The Big White Farmhouse

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BIRD BY BIRD: SOME INSTRUCTIONS ON WRITING AND LIFE by Anne Lamott 
My Rating: ★★★☆☆

There is ecstasy in paying attention.  You can get into a kind of Wordsworthian openness to the world, where you see in everything the essence of holiness, a sign that God is implicit in all of creation. (p.100) 

Anne Lamott is a bit of a quirky writer, but I liked this book from her about writing.  While I’m not a fiction writer nor do I have any aspirations to someday be published, there were still plenty of inspiring moments.  I also have a handful of new tips to share with my kids as they mature in their writing too.

THE QUEEN OF HEARTS by Kimmery Martin
My Rating: ★★★☆☆

“The other thing that I loathed was the complete inability of most people to think critically. They accepted as gospel all kinds of things without ever objectively examining for themselves why they so fervently believed them.”

My dear friend Shelly sent me her copy of this book in the mail and I couldn’t wait to get started!  She described it as Grey’s Anatomy in book form and I found that to be a pretty accurate description.  I liked the first half of the book better than the second half, but it was well paced and I flew right through it.  Solid three stars.


THE STORY OF ARTHUR TRULUV by Elizabeth Berg
My Rating: ★★★★☆

He stops his rocking to look over at her. “But what we need are readers. Right? Where would writers be without readers? Who are they going to write for? And actors, what are they without an audience? Actors, painters, dancers, comedians, even just ordinary people doing ordinary things, what are they without an audience of some sort? “See, that’s what I do. I am the audience. I am the witness. I am the great appreciator, that’s what I do and that’s all I want to do. I worked for a lot of years. I did a lot of things for a lot of years. Now, well, here I am in the rocking chair, and I don’t mind it, Lucille. I don’t feel useless. I feel lucky.” (53%)

The Story of Arthur Truluv is a sweet book about a new widower who befriends a hurting teenage girl.  It’s sort-of reminded me of A Man Called Ove, but with a much less curmudgeon-y main character.  I flew through it in days.  This book also made me miss my grandmothers so much.

CALLING ME HOME by Julie Kibler
My Rating: ★★★★☆

The heart is a demanding tenant; it frequently makes a strong argument against common sense.

Calling Me Home is the author’s response to learning a piece of not-well-known family history: her grandmother once fell in love with a black man in a time when a relationship was both forbidden and dangerous.  It’s was one of those books that was just so incredibly sad and heart-breaking, but in the best way.  I cried at the end and I rarely do that.