Another excellent writer whose books I enjoy

A Long Petal of the Sea ~ by Isabel Allende, translated by Nick Caistor and Amanda Hopkinson, 2020, historical fiction, 336 pages

In the late 1930s, civil war grips Spain.  When General Franco and his Fascists succeed in overthrowing the government, hundreds of thousands are forced to flee in a treacherous journey over the mountains to the French border.  Among them is Roser, a pregnant young widow, who finds her life intertwined with that of Victor Dalmau, an army doctor and the brother of her deceased love.  In order to survive, the two must unite in a marriage neither of them desires.

Together with two thousand other refugees, Roser and Victor embark on the SS Winnipeg, a ship chartered by the poet Pablo Neruda, to Chile:  “the long petal of sea and wine and snow.”  As unlikely partners, the couple embraces exile as the rest of Europe erupts in world war.  Starting over on a new continent, they face trial after trial, but they will also find joy as they patiently await the day when they might go home.  Through it all, their hope of returning to Spain keeps them going.  Destined to witness the battle between freedom and repression as it plays out across the world, Roser and Victor will find that home might have been closer than they thought all along.

Week in Review

• On TWOsday, HERE, I learned about the second book in The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek series.
• My Friday Snippets, HERE, came from Jodi Picoult's newest book.
• Jackie's Caturday post yesterday was an apology to me, HERE.

Hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz

Being catty today

Last week, HERE, I wrote about a book I want about cats and kittens.  Bonnie wouldn't buy it for me, so I complained to the whole world.  Okay, I apologize because it turns out that we already have books about cats and kittens in our apartment.  She showed them to me, so I could look at the pictures.  This is a magazine, not a book, so I started with it.  I will tell you about the books some other time, so let's just say that I'm being catty today, as usual.

Signed,

          Jackie

Friday Book Snippets ~ from a 2026 novel

Two bloggers have combined Book Beginnings on Friday and Friday56 with a new name Friday Book Snippets.  Anne and Olivia are co-hosting this weekly blogging event (click to enlarge the illustration above to access their blogs).  We can link up at either of their sites and then visit and comment on other people's blogs.  Here are their directions:

"Share two snippets (a sentence or short paragraph) from a) the book's opening and b) page 56 (or another page) from the book you are currently reading.  But no spoilers, please."

Okay, I'm ready to try this new version of sharing our book blog posts with:  

Hollow Bones ~ by Jodi Picoult, 2026, literary fiction, 464 pages, 10/10

Opening: 

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.

Page 56:

The door to the exam room opened.  "Congratulations," Dr. Mantillard said.  She was small and birdlike, with hair that frizzed and eternally cold hands.  "You are incontrovertibly pregnant."

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. 

A novel by Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York

A Most Intriguing Lady ~ by Sarah Ferguson with Marguerite Kaye, 2023, historical fiction (Scotland), 368 pages, 9/10

This is an historical saga is about a Duke’s daughter — the perfect Victorian lady — who secretly moonlights as an amateur sleuth for high society’s inner circle.  Victorian London was notorious for its pickpockets.  But in the country houses of the elite, gentleman burglars, art thieves and con men preyed on the rich and titled.  Wealthy victims — with their pride and reputation at stake — wouldn't ever go to the police.  What they needed was a society insider, one of their own, a person of discretion and finely tuned powers of observation, who is adept at navigating intrigue.

That person was Lady Mary Montagu Douglas Scott, the youngest child of Queen Victoria’s close friends, the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch.  Bookish, fiercely intelligent, and a keen observer, Mary has deliberately cultivated a mousey persona that allows her to remain overlooked and significantly under-estimated by all.  It’s the perfect cover for a sleuth, a role she stumbles into when trying to assist a close friend during a house party hosted by her parents at their stately Scottish home, Drumlanrig Castle.

It is at this party where Lady Mary also meets Colonel Walter Trefusis, a distinguished and extremely handsome war veteran.  Tortured by memories of combat, Walter, like Mary, lives a double life, with a desk job in Whitehall providing a front for his role in the British Intelligence Service.  The two form an unlikely alliance to solve a series of audacious crimes — and indulge in a highly charged on-off romance.  So this novel documents one remarkable woman’s ability to be both the perfect lady and a perfectly talented detective.

