A To-Doing Weekly Link Round-Up

 

I don't know what Daisy and Suzanne brought with them, but ever since they left, I've been writing tons of To Do lists and feeling quite smug as I mark each item as completed.

 

Things are heating up here in the desert. I'm writing this on Wednesday, and tomorrow Denis and I are going to the Desert Botanical Garden in hopes of seeing all the cactus flowers that weren't blooming when we visited with Daisy and Suzanne. I'm sure there will be photos, but they will have to wait until I've shared other photos from our nieces' visit.

Enjoy the links!

 

 ►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Clothes in books and ways to go wrong.
• London Book Fair 2024: How will AI change life for literary translators?
• Why writers should talk about book design early on.
• Bookish death cleaning: On what we keep, and what it means.
• The American Booksellers Association and others demand that the Small Business Administration "dump Amazon."
• The origins of W.H. Auden's "Stop All the Clocks" from Four Weddings and a Funeral.
• Live events help this indie book publisher write a new chapter for authors.
• Maggie Q to star as Renée Ballard in Bosch spinoff series for Prime Video.

 

►Book Banning & Censorship◄

• Governor Cox inks bill containing a trigger to pull books from all Utah school libraries in certain cases.
• The Prattville (Alabama) Library Board breaks open meetings law to name an interim director.
• Florida has chosen Moms for Liberty members for a group to advise librarians on book removals. As my niece would say, "Oh, my giddy aunt!"
• West Shore (Pennsylvania) School District parents and community members rally against an anti-LGBTQ law firm.
• Huntington Beach (California) moves ahead on privatizing library management.
• Student Walkout in Placenta Yorba Linda (California) Unified School District to reject the school board majority's "Parental Rights" Movement.
• The Idaho Senate committee delays vote on the latest library bill.
• How the BookmarkED/OnShelf app, created to help schools navigate book bans, fuels them instead.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• An 1,100-year-old Viking sword was pulled from a UK river by a magnet fisher. More from Smithsonian Magazine.
  
• Goodwill listed this rare gold Lego piece for $14.95. It sold for $18,101.
• Archaeologists have found the top half of a giant Ramses II statue, completing a century-long puzzle. More from Smithsonian Magazine.
  
• Archaeologists say this mass grave of plague victims may be the largest ever found in Europe.
• Why a 1-cent postage stamp could sell for $5 million.
• Archaeologists stumbled upon an ancient tomb with gold inside-- and a deadly secret.
• The ruins of an 800-year-old settlement have been unearthed in France.
• Highway work has revealed "luxurious" Roman artifacts.

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• Baby sea stars are voracious predators that might just save an ecosystem.
• Elephant burial rituals have been discovered in India. More from Smithsonian Magazine.
  
• A very rare yellow-billed loon visited the Las Vegas Strip and hung out in the Bellagio Fountains.
• A rare gray whale, believed to be extinct in the Atlantic for two hundred years, has been spotted off the coast of New England.
• Six animals the Smithsonian has helped save from extinction.
• Hundreds of thousands of salmon die after being released in northern California's Klamath River.
• A giant ball of Burmese pythons having sex was discovered in the Florida Everglades in a record-breaking catch.
• A rare prickly shark was spotted for the first time in Panama's eastern Pacific.

 

►The Wanderer◄

• The United States just expanded the size of two Californias.
• The Little Prince Cinema in Stratford, Ontario, Canada, is the smallest in the world.
• Oregon is now home to the world's largest dark sky sanctuary.
• On saving Karachi's oldest bookstore.
• Pieces of the past at the Doctors House in Glendale, California.
• These are the most polluted national parks.
• Which states in America have the oldest and youngest people?
• A hidden house between two churches in Portugal.

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• "Chicago May", the most dangerous woman in the world.
• Eileen Gray: an architect in her own right.
• Honoring the overlooked contributions of women anthropologists in the National Anthropological Archives.
• Our founding mothers: on the women who changed the modern world.
• Val McDermid: "I can't do romantic trips-- I'm too focused on murder."
• Françoise Gilot's artistic career persisted long after she left Picasso.
• How medieval women expressed their "forbidden" emotions.

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Ten gripping non-fiction books about history's greatest mysteries.
• Ten of the biggest blizzards in history.
• Ten places that no longer exist.
• The surprising origins of fifteen pasta shapes.
• Six recent and upcoming haunted house novels.
• Eight great novels of time travel.
• Nine true crime-inspired mysteries and thrillers.
• Five of the best books about the Victorians.

