Tag: family

Stars That Fell

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Short, Gary. Star That Fell: Poems. University of Nevada Press, 2026.

Reason read: as a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing, I am starting to read more poetry.

Childhood memories and adult laments weave vivid snapshots in time. The poems of Stars That Fell are autobiographical and fragile in nature. Honest emotion is slowly revealed through sparse words and economical phrases. The pain of losing a mother to cancer. The pain of an abusive father. The pain caused by the death of a brother. Different pains caused by different family members, yet all deep rooted grief all the same. I hope there is catharsis in the telling. I practically wept for the sheer beauty and innocence of the narrator’s voice. There is a raw honesty to Short’s writing so much so that I will be seeking out his previous works.

The a mention of some of the poems:

  • Little Makeweights of Guilt – the destruction of a hive
  • I Lay My Brother Down – a memory of a brother
  • Flying Over Sonny Liston – the great boxing legend’s life in a poem
  • Herida de Amor – Mexico
  • Driving Down Highway 93: Nevada – an inadvertent drive in the desert
  • Brothers Playing Catch on Christmas Day – a family memory
  • Psalm – did he save the goose or not?
  • Gathering – childhood crushes last a lifetime
  • The Stars That Fell – a loss of innocence when confronted with death
  • The Collector – secrets, capturing insects, learning of a mother’s love before dad
  • American Light – test bombs and an innocent hope.
  • What I Believed – coming of age
  • Dust – who knew dust could be so beautiful?
  • Teaching Poetry to Third Graders – the things that matter to children
  • Imperfect History – what do you remember from childhood?
  • George Pascho Miller – the death of a friend
  • White – cancer
  • Sway – a vulnerable moment finding his father in the barn
  • Gentle Blue Sway – a remembering of a fight of his parents.
  • France Blue – abuse and a troubled relationship

Line I loved the most (please keep it in the final publication), “never mind these footprints in front of me…”

Music: “Night Train,” “Herida De Amor,” and Willie Nelson.

Author fact: Gary Short has written other poetry books.

Clearwater Summer

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Keegan, John E. Clearwater Summer. Backinprint, 2000.

Reason read: June 21 marks the first day of summer.

We begin Clearwater Summer with college-aged Will Bradford needing proof of an accident; did a train really hit a car stalled on the tracks? Did someone really die in that wreckage? Was it an accident? The reader is left in suspense asking what happened next as Keegan catapults us several years into the past.
Using Will Keegan’s fourteen year old voice, Keegan unravels a beautiful coming of age story about Will and his two closest friends, Taylor and Wellesley. This is a Washington summer of first crushes, first dates, first heartbreak, first funerals. It is a summer of getting into trouble, saving the day, and learning life’s hard lessons. Like a cold river undercurrent, Keegan’s Clearwater Summer also unveils dark prejudices between the haves and the have nots, pride and shame that keep victims too silent, and the dangers of a community staying too complacent under the guise of “I see it, but it’s none of my business.” With all of it’s drama, sex, violence, and romance, Clearwater Summer could have been a movie.

Author fact: I have to wonder how many times John Keegan had to say he wasn’t the same author who wrote military nonfiction. This John Keegan wrote four books, but I am only reading Clearwater Summer.

Book trivia: Clearwater Summer was really difficult to find. My local consortium didn’t have it in print. The state-wide consortium didn’t have it available for lending. I contemplated interlibrary loan from across the country, but the wait time was too long. I ended up using Internet Archive. Phew!

Setlist: Elvis Presley’s “Don’t Be Cruel” and “Love Me Tender,” Long Tall Sally,” “Poison Ivy,” Beethoven, Buddy Holly, “Wake Up Little Susie,” “Red Sails in the Sunset,” and Sal Mineo.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called, “Teenage Times” (p 217).

Family Linen

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Smith, Lee. Family Linen. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1983.

Reason read: Family Linen takes place in Virginia. Virginia became a state in the month of June.

Lee Smith introduces you to a typical dysfunctional family in America. They all have their quirks, but when the matriarch of the family dies, true colors reveal themselves as a jumble of full personalities with dark secrets. Family Linen has been called a murder mystery. Nettie, seeking help for constant headaches, visits a therapist. Under hypnosis, Nettie remembers an axe murder and her mother was directly involved. Did she wield the axe? Nettie, despite her mother’s passing is determined to solve the crime. Family Linen has also been called a psychological commentary on family dynamics. Throughout the story Smith uses various characters to voice past regrets and future forgiveness. Every character has their own tangled troubles.
As an aside, Nettie left her husband Marvin and later started seeing Millard, a flower shop owner. Nettie said Marvin could make beautiful arrangements. Was that her faux pas about her ex-husband or Smith’s?

