Marsha

Stone Yard Devotional

Stone Yard Devotional

By Charlotte Wood

Published 2023

Read Nov 2025

A woman takes a break in a small convent near where she grew up. She is taking a break from her work of trying to keep species from disappearing from the world and apparently from her marriage. She ends up staying—moving from the guest dormitory to the main dormitory over time. She isn’t staying for religious reasons of any sort. She only slowly realizes that the various prayer times that interrupt the women’s daily work might actually be the real work of the convent.

In contrast to vanishing species, the area suffers an amazing plague of field mice that have apparently been driven to the area due to some unnamed climate thing. The women slowly learn they need to protect their food in glass vs bags or plastic jars to keep the mice from devouring it. They buy and set countless traps and devise other ways to lower the population of mice. Our narrator has the task of purchasing the various equipment. All without interrupting the work.

Two other major things happen at the convent: the remains of a former sister who had been lost in Thailand have been returned to them and the sister who accompanies the remains, Helen Parry, is a former schoolmate of the narrator. Helen Parry has gone from being a bullied child to an internationally known activist in climate issues. The narrator is much more impacted by her arrival than are the others.

Over the course of the book, we learn a few things about the narrator, but the cause(s) of her despair and desire to drop out of her former life are never fully revealed. Instead, we hear about her slow acclimation to life at the convent as a non-religious but apparently accepted resident. The writing enables the reader to slow down and consider this life as well. It’s not surprising that this book is making a lot of “best of” lists. This reader will continue to read Wood’s work.

The Weekend: forty year friendships

The Weekend

By Charlotte Wood

Published 2019

Read Sept 2025

This book tells about a short weekend at Christmas when three friends of forty odd years come together to clear out the vacation home of their recently departed friend, Sylvie. The friends have spent many Christmas holidays together at this vacation home together with Sylvie and have established some holiday routines which are disrupted this year, the first time they’ve been together at Sylvie’s place without Sylvie.

Adele is a still attractive actress, who has had little work lately and likely is homeless as her most recent relationship has apparently ended. She has many, perhaps, unattainable hopes about the immediate future which drives the single plot line occurring over this short period of time. Jude is a former restauranteur who is looking forward to her usual time alone at Sylvie’s place with her rich long-term lover. She is quite focused on getting the kitchen cleared out and is generally irritated by her friends’ inability to get on with their assignments as well as their expectation that she will prepare her usual specialties for Christmas dinner. Wendy is a widowed scholar who has brought her aging dog Finn, a gift from Sylvie, despite Jude’s insistence that she does not bring the dog. Finn is barely hanging onto life, and Jude believes she should have put the dog down some time ago.

We hear about each character both through their own voice as well as what her friends are thinking of her during this time together. We learn little about Sylvie except that her nameless lover has requested the friends clear out the house in any way they see fit. The friendship is long-lived, but perhaps Sylvie was the glue of that friendship as the overall friendship seems to be falling apart a bit or a lot.

This reader is also “of a certain age” and appreciated the questions the characters are asking themselves about their lives and their friendship. This character-driven book is told in a straightforward manner without a drop of sentimentality. This reader looks forward to reading more by this author.

Shred Sisters by Betsy Lerner

Shred Sisters

By Besty Lerner

Published 2024

Read Dec 2025

This is Lerner’s first novel although she’s published some non-fiction previously.

Lerner uses the younger sister, Amy, to narrate her life and the impact her older sister, Olivia (Olly) has on her family. Olly, whose love of adventure and out of the ordinary behavior is interesting to her parents until she reaches her teen years. Then her behavior becomes very concerning, and her parents realize they can’t do much about it. She begins stealing, leaving home for extended periods of time, and more. Olly is hospitalized for a while but it seems to have little impact on her erratic behavior. Eventually, her parents split, in part because they disagree on how to deal with Olly, her father remaining supportive and dismissive of anything “wrong” with Olly and her mother being less so.

In the meantime, Amy is growing up. Her good behavior and excellent grades win her no accolades from her parents who are worn out by Olly. She was bullied in school, but switching to a private high school helps. She graduates from college and begins a graduate program. When she doesn’t get a grant to continue the scientific work to which she’s devoted herself, she chooses to leave the program and science. She eventually becomes a successful editor for a publishing company.

