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Writing, Reading, and Rural Life With a Border Collie

Category Archives: Read


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‘Christmas Across Africa’ Charms & Captivates

Peace, Joy and Love:
Christmas Across Africa

By Terry Lister

Genre: Non-Fiction/Travel, 2022

Via: Author Request

Pages: 120

Note: We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

“Want to keep Christ in Christmas? Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, forgive the guilty, welcome the unwanted, care for the ill, love your enemies, and do unto others as you would have done unto you.”

– Steve Maraboli, winner of the United Nations Award for Philanthropy (as quoted in Peace, Joy and Love: Christmas Across Africa.)

One of our favorite travel writers in back. This time Terry Lister offers a collection of experiences and observations just in time for the Christmas season.

Titled Peace, Joy and Love: Christmas Across Africa, Lister’s newest collection covers Christmas traditions and celebrations in over a dozen African countries. These include both predominantly Muslim countries like Morocco and Tunisia to predominantly Christian countries like Ethiopia and Kenya. And all points in between, including Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana, the Gambia, Senegal, Zimbabwe and Cameroon.

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‘Echoes in the Stars’ Shines Bright

Echoes in the Stars

By Gordon Frisbie

Published by: TFL Stories, 2022

Pages 191

Genre: Non-Fiction/Memoir/Essays

Via: Author Request

Note: We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

We were going to reserve December for Christmas-ish books. No. Really. We were. But one of us is a big sucker for just about any “dog story” that comes down the pike. (Hi, Mom.) Then author Gordon Frisbie contacted us about reviewing a collection of stories and essays starring his amazing Australian shepherd, Boo, and his other canine companions. Well. Who can resist that?!

But Echoes in the Stars isn’t just another “dog story.” Yes, it’s a tribute to the author’s Aussie shepherd, Boo. It’s also much more. Here’s the 4-1-1:

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Sweet Children’s Story Celebrates the Season

Who let these guys on the front lawn?

Kimber: “Mom! Mom! Open the door, pronto!”

Mom: “Hey, Kimmi. What’s up?”

Kimber: “I gotta meet up for a play date with my new buddy! Hurry! Hurry!”

Mom (Mutters to self: I may regret asking this, but here goes): “What new buddy?”

Kimber: “Red Dog, of course! My new best pal from that children’s story thingy, Lily’s Egypt Adventure.”

Mom: “Um… You do know that Red Dog is a character in a book, right? That he’s not real. As in, fiction?”

Kimber: “Does that matter?”

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New Christmas Fable Brings Holiday Cheer

The Great Tree

A Christmas Fable

By Able Barrett

Bonus points: The Last Dog Publications, 2021

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 42

Via: Author Request

We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Kimber: Someone is a Super Star. No, really. All you have to do is open this sweet little novella and turn to the Dedication page. See?

Remind you of anyone?

In case you’re wondering – and even if you’re not – this isn’t really a photo of Yours Truly.  Naw. 

It’s actually a photo “In Loving memory of Demerri,” the author’s “Dear Departed Rescued Dog” and “The Best German Shephard I Ever Knew & Loved.”

It’s me!

 

Probably a cousin. So when it comes to The Great Tree, I’m kinda biased. In a canine sort of way, if ya know what I mean. Here’s the 4-1-1 on this Christmas novella:

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Smart & Sassy Romance Will Wing Its Way Into Your Holidays

A Wingman for Christmas

A Sweet Water Novella

By Barbara Barth

Gilbert Street Press, 2022

Via: Blog Tour

Genre: Fiction/Light Romance

Pages: 195

Note: We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

‘Tis the season “for miracles and love” in this smooth and sassy light romance.

The Basics

Cheryl Calloway is in a seasonal slump. Recently divorced, the last thing she needs is for her chain-smoking, Vodka-drinking, wise-cracking Mama to move in with her. But move in Mama does, along with Nigel, a loquacious Amazonian parrot who’s “the love of Mama’s life.”

Settling the gregarious, geriatric Mama into Cheryl’s tiny cottage is like trying to “settle” a runaway freight train. Mama may be elderly, but she’s still a force of nature.

Wild Rose Lane will never be the same.

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SPOTLIGHT: Half Notes From Berlin

“Well, dog-gone it!” says I, Kimber the Magnificent. In case you’re wondering – and even if you’re not – I’m fine, thanks. Fresh off a festive holiday weekend with food falling like rain off people’s dinner plates. Cuz once it hits the floor, it’s dog-gone!  (Don’t tell Mom. Let’s just keep that Thanksgiving Day coup our little secret, okay?)

