A Glimpse of Heaven on Earth by Deacon David Scheuer

 

What book have you read lately that inspired you?

David Scheuer was living a happy life working for an architectural firm, married with children, when he felt called to be a Deacon.  In his book he detailed his experiences with God’s presence here on earth.

My thoughts on this book:

·       This was a very inspiring book.  It was a perfect read for me during the Lenten season.

·       Each chapter tells an inspirational real-life experience and ends with a biblical quote, reflection question, and a prayer.

·       This was a great look into the life of Deacon David Scheuer.  This was written by the Deacon of our local church.  It is inspiring to know of someone that is having these types of religious experiences.  It doesn’t have to be a remote far away person having this experience.

·       I drove by one church mentioned in this book for work lately and I was excited!

·       The book was a moving read. 

·       This would be a great book to read and discuss with a faith group.

Overall, A Glimpse of Heaven on Earth by Deacon David Scheuer is a great look into one man’s experiences with God’s presence here on earth, but it also inspires all readers to be open for their own “glimpse of heaven.”

Book Source:  Purchased from Amazon.com

You with the Sad Eyes by Christina Applegate

 

Title:  You with the Sad Eyes

Author:  Christina Applegate

Narrated by:  Dan John Miller

Publisher: Little, Brown & Company

Length: Approximately 8 hour and 27 minutes

Source: Checked out through Libby through the Kewaunee Public Library

What actor/actress would you like to read a memoir about?

Christina Applegate was a child star growing up in California in the 1970s and 1980s.  Her home life was hard, but she became a star in TV and movies.  In 2021, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and her entire life suddenly changed.  This is her story.

My thoughts on this audiobook:

·       Christina Applegate narrated the audiobook which I really enjoyed. I was a fan growing up as a gen X kid especially of Married with Children and Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead.

·       She had such a sad neglected childhood.  I liked that she had a normal and happy experience visiting her grandparents in South Bend.

·       She suffered horrible domestic abuse by a boyfriend while she was in her late teens and at the height of her Married with Children fame.  It was hard to listen to.

·       Christina gets emotional talking about her relationship with her father and the discovery of the terrible life that he had as a child.

·       It was devastating to read about her MS diagnosis and sad realization that she won’t be able to work as an actress again.

·       Applegate experienced a lot of trauma in her life, but overall, it was inspiring how she kept going.

·       There was some detail on her shows and movies, but not as much as other Hollywood memoirs.

·       This was an honest audiobook, but I would have liked to hear more about happy times as well.

Overall, You with the Sad Eyes by Christina Applegate was an inspiring and heartbreaking memoir. 

 

Notes on Heartbreak by Annie Lord

 

What is the genre of the book you are currently reading?

Thank you, Partner @bibliolifestyle @harperperennial for the review copy of Notes on Heartbreak by Annie Lord.

In Notes on Heartbreak, Annie Lord details her break-up after a long-term relationship ends.

My thoughts on this book:

·       This was a memoir, but also read at times like a self-help book as well.

·       Lord discusses the relationship from how it started to how it slowly ended and dealing with the aftermath.

·       Lord was very honest on her feelings and made me remember how hard it is being in this type of situation.

·       It is good to know this happens to everyone and you are not alone in your heartbreak.

·       This book detailed the best and worst parts of being in love.

·       I liked that it read like it was her diary.  The reader got to know her inner thoughts, friends, and family. 

·       The author lives in England, which gave me Bridget Jones vibes at times.

·       I thought this memoir was interesting, but I think I would have enjoyed it more when I was younger and experiencing this type of break-up myself.

Overall, Notes on Heartbreak by Annie Lord is an interesting memoir that details the best and worst of being in love and the end of a relationship.

 

100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist's Guide to a Happy Life by Dick Van Dyke

 

Title:  100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist's Guide to a Happy Life

Author:  Dick Van Dyke

Narrated by:  Tom Bergeron, Dick Van Dyke

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Length: Approximately 7 hours and 27 minutes

Source:  Review copy from NetGalley.  Thank-you!

