Beginning ~ with killing mother

Beginning

When all is said and done, killing my mother came easily.  Dementia, as it descends, has a way of revealing the core of the person affected by it.  My mother's core was rotten like the brackish water at the bottom of a weeksold vase of flowers. 

The Almost Moon ~ by Alice Sebold, 2007, fiction, 291 pages

I like what one reviewer on Amazon wrote about this book:  "This is a story about mental illness, in this case, the pervasive illness of the main protagonist's parents, which leaves Helen lost in the miasma of lifelong dread and obligation.  While we get the sense of there having been many earlier, and good, years of happy marriage and the mothering of her two girls, where things are now is empty — kids grown, marriage over, life occupied by the care of her deeply damaged mother, with no real prospects for happiness.  This bleakness leads to an impulsive decision that slams Helen's life into a wall of no return."

From the back cover:  "For years Helen Knightly has given her life to others:  to her haunted mother, to her enigmatic father, to her husband and now grown children. When she finally crosses a terrible boundary, her life comes rushing in at her in a way she never could have imagined. Unfolding over the next twenty-four hours, this searing, fast-paced novel explores the complex ties between mothers and daughters, wives and lovers, the meaning of devotion, and the line between love and hate. It is a challenging, moving, gripping story, written with the fluidity and strength of voice that only Alice Sebold can bring to the page."

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Three homophones: rain, rein, reign

I'm writing about these homophones because of an email announcement:  "I will be taking over the ... reigns ..."  Oh, is he becoming royalty?  No, but I hope he finds a good editor.  What he meant to say was that he is taking over the REINS.  He will be guiding this entity, like a rider guides a horse, using reins.

While "rain," "rein," and "reign" sound exactly the same (homophones), their meanings differ completely.  Let's define these three very different words:

• rain = water falling from the sky.
• rein = a strap used to guide a horse.
• reign = the period of time when a monarch rules.

We might say about the first one, "It looks like it will rain today, so take your umbrella."

The second one is used mostly in the plural sense ("take the reins"), meaning to take control of something.  Why?  Beause the leather straps attached to a horse's bit is used by a horse's rider to control and guide it.  A family might say:  "We're low on money until payday, so we need to reign in our spending."

Reign (the third meaning) is the time during which a king or queen rules a country.  As a verb, it means to hold royal power.  It specifically pertains to monarchies, authority, or dominance.  Examples:"Queen Elizabeth II had a remarkably long reign."

A book by Rachel Maddow

Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism ~ by Raachel Maddow, 2023, history, 416 pages

Inspired by her research for the hit podcast Ultra, Rachel Maddow charts the rise of a wild American strain of authoritarianism that has been alive on the far-right edge of our politics for the better part of a century.  Before and even after our troops had begun fighting abroad in World War II, a clandestine network flooded the country with disinformation aimed at sapping the strength of the U.S. war effort and persuading Americans that our natural alliance was with the Axis, not against it.  It was a sophisticated and well-funded campaign to undermine democratic institutions, promote antisemitism, and destroy citizens’ confidence in their elected leaders, with the ultimate goal of overthrowing the U.S. government and installing authoritarian rule.

That effort worked — tongue and groove — alongside an ultra-right paramilitary movement that stockpiled bombs and weapons and trained for mass murder and violent insurrection.

At the same time, a handful of extraordinary activists and journalists were tracking the scheme, exposing it even as it was unfolding.  In 1941 the U.S. Department of Justice finally made a frontal attack, identifying the key plotters, finding their backers, and prosecuting dozens in federal court.  None of it went as planned.

While the scheme has been remembered in history — if at all — as the work of fringe players, in reality it involved a large number of some of the country’s most influential elected officials.  Their interference in law enforcement efforts against the plot is a dark story of the rule of law bending and then breaking under the weight of political intimidation. 

 

That failure of the legal system had consequences.  The tentacles of that unslain beast have reached forward into our history for decades.  But the heroic efforts of the activists, journalists, prosecutors, and regular citizens who sought to expose the insurrectionists also make for a deeply resonant, deeply relevant tale in our own disquieting times.

I've mentioned Rachel Maddow a couple of other times on this blog.  To read those, click HERE.  This is one of the books donated to the Crown Center's library after a resident died.  I don't think I want to read this heavy tome, even though the New York Times said, "The parallels to the present day are strong, even startling."

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