This is the second book that it makes me sad to read in the era of Donald Trump’s second reign of terror. But… this time, I’m going to take a different tone. Less “burn it to the ground” and more “let’s start rebuilding.” I’ve spent the last 24 hours reflecting on this book. I loved The House on the Cerulean Sea. This whole series is full of wonderful and quirky characters who I desperately wish I could know in real life. It’s a celebration of the weird and wonderful, and it’s a call for unity in the face of division. Honestly, as a review portion I’m just going to say I adore this book, the follow-up to House on the Cerulean Sea. Everything, just everything, is sweet, profound, beautiful, heartwarming, and perfect. I can not pick a favorite character, especially amongst the children because they are amazing. And Daniel Henning, the narrator, I’m speechless. Give the man an award. Give him ALL the money. There you go, there’s your review. Now the rest is going to be another one of my essays because I’ve got a lot of things to say lately.
I don’t like spoilers, but I need to talk about one specific scene in this novel, because it’s important and it’s timely. Arthur, a character who I adore more than I ever thought I could adore a character, finds himself, usually the optimist, filled with despair and finally giving up hope. No matter how hard he’s tried, his efforts to protect his children have failed. He’s spent his life teaching his children to love, to accept others with grace and understanding, to forgive ignorance and prejudice, and to allow others to realize the depths of their wrongs in time. Love always wins. People can change. But they aren’t changing, and he wearies of trying and waiting. As a phoenix, Arthur finally allows himself to lose control. In his rage and sadness, he burns. He unleashes the fire that has seethed within him for decades. The fire of his trauma as an abused child, the fire of his hurt and anger for his children who society continues to condemn and reject, and the fire of a man who was born different only to be viewed with fear rather than an appreciation for his beautiful and unique qualities. Are some of you thinking you can totally empathize with this lately? Have you felt the same way when you look at the state of world and wonder just how so many people could be so cold and unfeeling?
It is at this lowest point when his anger threatens to burn away the last good shred he has within him that his own goodness, his own lost hope, is brought back to him by one of his precious children. They still see that the fight is worthwhile, and that’s because he believed in them. It’s not over. One person can not bring color back to the black hearts of a million people. But sometimes one is enough. One touch, one kind word, one assurance that things will be ok is enough. Every time I open social media, I see hate. I see gleeful gloating goons reveling at the pain, sorrow and fear they are able to inspire in their fellow humans. But when I push those aside I also see reasons to hope. I see people processing their own pain with wit, humor, and encouragement for their fellow humans. They both can have power but only if we let them have power. It’s up to us to channel our attention back toward hope, optimism, and a sense of growth. Protect those you love who are in those groups most vulnerable to harm at the moment. Check in on them. But do not let them or yourself give up hope.
Now, I’m going address something a bit inconvenient, and it might piss some of my fellow liberals off. I know this book is a bit controversial. The reason, however, I feel it is controversial is that the left has this rather nasty habit of looking for something to complain about. For that reason, I’m not even going to address the controversy because that would give it power. Seriously, have we lost the ability to approach our fellow humans with empathy and grace? So many people these days overlook the beauty of a work of art based on who wrote it and whether or not they have “the right” to tell that particular story. Do you know what this does? It negates the message. It encourages more hate and division WHEN THAT’S LITERALLY THE WHOLE POINT OF THIS STORY. It is about setting aside hate and prejudice in order to forge a better and more accepting future. As people, we only stop growing when we die, so we have to give our fellow humans the ability to grow by forgiving past mistakes and setting aside the concept of revenge. Stop looking for reasons to hate things because the rest of the world is so full of hate that it’s made you bitter. Take a page from Arthur’s book and reach out when a helping hand is given and listen to what they have to say. Don’t extinguish the fire, but direct the flame in a direction that’s productive rather than destructive.
In the face of so many people who want to be our enemies, we can’t shut out those who want to be friends because they take an approach we wouldn’t take ourselves. You may be woke, but if you woke up cranky you won’t change any minds or hearts. You only make enemies of your friends and give the real enemies more traction. Truly, I hate the word enemies, because I don’t think it applies to people who are merely ignorant. They truly can still grow if given the appropriate information to process. If we want to be true champions of diversity and inclusion, we have to also champion ideas. Bring back civil discourse. Criticize a work without negating its purest essence. If we can’t do that, we are no better than those on the other side who are burning books.
Love each other. Listen. Heal your own heart and then heal the world.
