We the People... (No Kings Day 2025)

No Kings Protest 2025

Newport, Oregon

I participated in my very first protest this past weekend! My 92-year-old mother said she would really like to go, so we made a couple of signs, and joined 20 friends from our neighborhood to protest in Newport, OR. The weather couldn't have been more perfect; the sun was shining, temps in the 60s, and a gentle breeze kept us from getting too warm standing in the sunshine. There were hundreds of us along Highway 101 and it was incredibly uplifting! I felt proud to be among all those like-minded folks. We didn't have any serious problems with negativity. A few people held up hands with thumbs down. One guy flipped us the bird, one guy yelled that he loved Trump, a few people kept their windows rolled up as they stared straight ahead. But overall, the positive attitude from people driving by, some very slowly, smiling and waving and giving us thumbs up or peace signs, was so inspiring. A young girl (9 years old) walked by with her mom, pulling a cart full of snacks and bottled water to offer to the protesters. Her mom said it was her daughter's idea. My heart was bursting by the time we left Newport. 

Just a small portion of the crowd lining the highway!

From Heather Cox Richardson's daily column (Oct. 19, 2025):

Scholar of social movements Lisa Corrigan noted that large, fun marches full of art and music expand connections and make people more willing to take risks against growing state power. They build larger communities by creating new images that bring together recognizable images from the past in new ways, helping more people see themselves in such an opposition. The community and good feelings those gatherings develop help carry opposition through hard moments. Corrigan notes, too, that yesterday “every single rally (including in the small towns) was bigger than the surrounding police force available. That kind of image event is VERY IMPORTANT if you’re…demonstrating social coherence AGAINST a fascist government and its makeshift gestapo.”

Such rallies “bring together multigenerational groups and the playfulness can help create enthusiasm for big tent politics against the monoculture of fascism,” Corrigan writes. “The frogs (and unicorns and dinosaurs) will be defining ideographs of this period of struggle.”

From Brian Bahouth of KYAQ on October 19, 2025:

On Saturday in Newport, Oregon, roughly 1,200 people assembled as part of the nationwide No Kings II protest. According to organizers, nearly 7 million people turned out for more than 2,700 demonstrations across the nation, with at least one in every state. Thirteen rallies were held in Oregon coastal communities.

In Newport, protesters occupied both sides of the Pacific Coast Highway from the intersection with U.S. Route 20 to just south of Newport City Hall.

Another source claims there were "more than 2,600 protesters gathered Saturday in Newport to protest President Donald Trump. Event organizers from Indivisible Waves had several counters present to capture the record number of participants. There were more event organizers present, with some taking on sections to count with manual clicker tools. The group counted 2,632 protestors in Newport."

The Correspondent

 

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

Fiction

2025

Finished on October 4, 2025

Rating: 5/5 (Outstanding!)

Publisher's Blurb:

A woman tries to heal old wounds and make sense of the world the only way she knows how—through letters—in this charming, laugh out loud debut novel about a life fully lived.

“Dear Ms. Van Antwerp,

There is a movie coming out this month and I saw the trailer and it made me think of you. It’s about an old woman who lives alone like a hermit.  She is eccentric and rude….”

Sybil Van Antwerp is a mother and grandmother, divorced, retired from a distinguished career in law, an avid gardener, and a writer of letters. Most mornings, around half past ten, Sybil sits down to write letters—to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books. 

Because at seventy-three, Sybil has used her letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. But as Sybil expects her life to go on as it always has, letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life.

Filled with knowledge that only comes from a life fully lived, The Correspondent is a gem of a novel that is a testament to the power of the written word.

What a delightful book! Several blogging friends have raved about The Correspondent, so when I saw a copy on the shelf at Imprint Bookshop (in Port Townsend, WA), I couldn't resist. One of my favorite subgenres is epistolary fiction, and as I sat down to start this post, I did a quick search to see just how many I've read/reviewed. Wow. I had no idea I'd read so many.* When I was a bookseller at Barnes & Noble, I created an endcap with some of my favorite epistolaries. Today, I'd need two endcaps! 

I wonder what it is about a book centered around a collection of letters that is so satisfying. Until the advent of email (I think we started with Prodigy and then moved on to AOL), I used to write to a few of my childhood friends, a good friend who moved to the East Coast, and to a few relatives (my grandmother, my godmother, and my mom, all after I moved from California to Nebraska). I loved finding pretty stationery to use for my letters, and had a couple of fountain pens that were fun to write with. I miss sitting down with pen in hand to write long, chatty letters, but typing is so much easier. Once we had a computer, I began to type letters, printing them out to send in the mail. Even that method has gone by the wayside. I try to send birthday cards through the mail, but texting & Facebook seem to be the favored mode for that communication. After reading The Correspondent, I'm inspired to start writing again. 

