April has come and gone and we’re once again in the middle of spring in Seattle—a welcome mix of rain, sunshine, and everything in bloom. Every window in our house looks out onto a gorgeous explosion of color whether it’s a crimson rhododendron outside my office or a front yard carpeted with pink cherry blossom petals, looking like the aftermath of some joyous ... Read More...
Search: A Novel
I don’t read a lot of fiction with religion at its core, but Search by Michelle Huneven was recommended to me after a spate of heavy, challenging nonfiction. I knew nothing about the story, but was initially apprehensive about the premise of a woman joining the search committee for a new minister at her church. Thankfully, Huneven writes the realities of what happens when eight ... Read More...
Rules for Visiting: A Novel
May Attaway is given a monthlong sabbatical from her job as a gardener at a local university. At 39 she worries about her lack of relationships so decides to split the month into four non-consecutive weeks and go visit four friends she’s lost touch with in the hopes of kickstarting her personal life again. This is Rules for Visiting, a quiet novel that won me through its ... Read More...
Best Books of 2022
I’m going to cut to the chase: it was a challenging year for my reading. Not due to a lack of options, I just lost my reading mojo for a while. However, there were 8 books that broke through my broken brain and gave me all the pleasure I look for in my reading. If you got gift cards for Christmas, buying any of these will ensure book happiness. There’s no particular ... Read More...
Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng
What better time to review a novel set in an unspecified time in America’s not-too-distant future than the day before an election? Celeste Ng’s novel, Our Missing Hearts, could either be the way things should be or a dystopian hell, depending on your beliefs. I’ll leave it to you to suss out where I stand, but it shouldn’t be too difficult. Bird is 12-years-old and lives with ... Read More...
February Reading Wrap-Up
February felt like the most wintery month we've had since we moved to Michigan. It was bitterly cold, the wind blew at scary speeds, and it snowed. Of course, it also hit the 50s, everything melted, and it rained. Rinse. Repeat. Anyone else feel like that where they live? The great news is that it was a super month for reading. Out of the 11 books I read all but two were ... Read More...
