BOOKS FEATURING STRONG WOMEN

"Here's to strong women.  May we know them.  May we be them.  May we raise them."  I'm gonna go ahead and add- "May we read about them."  So, here comes another book post!



As I looked through what I've read most recently, I realized that many of them had strong women featured with stories of overcoming and surviving and thriving.  If you are looking for some inspiring - though hard - reads, then this list is for you!

Becoming, by Michelle Obama

Last month I finished Becoming, and I was blown away by so many things.  It is an excellent book on a number of fronts, and I cannot recommend it enough.  The audio version is particularly good, because she reads it.  Hearing her story and understanding where she came from was inspiring, and it also gives a great perspective on what race currently looks like in our country from a person who has lived at every level of society.  She is brilliant and kind, and now I wish we could be best friends.

The Great Alone, by Kristin Hannah

This fictional book is a beautiful, haunting read where Alaska comes to life, and you are granted insight into mental illness and abuse and what that can look like in a familial environment.  The daughter and mother at the center of this tale make difficult choices along the way, and I was on the edge of my seat to learn how this wrapped up.

Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover

This is one of the best books I've ever read - truly.  I know that it might feel like EVERYONE has read it, and there are a lot of reasons that's the case.  It is the true story of one woman's riveting path out of a cloistered family existence steeped in ignorance, and again, in mental illness.  Her story of survival and overcoming is astonishing and enlightening.  It reinforces and highlights just how powerful education is.

Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens

This is another current hot book, and again, I understand why.  It's the fictional story of a girl who is abandoned by her family at a very young age, and she learns to survive in the marsh.  The effects of missing a family are evident, but it is also remarkable to see how she rises to occasions and learns to live.  And, it shows how kindness can help someone bloom.

Not That I Could Tell by Jessica Strawser

This book is a mystery that kept me guessing what would happen.  One woman and her twins disappear the night after a neighborhood get together, and her friends are left to deal with the aftermath and wonder what went wrong.  I enjoyed seeing the friendships tested and strengthened and was once again encouraged by how women can help each other.

I hope you find something you might enjoy from this list!  Last week, Modern Mrs. Darcy came out with her Summer Reading Guide, and I promptly added 2/3 of it to my TBR stack.  Tis the reading season!

HAPPY READING

I think I said I wanted to do a book post once a month.  I see that I made it one month in a row. 🤦🏻‍♀️ February sort of chewed me up, and March has already been a bit of a wild ride.  🤷🏻‍♀️ I also haven't been able to read as much a normal, though I am starting to gain momentum in 2019, which feels good.  These are books I read in the later half of last year, and they are a lighter crop on the whole, though I am including one non-fiction read that is the opposite of light.

Several years ago, I started reading the Chief Inspector Gamache Series by Louise Penny.  There are currently 14 books, and they should be read in order.  I LOVE this series and want to move to the fictional Canadian village where they are mostly set.  It seems like a wonderful place except for the murder rate.  Anne Bogel of Modern Mrs. Darcy talks about these all the time, and she sums it up by saying that the first one is a little slow, 2 and 3 are kind of weird murders, and 4 is where is the series really hits its stride.  I love the characters, and the writing is compelling on several levels.

A super light, breezy read that I enjoyed is When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandy Menon.  This is young adult, and I appreciated the themes of identity and family woven throughout this love story and found it interesting to learn a bit more about the Indian culture in America.  And sometimes it is nice to read something without feeling like you need to scrub your brain from all the trauma throughout.

Another slightly more YA book that I loved was Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson.  This one starts with some grief and that theme carries throughout, because the main character has just lost her father.  It feels like an accurate representation of what that loss entails as well as a story of learning to love in the midst of that.  I also really liked the road trip component and their first trip to a Chick-fil-A.

This is What Happy Looks Like - with a title like that, you better believe it has some happiness woven throughout, which I appreciated.  Another YA book - I didn't even realize that I had chosen three in a row until I started writing this post - this is a love story between a movie star and a small town girl that starts up unexpectedly through email.  That sounds like a cheesy premise, but the exchanges are witty, hopeful and heartbreaking.  This book kept me entertained and engaged throughout!

