Hello...(tapping on screen). I was posting regularly for a while but have been hibernating with some miserable allergies as well as some healing from the dermatolgist cutting on me. Nothing like stitches on the face to make one feel pretty, lol. Results back show some precancer areas which can be handled by a prescription cream. Yea for that.
Enough complaining. Let's talk about books. I can share two I have finished and a few reading plans.
Currently Reading / Buckeye by Patrick Ryan. This is a buddy read with Susan at The Cue Card. Just started part two and this is a good read, in my opinion.
I had been looking forward to another book by M.L. Stedman for well over a decade. I thought The Light Between Oceans was amazing, filled with love, grief and much emotion. (click on the title link for review on my old book blog, if interested).
This book hit me the same way. No one writes tragedy like Stedman, pulling you in with empathy and compassion for the characters as they navigate life with secrets and hardships. Set in the far-flung reaches of Australia on a sheep station, the McBride family had been farming, called pastoralists, for generations.
The beginning: Phil McBride is the father, driving his truck with his eldest son Warren and youngest Matt. The truck crashes, killing Phil and Warren almost instantly. Matt is flung through the window with grave injuries and has a long recuperation with a head injury which caused significant memory loss.
Everything changes then, for so many people. Lorna McBride loses Phil, her husband and love of her life. Matt didn't have the responsibility of inheriting the family business and had dreams of traveling as Warren would take over the station ...but Warren is dead. Rosie is the middle child and only daughter, helping run things best she can while also visiting Matt in rehab until he comes home.
Is that enough tragedy? Nope. Something unspeakable happens which will turn off some readers and they will quit the book (I saw that voiced in a few reviews) but if you do, you will miss out on a good story. One of my favorite characters is Pete Peachy, a roo hunter who works for the McBrides. He is a good man and I wanted to know more about him.
Great character development, lots of side stories, themes of compassion, love, guilt and duty. 5 stars. Well done.
Next up is Dog Days by Andrew Cotter.
This is a second book about the adorable labs Olive and Mabel in a diary type accounting told by Andrew Cotter. I will admit to loving his first book Olive, Mabel and Me more. That said, if you like following this trio, you'll be amused by this accounting of post Covid activities and appearances. Amazing how popular these canines are and the following they have on social media.
The first book had lots of background on the dogs, Cotter's experiences with mountain climbing and the lockdown from Covid. Also photos which were great. This second book does not compare. If you can get Dog Days from the library or on a good sale it would be worth it. If you have an interest in Olive and Mabel then grab this one pictured below.
Rounded up to 3 stars.
This is a nonfiction I could place under the memoirs category but I will add it to my Grazing Category. I've some other books in mind for memoirs for the 2026 Nonfiction Reading Challenge.
Up next in no particular order - Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green, The Astral Library by Kate Quinn and Dear Missing Friend by Susan McGuirk.
Linking with:
Shelleyrae at Book'd Out for the 2026 Nonfiction Reading Challenge for the grazing category.
Joy for British Isles Friday for Scottish author Andrew Cotter
I hope your allergies are under control with new medication, Tina. I think I'd rather have a cold and get over it than have allergies that linger for so long!
ReplyDeleteI'm eager to hear yours and Susan's thoughts on Buckeye. It's a big book, and I'll be reading it later this year, so I'm hoping you both love it.
I really enjoyed A Far-flung Life and know I'll read it someday again. Maybe I'll give The Light Between Oceans another read, too.
Thank you, Les. It's starting to slack off and I think it's the introduction of Bradford and Callary Pear trees. We ddin;t have these where we lived before so, that would explain the violent reaction. I,too, would rather just have the cold and be done!
DeleteBuckeye is good so far. I am very invested in the characters and glad it's on Kindle. Fat book. As for Stedman, she is such a good author. I hope she doesn't wait another 15 years to publish....I'll be so long in the tooth, lol.
Good reviews on the Stedman and Cotter books. Stedman is tragedy with another twist! And so glad about your skin test and that you can use cream for those areas, yay. I'm curious about our Buckeye read and where it will lead. Thx for the mention. I really need to get to the first Cotter book sometime. I should make a spring list like you do .... books I want to get to in the next month or so. Chat later. I will send you a snowball for your allergies ... we are having our last? snow day.
ReplyDeleteSusan, thank so much! Stedman is one of those authors I know I'd seek out to read everything she publishes. Sometimes there is "that author" you want to devour.
DeleteBuckeye is a page turner for sure. The Becky storyline seems almost out of place with all the other characters and how they are progressing but she is important to the plot. I'll send an email later about what chapter I stopped last night.
