Having owned one, I'm rather partial to book stores

The Lost Bookshop ~ by Evie Woods, 2023, fiction (Ireland), 411 pages

On a quiet street in Dublin, a lost bookshop is waiting to be found.  For too long, Opaline, Martha, and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives.  But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books.  And by unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder — where nothing is as it seems.

Week in Review

• My Twosday post was about TWO books by the same author, HERE.
• My words for Wednesday, HERE, were related to the book I was reading.
• I hope my Thursday Thoughts, HERE, made you think.
• My Book Beginning on Friday post was about a surrogate mother, HERE.
• On Saturday, I wrote about an unexpected love story, HERE.

Hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz,

we bloggers gather at separate computers in different time 

 zones — to share what we have been doing during the week.

An unexpected love story

The Other Side of Disappearing ~ by Kate Clayborn, 2024, fiction, pages

Hairstylist Jess Greene has spent the last decade raising her younger half-sister, Tegan — and keeping a shocking secret.  Ever since their reckless mother ran off with a boyfriend she’d known only a few months, Jess has been aware that he’s the same accomplished con man who was the subject of a wildly popular podcast, "The Last Con of Lynton Baltimore."

Now thirty-one, Jess didn’t bargain on Tegan eventually piecing together the connection for herself.  But Tegan plans to do exactly what Jess has always feared — leave their safe, stable home to search for their mother — and she’ll be accompanied by the prying podcast host and her watchful, handsome producer, Adam Hawkins.  Unwilling to let the sister she’s spent so much of her life protecting go it alone, Jess reluctantly joins them.

Together, the four make their way across the country, unraveling the mystery of where the couple disappeared to and why.  But soon Jess is discovering other things too.  Like a renewed sense of vulnerability and curiosity, and a willingness to expand beyond the walls she’s so carefully built.  And in Adam, she finds an unexpected connection she didn’t even know was missing, if only she can let go and let him in.

Beginning ~ wait, why would she be arrested?

Beginning with the Prologue

In the next twenty-four hours, I will be arrested for first-degree murder.

Surrogate Mother ~ by Freida McFadden, 2025, literary fiction, 313 pages, 9/10

She was promised a miracle.  She got more than she bargained for.  Abby wants a baby more than anything.  But after years of failed infertility treatments and adoptions that have fallen through, it seems like motherhood is not in her future.  That is, until her personal assistant Monica makes a generous offer to serve as a surrogate.  It's an offer that will make all of Abby's dreams come true.  But soon, strange things start happening, and it turns out Monica isn't who she says she is.  The woman now carrying Abby's child has an unspeakable secret.  And she will stop at nothing to get what she wants.  Bestselling author Freida McFadden delivers a page turner that will redefine what it means to be in the family way.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Thinking about rules, empathy, and decisions

I read a BuzzFeed article (dated July 15, 2026) about sentences that changed people's lives and found two that I want to share here for us to think about today:

12.  "Rules are meant to maintain order, but empathy is meant to maintain humanity." — chellebelle079

24.  "When you are born, you look like your parents.  When you die, you look like your decisions." — allegra918

Two words for Wednesday = "fascist" and "antifa"

To Catch a Fascist: The Fight to Expose the Radical Right ~ by Christopher Mathias, 2026, political thought, xix + 313 pages

One of my neighbors suggested I read this newly published book, which is called a "provocative investigation into the rise of white nationalist and neo-Nazi movements in the United States, centered on the anti-fascist groups working to expose and stop these hateful factions."

Demonized as “extremist” by conservatives and liberals alike, “antifa” became a bogeyman during Donald Trump’s first term.  But few Americans understood the dangerous work antifa was doing to disrupt and unmask a new generation of white supremacists or listened when antifa sounded the alarm about these white supremacists taking positions of power. Now this underground network of militant anti-fascists is determined to stop the rising tide of fascism in America.  No matter the cost.