But back to the novel. What a wonderful achievement for Virginia Evans. I never would have guessed this was her debut! I enjoyed the book from the first page, and wound up starting over after I reached the 60th page. I knew it was going to be a winning read and I didn't want to read it too quickly. 

Sybil reminded me of Olive Kitteridge with her unfiltered, opinionated comments, saying exactly what she felt, not mincing words. And yet, I loved the spunk and kindness that came through in her letters. I also like that she received replies from the various authors to whom she wrote. (Yes, I know she's not a real person, but I was still happy for her.) I was especially thrilled to read the details of Ann Patchett's reply on a postcard with an image of her dog... I, too, have received the same postcard from Patchett in response to a letter I sent to her a few years ago! I also found myself nodding my head as I read the exchanges between Sybil and Joan Didion. I read The Year of Magical Thinking after our daughter died. "The club of parents who have buried children is a membership I wish I did not own, but the sense of being seen is comforting."

In addition to my love of epistolary works, I enjoy books that reference other books, and The Correspondent is chockful of titles, many of which I've read (denoted with the check mark):

• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
• The Chateau by Jaclyn Goldis
• Round House by Louise Erdrich
• Inferno by Dan Brown
• Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier ✅
• The World Below by Sue Miller ✅
• To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf ✅
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen ✅
• State of Wonder by Ann Pachett ✅
• Bel Canto by Ann Patchett ✅
• Run by Ann Patchett
• Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese ✅
• Blue Nights by Joan Didion
• The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion ✅
• The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
• Never Let me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
• Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie ✅
• Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
• The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
• Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
• Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
• Ulysses by James Joyce
• 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff ✅
• Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck ✅
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte ✅
• Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry ✅
• The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis
• The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
• Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
• The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee
• Stoner by John Williams ✅
• The White Album by Joan Didion
• Amongst Women by John McGahern
• That They May Face the Rising Sun by John McGahern
• The Stories of William Trevor by William Trevor
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series by Stieg Larsson ✅

Dear Virginia,

Thank you for creating such a wonderful character in Sybil. I loved each and every letter, and will recommend your novel to all of my book-loving (and letter-loving) friends. Please write back! Actually, I would prefer you skip a reply and get to work on another book. Meanwhile, I plan to re-read your excellent book in the coming months.

With great admiration,

A fellow lover of snail-mail.

*Below is my list (with links) of the epistolary books that I've read:

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (5/5)

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (4.75/5)

These is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901 by Nancy Turner (5/5)

Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg

Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding (3/5)

The Color Purple by Alice Walker (5/5)

Address Unknown by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor (3.5/5)

Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger (4.75/5)

Love & Saffron by Kim Fay (5/5)

The Pull of the Moon by Elizabeth Berg (4/5)

Paris Letters by Janice MacLeod (4/5)

Letters From Skye by Jessica Brockmole (3.5/5)

Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson (4/5)

Dear Stranger, Dearest Friend by Laney Katz Becker (5/5)

Dear Exile: The True Story of Two Friends Separated (for a Year) by an Ocean by Hilary Liftin (3/5)

The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss by Anderson Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt (4/5)

A Celibate Season by Carol Shields and Blanche Howard (4.5/5)

My Dear Cassandra: Selections from the Letters of Jane Austen (Penelope Hughs-Hallett, editor) (3/5)

Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed (4.5/5)

Delicious by Ruth Reichl (3.5/5)

That Part Was True by Deborah McKinlay (4.5/5)

Impatient with Desire by Gabrielle Burton (4/5)

Holly's Inbox by Holly Denham (2.5/5)

The Recipe Club by Andrea Israel and Nancy Garfinkel (3/5)

'Tis the Season! by Lorna Landvik (4/5)

Between Friends by Debbie Macomber

The Boy Next Door by Meggin Cabot

This Must Be the Place

This Must Be the Place by Maggie O'Farrell

Fiction

2016

Finished on October 1, 2025

Rating: 2/5 (OK)

Publisher's Blurb:

Daniel Sullivan leads a complicated life. A New Yorker living in the wilds of Ireland, he has children he never sees in California, a father he loathes in Brooklyn, and his wife, Claudette, is a reclusive ex-film star given to pulling a gun on anyone who ventures up their driveway. Together, they have made an idyllic life in the country, but a secret from Daniel's past threatens to destroy their meticulously constructed and fiercely protected home. Shot through with humor and wisdom, This Must Be the Place is an irresistible love story that crisscrosses continents and time zones as it captures an extraordinary marriage, and an unforgettable family, with wit and deep affection.

