The Patron Saint of Liars

Thoughts by Ann Patchett, Mariner Books (first pub’ 1992), 402 pages

Challenge: for #WiaN2023, category 7 Deadly Sins

Genre/Theme: Adult Fiction; mother-daughter relationships

Type/Source: eBook Libby

What It’s About: Rose accepts her sign from God to marry, but she prefers to drive.

Rose marries a fine man. She loves her mother. But she just cannot live the life as presented to her and she flees to a far corner and accepts where she lands. She is pregnant and accepts those terms, SORT OF. She finds a place for her in the midst of this somehow and . . .

SPOILER ahead –> just highlight to read it:

when the old life encroaches on the newly established, she drives off again. She leaves a daughter distraught with questions and confusions as to what comes next.

Heartbreaking!

Thoughts: Patchett knows “people”, knows the ache of longing and frustration against the pull of responsibility. I love her.

Rating: Four slices of pie. LOTS of pie mentions! Lots of whipped cream.

“”In the hospital,” Rose said, pinching in the edges of a pie crust, or maybe it was a tart. Nothing was a plain old pie with her anymore.”

many other pie mentions, including apple…

 

 

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All Boys Aren’t Blue

Thoughts by George M Johnson, Macmillan Audio 2020, 5 hours 12 minutes

Narrated by the author.

Challenge: What’s in a Name: Color category

Genre/Theme: Nonfiction, essays, LGBTQ+

Type/Source: Audiobook / eLibby

What It’s About: This is a collection of essays detailing the author’s growing up in a loving family and also identifying with interests more socially conditioned to be typically girl things – like double-dutch jump rope at recess. They talk about trauma of bullying, wanting and fearing being different, identifying as queer, how much their Nanny provided in love and support, their education from a black perspective, and their sexuality.

The memoir is a firsthand account of trials, tribulations, and triumphs that have made George M. Johnson into the person they are today.

—Coryandre Wright (IMDB link)

Thoughts: I learned a few things! Important work – they’re willing to share and I am willing to know more and do more about how to promote respect for all humanity and be a good human.

This book was requested via my library because school districts near me have banned it. I wanted to know why and I wanted to show community support for books and marginalized people. I believe a couple of things when the topic of books and age appropriateness is discussed; 1) if a kid reads something they don’t understand, they look it up and/or ask a trusted adult to explain more, or 2) they just skip over it because they don’t understand it or it’s just not relevant to them to relate to. They aren’t groomed or seduced or corrupted. If a kid is seeking out this book, they just might need it and it would be best for all to be able to discuss and pour love not judgement onto the situation. Education, education, education. I respect the parents that take the tough questions and build trust rather than promote fear and shame. Love and respect. Stand up to hate. Have the tough conversations.

Rating: Four slices of pie.

 

 

The Slow March of Light

Thoughts by Heather B Moore, 2021, 10 hours 54 minutes

Narrated by: Stephen Graybill and Christa Lewis

Challenge: What’s in a Name: Speed category

WiaN SPEED

Genre/Theme: Adult Fiction, Berlin/Cold War, Based on a true story. Inspired by real events.

Type/Source: Audiobook, Audible

What It’s About: Bob was a senior in college, majoring in economics with dreams of moving on to law school, when he was drafted into the US Army. The year was 1959. After basics in Oklahoma and proving more than competent in shooting, he is sent to a US base in Germany. He is voluntold into the spy game and is eventually captured, enduring 4-5 months in a GDR communist prison camp.

Before impersonating a US economics student studying post-war economics with a German professor who regularly travels into East Germany, he meets a German nurse named Luisa who through circumstance, personal moral courage, and her determination to get her grandmother out of East Berlin, becomes a resistance fighter.

We get his side of the tale and hers. This is a historical post-WW2 story documenting the building of the Berlin Wall. If communism doesn’t scare you, read this.

Thoughts: Despite the note on my gr progress that I found it to started with few emotional hooks and that it felt rather fact-based more than emotional-story, I ended up liking this very much. I cannot but admire the faith and convictions of Bob and also Luisa; I loved their friendship, I was very touched by the ending. A really lovely story that hit hard in a good way and at the right time.

Rating: Five slices of pie.

 

 

What’s in a Name Challenge 2022 Sign Up Post

The What’s in a Name 6-Category Reading Challenge is hosted by Andrea at Carolina Book Nook. The image below will link to the Challenge Sign up Page.