For something totally different, you might try The Night Circus.  I had a hard time getting into this book the first time I tried, but I went back to it, because it was narrated by the same person who read the Harry Potter audiobooks, for which I have an undying affection.  When I revisited it, I fell in love with the characters (magicians), the unique setting (a fantastical circus) and the mystery surrounding what would happen.  It takes your imagination on a journey and let's you picture beautiful concepts all along the way.  I ended up loving it!

For my final pick this round, I highly recommend A Grace Disguised.  I think this is the best book I've ever read that addresses grief and loss.  In one car accident, the author loses his mother, his wife and his young daughter and is left as a widower to raise his remaining three children.  These are his reflections written about 3 years after the accident, and it is beautifully full of trust in the Lord in the midst of horrific pain.  It was a challenging read for me, because I am pain averse, but my counselor recommended this, and it turned out to be one of my most meaningful reads of 2018.

So that's my latest round up!  Mostly happy with a giant dose of sad there at the end.  Let me know your latest favorites!

READING FUN

This post was initially titled "SUMMER READING FUN," because that is when I started and never finished writing it.  I changed it to "READING FUN," because to me, reading is always fun and in season, and now it's winter - it's a great time to dive into something new! 🤷🏻‍♀️  I love getting book recommendations, and I also love giving them, so here are some that I've loved in the last year.

I should let you know that I read almost constantly, mostly by listening to audio books.  This doesn't work for everyone, but it is book magic for me.  It allows me to drive, do laundry, decorate cookies, clean up, etc. and READ all at the same time - win win win!  I've done book recommendations in the past, but it's been a long while.  You can see those HERE and HERE.

Also, a couple of these books have some bad language - I always like to warn people.  Know what works for you and what doesn't and read reviews if you need to.  But, they would mostly be rate PG-13 on the whole.

What To Say Next by Julie Buxbaum
This book is set in high school and deals with a little mystery, a lot of awkwardness and the general feelings that surround being a teenager and learning about people.  I loved that it felt true to that time of life without being overdone, and it deals with serious issues without being a total downer.

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

If you liked the movie, you will love the book even more.  Bonus - it's a trilogy, and it's biting, funny and sweet all at once.  Sometimes you need a little fluffy escapism, and this fits the bill.  Also, it makes me want to do an eating tour of Asia.

The Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson

This book totally surprised me, because I wasn't sold based on the reading premise which has the protagonist comic book writer going back to her childhood home to get her grandmother's affairs in order.  But - it has deeper themes about racism, classism and family origins that are wound together in a compelling story that I ended up loving.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

This was a Reece Witherspoon book pick, and it lives up to every bit of the hype.  Imagine a woman who grew up mainly in foster care and never was equipped to live life.  She is quirky, socially awkward and ultimately sad, but her life does not end up there.  It is beautiful and funny and heart-breaking, and I felt hopeful after reading it, which I imagine is hard to do with such subject matter.

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah



This past year I've really gotten into reading more memoirs, and this one was one of my favorites.  Trevor Noah grew up in South Africa during Apartheid, and his life story is so unlikely and tragic and comic all at the same time.  He reads the audio book which enhances it that much more.  I highly recommend this one!

The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall



This is actually a children's series that the girls and I listened to this past summer.  There are five books, and we LOVED reading them.  There are four Penderwick sisters and a widowed father, and these books are set in current society but have a much older feel, because they are sweet and rich in feeling.  I felt like I had the same feeling as when I read Anne of Green Gables, because the kids get into scrapes and learn lessons, but there is compelling story all along the way.  The books follow the family over several years.  I would have enjoyed reading them even if the girls hadn't!

So - this was gonna be a longer post with more recommendations, because I read 55 books in 2018.  But, since it took me over six months to write this one post, I've decided to end it here and maybe do one of these posts monthly - or at least every other month.  Would love to hear recommendations from you!  What are your favorite reads lately?!?

ENNEAGRAM FUN

So, as we are getting the help, I am also diving deep into personality profiling.  I started some of this last fall, but with the new year, I'm all in.  Truthfully, I've done quite a bit of this in the past - especially in college.  My major was in Family and Human Services with a minor in psychology, so I took quite a few tests back then.  However, I seem to have lost touch with parts of myself in the last years, and also, I wanted to see how much I had changed since college.