That's all for this week! Don't forget to stop by next Friday when I'll be sharing a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure.

No matter how busy you may be, don't forget that quality Me Time curled up with a good book!

At the Desert Botanical Garden with Daisy and Suzanne

One of the places we visited while our nieces were here from England was-- of course-- the Desert Botanical Garden. I can't remember if Suzanne had visited before, but I knew Daisy had. We visited the Butterfly Pavilion, and there were plenty of wildflowers in bloom, but all the various types of cactus had yet to really pop. Denis and I are going back tomorrow, so I hope to have several photos of those to share in the future.

Meanwhile, let's see what Daisy, Suzanne, Denis and I got to see!

 

Outside Gertrude's Restaurant at the Desert Botanical Garden. Although they are pretty when they bloom, it always makes me sad-- once agaves bloom, they die.

Agave flowers.

Desert wildflowers.

Desert bluebells.

Daisy and Suzanne at the entrance to the Desert Wildflower Loop.

One lone verbena in a daisy patch.

We're now in the Butterfly Pavilion. Cabbage White butterflies.

Zebra Heliconian.

Malachite butterfly courting disaster. (Human feet everywhere!)

White Peacock. Why they call this "white" I do not know.

Two White Peacocks taking a seat.

One of the many paths in the garden.

It was cactus wren day in the garden. This one was grumpy.

Owl clover always makes me think of the psychedelic good ole days. It's one of my favorite wildflowers.

Daisy and Suzanne at the Webster Auditorium. The huge cactus behind them is the cardon. Planted in 1938, it's the oldest plant in the garden.

Shining brightly in the shade.

Shining brightly in the sun.

The Desert Night-blooming Cereus. Also known as the Queen of the Night. It looks a bit bedraggled because it does bloom at night, and by noon, the bloom has almost died.

Three squirrels in one shot. Top: gopher squirrel. Middle: rock squirrel. Bottom: ground squirrel.

Entrance to the Desert Botanical Garden, complete with Chihuly glass sculptures.

Fairy duster.

L to R: Daisy, Denis, and Suzanne, three of the best explorers to have on any kind of expedition.

I hope you enjoyed wandering through the garden with us. Soon, I'll be sharing our visit to the Musical Instrument Museum.

March 2024 Additions to My Digital Security Blanket

 

The two weeks that our nieces were here from the UK were busy, busy, busy-- and filled with laughter and lots of fun. But more of that later. I'm trying to get myself back in the swing of blogging, and I thought I'd start with what I couldn't resist adding to my Kindle last month. 

I've grouped these additions by genre/subgenre, and if you click on the link in a book's title, you'll be taken to Amazon US where you can learn more about it.

Let's see if I added any books that you're already familiar with... or ones that tempted you to add them to your own reading stacks.

=== Police Procedural ===

A Litter of Bones by J.D. Kirk. Set in Scotland.

 

Synopsis: "Ten years ago, DCI Jack Logan stopped the serial child-killer dubbed 'Mister Whisper,' earning himself a commendation, a drinking problem, and a broken marriage in the process.

Now, he spends his days working in Glasgow's Major Investigations Team, and his nights reliving the horrors of what he saw.

And what he did.

When another child disappears a hundred miles north in the Highlands, Jack is sent to lead the investigation and bring the boy home. But as similarities between the two cases grow, could it be that Jack caught the wrong man all those years ago?

And, if so, is the real Mister Whisper about to claim his fourth victim?" 

▲ A few weeks back, I posted a link to a list of mysteries set in the Inverness area of Scotland, an area I'm familiar with and a bit homesick for. The first book I tried from the list was a winner, so I've moved on to this title, hoping for the same results.

The Coffin in the Wall by M.J. Lee. Set in England.

 

Synopsis: "In the historic city of Chester, a chilling presence lurks amidst the picturesque surroundings. Teenage drug dealers are turning up dead, the bodies twisted and mangled by a ruthless killer. Detective Inspector Emma Christie finds herself thrust into a harrowing investigation, tasked with unraveling the tangled web of violence and deception gripping the city's underbelly.

As the body count climbs, Emma Christie navigates a treacherous landscape where loyalties are tested and secrets lurk in every shadow.