In 2022, choose 6 books that have titles that contain a:
(Click on the links for more examples and info)

My choices from the first look at my physical and goodreads digital tbr.

• Compound word 
  • The Island of the Colorblind by Oliver Sacks
• Speed
  • The Slow March of Life by Heather B Moore
• Person and their description
  • American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
  • Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
  •  
• Mythical being
  • The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd
• Season
  • Wintering by Katharine May
• Color
  • Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
  • The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

More choices possible on my list in goodreads.

Copyright © 2007-2022. Care’s Books and Pie also known as and originally created as Care’s Online Book Club. All rights reserved. This post was originally posted by Care. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

COMPLETED ♦ What’s in a Name Challenge ♦ 2021

The What’s in a Name 6-Category Reading Challenge is hosted by Andrea at Carolina Book Nook. The image below will link to the Challenge Sign up Page.

• One/1  – Anna Quindlen’s One True Thing  
• Doubled word – I have two options here:   Apologize, APOLOGIZE by Elizabeth Kelly or The Smart One and the Pretty One by Claire Lazebnik
• Reference to outer space  – Walter Kirn’s Up in the Air   I also read Klara and the Sun which would fit, as well.
• Possessive noun – The Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet   
• Botanical word – The People in the Trees   and I was also wondering if I could count Ella Minnow Pea?    (In my signup post, I shared my hope to read one or both of these:  The Paper Garden by Molly Peacock or Alan Drew’s Gardens of Water   and I still just might.)
• Article of clothing:  Pauli Murray’s Proud Shoes  

This is one of my favorite challenges!

And this year is one of the first where I have actually finished the books I said I would when I started the challenge. AND that I’m not scrambling to finish in December.

My list in goodreads.

Copyright © 2007-2020. Care’s Online Book Club aka Care’s Books and Pie. All rights reserved. This post was originally posted by Care from Care’s Online Book Club aka BkClubCare.  It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

What’s in a Name Challenge 2021 Sign Up Post

The What’s in a Name 6-Category Reading Challenge is hosted by Andrea at Carolina Book Nook. The image below will link to the Challenge Sign up Page.

UPDATED Jan 13, 2021 – see PURPLE FONT BELOW…

In 2021, choose 6 books that have titles that contain a:
(Click on the links for more examples and info)

• One/1  – Anna Quindlen’s One True Thing
• Doubled word – I have two options here:   Apologize, APOLOGIZE by Elizabeth Kelly or The Smart One and the Pretty One by Claire Lazebnik
• Reference to outer space  – Walter Kirn’s Up in the Air 
• Possessive noun – I hope to read BOTH of these: The Children’s Book by A.S.Byatt and The Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet

                                             and 

• Botanical word – I own 2 books with “garden” in the title: The Paper Garden by Molly Peacock or Alan Drew’s Gardens of Water
• Article of clothing – I have NO IDEA! please help. I couldn’t even figure out how to search by gr tbr to give me suggestions.

I will be reading Pauli Murray’s Proud Shoes for the Article of Clothing category… 

This is one of my favorite challenges because it gets me to go through my own shelves and I am reminded of or re-find possibilities of some great reads!

More choices possible on my list in goodreads.

Copyright © 2007-2020. Care’s Online Book Club aka Care’s Books and Pie. All rights reserved. This post was originally posted by Care from Care’s Online Book Club aka BkClubCare.  It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

What’s in a Name Challenge 2020 – Progress Report, NO – actually a COMPLETION RPT

The What’s in a Name 6-Category Reading Challenge is hosted by Andrea at Carolina Book Nook. The image below will link to the Challenge Sign up Page.

I’m currently _100_% complete with books filling the following 2020 categories :

• An ampersand – &    Delights & Shadows, by poet Ted Kooser

Very good, very easy, lovely home-spun nostalgic poems. These poems show a careful awareness of every tiny detail.

• An antonym  =  (Still yet possible: The Gateless Gate, perhaps Sweet Ruin)

Am offering up these lovelies as options – I defy you to correct me if you don’t think the titles suggest “opposite in meaning to another”:

(Bodies should stay buried!) * If I had to pick a favorite here, I would choose the Wilson.

• 4 letters or less = Vox  or  Oval:  I read both! Between the 2 of these, I would have to recommend Oval, I guess.

