C.A. Gray's Blog, page 14

We Are Family

Another winner from Beth Moran. I’m never quite sure how to classify her books: are they chick lit? (Sort of, but they don’t have the classic chick lit protagonist that nearly every other chick lit book I’ve read tends to have. The protagonist checks some of those boxes still, though–usually early 30s, down and out, and even the reader doesn’t realize how wonderful she is until another character comments on how they see her… yet, they’re never a caricature.) Is it just straight “literature,” given the complexity of interpersonal dynamics and intergenerational characters? There’s a little bit of “Hallmark channel” in there, but her books never feel cheesy, just “feel good.” And then sometimes, even though the bulk of the story is about relationships and finding one’s place in the world, there’s some element of suspense.

Nearly all of Moran’s books contain elements of the dysfunctional family in them, though it was really brought to the forefront in this one (hence the title). Ruth, 33, spent most of her life being in love with her best friend and next door neighbor, David. But David broke her heart in high school, when she caught him making out with another girl. In retaliation, Ruth ran off, hooked up with someone else, and got pregnant with her now teenage, troubled daughter Maggie (and for quite some time, there are no redeeming qualities to Maggie at all… but that’s just the setup for her character arc.) Because of Maggie, Ruth stays with Frazer, Maggie’s dad, even though she never really loves him. David, meanwhile, basically becomes Steve Irwin–traveling the remote and exotic natural world for TV.

Then Frazer dies unexpectedly, leaving Ruth with massive debt she didn’t realize he had. This forces her to move back home, to the small town that shunned her (at least in her mind) for her shocking teenage pregnancy. She and Maggie are forced to move in with Ruth’s parents, even though Ruth and her dad never repaired the rift when she got pregnant. Meanwhile, her parents’ marriage is on the rocks, and Ruth’s judgmental sisters whose lives are comparatively perfect come around to make her feel horrible about herself. She finds herself working for the girl David once hooked up with, and invited into a women’s group at the church that once shunned her–where she, surprisingly, finds that she feels loved. Then of course, David comes home. That’s not the main plot, though–just one of the plots. She also finds herself with a bona fide stalker, she and Maggie have to learn how to mend their relationship, and Ruth has to find who she truly is, without all the running away.

Absolutely heartwarming, uplifting, and always clean. However I’d classify it, I love Beth Moran’s style.

My rating: *****

Language: none

Sexual content: none

Violence: just a little, because of the stalker, but not gratuitous

Political content: none (and good for her for resisting the pressure to go there, as I’m sure she has some!)

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We Are Family by Beth Moran

Today’s podcast review comes from this blog review of We Are Family. 

Check out this episode!

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Mica and Starlight – Interview with Meg Newberg

Meg Newberg was born in Mexico and grew up north of Tucson, AZ. She spends her days making art, dancing, traveling and spending time in nature.

To learn more about Meg, see megnewberg.com 

You can purchase Mica and Starlight at: 

Bookbaby: https://store.bookbaby.com/book/mica-and-starlight1 

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mica...

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Mica-Starlight-Poems-Sonoran-Desert/dp/B0C8CB2ZM3 

Check out this episode!

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Review of The Plantagenets

For a history book, this is probably as good as it gets. I think I’d have enjoyed it more if I’d listened straight through, rather than putting it aside for weeks or months at a time before finally getting back to it. I noticed that I got a lot more wrapped up in the story(s) the longer I listened at a stretch, but upon first listening after a long period of absence, I could never remember, who is this now? Which king? Which era? What were they known for again?

I think the other way I’d have gotten more out of it is if I’d already had a firmer foundation of British history going in — then I think I’d have had an easier time keeping everybody straight.

There was a LOT of violence. I mean. it’s history, so that’s not really Dan Jones’s fault. People did what they did, but man, talk about cruel and unusual! I could definitely have done without knowing all the atrocious ways various political rivals murdered each other back in the middle ages. Humans were barely better than animals back then. That’s probably still the case, we’ve just created more safeguards to prevent us from acting quite so poorly. Anytime I think the world is going to hell in a handbasket now, though, all I have to do is study the middle ages. Then I realize, nope, could be a lot worse…

My rating: ****

Language: none that I recall

Sexual content: nothing salacious though of course, it’s history, so it was there

Violence: MASSIVE

Political content: historical only

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The Plantagenets, Dan Jones

Today’s podcast comes from this blog review of The Plantagenets. 

Check out this episode!

The post The Plantagenets, Dan Jones appeared first on C.A. Gray.

Mica and Starlight

Such delicious nostalgia!

I don’t read a lot of poetry as an adult, but I used to as a kid–not of the high literary variety so much as this simpler, lyrical style. So that alone was a throwback for me. Also, the subject matter of growing up in the desert primarily of Tucson, AZ, beautifully illustrated by the author in watercolors, is exactly reminiscent of my own experiences. Her poems capture the whimsy of imagination, the endless possibilities, the expanse of time, and the magic of the glittering desert in all its seasons (especially summertime, when kids have the most time to play and explore). I’m also very impressed with how much she manages to convey in very few, simple words, well within an elementary schooler’s vocabulary. The words are especially impactful when paired with the illustrations.