With each new victim, the pressure mounts, and she races against time to stop the killer before more lives are lost. As the stakes escalate and the danger looms ever closer, she realises that in a beautiful city, trust may be the most elusive commodity of all."

 

▲ I am a big fan of Lee's Jayne Sinclair genealogical mystery series, so when I learned that he had a new series featuring Detective Inspector Emma Christie and that the series was set in Chester (not the usual territory for English police procedurals), I couldn't resist. I've already read it, so there will be a review in the future.

=== Private Investigator ===

A Galway Epiphany by Ken Bruen. Set in Ireland.

 

Synopsis: "Ex-cop-turned-PI Jack Taylor has finally escaped the despair of his violent life in Galway in favor of a quiet retirement in the country with his friend, a former Rolling Stones roadie, and a falcon named Maeve. But on a day trip back into the city to sort out his affairs, Jack is hit by a truck in front of Galway’s Famine Memorial, left in a coma but mysteriously without a scratch on him.

When he awakens weeks later, he finds Ireland in a frenzy over the so-called “Miracle of Galway.” People have become convinced that the two children spotted tending to him are saintly, and the site of the accident sacred. The Catholic Church isn’t so sure, and Jack is commissioned to help find the children to verify the miracle—or expose the stunt.

But Jack isn’t the only one looking for these children, and he’s about to plunge into a case involving an order of nuns, an arsonist, and a girl who may be more manipulative than miraculous. From the multiple Shamus Award winner known as “the Godfather of the modern Irish crime novel” (Irish Independent), this is a hard-edged, ceaselessly suspenseful mystery in the popular long-running series." 

▲ It's been a long time since I've visited Jack Taylor, and I thought it was time that I stopped by for a visit. This series of Bruen's can be so visceral, so emotionally draining, that I could never read one after the other. Jack's life can be likened to one long train wreck after another, but I can't stop hoping that everything will turn out right in the end. He deserves it.

=== Thriller ===

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn.

 

Synopsis: "Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for forty years. Now their talents are considered old-school and no one appreciates what they have to offer in an age that relies more on technology than people skills.

When the foursome is sent on an all-expenses paid vacation to mark their retirement, they are targeted by one of their own. Only the Board, the top-level members of the Museum, can order the termination of field agents, and the women realize they’ve been marked for death.

Now to get out alive they have to turn against their own organization, relying on experience and each other to get the job done, knowing that working together is the secret to their survival. They’re about to teach the Board what it really means to be a woman—and a killer—of a certain age." 

▲ The synopsis of this book has always intrigued me, and I've heard a lot about it before and after its release, but it was Sam's review on Book Chase that convinced me to get my hands on a copy so I can read it.

What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall.

 

Synopsis: "Naomi Shaw used to believe in magic. Twenty-two years ago, she and her two best friends, Cassidy and Olivia, spent the summer roaming the woods, imagining a world of ceremony and wonder. They called it the Goddess Game. The summer ended suddenly when Naomi was attacked. Miraculously, she survived her seventeen stab wounds and lived to identify the man who had hurt her. The girls’ testimony put away a serial killer, wanted for murdering six women. They were heroes.

And they were liars.

For decades, the friends have kept a secret worth killing for. But now Olivia wants to tell, and Naomi sets out to find out what really happened in the woods—no matter how dangerous the truth turns out to be." 

▲ To be honest, I hadn't paid that much attention to this book until I happened to see Marshall's author event on The Poisoned Pen Bookstore's Youtube channel. Yes, these events can drum up book sales!

=== Historical Mystery ===

The Bookseller of Inverness by S.G. MacLean. Set in Scotland.

 

Synopsis: "After Culloden, Iain MacGillivray was left for dead on Drummossie Moor. Wounded, his face brutally slashed, he survived only by pretending to be dead as the Redcoats patrolled the corpses of his Jacobite comrades.

Six years later, with the clan chiefs routed and the Highlands subsumed into the British state, Iain lives a quiet life, working as a bookseller in Inverness. One day, after helping several of his regular customers, he notices a stranger lurking in the upper gallery of his shop, poring over his collection. But the man refuses to say what he's searching for and only leaves when Iain closes for the night.

The next morning Iain opens up shop and finds the stranger dead, his throat cut, and the murder weapon laid out in front of him - a sword with a white cockade on its hilt, the emblem of the Jacobites. With no sign of the killer, Iain wonders whether the stranger discovered what he was looking for - and whether he paid for it with his life. He soon finds himself embroiled in a web of deceit and a series of old scores to be settled in the ashes of war." 