What is your favorite Dick Van Dyke movie or show?  That is a hard one for me as I love so much of his work.  I would say Mary Poppins, The Dick Van Dyke Show, and Diagnosis Murder are my top favorites.

Have you met anyone who lived to a 100?  My oldest relative was my Great Grandma Kile who lived to be 97.  There have been some people who lived to 100 in my local community.

Dick Van Dyke just recently turned 100.  In this book, he gives tips for staying healthy and making the most out of life.  He tells great stories from his long life.

My thoughts on this audiobook:

·       Dick Van Dyke reads the intro to his audiobook himself and narrator Tom Bergeron takes over for the rest of the book.  Tom Bergeron sounds so much like Dick Van Dyke that I kept thinking it was him as I listened.

·       I enjoyed the background of how Van Dyke created the old man Mr. Dawes character in Mary Poppins.

·       I loved his short stories and vignettes about his life and career.  I found myself laughing and smiling throughout this book.

·       It was sad that all his lifelong friends are now all gone.

·       He talked lovingly about working with Carl Reiner and how he was a great boss who stood up for everyone.  He said in today’s world, we need more Carl Reiners.

·       I have loved Dick Van Dyke my entire life and have enjoyed his shows and movies.  He also always reminded me of my late Grandpa Stone.  They looked alike with the same tall slim build and had a similar sense of humor.  My Grandpa was a year younger than Dick Van Dyke, but sadly passed away 23 years ago from a brain tumor.

·       Cary Grant would call Van Dyke when he was on an LSD trip and would just talk.  It was odd and funny and then just randomly stopped.

·       He talked about his bad British accent in Mary Poppins and joked that when he was asked to be James Bond, he responded, have you heard my British accent?  They hung up the phone on him!

·       He discussed his past problem with alcoholism and going to AA meetings.  He made a movie called The Morning After about alcoholism.  I need to find it.  When he admitted his real problem to the world, he received a lot of support.  Admitting he had a problem saved his life. I had no idea until this book that he had been an alcoholic.

·       The book is up to date as he discusses evacuating his home due to the fires last year and also about making the Coldplay video.

·       I was sad for him when he discussed how he loved to read but can no longer physically read.

·       He had a funny story about giving up his license.

·       I need to read his full autobiography!  Has anyone read it?

100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist's Guide to a Happy Life by Dick Van Dyke is an entertaining memoir and self-help book.  It was lighthearted and a fun read. I highly recommend it, especially for fans of Dick Van Dyke.

Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

 

Title:  Greenlights

Author:  Matthew McConaughey

Narrated by:  Matthew McConaughey

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Length: Approximately 6 hours and 51 minutes

Source: Checked out through Amazon Music with physical book checked out from the Kewaunee Public Library.

What public figure would you like to read more about?

Actor Matthew McConaughey has kept diaries for most of his life.  He sat down, reviewed them, and wrote this unique memoir on his life from childhood, through marriage and becoming a father.

My thoughts on this novel:

·       Greenlights was the October selection for the Page-turners Book Club at the Kewaunee Public Library.  I had to miss the meeting due to work but did get the book read.

·       The audiobook is read by Matthew McConaughey himself which I really liked.  He has a distinctive way of talking and I always enjoy when memoirs are read by the author themselves.

·       McConaughey had a crazy childhood. His parents divorced each other twice and married each other three times.  There was a lot of violence in his childhood home.

·       The memoir tells his story in a unique way including vignettes, poetry, words of wisdom/bumper stickers, etc.

·       This memoir was a little too personal at times.  He freely talks about his wet dreams and masturbation, and I really didn’t want to know about that.

·       I liked the details on his movies.  I would have liked even more discussion of his movies.

·       It was interesting how he used to live in a camper and traveled cross country in it for years.  He had many adventures.

·       This memoir as very funny.