Line I liked, “Sybill wishes she had never let Bob step one foot down in her subconscious” (p 43).

Author fact: Lee has her own website here: https://leesmith.com/

Book trivia: Family Linen’s story begins on June 1st, 1983. I started reading Family Linen on June 1st.

Music: “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” Beatles, “Breaking Up is Hard to Do,” “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” “You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me, Lucille,” “You’re Ruining My Bad Reputation,” “Tennessee Waltz,” “What a feeling,” “Every Breath You Take,” “Mule Skinner Blues,” “Yellow Rose of Texas,” “Careless Love,” Boy George, “Mr. Sandman,” “Georgia On My Mind,” “I Know That My Redeemer Liveth,” Willie Nelson, Elvis, “Mr. Blue,” Synchronicity, Thriller, Kenny Rogers’ “Don’t Take Your Love to Town,” Nat King Cole’s version of “Ramblin’ Rose,” “Orange Blossom Special,” “The Twelfth of Never,” “Sea Cruise,” Rickie Scaggs, “Shout,” and “Wayward Wind.”

As an aside, I had to laugh when Lee Smith called Willie Nelson “old” in 1985…

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust twice. First in the chapter called “Lines That Linger; Sentences That Stick” (p 140) and again in the chapter “Southern Fried Fiction” (p 205).

Question of When

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Fosco, Cory. The Question of When: a Practical Guide to Knowing When It’s Time for Assisted Living, Memory Care or Skilled Nursing. Campion Hall Press, 2026

Reason read: As a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing I often chose books that seem interesting to me. Very rarely do I chose a book because it pertains to my personal situation. This is one such book.

Confessional: it took me a very long time to read Question of When. Not because it is poorly written (it isn’t). Not because I did not believe Fosco’s words (I did). But because the subject matter hit home in ways I did not expect.
Nearly everyone has to go through the painful process of watching a parent age. It is either from a remote distance across the country or painfully up close and personal in the same house. Neither scenario is all that comfortable, but Fosco does an excellent job of clearing away some of the confusion surrounding the hard (and harder) decisions to come. Even if you think you have all the answers, Question of When makes you think again. Second guessing your knowledge and preparedness is a good thing. You are forced to ask the painful questions like, “are we merely adjusting to mom’s decline and losing perspective? Are we making excuses for the forgetfulness and erratic behaviors?” The difficult answer could be yes.
Fosco delivers a primer on territory; knowing the difference between the various facilities available to the aging loved one. Long term care versus assisted living or memory care. Each chapter ends with a takeaway piece of advice and a single action step to take. Small bites for a daunting and often overwhelming process.
Almost immediately I started to think about my own situation with my aging mother. If something were to happen unexpectedly, would I know what to do? Do I really know what mom wants for her final years, but more importantly, do I have the financial capacity to fulfill those wishes? There are financial implications with every situation, planned or unplanned. This is a book I will buy for my sister and not before it is too late.

Author fact: Fosco has thirty-four years of experience.

Accidental

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Smith, Ali. The Accidental. Pantheon books, 2005.

Reason read: I have no freaking clue when I am reading this book. I already one book from the Scotland chapter.

Is this a cautionary tale about the dangers of miscommunication, assumption, or dysfunctional family silence? The Smith family, on holiday in Norfolk, England, find a beautiful woman on their doorstep announcing her car has broken down. She soon stays for dinner then stays the night. She learns their names: Eve, a writer on the brink of literary success; Michael, a philandering professor; Magnus, a teenager wrack with guilt over a school prank gone horribly wrong; Astrid, a typical twelve year old girl bored with life; everything is substandard in her eyes. The family learns her name, Amber. No one recognizes her from anywhere. Either the Smith family cannot or will not ask each other what they know about the mysterious stranger. Based on their preconceived opinions about each, other each family member makes a blind assumption. Amber is a friend of Eve’s. Amber is Michael’s next “bit ‘o fluff on the side,” maybe one of his latest students he to shag? Amber is a teacher from Magnus or Astrid’s school. Each family member sees a situation from a completely different point of view and that’s when the lies start. Without confirming anything about Amber, the Smith family starts to let the woman integrate herself into their daily lives until it is too late to extract her.

