Cookies, cookies everywhere

I hope to post pictures soon of our cookie-baking adventures this Christmas season. Until I do, ponder this: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/magazine/21food-t-000.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=tough%20cookie&st=cse

She is my role model!

K

Knitting Under the Influence

I almost wrote off Knitting Under the Influence by Claire LaZebnik as a flimsy chick lit book without enough substance to hold up its cover. It took a few pages, but I'm glad I stuck with it because I got to enjoy a heartwarming story about the work and relationship struggles of three friends. Single girls Kathleen, Lucy and Sari meet without fail every Sunday for their knitting circle where they eat, drink a lot, talk, and of course knit. The depth in the story comes from Sari, whose experience growing up with an autistic brother propels her daily work as an autistic counselor, helping kids develop language skills and coping techniques, something her brother never had the opportunity to do. Her budding relationship with Jason, the father of one of her patients, creates internal conflict, for she remembers Jason humilitating her brother in high school. The other women's stories are less substantive, but somewhat amusing--Lucy's story centers on her relationship with James, for whom she starts kntting a sweater (hasn't she ever heard about not making anything for her man until she gets the ring?). Her boyfriend James is a jerk, who the reader has to deal with until Lucy comes to her senses. Kathleen decides to marry for money after she is kicked out of her movie star twin sisters' house and loses her job with them as their publicist's assistant.

Overall, an entertaining, lighthearted read.

K

Confessions of a Contractor

As readers of this blog may have noticed, I don't do male authors. I make a point of not choosing books written by men. Why? Because generally I don't care for the male perspective in escapist fiction (I mean, I'm trying to escape, I don't care what the other side thinks!), and usually male writers get women completely wrong. The few times I have reneged on my no man rule, I have been very sorry (My Legendary Girlfriend by Mike Gayle is one example).

So I don't know why I picked up Confessions of a Contractor by Richard Murphy--maybe it was the salacious cover, maybe it was the similarity of the story to an old Jane Green novel (I think it was Swapping Lives where one of the women thinks about starting something with their carpenter). I don't know why I gave this book a chance, but it was well worth the risk.

Henry Sullivan is a down-to-earth contractor who renovates the homes of the rich and semi-famous in LA (which he refers to as, not City of Angels, but City of Houses). After the completion of a particularly large job, he vows to takes some time off, but instead ends up agreeing to start two new projects at the same time in the homes of two women who used to be best friends. During the course of working in the two homes, he starts a relationship with Sally, while also falling for married Rebecca, all the while trying to uncover what ended the friendship between the two. Interspersed among the relationship stories is notes on how to determine if your marriage is strong enough to withstand the stress of a remodel and information on contractors and construction in general.

Everyone knows that the first rule in home improvement is to never sleep with your contractor, but this novel explores what happens when you break it through insightful observation and subtle humor. Discovering what ruined various relationships is the driving force behind the story, and I enjoyed seeing how all the pieces fell together in the end. This was an amazingly terrific read, and I eagerly await Murphy's next book.

K

Stuck in the Middle

Over the summer, I read a christian chick lit book entitled Stuck in the Middle: A Sister-to-Sister Novel by Virginia Smith. Stuck between gorgeous and pregnant older sister Allie and successful younger sister Tori, middle sister Joan is single, living at home with her mother and grandmother, and working an uneventful job as a rent-to-own furniture store manager. But life starts to get exciting when a young doctor moves in next door. She begins a friendship with the promising doctor, eventually going to church with him, and questions her own views on the Christian walk. Of course, there is a romantic happy ending that won't disappoint. This was a delightful book by an author I was unfamiliar with previously.

K

Knit Two

This afternoon I finished Knit Two by Kate Jacobs, the sequel to The Friday Night Knitting Club. A couple of days ago while reading reviews for new adult fiction books, I read the review of Knit Two, even though our library had already purchased it. I think Margaret Hanes summed up the book perfectly by saying that the novel was about grief and how different people handle their varying reactions to this powerful human emotion. The book picks up the story of the members of the Friday Night Knitting Club five years after the end of the last book, so readers get to see what becomes of Dakota, James, Peri, KC, Catherine, Anita, Lucie and Darwin. I won't say too much about this one, since it came out just a week ago, but it was nice to see how things turned out, especially after reading the first book so recently.

