Wreck

 

Wreck by Catherine Newman

Fiction

2025

Finished on May 12, 2026

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

The acclaimed bestselling author of Sandwich is back with a wonderful novel, full of laughter and heart, about marriage, family, and what happens when life doesn’t go as planned.

If you loved Rocky and her family on vacation on Cape Cod, wait until you join them at home two years later. And if this is your first meeting with this crew, get ready to laugh and cry--and relate.

Rocky, still anxious, nostalgic, and funny, is living in Western Massachusetts with her husband, Nick, and their daughter, Willa, who's back home after college. Their son, Jamie, has taken a new job in New York, and Mort, Rocky's widowed father, has moved in.

It all couldn't be more ridiculously normal... until Rocky finds herself obsessed with a local accident that only tangentially affects their family--and with a medical condition that, she hopes, won't affect them at all.

With her signature wit and wisdom, Catherine Newman explores the hidden rules of family, the heavy weight of uncertainty, and the gnarly fact that people--no matter how much you love them--are not always exactly who you want them to be.

Wreck marks the third book that I've read by Catherine Newman. I loved her debut novel We All Want Impossible Things, as well as Sandwich, both of which earned perfect 5-star ratings from me. Newman's stories are so relatable, and I love her humor, laughing out loud on several occasions as I read Wreck. It was fun revisiting Rocky and her family (from Sandwich), but the book wasn't quite as good as her previous novels. I look forward to re-reading her earlier works, and I have a copy of Waiting for Birdy, which I plan to read for Nonfiction November. I also subscribe to her Substack, which is both informative and funny. She's one of those authors that I'd love to be friends with!

A few favorite passages:

When kids willingly re-create parts of their childhood, it feels like such a vote of confidence: cotton sheets, thrift shopping, the good organic olive oil we've always gotten. And then you have to not be offended when they get the other brand of butter or their toilet paper unrolls from the wrong direction or they make smoothies with juice instead of coconut milk.

and

Have you ever taken an elderly parent to a juice bar? No? Don't start now.

The line is long, and my dad squints at the menu behind the counter. "Is pitaya just a different spelling of papaya?" he asks. It's not. "So what's pitaya, then?" I don't actually know. What is collagen? Ashwagandha? Wheatgrass? "Are maca and matcha the same thing?" I say I don't think so. "Is cacko just cocoa?" Cuh-COW. And yes. "Why do they spell it like that?" He's seen it in the crossword puzzle before, but not in real life. "Are cuh-COW nibs like chocolate chips?" Not as much as you might hope. What is goji? What is spirulina? Because he doesn't hear well, we're shouting at at him, and I can hear how abusive it sounds--like we're bullying an old man with a verbal catalogue of superfoods.

and 

The intake person asks a trillion questions to make sure I don't have secret metal in my body that will shoot up into my brain and kill me as soon as the magnet's on....She runs through her list: 'Artificial limbs or joints? Pacemaker? Defibrillator? Insulin pump? Shrapnel?...Do you have an older IUD?' she asks, and I think, Do I? God, did I ever get my IUD removed? A relic from a different time, like the expired ketchup in the back of the fridge from when the kids were eight. 'Oh,' I say remembering, 'I think it fell out on its own at some point.'

and

His personality is very cross that bridge when you come to it. Mine is very apply to engineering school in case there's a bridge that might need crossing but it hasn't been designed yet.

and

Remember the world from back when you couldn't even find out if you had strep throat without a doctor calling the wall phone in your kitchen? Now you just click into your computer and discover that you have cancer - or that you have - I'm seeing this now - a white-blood-cell disorder called leukopenia - or that they've scheduled your autopsy.

I wholeheartedly agree with Kirkus Reviews:

​"Newman excels at showing how sorrow and joy coexist in everyday life. She masterfully balances a modern exploration of grief with truly laugh-out-loud lines . . . . A heartbreaking, laugh-provoking, and absolutely Ephron-esque look at the beauty and fragility of everyday life." 

Recommend.

Kate & Frida

 

Kate & Frida by Kim Fay

Fiction

2025

Finished on May 7, 2026

Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

A companion to the instant national bestseller Love & Saffron, this bright and comforting novel follows the surprising friendship between two young women in 1990s Seattle and Paris, illuminating the power of books to change our lives.

