A Bit of About Books

 Cool autumn weather is finally here, ushered in by Tropical Storm Isiasas (or whatever its name was). Anyway it visited us Friday night and dropped buckets of rain. Some areas got some strong winds and lost trees and power, but not here. Just rain for the Yellow House.

I haven't done anymore quilting since the ornament block I showed, but I've done a lot of reading and watched some movies with daughter Andy. 

The only movie that was notable was the new "Carrie," a series rather than a movie. And it's notable only because it was so bad. Not up to par with the original at all. Why don't movie makers and series makers leave well enough alone? I've heard that a new "Lonesome Dove" series is coming. I hope that's only a rumor,

So here are the books.

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke -I waited on the library hold list for months to get this books. And with the help of a friend, I finally got it. Her name came up for both the regular copy and the large-print copy, so she passed the large print on to me, and I finally got to read it. 

From the reviews, it seems everyone either loves or hates this book. Well I have to say that I'm in neither camp. I certainly didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either. While the story kept me turning pages, the characters were all very unlikeable (except for one little girl who gets very little print time) and what turned out to be the transition from modern times to 19th Century was very fuzzy and unconvincing.

Also the author gave us some pretty weird prose. For instance, at one point the husband takes five of the family children to give them baths. The narrator (wife) says she can hear her husband "shampooing five sets of heads." Two-headed children, I presume.

In another example, the wife says that she can hear her mother's "sewing needles rattle as she knitted." It must be quite a feat to knit with sewing needles. There were a few less startling examples.

The Crowfield Curse by Pat Walsh -I probably would never have read this if not for sister Ramey choosing it for our October book club meeting. It's listed as a children's book, but it is in no way juvenile, and it's a very good story, somewhat spooky but not bloody and gorey. Well now there are some animal murders that aren't really gorey, but they did disturb me. Any case of animal cruelty crushes me. Anyway, it's a pretty good, well written story, a suitable Halloween read for kids or adults.

Little Red Death by Alexandra Benedict - Once upon a time, someone was about to die. For 25 years, DI Lyla Rondell has lived with one unsolved case: her best friend's disappearance. The only clue, a poisoned apple, earned it the nickname "Snow White." Now, gruesome murders, each one based on a different classic fairy tale, have come to Lyla's attention. And she is determined to finally uncover the truth and catch a killer.

Valley of the Moms by Hannah SellingerHamilton, Massachusetts is one of those small New England towns where stay-at-home moms wear 2ct diamond studs to the playground, where a million-dollar property is “affordable,” and where the Parent Teacher Organization is a hotbed of controversy. Sure, some people struggle to make ends meet, but residents would say discussing such ugly matters is impolite. Hamilton has been like this forever, and everyone likes it that way. Or: almost everyone. Feminine feathers fly when newcomer Anna Plummer challenges the long-time PTO president for her job.

Murder at 30,000 Feet by Susan Walter For someone who has always been a bit of a nervous flyer, you would think I would shy away from such stories. But I don't. I love a good airplane thriller, whether novel or movie.

Thousands of feet above the earth, a nonstop flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico turns deadly. With thunderstorms closing in, the danger outside is as grave as the mounting threat within. Can the captain outrun the storm? Or will the murderer among them bring the plane down first? And you'll never guess who the murderer is. Or maybe you will, as the story has similarities to a recent news story. (Semi-spoiler ahead.) The crash-landing scene is one of the more tense segments I've ever read.

Family Business by John Corwin (and you might be surprised what their business is.) - In this day and time, when pedophiles and sex criminals from all (and I mean all) walks of life get away with their evil, some of you might find the plot of this novel just too satisfying. I had to keep reminding myself not to be too delighted and remember that the actions of this family are barbaric crimes. But still.... That's all I'm going to say. If you want to know more, you'll have to either read the book or Google the title for some reviews.

Somebody Knows by Pamela Ungashick - This story is set in a small Midwestern town in the 1940s. It centers on teenager Audrey's ongoing battle with her cruel mother Edith who is spiraling deeper and deeper into insanity. As Audrey deals with her mother, she must also protect her little brother Harry. First rate plotting and character development. A real page turner.