·       He didn’t talk much about the time right before the book was published.

·       McConaughey also had a lot of self-help tips.  I didn’t like them as much as the personal stories of his life.

·       The greenlights are the title are things that move you forward in life.

Overall, Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey was an interesting memoir about a great actor.  I was entertained, but it’s not a book for everyone.ctor.  I was entertained, but it’s not a book for everyone.

Dear America, Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas

 

What is a current topic that you would like to learn more about?  With immigration constantly in the news, I thought it was a great time to read Dear American, Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas.

Jose Antonio Vargas was sent by his mother from the Philippines to America to live with this Grandfather at the age of twelve.  He later discovers that he is not a legal immigrant and that there is no pathway for him to become a legal citizen.  In this memoir, he details his journey.

My thoughts on this book:

·       This is a book that all Americans should read.

·       Most Americans don’t realize that our immigration system is so broken that there is no “line” or easy or straightforward way to become a legal citizen.  If you grew up in the United States, but you weren’t here legally, you have to leave and go to another country for ten years to start the legal process.

·       Rhetoric that really bothers me is “my ancestors came here legally.”  I’ve noticed that most of the folks who say this have not actually researched how their ancestors came here or whether it was legal.  They are white, and they just assume it was legal.  They also minimize the fact that until the 1920s, you just had to show up, pay a minimal fee, and be healthy, which is not the process now.

·       I like how Vargas ponders that it is just fate where you are born.  You don’t work to be an American citizen if you are born here.  Why is there so much hate and anger against those born in different places?

·       I displayed my own bias while I read this book.  I thought that Jose Antonio Vargas was Hispanic by his name.  I didn’t think about how Spanish colonization in the Philippines resulted in Spanish names for the population.

·       It is hard to make it as an undocumented immigrant, but Vargas has people who cared about him and helped him out.  He has spent his life thinking that he can’t ever settle down because of his status.

·       He became a prominent journalist.

·       Jose Antonia Vargas is illegal, but the rest of his Filipino family came here legally.  It stinks that his grandfather and mother had him brought illegally as a child and put him in this legal limbo.

·       Illegal immigrants pay taxes, but don’t get any of the benefits.

·       It is good to read about people’s experiences as it helps to put things in perspective.

·       As a gay man, Jose Antonio Vargas would be persecuted in the Philippines.

·       Will we ever actually try to fix our immigration laws and the process to become a citizen? 

Overall, Dear America, Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas is a book that all United States citizens should read for a good perspective on the broken immigration process in our country.

Favorite Quotes:

“What you done to earn your box? Besides being born at a certain place in a certain time, did you have to do anything at all?”

“I had to interrogate how laws are created, how illegality must be seen through the prism of who is defining what is legal and for whom.  I had to realize that throughout American history, legality has forever been a construct of power.”

“The Naturalization Act of 1790, our country’s first set of laws dealing with citizenship, said that an applicant had to be a ‘a free white person’ of ‘good moral character’ to be a US citizen.”

“Our country’s mainstream news organizations often fail to report basic facts about how much undocumented workers pay into a government that vilifies us. Whether because of ignorance or indifference, or both, failure to report these facts and provide context has perpetuated the myth of the ‘illegal’’ and who is taxing social services and taking away from ‘real Americans.’”

“According to the SSA itself, unauthorized workers have paid $100 billion into the fund over the past decade…Annually, undocumented workers pay $12 billion to the Social Security Trust Fund.”

“The mainstream media’s coverage of immigration is lackluster at best and irresponsibility at worst, promoting and sustaining stereotypes while spreading misinformation.”

“Between 1965 and 2015, new immigrants and their offspring accounted for 55 percent of US population growth, according to the Pew Research Center.”

Book Source:  Thank-you to #morrowpartner @deystreet for a review copy of this book. 

Come, Tell Me How You Live by Agatha Christie

 

What has been your favorite memoir?