Published September 10, 2024 by Macmillan Audio. ISBN 9781035009411. Runtime 15hrs 48 mins. Narrated by Daniel Henning (seriously… this man… *chef’s kiss*)
It makes me tremendously sad to review this book at the moment. Here we have yet another incredible work of literature that celebrates those women throughout history who toiled and fought for the respect they should be given only to be time and time again weighed down by the prejudices of men. And I’m reviewing it at a time in which more than half of my countrymen and women have once again turned our country over to the hands of a cruel, sexist, racist imbecile who only emboldens those with old antiquated ideas of women’s subservience to men. As we speak there’s some ignorant sociopath making jokes about ownership of women’s bodies based solely on the presence of the tiny penis in his trousers. Who am I kidding? There are millions of these ignorant trolls and they feel validated, vindicated, and invincible. Out of the shadows they slink to stand in the light as they once did and they laugh at those who fear for the future of their civil liberties and sense of safety. 
Real life has been a little daunting lately. As such, I have done quite a bit of reading but very little reviewing. I just can’t get my mind back in the game for some reason. I fear with how the next few months will go that will get much worse, but I’ll do my best. I am determined to finish my reading challenge, so I’m going to try my best for that final push. With so many reviews on deck, I’ve found myself having to think back very hard about some reads to remind myself of what they were even about. Sadly, some books just don’t leave an impression and thoughts get muddled afterward. This one, however, is not one of those books. 
I am currently reading two novels. The first is Love and Fury by Samantha Silva. This is a novel about the birth of Mary Shelley and the very brief amount of time she had with her mother before the elder’s passing. Literally, it begins with the midwife showing up at the door of a currently-in-labor Mary Wollstonecraft as she’s about to welcome her second daughter into the world. 
I’ve barely scratched the surface so far but I’m looking forward to the experience of reading this one.
First of all, I want to pick up a copy of our next Read Between the Wines book club selection, The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes. I have read some of Moyes’ other work and enjoyed them, so I’m looking forward to picking this one up. 
W. Somerset Maugham is one of those writers who has always held a place on my to-read list but I have just never gotten around to reading him. That’s a real pity, because I feel that familiarity with his work would have been quite helpful in the reading of this novel. In part, it is an imagining of the people and historical events to which he was exposed on his trip to Malaysia in the 1920’s that inspired him to write his collection of stories, The Casaurina Tree. Maugham was apparently prone to using the lives of real people he encountered in his stories, something that prompts the husband of our leading lady, Lesley Hamlyn, to warn her not to share too much information with “Willie.”
It’s 1948, and Irene Willard finds herself left at the doors of an old mansion-turned hospital. All women at this hospital, like her, have only ever experienced the heartbreak of lost pregnancy and are desperate to deliver to their husbands that gift of a child. Under the care of an enigmatic husband and wife duo of doctors, the women undergo experimental treatments that promise to bring their pregnancies to term. As Irene’s pregnancy progresses, strange things begin happening at the hospital. She will find herself doubting both her own sanity and everything she’s been promised by the doctors.
Are you one of those parents who has lots of anxiety over the effect technology is having on our kiddos, especially their obsessive need to have faces buried in tablets? Would you like even more stress and anxiety mixed with guilt over what you’ve allowed to happen? Then read this book. Ok, I’m sort of joking about that. I actually think this book presents some amazing points and amazing ideas for breaking the hold technology has on our kids, though I did have some issues with it. That being said, I want to make it clear that my response to this book is solely my opinion on the issue. I don’t wish to imply any one philosophy or style is correct or incorrect. We are all doing our best. Let’s get into it, shall we? 
Alexandra Quinlan has gone to great lengths to separate herself from the night that changed her life forever, the night her entire family was massacred leaving her the only survivor and the initial prime suspect. Ten years after the murders and after increasingly tumultuous years in which she fought to clear her name and get justice for the mistreatment she received by both law enforcement and the media, she now does some investigative work for a law firm. She’s changed both her name and her look, no longer recognizable as “Empty Eyes,” the name given to her by the media on the night of her family’s murder. When a particularly disturbing investigation leads her to clues regarding her own family’s still-unsolved murder, Alex finds herself back in the past reliving that awful night and pulling her into a dangerous world of secrets for which she may not be prepared. 
Just a warning, it’s going to be a very Charlie Donlea week up in here at A Librarian and Her Books because I inadvertently wound up reading two of his in a row thanks to him being a book club pick by one of our Read Between the Wines members. This one, The Girl Who Was Taken, was the one I chose independently without even realizing he’d also penned our book club choice.