Sometimes a book can change your life...

Twenty-something Frida Rodriguez, daughter of Love & Saffron’s own Joan Bergstrom, comes to Paris in 1991, relishing the city’s butter-soaked cuisine and seeking her future as a war correspondent. But when she writes to a bookshop in Seattle, she receives more than just the book she requests. A friendship begins that will redefine the person she thought she wanted to become.

Seattle bookseller Kate Fair is transformed by Frida’s free spirit, spurred to kiss her handsome coworker, to believe in herself as a writer, and to find beauty even in loss. Through the most tumultuous years of their young lives—personally and globally—Kate and Frida’s friendship sustains and nourishes them as they show each other how to overcome self-doubt and the necessity of embracing joy even through our darkest hours.

A buoyant, mouth-watering oasis of a novel, Kate & Frida is a love letter to bookshops and booksellers, to the way stories shape how we perceive ourselves, to the passion we bring to life in our twenties, and to the last precious years before the internet changed everything. 

I loved Kim Fay's previous novel, Love & Saffron, so I was particularly excited to read Kate & Frida, which is also an epistolary work. I wrote about my favorite epistolary books that I've read over the years in my review of The Correspondent, hoping to add Fay's latest release to that list. Sadly, Kate & Frida missed the mark. Maybe this novel was a bit too light, coming so soon after I finished The Lacuna, which is a marvelous work of literary fiction by Barbara Kingsolver.

As I read the opening letter to Kate (living in Seattle) from Frida (living in Paris), I had an overwhelming sense of deja vu. Frida requests a book (Martha Gellhorn's The Face of War) from The Puget Sound Book Company, and Kate sends the book along with a chatty reply. And so begins a three-year-long exchange of letters, very much like those in 84, Charing Cross Road, one of my all-time favorite epistolaries. And yet I struggled to stay engaged with Fay's novel, growing impatient to be finished and moving on to something with more depth. Having grown up in Seattle, and working at the Elliott Bay Book Company, the author is very familiar with the location, as well as life as a bookseller. I enjoyed those aspects of the story. I also learned about the Bosnian War, about which I knew very little. But despite the setting and book-related topics, the novel felt trite. The pop culture references were initially fun to see, but grew tiresome as the story progressed. I felt like the author had a laundry list of memories she wanted to include, but didn't know when enough was enough. Traveler's checks, evening rates for long-distance phone calls, Walkmans, L'eggs pantyhose, Disneyland E tickets, phone books, pay phones, mixtapes, and Smurfs brought back memories of the early 1990s, although at times I thought maybe they were more from the 80s than the 90s. In any case, I really didn't need to have a constant reminder of the time period. 

Recommend with reservations.

The Lacuna

 

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

Fiction

2009

Finished on May 1, 2026

Rating: 4.5/5 (Excellent)

Publisher's Blurb:

In her most accomplished novel, Barbara Kingsolver takes us on an epic journey from the Mexico City of artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo to the America of Pearl Harbor, FDR, and J. Edgar Hoover. The Lacuna is a poignant story of a man pulled between two nations as they invent their modern identities.

Born in the United States, reared in a series of provisional households in Mexico—from a coastal island jungle to 1930s Mexico City—Harrison Shepherd finds precarious shelter but no sense of home on his thrilling odyssey. Life is whatever he learns from housekeepers who put him to work in the kitchen, errands he runs in the streets, and one fateful day, by mixing plaster for famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. He discovers a passion for Aztec history and meets the exotic, imperious artist Frida Kahlo, who will become his lifelong friend. When he goes to work for Lev Trotsky, an exiled political leader fighting for his life, Shepherd inadvertently casts his lot with art and revolution, newspaper headlines and howling gossip, and a risk of terrible violence.

Meanwhile, to the north, the United States will soon be caught up in the internationalist goodwill of World War II. There in the land of his birth, Shepherd believes he might remake himself in America's hopeful image and claim a voice of his own. He finds support from an unlikely kindred soul, his stenographer, Mrs. Brown, who will be far more valuable to her employer than he could ever know. Through darkening years, political winds continue to toss him between north and south in a plot that turns many times on the unspeakable breach—the lacuna—between truth and public presumption.