“Here’s lookin’ at you, kid!”

Anyway, we were all set to post a review today of an historical fiction work, Half Notes From Berlin. It grabbed our attention when we received a blog tour invite for this title. We wanted to do a review. But the book did not arrive in time. (What can I say? We have standards. Deadlines. Sometimes we can bend. Sometimes we can’t. This was a “can’t.” Bummer.)

Where was I? Oh yeah. Historical fiction. Like a coming-of-age story set in Berlin 1933.

Even though this book didn’t make our cut-off for arrival, we’re still intrigued. And you know how we love good historical fiction. So we want to feature it with a “spotlight.” Cuz we’re really, really nice that way. What?

Here ya go:

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Why ‘My Mother’s Secret’ Will Melt Hearts

Hardcover My Mother's Secret: A Novel of the Jewish Autonomous Region BookMy Mother’s Secret: A Novel of the Jewish Autonomous Region

By Alina Adams

Publisher:  The Donohue Group, 2022

Genre: Historical Fiction/Historical Romance

Pages: 305

Via: Blog Tour

Note: We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

***

“Hope, my earthly compass

It’s luck, it’s a trophy for bravery…

We only need to learn how to wait

We must be calm and stubborn.”

Real estate lawyer and San Franciscan Lena Burns doesn’t understand why her mother is so aloof. Also:

  • Why is Mama Regina so impassive and ambivalent?
  • What happened in Regina Solomonova’s past, when she fled Moscow for a God-forsaken patch of ground in Eastern Russia called Birobidzhan, the world’s first Jewish Autonomous Region?
  • Why does Mama Regina not trust herself to make good decisions?
  • Did something happen to Regina before she married an American G.I. and left the USSR for San Francisco after World War II?
  • Why did Mama Regina leave her homeland, and who did she leave behind?
  • What did Lena’s father mean with his deathbed question: “You couldn’t’ tell, could you?”

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The DNF Pepto Patrol

Ever dive into a well-anticipated book only to go thud? Like, “Good thing my fall was cushioned by a nice, thick slab of granite or I might’ve been seriously injured”? How ‘bout trying so hard to really, really like a story only to wind up reaching for the nearest bottle of Pepto?

Well. Books are supposed to be enjoyable and engaging, capcihe? So if ya gotta force yourself to read a book, that kind of defeats the whole purpose, right?

Not Our Cuppa

We could not force ourselves to finish the titles below. Kindly note that some aren’t necessarily lousy books (although some are really lousy. We’ll get to that in a min.). They’re just not our cuppa, okay? Usually cuz they moved with the speed of a growing redwood, numbed our brain into a dopamine stupor, or could’ve doubled as a bunch of arugula.

Drum roll please… for our list of nominees for the DNF Pepto Patrol. In no particular order:

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‘Daughters of Teutobod’: Hold the Braunschweiger

See the source imageDaughters of Teutobod

By Kurt Hansen

Kimber: You know that feeling you get when you order a nice, thick filet mignon and wind up with an under-cooked burger instead? That’s how we felt reading this book. I’ll let Her Grumpiness explain. But I’d buckle up ‘fize you. Cuz she’s on a roll today. And I don’t mean burger bun. Take it away, Mom!

Her Grumpiness: We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review as part of a blog tour. Then we read it. And bowed out of the tour. Why? Simple. Blog tour coordinators typically want a glowing review on the order of the Parting of the Red Sea or the Greatest Thing Since Sliced Burger Buns.

Newsflash, Buttercup: We don’t do that here.

We bowed out of the tour so we could post an Honest Review instead. We’re just funny that way.

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‘Chasing Tarzan’ Swings Thru Jungle of Emotions

Chasing Tarzan

By Catherine Forster

Published by: E.L. Marker, an imprint of WiDo Publishing, 2022

Genre: Non-Fiction/Memoir

Pages: 276

Via: Book Blog Tour

Note: We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Johnny Weissmuller. That’s the first thing that popped into Mom’s head when we received the blog tour invitation for this book.

“I dunno, Kimmi…” says Mom.

“Oh, c’mon Mom!” chirps I, Kimber the Magnificent. “Think Tarzan! You know. Swinging through the jungle on high-flying vines. Swimming through croc-infested waters. Rampaging pachyderms. Voracious lions. Deadly pestilence and dastardly villains. It’ll be fun!”

Little did we know…

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