The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer

The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer (112 Pages)

Summary: As Indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity, interconnectedness, and gratitude. The tree distributes its wealth—its abundance of sweet, juicy berries—to meet the needs of its natural community. And this distribution ensures its own survival. As Kimmerer explains, “Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.”

Opinion: This is an adult non-fiction book that examines the intersection between ecology, philosophy, and economics. I've always enjoyed exploring philosophical questions and this book makes a big concept very digestible. It's a short book that is direct and even has a few illustrations. If you are interested in thinking more about how you live your life and how the world operates around you, I'd give this book a read. 

From Here to the Great Unknown by Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough

 

From Here to the Great Unknown by Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough - 304 pages

In 2022, Lisa Marie Presley asked her daughter to help finally finish her long-gestating memoir.

A month later, Lisa Marie was dead, and the world would never know her story in her own words, never know the passionate, joyful, caring, and complicated woman that Riley loved and grieved.

Riley got the tapes that her mother had recorded for the book, laid in her bed, and listened as Lisa Marie told story after story about smashing golf carts together in the yards of Graceland, about the unconditional love she felt from her father, about being upstairs, just the two of them. About getting dragged screaming out of the bathroom as she ran towards his body on the floor. About living in Los Angeles with her mother, getting sent to school after school, always kicked out, always in trouble. About her singular, lifelong relationship with Danny Keough, about being married to Michael Jackson, what they shared in common. About motherhood. About deep addiction. About ever-present grief. Riley knew she had to fulfill her mother’s wish to reveal these memories, incandescent and painful, to the world.

To make her mother known.

This extraordinary book is written in both Lisa Marie’s and Riley’s voices, a mother and daughter communicating—from this world to the one beyond—as they try to heal each other. Profoundly moving and deeply revealing, From Here to the Great Unknown is a book like no other—the last words of the only child of an American icon.

To be honest, I am not an Elvis fan, and I've not ever listened to any of Lisa Marie Presley's music.  But I was curious about this book b/c I find her a bit of an enigma.  I plowed right through this book; it is very well written and fascinating.  Definitely a great read.

The Let Them Theory - by Mel Robbins

 

The Let Them Theory - by Mel Robbins

Interesting!  Instead of giving power to others, take control of you with 2 simple words  (Let Them).  This is the theory of this book.  You control how you react, not others.  The Let Them Theory puts the power of your life, happiness, and control back in your hands.

What I took out of this book - "Don't fret over things you can't control"  We may all be stressing (wasting energy) over many things that we have no control.  Put your energy in what you can control - you.

In Gad We Trust: A Tell-Some by Josh Gad

In Gad We Trust: A Tell-Some by Josh Gad -- 272 pages

A heartfelt and hilarious collection of essays from the comedian and entertainer known for voicing Olaf in Disney's Frozen and for his award-winning turn as Elder Cunningham in the Broadway smash hit The Book of Mormon

For the first and possibly last time Josh Gad dives into a wide array of personal topics: the lasting impact of his parents’ divorce; how he struggled with weight and self-image; his first big break; how everyone was sure his most successful ventures (both on the big screen and on the stage) would fail; his take on fatherhood; and much more. This trip down the rabbit hole of overly personal stories will distract readers from climate change, the downward descent of democracy in Western civilization, and the existential threat that AI poses to Drake’s music—with never-before-seen photos and few-to-no spelling errors. Whether you know him from Disney or Broadway, YouTube, the silver screen, or not at all, one fact remains: Gad’s work never fails to bring people together (as long as they’re alive). His delightful debut, written in the tradition of Amy Poehler, Jim Gaffigan, and Mindy Kaling, reminds us to keep going, even when the chips and doubters are stacked against you.

Raised by a Serial Killer: Discovering the Truth About My Father - by April Balascio

 

Raised by a Serial Killer: Discovering the Truth About My Father - by April Balascio - 352 pages

The untold story behind the hit true crime podcast The Clearing, this unforgettable memoir traces one daughter’s moving quest to understand her larger-than-life childhood as she searches for the truth about her father, the serial killer Edward Wayne Edwards. One evening in 2009, April Balascio was searching online, as she had been every night, for unsolved murders in the towns her family had lived growing up, when she stumbled across the latest investigations into the “Sweetheart Murders” cold case. All at once, the buried memories of her father’s dark history were awakened, and she knew she had to take action. She picked up the phone to call a detective and the rest is infamous true crime history. In her unflinching memoir, Balascio bravely reveals an astonishing tale of a lifetime of manipulation, unexplained upheavals, and silent fear. Some part of her had always known what her father was capable of, but the full truth of how she came to these revelations is as riveting as it is quietly terrifying. Through searing storytelling, dedicated research, and intimate insight, Raised by a Serial Killer is a gripping, courageous memoir unlike any other.

