the Assassins are wonderful full page photographs. My favorite is of Keram Khan with his majestic horse and magnificent coat.

Lines I loved, “…looking at me with the calm innocence of a Persian telling lies” (p 38), “This would have proved a perfectly sound and successful theory if a buried treasure had not come to complicate my plans” (p 62) and “The study of history necessarily leads one into lonely places” (p 136).
Who knew Stark had such a sense of humor, “The great and almost only comfort to being a women is that one can always pretend to be more stupid than one in and no one is surprised” (p 67). She says this while trying to argue the truth about a lunar eclipse.
Here’s one more, “So kind is fortune if you trust her” (p 195).

Author fact: Stark wrote a plethora of books about her various adventures. I am reading a total of five for the Challenge. I have finished all but one.

Book trivia: the reprint of Valleys of the Assassins coincided with Freya’s 90th birthday and the cover is of a Garabagh carpet in detail.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Lady Travelers” (p 142). Pearl says this is the one to read if you are only going to read one Freya Stark book.

Wrong Kind of Son

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Peace, Jeff. The Wrong Kind of Son: Salty Driftwood Publishing, 2025.

Reason read: as a member of the Early Review program for LibraryThing, I get to read heartwarming books. This is one such book.

Jeff Peace wanted nothing more than to purge the past to “[name] what it felt like.” It took real courage for him to lay it all out in the pages of Wrong Kind of Son. What started as a letter to his father turned into a book about surviving abuse. [Confessional: I also wrote a letter that turned into a publication. I only wanted my parents to understand where I was coming from without having the necessary confrontation.] Wrong Kind of Son opens with Peace wanting to connect with his father during the holidays. I say wanting because there is a sense of family obligation that cannot be ignored no matter how one tries. Father and son live thirty minutes from each other but hadn’t seen each other in a year. The connection goes badly as it always does. That is the pattern. Throughout Wrong Kind of Son Peace illustrates the anatomy of neglect without being overly dramatic or playing the martyr. There is a difference between stating simple fact and hurling blame. Peace sticks to the former. By the end of Wrong Kind of Son Peace finds the strength to break the patterns of abuse. Through other avenues of love he is able to forge a new path. His courage is astounding.

As an aside, this is my third early review book about a narcissistic parent. By reading the stories of backhanded compliments, off-color jokes, and empty promises my own story has become clearer.

Author fact: Peace is a thoughtful author. He has a disclaimer about the abuse depicted in Wrong Kind of Son, urging his readers to take care.

Book trivia: there were so many brilliant lines I wanted to quote. Intelligence without empathy is a good one. Hope being a habit is another.

Music: Nickelback