Ahoy friends! So, I'm so bad at this blogging thing. I haven't kept up at ALL but I'm still trying! Don't give up on me yet. Honestly, the reason I started doing this was for a simple anxiety release, and it's probably an excellent thing that I've not "needed" it lately, right? :)
Remember my plan to do Library Stack Challenges in 2018? Welllll, I'm still doing them... I just forget to write about them/can't find the time/don't make the time/whatever. Keep reading for the results of my second challenge! I'm currently almost done with my third challenge, but we'll save those books for another post. [[Side bar: I'm also past-due on my next installment of GOOD/BETTER/BEST/WTF so stay further tuned while I get myself together]]
Book 1: Family Patterns by Kristin Eckhardt
[Row 4, Right Shelf 2, Book 64]
Aw, this book was fun. It really was. I read it over the span of the weekend, beginning it shortly after I returned home from the library. It was a rainy, cold day (we've had way too many of those lately and I'm only okay with them if I'm at home under a blanket with my baby, reading a book, FYI). The story follows a grandmother named Sarah (whoa) whose son has just moved back to their hometown with his family. They've decided to renovate an old family home and Sarah, who restores and repairs old quilts by trade, has decided to help. During one of her visits to the home, her twin granddaughters discover something hidden inside a secret passageway in the old house. The "clues" trace back to an unsolved family mystery - what happened to Sarah's grandmother, who mysteriously went missing long before Sarah herself was born. The story is a simple one, but with quite a bit of mystery to solve indeed. I enjoyed the characters and the plot and have since learned that there are other books in this series that I might enjoy later. Grab your copy at your local library if you need a quick read!
Book 2: The Great Divide by T. Davis Bunn
[Row 3, Right Shelf 3, Book 33]
A good friend of mine selected these numbers strategically I suspect. 3 is an important number for us both! And this next book takes it up a notch from the previous read. Also a mystery - but way more sinister and serious than the one above. It follows an attorney named Marcus who has recently left the big city behind for a slower pace country life. I'll let you pick it up to read to determine WHY he's done this. Small spoiler: it might make you cringe and it might just devastate you. Sorry.
Anyway. Marcus is quickly approached by a family who feels like they've got nothing left. They've lost their (adult) daughter, an activist on a trip to uncover dirty secrets in China. They suspect she has been made prisoner by a large corporation that is less than legal in its practices and, like most average families, they have no idea what to do about it. Cue Marcus, who is just down on his luck enough to take such an untouchable case. As is often the case of a tragic hero, he is largely underestimated and begins to uncover some serious crime and the awful underbelly of Corporate America. If you like legal thrillers packed with plenty of drama and underdog-like themes, this one's for you!
Anyway. Marcus is quickly approached by a family who feels like they've got nothing left. They've lost their (adult) daughter, an activist on a trip to uncover dirty secrets in China. They suspect she has been made prisoner by a large corporation that is less than legal in its practices and, like most average families, they have no idea what to do about it. Cue Marcus, who is just down on his luck enough to take such an untouchable case. As is often the case of a tragic hero, he is largely underestimated and begins to uncover some serious crime and the awful underbelly of Corporate America. If you like legal thrillers packed with plenty of drama and underdog-like themes, this one's for you!
Book 3: Our Only World, Ten Essays by Wendell Berry
[Row 2, Left Shelf 2, Book 13]
So far, most of my books in this challenge have been pretty typical for my interests. Until this one. I would not have typically picked this at ALL but yet was intensely fascinated by the concept. Basically, Wendell Berry is novelist, poet, environmental activist, critic, and farmer, and he wants to tell you all about his views on topics ranging from conservation to climate change to deforestation to the general acknowledgement of anything slightly left of center. I think perhaps the best way to summarize this particular collection of essays is to quote them directly. I picked some of my favorites and you can find them below. If any of these topics intrigue you, or if you wish to simply see the world from another point of view, you should check this one out. I enjoyed his perspective and learned quite a bit.
"...we appear to be deficient in learning or teaching a competent concern for the way that parts are joined... Without the concern and these arts, our efforts of conservation are probably futile. Without some sense of necessary connections and a competent awareness of human and natural limits, the issues of scale and form are not only pointless, but cannot even enter our consciousness."
"Forests also are more complex in structure and diversity of species. You can't learn to manage a forest by managing a pasture."
"To learn to meet our needs without continuous violence against one another and our only world would require an immense intellectual and practical effort, requiring the help of every human being perhaps to the end of human time. This would be work worthy of the name "human." It would be fascinating and lovely."
Alright! There you have it! This completes my second Stack Challenge. I hope you enjoyed!
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