All the Broken Places, written by John Boyne and narrated by Kristin Atherton and Helen Lloyd
Alternating between two time periods of the same woman's life, this is a story about guilt, grief, and what we do when faced with opportunities to do the right (or what we think is right) thing at personal, even great, expense. Growing up, she was the daughter of a man in charge of a concentration camp. As a woman in her nineties, she's the neighbor of an abusive man. The middle years are filled with secrecy, both in refusing to speak of some things and lying about others. I can't figure out where I heard about this layered and thought-provoking novel, but I enjoyed it. I didn't realize until well into the book that it's a sequel of sorts to The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, a book I never read, but a movie I saw many years ago. You don't have to have any familiarity at all with The Boy in order to read Broken.
Big Dumb Eyes: Stories from a Simpler Mind, written by Nate Bargatze
This comedian's humor on a screen has always made me laugh and his first book proved that I also think he's funny on paper. Filled with stories he's never told, as well as more details about some familiar ones, I laughed out loud, even in public places, all throughout the book. I chose the print version because the wait was much shorter, but there's also an audiobook that he narrates.
p. 22, So the idea was you could put one of these objects in the palm of your hand and use the secret hidden magnet to make it look like you could move a chicken bone or a match with nothing but the power of your mine.
Now, you might point out that the chicken bone and matches and penny were all props that had slivers of iron in them. And if you did that, I'd imagine you would point out that it is "mind" and not "mine". So you're not a very good time. But thankfully, I am a good time.
Coyote Sunrise, written by Dan Gemeinhart and narrated by Khristine Hvam
I discovered this novel in an internet quest for some new audiobook ideas, finding it at
The 100 Best, Pretty Clean Fiction Audiobooks on Brooke Romney. It's about a twelve year old girl and her dad who spend their life driving around the country in a converted school bus that they call home. Three of their family members were killed in a car crash five years earlier, so this book is about various ways people deal with grief, but it's also about what it means to love someone, the value of friendship, and the importance of treating people, even strangers, with kindness and respect. It's heartwarming without being sticky sweet, deals with serious topics while also being fun to read, and doesn't feel childish even though it's technically a middle grade book. I enjoyed it.
3:40:04, And then at some point we both got awkward. I mean, I was wearing just my swimsuit, which was a two piece, and he was standing there with no shirt on. I don't care who you are, it changes the tone of a conversation if you can see each other's belly button.
5:09:05 I guess that's how regrets are. They're anchors, not balloons, and we were sunk.
Drowning, written by T.J. Newman
I heard about this novel on The Lazy Genius Podcast, episode 343 -
What's Saving My Life at the end of 2023 and finally got around to reading it this weekend. Thriller isn't a genre I read, but this one piqued my interest and I read most of it in one sitting. It's about a man and his daughter on a plane that crashes into the ocean soon after takeoff, the woman who's the mother of his daughter and almost his ex-wife, and the highly-trained team of people working with the woman to save her family and ten other passengers trapped in the plane. A broken plane about to fall off an undersea cliff, a limited supply of oxygen for those trapped inside, and all the group dynamics both underwater and on land that you'd expect in such a situation make this a propulsive read.
p. 51, The additions to their home were like hashes on a doorframe marking a child's height. The marks are what get noticed - but what matters is what happens in the spaces between them. The experiences in those spaces, the cards life deals you, that is what makes a house a home. That's what makes a marriage. That what makes a family.
It's also what breaks them.
p. 200, It didn't matter if you died in a car crash or peacefully in your sleep at 102 or if you drowned in a plane at the bottom of the ocean. The end result would be the same. And that as all life was. Shifting the balance, every day, to make room for joy and grace in whatever circumstances you've got before your time runs out.
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, written by Jamie Ford and narrated by Feodor Chin
I never reread books, but I loved this one when I read it in July 2011 and it's come to mind a lot recently. I checked Libby to see if there was an audio version and devoured it. The novel alternates between the 1940s and the 1980s, telling the story a Chinese boy and Japanese girl living in Seattle, the Japanese internment camps the girl ended up living in with her family, as well as of a Chinese man reflecting on and telling his grown son about that childhood friendship. It's a hard story because our country's imprisonment of innocent people is an atrocity. The story also includes the struggle to balance the culture one comes from with the one they live in, generational differences and expectations that are conflicting, various forms of racism, and the heartbreak of losing those we love. On the positive side, it's the story of meaningful friendships, doing the right thing even when it's hard, and the beauty of enduring love. I may have loved it even more the second time around than I did the first.