 

• A given/first name = for TOB: Mary Toft by Dexter Palmer

I also read Olive, Again which fits this category. As would, …  Loved Mary, adored Olive, quite satisfied with Duchess. Fleishman and Dorian, I pass.

 

• Reference to children = AS Byatt’s The Children’s Book or McEwan’s The Children Act. Both are still on my tbr, but how about this? Yes, I think GIRL in the title qualifies. UPDATED less than an hour later when I realized that I also attempted the Lost Children Archive!  yes, attempted. These 2 squared off against each other in the TOB and somehow I forgot about DEFINITELY qualifies!

 

• One of the 4 natural elements – water, air, fire, earth = Likely, a TOB book; The Water Dancer would work and so would, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. I read both! I’d go with the Vuong.

 

Well, look at that. CHALLENGE COMPLETED. 

 

More choices possible on my list in goodreads.

 

Copyright © 2007-2020. Care’s Online Book Club aka Care’s Books and Pie. All rights reserved. This post was originally posted by Care from Care’s Online Book Club aka BkClubCare.  It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

What’s in a Name Challenge 2020 Sign Up

The What’s in a Name 6-Category Reading Challenge is hosted by Andrea at Carolina Book Nook. The image below will link to the Challenge Sign up Page.

The categories for 2020 are:

• An ampersand – &   
• An antonym  =  The Gateless Gate, perhaps Sweet Ruin
• 4 letters or less = Vox  or  Oval
• A given/first name = for TOB: Mary Toft by Dexter Palmer
• Reference to children = AS Byatt’s The Children’s Book or McEwan’s The Children Act
• One of the 4 natural elements – water, air, fire, earth = Likely, a TOB book; The Water Dancer would work and so would, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

 

More choices possible on my list in goodreads.

 

Copyright © 2007-2019. Care’s Online Book Club aka Care’s Books and Pie. All rights reserved. This post was originally posted by Care from Care’s Online Book Club aka BkClubCare.  It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

I Completed the What’s in a Name Challenge 2019

The What’s in a Name 6-Category Reading Challenge is hosted by Andrea at Carolina Book Nook. The image below will link to the Challenge Sign up Page. No need for me to link to my sign up because I copied it to make this post.

The books I read to satisfy the categories are:

• A precious stone/metal
  • The Alexandrite: A Time Travel Noir by Rick Lenz (Fun!)
  • The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing (Whoa and yowza)
• A temperature
  • Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford (a CC50) (Glad to have read.)
• A month or day of the week
  • One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes (CC50) (Perfect.)
  • Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham (Fun!)
  • Now in November by Josephine Johnson (Wonderful)
• A meal
  • The Bird’s Nest (Shirley Jackson, CC50) qualifies because it is a dish considered a “delicacy in Chinese cuisine“? (Enjoyed)
  • Naked Lunch (Ugh)
• Contains the word “girl” or “woman”
  • The Lager Queen of Minnesota by JRyan Stradal (Fabulous!!)
  • The Woman in the Window by AJ Finn (Didn’t finish)
  • The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff (NOT impressed)
• Contains both the words “of” AND “and”
  • Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe (Amazing)

 

 

Copyright © 2007-2019. Care’s Online Book Club aka Care’s Books and Pie. All rights reserved. This post was originally posted by Care from Care’s Online Book Club aka BkClubCare.  It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

What’s in a Name Challenge 2019

It’s ON! I’m so excited to be participating once again in the Challenge that suits me and my reading style so well. The What’s in a Name 6-Category Reading Challenge now hosted by Andrea at Carolina Book Nook. The image below will link to the Challenge Sign up Page.

The categories and my ideas for a book I might read to satisfy:

• A precious stone/metal  –  The Alexandrite: A Time Travel Noir by Rick Lenz
• A temperature  –  Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford (a CC50)
• A month or day of the week  – One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes (CC50)
• A meal –  Anyone want to support my thoughts that The Bird’s Nest (Shirley Jackson, CC50) qualifies because it is a dish considered a “delicacy in Chinese cuisine“?
• Contains the word “girl” or “woman”  –  Marie Benedict’s The Only Woman in the Room
• Contains both the words “of” AND “and” –  Looks like Nonfiction is the way to go. Two interesting options: 

 

 

 

Copyright © 2007-2019. Care’s Online Book Club aka Care’s Books and Pie. All rights reserved. This post was originally posted by Care from Care’s Online Book Club aka BkClubCare.  It should not be reproduced without express written permission.