In a crazy effort to read all of Maggie O'Farrell's books, I stuck with this one in spite of my irritation with the structure of the novel. Anyone who has read O'Farrell's works is familiar with both her nonlinear timelines and multiple points of view. I have enjoyed a few of her books with these formats, but This Must Be the Place pushed me to my limit. Allow me to share the following line-up for each chapter:

Daniel 2010

Claudette 1989

Niall 1999

Phoebe 2010

Auction Catalog 2005

Donegal 2010

Claudette 1993

Daniel 2010

Lenny 1994

Donegal 2010

Todd 1986    

Lucas 1995

Daniel 2010

Claudette 1996

Teresa 1944

Daniel 2010

Maeve 2003

Ari 2010

Daniel 1986

Daniel 2010

Nicola & Daniel 1986

Niall 2013

Claudette & Daniel 2013

Interview with Timou 2014

Lucas 2014

Rosalind 2015

Ari, Calvin & Marithe 2016

Daniel 2016

There you have it. If my calculations are correct there are 16 points of view. As it's Daniel's story, he is the primary narrator, but the complex puzzle of a story made my head hurt. (I didn't even try to keep track of the locations!)

This is not the sort of book you can set down for more than a day without losing your place in the narrative. The prose is lovely, and the conclusion was satisfying, but this is not a book that I can recommend. I can't imagine what it would be like to listen to the audiobook. The novel really needs more than two readers (and the male's delivery is bland and annoying), and the constant shift between characters, time, and place would be agonizing. Thankfully, I had the print edition, which I promptly threw across the room once I finished. Bah!

2025 Third Quarter Favorites

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (4.5/5)

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn (4.5/5)

So Far Gone by Jess Walter (4.5/5/5)

20 Books of Summer Reading Challenge Results - 2025

 

The 20 Books of Summer Reading Challenge is one of my favorite reading challenges, and this is the sixth year that I've participated. I prefer to wait until the fall equinox (September 21st) rather than Labor Day to finish up the challenge, giving myself three extra weeks to complete my goals.

Once again, I chose 20 books, and had a mix of new releases and backlist titles. I had four that I gave up on, but subbed in nine (some for book club, as well as a few audio selections). All in all, I wound up reading seventeen books, and I'm very pleased with my results. Seven of the books were over 400 pages, and one of those was over 600 pages. 

Below is an image of my original picks. I'm currently reading This Must Be the Place, and I still plan to read The Lacuna, The House of Special Purpose, The Song of Achilles, Where the Forest Meets the River, The Grey Wolf, and The Nix.  Maybe my fall reading list will include these unread books.

For past posts (and results) about this challenge, click here. 

A Month in Summary - September 2025

Little Whale Cove

Depoe Bay, Oregon

September 2025

Didn't I just post August's summary?! Time truly does seem to speed up the older we get, doesn't it? Since it doesn't really get hot here, summer feels nonexistent (other than the longer days), so when the rainy season arrives, it seems like the year is much shorter. Whatever. Time for another wrap-up.

The first half of the month was spent traveling down and back to the Santa Rosa/Bodega Bay area for my Auntie Sue's memorial. It was nice to spend time with family & friends, as well as a brief visit with our granddaughter. We didn't go on a long road trip this year, so it was good to get out to some of our favorite campgrounds for a couple of weeks.

With that two-week long road trip, and another week of catching up around the house with errands and appointments, it's no wonder I didn't read very many books in September. I also blame my current book which has taken me over two weeks to read. I should have called it quits, but I held out hope that it would improve. Nope. But at this point, I will finish since I'm stubborn. Once I finish that book, I'm on to my fall reading selections (which I shared here). 

Books Read (click on the title for my review):

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn (4.5/5)

The Ride of Her Life by Elizabeth Letts (3.5/5)

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (4.5/5)

Movies & TV Series:

Person of Interest (Season One) -  We finished the first season and will take a break before watching more of this show. It's good, but each season has close to two dozen episodes!

The Thursday Murder Club - I haven't read any of the books in this series, so I didn't know what to expect from the movie. We thought it was entertaining and worthwhile.

