Happy Mother's Day!

All The Light We Cannot See -- Take 2

I have wanted to read All the Light We Cannot See for a long time.  It's a bit lengthy, which I think is part of the reason I never got to it.  So when it was available as an audio book and I needed a a good road trip listen recently, it was the perfect pick.  And I sure am glad I finally got to it!

It's a World War II story.  The main character is a blind girl, not yet a teenager at the start of the story, and 16 at the end.  She and her father, a locksmith employed by a major museum, fled Paris for her great uncle's home at the seaside.  What young Marie-Laure didn't know when they left is that her father was carrying one of four of the Sea of Flames, a huge and supposedly cursed diamond owned by the museum, which commissioned three replicas as the Germans closed in on Paris.  But someone knows the Sea of Flames exists, and is intent on finding it.  Marie-Laure has to navigate not only her challenges as a blind person in a new place and the normal ravages of war, but also the knowledge that her family may be in possession of the hunted gem.

It was a very quick listen (perhaps because I listened to it at 1.3x speed?), and I wonder if it was as quick of a read as well.  It did not feel like it would have equated to a 500-plus page book, that's for sure.  There were some ancillary characters whom I think the story could have been told without, but they added a certain amount of heart and balance to the tale which, in my opinion, is what made it really sing. 

What I'm Reading Now -- The Paris Apartment

Somehow, I find myself reading another Lucy Foley book.  This time, it's The Paris Apartment. 

A couple of months ago I read the forgettable The Midnight Feast, which is (shockingly, to me) Foley's seventh novel; Paris Apartment is her sixth).

To be fair, I actually do know how this happened.  I came upon it the same way I came upon All the Light We Cannot See: I was leaving for a road trip and did a quick search on my library app for audio books in the "available now" category.  I finished All the Light (and the road trip), but since I've already downloaded this one, I might as well listen to it, right?

What I'm Reading Now -- All the Light We Cannot See

It's incredibly overdue, but I'm finally getting around to All the Light We Cannot See.  This was a huge award winner a few years ago, but I just never made the time to read it, despite it being right up my historical alley.

However, the audio is a perfect option for a solo road trip!

What I'm Reading Now -- How to Win a Grand Prix

Before I was able to put my hands on Last Child in the Woods (which I have on paper and it took me a little while to find), I had just barely started reading How to Win a Grand Prix: From Pit Lane to Podium - the Inside Track.  It's by a woman who does by far the most interesting and reasonable commentary on the F1 international feed, Bernie Collins.  It doesn't hurt her case that she's Irish and therefore by definition so fun to listen to.

It's also another of my 2026 Reading Challenge books, so I'm just rolling right along (so to speak).

What I'm Reading Now -- Last Child In the Woods

I first saw Last Child In the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder many moons ago when I was working at a bookstore. I was intrigued then by the idea of the book then, and remain so to this day.  Despite having never actually read it, I have recommended it to several people who were complaining about their kids' obsession with games, phones, and other technology.  I tell them I haven't read it yet, "but it's on my list," and I also tell them how much I appreciate the time I spent outdoors as a child, now that I'm an adult who works at a computer all day.

Now I will finally read it, and tick off another book in my 2026 Reading Challenge along the way.
 

The River is Waiting -- Take 2

I finished The River is Waiting in record time, for me.  I'm a slow reader, but I blew through this one despite it coming in at over 450 pages.  It helped that I had a couple of flights and generally had to kill other time just sitting and reading, but I also wanted to read it rather than, say, play on my phone.  And these days, that's not nothing. 

So finish it I did! And -- I don't want to get ahead of myself here but I am excited -- I am now halfway through my 2026 Reading Challenge despite being only one-third of the way through the year!

As for the story itself, it's the tale of Corby Ledbetter, a stay-at-home father, out-of-work artist, and secret addict who, in a terrible accident, causes a tragedy that lands him in prison. In my professional life, I've worked with a lot of felons who have co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders.  In that respect, this story felt extremely familiar.  Few of them have been through the family trauma that Corby caused, but the themes are there.  The plot moved it along nicely, that's how I got through it so quickly.  I thought the resolution of Corby's storyline was a little bit of a cop out, a bit too cutesy-with-a-bow-on-it, but the final wrap-it-all-up moment was moving, nevertheless.

What I'm Reading Now -- The River is Waiting

I had picked out two books for a recent very long day of travel for S and me.  One was I, Me, Mine, which I finished en route, and the other is The River is Waiting.  

