Reviews with TLC

Dusty's Winter by Maeve Binchy started in a place I didn't expect but soon made sense. Dusty's relationship with her family and her friends is interesting and intriguing. The decisions Dusty makes have an innocence that feels naive yet she somehow often makes decisions that are good for those around her and demonstrate a fortitude and awareness that both surprises and feels obvious. Binchy creates flawed characters who manage to feel relatable and unrelatable at the same time in Dusty's Winter . As the characters make mistakes and then deal with the consequences, the family's worries about their image feel far too realistic. Dusty's Winter challenges the traditions of one generation juxtaposed against another generation and demonstrates how rigidity can drive wedges between people, even family members. Currently Reading: Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America  by Ijeoma Oluo How Not to Age: The Scientific Approach to Getting Healthier as You Get...

The June Paintings by Maggie Shipstead gently pulled me into June Trembley's life leaving me feeling reluctant, curious, and voyeuristic. As June seeks to find herself while telling herself she's trying to find her artistic voice, she shows a willingness to embrace the moment and make decisions that feel at once cunning and reckless. Shipstead creates characters that feel simultaneously loveable and detestable. June's relationship with the painter, Lammergeier, is dysfunctional at best, but also feels inevitable and understandable. The June Paintings made me feel a bit uncomfortable about how easily I found myself accepting some of June's decisions, particularly toward the end of the story. Currently Reading: Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America  by Ijeoma Oluo How Not to Age: The Scientific Approach to Getting Healthier as You Get Older  by Michael Gregor, Md. Collected Works of Kahlil Gibran Dusty's Winter  by Maeve Binchy Disclosure: This blog c...

Tune in Tomorrow by Melanie Benjamin exceeded my expectations. I was unsure when I decided to read Tune in Tomorrow ; however, I quickly started to like the characters and to care about the choices being made. The premise of being set around the creation of the soap opera genre largely contributed to my initial hesitation, but Tune in Tomorrow centers Abby Taylor's success and unconventional for the time lifestyle. Abby's determination, dedication to her family, and strong boundaries make for a story that works even when it feels like it shouldn't. Benjamin brings all the characters off the page through Abby's lens. offers the story of a strong woman who doesn't sacrifice herself for the men around her. Tune in Tomorrow offers an inspiring story of a strong woman who doesn't sacrifice herself for the men around her. Currently Reading: Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America  by Ijeoma Oluo How Not to Age: The Scientific Approach to Getting Healthi...

When We Were Widows by Annette Chavez Macias hit all the notes with me. The emotional impact felt like being on a merry-go-round and a roller-coaster at the same time. There was a gentleness and a fierceness in the relationships in the book, particularly those between the three generations of women the story focused on. I felt their heartaches, their joys, and their determination. The frustrations of the three women both with their lives, with each other, and with their individual selves bring so much understanding to the interconnectedness of life as well as the desire to detach from the reality of our lives. I found myself fully immersed in When We Were Widows and wanting to sit down for a cup of coffee with Yesica, Ana, and Mama Melda while at the same time thinking about my own relationships and my own journey with grief. When We Were Widows is a beautiful, realistic, inspiring examination of grief, family, secrets, and healing. Currently Reading: Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy ...

Consumed: The Need for Collective Change: Colonialism, Climate Change, and Consumerism by Aja Barber is an engaging examination of the fashion industry and the consumerism that props it up. Barber explores her journey from a lover of fashion to a critic of the fashion industry in an inviting book filled with facts and a touch of levity. Barber shares her experience in both the US and the UK with fashion and life in ways that lead me to think about my own fashion journey and how easily I can fall back into the trap of consumerism and not make purchases mindfully. Consumed not only lays out the problems with fast fashion but offers some options for changing how we interact with the fashion industry and other elements of consumerism including the personal and the systemic changes needed. Currently Reading: Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America  by Ijeoma Oluo How Not to Age: The Scientific Approach to Getting Healthier as You Get Older  by Michael Gregor, Md. Col...

Depart, Depart by Sim Kern  feels all too real and surreal at the same time. In the dystopia Kern creates, there is a moment of that notion that dystopia happens more often than we think. Depart, Depart drives home the idea that a dystopia can be created by local catastrophe and can offer an end point while at the same time driving home how catastrophes live with people and change their lives in ways we can't always imagine because everyone has different needs and different lives. Kern creates characters that slid into my thoughts and didn't let go until the last page and left me wanting more. I cheered for Noah and the friends Noah made. I mourned the loved ones Noah lost. I felt the panic and the despair of the characters leap off the page. I also felt the hope and determination the characters expressed in trying to rebuild their lives. Depart, Depart offers a lesson to all of us about the world we live in and the catastrophes we face through complex characters caught up i...