With deeply compelling characters, a vivid sense of place, and a clear grasp of how history and public opinion can shape a life, Barbara Kingsolver has created an unforgettable portrait of the artist—and of art itself. The Lacuna is a rich and daring work of literature, establishing its author as one of the most provocative and important of her time.

Wow. Why did I wait so long to read this remarkable story by one of my favorite authors? I was quickly pulled into Barabara Kingsolver's gorgeously written novel, filling my copy with dozens of Post-It flags. The first half of the book is quite a page-turner, and I enjoyed learning about Rivera and Kahlo's art, paintings with which I'm familiar from my art history studies. From journal entries to correspondences (to Frida), we have an intimate view of Harrison Shepherd's life from start to end. This immersive tale is filled with vivid settings, as well as realistic characters. One of the things I love about historical fiction is learning about a specific time period. Kingsolver touches on numerous points in our history from the 1930s to 1950s. This would have been a perfect 5-star read, but as I reached the three-quarter mark, it lost momentum and I struggled to stay awake for more than a few pages each night. The story regained my interest toward the end, and the finale was very satisfying.

Some favorite passages:

“Mr. Shepherd, ye cannot stop a bad thought from coming into your head. But ye need not pull up a chair and bide it sit down."

I should like to write my books only for the dear person who lies awake reading in bed until page last, then lets the open book fall gently on her face, to touch her smile or drink her tears.

The jacaranda in the courtyard has put on its bloom. This purple can't be ignored, it's like a tree singing. The walk down Londres Street to the market is a concert: the small jacaranda on the the corner hums the tuning note, then all others in the lane join in.

When Cortés’s men first arrived here, they asked in Spanish, “What is the name of this place?” From the native Mayans they received the same answer every time: “Yucatán!” In their language that word means: “I do not understand you.”

His mother had let him carry two valises: one for books, one for clothes. The clothes were a waste, outgrown instantly. He should have filled both with books. 

Algebra, a language spoken on the moon. For a boy with no plans to go there. 

If you're a Kingsolver fan and you haven't read The Lacuna, don't wait another moment. This one's a gem, and one that I will read again.

Highly recommend.

A Month in Summary - April 2026

Little Whale Cove

Depoe Bay, Oregon

April 2026

April was a busy month with all sorts of appointments and socializing. With the longer days, I'm getting out to catch the sunset, which is now occurring around 8:30. By early July, it will set around 9:00, which is so great. I love this time of year so much!

I had a pretty nice month of reading with all five books earning four stars. Three of the authors were new to me, and I look forward to reading more by each of them. I also continued with my reading of The Winds of War, which is quite long. And, I spent three weeks reading The Lacuna! I finally finished that door stopper today, so it will go on May's summary.

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

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (4/5)

Culpability by Bruce Holsinger (4/5)

Celestial Lights by Cecile Pin (4/5)

The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin (4/5)

Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton (4/5)

Movies & TV Series:

The Pitt (Season 2) - This is such an outstanding series. The writing and acting are terrific. I'm tempted to watch the first season again before the third drops.

Maigret (Seasons 1 & 2) - We watched the original series (starring Rowan Atkinson) in early 2025. This updated version is just as good!

Person of Interest (Season 2) - We watched 9 episodes of this second season and called it quits.

Adolescence - 4 part series. Very disturbing, but excellent acting. Can't say I'd recommend it, though.

Shrinking (Season Three) - I keep coming back to this show in order to watch Harrison Ford, who is very good in his role. Without him, I doubt I'd bother to watch anymore.

The Morning Show (Season Four) - Not sure why I keep watching this one either. Brain candy.

Young Wallander (Season 1 & 2) - I've never watched the original Wallander series, but now I'd like to. I enjoyed the mysteries of this updated series, but didn't care for Adam Palsson as Wallander.

Puzzlemania:

Sparks Joy:

I loved watching the return of Artemis II on April 10th. There are lots of great photos here on NASA's website.

Spring Colors in My Neighborhood:

Happy reading!

Raising Hare: A Memoir

 

Raising Hare: A Memoir by Chloe Dalton

Nonfiction

2025

Narrated by Louise Brealey

Finished on 4/29/2026

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

A moving and fascinating meditation on freedom, trust, loss, and our relationship with the natural world, explored through the story of one woman’s unlikely friendship with a wild hare.