It seems that today, kids are so often glued to their iPads and various other devices… I wonder how many have the same delicious experiences in the great outdoors that I had when I was that age. Perhaps books like this one might inspire a few to recapture that wonder.

My rating: *****

Language: none

Sexual content: none

Violence: none

Political content: none

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The Gap and the Gain, Sullivan and Hardy

This week’s podcast comes from this blog review of “The Gap and the Gain.” 

Check out this episode!

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The Gap and the Gain

I’ve read a lot of self-help books–so many that I’ve largely stopped listening to them now, because I rarely hear anything new.

This one was new.

My brother, a high achiever himself, told me about this one and said that it’s been a game-changer for him. It’s definitely very common for type-A high achievers to always look at how far short they’ve fallen from their ideal (or especially in kids, from someone else’s ideal), rather than how much they actually have achieved. By definition, an ideal is never reachable, so this approach is a recipe for discouragement. Still, the tendency to focus on the ideal is termed “perfectionism,” and it’s considered a personality trait, not something modifiable. Sullivan (and Hardy) argue that it is indeed modifiable, and with a simple frame-shift: simply measure how far you’ve come (the gain), not how far you have yet to go (the gap).

While that’s a simple statement, the rest of the book gives practical examples of how to do this, not just once, but as part of an ongoing lifestyle. I don’t usually consider myself a perfectionist, but my focus is usually also how far I have yet to go to achieve my self-determined goals. It takes a conscious effort to look at what I actually have done, and it really is uplifting to do so.

My favorite chapter in the whole book was toward the end, though. I’ve heard about “miracle mornings” ad nauseum, and my mornings are already as structured as they can be, so there’s nothing else I can really do there. But Sullivan/Hardy wrote about taking the last few minutes of each day, not long, to write out your three wins for that day, and your projected wins for the next day. I love this. Often I forget to give myself credit for what I’ve accomplished in a given day… and if I didn’t accomplish what I’d hoped, I can still reframe what I did instead as a “win.” The idea behind setting goals for the next day isn’t for them to be set in stone, but rather, it sets the tone of momentum and accomplishment before you even go to bed. I usually make a list of weekly goals in various categories, and never get to all of them… but this narrows it down further, and gives me a greater sense of intention and purpose when I find myself with a sudden short window of time.

Definitely a worthwhile read.

My rating: *****

Language: none

Sexual content: none

Violence: none

Political content: none

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The Echo of Old Books, Barbara Davis

Today’s podcast comes from this blog review of The Echo of Old Books. 

Check out this episode!

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Review of The Bird and the Sword

This was a very unusual fantasy.

I picked it up because I recently finished an historical fiction book by Amy Harmon that I loved (“A Girl Called Samson”). I knew just from the book description that this would be very different in terms of the plot, though I could definitely recognize her narrative voice. The story follows Lark, a girl with the magical gift of words. She can command objects in the physical world to do her bidding, though not people with a will of their own. But she was born into a world in which such gifts are considered dangerous, and those with gifts are persecuted and killed. When Lark as an innocent princess makes paper dolls fly, her mother takes the blame, and is murdered by her father, the king. But her mother placed a “curse” on Lark before she died, that she will no longer be able to speak, thinking this will protect her. At the same time, her mother vowed that if anything ever happens to Lark, her father will also die.

It’s an interesting concept, to have a protagonist who cannot speak, nor can she even read at the beginning (her father’s protection against her power). As a result, the story has to be told in first person narration, though not in Lark’s own thoughts. This still works, though. Lark is like Sleeping Beauty–kept away from her father the king with a single servant who loves and protects her. Then she finds an injured eagle, and manages to imbue it with her healing intention, even though she can’t use the words. The pacing was quite slow, so I didn’t pay very close attention at the beginning of the story, and I’m not quite sure how that led her to the palace of a neighboring king, Tiras. She heals him too, though the source of his ailment is at first unclear. He realizes that she is gifted after this, but while he protects her secret, he also keeps her captive, apparently to keep her close by in case her gift is needed again. At the same time, he teaches her to read, and he realizes that once she learns words, she can press them into his mind, so that they can begin to communicate.

There’s a slow burn love story between Lark and Tiras, lots of palace intrigue, and Lark’s father comes into the story on several occasions. Later we learn that there is a magical connection between the eagle whom Lark healed at the beginning, and Tiras. The primary theme of the story I’d say is the power of words, and also the fear of the unknown (common in fantasy stories about magic). There is a rather surprising happily-ever-after, though.

My rating: ****

Language: I can’t recall if it’s there… it might be

Sexual content: present though not over-the-top; probably PG-13 level

Violence: present but fantasy-esque

Political content: none

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