Book Two ~ for TWOsday

The Book Woman's Daughter (Book 2 of 2 of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek) ~ by Kim Michele Richardson, 2022, historical fiction (Appalachia), 352 pages

Bestselling historical fiction author Kim Michele Richardson is back with the perfect book club read following Honey Lovett, the daughter of the beloved Troublesome book woman, who must fight for her own independence with the help of the women who guide her and the books that set her free.

In the ruggedness of the beautiful Kentucky mountains, Honey Lovett has always known that the old ways can make a hard life harder. As the daughter of the famed blue-skinned, Troublesome Creek packhorse librarian, Honey and her family have been hiding from the law all her life. But when her mother and father are imprisoned, Honey realizes she must fight to stay free, or risk being sent away for good.

Picking up her mother's old packhorse library route, Honey begins to deliver books to the remote hollers of Appalachia. Honey is looking to prove that she doesn't need anyone telling her how to survive. But the route can be treacherous, and some folks aren't as keen to let a woman pave her own way.

If Honey wants to bring the freedom books provide to the families who need it most, she's going to have to fight for her place, and along the way, learn that the extraordinary women who run the hills and hollers can make all the difference in the world.

Bonnie's note:  I hadn't heard of this until last night, when my friend Joanne in Chattanooga recommended it to me.

Hospice care and death

Death Is But a Dream: Finding Hope and Meaning at Life's End ~ by Christopher Kerr and Carine Mardorossian, 2020, hospice care, 254 pages

This is the first book to validate the meaningful dreams and visions that bring comfort as death nears.  Christopher Kerr is a hospice doctor, so all of his patients die.  Yet he has cared for thousands of patients who, in the face of death, speak of love and grace.  Beyond the physical realities of dying are unseen processes that are remarkably life-affirming.  These include dreams that are unlike any regular dream.  Described as "more real than real," these end-of-life experiences resurrect past relationships, meaningful events and themes of love and forgiveness; they restore life's meaning and mark the transition from distress to comfort and acceptance.

Drawing on interviews with over 1,400 patients and more than a decade of quantified data, Dr. Kerr reveals that pre-death dreams and visions are extraordinary occurrences that humanize the dying process.  He shares how his patients' stories point to death as not solely about the end of life, but as the final chapter of humanity's transcendence.  Kerr's book also illuminates the benefits of these phenomena for the bereaved, who find solace in seeing their loved ones pass with a sense of calm closure.

With real-life characters and stories, this book is at its heart a celebration of our power to reclaim the dying process as a very meaningful one.  Death Is But a Dream is an important contribution to our understanding of medicine's and humanity's greatest mystery.

Week in Review

• On Monday, HERE, I mused about re-reading Cold Mountain.
• My Wednesday Word was "generations," HERE.
• Thursday was the beginning of Optimistic October, HERE.
• My Book Beginnings on Friday, HERE, was from Jodi Picoult's newest book.
• My cat Jackie posted HERE, saying she wants this book about cats.

Hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz

I want this book ~ Signed, Jackie

My Book of Cats and Kittens looks like fun.  I want it.  Now.  Bonnie should get it for me.  Now.  It's not fair that I can't buy it myself because she won't let me use that plastic card in her pocket.  Not fair!  Anyway, what'cha think of this?

Okay, that isn't really me, but that's how I smile when I get to blog on Caturdays.

Signed,

          Jackie

P.S.  Today is CATURDAY, the day after Friday.

Beginning ~ in September 2026

Hollow Bones ~ by Jodi Picoult, 2026, literary fiction, 464 pages

When Jodi Picoult came to St. Louis a few years ago, my friend Donna Carey and I went to hear her speak and met her afterwards.  This photo shows Jodi with us on September 25, 2019.  I now have Jodi's latest book from the library and am reading it.  I was surprised that the first lines of this book are preceeded by the date "September 2026."  That's the month the book was first published, which ended two days ago.  Now I am even more excited about reading this latest book by my favorite author.

September 2026

An unexpected wind picks up from the north and the wall of fire becomes a living thing, a dragon roaring toward the first responders who try to tame it.  I'm frozen in place, watching this hellscape.  These thirty-mile-per-hour gusts have seemingly arrived out of, well, thin air.

Optimistic October

Being optimistic seems like something I need to be thinking about these days, so I've decided to post this latest calendar from Action for Happiness for at least a month.  Putting it online reminds me, while also sharing it with anybody in the world who needs these words and ideas.  Enlarge the whole calendar and its words by clicking on the calendar.

Today, I'm thinking about the generations

Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents―and What They Mean for America's Future ~ by Jean M. Twenge, 2023, anthropology, 560 pages

A groundbreaking look at the five generations that make up today’s population, from the bestselling author of Generation Me and iGen. Dr. Jean Twenge has analyzed millions of data points to glean the attitudes, characteristics, and life circumstances that define each generation, resulting in a fascinating look at how they connect, conflict, and compete with each other.

Upending the conventional theory that generational differences are caused by major events, Dr. Jean Twenge analyzes data on 39 million people from robust national surveys — some going back nearly a century — to show that changes in technology are the underlying driver of each generation’s unique makeup.  In this revelatory work, Twenge outlines key shifts in attitudes and lifestyle choices that define each generation regarding gender, income, politics, race, sexuality, marriage, mental health, and more.

Generations “gets you thinking about how appreciating generational differences can, ironically, bring us together,” said Angela Duckworth, a New York Times bestselling author.  It may also change the way you view your parents, peers, coworkers, children, and grandchildren.

Defining generations (from what I could find online): 

Greatest Generation were born 1901–1927.

Silent Generation were born 1928–1945.

Baby Boomers were born 1946–1964.

Generation X were born 1965–1980.

Generation Y were born 1981–1996.

Generation Z were born 1997–2010.

Generation Alpha were born 2010-2024.

Yesterday, a friend sat down beside me in the Crown Center library to tell me about this book, saying I should read it.  When I got home, I looked it up online and promptly put it on reserve at my library.  I am part of the Silent Generation, though I'm not so silent, am I?  All three of my children are Boomers.  Which generation are you?

Cold Mountain ~ by Charles Frazier

Cold Mountain ~ by Charles Frazier, 1997, historical fiction (North Carolina), 449 pages

Sorely wounded and fatally disillusioned in the fighting at Petersburg, a Confederate soldier named Inman decides to walk back to his home in the Blue Ridge mountains to Ada, the woman he loves.  His trek across the disintegrating South brings him into intimate and sometimes lethal converse with slaves and marauders, bounty hunters and witches, both helpful and malign.  At the same time, the intrepid Ada is trying to revive her father’s derelict farm and learning to survive in a world where the old certainties have been swept away.  Inman is not the man he used to be, as wounded in battle he slowly makes his way home to North Carolina.  His sweetheart, Ada, is no longer a flighty belle but a hard-working farm woman.  Will love be the same?

It has been decades since I read this excellent book, so I've taken it off my shelf to read again.  It will also take me "home" to the mountains where I lived before moving to St. Louis.  I'm from Tennessee, which borders North Carolina.