Reviews with TLC

Two Women Walk into a Bar by Cheryl Strayed offers insight into how relationships are affected by assumptions and lack of communication. Strayed plays with these real-life interactions in touching ways that are both relatable and read like fiction. The story she tells of her relationship with her mother-in-law framed by her mother-in-law's final days will remind anyone who has had challenging family relationships that everyone has histories they bring to the story that are not necessarily as clear as they could be. The stories we don't tell can be every bit as important as the stories we do tell, and often are more important to defining our complexities as demonstrated in Two Women Walk into a Bar . Strayed has shared her vulnerable moments in life throughout her literary career in ways that make the reader feel less alone. Two Women Walk into a Bar does that once again. Currently Reading: Iron & Velvet: poetry for hearts breaking and blooming  by Stefanie Briar Palestine...

Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Y. Davis is a powerful reminder to anyone who cares about society that we are all interconnected no matter how some people wish we weren't. The interview with Davis in the beginning of the book was interesting and thought provoking. The speeches that make up the rest of the book inspired me to keep looking forward in the fight for justice, equality, and true liberation around the world while never forgetting the history that brought us to this point. Davis consistently demonstrates how the struggle for freedom is ongoing but worth the effort.  Freedom is a Constant Struggle reminded me that history books might be written by the victor but history is what actually happened not what's in the books and that history has consequences as do the actions we choose every day. Currently Reading: Iron & Velvet: poetry for hearts breaking and blooming  by Stefanie Briar Palestine: A Four...

Six O'clock Silence: An Inspector Rebecca Mayfield Mystery by Joanne Pence delivers an easy to read, fun mystery laced with romance and family always with an edge of danger. In Six O'clock Silence , we get a glimpse into Shay's past in a way that both challenges the reader perception of him and yet makes perfect sense. I'm interested to see where the change in Shay's life will lead. The underlying mystery and the upfront mystery dance together well in Six O'clock Silence because they both affect so many of the main characters exposing long held secrets. The insight into Rebecca's acceptance, understanding, and compassion about Richie's past love juxtaposed by his undercurrent of insecurity is refreshing and unexpected. I enjoyed Six O'clock Silence even though I've not really been in the mood to read mysteries lately. Currently Reading: Freedom is a Constant Struggle  by Angela Davis Iron & Velvet: poetry for hearts breaking and blooming  ...

The January 6th Report: Findings from the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol by The January 6 Select Committee is an interesting read based on the findings of the investigation into the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol to interfere with Congress doing its job of certifying the 2020 election. It is sometimes a bit dry and legalistic , but it attempts to create a record that is accessible for people to understand the findings and facts discovered through the Select Committee's investigation . There are a lot of footnotes detailing where the evidence originated for the findings the Committee made. The book would be much shorter without the extensive documentation in the footnotes, but those footnotes are important. There is some repetition, but that repetition was necessary because various acts and words spoken applied to different aspects of the attack and what lead up to it.  I found The January 6th Report a worthwhil...

A Week in Summer by Maeve Binchy is a sweet short story filled with reminders that life and love are rarely as simple as we'd like. People are complex and relating to one another isn't always as easy as we'd like. Yet, there can be moments that change everything often seeming serendipitous. Binchy writes characters in relatable dilemmas that feel like they could be real sometimes with an interesting twist that changes the perspective of both the characters and the reader. A Week in Summer  exposes a couple who seem to have drifted apart and fallen into a bit of a rut in their routine to a new way of looking at not only the world but their relationship in the process. Binchy's development of the couple in the story and the connection to the past that showed them the possibility for a future made me think about life and the connections in my own life. A Week in Summer explores the complexities and the simplicities of life and relationships in what is far more than the v...

The Beautiful Little Things by Melissa Hill pulled me in gently but firmly. The characters felt almost too real at every turn. The breakdowns in communications and the assumptions made about each other and situations felt all too familiar. I cheered them on, shook my head at bad decisions, and urged them to just talk to each other. Hill creates the kind of family drama and tension that often accompanies big changes in life with a nuance that felt voyeuristic at times. The Beautiful Little Things tells the story of a family navigating love, relationships, disappointment, guilt, and most of all, grief. As the family tries to navigate through unspoken resentments and unfair assumptions about one another, they are also navigating grief over their beloved matriarch and their perceptions of her perfection leading them to lash out and create havoc for all even while using her last journal as a guide to find their way back to each other. The Beautiful Little Things is all about navigating th...