The Whisper Man by Alex North - After the sudden death of his wife, Tom Kennedy believes a fresh start will help him and his young son Jake heal. 

Just as Tom and Jake settle into their new home in Feathermore, a young boy vanishes. His disappearance bears an unnerving resemblance to Frank Carter's crimes, reigniting old rumors that he preyed with an accomplice. Now, detectives Amanda Beck and Pete Willis must find the boy before it is too late, even if that means Pete has to revisit his great foe in prison:The Whisper Man. And then Jake begins acting strangely. He hears a whispering at his window. Now a Netflix film starring Robert DeNiro.

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones - “A moving portrayal of the effects of a wrongful conviction on a young African-American couple.”—Barack Obama**********(Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn’t commit. 

I Did a Thing

 

I actually made a quilt block yesterday--and did a bit of vacuuming and mopping as well. Today I'm doing laundry. Might get back to the sewing room. Might not.

The quilt block is from a pattern by Riley Blake called Decorating the Christmas Tree (photo below). My original thought when I purchased the pattern was that I'd make the entire full-size quilt. But after making that one block, I'm thinking it might turn into a wall hanging. It took a while. The instructions are not great. But one I get it all in my head, maybe it will get less confusing. 

It's feeling a little more like fall. The weatherman promises rain tomorrow and then cooler temperatures. Already the horrible heat and humidity of summer seem to be gone (I hope). 

Jesse and I ordered pizza and are watching the Bama/Mississippi State game. 

What I'm reading: Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

Hello October!

 

I'm not ready to review the books I read in September, but here is a photo of my book club at our August meeting. That's me on the far left, and in front of me is my sister Ramey.  In the center front, holding the book is Irene Latham, author of our August reading selection Some Starry Night. If you haven't read it, or any of Irene's books, you're missing a good story teller. 

In case you haven't noticed, October is here, the month I wait impatiently for all year. Our weather hasn't seemed to notice that it's autumn, but the weatherman promises cooler temperatures are just around the corner. 

I won't be doing as much autumn decorating as I have done in the past. My back and leg issues just won't do it. I did a little mopping this morning, and now I'm paying. I have to find another housekeeper before the house goes to complete wrack and ruin. I let my last housekeeper go close to two year ago, not because she wasn't good, but because of the price. Everything was already getting so expensive that I just didn't feel like I could justify it. I mistakenly thought I could do it myself, and things stayed tolerable for a while. But not anymore. 

Happy October, everyone. I'll try to get back soon to at least list the books I've read. Still no quilting to show.

At Least I'm Still Reading

I confess I haven't done much sewing or quilting since I last posted here last spring, but I have still been reading. My back (spinal) problem and the neuropathy have done nothing but get worse until all I really want to do these days is sit still. Every now and then a not good really, but a tolerable day (at least it starts that way) comes along. So I hurry to the sewing room to get some work done, but before I can hardly get things ready to sew, the pain, fatigue, stiffness, and clumsiness return; and I take their example and return to the sofa, or sometimes to the bed.

Below are the books I've read since last spring. I thought I'd start with Coat of Many Colors by our dear Dolly Parton. I'm sure you know by now that the world lost Dolly last week when she passed away. So this book, which daughter Andy gave me last Christmas, is even more dear to me.

Coat of Many Colors by Dolly Parton, Brooke Boynton-Hughes Illustrator - Country music legend Dolly Parton lends the lyrics of her classic song "Coat of Many Colors" to this heartfelt picture book that beautifully captures the love of her favorite winter coat and of the life of love and poverty in which she grew up.

💜💛💚

Although we had no money,
I was rich as I could be,
in my coat of many colors
my mama made for me.

💜💛💚

Dear Debbie by Freida McFadden - Debbie Mullen has, for years, compiled all of her best advice into her column, "Dear Debbie," where the wives of New England come for sympathy and neighborly advice. Through her work, Debbie has heard from countless women who are ignored, belittled, or even abused by their husbands. And Debbie does her best to guide them in the right direction. Or at least, she did. These days, Debbie’s life seems to be spiraling out of control. She just lost her job. Something strange is happening with her teenage daughters. And her husband is keeping secrets. Now, Debbie’s done being the bigger person. It’s time for payback against all the people in her life who deserve it the most.