▲ I've been resisting temptation when it comes to this book even before its release; however, when it showed up on that list that I mentioned earlier (and the price was right), I couldn't resist.

=== Historical Fiction ===

Three Summers by Margarita Liberaki. Set in Greece.

 

Synopsis: "Three Summers is the story of three sisters growing up in the countryside near Athens before the Second World War. Living in a big old house surrounded by a beautiful garden are Maria, the oldest sister, as sexually bold as she is eager to settle down and have a family of her own; beautiful but distant Infanta; and dreamy and rebellious Katerina, through whose eyes the story is mostly observed.
 
Over three summers, the girls share and keep secrets, fall in and out of love, try to figure out their parents and other members of the tribe of adults, take note of the weird ways of friends and neighbors, worry about and wonder who they are. Now back in print after twenty years, Karen Van Dyck’s translation captures all the light and warmth of this modern Greek classic." 

▲ For thirty-five years, a Greek woman called Kiki cut my hair. Knowing her made me more curious about her country. Even a film like Mamma Mia! made me more interested in Greece-- it's so beautiful! This book sounds a bit like a soap opera, but I'll give it a try.

=== Non-Fiction ===

Arthur: The Dog Who Crossed the Jungle to Find a Home by Mikael Lindnord. Set in South America.

 

Synopsis: "When you're racing 435 miles through the jungles and mountains of South America, the last thing you need is a stray dog tagging along. But that's exactly what happened to Mikael Lindnord, captain of a Swedish adventure racing team, when he threw a scruffy but dignified mongrel a meatball one afternoon.

When the team left the next day, the dog followed. Try as they might, they couldn't lose him—and soon Mikael realized that he didn't want to. Crossing rivers, battling illness and injury, and struggling through some of the toughest terrain on the planet, the team and the dog walked, kayaked, cycled, and climbed together toward the finish line, where Mikael decided he would save the dog, now named Arthur, and bring him back to his family in Sweden, whatever it took. Illustrated with candid photographs, Arthur provides a testament to the amazing bond between dogs and people." 

▲ What can I say? South America is one of those continents that I find difficult when it comes to choosing books to read, and I'm in the mood for a tale of the dog.

Well-- how did I do? Have you read any of these already? (I know you have, Sam!) Or... did I tempt you to add to your own TBR piles? Which ones were the temptations? Inquiring minds would love to know!

An Inconvenient Wife by Karen E. Olson

 

First Line: They came in the early morning.

 

Kate Parker thinks she knows what she's getting into when she becomes the sixth wife of billionaire Hank Tudor-- after all, she was by his side (as his assistant) when his fifth marriage to actress Caitlyn Howard fell apart. 

 

But their honeymoon hasn't even begun when a headless body is found near Hank's summer home. This forces Kate to contend with Wife #1, Catherine Alvarez, who lives as a shut-in with her computers carefully following all business aspects of Tudor Enterprises; and Wife #4, Anna Klein, who runs a bed-and-breakfast where she and her wife keep an eye on things-- in particular Hank's children, Lizzie and Teddy.

 

A deadly game of cat and mouse ensues, not only between Kate, Catherine, and Anna but with Hank and Hank's fixer, Tom Cromwell. Who is the headless woman who was found on Hank's property, and does her death have any connection to that other headless body from eight years ago?

~

When I was in my twenties, I devoured all sorts of fiction and nonfiction about Tudor England-- including the book mentioned by the author in her Afterward. I could not resist An Inconvenient Wife, Olson's modern retelling of Henry VIII and his six wives. (Are you familiar with "Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived" as a way to keep those six women's fates straight?)

Don't worry. If you're unfamiliar with Henry and his wives, you'll still enjoy this book. The machinations of several characters are well worth the price of admission all by themselves. However, if you are familiar with that particular period of history, that knowledge will add some zest-- and some smiles-- to Olson's story. Not only that but there will be surprises, too, because this modern retelling is not a slavish imitation of the past. 

An Inconvenient Wife is one of those books in which you can't say much about the story or its characters without giving something inadvertently away, so I am going to resist temptation and merely say that I enjoyed this book and the surprises I found along the way. Give it a try.

