Something Worth Doing by Jane Kirkpatrick

4 stars. Thank you to Revell, a division of Baker Publishing, for sending me this book to read and review.

Oregon +Suffragist movement= Abigail Scott Duniway's story
This book spans 1853-1912. I felt like the beginning was a little slow for me. I was transported back to my childhood of reading Little House on the Prairie books. There was a lot of heartache, challenges, and physical moves that Abigail and her family experience in the beginning of this book. She is an independent woman who takes on winning the right for women to vote. She also is a journalist, author, editor of her own newspaper, millinery owner, seamstress, business woman and public speaker. OH, yeah- and she had 6 children.

I thought this book was a great representation of trying to figure out the balance between being an independent minded woman, a mother, a wife, and a sister. Abigail didn't always come across being very present as a mother in this story, nor did she always seem over compassionate to her husband. However, maybe she couldn't be as she needed to be away from home so much regarding either her business or the fight to win the right for women to vote.

I found the frustration and the struggles Abigail had to come up against to help women gain voting rights some of the same frustration woman in current times have in regard to being seen as formidable politicians, vice presidents and even presidential candidates. When the vote doesn't get passed the first time I felt pain and defeat for Abigail (reminded me of when Hillary didn't win). I'm amazed at the ability for people to persevere and continue the fight.
I loved Abigail's determination to move forward after the first defeat in stating...
pg 267 "The only thing to displace the bitterness of defeat is the taste of victory." Abigail heard herself say those words even though she wasn't sure she believed them anymore. "We begin again. Grief cannot hold us back. We are wiser but not worn down..."

Reminder- we can never give up to fight for the rights of all humans.

 

Thanks to Revell, a division of Baker Publishing, for sending me this book to review.  

A 4 star read by Amanda Cox.  I enjoyed this book from the very beginning to the end.  I really liked the way the story unfolded both in the past and in the present.  The skipping back and forth between time periods per chapter kept me intrigued and wanting to read more.

Present day- Ivy has the job of going through her recently deceased grandma's estate.  Ivy has always wondered about her birth history as she was adopted at 3 months of age.  Her grandmother is leaving her clues to find the story she has been searching for.

1994-Harvey, the homeless/hermit in the forest, finds a baby deserted in the woods.  He has never felt loved or part of a family and this baby has changed that loneliness and emptiness.  His heart and life is full, but how is he going to take care of the baby: feed her, cloth her, and keep her housed and safe.  

Those two stories collide to find a story about a how a family and unconditional love comes from those who may not have the same blood relation/DNA.  It is a story that has a few trigger warnings: domestic violence, and infertility.  

Great writing and story!

August Reads...

    

        

August was a great month of reading for me.  Some of these books I've already posted on and some I've yet to post on in Instagram/Facebook.  However, I've been getting away from posting my monthly recaps on blog post and decided that since this month of reading was so eccentric and full of great reads I wanted to do a brief recap to really highlight some of these great reads.

14 books- 10 "hand held" books, and 4 audiobooks, 11 4 star reads and 3 5 star reads

Books I've already posted on... A Life Once Dreamed, The Switch. 

Books that will be receiving their own post as they are Advanced Reader's Copies (ARCs): Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life, Eventide by Sarah Goodman  Both very different books, but both excellent!

So lets start with the books that I'm still WOWED by...

All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson  Honest, educational, empowering memoir.  I keep thinking about how brave some authors are when they write memoir.  This author is one of them.  George has written this book to tell his story, but I really feel he wrote this book to support other kids, teens and adults who may find their own life story similar to his.  He wants people to not feel alone or abnormal.  Each chapter focuses on a specific subject or story highlighting part of the author's life.  He tackles LGBTQIA+ tough topics and experiences, but I also felt this book so beautifully showed how his family loved and accepted his black queer self.  

The two toughest chapters for me to read were on his experience with being molested and also his first sexual experience.  This honesty is needed and I really applaud George for his bravery and ability to share his full story.  

Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the US by Lenny Duncan  A very needed read for the current times.  I'm again amazed with Lenny's bravery in being totally open and honest with his story about his church/life experience.  I truly feel this book could be applied not only to church life but community and personal life.  There were so many great quotes from this book and my take away from the read was we/I need to wake up and move towards loving and care all God's people as Jesus did/does are we are in BIG trouble.  

Favorite lines from the book:

pg 18 We need justice to be the heart of our work and life, not just something we do for "God's Work Our Hands Sunday". (Side note...he isn't against "God's Work Our Hands Sunday" he is just saying it's not enough).

pg 35 Diversity is not assimilation in the same way grace is not the law.

pg 78 People are deciding not to come to our churches because we have allowed them to be country clubs where we pantomime discipleship to be German/Swedish cultural centers, no because we finally go the courage to live God's own children.

pg 125 Our churches are emptying because we have become navel-gazing social clubs that are more concerned with the fund to keep the organ alive than funds for refugees.  

Just a few more highlights...

Sometimes it is good to take a break from heavy topics and return to a reworked classic... Beauty: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley  A great YA read, but also don't shy away from it if you aren't a young adult.  I found this book entertaining.  I loved the back story of Beauty's family before she even meets the Beast and that story begins.  I also appreciated the author's introduction of Beauty not being known for her beauty almost like a play on words for her not being very princess like.  I liked this different take on the typical "princess" and the Beast picture.  

I continue to work my way through listening to Louise Penny's Armand Gamache series.  One of the books I listened to this month I still rate as one of my favorites in the series "Glass Houses".  Interestingly the other book "Kingdom of the Blind" is not one of my favorite "listens" in this series; however, I did enjoy that book in written/hand held form.  Sometimes I find it harder to listen to certain stories on audio because of changing story lines or different characters from each story crossing over into the other story line.  Note to self sometime audio is better, and sometime the hand held reading experience is.  

Lastly, for some reason I've been craving going back to reading the James Herriot's series based on the story of veterinarian life in the Yorkshire Dales.  So I've been pulled towards reading some books that take place in that region- Dying in the Wool- the first in the Kate Shackelton mystery series takes place in Yorkshire and I found it a great cozy mystery to be reading and will be picking up others in this series.

A great month of reads.  Let me know if you have any questions or comments about any of these books.  Happy September Reading!