Youngblood Hawke by Herman Wouk - A real blast from the past. I read this book first when I was a teenager. Back then, in the 60s, reading novels, especially "adult novels," was a big thing. This one is about a young man from rural Kentucky who writes a book, moves to New York, writes another book, makes some money, makes bad investments, has an affair with an older woman, and puts more time into writing and having an affair than in sleep and caring for his health. It ends pretty much as you'd expect. Near the end is one of the most tear-jerking scenes I've ever read. It's a good long book, 800 pages, and entertaining. But I think I really was much more enthralled with it when I was a teen.

Welcome to the Family by A.J. Carter - When Anna arrives at her future mother-in-law's isolated estate, she finds a freezing cold house, a brother in the wheelchair who watches her intently, and a  teenage daughter who hasn't spoken in years. Eddie, the man she's about to marry, flinches every time his mother walks into the room. The longer Anna stays, the more she sees. And by the time she realizes what this family is hiding, the snow has sealed her in, and it's already too late to leave. A good page turner.

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver - A charming tale of rural Kentucky native Taylor Greer who only wants to get away from her roots and avoid getting pregnant. She succeeds, but inherits a three-year-old Native American girl named Turtle along the way, and together, from Oklahoma to Arizona, half-Cherokee Taylor and her charge search for a new life in the West.

The Car in White by Nikolas Pleiadi - A prequel. Pleiadi gives us the background for the situations and Long Island, NY mob-related characters to whom he introduced us in his first novel, In Powder Blue. I am even more impressed with this young man's writing than I was after finishing In Powder Blue. He puts the reader in the scene. You hear the noise, smell the booze and the pervasive marijuana smoke. You feel the danger. I predict there's good things in the future for Mr. Pleiadi. 

Displacement by Justin Pick - Eighteen-year-old 

Liam Donohue's harrowing journey begins on a cool summer night in 1998, when he walks into a record store with his friends Jason, Madelyn, and Ashley. As he browses for his collection, something unexpected stops him dead in his tracks: an album featuring a menacing photo of him as a child on its cover. Horrified and confused, Liam becomes compelled to uncover how this photo ended up there—and why the sight of it fills him with an unshakable sense of dread that he cannot explain. As Liam digs deeper, he unravels a web of disturbing truths in his pursuit to learn about his past that will not only shatter his own understanding of who he is, but also the public’s.

The Midnight Train by Matt Haig - Wilbur has lived a full life, to the age of 81. When he passes, the Midnight Train arrives to take him to re-live the moments that meant the most in his life. Along the way he is joined by the version of himself as a young married man, experiencing a dream on his honeymoon many years before. Both the dead Wilbur and the dreaming Wilbur experience scenes from Wilbur's life. and then must return to the train to travel to the next scene. Wilbur's guide on his (their) journey is Agnes, the owner of the bookshop where Wilbur had his first job. She tells Wilbur that he must always return to the train when the whistle blows. If he doesn't, he risks losing eternity, and he must not try to communicate with his other self. Would the risk be worth it, he wonders. A delightful and thought provoking book.

The Storm by Rachel Hawkins - St. Medard’s Bay, Alabama is famous for three things: deadly hurricanes, the Rosalie Inn, a century-old hotel that’s survived every one of those storms, and Lo Bailey, the local girl accused of the murder of her lover, political scion Landon Fitzroy, during Hurricane Marie in 1984. When the current owner of the Rosalie Inn hears a writer is coming to town to research the decades-old crime, she is hopeful that a successful true crime book might help the struggling inn. But to her surprise, the writer doesn’t come to St. Medard’s Bay alone. With him is none other than Lo Bailey herself. Lo says she’s returned to her hometown to clear her name. Or, some wonder, is she there to settle old score? 

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett - I have declared this the best book I've read, so far, in 2026. I can't imagine one good enough to take its place.