Over time, Olly’s erratic behavior leads her into sex work and later convincing her parents to help her start a business; unfortunately, but perhaps predictability, she steals the start-up money and vanishes again. She’s in and out of their lives which becomes increasingly complicated for everyone. Amy eventually understands that Olly likely has bipolar depression but this is never discussed by the family.

This book does a great job of showcasing the very difficult situation that families face when a member has a mental illness and doesn’t allow themselves to be treated–why would they when the mania is so much fun and the meds take that all away.

This reader enjoyed finding a sympathetic character in this book, Amy. She suffers many disappointments, makes some poor decisions but accepts their consequences and gets on with life, and faces continuing obstacles as the only sibling left to deal with Olly after her parents pass. Lerner didn’t over-romanticize anything about Amy’s life and accomplishes providing a character that the reader can truly like.

Lerner is a literary agent and an editor, and it really shows. This reader is getting more sensitive to editing – overdrawn text, inconsistencies, etc. It’s interesting that the author chooses editing as the career in which Amy excels. Unlike some books that have a book editor as a character, this book was very well written and edited–crisp and so engaging that reading was complete in two days.

This reader highly recommends this book for both reading and especially discussing with a group. There is much to discuss—the characters, the quality of the writing, and the situation it depicts. Society interacts with mental health issues as little as possible, and this book helps us understand what it’s really like to have a mentally ill member of the family.

Culpability, a novel by Holsinger

Culpability

By Bruce Holsinger

Published 2025

Read Dec 2025

The driver for this novel is an accident that occurs when a self-driving car hits and kills a couple but leaves the occupants of the self-driving car completely or relatively unharmed. The person “driving” is Charlie, a seventeen-year-old lacrosse star, who is on his way to a championship game that is the last of his high school career. He is heading off to the University of North Carolina which has recruited him for their team. Sitting in the front passenger seat is his father, Daniel, a first-generation college graduate who is a lawyer. He is writing a memo for his job while Charlie is driving. Sitting in the second-row seats are Charlie’s mother, Lorelei, and his sister, Alice. Lorelei is a highly published researcher and consultant in the area of AI. She is busy working as well when the accident occurs. Alice is the middle child and is the occupant who yells when she sees a car coming into their lane. This is the act that causes Charlie to take the wheel which precedes the accident. Izzy is the youngest child and is lounging in the third seat while texting with her beloved brother, Charlie as he “drives”. Izzy suffers a broken leg. Alice suffers a concussion and is hospitalized overnight. Everyone else survives with only a few bruises.

To get away from the trauma of the accident and relax a bit before Charlie heads to UNC, the family rents a house on an inlet of the Chesapeake Bay they had rented the year before. They aren’t left alone, however, as accident investigators want to talk to Daniel and Charlie. Daniel obtains a lawyer who tells him he can represent only Charlie or Daniel but not both.

The question is: who or what is culpable? Charlie who apparently overrides the AI and had been texting? Daniel for not noticing that Charlie was texting? The AI for not avoiding the accident? Something or someone else? It seems there are many secrets that the family members hold that may be relevant.

In the meantime, more troubles arise. Father Daniel is upset that the beautiful farm across the small inlet from their rented house has been replaced with a huge home and a security staff protecting the property of a wealthy businessman, Monet. Why the over-gentrification of their peaceful vacation area? Father Daniel is further upset when son Charlie becomes involved with Monet’s daughter, Eurydice, and the family is invited to a party at the Monet compound. You’ll need to read the novel to find out the rest of the complications.

Modern themes abound in addition to the major theme of culpability of fatal accidents involving self-driving vehicles: impact of travel sports on families; impact of wealth on decision making; relationships of dual career spouses, especially if there is a perceived “imbalance” of capabilities; fragility of life as we know it.

It’s interesting to this reader that for most of the books she’s read recently she doesn’t particularly find any of the characters very sympathetic. It’s true for this book as well. We spend most of our time learning what father Daniel thinks and does. He is far from sympathetic in this reader’s opinion. He’s not communicating with his wife well. He’s failing to connect with his son who is not behaving as he would prefer. He drinks heavily often, sometimes driving under the influence.

Although the book is a very quick read and at times feels a little superficial, there really is substance for rich conversation with others about it.