Above all else, this book makes me want to knit!

K

High School Musical 3: Senior Year

While my parents graciously watched our sleeping children the day after Thanksgiving, A and I finally got to see High School Musical 3: Senior Year. You might think it strange for a couple of upper twentysomethings to be so excited to see a film about high schoolers aimed at the tween crowd. That is no doubt true, but after you watch something (like HSM 1 & 2) so much that you have memorized all the words to all the songs, you become interested in the next chapter of the story. (And as our friend Kim now knows, having been the poor recipient of our verbal movie critique, we also spent the whole film watching for the backup dancers who were in the first two films--and we got mad when there was so much action, we couldn't find them!)

Just think of this as our way of screening the film before we let Addie see it--and she will definitely not be seeing it when it comes out on DVD. Too serious, too much real sports action (those basketball players can be rough, I should know), too much talk of the future (which is too much for a little girl who doesn't understand the meaning of "tomorrow" or "yesterday").

Otherwise, the film didn't disappoint, except in its choice of lyrics for the final song (I was practically yelling "No!" over and over again in the theater; don't worry, we were almost the only ones in there) and the final shot of the film. Totally stupid. But other than those two oversights, HSM3 delivered--good songs that have stayed in our heads for days, nice dance moves, and enough cheesiness for us to debate for days.

Fantastic.

K

A Bad Bride's Tale

I read Polly Williams's first book, The Yummy Mummy, right after I returned to work the first time. It was a great book about a pregnant Englishwoman being left by her boyfriend and having to figure out how to raise her child on her own. (I was thinking the other day about how I don't remember how it ended--I can't remember if she went back to her boyfriend or met someone new--I hate how I can't remember anything!) Williams's next book was A Bad Bride's Tale. This novel follows Stevie, a thirtysomething Englishwoman as she prepares to marry Jez, her longtime boyfriend. Even though she has massive doubts leading up to the big day, she stumbles through the vows and marries Jez. Quickly, things start to fall apart. Their honeymoon is even less than idylic, as Jez befriends a former rival of Stevie's who just happens to be at the same resort. Within weeks of the wedding, Stevie moves out and goes back home to stay with her family, support her younger sister as she deals with a premature baby, and spends more time with an old friend, meeting up with him in Oxford and New York. You can basically guess how it all ends, but I was delighted to be regaled with several twists and turns which left me wondering if really the book wouldn't end happily.

I hope Williams keeps writing--I can't wait for her next book!

K

P.S. I Love You

Several years ago, I read Cecelia Ahern's first novel, P.S. I Love You. I fell in love with this book--the story was incredible and sweet, about a young woman receiving letters from her husband after he dies from brain cancer, and the fact that the author was my same age blew me away--how could someone my age write a book with this much knowledge beyond her years? I'm no fan of Hilary Swank, but I looked forward to seeing the movie when it came out. I finally got my chance to sit down and watch it on Saturday night--the kids were in bed, the husband was out doing errands. And let me tell you, I cried for two hours straight. I remember the book being sad and funny by turns, I certainly didn't cry through the whole thing. But since I had all that backstory from the book that the film didn't include, I couldn't help it. The film differs from the book; the characters live in New York instead of Ireland, although Ireland is a character in the film. The film left out some memorable moments I recall from the book, such as the different adventures the husband leads the wife to experience after he is gone. I don't remember if the heroine ends up dating someone in the book or not, but that storyline runs throughout the film. The film was good on its own, but the book is (always) better. I think I'm ready to read it again.

K

PS--Ahern's other novels are good too--I have not read her latest, There's No Place Like Here, but Rosie Dunne and If You Could See Me Now are excellent.

The Friday Night Knitting Club

I don't like when books end in a way that totally shocks me (see Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner). The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs totally caught me off guard. I guess it was my own naivety that I didn't see it coming, or at least acknowledge the signs, but I typically read books that have happy endings. Oh well.

This book centers on the owner of a knitting shop in Manhattan (I swear, somehow all the books I read take place in either Manhattan or London), Georgia Walker, and her preteen daughter. Georgia started the knitting business as a way to make money while raising her daughter alone. Over the years, her customers have become quite loyal, making her little shop successful. Eventually some regulars happen to come on a Friday night to hang out in the shop and knit, and the Friday Night Knitting Club is born. We follow each of the members and discover the particular trials in each of their lives.

