I was lucky enough to attend a zoom presentation by Laura Gehl and won this book as a door prize. She did not ask for a review, but it was so great, I had to share.
Title: Saving Delicia
Author: Laura Gehl
Illustrator: Patricia Metola
Publisher: Flyaway Books
Publication Date: April 9, 2024
Book Description:
When the last delicia tree is in danger of extinction, a young girl creates a seed bank as a surprise for Old Otis, whose stories have inspired her. Kari’s favorite parts of summer are eating juicy fruit from the delicia tree and listening to stories from Old Otis. But now the last remaining delicia is in danger. What if this beloved tree dies out? Is there anything one girl can do? With inspiration, information, and a pocketful of seeds, Kari sets out to craft a surprise for Otis―and for the future. This tender story celebrates the connections between generations, emphasizing that small steps can have a big impact when one looks beyond the present. An author’s note about seed banks around the world is included.
My Thoughts:
Gehl uses a fake fruit to tell the story of the very real problem problem many plants are facing. I love that it shows a kid taking a positive action to change the world. The book deals with serious issues like death and climate change without making it too heavy for kids. The bright pictures are both whimsical and touching. I think kids will love the dog. The book also includes information about seed banks at the end.
“Libraries were full of ideas—perhaps the most dangerous and powerful of all weapons.” ― Sarah J. Maas, Throne of Glass
Goodreads Synopsis:
In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king’s champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien.
The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass—and it’s there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena’s fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.
My Thoughts:
I read this one as part of a challenge to read books that have been on my tbr pile the longest. I don’t why I waited so long. It was so good! I read a lot of fantasy novels with young, strong, female protagonists. But, Celaena stands out from the rest. Even though she’s faced many hardships and has lethal skills, Celaena still finds enjoyment out of life and holds true to her ethics. She loves dogs, reading, dressing up, and going to parties like many girls. She just happens to fight some dark forces along the way.
Reasons I liked Throne of Glass:
Celaena is incredibly relatable for an assassin
Even though some horrible things are happening in this world, there’s a thread of hopefulness throughout the story
Captain of the Guard, Chaol is a perfect combination of tough and kind
This is week two of my new blog feature where I review books I read prior to starting the blog.
Today’s Book: Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie
Publication date: January 1, 2004
Date Read: May 8, 2009
My Rating: 5 Stars
Favorite Quote:
“Your cat just got cat hair on me.” “It’s only fair,” Min said. “Your suit just got expensive suit lint on him.” ― Jennifer Crusie, Bet Me
Goodreads Synopsis:
Minerva Dobbs knows that happily-ever-after is a fairy tale, especially with a man who asked her to dinner to win a bet. Even if he is gorgeous and successful Calvin Morrisey. Cal knows commitment is impossible, especially with a woman as cranky as Min Dobbs. Even if she does wear great shoes and keeps him on his toes. When they say good-bye at the end of their evening, they cut their losses and agree never to see each other again.
But Fate has other plans, and it’s not long before Min and Cal meet again. Soon, they’re dealing with a jealous ex-boyfriend, Krispy Kreme donuts, a determined psychologist, chaos theory, a freakishly intelligent cat, Chicken Marsala, and more risky propositions than either of them ever dreamed of. Including the biggest gamble of all—true love.
My Thoughts:
This was one of the first books I discovered on goodreads. It was number one on a list of contemporary romances. It’s been fourteen years since I read Bet Me, and nearly twenty since it was published. It’s still the book I use as the standard for all other humorous contemporary romances. I was shocked to see how long ago I read it, because so many of the scenes are still so clear to me. This book is so funny, yet the romance is touching. Years later, there are still scenes that melt my heart just thinking about them. I love it when characters show small gestures that make them perfect for each other, like when Cal pulls a spoon out of his jacket for MIn’s ice cream.
As you’ve probably noticed, Nicole’s Nook has a new look. I finally sat down to took time over February break to add a new theme and categorize my posts more thoughtfully. It is now much easier to use the menu to search for book reviews by genre. I have consistently posted my favorite book of the month since I started the blog in August of 2021. That leaves out a lot of great books I read before then. So, I thought it would be fun to search through my goodreads and share some of my highest rated books prior to starting Nicole’s Nook.
