Candle Island, written by Lauren Wolk and narrated by Emily Rankin
I enjoyed this middle grade novel about a mom and daughter who, after the death of their husband and dad, move to a small island. The mom is a famous artist who refuses interviews and values privacy. The girl simply wants to be valued for who she is. I love a story about small town life, parent and child relationships, and friendship, which this book had plenty of. I also appreciated the focus on art, poetry, and singing.
23:18, As he turned out the light, he said, "The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice."
4:25:47, My mother had taken me on her knee and said, "The world is full of both creators and destroyers. The creators tend to build things out of what's inside them. The destroyers tend to ruin things that are outside themselves. You get to choose which one you are. The rest is out of your hands."
"And what if someone's both?"
My mother had smiled. "There's no what if. We are all both. But in what measure? That's what you get to decide.
Echo Mountain, written by Lauren Wolk and narrated by Holly Linneman
A family displaced from city to country because of the Great Depression. An old woman considered a hag at the top of a mountain. A husband and father in a coma. A woman grieving the loss of her son. A girl with a love of nature and desire to help bodies heal. This middle grade novel has friendship, both among peers and intergenerational, family dynamics, grief, and personal growth. This one was harder for me to get into than the other books by Wolk that I've read, but I liked it.
7:32, That life is a matter of moments, strung together like rain. To try to touch just one drop at a time, to try to count them or order them or reckon their worth, each by each, was impossible. To stand in the rain was the thing. To be in it.
The Healing Season of Pottery, written by Yeon Somin and translated from Korean by Clare Richards
A thirty year old woman who's hidden away from the world after quitting her job amidst unexpected drama accidentally finds herself in a pottery studio. What follows is a sweet novel about friendship, people supporting each other as they each work through their own issues, the art of ceramics, the beauty of handmade items and heartfelt gifts, and the rewards of living a life invested in relationships, community, and intentionality.
The writing frequently felt awkward to me, but I attribute that to the book being in translation. I was in the mood for a story about someone slowly coming out of a hard place into a healthier and happier one, so I was willing to overlook whatever I didn't love about the writing. Also, I love the cover art. I found out about this book from a post on the Salem Public Library's Facebook page.
p. 27, Seven weekdays in a row, of course, would be difficult for anyone to stand. A seven-day weekend, on the other hand, was a bottomless swamp of inertia.
p. 33, She had a talent for softening things around the edges. Crafting her words to make them easier to swallow.
p. 63, The first smile of the day was important. It determined how the dozens of others that day would turn out.
p. 180, "So that I could be happy right where I am, I decided to do things 'in moderation.' So that I can look after myself and those I care about, I work at a moderately busy place, earn a moderate wage, have fun in moderation ... People look at me and say I lack ambition. But isn't 'moderation' the greatest ambition we can have? I'm being really ambitious in trying to stay happy and within the lines of moderation. It's about choice."
p. 237, "Whether it's pottery or life, it takes more than one attempt for them to come out right. And all that effort makes the end product more valuable, too."
Hinds Feet on High Places, written by Hannah Hurnard and narrated by Wanda McCaddon
This book is an allegory about spiritual growth, maturing from a place of fear to one of joy, learning to value the hard parts of life, trusting in the good shepherd, and changing from a person focused on receiving love to one who wants to give love. I read the print version of this story back in November 2016 on my sister's recommendation, but decided to try the audio version this time. The audio includes Hurnard's explanation of how she ended up writing the book, as well as a brief autobiography. I didn't mark the timestamps in the audio version, but here are my favorite quotes as I marked them in the print version.
p. 121, From bitter experience she knew that pictures thrown on the screen of her imagination could seem much more unnerving and terrible than the actual facts.
p. 198, She felt nothing but a great stillness in which only one desire remained, to do that which he had told her, simply because he had asked it of her.
p. 230, Every circumstance in life, no matter how crooked and distorted and ugly it appears to be, if it is reacted to in love and forgiveness and obedience to your will can be transformed.
p. 253, Faith has nothing to do with intellectual belief. Faith is obedience. Faith and abandonment to Gods' will and power are inseparable. Faith is willingness to do Gods' will. Unwillingness to abandon ones' own will and to obey God is unbelief.
The Radioactive Boy Scout: The Frightening True Story of a Whiz Kid and His Homemade Nuclear Reactor, written by Ken Silverstein