Author fact: Smith is a Scottish writer. I am also reading Hotel World for the Challenge.

Book trivia: The Accidental” could be a movie. It has a little of everything.

Favorite part of the book: when Smith explains the entire Ah-Ha video for “Take On Me.” She captured every minute of my sister’s favorite song.

Music: Elton John, Chicago’s “If You Leave Me Now,” “smooth Operator, Beatles, Barbara Streisand, Chris Montez’s “The More I See You,” Elvis Costello’s “Oliver’s Army,” Dire Straits’ “Romeo and Juliet,” Four Seasons’ “December 1963 (Oh what a Night),” Ray Stevens’ “Misty,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Marianne Faithfull, Janis Ian’s “At Seventeen,” and Mick Jagger.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter “Scotland: More Than Haggis, Kilts, and Ian Rankin” (p 200).

Pitted

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Cleary, E, M. Pitted. EverWhen Stories, 2026.

Reason: as a member of LibraryThing’s Early Review program I get to read interesting stories. This is one of them.

Mothers have complicated relationships with their daughters. At thirteen, Alice does not understand her mother at all. Left to take care of her younger brother and run the household, Alice resents her mother’s long hours as a surgeon at the hospital. She quietly keeps track of all the times her mother has offended her and looks for ways to even the score. One day she seizes her chance and defiantly eats a peach pit. Everything changes.
Thus begins E.M. Cleary’s short story, Pitted. It is a mere twenty-four pages long but packed with themes of trust and love. Every relationship needs a hero and Alice finds hers in the unlikeliest of places.
You can find more short stories at E.M. Cleary’s website.

Natalie connection: I am reminded of Natalie’s song “Tell Yourself” a song about a young thirteen year old girl struggling to come in her own. It’s a tough age to be.

Power Without Glory

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Hardy, Frank. Power Without Glory. Vintage Classics, 1950.

Reason read: Frank Hardy was born in March in Southern Cross, Australia. Read in his honor.

Power Without Glory is written in three parts:
Part One (1890 – 1907): The Road to Power. As John “Jack” West climbs the power ladder he learns the art of bribing the police to turn a blind eye to his illegal activities of running a gambling tote; hidden behind the front of a tea shop where no one ever bought any tea. When the shop become too hot, Jack moved his operation to a wood and coal storage yard that was surrounded by high wooden fences, barbed wire, and houses that Jack ingeniously bought for his employees. Piggy, Cauliflower Dick, One Eyed Tommy and the Ape could keep watch over the entire complex. Soon, bribery is not enough to keep Jack’s activities under wraps. He resorts to the threat of violence to keep his underlings and the authorities in line. As his “influence grows and grows it isn’t long before the idea of murder enters Jack’s mind.
Part Two (1915 – 1931): Abuse of Power. West now lives in a fancy mansion with his wife and four children. He not only controls the police but government officials as well. But it is not enough for West. He joins the Australian Imperial Forces as a soldier to gain more followers. As his power grows stronger so does his bafflement when people cannot be bought or intimidated. One such person he cannot control is his wife, much to his increasing resentment. The trouble with achieving anything is that success will have you asking what is next? Where do I go from here? When you reach the very top of success, where do you go from there?
Part Three (1935 – 1935): The Decline of Power. Everyone starts to defy John West, the once all-powerful tyrant. It begins at home with his wife and three children turning their backs on him. The betrayals are explained away as his wife betrayed him with another man and his children are willful and spoiled. As every slight grows stronger West loses his grip on power. His feared rein becomes diminished and impotent.

As an aside, this is the second book I have read in the month of April about a young man hearing the call to fight fascism in Spain. Ben Worth’s demise is no different than that of the young men in Journey to the Frontier.

Lines I liked, “tonight’s interview revived his faith in the power of the bribe” (p 67), “Power of the kind that John West was amassing – power for its take and domination over other people for the sake of domination, presupposes the ability to take reprisals” (p 117), “The more blood and hair that flew the better he enjoyed himself” (p 125).

Author fact: Frank Hardy is a sort of wonder child. He left school when he was thirteen and twenty-seven when he began a writing career.

