'Scuse Me While I

Meet the Sky was sadly, not as memorable as I would have liked it to have been.  As I wish all books were!  As they all deserve to be, because an author pours out his or her heart on to the page and then puts it out there for all to see.  And so I wish I could remember the books that I read as they deserve to be remembered.  I am sure that others will remember this one.  It just didn't stick with me.
The Carolinas recently faced Hurricane Rita and so this was timely.  I love people who live in Charleston, SC and in Chapel Hill, NC who had to evacuate and so this was on my heart and mind as I read this book.  But still it didn't stick.  Or maybe what did stick was the relationship between the main character, Sophie and Finn.  I didn't like Sophie or Finn as much as I should have, I guess.  I also wish that McCall Hoyle had gone into more of Meredith's story.   I can recommend this book, but for me, it was a four star instead of a five.

Hidden Brain

The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl was a book I understood better because of the Hidden Brain and this podcast I heard last winter.  I really, really thought that TMOFG was really well done.  One of the reviewers remarked that it has really flown under the radar and was surprised that more people hadn't read it.  I am, too.  I loved the friendships in this book.  I loved them.  And I highly recommend it!

The Lord only gives you....

as much as you can handle.  Have you heard that before?  I have and it just makes me sick.  I bet it makes Jesus even sicker!  Just My Luck features the Barrows family who have been given a lot from God, if you believe that, which, I must make clear- I do not!
Thing is though, if that idea makes someone feel better about their own circumstances, then more power to them!  I would never judge someone's way of dealing.
I learned that in seminary when I read a book by Tex Sample and I have remembered this ever since:

I remember once in class I was making fun of the song “In the Garden.” Not only did I parody its lyrics as hopelessly individualistic, privatistic, and full of escapist spirituality, but I launched into singing it in a nasal voice with affront forethought. I was on a roll until after the class when a thirty-five-year-old woman approached me and told this story: “Tex, my father started screwing me when I was eleven and he kept it up until I was sixteen and found the strength somehow to stop it. After every one of those ordeals I would go outside and sing that song to myself: I go to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses, and he walks with me and talks with me and he tells me that I am his own. Without that song I don’t know how I could have survived. Tex, don’t you ever ever make fun of that song in my presence again.”4

We all deal with things in our own way.

Again, I am digressing.

Anyway, this book was just so very good.  So very, very good.

Reading through the USA

I have been trying to find a book set in Delaware.  Harder than you think, if you aren't a big fan of Colonial and/or Revolutionary American history. When I found The Book of Unknown Americans, I got super lucky.  The book is about a group of immigrants in Delaware from various countries.  Panama, Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela and I can't remember where else.  I guess I never thought of Delaware being a place with a lot of immigrants.  1 in 10 people in Delaware are Latino or Asian immigrants.  In PA this number is 1 in 11.  1 in 7 in Virginia.  There are more very interesting and easy to understand facts from the American Immigration Council here.
This seems to be one of those adult books that are good for teens as well. YALSA has this Alex Award for books that are made for adults, but would be good for teens.  It didn't make the list.  But it should have.  I can't begin to give a summary of this book.  So please, just read the goodreads description and then, please, please do read this book.  It is outstanding.