This book follows different factions of antifascists as they work to unmask hateful extremists before they commit devastating acts of violence.  To Catch a Fascist paints a vivid picture of the stakes in this ongoing, often unseen war between opposite ends of the political spectrum, highlighting the scrappy resourcefulness and resilience of antifascist movements against their increasingly violent adversaries.  Using storytelling and eye-opening insight, this timely book reveals the human cost, moral dilemmas, and unwavering determination involved in fighting white supremacy.  To Catch a Fascist is both a call to action and a look at the powerful work being done to combat this threat to democracy.

Wednesday Words

• fascist = Fascism (FASH-iz-əm) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement that rose to prominence in early-20th-century Europe.  Fascism is characterized by support for a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived interest of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.  Opposed to communism, democracy, liberalism, pluralism, and socialism, fascism is at the far-right of the traditional left–right spectrum.
• antifa = is short for antifascism, so it is the opposite of fascism.

Two books, one author

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry ~ by Fredrik Backman, 2013, (translated by Henning Koch, 2015), literary fiction, 370 pages

Elsa is seven years old and different.  Her grandmother is seventy-seven years old and crazy — as in standing-on-the-balcony-firing-paintball-guns-at-strangers crazy.  She is also Elsa’s best, and only, friend.  At night Elsa takes refuge in her grandmother’s stories, in the Land-of-Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas, where everybody is different and nobody needs to be normal.

When Elsa’s grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters apologizing to people she has wronged, Elsa’s greatest adventure begins.  Her grandmother’s instructions lead her to an apartment building full of misfits, monsters, attack dogs, and old crones but also to the truth about fairy tales and kingdoms and a grandmother like no other.

This story is told with the same comic accuracy and beating heart as Fredrik Backman’s bestselling debut novel, A Man Called Ove.  It is a story about life and death and one of the most important human rights:  the right to be different.  (I really enjoyed reading A Man Called Ove, and that's why I picked up this book in the first place.)

A Man Called Ove ~ by Fredrik Backman, 2015, literary fiction, 368 pages

Meet Ove.  He’s a curmudgeon — the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window.  He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse.  People call him “the bitter neighbor from hell.”  But must Ove be bitter just because he doesn’t walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?

Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness.  So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove’s mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul.  All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents’ association to their very foundations.

Fredrik Backman’s beloved first novel about the angry old man next door is a thoughtful exploration of the profound impact one life has on countless others.

Another book by an excellent writer

Daughters of the Sun and Moon ~ by Lisa See, 2026, literary fiction, 384 pages

This New York Times bestseller by Lisa See is the story of three Chinese women whose unexpected friendship helps them survive and, despite the odds, thrive, in the turmoil of post–Civil War Los Angeles.  In 1870, three Chinese women arrive in the small, dusty, and violent pueblo of Los Angeles.

• Dove, the bound-footed daughter of an imperial scholar, is entrancing and innocent. These characteristics should bring her great rewards, beginning with her arranged marriage to a much older merchant.
• Petal, the big-footed daughter of peasants, has grown up hungry and with dirt between her toes. In a moment of desperation, Petal’s father sells her to buy money for rice seed, and she is loaded onto a ship to the Gold Mountain — America — where she is once again sold.
• Moon is married to a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine. She is educated, speaks fluent English, and has been endowed with a face of great beauty, yet her failed footbinding as a child has left her with a limp that lessens her value in the eyes of many.

Each woman has her own desires.  Dove wants to love and be loved, Petal desires freedom, and Moon seeks justice.  Together they face a larger society that wishes them not one ounce of good will.  Anti-Chinese sentiment is strong in Los Angeles, and this eventually leads to the Night of Horrors during which all three women are challenged in ways they could not have imagined.  Brought together by hardship and heartbreak, they must use their bravery, endurance, and ability to “eat bitterness” to discover their voices, find freedom, and connect through solace and friendship.  Together they are daughters of the sun and moon.

Hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz,

we bloggers gather at separate computers in different time

zones — to share what we have been doing during the week.