more than letters on a line today

Vanderbilt Anderson Cooper, Katherine Howe 4 stars     You don't need to know anything about the Vanderbilts, or you could be a fan of Anderson Cooper, or merely someone who enjoys history. This book will do it all, it is filled with details of the Vanderbilts, starting with the Commodore, the wealth he created and the subsequent generations' success and losses. You will see these people living in their incredible wealth while those around earned a pittance, throwing lavish balls, travelling to the 'continent', ignoring their children and wasting... a lot. There is extravagance (the Vanderbilt Ball supposedly was in the quarter of a million range, while a maid earned $350 a year), gossip, tragedy and pain. Through the eyes of Anderson Cooper (yes, I am a fan) and written with Katherine Howe, you will be taken through the strong emotions of what too much money can do to a family, the propensity to alcohol, and distance they created between their off-spring. This is a boo...

project 333 Courtney Carver 3.75 stars       Okay, so this book appears to be about your wardrobe ( 33 items in your closet for 3 months) but…the ideas are applicable to those who might have too many of anything.  We can be equally caught up with the high of any type of purchase. We might have too many kitchen gadgets, a surplus of tools you might never use, or have towering piles of exercise clothing from the races you took part in (or didn’t), it can even be the allure of art supplies (that could be me!). We all have things we will get to, use, or keep for nostalgia. Project 333 makes you stop and think of why you might feel you need this. It’s an oversimplification to say it’s a need vs want. Is it just one specific feeling that makes us reach out for more?  More things of any sort?  More of what we already have?  And sometimes more debt?  Does having more things make us feel more desirable, happy, worthy? Carver addresses the fragility of our ...

The Lincoln Highway AmorTowles   4.8 stars     These characters take you on a 1950s road-trip like no other. Emmett and Young Billy, Duchess and Woolly bring you on a journey of imagination and myth, of learning and love, of side-trips and many, many disasters. The folks they meet along the way all have a story to tell (teach), from the fantastical to the heart lessons that we all experience, though we are not always aware of until it is too late.  From the brilliant to the dim-witted, the slow roads to the circus-speed excitement, each character is on their own path but all relying on each other. The secondary characters, the sweet Sally, the brave Ulysses, Professor Abacus Abernathe are so wonderfully displayed and lend weight to the the 'extras' we encounter in our life. I truly wish that I hadn't misplaced my notes on this book, my words here do not do it justice.  The Lincoln Highway is a book that should be read slowly, and appreciated for the pace of a ro...

Things That Matter Joshua Becker 4.75 stars pub date April 19, 2022   #JoshuaBecker's book is so much more than removing physical and mental clutter (his established expertise), it is about looking within for those unsatisfied places we hide to the public but more importantly to ourselves. It is not only about living with less (less house, less distraction, less fear) but about finding more - of ourselves.  He suggests 'making choices to take you off the path of the ordinary and onto the path of intentionality'. He call you to be brave, to confront your fears of feeling anxious in the unknown, and to not let past mistakes hold you back to try again.  In his encouraging voice he feeds you ideas to take your life forward that will prove to give a meaningful life. To lessen the worry of regrets, he gives many examples of ordinary folk who do good in the world. So why not you? It is not preachy but the sit-across-the-table-with-a-coffee conversation with a friend. Becker remi...

  Lessons in Chemistry Bonnie Garmus   5 stars       Women who want to learn? Women in the sciences? Women who want to be seen as more than a Mrs.? Zott is breaking the ceiling in the most un-conventional ways, along with her daughter, Madeline (Mad), her dog, her love, Calvin and a few people who do not let her down. At a time in history when an unmarried, intelligent and beautiful woman is deemed inconsequential, Elizabeth Zott is a force. She accomplishes being seen in controversial ways, and stays true to herself by tackling rowing (a man's sport) and teaching science through recipes. A lovely, charming, easy to read story about Elizabeth Zott as she endures the current thinking in the 60s. #BonnieGarmus offers a mixture of humour with thought-provoking dialogue and insight that will make you re-read sentences to enjoy and appreciate them a second time. "When one is raised on a steady diet of sorrow, it's hard to imagine that others might have had ...

Honor Thrity Umrigar  5 Stars       A deeply emotional story centered on the cultural mores, inequalities, class system, religions, family expectation and desperate means necessary to survive in Mumbai. Through the eyes of Meena and Smita, two very different but remarkable women you see the horrific poverty, acts of violence, and hatred between Hindus and Muslims.  When Smita is sent as a journalist to relay the violent crime suffered by Meena at the hands of her brothers, she is unprepared for how she will be transformed. As this complex book unfolds, you learn the background of Smita and why she has distanced herself, physically and emotionally from the country of her birth. But in the end, who really saved whom?  “It seemed to Smita that the history of the world was written in female blood.” I know this is the story of two women, but Abdul, Meena’s husband and Mohan, the new friend of Smita gave wonderful balance to this difficult, sad story. Both men sh...

  The best of partnerships! This is good news always, a place to have a coffee AND to browse through books. Indigo plus Good Earth Coffee equals smiles from Calgarians. Coffee Books Coffee Books Coffee Books Celebrate Filling up the coffee void, a new partnership with Indigo Books and Good Earth Coffee .  You can thank me for telling you later,  

3.75 stars Apples Never Fall Liane Moriarty       I always thought it would be nice to have siblings, but then I met Brooke, Logan, Amy and Troy. I always thought I'd want to have parents that were involved in my life, and then I met Stan and Joy. The disappearance of Joy made me wonder why it took so long. Interesting characters but so predictable, they lean and depend on each other to just BE. A tennis family, if you don't like tennis, you might give this one a pass. There's some great humour, Moriarty can do that well but the book was looong, way too loong. And should we expect to see it one day on Netflix? Probably, darn it. One of the best descriptions in this book was of the family dog! How she ate human food, how she didn't seem to know that she was a dog. The one time they'd taken her to the local dog park..Steffi had been appalled and sat at their feet with an expression of frozen hauteur on her face, as if she were a society lady at McDonald's. N...