Book trivia: Power Without Glory was originally a self-published work.

Music mentioned, “Here the Conquering Hero Comes,” “The Rose of No Man’s Land,” “Tipperary,” Beethoven, Dvorak, Fritz Kreisler, Chopin, “The Wearing of the Green,” “Liebesleid,” “O Promise Me,” and “The Internationale.”

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Australia, the Land of Oz – Fiction” (p 29). Confessional: I originally crossed this off my list because it is out of print and I was having a really hard time finding it. Yay for interlibrary loan!

Shooting Up

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Tepper, Jonathan. Shooting Up: a Memoir of Love, Loss, and Addiction. Infinite Books, 2026.

Reason read: as a member of the Early Review Program I often get to read touching stories. This is high on my list.

What is Shooting Up really about? I could say it is an autobiography of Jonathan Tepper’s upbringing and educational rise to Rhodes Scholar. I could say it is a commentary on addiction and the destruction it caused in the early stages of the AIDS epidemic. I could say it is a graceful memoir about grief and all its complicated layers. Shooting Up is all of those things and more.
Jonathan Tepper’s parents exposed their four sons to a variety of situations other parents would consider disturbing. As missionaries in 1980s Spain, Elliot and Mary Tepper focused their work on serving the addicted population. Mature beyond his years, ex-junkies taught their son, Jonathan, the terminology used for buying heroin and how to make crack. As a child Jonathan could recognize the telltale needle tracks and bruises of users. With addiction leading the way, the AIDS epidemic was not far behind, but in addition to overdoses and AIDS, Tepper’s parents saturated their household with literature and music. The entire family was well-read and all four children had big dreams. Literature was a lasting and large part of all of their lives. Being well-read helped Tepper become a Rhodes Scholar, but I am getting ahead of myself. Tepper’s father, Elliot, read St Augustine’s Confessions and Dag Hammarskjold’s Marking to his four boys and wife at dinner time. Homer, T.E. Lawrence, Dante, John Bunyan, Saint Augustine, Virgil, George Muller, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jules Verne…I could go on and on. Tepper astutely says, “a great book had the power to change us and shake us to our core” (p 79). Amen.
My favorite section of Shooting Up was Tepper’s childhood. He captured his innocence perfectly. It is as if his childhood was frozen in time like an insect in amber. As an aside, Tepper had some pretty profound comments to make about grief that I absolutely loved.

Music: So much good stuff mentioned in Shooting Up : Aaron Copland’s Billy the Kid, Beach Boy’s “Barbara Ann,” Bix Beiderbecke, Bob Dylan, Branford Marsalis, Charlie “Bird” Parker, Chet Baker, Chuck Berry, Counting Crows, Dizzy Gillespie, Freddy Mercury, Goo Goo Dolls, Iron Maiden, Joan Baez’s “Forever Young,” and “One of Us,” John Coltrane, Louis Armstrong’s “When It’s Sleepy Time Down South,” Michael Jackson’s “Beat It,” Mingus’s “Better Get In In Your Soul,” Miles Davis, Mahler, Milli Vanilli, Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails, “Para mi rey,” Queen’s “We Will Rock You,” Rolling Stones, Stan Getz, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings in C Major, Wayne Shorter, and Wynton Marsalis.

Birds Without Wings

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De Bernieres, Louis. Birds Without Wings. Alfred A. Knopf, 2004.

Reason read: In Turkey there is a day in April called Children’s Day.

De Bernieres introduces a mystery within the very first few pages of Birds Without Wings. You do not know what Ibrahim did to the beautiful Philothei. You do not know what the narrator did to his son Karatavuk except to say he/she lives in shame. Throughout Birds Without Wings the reader is introduced to a myriad of characters. The Dog – a mysterious stranger whose smile gives nightmares to children and adults alike. Mustafa Kernal – the teenager in Military Training School. Karatavuk, Mehmetak, Polyxeni, Ayse, Stamos, Snowbringer, Leech Gatherer, Tamara, Broken-Nosed, Rustern Bey, Charitos, Yusufthe Tall, among others. At the center is Philothei, betrothed since childhood to Ibrahim. Ever since childhood she has been beautiful beyond measure.
This is a story of human nature in the midst of prejudice and hate, war and relationships. Told from the perspective of a myriad of characters, Birds Without Wings is tragic and heartbreaking and beautiful all at once.
De Bernieres knows human relationships, especially marriage. I had to laugh at this situation: when a wife is unhappy with her husband he might get a little too much pepper in his food. After doing a bad thing the husband thinks I am going to get too much pepper in my food again tonight. But a husband a;ways has more power. He can put aside his wife and get a new one if he thinks she has been adulterous.
As an aside, I wish I had paid attention to all the bird references from the beginning of Birds Without Wings. There were so many! Sparrows, seagulls, ducks, doves, goldfinches, pigeons, partridges, nightingales, robins, owls, blackbirds, songbirds – they all soar (or cannot) and sing and escape cages. Of course, the ultimate little bird is the lovely Philothei who states plainly, “I have found that perfection is not enough” (p 463).

