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.

Musing about quotes

On Thursday, I wrote about Isabel Allede's book The Soul of a Woman, HERE.  I'm still musing about the words I bookmarked:

Page 102

In the past, adulthood arrived at twenty, middle age at forty, and old age at fifty.  Today adolescence lasts until past thirty or forty, maturity comes around sixty, and old age starts at eighty.  This is the baby boomers' achievement.

Page 107

I would like to have Sophia Loren's full breasts and long legs, but if given a choice, I prefer the gifts of several good witches I know:  purpose, compassion, and good humor.  (*Note:  I especially like compassion being in the list.)

 Page 111

The key to contentment is forgiveness of others and of ourselves.

 Page 123

Grace is in a residence for older people because she needs assistance; she is by far the youngest person there.  The help she gets is not much, just five minutes in the morning to dress her, five minutes in the evening to put her to bed, and two showers a week.  For her, the greatest pleasure is that shower.  She says that every drop of water on her skin is a blessing; she enjoys the soap and shampoo foam in her hair.  I often think of Grace when I shower; I don't want to take that privilege for granted.

Page 130

This is what women want:  to be safe, to be valued, to live in peace, to have their own resources, to be connected, to have control over their bodies and lives, and above all, to be loved.

 Pages 164-165

There's a difference between immigrants and refugees.  The former decide to move somewhere else to improve their lives.  They are usually young and healthy (the elderly stay behind), they try to adapt as soon as possible, they look to the future, and they want to plant roots in the new place.  The latter are running for their lives; they are escaping military conflict, persecution, crime, and extreme poverty.  Refugees are desperate, they have had to leave behind everything that is familiar to them and seek asylum in another country where they are likely to confront hostility.  Helf of the seventy million refugees in 2018 were women and children, a figure that has been increasing yearly.

Pages 167-168 

In less developed regions, mothers typically spend their income on the family, while men spend on themselves, either for entertainment or for something that gives them status, like a cellphone or a bike.

Page 208

We have a lot of work to do ... First of all, we need to end the patriarchy, an ancient institution that exalts masculine values (and flaws) and represses the famale half of humanity.  We have to question everything, from religion and laws to science and cultural mores.  We are going to get really angry, so angry that our fury will smash the foundations that support this civilization.  Docility, praisedd as a feminine virtue, is our worst enemy; it has never served us well, it is only convenient for men.

Stephen Hawking's ideas fascinate me

On the Origin of Time: Stephen Hawking's Final Theory ~ by Thomas Hertog, 2023, cosmology, xxiv + 313 pages

Perhaps the biggest question Stephen Hawking tried to answer in his extraordinary life was how the universe could have created condi-tions so perfectly hospitable to life.  In order to solve this mystery, Hawking studied the big bang origin of the universe, but his early work ran into a crisis when the math predicted many big bangs pro-ducing a multiverse — countless different universes, most of which would be far too bizarre to ​harbor life.

Holed up in the theoretical physics department at Cambridge, Stephen Hawking and his friend and collaborator Thomas Hertog worked on this problem for twenty years, developing a new theory of the cosmos that could account for the emergence of life.  Peering into the extreme quantum physics of cosmic holograms and ven-turing far back in time to our deepest roots, they were startled to find a deeper level of evolution in which the physical laws them-selves transform and simplify until particles, forces, and even time itself fades away.  This discovery led them to a revolutionary idea:  The laws of physics are not set in stone but are born and co-evolve as the universe they govern takes shape.  As Hawking’s final days drew near, the two collaborators published their theory, which proposed a radical new Darwinian perspective on the origins of our universe.

On the Origin of Time offers a striking new vision of the universe’s birth that will profoundly transform the way we think about our place in the order of the cosmos and may ultimately prove to be Hawking’s greatest legacy.

Week in Review

• On Monday, I mused about a book recommended by an old friend, HERE.
• My Thursday Thoughts, HERE, were about Isabel Allende's memoir.
• Friday's Book Beginning was from Book #18 in the Maisie Dobbs Series, HERE.
• Caturday's post was about curiosity, HERE.

Hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz

"Curiosity killed the cat"

When I was trying to look at the pills Bonnie was dividing into days of the week, she said to me, "Curiosity killed the cat."  And she tried to make me get away.  I just wanted to see what those little things were.  They were in those little plastic bottles.  I'm sure I would have figured out what they were, if she hadn't stopped me from tasting a few of them.  But, no, she kept pushing me away and finally put me in the other room.  I am sure you will agree with me that I just wanted to know what they were.  What's the harm in that, huh?

Beginning ~ at a funeral

Beginning (Chapter 1)

Maisie Dobbs glanced around, taking account of the congregation gathered in Chelstone's ancient parish church.  She was sure not one more person could be squeezed into the edifice.  Every single pew was packed with villagers and visitors who had traveled from far and wide to pay their respects to the deceased.

The Comfort of Ghosts (Book #18 in the Maisie Dobbs Series) ~ by Jacqueline Winspear, 2024, historical mystery, 360 pages

London, 1945:  Four adolescent orphans with a dark wartime history are squatting in a vacant Belgravia mansion — the owners having fled London under heavy Luftwaffe bombing.  Psychologist and Investigator Maisie Dobbs visits the mansion on behalf of the owners and discovers that a demobilized soldier, gravely ill and reeling from his experiences overseas, has taken shelter with the group.

Maisie’s quest to bring comfort to the youngsters and the ailing soldier brings to light a decades-old mystery concerning Maisie’s first husband, James Compton, who was killed while piloting an experimental fighter aircraft.  As Maisie unravels the threads of her dead husband’s life, she is forced to examine her own painful past and question beliefs she has always accepted as true.

The award-winning Maisie Dobbs series has garnered hundreds of thousands of followers, readers drawn to a woman who is of her time, yet familiar in ours — and who inspires with her resilience and capacity for endurance.  This final assignment of her own choosing not only opens a new future for Maisie and her family, but serves as a  fascinating portrayal of the challenges facing the people of Britain at the close of the Second World War.

Thursday Thoughts

The Soul of a Woman ~ by Isabel Allende, 2021, memoir, 192 pages, 10/10

"When I say that I was a feminist in kindergarten, I am not exaggerating," Isabel Allende begins this book.  As a child, she watched her mother, abandoned by her husband, prvide for her three small children witout "resources or voice."  Isabel became a fierce and defiant little girl, determined to fight for the life her mother couldn't have.

As a young woman coming of age in the late 1960s, she rode the second wave of feminism.  Among a tribe of like-minded female journalists, Allende for the first time felt comfortable in her own skin, as they wrote "with a knife between our teeth" about women's issues.  She has seen what the movement has accomplished in the course of her lifetime.  And over the course of three passionate marriages, she has learned how to grow as a woman while having a partner, when to step away, and the rewards of embracing one's sexuality.

So what feeds the soul of feminists -- and all women -- today?  To be safe, to be valued, to live in peace, to have their own resources, to be connected, to have control over their bodies and lives, and above all, to be loved.  On all these fronts, there is much work yet to be done, and this book, Allende hopes, will "light the torches of our daughters and granddaughters with mine.  They will have to live for us, as we lived for our mothers, and carry on with the work still left to be finished."

Recommended by a friend I've known over 70 years

Theo of Golden ~ by Allen Levi, 2025, literary fiction, 400 pages

One spring morning, a stranger named Theo arrives in the small Southern city of Golden.  He doesn’t explain much about where he came from or why he’s there — but when he visits the local coffeehouse, where pencil portraits of the people of Golden hang on the walls, he begins purchasing them, one at a time, and giving each portrait to the person depicted.  In exchange, he asks only for the person’s story.  

And so portrait by portrait, person by person, secrets are revealed, regrets are shared, and ordinary lives are profoundly altered.  This is a story of giving and receiving, of seeing and being seen,  Theo of Golden is an unforgettable novel about the power of generosity, the importance of connection, and the miracles that happen quietly when we choose kindness and wonder.

