Heartwood by Amity Gaige

 

Title:  Heartwood

Author:  Amity Gaige

Narrated by:  Justine Lupe, Alma Cuervo, Rebecca Lowman, Ali Andre Ali, Cary Hite, Helen Laser

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 8 hours and 45 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Audio.  Thank-you!

What is a goal that you hope to accomplish in the next ten years?  I hope to get back to the Grand Canyon so that my kids can see it for the first time.

Valerie Gillis is forty-two years old and close to finishing her goal of hiking the Appalachian Trail when she goes missing in Maine.  Alone and lost, she writes her thoughts down for her mother.  Maine State Game Warden, Beverly, is leading the task force looking for her.  Lena is a seventy-six-year-old retired woman in Connecticut that is fascinated by the disappearance.  Will her armchair sleuthing help to find Valerie?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I love, love, loved the full cast audiobook recording.  There were three main points of view:  Valerie, Beverly, and Lena.  I also loved the interviews/conversations that popped up throughout book with her hiking buddy, Santo.  The voice actor really brought Santo to life!  I loved his story of being a black, “fat” hiker on the Appalachian Trail.  I want a book just on Santo’s adventures.

·       I enjoyed the hiking aspects of the Appalachian Trail as well as the relationships between hikers on the trail. 

·       Valerie’s husband, Gregory, also follows along and meets Valerie at stops along the way to keep her supplied.  She decides during the hike that she no longer loves Gregory and lets him know. Did Gregory have anything to do with her disappearance?

·       Valerie’s trail nickname was Sparrow.  I thought the trail nicknames were interesting.

·       Valerie decided to go on this hike after being burned out as a nurse during the pandemic.

·       I enjoyed the guitar music at the end of the audiobook.

·       Over the course of the book, I grew to love Valerie, Beverly, and Lena as well-rounded characters.   I like how the book looked to the future to where their lives went after this mystery.

·       The pacing of this book was slow at times, it’s not a fast-running thriller, but I was intrigued and wanted to know why Valerie was lost and whether she would be found.

·       This is a Read with Jenna Book.

Heartwood by Amity Gaige was an intriguing contemporary suspense audiobook set in nature with well rounded characters.  The audiobook with the full cast was a great experience.

World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

 

Do you like to read any books about nature?  World of Wonders was the Diversity Book Club pick at work in 2024.  It is a beautiful book.

World of Wonders is a memoir that is a collection of essays that meld together the natural world with life experiences.  This book prompted very in depth and interesting discussions during my book club meetings.

My thoughts:

·       The author looked for parts of nature that mirrored her life experiences.  It was very interesting.

·       Nature is interesting and relatable which made it a great theme for every essay.

·       I thought it was very interesting that the book discussed otherness in how one defines oneself and how others define you.

·       I was very sad by the peacock feather story where the author drew a beautiful peacock for a school project.  Peacocks were very important to her family, but her teacher shut her down and told her she needed to draw something “American.”  This led to an interesting discussion on what the teacher could have done differently to make this a learning moment for the entire class about another culture.  How could the teacher have built up the student rather than tearing her down?

·       The author’s mother was from the Philippines and her father was from India. Despite being the first doctor in her family, her mother faces racism from patients in the hospital.

·       The author discusses finding her “pond” where she belonged.  This also prompted great discussion in our book group about finding our own ponds.

·       The essays were a good length and easy to pickup and read.  It was a great format.

Overall, I highly recommend World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil for all those looking for a great book to discuss in a book club or those that love nature and learning more about others experiences.

 

 

 

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

I have been wanting to read Where the Crawdads Sing all year as I see it everywhere.  I had just finally picked myself up a copy at Costco when it was chosen for the August Rogue Book Club (aka FLICKS) selection.  I finished it before our meeting, but with overlapping vacations of members, our discussion and meeting have been postponed until September.  I can’t wait to talk about this book!

 Kya Clark is just six years old when her mother leaves her family forever.  One by one her older siblings leave her abusive father until it is just the two of them . . . and then eventually her father leaves her on her own.  Kya uses her skills to survive and grow up in the marsh.  Trusting few, she nevertheless makes lifelong friends and spends her time exploring the beauties of her home.  Kya wonders why her mother left her and never returned. She also learns about love.  When her ex-boyfriend is found murdered in the marsh, suspicious town folk are sure it’s the strange “marsh girl.”  Is Kya guilty or not?  Will Kya find true love and happiness?

I loved this novel.  It was a unique story and I loved the setting in the marsh and Kya’s love for nature.  It reminded me of a much older book, A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter.  Stratton Porters books also heavily included nature and her love for the wetlands of Indiana.  I liked how the book started in the future and was intermixed with the past to see how Kya grew up as the mystery and plot advanced.  I’m always intrigued by a good story of someone growing up in nature on their own, and I also love a good mystery.  This was a great blend.

Favorite Quotes:

“Marsh is not swamp.  Marsh is a space of light, where grass grows in water, and water flows in sky.”

“A swamp knows all about death, and doesn’t necessarily define it as tragedy, certainly not a sin.”

“Ya need some girlfriends, hone, ‘cause they’re furever.  Without a vow.  A clutch of women’s the most tender, most tough place on earth.”

Where the Crawdads Sing is a wonderful novel that perfectly blends, nature, mystery, and love.

Book Source:  I purchased this novel at Costco.