October 31, 2022

Nonfiction November 2022


I love this reading challenge just as much as the 20 Books of Summer event. I've been saving several of my nonfiction books specifically for this challenge and I can't wait to dive in. I cheated a little bit by reading Sailing by Starlight before the official start of the challenge, but I'm sure you all understand why. 😊

Click here for details about this annual reading event. 


Have you read any of these books? Which do you recommend?

October 30, 2022

Sailing by Starlight


Sailing by Starlight: The Remarkable Story of Globe Star by Rod Scher
Nonfiction
2022 Sheridan House
Finished on October 24, 2022
Rating: 4.5/5 (Very Good!)

Publication Date: November 1, 2022

Publisher's Blurb:

Sailing by Starlight is the story of the adventure of a lifetime--in fact, of many lifetimes. In the early 1980s, retired geography professor Marvin Creamer set out to do what hadn't been done for a thousand years--if indeed it had ever been done at all: Marv and his crew boarded a 35-foot sailboat named Globe Star and set out into the frigid Atlantic, planning to sail around the world without the use of any instruments. There was no sextant aboard. No compass. No chart-plotter. No GPS. No radar. Not even a stopwatch. Creamer wanted to prove to the world that it was possible for ancient mariners to have crossed the largest seas, perhaps even sailed around the world, using only their brains, their experience, their senses, and their courage. In attempting to prove his point, Creamer would push his boat and his crew to the limit--and occasionally beyond. 

Travel with Creamer as Globe Star sails around the perilous Horn, across the dangerous and tumultuous Tasman Sea, and into an active war zone. Sail around the world with a man who was taken prisoner with an idea, a man obsessed with proving a point, and a man who would let neither 40-foot waves nor fractious crewmembers deter him.

Disclaimer: I was hesitant to post a review, as this book was written by my husband, but I want to share what I enjoyed about the story. I hope to minimize my personal bias.

I am not what you would call an avid sailor. My family owned a small sailboat (a Glen-L 13) when I was in elementary school, and I remember lake sailing with my parents and brothers (and our small dog) in Northern California and Southern Oregon. How we all managed to fit in that tiny sailboat is beyond me!

Photo Credit: Glen-L Boat Designs

Later, I would enjoy going out on Hobie Cats and a few 20-plus foot sailboats in San Diego, but I can count those occasions on one hand. In the late 80s, my husband and I started dreaming about buying a Catalina, but a move to Nebraska took the wind out of our sails, so to speak. Looking back, I wonder just how much I would have enjoyed spending time on a boat on the Pacific Ocean. It's huge, unpredictable and the waves are much bigger than those on the lakes of Whiskey Town and Howard Prairie. And I am prone to seasickness!

Rod has always been enthusiastic about sailing, reading numerous books on the subject (he's read Chapman: The Boater's Handbook more than once), and dreaming of one day owning a boat. Nautical books (even sailing memoirs) weren't of interest to me, but Rod had a copy of Adrift: Seventy-Six Days Lost at Sea by Steve Callahan, and with all our talks about sailing, I decided to give it a read sometime in the late 80s. I don't remember much about the book, but after recently glancing at a copy, I discovered that Callahan's voyage began just shy of two years before Marv Creamer's. I wonder if they knew one another. If not personally, they certainly must have known of each other. 


Rod and I never did buy a boat, but we've cruised the San Juan Islands (on a 48' Richardson cabin cruiser) with my dad and stepmom, as well as a wonderful day trip on a catamaran from St. Thomas to St. John. I've also had the pleasure of spending two weeks on a river boat, cruising the Rhine, Main, and Danube rivers with my mom. But all these experiences were peaceful and calm. Well, almost all. We did experience a problem with the bilge pump on my dad's boat; for several moments I was afraid the boat might start to sink, and we would have to swim to shore in the dark! Oh, and there was also the time (actually, there were two separate instances) when a fan belt broke on one of the two engines (again in my dad's boat) and we had to limp along, in Puget Sound, on one engine to reach a marina for repairs. But none of these events were as terrifying as those that Marv Creamer and his crew faced as they sailed around the world without any instrumentation: no GPS, no compass, no sextant, not even a clock or watch. And, their amazing adventure took place on the Globe Star, a 35-foot sailboat. They experienced gales, huge seas, fog in heavily traveled shipping lanes, and the doldrums. They went for many weeks without seeing land, nor speaking to anyone but one another. 

While chatting with Rod about Sailing by Starlight (from the safe perch of one of our neighborhood benches overlooking the ocean, watching the enormous waves crash against the bluff), I told him that I would have curled up in a ball in the v-berth, sobbing in terror, if I had to be on such a voyage at Creamer's. I'm sure even an experienced sailor would feel some fear and anxiety with each crashing wave, a galley fire, or a knockdown, but they would also know what to do in those situations. At least if a disaster strikes while we're traveling in our motorhome, there's very little risk of drowning! 