Author fact: Louis De Bernieres also wrote Corelli’s Mandolin but I am not reading it for the Challenge. Birds Without Wings is my only De Bernieres book.

Quotes to quote, “There comes a point in life where each of us who survives to feel like a ghost that has forgotten to die at the right time…” (p 3). What about this quote, “Nowadays no one would say, “I think we’ll remove all these people from their homes and send them to another country” (p 487)?!

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Digging Up the Past Through Fiction” (p 79) and again in Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Turkish Delights” (p 238) which always makes me think of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

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).

Briarpatch

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Thomas, Ross. Briarpatch. St. Martin’s Press, 1984.

Reason read: Ross Thomas was born in the month of February. Read in his honor.

We are introduced to Rusty/Felicity Dill as landlady and detective. Not two minutes after trying to collect on a late rent she is murdered by a car bomb outside of her building. Felicity’s brother, Benjamin Dill, while on assignment for the Senate Subcommittee for a separate matter, comes back to his hometown to investigate her murder. In the midst of grieving for his sister Dill must confront his best and oldest friend who might be an illegal arms dealer. Apart from being a great whodunnit, Briarpatch is also a game of double and triple cross. It is hard to say who can and cannot be trusted.
While the reader does not know the exact location of Dill’s hometown (somewhere in the Midwest is the guess), Thomas is sure to keep an eye on the thermometer. The constant high temperatures were almost another character in the story.
All in all, I felt that Thomas was hoping to have a trick ending; one crafty enough to surprise everyone. Unfortunately, he pulled back the curtain a little too far and a little too early in the plot. Thomas revealed too much for the ending to be much of a shock.

Odd musings: I identified with the one character who dies within the first few pages. You could say I built a rapport with her ghost. As a kid Felicity would read eight or nine books at a time…sometimes as many as ten in a week. She took notes as she read and kept a dictionary on hand. This is me to a tee.
A childhood memory – when Ben visits Felicity’s apartment he sees a TV Guide on the coffee table. When I was growing up I had a neighbor who collected TV Guides. Stacks and stacks of them lined her bedroom floor. What she ever did with them, I have no idea.
As an aside, was the misspelling of Jim Beam deliberate?
As another aside, I thought a bread knife was an odd choice for a weapon. Wasn’t there anything a little sharper lying around.

Author fact: Ross Thomas was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma which is why some people think Ben and Felicity Dill were from Oklahoma City.

Book trivia: my copy of Briarpatch promised a “television series coming soon.” That was in 1984. I had to look it up. On IMDB I found a television series starring Rosario Dawson. Briarpatch won an Edgar Award for Best Novel in 1985.

Music: “September Song,” Bach, Beatles, Beethoven, Yves Montand, “Blue Skies,” “Amazing Grace,” “Abide with Me,” “Taps,” and “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Ross Thomas: Too Good To Miss” (p 234).

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

Daughters of Simon Lamoreaux

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Long, David. The Daughters of Simon Lamoreaux. Scribner, 2000.

Reason read: Sisters Week is in January.