It also seemed like a good idea to have a better idea of what I am working with as I seek help in addressing some of the issues in our lives.  Knowledge is power - am I right?!?  Turns out, self-knowledge really is helpful, though I'm not sure it makes me feel particularly powerful.  Instead, I have a better understanding of how and why I've landed in some of the messes because of the ways that I am wired.  But, I would rather know than have my head in the sand.  (most of the time)  And, I am reminded that ultimately, I can change certain habits and work on perceptions, but I am fairly hardwired to be me, and only by God's grace can I address any of the problems that creates.

Let me start by saying, I quite like me.  I always have.  I'm over-confident to a fault at times, which certainly does not mean that I don't battle insecurities, but I am less likely to be beset by them.  I don't mean to brag, but I am a good time. 😜 Making and finding fun are like breathing to me.  It has taken me a long time to realize that not everyone approaches life this way. 🤣

The personality profile that I have the longest history with is the Myers Briggs, because I took it starting in late high school, again in college and again in grad school.  I recently retook it and churned out the exact same four letters as always. * ENFP *  In a nut shell, this indicates that I am an extraverted, intuitive person who gathers information through my gut.  I lead with feeling slightly over thinking, and I am more spontaneous than planned.  I used to test out very extremely in all of these things, and as the years have gone on, I've come more to the middle on each spectrum.

In the last month, I have been spending a lot of time learning about the Enneagram typing system.  My Book Club read The Road Back to You, which I now understand to be an excellent primer to all that Enneagram is.  It is an ancient system that goes deeper than most personality profiling.  The Road Back to You does a fantastic job of tying in spiritual issues as well, making it far more personal than our run-of-the-mill Book Club usually goes.

As I read through it, I also subjected John to all of it and made sure that we could figure out what he is, and it has been enlightening to be able to read through each of our "types" and see the strengths and shadows that we bring to the table.  Both of us are strongly identifiable as our numbers - John is a 2, "the Helper", and I am a 7, "The Enthusiast."  Reading his chapter helped me better understand some of his underlying motivations that I had never considered, and I found the same to be true as I cringed through reading my own chapter.  It is no fun to realize challenging things about yourself that seem clear upon inspection.



Our Book Club discussion was engaged and interesting, and the next night, we dug into it all with our D-Group, because all of the D-Group ladies are also in the Book Club.  So, we were able to discuss each other as couples and understand more about each person that we regularly do life with - such a gift to get these insights!

(One of the Ones "Perfectionists" from our group brought this white board for us)

As an "Enthusiast," I have a need to avoid pain, which has shown up all of my life in various ways.  Though I never would have chosen some of the specific paths of pain that I have had to walk, I am so thankful that the Lord has worked those inside of me and continues to do so.  Even as we are walking through a painful time presently, I can sense myself wanting to distract and avoid it all.  However, that does not do any good for myself or those around me.  Understanding some of my own coping mechanisms and looking for healthier ways has been really helpful.

I am looking forward to continuing to learn more about the Enneagram (I just downloaded The Sacred Enneagram), and once you get in there are all kinds of words and things that take a minute to understand - like wings, stress and security arrows and so on.  But it's so good!  I highly recommend taking the time to learn and also dragging all of the people that you surround yourself with through it with you.  Being able to talk through it all with dear friends who are also learning has been super helpful and fun as well.  (There I go again with the fun 🤣)

If this is all peaking your interest - I'd recommend the book we read as well as taking an online test to determine your type.  There are a LOT of tests online - I did this paid one and actually tied between two types, however, as I read through each one, it became clear to me pretty quickly which one I am. There are LOTS of websites and podcasts about the Enneagram, and it's a rabbit hole you can chase forever or just get what you need and take that with you.

Happy learning!

BOOKS FEATURING COORESPONDANCE

It's been a long while since I did a book post, but I read almost constantly, so I'm due to tell y'all about it.  At the beginning of this week, I was feeling pretty overwhelmed and sad(ish).  So, instead of reading the book about a father kidnapping a child 😱 that was up next in my library holds queue, I decided to go a little lighter and selected This Is What Happy Looks Like.  It sounded like a nice antidote to my slight doldrums, and guess what? It turned out to be just that. 👊🏻

It also featured a relationship started by correspondence, which I realized is a common theme in some of the books I've read and liked in the last year, so I thought I'd group those together for anyone else who might be interested.