Sailing by Starlight is a compelling read about a sixty-six-year-old retired geography professor who was able to fulfill a lifetime dream and prove that ancient peoples could sail across massive oceans (perhaps even around the world) without anything but their intellect, bravery and senses. I was pleased to discover that over the years, I've picked up a general understanding of some basic nautical terminology in my brief encounters on boats: port & starboard, cleats & fenders, fore & aft, fo'c'sle & salon, and coming-about and jibe (the latter of which I accidentally discovered off the shores of Beaufort, N.C.). So, as I began reading Rod's book, I wasn't bothered by the usage of specific vernacular known to more seasoned sailors. Initially, I thought a glossary might be useful, but flipping back and forth would only interrupt the narrative, causing a loss in momentum and tension. Any words or phrases with which I was not familiar (e.g., horse latitudes, heave-to, windlass), were easily understood in the context of the passage. 

Rich in detail, with mounting tension, Sailing by Starlight is sure to appeal to a broad range of readers, avid sailors and armchair travelers not excluded. Rod sets the scenes so vividly, delivering an ultra-satisfying read for which he should be enormously proud. I know I am.

It's rare that I reread books, and even more rare that I'm tempted to re-read a book upon completion, but I felt that way about Sailing by Starlight. I'm not interested in owning a boat, but I do enjoy a thrilling nautical tale. Maybe it's time to finally give Moby Dick another chance...

Note to reader: I rarely read an author's footnotes, whether included on the appropriate page or in a collection at the back of the book. I encourage you to read Sailing by Starlight "Notes," which provide additional information that would otherwise have detracted from the flow of the narrative.

Click here to view videos and images from Sailing by Starlight.

October 28, 2022

Looking Back - Summer Island

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.


Fiction
2001 Crown 
Finished on June 22, 2001
Rating: 3.5/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

The author of the cherished bestseller On Mystic Lake returns with a poignant, funny, luminous novel about a mother and daughter—the complex ties that bind them, the past that separates them, and the healing that comes with forgiveness.

Years ago, Nora Bridge walked out on her marriage and left her daughters behind. She has since become a famous radio talk-show host and newspaper columnist beloved for her moral advice. Her youngest daughter, Ruby, is a struggling comedienne who uses her famous mother as fuel for her bitter, cynical humor. When the tabloids unearth a scandalous secret from Nora's past, their estrangement suddenly becomes dramatic: Nora is injured in an accident and a glossy magazine offers Ruby a fortune to write a tell-all about her mother. Under false pretenses, Ruby returns home to take care of the woman she hasn't spoken to for almost a decade.

Nora insists they retreat to Summer Island in the San Juans, to the lovely old house on the water where Ruby grew up, a place filled with childhood memories of love and joy and belonging. There Ruby is also reunited with her first love and his brother. Once, the three of them had been best friends, inseparable. Until the summer that Nora had left and everyone's hearts had been broken. . . 

What began as an exposé evolves, as Ruby writes, into an exploration of her family's past. Nora is not the woman Ruby has hated all these years. Witty, wise, and vulnerable, she is desperate to reconcile with her daughter. As the magazine deadline draws near and Ruby finishes what has begun to seem to her an act of brutal betrayal, she is forced to grow up and at last to look at her mother—and herself—through the eyes of a woman. And she must, finally, allow herself to love.

Summer Island is a beautiful novel, funny, tender, sad, and ultimately triumphant.

My Original Thoughts (2001):

I almost gave up on this book early on. It started off too much like a Danielle Steel novel. But then something grabbed my interest and the story improved. I really enjoyed it for what it is--fluff, but not great literature. I even got choked up a few times! Good passages about love and faith. I may read more by Hannah.

My Current Thoughts:

It's interesting to see how this author's writing has evolved over the years. Her recent novels, which are more serious, revolving around historical themes, are a welcome departure from her early works of romance and fluff. I doubt I'll read this again, but the setting in the San Juans is appealing.

October 26, 2022

Wordless Wednesday

 




Avalanche Lake
Glacier National Park
September 2022

I wish we had been just a little bit closer to this black bear. He was on the other side of the lake and very difficult to see, even with my zoom lens.

Click on image for larger view.

October 18, 2022

Sailing by Starlight

This arrived last night! 



In two weeks, Rod's latest book will be released! I am so proud of him, and very excited about this new book, which is available for pre-order here and here.