Come, Tell Me How You Live is a lighthearted memoir about Agatha Christie’s adventures in Syria while her husband, Max, was on an archaeological dig in the1930s.  She gathered together her notes and vignettes afterwards to put together this interesting memoir.

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I read Come, Tell Me How You Live by Agatha Christie in July as part of #ReadChristie2025.  The overall theme this year is to explore Christie’s works through the canon of characters and their careers.  The career for July was archeologists.

·       Christie’s second husband Max Mallowan was a renowned archaeologist.  He was thirteen years younger than her, and they traveled the world together.  I love this for Agatha Christie after her disastrous first marriage.

·       There was not much in the memoir on actual archaeology, but more on the people, places, and trying to make a home in a new and foreign place.

·       My favorite vignette was unforgettable and disturbing.  Christie woke up one night to find her and her husband covered with mice.  He could sleep fine, but she could not so their beds were moved outside.  A cat was hired the next day who efficiently and methodically killed the mice.  Christie called it a “professional cat.”  I would have loved to see this cat.

·       Christie chronicled a lot of hatred between different groups of different religions against each other.  Some were told with humor such as driver that tried to run over people of a particular religious group whenever he saw them, but I didn’t think it was funny.  Sadly, this conflict hasn’t changed with time in the Middle East.

·       Christie did write this memoir with a lot of wit and humor throughout.  It was nice to read a different genre from Christie rather than a mystery.

·       I wanted to travel with Christie as she seemed like a very fun and charming person.  The site conditions didn’t sound so fun, however.

·       It was sad thinking about all these archaeological treasures being found and carted away from their homeland.

Overall, Come, Tell Me How You Live by Agatha Christie was a great memoir filled with wit and humor.  This book gives one the experience of what it would have been like to live through an archaeological dig in the 1930s.

Book Source:  The Kewaunee Public Library.  Thank-you!

Home of the Happy: A Murder on the Cajun Prairie by Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

 

Title:  Home of the Happy:  A Murder on the Cajun Prairie

Author:  Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

Narrated by:  Christine Lakin

Publisher: HarperAudio

Length: Approximately 13 hours and 10 minutes

Source: Audiobook review Copy from NetGalley and physical book review copy from #MorrowPartner and Mariner Books.  Thank-you!

 

Do you have any family stories that you think would make good books?  I think my great grandparents had interesting lives and they would make good stories. 

 

In 1983, banker Aubrey LaHaye was found dead, floating in a bayou.   He had been kidnapped ten days before.  A man was arrested, tried, and convicted of his murder – but was he guilty?  Aubrey’s great granddaughter investigates his murder as a cold case.  Will she find clues that were overlooked in the original investigation?  What will she learn about her own family?

 

Thoughts about this book:

·       Home of the Happy is a perfect book for lovers of true crime and true crime podcasts.

·       This book was great on audiobook with an interesting narrator.

·       Besides being a true crime book, it was also a memoir of the author’s family and community.   It was a personal story.

·       I learned a lot about the Cajun culture.  The book gave the history of the Acadian Cajuns and included discussion of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, Evangeline:  A Tale of Acadie. 

·       The book went through the impact of the murder on the entire LaHaye family through the years and how it changed them.

·       It also detailed the trial of John Brady Balfa.  Some people still think he is innocent.  It really made me ponder the justice system.  It’s up to the victim’s family to keep going to the parole hearings to keep someone in jail.  But what if they are innocent?  The author grapples with this and whether her family has kept an innocent man in jail.  Luckily, she has resolution by the end to feel like they did keep the right man in jail.

·       The physical copy of the book has a great insert of pictures related to the family and the crime.

Overall, Home of the Happy:  A Murder on the Cajun Prairie by Jordan LaHaye Fontenot was an interesting true crime book that was unique with the intersection of a memoir of a family, people, and place in time.

Sweet Nothings by Sarah Perry

 

What is your favorite kind of candy?  I have so many, but one of my favorite kinds of candy is definitely bubble gum.

