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Tuck Everlasting – Natalie Babbitt

5 stars – I thoroughly liked this one, a story about a young girl and a family trying to hide a secret – they can live forever. I can’t quite say loved, as I have loved other books, but I liked it enough to give it five stars. It was very close to love. The authors artistic use of language was complimented by a storyline that had continued movement throughout the book. It is a middle grade novel but that is just my speed right now. I liked the ending , it left you things to contemplate while still having some sense of finality to it.

The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro

Objectively, I think many would find this book boring. So much talk of how to properly “butler” (or is it “butle”?) . And yet, I don’t mind, and in fact find it fascinating. I did want to punch the main character on more than one occasion. 😉 Very much a slow burn. The narrator of the audiobook reminded me a bit of Molesley from Downton Abbey which helped. (I just realized I was listening to it on 1.25x speed – it sounds much less like Molesley on normal. 🙂 ) I gave it 4 stars.

Frontier Follies – Ree Drummond

Cute and funny from start to finish, as Ree often is. The only thing that shocked me was that as the star of a cooking show Ree did not know that the only sane way to cook bacon for a large family is in the oven. 😉 It’s not a completely family friendly listen, just FYI. Four stars.

The Sentence – Louise Erdrich

I usually love books by this author. I was enjoying this book until about half way, when it turned into a book on Covid, the lockdowns, politics, George Floyd, and the riots. It read like two books sloppily put together, one fiction and one non-fiction. I particularly did NOT want to be reading a book on the horrors of 2020 Covid while my own son was suffering from it in the next room (albeit a much milder version…but still). I gave it 3 stars in the end – 4 for the first half of the book, 2 for the second half.

A Higher Loyalty – James Comey

Don’t laugh, but I had very little idea who James Comey was when I picked up this book on the recommendation of a Goodreads reviewer. I stay away from the news and politics for my mental health, and I’m horrible with names. I borrowed it because I like non-fiction and memoirs about famous people. I gave this three stars – I thought it was well written enough, so I guess in reality I’m giving the book four stars and James Comey himself three 😉 . Mostly because he spent 70% of the book patting himself on the back while simultaneously saying how upstanding, moral, and forthright he was. He forgot humble, LOL. I wish he would just state the “facts” and let them speak for themselves. Then when it came time to talk about a certain president everyone loves to hate, he makes it a point to mention on various occasions his odd skin color, his hair color, and his hand size. Why? I think a man who is truly upstanding would have left those trivialities out of a book on politics and the FBI. So it all eventually started rubbing me the wrong way, despite it being somewhat entertaining.