Publisher's Blurb:

Sailing by Starlight is the story of the adventure of a lifetime—in fact, of many lifetimes. In the early 1980s, retired geography professor Marvin Creamer set out to do what hadn’t been done for a thousand years—if indeed it had ever been done at all: Marv and his crew boarded a 35’ sailboat named Globe Star and set out into the frigid Atlantic, planning to sail around the world without the use of any instruments. There was no sextant aboard. No compass. No chart-plotter. No GPS. No radar. Not even a stopwatch. Creamer wanted to prove to the world that it was possible for ancient mariners to have crossed the largest seas, perhaps even sailed around the world, using only their brains, their experience, their sense, and their courage. In attempting to prove his point, Creamer would push his boat and his crew to the limit—and occasionally beyond.
Travel with Creamer as Globe Star sails around the perilous Horn, across the dangerous and tumultuous Tasman Sea, and into an active war zone. Sail around the world with a man who was taken prisoner by an idea, a man obsessed with proving a point, and who would let neither 40-foot waves nor fractious crewmembers deter him.

October 17, 2022

Book Lovers


Book Lovers by Emily Henry
Fiction
2022 Penguin Random House Audio
Narrated by Julia Whelan
Finished on October 12, 2022
Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

One summer. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn't see coming....

Nora Stephens’ life is books—she’s read them all—and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby.

Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters’ trip away—with visions of a small-town transformation for Nora, who she’s convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute.

If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again—in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow—what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.

Book Lovers is a light read, and I found it easy to listen to the audio in fits & spurts, which was perfect since I didn't get many opportunities while on our road trip. As I listened, I could easily envision Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks starring in a rom-com version film of this book. Nora and Charlie's bantering is very similar to the characters in You've Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle. I haven't read anything else by Emily Henry and I kind of doubt I will. While not a bad novel, it was a bit too light and fluffy. 

October 15, 2022

20 Books of Summer 2022 Recap

 

I love this reading challenge and I read some wonderful novels this past summer. I decided to continue with this challenge until the official end of summer, which was over three weeks ago, and I also chose to include one last book from my original list even though I didn't finish it until October 1st. I spent most of September reading the book, so I figure it counts as part of my final tally.

I read a total of 18 books, giving up on four from my original list and adding four others. That leave two remaining, which I plan to read in the coming weeks. Not bad, especially since we had a busy summer with guests and traveling!


The top row of books were my favorites and the bottom row includes my least favorite. I'm surprised that I did so much better this year compared to the 2021 challenge. Reviews for all of the above books can be found by clicking on the "Search This Blog" widget at the top of the right sidebar.


October 13, 2022

The Fortnight in September


Fiction
2021 Scribner (first published in 1931)
Finished on October 1, 2022
Rating: 2/5 (Fair)

Publisher's Blurb:

Meet the Stevens family as they prepare to embark on their annual holiday to the coast of England. Mr. and Mrs. Stevens first made the trip to Bognor Regis on their honeymoon, and the tradition has continued every September since. They follow the same carefully honed schedule--now accompanied by their three children, twenty-year-old Mary, seventeen-year-old Dick, and little brother Ernie.

Arriving in Bognor, they check in at Seaview, the guesthouse where they always stay. It's a bit shabbier than it once was--the landlord died and his wife is struggling as the number of guests dwindles. But the family finds bliss in booking a slightly bigger cabana (with a balcony!) and in their rediscover of familiar, beloved sights. 

Mr. Stevens takes long walks, reflecting on his life, his worries and disappointments, and returns refreshed. Mrs. Stevens treasures an hour spent sitting alone with her medicinal glass of port. Mary has her first taste of romance. And Dick pulls himself out of the malaise he's sunk into since graduation, resolving to work towards a new career. The family savors every moment of their holiday, keenly aware that things may not be the same next year.

Delightfully nostalgic, The Fortnight in September is an extraordinary novel about ordinary people enjoying simple pleasures.

The Fortnight in September embodies the kind of mundane normality the men in the dug-out longed for – domestic life at 22 Corunna Road in Dulwich, the train journey via Clapham Junction to the south coast, the two weeks living in lodgings and going to the beach every day. The family’s only regret is leaving their garden where, we can imagine, because it is September the dahlias are at their fiery best: as they flash past in the train they get a glimpse of their back garden, where ‘a shaft of sunlight fell through the side passage and lit up the clump of white asters by the apple tree.’ This was what the First World War soldiers longed for; this, he imagined, was what he was fighting for and would return to (as in fact Sherriff did).

He had had the idea for his novel at Bognor Regis: watching the crowds go by, and wondering what their lives were like at home, he ‘began to feel the itch to take one of those families at random and build up an imaginary story of their annual holiday by the sea...I wanted to write about simple, uncomplicated people doing normal things.’

