The Reading Room

Wandering Souls

“In the years to come, Thi Anh would let the harrowing memories of the boat and the camp trickle out of her until they were nothing but a whisper. But she would hold on to that last evening with all her might, from the smell of the steaming rice in the kitchen to the touch of her mothers skin as she embraced her for the last time.”

Summary - “Wandering Souls examines the human cost of large-scale trage through the story of 16-year-old Anh, her 13-year-old brother Minh and their 10-year-old brother Thanh, who are separated from their parents and four younger siblings when the family attempts to make the perilous journey to Hong Kong on two separate boats.”

You Could Make This Place Beautiful

Likewise, parents are not wise oraclestheyre just people trying to shepherd other people through the world. We may know the right path to take, but knowing the way and consistently walking it are two different things. Everything we learn, we learn from someone who is imperfect.

Summary - Smiths memoir about marriage, divorce, and parenting is a beautiful example of how metaphor and imagery can capture the essence of experiences that are difficult to explain, and it will lead readers to think more deeply about the relationships in their own lives.

Goodbye, Earl

This book was not what I thought it was going to be…

Based on the title and the cover, I thought this book was going to be full of shenanigans, a Finlay Donovan type of a book. It wasn’t, at least not until around 50 PERCENT.

Summary - Four women take fate into their own hands in this big-hearted story of friendship, resilience and revenge on monstrous men. Taking inspiration from the infamous, empowering song, GOODBYE EARL follows four best friends through two unforgettable summers, 15 years apart.

Magic Misfits

Ok, Mr. Neil Patrick Harris

This was our third summer family read-aloud and it has been my favorite so far My son says he can’t pick a favorite because he’s loved them all - so I’m considering that a win.

Summary - After a fateful encounter with the local purveyor of illusion, Dante Vernon, Carter teams up with five other like-minded illusionists. Together, using both teamwork and magic, they’ll set out to save the town of Mineral Wells from Bosso’s villainous clutches.

The Celebrants by Steven Rowley

This is a toughie…

Summary - A deeply honest tribute to the growing pains of selfhood and the people who keep us going, coupled with Steven Rowleys signature humor and heart, The Celebrants is a moving tale about the false invincibility of youth and the beautiful ways in which friendship helps us celebrate our lives, even amid the deepest challenges of living.

Five friends, for a reason that I won’t spoil, decide to have living funerals, or celebrations of life while they are still living so nothing is left unsaid about how their friends feel about them. They call it a pact and each person can use the pact at anytime in their life and the others have to come together.

Mistakes Were Made

Sometimes we have to do things that make us uncomfortable for people we love.

Summary - When Cassie Klein goes to an off-campus bar to escape her schools Family Weekend, she isnt looking for a hookupit just happens. Buying a drink for a stranger turns into what should be an uncomplicated, amazing one-night stand. But then the next morning rolls around and her friend drags her along to meet her momthe hot, older woman Cassie slept with.

Book Notes

“Each of us narrates our life as it suits us.”

These are words spoken by Lila to her Brilliant Friend, Elena. These two girls turned women have built a friendship that is both touching and toxic. In the third book we pick up right where we left off in book 2 and it is just as much of a roller coaster as the first two. I won’t offer a summary since it’ll give away what has happened in the previous book but let me just tell you that this series has been both enthralling and memorizing.

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

I never learn anything from listening to myself.

Are there wiser words?

Summary - Flight Behavior addresses global warming and the failings of public education through the story of a Tennessee woman whose thus-far disappointing life changes when 15 million monarch butterflies alight in the woods near her home.

While this book follows Dellarobia, my favorite character was the African-American entomologist, Ovid Byron. His take on climate change and what is (and isn’t) being done about this global issue were my favorite parts of the book. Kingsolver does what she does best – she weaves a fictional story with a real-world problem, much like she did in Demon Copperhead.

I Was Told to Come Alone

If I’ve learned anything, it’s this: a mother’s screams over the bo of her murdered child sound the same, no matter if she is black, brown, or white; Muslim, Jewish, or Christian; Shia or Sunni. We will all be buried in the same ground.

Summary - In this compelling and evocative memoir, we accompany Mekhennet as she journeys behind the lines of jihad, starting in the German neighborhoods where the 9/11 plotters were radicalized and the Iraqi neighborhoods where Sunnis and Shia turned against one another, and culminating on the Turkish/Syrian border region where ISIS is a daily presence.

The Swans of Fifth Avenue

““Totally,” I say. “I totally get that.”

What I totally get is that my father loves James best and James loves my father best and Isabel loved Yuto and Ben best and everyone I know has someone they love best. I’m no one’s best.”

Super Brief Summary A luminous chronicle of betrayal, sacrifice and creative ambition, framed by New Yorks Aids crisis in the 1980s and some seriously complex family cs.