Finding Grace

Finding Grace

By Loretta Rothschild

Published 2025

Read Nov 2025

This is a debut novel for Rothschild. You won’t learn much about the plot from this essay as this reader believes that reading it without knowing anything about it is advantageous to the reader.

The protagonist of this becomes a widower when his wife and daughter are killed in a bombing. Most of the book takes place starting a few years after the bombing and follows the widower and his young son. There are occasional flashbacks which are printed in italics to aid the reader in know it’s a flashback.

Rothschild uses an interesting device: The protagonist’s wife narrates much of the novel from her position in heaven. She is able to see what’s happening and we hear much of the action from her “viewpoint”. We also are privy to the husband’s thoughts directly from him. We see the other characters only through their actions as communicated by the wife or the widower.

The majority of the book’s tension is built on a secret the husband is keeping from almost everyone regarding a woman he has met. One good friend knows the secret and urges the widower to reveal it, but he doesn’t and weaves an increasingly complex web of “facts” created to keep his secret safe.

There is a fairly large cast of characters, one group surrounding the widower and one group surrounding the new girlfriend and, of course, they begin to intersect. There are many topics that aren’t discussed within the groups and certainly not between the groups.

Parenthood, managing one’s own grief, supporting a friend through their grief, and communication are big themes of this book.

There is a fair amount of description of sex between the widower and his new girlfriend which this reader didn’t find necessary. Perhaps the editor/publisher thought this would be a draw for some readers, but this reader found it somewhat distracting and certainly led this reader to wonder about whether the new couple’s relationship was built on anything besides sex.

The setting is London, although the book feels pretty American. This reader thought that perhaps the author now lives in the US, but she splits her time between the UK and Italy. That likely explains an Italian connection. There are a few “British’ words and few obvious “British” cultural elements, but not many which again may be an editor/publisher’s suggestion to enable sales. There are a large number of references to modern day singers as well as “classical” artists. This reader did not connect with most of the singer references which may suggest the author is directing the book to an audience younger than this reader. These references may impact the longevity of the book.

Overall, a pretty fast read. It will be interesting to see how this author’s career develops.

Spying on the South–Olmsted and Horwitz in the South 160 years apart

Spying on the South: An Odyssey Across the America Divide

By Tony Horwitz

Published 2019

Read Oct 2025

Tony Horwitz was a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who said “I love the past and the present in equal parts. If I’m doing only history, I feel restless to get out on the road and explore the contemporary scene. And if I’m focusing only on the present day, I want to pause and duck into an archive and flesh out the history of what I’m seeing.” (1)

In this book, Tony Horwitz documents his travels along the path Fredrick Olmsted took in 1853-1854 while reporting for the brand-new publication, The New York Times. Horwitz purposefully travels via similar means where possible—a barge on the Ohio River, a steamboat on the Mississippi River, mules in Texas—and to visit the same towns and plantations that Olmsted visited where possible.

We learn about Fredrick Olmsted and why he was taking this journey. Olmsted, who had dallied in a variety of occupations without settling on any of them, wanted, in part, to see for himself what slavery was really about and to learn if it might be possible for the north and south to peacefully settle their differences by dealing with factual accounts. Simiarly Horwitz was interested in seeing the south firsthand in current times to better understand it.

Horwitz’s compares and contrasts what he sees on his trip with Olmsted’s which happened 160 years earlier. The trip along the Mississippi was especially interesting to this reader. The steamboat that took Horwitz south was a river cruise ship vs a working boat carrying Olmsted which was taking south product—both material and human. Horwitz’s steamboat cruise stopped at plantations that were fully working in Olmsted’s day and are now tourist stops that gave a glimpse of the history Olmsted saw.

Olmsted and Horwitz each spend quite a bit of time in Texas, which is pertinent since it is so large and, as Horwitz notes, quite diverse. His ability to speak about what he’s witnessing in the present and to also give pertinent historical information was quite engaging for this reader. His observations about the parallels between modern-day concerns about migration across the southern border of the US and the concerns Mexicans had when whites from the east began migrating into Texas are quite relevant and provide an interesting perspective of that part of Texas and on the current migrant situation.