Today’s book: The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel
Cover
Publication Date: July 21, 2020
Date Read: January 2, 2021
My rating: 4 Stars
Favorite Quote: “There’s something almost miraculous about seeing a child’s eyes light up when you hand him a book that intrigues him. I’ve always thought that it’s those children—the ones who realize that books are magic—who will have the brightest lives.” ― Kristin Harmel, The Book of Lost Names
Goodreads Synopsis:
Eva Traube Abrams, a semi-retired librarian in Florida, is shelving books one morning when her eyes lock on a photograph in a magazine lying open nearby. She freezes; it’s an image of a book she hasn’t seen in sixty-five years—a book she recognizes as The Book of Lost Names.
The accompanying article discusses the looting of libraries by the Nazis across Europe during World War II—an experience Eva remembers well—and the search to reunite people with the texts taken from them so long ago. The book in the photograph, an eighteenth-century religious text thought to have been taken from France in the waning days of the war, is one of the most fascinating cases. Now housed in Berlin’s Zentral- und Landesbibliothek library, it appears to contain some sort of code, but researchers don’t know where it came from—or what the code means. Only Eva holds the answer—but will she have the strength to revisit old memories and help reunite those lost during the war?
As a graduate student in 1942, Eva was forced to flee Paris after the arrest of her father, a Polish Jew. Finding refuge in a small mountain town in the Free Zone, she begins forging identity documents for Jewish children fleeing to neutral Switzerland. But erasing people comes with a price, and along with a mysterious, handsome forger named Rémy, Eva decides she must find a way to preserve the real names of the children who are too young to remember who they really are. The records they keep in The Book of Lost Names will become even more vital when the resistance cell they work for is betrayed and Rémy disappears.
My Thoughts
While I haven’t done a review of this book before, it has shown up on several lists. If you are a regular visitor to Nicole’s Nook, you know I read a lot of books set in WWII. This one has stayed with me for a couple of reasons. First, it’s reverance for books and preserving identity. Eva and Remy not only create new identities fore refugees, but they also create a coded record of their real identies, for those too young to remember. Second, I love the characterization of Eva. In the present timeline, we see her as a quiet librarian, who most would perceive as living a boring life. But, we see in the past that she took extraordinary risks to save countless people. It really shows the assumptions society makes about the elderly. Lastly, I love the relationship between Remy and Eva. It adds just the right touch of romance without distracting from the main story.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing with a free ebook copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.
Description:
Jordan, Drew, Liam, Maury, and their friends from Riverdale Academy Day School are heading out on a school trip to Paris. As an aspiring artist himself, Jordan can’t wait to see all the amazing art in the famous City of Lights.
But when their trusted faculty guides are replaced at the last minute, the school trip takes an unexpected–and hilarious–turn. Especially when trying to find their way around a foreign city ends up being almost as tricky as navigating the same friendships, fears, and differences that they struggle with at home.
Will Jordan and his friends embrace being exposed to a new language, unfamiliar food, and a different culture? Or will they all end up feeling like the “new kid”?
My Thoughts
Usually when the first book in a series is as unique as The New Kid, the rest of the series can be a dissapppointment because it doesn’t feel as fresh. But this series keeps getting better. I would recommend reading them in order, so that you know the characters and their relationships.
The kids at Riverdale Academy Day School don’t go on run-of-the-mill field trips. They go places like Paris, Alaska and the Civil Rights Trail. Jordan is in the group that goes to Paris. In this new setting, the kids discover things about each other they never knew.
It is tough to find books with the silliness kids love while also making them think. Craft openly says he writes books he wished he had as a kid, and kids today are grateful to have them. School Trip is filled with puns and dad jokes that had me laughing out loud. But, it also addresses head-on the issues POC face. I loved that the kids had a natural, open dialogue about their feelings.
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.
But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.