Unforgotten (Season Six) - This series is ok, and we were kept guessing, but it's not as good as the earlier seasons. I miss Nicola Walker!

I Am a Noise - I would have liked more about her music and career and less about her therapy and the possibility of sexual abuse by her father. Too much navel-gazing.

Travels:

As mentioned above, we were in Bodega Bay for my aunt's memorial. It was great to spend time with family, as well as some of her friends, whom we had met on previous visits.

A bunch of Jacksons

Sue's immediate family

And then we had lunch with our beautiful granddaughter, Shaylyn!

Health News:

I was thrilled that not only did I not need a prescription from my doctor, but I could get my Covid booster even though I'm not 65. Whoohoo. Got my flu shot, too. #itrustscience

R.I.P.:

September ended with sad news of the passing of a dear friend and fellow blogger. You can read my post about Nan here.

Be well, friends. 💕

Nan of Letters from a Hill Farm

 

A few days ago, I learned that my dear friend, Nan of Letters from a Hill Farm passed away on Sunday, September 21st. The last day of summer.

I am heartbroken.

I've known Nan since sometime between 1996/1997. We met in an online book group called Bookstacks.com (which eventually became Books.com). We were instant friends, exchanging private emails with two others (Kay of Kay's Reading Life, and Teri, who is not a blogger). Our friendship began with our love of reading, but evolved into that of friends who shared the joys and sorrows of life. We wrote about raising our children, home life, spouses, careers, retirement, health issues, aging parents, the joys of grandparenthood, and everything else that close friends share. I only spoke with Nan on the phone a handful of times, and we never met in person, but we were kindred spirits. Nearly 30 years of a very special and meaningful friendship.

Last year, Nan wrote on her blog:

If you have been blogging for a long time, you have made friends who mean as much to you as people you know in "real life". And the long time of blogging means that we have all gotten older, with the sad facts that may go along with it. Sickness. Death. 

Some of my beloved blogging friends have lost their husbands  And today I read that a woman I have been in touch with for a long time died. Her daughter posted on her blog. 

I cried as if I had known her in my everyday life, because of course I did. It is made even harder because I have been away so much in the past year. If she was sick, I didn't even know. I've emailed her daughter.

I know a lot of you have been through this, too. The blogging world is slower, quieter than what came after it. That is why I love it and continue on. It lifts me up, teaches me, offers friendships, and sometimes brings sadness.

I could write pages about Nan's love of music, and our shared love for singer songwriters such as Kris Kristofferson, John Prine, and Van Morrison. About Van the Man:

If I had to choose just one musician to listen to throughout eternity, it would be Van. I believe someday, long, long after I have departed this earth, he will be taught in colleges along with Yeats and all the other great poets who have ever lived. His work encompasses all human emotion from the depths of melancholy to the heights of ecstasy. He writes love songs and loss songs and spiritual songs and nostalgic songs.

Nan also wrote about George Winston's beautiful album, December, and she and I would both listen to it every year on the 1st of December. I will think of her with love each and every time I listen to Winston's beautiful music.

Nan blogged regularly about her love of baking, posting 371 "Food & Drink" posts over the years.  I could easily picture her in her kitchen since she so often shared photos as she baked or of the final treat on her lovely Fiesta dinnerware.

She was a lover of animals, often sharing photos and stories of her dogs, cats, and farm animals (chickens, sheep, goats, and donkeys!). 

She enjoyed the simple pleasures of hanging laundry outside on a clothesline, or working in her vegetable and flower gardens. She had such a green thumb, and I especially enjoyed seeing photos of her daylilies.

Her evenings were quietly spent watching TV while enjoying a Cosmopolitan. She was the first to recommend to me shows such as As Time Goes By and New Tricks, as well as many others.

And of course, there was her wonderful take on "Mrs. Bayle's weather report." She was a cold weather girl, and was always happy to let us know when the first snow fell.

Nan often shared photos of her cozy home, with full bookshelves and comfortable furniture. I've never been to Windy Poplars Farm, but I feel as if I have spent many hours there, chatting with Nan over a cup of coffee or tea.

She and I didn't have similar taste in books or movies - she preferred older works to my contemporary authors - but we occasionally agreed (Stuart O'Nan, Rosamunde Pilcher, Rick Bragg, Fannie Flagg, Laurie Colwin, Helene Hanff, Susan Hill, and Deborah Crombie, to name a few), swapping books back and forth through the mail. She gave me a copy of Evenings at Five, which I recently re-read. The cover art is so Nan!