Both men were quite adept at engaging with people they met during their travels. Olmsted’s previous foray into farming and working on a ship likely gave him conversation starters. Horwitz was willing to participate in local activities including mud-racing which surely enabled people to warm up to him. And he was good at having a beer or two to lubricate discussions. Olmsted’s views of the south evolved over the course of his travels and so did Horwitz’s — because of their close interactions with the people they met.

Horwitz’s journey occurred during the run-up to the 2016 election, a time when persistent differences between “red” and “blue” were beginning to form into major divisions. This interestingly parallels the time of Horwitz’s journey when the division between north and south regarding slavery policies were beginning to boil over. As we progress through a second Trump administration, it seems an especially interesting time to read this book and gain some understanding of the way people think in this part of the country now and 160 years ago. Is it different? Read the book to find out!

The last chapter gives a look at Olmsted’s life post this trip and helps us understand how he came into the profession for which most of us remember him—as a designer of many parks throughout the east. We learn he architected well beyond these parks as well.

This is a great book for discussion as demonstrated by this reader’s book discussion group recently. The discussion reinforced some things this reader learned while reading and introduced additional perspectives and learnings as well.

The photo is Olmsted in 1857

China Dolls–historical fiction from Lisa See

China Dolls

By Lisa See

Published 2014

Read June 2025

This book is classified as historical fiction which is appropriate, in this reader’s view, and the type of historical fiction that this reader likes. There are real elements, including the Chinese American nightclub in San Francisco, The Forbidden City, and the internment camps for Japanese Americans during World War II. We learn about these through a fully fictional story that focuses on the fictional characters, their hopes and dreams of stardom, and their relationships, rather than telling the story of a real historical figure.

Grace is a Chinese American person from Plain City, Ohio. Her family was the only Chinese American family in the small town and surrounding area, so she was not particularly knowledgeable about Chinese culture. She was a star of the dance studio in her small town, and she dreams of becoming a star. Her mother helps her leave town unbeknownst to her abusive father. She arrives in San Francisco hoping to land a role in the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition ( a real thing), but she fails. She finds her way to Chinatown and asks for help from a stranger to find a nightclub she might work for.

Helen is the stranger Grace encountered. She is from a strict and wealthy Chinese American family and lives in the family compound. Despite her family’s disapproval she manages to get hired at The Forbidden City with help from Grace and Ruby.

Ruby is an aspiring dancer who is more streetwise than either Grace or Helen. It turns out that Ruby is an American citizen not of Chinese ancestry but rather Japanese. She hides this as The Forbidden City only hires Chinese and Chinese Americans.

Narration flows across the three characters in separate chapters and tells of their hopes and dreams, successes and failures, and secrets as they progress their careers during the days of Chinese American nightclubs in San Francisco and while they are dancers at the successful Forbidden City nightclub. World War II has substantial impact on the city and on these characters as citizens and visitors alike with Japanese background are herded into internment camps.

While the book gives an informative view of this time of Chinese nightclubs in San Francisco and the barriers and possibilities for success in show business for Chinese Americans, it is also a well written story about friendship and the impact of being in career competition with your friends. It also gives a view of the impact of WWII and the internment camps from the view of these citizens, not all of whom are accepted to be equal citizens of the US. In addition, it gives us the perspective of these citizens as they experience discrimination as Chinese Americans. Helen’s character provides us a view of the challenges of honoring one’s cultural values which trying to be a member of the broader American culture.

This reader appreciated the extensive research done by the author to be able to draw a good picture of this period for this particular slice of the population. This reader was fascinated that the while the Forbidden City touted itself to be an exotic showcase of 100% Chinese performers and was 100% staffed by people of Chinese descent, its audience was about 100% white, including a high fraction of military personnel on shore leave.

This reader will seek other Lisa See novels to continue to explore historical times and places she chooses to show her readers.

Foregone–compelling story from Russell Banks

Foregone

By Russell Banks

Published 2021

Read Aug 2025

This reader took a break from Louise Penny this summer and read a book by an author that has been highly reliable for this reader to provide an interesting read.

Leonard Fife entered Canada from the US in 1968, presumably to avoid the draft. He became a documentary film maker and taught this subject at the graduate school level. His wife, Emma, was one of his students. She left her husband and children to be with him, and she has been with him as a producer for many years. Leonard is now quite ill and in hospice in his home. He has invited another of his students, Malcolm, to make a documentary film about him. The present day story line evolves over a few days of filming.