My Thoughts
Based on the cover, I was expecting more of a light read. This book does have a lot of humor, but it also has depth. It touches on many difficult issues: sexual assault, suicide, homophobia, grief and sexism. Yet, the story is so well written that it does not come off as depressing.
What I liked about this book:
It’s nice balance of humor and drama
the dog, six-thirty, is a great character
It connected cooking and science in an interesting way
Thank you to Netgalley for providing with a free ebook copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.
Description:
Why did Henry VIII marry six times? Why did Anne Boleyn have to die? Why did Elizabeth I’s courtiers hail her as a goddess come to earth?
The dramas of courtly love have captivated centuries of readers and dreamers. Yet too often they’re dismissed as something existing only in books and song–those old legends of King Arthur and chivalric fantasy.
Not so. In this ground-breaking history, Sarah Gristwood reveals the way courtly love made and marred the Tudor dynasty. From Henry VIII declaring himself as the ‘loyal and most assured servant’ of Anne Boleyn to the poems lavished on Elizabeth I by her suitors, the Tudors re-enacted the roles of the devoted lovers and capricious mistresses first laid out in the romances of medieval literature. TheTudors in Love dissects the codes of love, desire and power, unveiling romantic obsessions that have shaped the history of the world.
My Thoughts:
Like many people, I am fascinated by the Tudors. Part of it is the drama. Even the most outlandish modern soap opera wouldn’t have a husband order the beheading of two wives, and these were real people! But, some of the drama is lost when you know it’s coming. I think, what keeps me coming back for more is that I am a very character-focused reader, and “characters” don’t get much more complex than the Tudors. Since there are so many conflicting accounts and interpretations of events, one version’s villian is the next’s hero.
In the middle ages, the stories of King Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot were the lens through which love was viewed. Gristwood delves deeply into how these beliefs lead the Tudors to make irrational decisions, as well as using it as a tool to exercise their power.
This was a thouroghly researched book. Gristwood does a great job of guiding the reader to understand her conclusions, while still remaining an objective narrator. She helps the reader to look beyond their 21st century ideaology to understand medievel viewpoints. Nonfiction can read rather clinical to me, but Gristwood has an engaging voice, that feels like she’s having an intellectual conversation with the reader.
The only thing I found confusing was the sheer volume of people discussed in the book. I always struggle with this in books spanning over a long period of time in history. First of all, there tends to be a lot of similar names. Secondly, most titles are inherited, so as time progresses the same person is referred to by a different name or the same name could be different people. Obviously, Gristwood cannot control this, I just know that I personally get frustrated by this at times, and thought it was worth noting.
In conclusion, I would recommend this to anyone interested in English History. This is the first book I’ve read by Sarah Gristwood, and I intend to read more.
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly post sponsored by artsyreadergirl for people who love books and lists. The topic this week is favorite books of 2022. Note: these are books I read in 2022, not published in 2022. I’ve included links to my reviews.
As their name implies, Jaundice and Kale Bland live boring lives. They rarely leave the house, eat oatmeal everyday, never wear color and their favorite book is a dictionary. Then one day, they’re dragged out of their boring lives and drawn into adventure when a band of female pirates kidnaps them.
My Thoughts:
I love the use of language in this book. They’re are vocabulary words at the beginning of each chapter. It’s filled with puns, irony and wit. This was a very quick read, but it’s a book you want to read over and over because you’ll pick up on new things with each reading.
Robot Dreams is a graphic novel with few words. When a dog orders a robot in the mail, they become fast friends. Then, a trip to the beach leaves Robot rusty. Dog doesn’t know how to fix his robot friend, and ends up abandoning him on the beach. Dog tries to replace his robot friend, but no one is the same. Meanwhile Robot is daydreaming about better places while he is left lying on the beach.
My Thoughts:
As a reading teacher, I normally wouldn’t recommend a book with so few words. But this book lends itself to a lot of meaningful discussion, while also appealing to kids with it’s playful characters. This book could really work for any age. Young children would enjoy the fun animal characters, while older kids would pick up on the bigger themes about friendship and loss.
