Books I Read in June, 2025

 Books I read in June, 2025

Books I read in June, 2025

Nicolas and Alexandra by Robert Massie⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Wow! Incredible history of the last Czar of Russia and his family during the First World War and the Russian revolution.  What a story, well written. I learned so much. Read it!!

The Dark Horse by Rumer Godden. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Well written story about a racehorses in India in the waning days of the Raj. It didn’t really tickle my fancy because I’m not into horses and racing. The setting was interesting and informative though. 

Audio: Woodrow Wilson by A. Scott Berg. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Excellent biography of an interesting man in an interesting time.  Well, worth reading. 

Currently reading:

Read aloud FM: Winston Churchill: Defender of the Realm by William Manchester.  This is the third and final volume. This volume deals with Churchill during and after World War II. It is loooong but every page is enthralling.  But will I ever finish the 1587 pages of this volume???

A Wilder way by Poppy Okotcha

The World without Us by Alan Weisman

Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome 

Books I Read in September

 

Books I read in September, 2024

Fever by Laurie Anderson. Historical fiction about the Yellow Fever epidemic in Philadelphia in 1793. Very well done. A good read. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult. Fiction, set during the Pandemic, interesting but not brilliant. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee. Nonfiction. Very interesting.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Nutmeg’s Curse by Amitav Ghosh. History, ecology, climate change. I should have really liked this book but I didn’t.  He makes his points about 5000 times and by about one third of the way through the book, I’d had enough. Not up to his usual standard. ⭐️⭐️

The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. Post Apocalyptic fiction. Well done but I didn’t care to read the sequel.  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Audiobook: Countdown by Alan Weismann ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Currently reading

The Last Lion: Winston S. Churchill, Defender of the Realm by William Manchester. (My read aloud book.)

Never Call Retreat by Bruce Catton. (JMM’s read aloud book.)

Lovely One by Ketanji Brown Jackson

Fire Weather by John Vaillant

 Reading, July 2024

Despite the heat and despite Hurricane Beryl, there was a lot of good reading done. 

Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand. A nice summer read. Interesting but not heavy. A good read. 

The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Alone, 1932-1940 by William Manchester. There is no word other than magnificent to describe Manchester’s Churchill trilogy. This is volume 2 and it is truly a work for the ages. Now on to volume 3, Defender of the Realm. 

The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan. We all know what a great writer of fiction Amy Tan is but did you know that she is an artist and keen backyard bird watcher? A lovely book about a lovely subject written by a talented artist/writer. A good read. 

Life Ascending by Nick Lane.  This may be an excellent book for people with a serious background in biochemistry and genetics. But it was simply over my head.  I am disappointed because I would like to find out more about the subject. I wish the book had been written more for a layman. I didn’t finish it. 

Currently Reading:

The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Defender of the Realm, 1940-1965 by William Manchester and Paul Reid. 

The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee.

The Nutmeg’s Curse by Amitav Ghosh.

Fever, 1793 by Laurie Anderson. 

Wage Peace by Mary Oliver

 Wage Peace

Wage peace with your breath.

Breathe in firemen and rubble,

breathe out whole buildings

and flocks of redwing blackbirds.

Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping children and freshly mown fields.

Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.

Breathe in the fallen and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.

Wage peace with your listening:

hearing sirens, pray loud.

Remember your tools:

flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.

Make soup.

Play music, learn the word for thank you in three languages.

Learn to knit, and make a hat.

Think of chaos as dancing raspberries,

imagine grief as the outbreath of beauty

or the gesture of fish.

Swim for the other side.

Wage peace.

Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious.

Have a cup of tea and rejoice.

Act as if armistice has already arrived.

Don't wait another minute.

~ by Mary Oliver

The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry

 

THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS

Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

What did I read in April:

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams.  A well-written story with relatable characters. A good read. 

The Nature of Oaks by Douglas Tallamy. I have always loved oaks but really had no idea of the depth of their nurturing effect on the environment. A good read. 

This Ain’t Normal by Joel Saladin. (Audiobook) Some good information but he is just too radical to be taken seriously. IMHO. 

The Coming Fury by Bruce Catton. This is the first volume of Bruce Catton’s magnificent trilogy of the American Civil War. This volume deals with the events leading up to the war. Excellent history, terrific writing. 

Currently Reading:

The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932-1940 by William Manchester. (My read aloud book)

Terrible Swift Sword by Bruce Catton. (Joe’s read aloud book

The Comfort of Crows by Margaret Renkl

Silent Spring Revolution by Douglas Brinkley 

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym

Nature’s Best Hope by Douglas Tallamy

.

 

Mary Oliver

 

My work is loving the world.

Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird —

equal seekers of sweetness.

Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.

Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?

Am I no longer young, and still half-perfect? Let me

keep my mind on what matters,

which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be

astonished.

The phoebe, the delphinium.

The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.

Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart

and these body-clothes,

a mouth with which to give shouts of joy

to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,

telling them all, over and over, how it is

that we live forever.”

~ Mary Oliver