We started Shrinking two days ago and are saving the last three episodes for Wednesday when the last one airs. I love this show and can see how this could be the last season but I hope they do another.
Yes, to the snowball!
Allergies are so draining. I'm on a pretty intensive allergy treatment protocol and it still breaks through around this time of year! I'm so sorry about the treatment and hope the stiches come out smoothly and very soon. I went to the dermatologist yesterday and was TERRIFIED as my dad regularly has to get basal cell cancers burned off his skin and my husband has gotten 2 melanoma cut off his ear but I came back with no suspicious spots which was a huge relief. I did get diagnosed with a weird kind of rosacea but thankfully it sounds like it should be easily treatable. Your reading looks good! I just finished two very meh books and am so enjoying reading books I'm actually enjoying again. Adding Cotter to my TBR.
ReplyDeleteKatherine, did you go to an allergist to get diagnosed? I went to one when I had a reaction to pancake mix when we were camping decades ago. I almost stopped breathing and Doug raced across the bridge at St George Island to get me to a hospital. Crazy they don't have a doctor there. Or they didn't back then. Turns out I had a reaction to mold. Apparently the mix had been opened a month prior and in this swamp, mold formed that we didn't notice.
DeleteGlad your rosacea is treatable and it won't be too intrusive. Oh, the dermatologist is never a fun appointment!
If you get the Cotter book I would get the first one - Olive, Mabel and Me.
Dog Days sounds like a great escape. A Far Flung Life, not so much. I just cannot read about unspeakable tragedy these days. But dog shenanigans--bring 'em on!
ReplyDeleteGood to hear the prescription cream will do the trick. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Jane, you would love Olive , Mabel and Me for the dog stories! I like the stories with animals and have read all of the James Herriot books.
DeleteThanks much for your good wishes, appreciated !
I’m sorry you are struggling right now, my husband also has quite bad seasonal allergies and I know how miserable it can make you. I’m relieved to hear cream should be sufficient to treat your skin.
ReplyDeleteA Far-Flung Life really was very moving, thanks for sharing your thoughts on it and the other books you’ve read recently.
Shelleyrae, this is my first year in this area and wow, I defintely underestimated the severity of allegeries. All is well so far with tratment for all parts of my head, lol.
DeleteThat Stedman book sure was movong, love her work. Hope I live long enough to read another of hers. That is how I always feel about Kate Morton as it takes her 6 or so years to publish her tomes.
I already got copies of all of these except A Far-flung Life so I went and bought the audio of it. Thanks for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteVicki, Cotter's first book is the best. Photos and background. Hoope things are going well for you. I've had little Kaiyo in my thoughts.
DeleteNice review of M.L. Stedman's new book and I'll be curious to hear how you and Susan getting on with Buckeye. That's another book from last year that I really want to read. How are the allergies this weekend? A couple friends down here are suffering now, too. Hope the week ahead is a good one!
ReplyDeleteJoAnn, Thanks so much, I liked that Stedman novel. There are some unsavory parts and I read where some folks quit on it. But they missed a good story. Buckeye is great and we are closing in on the ending.
DeleteTell your friends to try a variety of allegery meds. I tried Claritan and Benadryl before finding Allegra whihc is the only one that works for me. I used to get relief with Claritan but...different strains of pollen I guess. I'll have to post a photo of the pollen - you wouldn't believe it!
For some reason I never associated Florida with allergies! So sorry you're suffering with the dang things but YAY that you can handle your pre-cancerous spots with a prescription cream.
ReplyDeleteWhen my sis was a teenager she was happily munching away on celery and suddenly was braking out in hives and having trouble breathing. Had to go to the hospital. I don't think they ever figure out why. The celery itself or a pesticide on the celery? Dunno but she never ate celery again after that.
But I know that's completely different from your seasonal allergies or whatever.
Hang in there!!!!
Thank you, Jinjer! That's wild about your sister's allergy and I don't blame her for never eating celery again. That same thing happened when I had the pancake mix, must have been a spot of mold. Crazy.
DeleteThings are starting to get handled now, thankfully. I appreciate your comment :-)
I'm glad that you had some good reading while you recovered.
ReplyDeleteI liked both Everything is Tuberculosis and The Astral Library (for completely different reasons, of course!)
Joy, reading is always a comfort when one is feeling poorly. I am looking forward to both the Green and Quinn books. Wrapping up the book Buckeye, it's very good, and will get my books lined up.
Delete