An Inconvenient Wife by Karen E. Olson

ISBN: 9781639365654

Pegasus Crime © 2024

Paperback, 320 pages

 

Standalone Thriller

Rating: A

Source: The Publisher

The Day of Arrival Weekly Link Round-Up

 

I'm writing this intro on the morning of the day our nieces are to arrive from the UK. I have a feeling I'm going to be worn out before they get here. There are always last minute adjustments that have to be made. Denis's back has been bothering him, so it's not been easy for him to move his gear back into our bedroom so Daisy and Suzanne can have the guest suite. But it's done! 

Today is the day the cleaning woman was scheduled to come. We have a new one who likes to show up whenever she feels like it. I had to tell her that that isn't going to work. I have to trundle over to the doctor's office for my follow-up appointment, and since the cleaning woman showed up early, I didn't get the battery on my scooter fully charged. Hopefully, I don't run out of juice in the middle of the intersection. The home health nurse will be coming this evening to rewrap my leg. And then our nieces will arrive. 

Whew!

I only have one post that must be done while they're here, and that may be all that you hear from me until mid-April. Have fun while I'm gone, and read plenty of good books. Now it's time for me to head to the doctor's office.

Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Kristen Arnett answers questions about bad literary behavior.
• Counterfeit books are a growing problem, but a solution may be near.
• Why do we scream "Geronimo!" when jumping out of airplanes?
• The secret life of the celebrity ghost writer.
• Libraries struggle to afford the demand for eBooks and seek new state laws in their fight with publishers.
• A lost Gershwin musical has been found nearly 100 years after it was last performed.
• Is it a betrayal to publish dead writers' books?
• A chilling batch of evidence could revive the unsolved Black Dahlia murder mystery.
• Connecticut librarians push a bill that would expand eBook an audiobook access.
  

 

►Book Banning & Censorship◄

• Librarians lock the Autauga-Prattville (Alabama) Public Libary in protest after the director is fired by the board.
• This week, the State of Florida agreed to settle a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Parental Rights in Education Act, better known as the "Don't Say Gay" law. 
• Officials at the Princeton (Texas) Independent School District have removed more than 100 library books deemed "inappropriate" for review.
• Flathead County (Montana) library board trustees propose removing the Young Adult designation.
• Tennessee lawmakers propose changes to how books get removed from school libraries.
• The Nebraska State Board of Education votes "no" on a rule impacting content in school libraries.
• Idaho Republican legislators have revived a library materials bill.
• Voters have recalled anti-LGBTQ+ Orange County (California) school board members.
• Hanover County (Virginia) leader calls for change after a children's book with same-sex parents sparks controversy.
• A Wisconsin school turns to BookLooks for pulling library and classroom books.
• A class of fourth-graders protests Charlotte-Mecklenburg school leaders' decision to discontinue the use of an online library program.
• A West Prairie (Illinois) policy change raises the "scary thought" about possible book bans. (Keep in mind that the State of Illinois was the first to outlaw book bans.)
• Authors Against Book Bans mobilizes.
• The UK's The Guardian reports that book bans in U.S. schools and libraries surged to record highs in 2023. More from Smithsonian Magazine.
  
• Iowa Poll: Half say new law requiring schools to ban books depicting sex acts goes too far.
• Publishers issued a letter to the New York City Department of Education over discarded books.
• Why ban books when you can ban book awards? A suburban Illinois district has cancelled the Caudill Awards.
• In Virginia, censors attempt to axe Katherine Applegate's Wishtree. Why? They're upset over the tree's gender. (Just when you thought it couldn't get any more ludicrous.)

 

 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• Items used by Roman cavalry and other treasures were unearthed by a metal detectorist in Wales.
• Why did colonists trash this piece of armor after settling in Maryland 300 years ago?
• Europe's last hunter-gatherers had sophisticated societies that helped them avoid inbreeding.
• 1,000-year-old vessels found in Guatemala held tobacco possibly used as "narcotics to induce deep sleep, visions, and divinatory trances." More from Smithsonian Magazine.
  
• This is what ancient Roman wine tasted like.
• A remarkable fresco depicting a scene from Greek mythology has been found in Pompeii.
• Ancient Iberians ingested red dust loaded with mind-altering mercury. 
• A 1,200-year-old lord's tomb laden with gold has been unearthed in Panama. More from Smithsonian Magazine.
  