This novel demonstrates the power of friends who become family. I really enjoyed it, despite the ending, and am eagerly awaiting the next book, Knit Two.

K

P.S.--I don't feel like I need to worry about ruining the endings to books I read and blog about here because I'm always six months behind the rest of the world in reading them. But if I have ruined the ending for you or worse, made you not want to start the book to begin with (how very un-librarian of me!), I sincerely apologize.

Time of My Life

Recently, I finished Time of My Life by Alison Winn Scotch. This little gem made it's way to me right when I needed it--it's a beautiful thing when a book you've been waiting for makes its way to you when you are just finishing another (maybe it's just librarians who feel this way)!

Jill is a suburban wife and mother, bored with her marriage but filled with joy for her little girl. One day after a particularly deep massage, she wakes up seven years in the past, dating her old boyfriend, the one who got away. Possessing the gift of hindsight, she avoids the pitfalls that tripped her up the first time around, excelling at work and nurturing her relationship, thinking that she will change her life completely. But traveling to the past doesn't always fix everything--she realizes her old boyfriend really isn't the one for her, and she seeks out her future husband who she's been bumping into, falling in love with him all over again.

This was a fantastic chick lit book that truly answers "What if...?" I don't usually like time-travel (a typical component of science fiction novels, which I detest), but I realized halfway through, this is not the first time-travel chick lit book I've enjoyed--see The Boy I Loved Before by Jenny Colgan.

K

The Last Lecture

Taking a break from fiction, I read The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. Everyone in the world has heard about this book, and about the author's passing earlier this year. My sweet friend Paula gave this to me for my birthday, so I started it, wanting to figure out what everyone was raving about.

This book chronicles Dr. Pausch's last lecture, achieving your childhood dreams, which he gave after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. All in all, the entire book is the stories and thoughts and ideas that he wanted to pass onto his three young children, so they would have some wisdom from him as they grow and so they could come to know their father, even though they were too young to remember much of him.

The last section of the book is specific letters to each child, and I cried all the way through them. The idea of not being around for your kids as they grow up and to see what kind of people they turn into is simply heartbreaking. This is, of course, the nonfiction counterpart to The Things I Want My Daughters to Know. Both books make me want to write down all my stories and all my advice (limited right now, since I'm still learning myself), just in case I'm not there to pass it on in person to my girls.

K

The Ten-Year Nap

The Ten-Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer follows four women whose 10-year old sons all attend the same private school in Manhattan. All four women gave up significant careers to be stay-at-home mothers. After ten years out of the workforce, some of them are feeling unfulfilled, now that their children are growing and don't need their constant attention as much. In the end, all of these women come to terms with their dissatisfaction and make changes which will lead them to happiness.

I am always looking for books, fiction or otherwise, in which the character returns to work after having kids and how it's the best choice for them. This basically fit the bill, although I wished it would have been funny. I would have enjoyed this book more if it would have been more humorous mom lit instead of literary fiction. I always have a hard time with the super-serious books.

K

The Baby Chronicles

Continuing my Christian fiction kick, I read The Baby Chronicles by Judy Baer. While Dolly Parton and Peculiar Treasures has depth, this was all fluff. Fluff that I ended up enjoying enough to finish the book.

Baer is the author of The Whitney Chronicles, the kick-off title in Harlequin's Steeple Hill Cafe imprint, designed to be their answer for Christian chick lit. The Baby Chronicles is Whitney's continuing story. After having met and married Mr. Right in the first book, this novel details Whitney's pregnancy. Two other women close to her are also having babies: a flighty coworker gets pregnant with triplets and her best friend begins the adoption process. Lots of baby humor ensues. This was somewhat fun to read after having so recently being pregnant, but that's about it.

K

Peculiar Treasures

After reading How Dolly Parton Saved My Life, I decided to seek out other newer Christian fiction books. I picked up Peculiar Treasures by Robin Jones Gunn. This is the first in her new series about Katie Weldon, one of the characters who has popped up frequently in her Sierra Jensen and Christy Miller series. (I read only a few of each of those series; my local library never had the complete sets.)