Author Sarah Perry has written hundreds of “micro essays” on just about every type of candy imaginable.  They are organized by color of the candy.  Perry philosophizes on the candy and its enjoyment, relates it to her life, and/or tells some of the fascinating history of the candy.  Will your favorite candy be included?

My thoughts on this book:

·       I loved the great drawings of the different types of candy that was included throughout the book.

·       I didn’t realize there are SO MANY different types of candy . . . and that I have eaten most of them.  I think I am a secret candy lover, although now as a middle-aged woman, I don’t each much candy at all besides gum.  I may still dream of it.

·       This book was funny, but informational.  I loved the history on things such as bubble gum as well as exactly what defines chocolate.

·       Candy as it is felt through all senses such as taste, flavor, feel, smell, and structure is discussed.

·       The author also tells the story of her life through candy.  She lost her mother at a young age, which deeply impacts her.  Her mother was murdered, which is slightly alluded to in this book.  I need to read her memoir, After the Eclipse.

·       This is definitely a book for adults as the author does bring in her adult relationships and sex life.

·       As this was a book of essays, I did notice a few things repeated at the end of the book.  Each essay could be its own stand-alone story.

·       The length of the essays really varied.  Some were a paragraph long while others went on for several pages.

Overall, Sweet Nothings by Sarah Perry was a funny and heartful book filled with great essays on candy and life.  It was entertaining and a unique read.

Favorite Quote: “What ever possessed the candymakers of the late twentieth century?  It was an era when strange textures and intense physical sensations predominated, a sort of arms race to see who could devise the weirdest way to mainline sugar.  By the 1990s we have Pixy Stix and Ring Pops and nerds and Fun Dip.  Fun Dip!  Just a bag of finely ground sugar, really, pastel cocaine.”

Book Source:  Review Copy from @marinerbooks # morrowpartner.  Thank-you!

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

 

Title:   I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Author:  Maya Angelou

Narrated by:  Maya Angelou

Publisher: Random House Audio

Length: Approximately 10 hours and 11 minutes

Source: Audiobook Purchased from Audible

Do you like audiobooks narrated by the author?  I love them, especially when they are memoirs. I have read a physical copy of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou in the past, but it was especially wonderful this time to listen to Maya Angelou narrate her own story.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was Maya Angelou’s debut memoir, and it details her childhood until the age of seventeen.  This memoir is unique in its structure, prose, and depth of feeling.  She changed the way that memoirs were written.

Other thoughts on this novel:

·       I reread this novel in March for the Back to the Classics Book Club at the Kewaunee Public Library.  We had a great discussion about it.

·       This book is frequently banned.  I was dismayed to see it back in the news again recently as it has been removed from the shelves at the Naval Institute.  This is a travesty.

·       Maya and her brother Bailey were sent on a cross-country train alone from California to Arkansas when they are very young by their parents.  I just can’t imagine this!

·       I loved how Maya is always reading such great books at an early age.

·       Horrible things happened to Maya as a child, and she stops speaking. I loved that a teacher, Mrs. Bertha Flowers helps her to get her voice back.  She said you can not truly love poetry until you speak it.  She helped to introduce her to great authors.

·       Maya experienced so many things in her life up to age 17:  rape, being the first black streetcar operator in San Francisco, living in a junk yard, driving for the first time when she had to get her drunk father home from Mexico, etc.  It culminated with her having a baby.

·       This memoir soars with love and laughter, but also pain and neglect.  Angelou tells her story in a raw and honest way.

·       In her raw and honest way, Angelous discusses her feeling on sexuality as she grew up being confused during puberty.

·       Angelou’s parents angered me.  While her mother does help her with self-confidence and determination as a teenager, neither were there for their children and put them in awful situations.

·       “Mama” their grandmother, was truly a greater person raising her grandkids as best as she could.

Overall, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou is a compelling memoir that is great for a book club discussion.  Angelou tells her amazing story in an authentic and sincere way.  This classic should not be missed.