Did you see the movie "You've Got Mail"?  I know that is sort of a stupid questions, because OF COURSE YOU DID.  I love it for so many reasons and still find it endlessly relatable and quotable to this day.  You can imagine that this is a book list for those of you who also love You've Got Mail.  (bonus points to any of you who actually used AOL mail back in the day, like me, and logged in excited about the possibility of hearing those three words, like I did 😜)

First up is the book that kicked off this blog post in my mind, This Is What Happy Looks Like, by Jennifer E. Smith.



For the record, I mostly listen to audiobooks.  I got these books from the library to be able to take pictures and since I was already going on a "holding" binge for my kids.  I did listen to this one and thoroughly enjoyed the two different narrators that switch between the perspectives.  It's a Young Adult book, so if you are looking for super realistic and/or hard-hitting, you need to keep moving.  But, if you like a fun story featuring a teen heart-throb and a small town girl from Maine, then this might be for you!  They accidentally strike up an email relationship, and things get interesting when he manages to get his next movie shot on location in her small town.

Another YA book that I enjoyed was Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum.

Tell Me Three Things also features teenagers who start emailing each other, but in this one, the identity of the guy is in question until the end.  It explores grief and identity as the girl has just moved to a new city with a new life.  It is a quick, fun read with likable characters.

Taking us out of YA territory and into adult fiction, since I am a card-carrying 36 year old is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.  The title threw me for a loop, but it all becomes clear in the story, though it is still a mouth-full.

A friend told me this was one of her all time favorite books, and I found it to be charming and touching and endearing on many levels: I loved it!  It's set just after World War II and explores the stories of people that lived on the island of Guernsey, off the coast of England.  The story is told through letters and telegrams, which are mostly easy to follow, and the characters are precious, even when clearly put in challenging circumstances.

Next up is Attachments, by Rainbow Rowell.

In this book, the guy who is supposed to monitor the emails at work ends up reading far too many conversations between two friends.  He should have sent them a warning, but instead, he becomes invested in their world and begins to really like one of them.  I read this on vacation over a year ago, but if I remember correctly, it has some bad language.  However, I loved rooting for these characters and keeping my fingers crossed for the best!

In a complete departure from everything except letters, I'm adding The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis to this list.

I reread this in January and was freshly amazed at Lewis's brilliance and his accurate grasp on humanity.  The book is a series of letters from one "tempter" demon to his apprentice as they seek to disrupt a Christian's life, and they give such insight into the ways that we humans are easily distracted from the great God that we serve.  I highly recommend anyone giving this a first, second or third read.

My bonus pick for you is The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson.

Another YA book, it is a breezy read that I finished on some trip this year.  It does not feature letter writing, but the main guy in the book is a novelist, unexpectedly.  This book stars a girl who finds herself in very unexpected circumstances (working as a dog walker, among other things) while trying to make the best of where she's at.  I enjoy reading YA books, because they are often light-hearted and not bogged down with as many issues as my real life.  Yet, I still remember what it felt like to be sixteen and think that you understand so much while still understanding so little.

In other bookish news, I've been working on reading out loud to my children more, and so I began following along with Read Aloud Revival.  She has curated picture book lists for each month, and I picked up the October haul from our library.  (Click here to see the list for yourself!)  It is so fun to read about pumpkins when we are actually doing pumpkin related things, instead of in February when my kids would inevitably pick one of these books.



Well, I hope this adds some books to your list!  Let me know if you end up reading them OR if you can recommend another charming book featuring correspondence.  Apparently, I just can't get enough. 😜

SUMMER READING FUN WITH KIDS

We're in the heart of summer time with July freshly arrived.  Our days have been spent at the pool and lake and various other fun summer pursuits - just this week I've introduced both Parent Trap movies (1961 and 1998 versions), Swiss Family Robinson and Homeward Bound, all of which were hits at my house.  We've also been doing a lot of reading.  I always read a lot for myself, but with the extra time this summer, I turned my attention to my kiddos and teaching them to love books.


(Aren't these beautiful?  Modern Mrs. Darcy always inspires me with her beautiful books on Instagram, and I asked for some for my birthday.  Love them - thanks, Mom!)