I became a fan of Gunn's when Carol, the cataloger at my first library, asked my mom and I to read a new book that was labeled Christian fiction but had a somewhat steamy cover. Both of us really enjoyed reading that book, Secrets, and subsequently read every book we could by that imprint, Palisades. (Gunn wrote several for Palisades, connecting all of them by giving secondary characters the opportunity to star in their own books.) Palisades has since gone away, much to my regret.

Anyway, back to Peculiar Treasures. This book was everything I remember about strong Christian fiction. The book begins with Katie attending Christy and Todd's wedding (something Christy Miller fans have been waiting for for a very long time). She then starts back for another year at college, undecided about her major and future plans, both relationship- and career-wise. The emotional angst of the novel centers around her relationship with Rick, her kind of almost boyfriend. By the end of the book, Rick and Katie have taken a positive step forward in their relationship and Katie has firmly decided on a major. The next in the series, On a Whim, was due out in October.

K

How Dolly Parton Saved My Life: A Novel of the Jelly Jar Sisterhood

From the new fiction shelves, I selected How Dolly Parton Saved My Life: A Novel of the Jelly Jar Sisterhood by Charlotte Connors. This inspirational fiction novel follows four women as they start the Jelly Jar Catering Company in Atlanta. Each character is followed, their Christian beliefs briefly examined, as they build lasting friendships with each other, in addition to a successful company. I wanted to read more about the events they catered, but it was a basically entertaining novel overall.

K

Not Quite a Mom

Complete escapest fiction, thy name is Not Quite a Mom by Kirsten Sawyer.

When browsing the newly returned new fiction shelves for something to read for my first days back at work, I came across this pink book. My usual test for a new book that looks flaky is to read the first page. This one made me laugh by the end of the second paragraph, so I had to give it a chance. I'm actually glad I did.

The plot centers on a woman working in the entertainment industry, disappointed by her current position as fact checker, and dating a wonderfully amazing (but slightly boring and self-centered) lawyer. Her world changes drastically when her best friend from high school, with whom she has not spoken in 10 years, dies and leaves her as guardian of her teenage daughter. The story delightfully winds around her engagement to her lawyer boyfriend, becoming interested in her senior year prom date, and getting to know her charge, Tiffany. Incredibly, the storyline is not completely predictiable, and I really enjoyed the book.

The only part of the story that wasn't appropriately addressed was the grief of all the characters involved. I realize that this was a lighthearted romance, so heavy grief scenes wouldn't have fit, but it seems like a child's grief over losing her mother would have impacted more situations.

K

Petite Anglaise

After seeing my Cville friends in July, I started Petite Anglaise by Catherine Sanderson, which I was given as a ARC by Lissa. I was excited to switch to nonfiction for a change of pace.

This book chronicles an English woman who grows up longing for all things French. She arranges to study abroad in France during college, and eventually moves there permanently. She soon establishes a life in France, landing a job and an apartment, and starting a relationship with a Frenchman. They move in together, and several years later have a child. Their life centers on the day-to-day: who has to take their daughter Tadpole to the babysitter, who has to work late, what they should eat for dinner. The author notices that she and her boyfriend are drifting apart but doesn't know what to do about it. One day, on a whim, she starts a blog, calling herself Petite Anglaise, a nickname given to her by a former boyfriend's father. She starts writing about her adventures as a Englishwoman living in France, and attracts many followers. As her relationship with Mr. Frog (her boyfriend) goes further south, she meets one of her readers face-to-face and begins a relationship. This new man is another English person living in France. Predictably, this rebound relationship doesn't work out, and she is left with the remains of her life, Mr. Frog having moved into an apartment across the street.

The best part of this book was the author's musings about how blogging affects the blogger. Was she creating situations just so she would have something titillating to post on her blog, or was she simply reporting what happened to her? Also, halfway through her relationship with James, the Englishman, she realizes that being with another English person goes against her reasons for moving to France in the first place. Being with James keeps her English, instead of allowing her to completely immerse herself in french culture. I think this was an amazingly keen observation.

At the end of the book, I'm mostly left feeling sad for Tadpole, a little girl who now has to shuttle back and forth between two parents who really love her. I felt bad that life as she knew it had to change so drastically, and seemingly for a poor reason (especially considering Petite's new relationship fizzled).

