Hello Sunshine 🌞

Happy Saturday! We had rain for days on end, steady and solid without breaks.  It was no fun trying to get Loki out to do his business. Thankfully we have a break for now and the skies are blue.  Here is a photo of a little shopping area 2 miles from our house.  They have a lovely tree decorated in the middle of the square and there are so many restaurants here, all decorated for the holiday. 🌞

While I was inside a few days I finished a dog themed puzzle which was fun.

📚 Book Chat 📚

Earlier this week I posted my 2025 Nonfiction Reading Challenge wrap up.

Books read / Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks

What an emotionally charged memoir. So raw, so honest about how she experienced the pain, loss and how she kept it inside while dealing with the many aspects of an unexpected death of a loved one.  Keeping it together for her children, figuring things out on her own without allowing herself to mourn was heart wrenching to read.  Finally she gave herself time to think about everything and get away from everyone on Flinders Island where she could grieve and be alone.   Highly recommended memoir that packs a punch.  5 stars

A Family Matter by Claire Lynch

We start this story with Heron (real name Henry) receiving the awful news he has cancer.  He has a 44 year old daughter named Maggie and is trying to decide how and when to tell her about his health situation.  He has brought Maggie up on his own and she never knew what became of her mother Dawn. So many unanswered questions.

Maggie's thoughts on hearing her father has cancer:

She cannot say, you cannot die, not now, because I will sometimes want to call you, to tell you a joke I read in the paper, or that I saw a famous person on the platform at London Bridge. You cannot die, because you will be missing from the photographs of all the days that haven’t happened yet—

The story is set in Ireland, switching back and forth between two timelines - 1982 and 2022. Maggie is obviously devoted to her father as all they had were each other.   

The sad thing is why Dawn wasn't part of Maggie's life growing up. You read learn about archaic practices in place in 1982 which tore a family apart.  This short book of 240 pages intensifies near the end when Maggie, now a 44 year old mother, discovers why her mother was absent in her life all those years. 

Currently reading / The Second Chance Convenience Store by Kim Ho-Yeon. Translated by Janet Hong.

Coming up is the 2016 Nonfiction Reading Challenge hosted by Shelleyrae at Book'd Out and more book chat.  Wishing you a happy and healthy week.

Linking up with:

Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon

Joy for British Isles Friday