Malcolm is hoping Leonard will talk about the making of some of his great documentaries, but Leonard has other ideas. He doesn’t answer the questions Malcolm wants him to address. Rather, he focuses on telling his life story from the beginning. It’s not clear whether Leonard is going to make it more than a day. Each time there is a pause, his nurse requests he take a rest. Emma wants him to stop as well both because what he is saying isn’t pretty and because she too knows he needs to rest. She threatens to leave the room, but he insists she stay. He says he is telling the story for her. Leonard wants Emma to know his story. Maybe she doesn’t want to know his whole story, but Leonard doesn’t want to die without her knowing it.

Bank’s prose is unrelenting and we also at times wish Leonard would stop but we know he won’t, and we know Banks won’t let us and we are glad for that too.

The Island of Sea Women-historical fiction from Lisa See

The Island of Sea Women

By Lisa See

Published 2019

Read Sept 2025

Lisa See gives us another fine historical fiction novel. This one is set on Jeju Island, 51 miles south of the Korean peninsula. We learn about life under the Japanese occupation 1910-1945 and the even more turbulent times following WWII when the Korea was divided in two with the north a spoil for the Soviet Union and the south being a spoil for the US. The April 1948-May 1949 uprising in Jeju against the government plays a significant part of the story. This reader enjoyed learning about the history of these times and the perspective of the Jeju residents about the various occupations.

The story rolls out in two arcs.

During the first part of this story, we learn much about the structure of life on Jeju for families of haenyeo families. The women bring in the income for the family by diving for sea animals and make the major decisions. Their husbands stay at home, take care of the home and the children. Boys are important for the family as the first-born son will ensure the parent’s remains are appropriately tended over their lifetime. They are sent to school, paid for by the earnings of the mother and sisters who are divers. Daughters are treasured because they will become divers and bring in revenue for their family before they are married and will provide for their own family after they marry. Basically, the roles and actions of the wife and husband are reversed from other cultures, but inheritance and responsibility for caring for the souls of the deceased parents and grandparents etc falls to the sons. Thus a single son is important and having multiple daughters is celebrated.

The primary story tells the story of Mi-ja, an orphaned daughter of a Japanese collaborator, and Young-sook, the daughter of the local diving collective’s leader. It starts during the Japanese occupation of Korea. Young-sook’s mother takes Mi-ja under her wing when she comes to their village after her parents’ deaths to live with her aunt and uncle. She and Young-sook become very close friends as they both train to become haenyeo, women divers who harvest sea animals for sale.

On Young-Sook’s first dive, her companion does not follow instructions and becomes engulfed by an octopus. While she survives, her brain is damaged, and she requires supervision and care for the rest of her life. Later, Young-Sook’s mother dies in a diving accident while helping her daughter. Do-Soeng, mother of the damaged girl, takes over Young-Sook’s mother’s job as leader of the diving collective.

Young-Sook and Mi-Ju travel north to other diving sites for a season. On their return to their village, they meet a handsome young man who Young-Sook fancies greatly although they don’t speak. Young-Sook’s grandmother arranges marriages for each of the girls. Young-Sook to Jun-bu, the son of Do-Soeng, and Mi-Ju to that handsome young man who turns out to be the wealthy son of a Japanese collaborative and who also works for the Japanese. These events strain the relationship of the two women. Mi-Ja moves to Jeju city with her husband. Young-Sook’s marriage is a happy one while Mi-Ja’s is not. Mi-Ja returns to her village for a short time to interact with her gods and hopefully increase her chances of becoming pregnant. Both women become pregnant with their first children just before another trip of diving away from the village. They dream that Young-Sook’s daughter and Mi-Ja’s son will marry someday.

Events become more difficult for everyone after the US gains control of the government. The people are surprised that there is even less freedom than when under the Japanese and any talk of being independent from the US is taken labels that person a communist. We learn there are anti-communist purges following the 4.3 Incident, a strike that leads to a brutal encounter with the government. Young-Sook’s husband, her first-son, and sister-in-law are executed at the Bukchon massacre in the village of Buckhon-ri, along with 300-400 others (this is a real event). Mi-Ja and her son were present at the event as well but protected from harm due to her husband’s status in the government (Japanese collaborators were hired by the US back government). Young-Sook asked Mi-Ja to help save her family but she did not do this. This results in a rift between the women that continues through the rest of the story. Young-Sook turns away from her youngest daughter, born after the massacre, when she marries Mi-Ja’s son.