K

The Beach House

After I regretfully said goodbye to the characters in Things I Want My Daughters to Know, I was eager to start the newest Jane Green book, The Beach House.

I adore Jane Green books. Each of her novels has been stellar. I have been known to obsessively check the library catalog for new publications. Now that I am a fiction selector, I get to read the advance listings and know even earlier.

But, back to The Beach House. An eccentric older woman owns a huge mansion on the beach, which she turns into a bed and breakfast to keep from losing the house to the bank. People from different walks of life come to stay, ending with the requisite romance and parent/child affirmations.

As much as I was looking forward to it, this Green disappointed. I didn't care about the characters as much as I normally do. Oh well, I'm sure the next one will be great.

K

Things I Want My Daughters to Know

In the month before I returned to work (I think...), I read Things I Want My Daughters to Know by Elizabeth Noble. This story centers on four sisters whose mother dies of cancer in the opening pages. Their mother left each daughter with something special, but most importantly, she leaves a package of letters she has written over the years to her daughters about all the things she wants them to know (hence the book's title). The mom describes how each was born, how she and their fathers met, how her parents met, information about each of their fathers, just information she felt it was important to pass on. As each daughter has her turn with the journal, the novel follows the first year after their mother's death--one daughter learns to commit to a relationship, another rededicates her marriage, one searches for a place to call home, and one, the youngest, navigates her first relationship in high school.

This book was awesome (which isn't a very dignified word for a book review, but whatever). It was so good, so encompassing, it drew me in completely and I hated for this book to end. I just hope that I get around to writing down all the things I want my girls to know (before I forget them).

Last year, I read Noble's Alphabet Weekends, and couldn't wait for her next book to come out. My friend Kim has recently read one of her older books and said it was excellent--I need to put The Friendship Test and The Reading Group on my to-read list!

K

The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted

After finishing Certain Girls in May 2008, I moved onto the newest Elizabeth Berg book, a collection of short stories entitled The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted. Having enjoyed numerous Berg books, I was quite disappointed by this collection. Perhaps it was because they were short stories, but I couldn't stand most of the protagonists after the first two stories. It just got so bad that I didn't even finish it.
Hopefully Berg will publish a full-length novel soon, so I can get back to liking her again.

k

Certain Girls

As I look over my posts, I notice the lack of any reading. From last fall until April, I simply could not read. I couldn't focus my brain on anything longer than a magazine article. I tried to start a couple of books, but nothing kept my attention.

And for reasons unbeknowst to me, I was able to pick up a book in April and not only start to read it, but also finish it.

And now since May, I have been reading quite a lot. Having lots of sit down time nursing during the day and in the middle of the night lets you accomplish quite a bit of reading. I've been trying to keep a paper list, since I haven't been keeping up with things here, but I know I've left some out (which is probably good, in some cases). I've been wavering on whether or not to annotate my list, but I think I will, as much as I can remember.

So, on to the first:
Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner
finished mid-May, 2008

This book is the follow-up to Weiner's first book, Good In Bed. Before Certain Girls came out, I went back and read Weiner's first two books, so I would be up-to-date. It's nice to be able to see where these characters are now, several years after the first book takes place. Now, six months later, of course the only thing I can remember is the end, which I hated. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, so I can talk in only vague terms, but really, I cannot believe Weiner did what she did. And, since it happened so close to the end of the book, I felt like Weiner rushed to the last page, not fully developing the aftermath. Maybe she was leaving herself open to another sequel, but I thought it was pathetic.
Regardless, it was interesting reading this novel about the relationship between a mother and her pre-teen daughter on the cusp of having my second daughter.

K

More cookies

I don't know why we have been so fixated on cookies lately, but we have been experimenting with all sorts of new recipes.

Because of a surplus in cake mixes, I tried out a couple variations of Cake Mix Cookies, first with chocolate mix and second with swirled chocolate/caramel chips:

After these inital first successes, we excitedly made more batches, only to yield completely disappointing results. We don't know what we did differently, but now we cannot get this recipe to work! So I've basically thrown out this recipe and have gone back to the standard Tollhouse recipe.

K

Crafting as of late

I haven't read a single book since finishing The Rest of Her Life. I tried reading Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, but I knew I didn't want to waste my time reading a million pages about how kids so picked on this one student that he lashed out in a school shooting. Just too much.