And of course, the most important thing to Nan was her family. Her life with her husband, Tom, her children, Margaret & Michael, and her grandchildren brought her the greatest joy. Oh, how her love for all of them shone through in her emails and blog posts!

The Cuddihy Family 1996

(Taken around the time I first met Nan)

Nan was so appreciative of thoughtful and meaningful comments on her blog, always expressing that appreciation with a reply like, "your words mean the world to me!!!"

Nan enriched my life not only through her love of good books and music, but also poetry and wonderful quotations.

Warm be the love that surrounds you,

Good be your friends, and true,

Constant be hope and promise,

Useful the work you do,

Close be your family around you,

Good health be yours day by day,

Long be the life you're living,

And full of much joy on the way. 

She also loved Gladys Taber, Tasha Tudor, and Susan Branch.

When I get to Heaven, I am not going to put on golden shoes or cast down golden crowns around a glassy sea or play on my harp. No, I am going to eat all the hot bread and potatoes I want. Cinnamon rolls, pinwheel biscuits, nut muffins, French-fried potatoes, baked potatoes, creamy mashed potatoes. Potato fluff. Butter will go well, too. And fresh-made jam. Or clear amber honey. Gladys Taber

'I suppose I am a sparrow, a stay-at-home bird.'  Gladys Taber

On her 3rd blogging anniversary, Nan wrote:

I'm not a 'book blogger' or a 'food blogger' or a 'garden blogger.' I just write my letters. I'm still spending my time writing book reports or posting recipes or poems or quotes or music. Occasionally Mrs. Bale pops in when there is something interesting in the 'Irish Sea' - oops I mean northern New England. The thing I love the very most is connecting with all of you. I love your comments and your emails. I'm so pleased when you take time out of your busy day to say hi, or recommend a book, or tell me you love the music or the recipe. Blogging has brought me incredible joy and knowledge. I thank each of you. (November 22, 2009)

Thank you, Nan, for bringing me, and our fellow bloggers, so much incredible joy, knowledge, and love. 

Ta-ta, my beautiful friend. You will be missed beyond measure.

In one of her last comments to me, Nan wrote, "It was the most amazing thing to come upon people who thought as I did, especially about reading and books and life. It felt like a little miracle. It was like, whew, someone understands."

Project Hail Mary

 

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Science Fiction

2021

Narrated by Ray Porter

Finished on September 19, 2025

Rating: 4.5/5 (Very Good)

Goodreads Choice Award for Science Fiction (2021)

Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel (2022)

Audie Award for Best Audiobook and Science Fiction (2022)

Publisher's Blurb:

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?

An irresistible interstellar adventure as only Andy Weir could deliver, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian—while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.

Project Hail Mary is an outstanding audiobook! Had I read the print edition, my eyes might have glazed over in an attempt to read and understand the scientific details Weir incorporates throughout the novel. But listening to Ray Porter, who does a superb job with the narration, kept me interested without requiring too much attention to those complex details. I took biology and chemistry in high school, but physics was not required. I loved biology, but loathed chemistry, so I decided I'd had enough of science. I don't know how much of Weir's science is based on fact, but he certainly includes A LOT in Project Hail Mary! Chemistry, molecular biology, astrobiology, relativistic physics, particle physics, astronomy, as well as engineering and complex math. And yet, the story doesn't get bogged down in the science. There's humor, which had me laughing out loud, especially with Ray Porter's narration. I don't remember listening to him on other audiobooks, but he was perfect for this novel. He sounds very much like Tom Hanks, and thus, I pictured Hanks in the role of Ryland Grace. Can't you just hear Hanks say this:

“I want to spend the rest of my life studying Eridian biology! But I have to save humanity first. Stupid humanity. Getting in the way of my hobbies.” 

Grace isn't the only one with humorous lines:

“Work fast."
"Yeah." I point at the screen. "First I have to wait for my computer to wake up."
"Hurry."
"Okay, I'll wait faster."
"Sarcasm.”

Several years ago, I tried to read The Martian, but couldn't get past all those pesky scientific details. Maybe I should try the audiobook, especially since Wil Wheaton (who narrated Ready Player One, which I loved) is the reader. And, it's been a long time since I watched the movie, so it won't feel too familiar. 

Speaking of movies, Project Hail Mary, due out in theaters on March 20, 2026, stars Ryan Gosling and James Ortiz. I haven't seen a movie in a theater in a very long time, but this one may be worth it.

Project Hail Mary will most definitely hit my Top Ten list for 2025. To quote a character from the book, "Yes. Yes. Yes. Amaze!"