Imagine you could hold a baby hare and bottle-feed it. Imagine that it lived under your roof and lolloped around your bedroom at night, drumming on the duvet cover when it wanted your attention. Imagine that, over two years later, it still ran in from the fields when you called it and slept in your house for hours on end and gave birth to leverets in your study. For political advisor and speechwriter Chloe Dalton, who spent lockdown deep in the English countryside, far away from her usual busy London life, this became her unexpected reality.

In February 2021, Dalton stumbles upon a newborn hare—a leveret—that had been chased by a dog. Fearing for its life, she brings it home, only to discover how impossible it is to rear a wild hare, most of whom perish in captivity from either shock or starvation. Through trial and error, she learns to feed and care for the leveret with every intention of returning it to the wilderness. Instead, it becomes her constant companion, wandering the fields and woods at night and returning to Dalton’s house by day. Though Dalton feared that the hare would be preyed upon by foxes, stoats, feral cats, raptors, and even people, she never tried to restrict it to the house. Each time the hare leaves, Chloe knows she may never see it again. Yet she also understands that to confine it would be its own kind of death.

Raising Hare chronicles their journey together, while also taking a deep dive into the lives and nature of hares, and the way they have been viewed historically in art, literature, and folklore. We witness first-hand the joy at this extraordinary relationship between human and animal, which serves as a reminder that the best things, and most beautiful experiences, arise when we least expect them.

I did not expect to enjoy Raising Hare was well as I did! When I first learned about Dalton's memoir, I associated it with H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald, which I read in 2017. (Does anyone else look back on a review with astonishment that it was written almost a decade ago rather than two or three years??) While I liked Macdonald's book, it's not one that moved me with the same tenderness as Raising Hare. 

Dalton educates her readers on the differences between hares and rabbits, as well as other details about the life and history of the hare. I have deep respect for the author who rescued the leveret, but did not cage or attempt to adopt it as a pet. She did not name the small creature, nor did she confine it to her home. I thought it was remarkable that once old enough to leave the safety of Dalton's home, it returned day after day, joining Dalton in the house, eating the oats provided for nourishment, as well as giving birth to its own leverets behind the curtains in Chloe's study. Each time the hare disappeared for a few weeks, I felt a sense of foreboding, worried that it had been attacked by a fox or raptor (or run over by a car or tractor), and breathed a sigh of relief when it returned from its adventures. 

Part memoir, part natural science, Raising Hare is both entertaining and informative. It's a beautiful story that I won't soon forget. The audiobook is read by Louise Brealey, whose lovely narration added to my enjoyment. 

Highly recommend!

Note: I understand the print edition includes illustrations. All the more reason to order a gift copy in order to take a peek before wrapping!

Looking Back - Stargirl

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.

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Fiction

2000

Finished on 6/28/2002

Rating: 4.5/5 (Terrific!)

Publisher's Blurb:

A celebration of nonconformity; a tense, emotional tale about the fleeting, cruel nature of popularity--and the thrill and inspiration of first love. 

Leo Borlock follows the unspoken rule at Mica Area High School: don't stand out--under any circumstances! Then Stargirl arrives at Mica High and everything changes--for Leo and for the entire school. After 15 years of home schooling, Stargirl bursts into tenth grade in an explosion of color and a clatter of ukulele music, enchanting the Mica student body.

But the delicate scales of popularity suddenly shift, and Stargirl is shunned for everything that makes her different. Somewhere in the midst of Stargirl's arrival and rise and fall, normal Leo Borlock has tumbled into love with her.

In a celebration of nonconformity, Jerry Spinelli weaves a tense, emotional tale about the fleeting, cruel nature of popularity--and the thrill and inspiration of first love.

My Original Thoughts (2002):

This is a fantastic YA novel. Almost as good as Lois Lowry's gem, The Giver. Beautiful passages. Couldn't put it down. Borrowed a copy, but need to buy my own.

My Current Thoughts:

Not my usual genre, but I remember enjoying this book quite well. I think I recommended it to a lot of parents while working at Barnes & Noble.