The Big White Farmhouse

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#22. PRETENDING TO DANCE by Diane Chamberlain
★★☆☆☆
I’ve had my Goodreads account since 2011 and for the past year, I have been trying to go back and actually read some books from my “to be read” shelf.  This has become a bit of an experiment because I no longer have any memory of where I heard about them or why I wanted to read them in the first place, ha!  Pretending to Dance is one of those books and I went into it completely blind.  The story alternates between the present, with the main character and her husband going through the adoption process, and flashbacks to the past, during the summer when she was fourteen.  This is a hard book to describe since the focus was heavily on her coming-of-age summer and filled with sexual escapades that I had to skim past.  Top that off with a morally questionable ending and this book was definitely just not for me.

#23. BETTER OFF: FLIPPING THE SWITCH ON TECHNOLOGY by Eric Brende
★★★☆☆
I always like to read these types of books, where people do something extreme and then share what they learned.  Better Off is the story of one such couple who go to live with a “Minimite” community (not quite Mennonites, but they have many of the same attributes) for 18 months.  They are searching for an answer to “How much technology is too much?”  This book was written in 2004 and I often caught myself thinking that I would love to know what he’s thought of technology in the years since: social media, Iphones, Alexa, even cars that do the driving for you!  This book gave me a lot to think about.

#24. BLUEBIRD, BLUEBIRD by Attica Locke
★★★☆☆
This novel is a police procedural about a black Texas Ranger who is investigating two possibly race-motivated murders.  It is definitely more literary in tone and a slow burn – not a bad thing at all! – but I struggled to get through chapters each night.  They put me right to sleep!  The ending was really good and perfectly set up a possibility of a series.  (Update: I just checked and there’s a sequel!  It’s called Heaven, My Home.)

#25. OUR TOWN: A PLAY IN THREE ACTS by Thornton Wilder
★★★★☆

EMILY: Good-by, world.  Good by, Grover’s Corners…Mama and Papa.  Good-by to clocks ticking…and Mama’s sunflowers.  And food and coffee.  And new-ironed dresses and hot baths…and sleeping and waking up.  Oh, earth, you’re too wonderful for anybody to realize you.
Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? – every, every minute? (Act III)

Switching things up with a play!  I actually found this rendition on Youtube and read along at the same time.  (I think my understanding is much richer because of it.)  I wasn’t sure about the concept during Act I, but enjoyed it more and more in Acts II and III.  Set in small town USA, this drama takes a look at the human condition: we live, we love, and we eventually die.  I loved the reminder to pay attention because life really does go by so quickly.  (This was my 1938 pick for the 20th Century in Books Challenge.)

#26. SEARCHING FOR SYLVIE LEE by Jean Kwok
★★☆☆☆
I had a hard time with this one.  It begins with a mystery: a woman goes missing while visiting her dying grandmother in the Netherlands and her family back at home in the US tries to find out what happened.  There’s an immigrant aspect that I found interesting, but there were too many sideplots that had me scratching my head.  (Like, Is this detail really necessary to further the story?)  Devastatingly sad from beginning to end.

#27. AMERICAN ROYALS by Katharine McGee
★★☆☆☆
After reading one too many heavy, depressing novels, I decided to take a stab at reading something outside of my comfort zone.  This book is Chick Lit, Young Adult, and a Romance…all genres I tend to avoid, ha!  American Royals asks the question, What if America had a royal family?  Told in multiple perspectives and definitely light and fluffy, but I am clearly not the target audience for this type of book.  So many love triangles and catty teenage girl behavior!  I left that drama back in high school for a reason.

#28. THE OTHER PEOPLE by C.J. Tudor
★★★★☆
This was a crazy book!  Plenty of twists and turns, with a supernatural element that was a little bit creepy.  I went into it only knowing that it was a thriller about a missing girl and her father who is obsessed with finding her. I think going in blind is probably the best way to go with this one.  I flew through it in two days.

#29. THEOLOGY OF HOME II: THE SPIRITUAL ART OF HOMEMAKING by Carrie Gress and Noelle Mering
★★★★☆

…it doesn’t take a tragedy for the devil to confuse us.  Even in our daily lives, even during our best moments, he can wreak havoc.  He knows precisely which direction to push us, either toward self-glorification if we are prone to vanity or toward despair if we are prone to scrupulosity.  As the father of lies, he sows confusion, leaving us stunted.  To move forward in hope, the best thing we can do is begin and end with what we know to be true: we are loved by a God who is love.  He is with us.  We can run to him.  His providence is beyond our comprehension.  And when we falter, we can return to him with simplicity, confident that he makes all things new. (p.158)

I think I enjoyed this beautiful book even more than the first one!  Thought-provoking and inspiring.

#30. LITTLE HEATHENS: HARD TIMES AND HIGH SPIRITS ON AN IOWA FARM DURING THE GREAT DEPRESSION by Mildred Armstrong Kalish
★★★☆☆
This is Mildred’s childhood story, growing up on her grandparents’ farm during the Great Depression.  I enjoyed her stories and recipes and general nostalgia – what a hard-working family!  A solid three star read.