So instead of reading being my stress relief, I have returned to the yarn. I've completed several projects and keep buying the yarn for more!

First, I greatly expanded my knitting skills by making my first knitted garment, a baby bolero from OneSkein. I totally messed up the edging, so the fronts do not match. It's so wonky I can't even give it as a gift. Oh well, it was good practice.

Next, I finished a baby blanket for the newest Baby Riley two and a half years after buying the yarn with the intention of making it for her older brother. I really like how this turned out. A couple of days ago, I finished a crocheted cardigan for Baby Brooklyn. It is a 3-6 month size (the only size the pattern was written in), so I hope it still fits! Even though it took me many tries to get the neckline right, I liked this pattern and would totally make it again.

And now I'm working on a cardigan for Addie. It's going to be light blue and edged in a contrast color (but I don't know which one yet). I'm crocheting it with alpaca yarn and it is so soft!

Even though it seems like most people prefer knitting, I feel like crochet comes so much more naturally to me. I can do both, but I guess I just have more confidence in my crochet skills. Next in the lineup is a knitted toddler dress for Addie in some pink alpaca yarn. I'm getting the right sized needles today after work, so I hope to cast on tonight.

K

Christmas baking--a bit late

Although we didn't decorate for Christmas besides putting up the tree, we did quite a lot of baking around Christmastime.

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies and Three Layer Bars for Mother's Day Out teachers:

Shaped Chocolate Pretzel Rods (using Wilton candy molds) for Aaron's work colleagues:

Somehow we didn't take pictures of our favorite new recipe, Caramel Chocolate Drops. These take a bit of work, but they are awesome cookies!!

K

my new favorite thing

I love the website Ravelry. I finally got my invite yesterday after probably 2-3 weeks on the waiting list. It's so fantastic, it makes me wonder why I didn't think of it first! My favorite parts are how you can post the projects you are working on, including the yarn you used and hook/needle size. The pattern and yarn fields are searchable, so I can search for a pattern I am interested in and find others who have already completed the project with a different yarn or color. This morning I just searched by yarn and found all the projects I hadn't considered when starting my latest project using Red Heart Baby Clouds. This is a dream come true for knitters and crocheters! I encourage everyone to sign up for it, and if you are already a member, my username is kewillia.

K

The Rest of Her Life

After finishing My Sister's Keeper, I could hardly return to my typical breezy chick lit novels, so I searched for something a bit more serious. I read The Rest of Her Life by Laura Moriarty. Since nothing could ever compare to My Sister's Keeper, this book was a disappointment, but when viewed independently, it was an okay book. This novel follows the story of what happens to a family when the daughter accidentially kills another student while driving. The daughter is obviously scarred and irrevocably changed, but the novel spends too much time on the mom and what she is thinking and flashbacks to her damaging childhood. It was just too depressing, too devoid of hope and optimism. I didn't really enjoy it, and wasted time finishing it.

K

My Sister's Keeper

In recent history, never have I read a book so fast. This amazing novel by Jodi Picoult, which put her on the literary map (for most people), follows the story of a thirteen year old girl named Anna whose reason for being born was to provide her older sister Kate with the cells, marrow and organs to keep her sister alive and hopefully cured of a rare form of leukemia. Instead of continuing to be a constant donor for her sister, Anna decides to take a stand and sue her parents for medical emancipation so she can make decisions for her own body, even if they are the same decisions her parents would have chosen. I loved the characterization of the sisters' relationship, even when it means for one to live, the other has to suffer and perhaps even die.

I hate to be so banal and say the writing was wonderful, but there just aren't any better words for it. It was wonderful, incredible, unbelievable. It was certainly the best book I have read all year. The ending was tremendous, and left me a river of tears even after I finished reading. Picoult's writing left me wanting more, and I'm sad I finished it so quickly. I have read reviews of Picoult's other works, and as is her habit, she illuminates tough ethical questions. While reading this book, I couldn't figure out what I would do in this situation. As a parent, you would do anything to save your children, but I guess there are even limits on that. I can't blame Anna and Kate's parents for simply trying to keep their family together the only way they knew how.

A thought-challenging, stimulating read that kept me turning the pages.

K