It's an historical fiction novel set in 1933 Oxford, Mississippi, during the Great Depression, focusing on the intertwined lives of three women: an orphan named Meg, an unmarried bookkeeper named Birdie, and a resourceful woman named Charlie. The story explores themes of economic hardship, gender struggles, and the quest for stability amid societal constraints.

With a Vengeance by Riley Sager - In 1954, Anna Matheson boards a luxury overnight train bound for Chicago that she’s commissioned, along with a list of names and a heart hardened by loss. Twelve years earlier, during the height of World War II, six people shattered her family’s life. Now, under a false guise, Anna has orchestrated a chilling reunion—trapping each of them aboard. Reminiscent of an Agatha Christy mystery.

Bug Hollow by Michelle Huneven - When Sally Samuelson was eight years old, her golden boy brother, Ellis, went missing the summer he graduated from high school. Ellis finally turned up at the bucolic Bug Hollow, a last gasp of the beautiful Northern California counterculture of the seventies. He had found joy in the communal life there, but died in a freak accident weeks later. From that point, the world of the Samuelsons never spins on the same axis, especially after Julia, Ellis’s girlfriend from Bug Hollow, shows up pregnant on their doorstep.

The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig - Five high school friends are bonded by an oath to protect one another no matter what. Then, on a camping trip in the middle of the forest, they find something extraordinary: a mysterious staircase to nowhere. One friend walks up—and never comes back down. Then the staircase disappears.Twenty years later, the staircase has reappeared. Now the group returns to find the lost boy—and what lies beyond the staircase in the woods.

Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates - Protagonist Christa joins a tour group heading into the snowy Rocky Mountains, traveling with her boyfriend, Kiernan. A brutal blizzard traps the group, forcing them to take shelter in a remote, abandoned hunting cabin. Their tour guide goes missing and is found dead with his severed head impaled on a tree. The keys to their transport vanish, and the group is completely isolated. As the temperature plummets, the stranded strangers are picked off one by one, forcing Christa to figure out who she can trust in a claustrophobic fight for survival.

That's it for now. September is here, the beginning of the Ber Months, my favorite time of year. I hope the cooler temperatures are not far behind. I'll try to post more when I read a few more books or get a little sewing done--or something happens in my that that is worthy of writing about.

More Photos from the Brick Wall

This must have been a different day because everyone except Grandma and Ramey has on different clothes and Jesse has appeared in these shots found by Andy. Also Jed and Jenny have disappeared. I think my hair is a little longer. And so is India's, and maybe Ramey's. We still didn't get Vann in a shot because he was the photographer. This is like one of those "What's Different in these Pictures" puzzles.

Thanks, Jed

 

Nephew Jed (back row, left, in blue shirt) comes through again! He saw my post from yesterday and sent me this picture taken on the same day and including me (middle, left, in white shirt)  and my sister Joanne (back, right, in pink shirt). Neighborhood dog Darby seems to have split.

Joanne is Jed and Jenny's mom. She's also Jack's mom, but he was absent that day. Ramey is India's mom, and also mom to Buffy, who was also absent. I am Andy's mom, and also mom to Cait, also absent. Andy is mom to my grandson Jesse; absent.

Rest in Peace Joanne, Jenny, Jack, and Mama. We miss you guys.

Mother's Day

A late 90s Mother's Day with the matriarch. Back row, her grandson Jed Cage. Middle row from left, her youngest daughter Ramey Channell and granddaughter Jenny Cage. Front row, from left: neighborhood dog Darby, Mary's granddaughter Angela Wright Osborn (Andy), Mary Ramey herself, granddaughter India Dyer. (This was at my house, so I don't know why I wasn't in the photo. Maybe I was taking the phone. Also missing are three grandchildren, one great grandson (Jesse), and one more daughter Joanne Cage. Apparently I don't have a photo with everyone together.)

I had a fabulous Mother's Day last Sunday. I went to church to hear a great sermon, and brought home a pretty pink rose. When I got home, daughter Andy was there with goodies. After enjoying a great lunch, thanks to Andy, we settled in on the sofa and streamed movies. When the festivities were over and Andy had gone home, I snuggled into bed and finished reading a great book by Ken Follett, The Third Twin (more about that in later).

I hope your Mother's Day was as enjoyable as mine.