Week in Review

• On Monday, HERE, I mused about taking one's own advice.
• I wrote about two unrelated things on TWOsday, HERE.
• My Wednesday Word, HERE, was "pandiculation."  Have you ever used that big word?  I'd never even heard the word until this week.
• My Thursday Thoughts, HERE, were about a very young survivor of Auschwitz.
• My Book Beginnings on Friday, HERE, were from the memoir of a man going blind.
• My cat Jackie was perturbed that I posted on "her" Caturday, so she added her two cents worth about the situation, HERE.

Hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz

Cat book for Caturday

Catland: Louis Wain and the Great Cat Mania ~ by Kathryn Hughes, 2024, history of cats, 432 pages

In 1900, America and England were in the grip of a cat craze.  An animal that had for centuries been seen as a household servant or urban nuisance had now become an object of pride and deep affection.  From presidential and royal families who imported exotic breeds to working-class men competing for cash prizes for the fattest tabby, people became enthralled to the once-humble cat.  Multiple industries sprang up to feed this new obsession, selling everything from veterinary services to leather bootees via dedicated cat magazines.  Cats were being traded for increasingly large sums of money, bolstered by elaborate pedigrees that claimed noble ancestry and promised aesthetic distinction.

In Catland, Kathryn Hughes chronicles the cat craze of the early twentieth century through the life and career of Louis Wain.  Wain's anthropomorphic drawings of cats in top hats falling in love, sipping champagne, golfing, driving cars, and piloting planes are some of the most instantly recognizable images from the era.  His round-faced fluffy characters established the prototype for the modern cat, which cat "fanciers" were busily trying to achieve using their new-found knowledge of the latest scientific breeding techniques.

Despite being a household name, Wain endured multiple bankruptcies and mental breakdowns, spending his last fifteen years in an asylum, drawing abstract and multicolored felines.

But it was his ubiquitous anthropomorphic cats that helped usher the formerly reviled creatures into homes across Europe.

Beautifully illustrated with over 130 drawings and based on new archival findings about Wain's life, the wider cat fancy, and the media frenzy it created, Catland chronicles the fascinating history of how the modern cat emerged.

*Jackie speaking!  (Even if I have to do it in a footnote of sorts.)

Somebody put this cat book in the box beside our door.  It's full of strange cat drawings, so Bonnie wrote about it for Caturday.

Hey, Bonnie!  Did you forget this day is supposed to be MY day?  I'll settle for this footnote today, but please let me do next CATurday's post.  (And I want to read the Catland book, too.)

Beginning ~ with the Introduction

Introduction: The End Begins

I'm going blind as I write this.  It feels less dramatic than it sounds.  The words aren't disappearing as I type.  I'm sitting comfortably in the sunroom.  The sun is rising like it's supposed to.  I can plainly see Lily sitting next to me, reading in her striped pajamas.  The visible world is disappearing, but it's not in a hurry.

The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight ~ by Andrew Leland, 2023, memoir, xxv + 339 pages

We meet Andrew Leland as he’s suspended in the liminal state of the soon-to-be blind:  he’s midway through his life with retinitis pigmentosa, a condition that ushers those who live with it from sightedness to blindness over years, even decades.  He grew up with full vision, but starting in his teenage years, his sight began to degrade from the outside in.  Soon —  but without knowing exactly when — he will likely have no vision left.

Full of apprehension but also dogged curiosity, Leland embarks on a sweeping exploration of the state of being that awaits him:  not only the physical experience of blindness but also its language, politics, and customs.  He negotiates his changing relationships with his wife and son, and with his own sense of self, as he moves from his mainstream, “typical” life to one with a disability.  Part memoir, part historical and cultural investigation, The Country of the Blind represents Leland’s determination not to merely survive this transition but to grow from it — to seek out and revel in that which makes blindness enlightening.  Brimming with warmth and humor, it is an exhilarating tour of a new way of being.

A very young survivor

Survivors Club: The True Story of a Very Young Prisoner of Auschwitz ~ by Michael Bornstein and Debbie Bornstein Holinstat, 2017, memoir, xviii + 348 pages

In 1945, in a now-famous piece of World War II archival footage, four-year-old Michael Bornstein was filmed by Soviet soldiers as he was being carried out of Auschwitz in his grandmother’s arms.  This is the unforgettable story of how a father’s courageous wit, a mother’s fierce love, and one perfectly timed illness saved his life, and how others in his family from Zarki, Poland, dodged death at the hands of the Nazis time and again with incredible deftness.