We have always been a library family, especially in the summer time.  (You can take a walk down our memory lane and see this library post from 2012 with tiny Lily who I thought was so big and tiny Bella with her precious chubby baby hands and feet.)  However, very often, we go in and I let the children wildly and randomly grab books.  This means that we get a selection of often odd or at the very least, seasonally inappropriate books.  And, I'm going to be honest here - some kid's books are just not good.  At all.  With weird messages.  Then I am left wondering how in the world that particular book got published and ever landed in my home, but I digress.

I would NEVER randomly pick out books for myself to read.  Never.  In fact, I research rather extensively before I pick up a book, because there are simply too many good books out there to spend time reading ones that I will not enjoy or learn from.  Recently I realized that I should apply this a bit more to what my children read - obviously what Lily reads falls more into this category, because she is actually a reader.  But I also wanted to up our reading game with picture books that I read aloud to all of them.

I use the library app (Overdrive) on my phone extensively to hold and read or listen to digital titles myself.  Only recently did I start using it to look up and hold physical books for the kids.  This is such a MAJOR WIN.  I'm sure many more savvy mothers than me have been doing this forever - I know at least one of my friends has mentioned it before, but it is seriously amazing.  I type in books we want to read, and there they await me on a shelf with my name on them.  The girls actually think this is pretty magical, and I can't help but agree.

In order to find great recommendations, I scoured a trusted site (Modern Mrs. Darcy), and I began following Kidsbookstagram and Happily.ever.elephants on Instagram for regular reading inspiration for my littles.  Whenever I see one I want to get, I add it to my Goodreads shelf of Books I Want to Read with Littles.  (I also use Goodreads to track my own reading and To Be Read lists.)  Every so often, I add a bunch to our library hold list, and we go pick up books that I actually want to read to my kids.  Like magic.

My favorite new discoveries have been The Bear and the Piano, which had me shedding tears (I cry easily) and The Day the Crayons Quit, along with the Olivia series.  And, as a throwback to the late 80s and early 90s, I have also checked out several Where's Waldo books, and they have had a high entertainment value in our home.  Waldo is just so sneaky.

As far as books to read aloud to the big girls, I have an entirely different list.  We've been listening to the first Harry Potter book many afternoons this summer, and Lily is loving it.  We won't go further in the series until she's a little older, but I am really enjoying seeing her like something that I adore.  Last summer we read Mr. Popper's Penguins, Charlotte's Web and My Father's Dragon (and it's two sequels) - all of which were great.  There are far too many books and too little time, and when I started curating a list of books for us to read together or for them to read once they really can, I realized how much of my own childhood I spent reading and how many books I love.

Hopefully, this gives you some new ammunition and sources of recommendations for fun kid's books.  Maybe it will prevent you from reading back to back Halloween books like I did this week (I still let the kids pick out a few books, and wouldn't you know it?  We had several Halloween titles. Perfect for the 4th of July week.)  We are loving our summer reading this year (trick-or-treating dinosaur not-with-standing) and hope you will too!

FYE & BOOKS

It's been a long time since I've complied some of the things that have entertained me recently.  Jimmy Fallon had Melissa McCarthy on a few weeks back with this hilarious lip sync battle as a result.



I know this zombie apocalypse prank video was shared about a million times online, but it is SO worth the watch.  I laugh with tears when I watch it.  😂😂😂



If you want to see the follow up on Ellen where they discuss the prank - here it is.



In the vein of pranks - check out this prank where people use what looks to be a real raptor to scare their co-workers in a parking garage.  😳😳😳



I have also been reading a TON this year.  I read mostly fiction, though I have been trying to warm myself to more non-fiction and memoirs.  (I give other book recs and a little background of my reading tastes here, if you're curious.)  Here are a few books that I've loved this year.

The Lake House by Kate Morton

This might have taken the place of The Secret Keeper as my new favorite Kate Morton - though I certainly have enjoyed most of her books.  It flashes back and forth from the past to the present to tell the story of a family mystery, and it is just a beautiful journey.

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

After reading this book, I read almost everything else that Rainbow Rowell has written, because I enjoyed the style so much.  It would be considered a young adult book as a love story between two high schoolers, but the themes are a little grittier, and the characters are so endearing.  My other favorites by Rainbow Rowell were Fangirl and Attachments.  (There is some bad language - be warned.)

Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan

This book would be considered classic chick lit, but it is so adorable and set in a charming English city by the sea, and I fell in love with everything.  It also made me want to bake more bread and includes recipes for things she makes in the book.  (another language warning)

The Chief Inspector Gamache Mystery Series by Louise Penny

I'm only three books in, but I am really enjoying this series.  Gamache is such a likable character with hero qualities, and you find yourself cheering for him.  These books (so far), are set in a small village in Canada with an assortment of interesting people and references to great food and art.  I definitely want to visit Three Pines - though I hope I don't get killed there.  (language warning)

Also - did you know that you can check out audio books through your local library on your phone?  Check it out!  My library system has SO many of the books that I want to read available on audio (or at least an e-book), and this helps feed my reading craze without breaking the bank.  I'm a huge fan!

THERE ARE SOME BOOKS I SHOULDN'T READ

In the last two weeks I've finished three books and am about half-way through another one.  I really do love reading, and I've had a lot of travel time where I could dive in.  Attachments took me one day and was breezy fun.  Modern Romance was interesting, free to borrow from the library and helped pass my drive to Wichita.  The Kitchen House was a different story entirely.

It was first recommended to me back at Camp Create by someone whose reading taste seemed to overlap mine a great deal.  After seeing it plugged in several different places, I didn't read many reviews and dove in.  I should have read more reviews.

Let me just say that the writing is beautiful, and the story is compelling.  The characters are well-developed, and I found myself loving them.  The subject matter is extremely important and based in history.  But the book was not for me.

Here's the summary from Amazon: In this gripping New York Times bestseller, Kathleen Grissom brings to life a thriving plantation in Virginia in the decades before the Civil War, where a dark secret threatens to expose the best and worst in everyone tied to the estate.

This book follows people over the course of about 20 years in the late 1700s on a plantation and focuses both on the slaves and the masters at the home.  Their relationships are familial, complex, multi-faceted and laden with tragedy, because people should not own other people.  There are horrors throughout the book, and I've realized that I don't do well with horrors.  The book does end on a hopeful note in the last couple of paragraphs, but that was not enough of a payoff to redeem the reading experience for me.

It got me thinking about a lot of things, obviously.  First off, the characters kept swirling around my mind, which was part of my problem with this book.  I cared so much and so many bad things kept happening to them, one after another - usually each one more awful than the last.  Then, I tried to parse out if I'm just a wimp for not wanting to deal with such heavy subject matter, or if there is something to be said for guarding my highly sensitive wiring.

Have you ever heard the term "HSP," which stands for Highly Sensitive Person?  I came across it on the Modern Mrs. Darcy blog and immediately related to it.  I certainly don't tick all of the boxes, because I would still score as an extravert (though I am more introverted than I used to be), and I can multi-task and take in a lot of information at once.  But, I do not like really loud environments and am usually overly attuned to the noise level wherever I am.  I have also always been extremely sensitive to any kind of graphic content in books or movies.  I vividly remember watching The Princess Bride as a kid and being shaken by the torture scenes in the movie.  We attended Sunday night church after watching it that afternoon, and I started crying uncontrollably when I thought back to it and had to be taken out of church.

To this day, I rarely watch R rated movies, and when I do, I have thoroughly researched what I will be getting myself into.  And forget any horror movies - I never go there.  I also usually research any book I choose to read for several reasons - I don't want to read a dud, and I don't want to end up in content too graphic for my sensitive tastes.

Even as I talked through this with John, I wondered if I am just a giant wuss.  I don't like hard anything, in my life or anyone else's.  He helped me come to a better understanding of the standards I need to have for myself.  We also made some critical distinctions - I don't back away from real, actual hard things in real life.  I've walked my own roads of pain, and I've walked beside friends and family in their difficulties - I'm not a wimp about real life. (most of the time)  I also do want to be informed about history, especially the kind of history that affects the racial tensions still present in our country.

But - for me - I don't need to read about it in a novel format where my emotional investment in characters that don't actually exist is too deep.  I become fixated in unhealthy ways that impact my entire mood and demeanor, and I'm not exactly in a stage of life that affords me that time and space.  Reading this book was an ongoing reminder that being careful about what I put into my mind is critical for my well-being, and we all have different sensitivity levels.  Mine are probably higher than a lot of other people's, and that is okay.  It's the way that God made me, and I'm thankful for the empathy that it affords in normal life.