The Daughters of Simon Lamoreaux has been described as the “effect of not knowing on a tragedy’s survivor.” I lost a friend two years ago (it’ll be three at the end of June) and I have absolutely no clue what happened. Was it suicide? Possibly. He mentioned ideation more than enough times. Was it an accidental overdose? Possibly. He admitted he was addicted to pain killers. Was it the damage from the near-fatal stroke he had? Possibly. He was still struggling with his health. But. I will never know.
Hartford, Connecticut (1973). Miles Fanning and Caroline (Carly) Lamoreaux are typical teenagers, skipping out on choir practice for the sake of young love. Only Carly does not meet Miles at the prescribed spot nor is she ever heard from again. Fast forward twenty-four years later Fanning is the founder of SunBreak Records and still does not know what happened to his old girlfriend all those years ago. He has since married and moved to Seattle, Washington. In all honesty he hasn’t thought about Carly all that much. Life has carried him in a different direction…until suddenly Carly’s sister, Julia, sweeps into his life, dragging the memory and mystery of Carly behind her. Julia’s line of questioning is off-putting and abrasive; the way your teeth feel when you bite down on eggshells in an otherwise fluffy omelet or finding sand in your ice cream. Julia interrogates Fanning like his soul has committed a serious crime. She is a strange woman to whom Fanning cannot help but be drawn. What I found so interesting about The Daughters of Simon Lamoreaux was the lack of detail about the investigation into the disappearance of Carly Lamoreaux. Miles Fanning is an obvious suspect but once he is cleared, the reader does not get a sense of urgency to find Carly. It led me to think more about the title. The focus is on the father, Simon. Does he hold the key to the mystery? In the end I found myself saying, yes, he does.

Author fact: Long also wrote The Falling Boy which is on my Challenge list.

Book trivia: this should be a movie.

Real music: Count Basie, Te Deum, Kodaly’s Psalmus Hungaricus, Keith Jarrett’s Koln concert, Soundgarden, Chopin, and Erik Satie’s “Gymnopedies.

Fake music: Billy Caughan’s “Hard Knock Turn,” and Nella Randolph,

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Sibs” (p 199).

Piecework

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Shimshon-Santo, Amy. Piecework: Ethnographies of Place. Unsolicited Press, 2025

Reason read: as a member of LibraryThing’s Early Review Program I get to read really interesting books. This is one such book.

There are four themes to Piecework: the classroom, community, migrations, and conversations. In the beginning, Piecework is comprised of essays that encourage collective action as an extension of social justice, but by the end you have an intimate portrait of the author and her ancestry. For the first part of Piecework Shimshon-Santo provides a clear blueprint for how to bring key people together to form a productive interdisciplinary team to tackle common social problems. For example, the first she addresses is transportation. [As an aside, if anyone has seen Natalie Merchant’s storytellers show you will know that she called Los Angeles a “car culture” because of its massive highway systems. Walking around is out of the question for some parts of the metropolis.] Shimshon-Santo approaches a dilemma with creative innovation by viewing it through multiple lenses. She believes in compassionate leadership and the value of listening to children. By the end of Piecework the reader has a clear understanding of Shimshon-Santo thanks to a revealing essay about her grandmother and a couple of interviews in the conversation section.
It goes without saying that Piecework is thought provoking, but what I wasn’t expecting was the plethora of gorgeous photography. The entire book was exquisite to read.

Author fact: Shimshon-Santo has a background in dance. She also wrote Catastrophic Molting. I think she win a prize for the most interesting titles.

Music: Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

Book trivia: the bonus to Piecework is the photography and poetry.

Life Among the Savages

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Jackson, Shirley. Life Among the Savages. Narrated by Lesa Lockford. Dreamscape Media, 2015.
Jackson, Shirley. Life Among the Savages. Farrar, Straus and Young, 1953.

Reason read: December is Jackson’s birth month. Read in her honor.

This is a delightful series of essays about being a mother and wife in a large family. Jackson has four children in a very chaotic home. She attacks each subject whether it be education, childbirth, failings of the furnace and automobile or life with a cat with wit, sarcasm, humor, and humility. This was a great way to pass a rainy afternoon. I look forward to her other nonfictions as well as the fiction on my list.
Confessional: There were times I wanted to strangle her children but refrained from throwing the book across the room when I realized there potentially could be a fair amount of exaggeration in Jackson’s descriptions.

Author fact: Pearl misfiled Life Among the Savages under ghost stories because Jackson also wrote the very creepy short story “the Lottery.”

Book trivia: try to find the version with Lesa Lockford as narrator. It is fantastic.

Music: “Joy to the world,” and “O Come, All Ye Faithful.”

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the odd chapter called “Ghost Stories” (p 100). I say odd because Life Among Savages is not a ghost story. It is just mentioned because Jackson did write a scary story or two.