Though I have a few Wally Lamb books in my collection, I've never actually read one. This particular title is the August selection for my 2026 Reading Challenge: something received as a gift.  That may be a bit of a stretch; it wasn't a gift in the sense that it was a birthday or Christmas present, but it was given freely to me by someone who had finished it, so I'm counting it for the category.

I, Me, Mine -- Take 2

I didn't like I, Me, Mine as much as I wanted to.  On a surface level, George has long been my favorite Beatle, so I expected to really love this.  (I say "on a surface level" because I've never been obsessed with the Beatles, just a casual fan.)

Unfortunately, this read a bit like a mish-mash of partial journal entries.  Though it was easier to follow than Jack Kerouac's Book of Dreams, it had a similar episodic but somewhat random (albeit mostly chronological) format for the first 75 pages.  It jumped from moment to moment often with little by way of connection between them.  Much of it was George's own thoughts, with introductory and interspersed material written by Derek Taylor, the Beatles' longtime spokesperson.  There were some interesting bits buried in there, but finding them felt rather difficult. 

After that, you get about 30 pages of photographs, followed by a couple of hundred pages of song lyrics.  Each set of lyrics contains an introduction from George, his hand-written draft or drafts, and the typed lyrics.  This is the real meat-and-potatoes of the book for a true fan; it was quick going for me because I didn't stop for every one, but poked through them and lingered one the songs that I knew or whose introductions made me curious, while blowing right past others that weren't my jam, so to speak. 

Overall, I'd say it was a middling experience, but it was also a quick one so I can't be too upset about it. 

And, it's another book ticked off the list for my 2026 Reading Challenge, which continues to go swimmingly!

Monsoon Seas -- Take 2

It took me a while to get through Monsoon Seas, but that should not be taken as an indication of general dislike, just distraction.

The book was published in the mid-20th century, and it's an interesting concept: the history of an ocean.  Though histories of places aren't uncommon, they tend to be places that are much more concrete (literally) than a body of water.  A history of Rome or New York is probably written every few years as the cites develop.  But a history of an ocean seems a far more fluid (pun intended) story.

We began with the earliest days of the ocean's formation and move through its various explorers, with the primary focus being on sailing ships and how their change and development over time allowed the Indian Ocean to be traversed in different ways and directions in different seasons.  Entertaining sections are also given over to pirates, shipwrecks, and military vessels and actions.  There was one slow section in the middle that wasn't really my jam; I'm not particularly interested in Arab, East Asian, Persian or north African history, so the early explorers makng their way from there to there in their junks and dhows and proas didn't particularly interest me. 

Once we got into the European exploration, I picked up speed again.  The Portuguese were the real dreamers, certain that there was a way to the Far East around the southern tip of Africa.  They were the first Europeans to "discover" so many places, but they lacked the wherewithal to hold their conquests for long against the more powerful Dutch.  Very belatedly joining the party were the British, and finally the Americans, just before steamships took over.  The famous sea captains are obviously mentioned, but some lesser known and fascinating ones, such as 

Affonso d'Albuquerque, are as well.

Viliers was born and grew up in Australia but settled in England at the end of WWII.  He appears to share my same prejudice in favor of European history, in his case to an extreme.  Though he is clearly appreciative of some of the styles of boats I cared less about, he had this to say about them - and their operators - in the end:

"Through Bartolomeo Dias and Pero de Covilhao, Europe had acquired a new dimension. The economic and social structure of the Middle Ages were alike at an end, and the Modern Age was about to begin. ... The Moorish flank was turned. It had taken a long time, but at last the way was open for European ships to sail to the Indian Ocean. They had had to be better vessels than the monsoonal dhows and junks, to sail so far, and they had to be commanded and manned by able and resolute men. It was inevitable that control of the new ocean would pass into their hands. The Asiatic powers had not had the vision, the knowledge, or the organizing ability to keep the Europeans at bay. Now it was too late."

Well, okay then.

Getting into the more recent centuries, he thinks wonders of the graceful East Indiamen and the purpose-built-for-speed American clipper ships.  There's also a charming appreciation for the WWII landing craft which, as their name indicates, were built to land on beaches, not cross oceans.  But they, as with so many people and things during wartime, did what they had to do, even if it was never what they had planned.  (The inclusion of this little tidbit makes a lot of sense when one learns that Villiers himself, then a lieutenant, was responsible for the mostly-safe passage of a convoy of landing craft across the Atlantic ocean.)

Despite his sometimes heavy hand, I found it to be an overall enjoyable and definitely educational read.  Recommended for anyone with an interest in oceans, exploration, and/or sailing ships.