The second story arc occurs over a few days in 2008. Young-Sook’s granddaughter and great-granddaughter arrive in Young-Sooks’ village from the US where Young-Sook’s daughter and son-in-law moved after their marriage. This second arc tells the attempts the great-granddaughter makes to connect with Young-Sook. The ending of this story will be left for you to discover.

Lisa See creates a fully engaging story of two girls who become friends, wives, and mothers. She uses their story to help us understand both the society and culture of the island and the truly brutal situation Jeju residents suffered at the hands of the US-backed government after WWI. She led this reader to learn more about the history of the island and the haenyeo sea divers. See does an excellent job of helping us learn about various cultures and their histories through well drawn characters and their stories. This reader will read more from this author, and she fully recommends this book to others.

How to Read a Book–great characters and story from Monica Wood

How to Read a Book

By Monica Wood

Published 2024

Read Aug 2025

This was the first Monica Wood book for this reader. It was recommended to this reader by a fellow reader with reliable recommendations (including the Dr Siri series). She indicated that she found it engaging and read it quite quickly as a result. That was a good enough recommendation for this reader so the search for a copy ensued. Libby and Cloud Library that this reader could access had the book, but with long wait times. This reader tried Hoopla which usually was a reliable source for “older” books and this reader was very pleasantly surprised to find an eBook copy available for immediate loan.

Two days later this reader had finished the book and thoroughly agreed that it was very engaging and a really enjoyable read. Monica Wood provided a story of complex characters simply but powerfully.

Violet is twenty-two years old and in prison for manslaughter. She was driving the car that hit another car and killed its driver. She was eighteen and in the process of leaving town with her boyfriend. He made her the driver because he realized he was under the influence of too many drugs and alcohol to be trusted. She wasn’t sober either. Violet suddenly finds herself released from prison a bit early. Her sister picks her up from prison and deposits her at an apartment in Portland she has secured for her. Violet is very unsettled with this as she expected to return to her small town, not Portland, and especially because her sister has told her that neither she nor any other family member wants anything to do with her.

Violet had been a member of a prison book club led by Harriet, a widowed English teacher, who is finally finding some meaning in post-retirement life through this activity that she provides for a collection of imprisoned women. We enjoy learning about her book selections for the prisoners and their reactions to them. An outcome of this is that this reader now has interest in reading “Spoon River Anthology”, a book this reader managed to never previously encounter.

The third main character is Frank, the husband of the woman Violet killed. He is also retired and also has found retirement difficult until he creates a job for himself at a local independent bookstore who needs a handy-man to address maintenance issues that the young book-loving owners can’t manage themselves. Frank is interested in speaking with Harriet who frequents the bookstore to find and order books for her prison book club, but he is shy, and his initial attempt is ineffective. When Violet turns up at the bookstore while Frank and Harriet are there, Frank has a bit of a meltdown when he sees Violet, whom he hasn’t seen since the trial. Harriet scurries Violet away. Thus, the three become connected and the story takes off.

The action of this book occurs over a few months. The book tells the story by alternating between the three characters which engaged this reader quickly and completely. We root for Violet as she gets a job that she loves, but we become concerned about her boss’s actions towards her. We hope that Frank and Harriet can find a way towards each other. Monica Wood tells these stories in a compelling but not overly sweet way. She also gives us the back story of each of these characters which confirms that they are coping with human disappointments as they figure out how to live day by day.

This reader truly appreciated the author’s insights regarding retirees and their transition into the “retired” state when their work life has ended. This reader also found it interesting that the author’s third character was a young woman who is trying to re-start her life after it was disrupted in such a truly life-changing way just as she was hoping her life was starting.

At first, the ending felt a little abrupt to this reader but then it felt quite perfect. How else would this reader want the book to go?

This book compelled me to read more about Monica Wood and more by her. You’ll find posts for several of these books at this site; search the “books by author” page for Monica Wood to locate them. This reader certainly hopes Monica Wood will keep writing!