September 6 is a day for book lovers

Hey, we have a National Day for bookies like me.  National Read a Book Day isn't news for those of you who've been reading this blog for a long time.  HERE is what I posted about it in 2019, for example, with a photo I took that shows some of my friends in the Crown Center's little library.

Yes to Life: In Spite of Everything ~ by Viktor E. Frankl, 2019, history of Judaism and existential psychology, 136 pages

Find hope even in these dark times with this rediscovered masterpiece, a companion to his international bestseller Man’s Search for Meaning.  Eleven months after he was liberated from the Nazi concentration camps, Viktor E. Frankl held a series of public lectures in Vienna.  The psychiatrist, who would soon become world famous, explained his central thoughts on meaning, resilience, and the importance of embracing life even in the face of great adversity.

Published here for the very first time in English, Frankl’s words resonate as strongly then — when the world was facing a coronavirus pandemic, social isolation, and great economic uncertainty — as they did in 1946. He offers an insightful exploration of the maxim “Live as if you were living for the second time,” and he unfolds his basic conviction that every crisis contains opportunity.  Despite the unspeakable horrors of the camps, Frankl learned from the strength of his fellow inmates that it is always pos-sible to “say yes to life” — a profound and timeless lesson for us all.

Week in Review

• My Wednesday Word was "never," HERE.
• Friday's book beginning, HERE, was from The Personal Librarian.
• On Saturday, my new cat resumed the Caturday posts, 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.

Cat chat on Caturday

Bonnie says her last two cats blogged on Saturday and called it Caturday.  Did they not know how to spell?  Or did they think they were being cute?  Whatever.  Sure, I'd love to share things with all the cats of the world.  If there are any other blogging cats "out there" reading this, let me know so we can all chat.  Like someone getting married, I have gotten a new name.  Sheila named me "Jake," but for some reason Bonnie doesn't seem to want to call me that.  So she tried Jackie because it has a similar sound.  Judy often called me "Jakey," and that sounds a lot like "Jackie," so good enough, I guess.  Just so long as she calls me to come eat.  Wait, now Bonnie's trying "Joy," saying that is her favorite word.  She has that name already outside her door, and at least it does start with a "J."  If you are curious about what I look like, that's my picture at the top (or HERE).

Beginning ~ on November 28, 1905

Beginning

The Old North bell tolls the hour, and I realize that I'll be late.  I long to break into a sprint, my voluminous skirts lifted, my legs flying along the Princeton University pathways.  But just as I gather the heavy material, I hear Mama's voice:  Belle, be a lady at all times.  I sigh; a lady would never run.

The Personal Librarian ~ by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, 2021, biographical historical fiction (New Jersey), 341 pages

A remarkable novel about J. P. Morgan’s personal librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, the Black American woman who was forced to hide her true identity and pass as white in order to leave a lasting legacy that enriched our nation, from New York Times bestselling authors Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray.

In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library.  Belle becomes a fixture in New York City society and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world, known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating for critical works as she helps create a world-class collection.

But Belle has a secret, one she must protect at all costs.  She was born not Belle da Costa Greene but Belle Marion Greener.  She is the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard and a well-known advocate for equality.  Belle’s complexion isn’t dark because of her alleged Portuguese heritage that lets her pass as white —  her complexion is dark because she is African American.

The Personal Librarian tells the story of an extraordinary woman, famous for her intellect, style, and wit, and shares the lengths she must go to — for the protection of her family and her legacy — to preserve her carefully crafted white identity in the racist world in which she lives.

How long is "never"?

The word "never" is an adverb that means "at no time, on no occasion, or in no circumstance."  But how many times have you said, "Never again!" or "I will never..." and it didn't even last until the very next day?  Okay, maybe the quote above from Horace (that "a word once uttered can never be recalled") is an exception, but our resolve (especially when uttered in frustration) doesn't always mean forever.  For example, think about when you've said, "I will never speak to him (or her) again."  Did that really happen?  Or were you soon on speaking terms again?