In case you were wondering, Michael Bornstein survived for seven months inside Auschwitz, where the average lifespan of a child was just two weeks.  Six years after his liberation, he immigrated to the United States.  He graduated from Fordham University, earned his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa, and worked in pharmaceutical research and development for more than forty years.  Now retired, he lives with his wife in New York City and speaks frequently to schools and other groups about his experiences in the Holocaust.

Working from his own recollections as well as extensive interviews with relatives and survivors who knew the family, Michael relates his story with the help of his daughter, Debbie Bornstein Holinstat.  Shocking, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting and inspirational, this narrative nonfiction offers an indelible depiction of what happened to one Polish village in the wake of the German invasion in 1939.

Note from Bonnie:  Even though this is written for ages 10-14, reviewers say this memoir should be read by everybody.  As I was re-shelving library books here at the Crown Center for Senior Living, I noticed this book and checked it out to read myself.

"Pandiculation" is a big word for today

This week’s word from Collins Dictionary is pandiculation (pænˌdɪkjəˈleiʃən), which means "a condition of great joy or bliss; euphoric state."  But then they go on to say that pandiculation is "the act of stretching oneself."  So which is it?  Both?  I guess it's "great joy" to "stretch" when I've been in one position for too long.  Anyway, I like that the illustration shows a stretching cat.  And since "joy" is my favorite word, I love this definition.

Anyway, here's the rest of the definition I got in my email:

The term (which derived from Latin) appeared in English medical writing in the seventeenth century and comes from the Latin pandiculari, meaning to stretch oneself, which is connected to the broader root pandere, to spread out or extend.

The word refers specifically to the simultaneous stretching and yawning that occurs most commonly upon waking.  This precision is worth noting.  Stretching and yawning can occur independently, and pandiculation names their combination rather than either action alone.  Early medical writers grouped the behaviour with other involuntary movements and associated it with fatigue, fever, and the transitions between sleep and wakefulness.

The Latin root pandere may have a more distant origin.  It has been connected to a Proto-Indo-European root relating to outward spreading, the same root thought to underlie the English word fathom, which originally described the span of two outstretched arms.  However, this connection remains a proposed etymology and it is not fully confirmed.

Two unrelated things for TWOsday

One

I went to the nearby pharmacy and got my flu shot for this year.

Two

I also got more dry cat food for Jackie, the latest cat who now blogs on Caturdays, you know, the day after Friday.  I got up this morning later than she preferred, so she quite adroitly ripped open the almost empty bag herself and, apparently, helped herself to breakfast.

Taking your own advice

Dear Debbie ~ by Freida McFadden, 2026, psychological thriller, 336 pages, 7/10

Sometimes, enough is enough.  Debbie Mullen is losing it.  For years, she has compiled all of her best advice into her column, Dear Debbie, where the wives of New England come for sympathy and neighborly advice.  Through her work, Debbie has heard from countless women who are ignored, belittled, or even abused by their husbands, and Debbie does her best to guide them in the right direction.   Or at least, she did.

These days, Debbie's life seems to be spiraling out of control.  She just lost her job, something strange is happening with her teenage daughters, and (according to the tracking app she installed on her husband's phone) he is keeping secrets.

Now, Debbie's done being the bigger person.  She's done being reasonable and practical.  It's time to take her own advice and time for payback against all the people in her life who deserve it the most.  What happens when women finally choose to take justice into their own hands?  Get YOUR hands on a copy of this book and find out for yourself.

"Keep on keeping on," the author says

Affirmations of a Dissenter ~ by C. Joseph Sprague, 2002, theology, 112 pages

"I began to question the literal approach to scripture," Sprague says on page 9.  He affirms his trust in and commitment to unconditional love for all humankind, and dissents from some beliefs and positions long espoused by certain religious institutions, particularly United Methodism, his own denomination.  He deals with issues such as biblical authority, the humanity and divinity of Jesus, and homosexuality, stating what he affirms, where he dissents, and how he suggests change and progress in each case.  He calls people of God to seek to work in the spirit of Jesus, even when — especially when — doing so goes against the culture of the day.  He stresses internal spiritual nurture and external mission and justice-seeking outreach as vehicles for congregational renewal.