10:12:42, I had my chance and sometimes in life there are no second chances. You look at what you have, not what you miss, and you move forward.
I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music as Medicine, written and narrated by Daniel J. Levitin
Mentioned in What Should I Read Next, episode 454 -
Holiday gift recommendations from our team, this book's been on my TBR since December. With 26 holds on both of Libby's audio versions, I was happy to see it come up as a "skip the line" option. The author is a neuroscientist, psychologist, and professional in various aspects of music. In other words, he's the perfect person to write a book about the healing power of music. A mix of art and science, this book has a ton of information that's hard to summarize. It shows the reader how music can be used to help people with autism, Parkinson's, depression, and more; dives into why different music resonates with different people or at different times; explains why certain studies about the brain's response to certain genres of music were flawed; gives anecdotal stories about celebrities and people who aren't famous; explains how music impacts stress levels, mood, productivity, and learning. Basically, it confirms that music is important, then takes time to explain how and why. In related news, Levitin made
a playlist of all 205 songs mentioned in his book.
Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive, written by Stephanie Land
Read this book if you've never received or qualified for government assistance, been paid to clean someone else's toilets, been a single parent without the support of family or friends, or worked as hard as you could to meet basic needs and still fallen short. Read this book if you've ever criticized (verbally, in writing, or in your head) recipients of government assistance, hired a cleaning service, or known a single parent. I strongly believe in the power of books to increase knowledge, humility, and compassion, and this book is a great opportunity for that.
p. 37, We were expected to live off minimum wage, to work several jobs at varying hours, to afford basic needs while fighting for safe places to leave our children. Somehow nobody saw the work; they saw only the results of living a life that constantly crushed you with its impossibility.
p. 139, Sometimes mothers need to be mothered, too.
p. 155, I found myself wondering what it would be like to have enough money to be able to hire someone to clean my house. I'd never been in that position before, and I honestly doubted I ever would be. If I ever had to, I thought, I'd give them a big tip and probably offer them food or leave them good-smelling candles, too. I'd treat them like a guest, not a ghost. An equal.
p. 209, Our space was a home because we loved each other in it.
p 213, Poverty was like a stagnant pond of mud that pulled at our feet and refused to let go.
p. 215, The most frustrating part of being stuck in the system were the penalties it seemed I received for improving my life.
p. 242, When a person is too deep in systemic poverty, there is no upward trajectory. Life is struggle and nothing else.
Once Upon a Wardrobe, written by Patti Callahan
Several friends have said they enjoyed this novel, so a friend's offer to loan it to me was the nudge I needed to read it myself. Written as biographical fiction about C.S. Lewis, it's interesting (the facts about his life), sweet (the 1950s relationship of a teenage girl and her very sick younger brother), and insightful (the power of a story). It's sweet without being sappy and I enjoyed it.
p. 33, Her smile takes some time but is always worth the wait.
p. 57, Maybe when we know we will lose someone, we love fiercer and wilder.
p. 79, "The fantastic and the imaginative aren't escapism."
"How so?" This seems important.
"Good stories introduce the marvelous. The whole story, paradoxically, strengthens our relish for real life. This excursion sends us back with renews pleasure to the actual world. It provides meaning."
p. 128, "We don't speak our opinions unless logic backs them up."
p. 174, How he missed his mother those months of illness and all his life.
p. 195, "It is only for lack of imagination that you are bored."
Whistling Past the Graveyard, written by Susan Crandall and narrated by Amy Rubinate
I loved this novel about a white girl who runs away from her grandma's Mississippi home and is given a ride by a black woman who happens to have also just picked up an abandoned white baby. Set in the 1960s, this book about both pursuing dreams and letting them go obviously has a lot to do with racism, but is also about friendship, bravery, integrity, and, for better or worse, the significant role parents play in their child's life. I learned about this book on
What Should I Read Next?, Episode 287 - I want to be where the readers are.
8:08:35, "My daddy says that when you do something to distract you from your worstest fears it's like whistling past the graveyard. You know, making a racket to keep the scaredness and the ghosts away. He says that's how we get by sometimes. But it's not weak, like hiding. It's strong. It means you're able to go on."