This is a great book if you like to read this type of subject.  It's put together well and easy to follow.  It mainly follows her life starting from childhood and what she endured, to how she suspected her father was a killer, to the aftermath.  A few chapters about Edward's earlier days are peppered in, but at the beginning of each chapter is the year it occurred so it's easy to follow.  His poor family was put through hell, and honestly, I wish he'd had to endure a few more miserable years in jail before he died.  I think he got off easy; he lived a full life before getting caught and died fairly soon after being imprisoned.  A well written book-highly recommend!

Elephants on Acid: and Other Bizarre Experiments by Alex Boese

 

Elephants on Acid: and Other Bizarre Experiments by Alex Boese - 290 pages

Alex Boese reveals to readers the results of scores of outrageous, amusing, and provocative experiments found in the files of modern science.

When Tusko the Elephant woke in his pen at the Lincoln Park Zoo on the morning of August 3, 1962, little did he know that he was about to become the test subject in an experiment to determine what happens to an elephant given a massive dose of LSD.

In Elephants on Acid, Boese details the results of this scientific trial, as well as answers to the Why can't people tickle themselves? Would the average dog summon help in an emergency? Will babies instinctually pick a well-balanced diet? Is it possible to restore life to the dead?

Read on to find out...

Wow, a bunch of crazy experiments all in the name of science.  I had a very hard time with the one about keeping a decapitated dog's head alive, along with the monkey head transplant.  And of course there's the elephant on acid...yikes.  Other experiments weren't so dark so that helped; if they were I don't think I could've read this one.  Overall an interesting read.

What the World Eats by Faith D'Aluisio

 

What the World Eats by Faith D'Aluisio - 160 pages

Sitting down to a daily family meal has long been a tradition for billions of people. But in every corner of the world this age-old custom is rapidly changing. From increased trade between countries to the expansion of global food corporations like Kraft and Nestlé, current events are having a tremendous impact on our eating habits. Chances are your supermarket is stocking a variety of international foods, and American fast food chains like McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken are popping up all over the planet.

For the first time in history, more people are overfed than underfed. And while some people still have barely enough to eat, others overeat to the point of illness. To find out how mealtime is changing in real homes, authors Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio visited families around the world to observe and photograph what they eat during the course of one week. They joined parents while they shopped at mega grocery stores and outdoor markets, and participated in a feast where a single goat was shared among many families. They watched moms making dinner in kitchens and over cooking fires, and they sat down to eat with twenty-five families in twenty-one countries--if you’re keeping track, that’s about 525 meals!

The foods dished up ranged from hunted seal and spit-roasted guinea pig to U.N.-rationed grains and gallons of Coca-Cola. As Peter and Faith ate and talked with families, they learned firsthand about food consumption around the world and its corresponding causes and effects. The resulting family portraits offer a fascinating glimpse into the cultural similarities and differences served on dinner plates around the globe.

This is a very interesting book showing what people in different areas of the world eat in a week, plus information about the area in which they live and the family themselves.  It is very eye opening and amazing to learn about.

Grimoire Girl by Hilarie Burton Morgan

Grimoire Girl: A Memoir of Magic and Mischief by Hilarie Burton Morgan -- 222 pages

Since childhood, Hilarie Burton Morgan has felt the call to record, keep, and catalogue life in all its strange wonder. It was a whimsical habit, with no clear goal. And then, when she became a mother, the importance of all that collecting snapped into focus. 

In an effort to patchwork together an anthology of traditions, curiosity, and magical thinking that she could pass down, Burton Morgan realized she was crafting a grimoire. 

In her most intimate book yet, Burton Morgan shares how she’s creating an inheritance of mischief and magic that will outlive her. What’s more, she shows readers how they too can look at the elements of their lives and collect the pieces into a tangible collection of a lifetime of learning. Because in its purest form, a grimoire was a guide to keep you alive.

Like the grimoires of old, full of life-saving wisdom, these pages record the people, places, ideas and habits that have kept Burton Morgan alive, in her signature voice that is at once honest, witty, and charming. Accompanied by whimsical two-color illustrations by Olivia Faust, the book also includes Simple Spells, which are ways to bring magic into your daily create an altar that delights and inspires, practice candle magic and poetry spells, make an oracle deck, or channel your inner kitchen witch with recipes and potions. So begin creating your own inheritance, take a long look inward and decide...What wisdom will be written on the pages of your Grimoire?