Week in Review

• On Monday, I mused about quotes from a book, HERE.
• I wrote about Jodi Picoult's newest book on TWOsday, HERE.
• Wonderful Wednesday's book HERE, was about a paperback book from National Geographic about cats, as I've just taken in another one.
• My Thursday Thoughts were about the nearby library sending their Book Bike to Crown Center, HERE.
• My Book Beginnings on Friday, HERE, was about a 646-page book.
• My new cat's post for Caturday, HERE, mentions using her claws on my sofa.

Hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz

Caturday post

Sorry, I'm running a little late with posting for Caturday, but I've been looking online at stuff like I've pictured above (and thinking about ordering in Bonnie's name).  It's only fair, I think, that she should get me something like this, if she doesn't like that I've been sharpening my claws on her sofa.  Don't you agree?

Recommended to me, but isn't 656 pages too long?

Beginning with the Prologue

September 1933 ... Downtown Drugstore had a bell on the door that made a single tink sound when you opened it.  Oxford Pharmacy had two bells on its door so it was more of a ta-tink, though nothing to startle over.   But the Gathright-Reed Drug Co. door bore a foot-long strip of brass sleigh bells on its knob, which, when turned, sent metal balls clanging to announce somebody's coming in the dang store so you better turn around and look see who it is.  And if you did, you'd see me.

The Calamity Club ~ by Kathryn Stockett, 2026, historical fiction (Mississippi), 656 pages

Abandoned by her mother one Christmas Eve, eleven-year-old Meg Lefleur has learned the hard way to rely on no one.  Now one of the unadoptable "big girls" at the Lafayette County Orphan Asylum, she fights each day to keep her spirit unbowed.  Birdie Calhoun, unmarried and outspoken, has come to Oxford to ask her socialite sister to help the struggling family she’s left behind.  But as the Depression tightens its grip, Birdie discovers her sister’s seemingly charmed life is a tapestry of lies.

Then, Birdie encounters Charlie, a woman running low on luck with little left to lose.  When their fates — and Meg’s — converge, Charlie comes up with an audacious plan for them to take control of their lives.  But in a place and time where hypocrisy is rife and women’s freedom is fragile, even the smallest act of defiance can have dangerous consequences.  The Calamity Club will make you laugh, cry, and cheer — an epic testament to underestimated women who know that calamity can be the spark of new beginnings.  This is Kathryn Stockett at her most confident, heartfelt, and hilarious — the triumphant return of one of the most beloved storytellers of our time.

The library's book bike returned to Crown Center

The University City Library's Book Bike came to the Crown Center again yesterday, so I searched online for an illustration.  Surprise!  The very first one that came up (above) is from an earlier visit, and I'm in the photo:  Kevin (left) rode the bike from the library, Bonnie is seated in the doorway, and Melvin is standing.  On one side of the book bike are free books for us that are no longer in circulation or donations not needed, and on the other side are books to check out using our library cards.  Yesterday, Kevin parked the Book Bike just inside our lobby door, rather than in that corner.  After people took the books they wanted yesterday, Kevin let me take four for the Crown Center library.

The Secret Life of Cats

The Secret Life of Cats: Out of the Wild and Into Our Homes ~ by Carrie Arnold, 2026 (reissue), 96 pages, animals, 9/10

Cats use the same five senses as humans, but they view the world differently.  Scientists are just beginning to understand the rich complexity of what it means to be feline.  For thousands of years humankind has been intrigued, perplexed, and enamored by cats. This book celebrates the bond we have with our feline friends. 

When I took in my latest cat, a neighbor let me borrow this paperback from National Geographic about cats.  It includes information about how cats communicate, information about cats throughout history, and how to crack the code of cat emotions.

Another book by my favorite author

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

On September 11, 2001, when Molly Fitzgerald was only two months old, her mother went to an appointment at the World Trade Center and never came home.  Her father and the stepmother who raised her couldn't have loved her more, but she still grew up with a healthy dread of disasters.  Now an adult, she runs the Rhode Island Department for Emergency Preparedness, mapping out ways to save lives during storms, epidemics, and airplane crashes.  She and her husband, Jesse — a police polygraph expert with his own history of crisis — have found a love that is a solace in a dangerous world.  But then the unexpected upends their new marriage, leading them both to question everything they thought they knew.  Moving between past and present, Hollow Bones is an epic story of the lies we tell ourselves as we write the narratives of our lives, the plans we design to protect ourselves at the worst moments, and the ties that bind mothers and daughters.