The Fortnight in September was my final selection for the 20 Books in Summer reading challenge. I thought it was a perfect choice given that I started reading it in September while on our road trip. Unfortunately, the combination of a lackluster story and the distraction of exploring Glacier National Park made for a disappointing read. The writing (particularly the dialogue) is  often simplistic, which the author admits to in his autobiography (a portion of which is included at the end of the novel). 
I told myself all along that I was writing for my eyes alone, without the least intention of showing it to a publisher. If I'd had any thoughts of that I shouldn't have enjoyed writing it so much. But when it was finished I couldn't help wanting to show it to somebody to find out what they thought of it. When I read it through it seemed as if it was written in children's language, but off the beam for children. If was no good offering it as a children's book, but I couldn't think what sort of grown-up people would swallow it.

I didn't care for any of the characters and felt that Mr. Stevens was vain and self-centered. I would have liked to have learned more about Mrs. Stevens whose personality we are only given a vague impression. As others have remarked, this is a quiet book with not much in the way of action, and I must admit that I was bored, only reading to the very end on the chance that something momentous occurs. 

October 12, 2022

Wordless Wednesday

 








A few visitors from this past summer.

October 7, 2022

Looking Back - Crazy For You

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.


Fiction
1999 St. Martin's Press
Finished June 17, 2001
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Quinn McKenzie has always lived what she calls a "beige" life. She's dating the world's nicest guy, she has a good job as a high school art teacher, she's surrounded by family and friends who rely on her, and she's bored to the point of insanity. But when Quinn decides to change her life by adopting a stray dog over everyone's objections, everything begins to spiral out of control. Now she's coping with dog-napping, breaking and entering, seduction, sabotage, stalking, more secrets than she really wants to know, and two men who are suddenly crazy...for her.

My Original Thoughts (2001):

I didn't think I was going to like this book when I started it. I thought it was a typical "fluff" read with simplistic characters and predictable events. Ok, maybe it was "fluff," but I became engrossed nonetheless! Got choked up a couple of times and laughed out loud several times. I plan to read more by Crusie. Good airplane read. 

My Current Thoughts:

Well, I have yet to read anything else by Crusie and I don't think I will. Fluffy novels don't appeal to me at this point in my life. 

October 4, 2022

A Month in Summary - September 2022

Hidden Lake, Logan Pass
Glacier National Park, Montana
September 2022

We have just returned from our road trip to Glacier National Park. We left Depoe Bay on September 6th, so the trip was just shy of a full month. We traveled through Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana, and while we didn't see as much wildlife as I would have liked, we saw some amazing sights and made new friends along the way. As with previous road trips, I will blog about this one in the coming weeks, but I have hundreds of photos to cull and edit, so it may take a little while. Here's one of my favorites:


As it goes with a long trip, my reading was pretty dismal. I finished only one book and am in the middle of two others (one print and one audio). I might have read more, but the print book isn't very compelling and it's been a struggle to read even a chapter each night. I've been walking or hiking with either Rod or new friends, which is when I typically listen to an audiobook. No complaints, though! I'm happy to take a break from reading when it comes to exploring new locations and making new friends.


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

The Sound of Broken Glass by Deborah Crombie (4/5)

Movies & TV Series:


Deadwood - We continue to watch this while traveling in the RV. It's just as good as the first time we watched it.

Bookstores Visited:





We spent an afternoon wandering around Whitefish, MT and went into Bookworks, a nice independent bookstore. The organization/layout of the store was somewhat odd, but I managed to find a couple of books that I've been eager to read. The store also carries a large selection of greeting cards and gift items, but it was lunchtime and we were starving, so I didn't linger.





Missoula, MT is another nice town to explore and we found a small, independent bookstore (Fact & Fiction) with a good selection of new releases and local history. I bought one book, but since it's a future gift, I won't share a photo. 

I spotted a couple of things as I left the store that made me smile:



Back in Oregon, after a delicious lunch and coffee, we strolled around the Village at Sunriver. I couldn't resist popping into Sunriver Books & Music where I found a book that I was unaware of by one of my favorite authors.




I rarely buy books for myself, but when we're traveling, I'm inspired to visit and support the local independent bookstores. 

Other News:


I was saddened by the news of Queen Elizabeth's death, and was touched by this sweet image that appeared in my newsfeed.


I was also heartbroken to learn that the husband of my dear friend, Robin, had passed away on the 21st. Robin (of A Fondness For Reading) and I have been blogging friends for many, many years. When Rod & I moved to Oregon, we were able to meet Byron when he and Robin came out to the coast for a visit. Robin and I have also enjoyed getting together for lunch and book shopping in a nearby town, but it's been a few years since we've seen one another. Hopefully, we'll get a chance later this year or in 2023.

The days are getting shorter and it won't be long before the holiday season is upon us. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to summer, but there is something about autumn that makes me happy, as well. Be well and happy reading!