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• Ryker the service dog flunked out of training school in spectacular fashion.
• Why a rare "golden" tiger photographed in India is worrying conservationists.
• A female stingray named Charlotte that hasn't had a mate in eight years is mysteriously pregnant. Is a shark the father?
• Scientists have finally figured out how whales are able to "sing" underwater. More from Smithsonian Magazine.
  
• More giant pandas are coming to the U.S. in a new loan from China.
• See fifteen images from the Underwater Photographer of the Year Awards.
• Ten fun facts about jellyfish.
• The most popular dog breed in each U.S. state.

 

►The Wanderer◄

• Tijuana: crime fiction in the borderlands.
• You could run a "penguin post office" in Antarctica.
• Scientists have discovered that world's oldest forest hiding in England.
• Giant redwoods: the world's largest trees are "thriving in the UK."
• What do gardens and murder have in common?
• From Brideshead to Saltburn: why we can't get enough of country house stories.
• A sleeping subduction zone could awaken and form a new "Ring of Fire" that swallows the Atlantic Ocean.
• The 25 happiest cities in America.

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Gulbadan Begum, the itinerant princess who chronicled Akbar's Mughal Empire.
• Agatha Christie, surfing pioneer.
• Princess Dashkova, the Russian noblewoman beloved by Catherine the Great and Benjamin Franklin, embodied the Age of Enlightenment.
• From the inventor of mass-market paper bags to a scientist who unraveled the mysteries of polio, meet five American women whose remarkable achievements have long been overlooked.
• What Virginia Woolf got wrong about Lady Anne Clifford.
• Court O'Reilly "etches" elaborate images of the natural world directly into wood.
• A serial killer in Iran.
• Mbarak Mombée: an African explorer robbed of his name.

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Eight everyday things that are much older than you think.
• The surprising name origins of twenty famous 1990s bands.
• The power of siblings in mysteries and thrillers.
• The best Scotland Yard detective books.
• The most important novels of the last 100 years.
• Classic locked room mysteries.
• Nine of the best villains in literature.
• Twenty great international books for U.S. readers.

That's all for this week! Don't forget to stop by next Friday when I'll be sharing a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure.

No matter how busy you may be, don't forget that quality Me Time curled up with a good book!

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

 

First Line: Back in 1961, when women wore shirtwaist dresses and joined garden clubs and drove legions of children around in seatbeltless cars without giving it a second thought; back before anyone knew there'd even be a sixties movement, much less one that its participants would spend the next sixty years chronicling; back when the big wars were over and the secret wars had just begun and people were starting to think fresh and believe everything was possible, the thirty-year-old mother of Madeline Zott rose before dawn every morning and felt certain of just one thing: her life was over.

 

It's the early 1960s, and chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your typical woman. Only one man at the Hastings Research Institute realizes that she is a treasure: Calvin Evans, the Nobel Prize-nominated scientist who falls in love with her mind.

 

A few years later, Elizabeth Zott finds herself a single mother and-- wonder of wonders-- the very reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show, Supper at Six. Her unusual approach to cooking is revolutionary, but as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook. She's daring them to change the status quo. 

~

I kept hearing about Bonnie Garmus's Lessons in Chemistry, but it took me a while before I finally got around to finding out what all the talk was about. I decided to listen to the audiobook, and I found Miranda Raison's narration perfect. She brought Elizabeth Zott to life.

Elizabeth Zott will strike a chord with most women. Like it or not, most women have dealt with the same problems she has. What makes this story truly wonderful is that no matter the experiences she must endure, Garmus tells her story with a light touch. She never mines the depths, and the reader is never far away from a smile. 

Readers may learn a bit about chemistry, research labs, and television in the early 1960s, but that's merely a byproduct. What I loved about Lessons in Chemistry was the cast of characters surrounding Elizabeth Zott. Calvin, the man who loved who she truly was. Her daughter, Mads. Her neighbor and friend, Harriet, and Walter, her boss at the television station. Oops! I almost forgot her dog, Six Thirty, which is based on the author's dog. The story would not be complete without Six Thirty.

Speaking of the author, there's an author interview at the end of the audiobook which everyone should read after they've read the book. (It contains spoilers.) I think it brought me just as big a smile as Elizabeth and her friends and family did. 

If you're in the mood for a feel-good story, here it is. I loved every bit of it.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Narrated by Miranda Raison.

ASIN: B09BBK79VB

Random House Audio © 2022

Audiobook. 11 hours, 55 minutes.

 

Fiction, Standalone

Rating: A+

Source: Purchased from Audible.