We Carry Their Bones: The Search for Justice at the Dozier School for Boys by Erin Kimmerle

 

We Carry Their Bones: The Search for Justice at the Dozier School for Boys by Erin Kimmerle - 256 pages

The Arthur G. Dozier Boys School was a well-guarded secret in Florida for over a century, until reports of cruelty, abuse, and "mysterious" deaths shut the institution down in 2011. Established in 1900, the juvenile reform school accepted children as young as six years of age for crimes as harmless as truancy or trespassing. The boys sent there, many of whom were Black, were subject to brutal abuse, routinely hired out to local farmers by the school's management as indentured labor, and died either at the school or attempting to escape its brutal conditions.

In the wake of the school's shutdown, Erin Kimmerle, a leading forensic anthropologist, stepped in to locate the school's graveyard to determine the number of graves and who was buried there, thus beginning the process of reuniting the boys with their families through forensic and DNA testing. The school's poorly kept accounting suggested some thirty-one boys were buried in unmarked graves in a remote field on the school's property. The real number was at least twice that. Kimmerle's work did not go unnoticed; residents and local law enforcement threatened and harassed her team in their eagerness to control the truth she was uncovering--one she continues to investigate to this day.

We Carry Their Bones is a detailed account of Jim Crow America and an indictment of the reform school system as we know it. It's also a fascinating dive into the science of forensic anthropology and an important retelling of the extraordinary efforts taken to bring these lost children home to their families--an endeavor that created a political firestorm and a dramatic reckoning with racism and shame in the legacy of America.

I read this book to find out more about the Dozier School before I read "The Reformatory" by Tananarive Due, which is based on this school.  I found this book to be informative, however, sometimes too informative.  She goes into great detail about the process, which, while helpful but she gives a LOT of detail.  I feel so bad for these children and what they had to endure.  No human should be treated this way.  The fact that no administrators would admit guilt or were brought to justice is a travesty.

Appointment for Murder : the story of the killing dentist by Susan Crain Bakos

          Appointment with Murder : the story of the killing dentist by Susan Crain Bakos-384 pages

I was very interested in reading this book because my parents actually took me when I was 11; to have this dentist; Dr Glennon Engleman, pull two of my teeth.  He was cheap!  We were poor!  Little did we know he had a very lucrative side gig!  He was available to blow up anyone that you wanted to knock off for their insurance money. Or if he held a grudge against you..kaboom!  There were parts of the book that I had to skip over since it is also very sexually explicit.  He even performed back room abortions to achieve his goals.  One very sick man. Thankfully with the help of his third wife they finally caught him.  And did I mention this all took place here in St. louis from the 1950's - 1980's?!  I did not like the book, but since he was a part of my history I found it interesting.     

Downton Shabby by Hopwood DePree

 Downton Shabby by Hopwood DePree, 300 pages

I actually requested that we purchase this book and I am glad I did.  I have often wondered what it would be like to live in one of the grand homes in England.  Hopwood is just a normal guy working in Silicon Valley.  He had heard different stories growing up about the grandfather he was named for.  Low and behold there is a family estate in England that is in shambles and needs to be saved from the wrecker.  In steps modern day Hopwood and takes on the challenge of making repairs and/or totally rebuilding areas of the grand old home.  This is someone who has never done carpentry before.  It was funny and enlightening, and of course I loved learning all the history.  

Unmasked: My Life Solving America's Cold Cases by Paul Holes

Unmasked: My Life Solving America's Cold Cases by Paul Holes -- 288 pages

From the detective who found The Golden State Killer, a memoir of investigating America’s toughest cold cases and the rewards--and toll--of a life solving crime.

I order another bourbon, neat. This is the drink that will flip the switch. I don’t even know how I got here, to this place, to this point. Something is happening to me lately. I’m drinking too much. My sheets are soaking wet when I wake up from nightmares of decaying corpses. I order another drink and swig it, trying to forget about the latest case I can’t shake.

Crime-solving for me is more complex than the challenge of the hunt, or the process of piecing together a scientific puzzle. The thought of good people suffering drives me, for better or worse, to the point of obsession.

People always ask how I am able to detach from the horrors of my work. Part of it is an innate capacity to compartmentalize; the rest is experience and exposure, and I’ve had plenty of both. But I had always taken pride in the fact that I can keep my feelings locked up to get the job done. It’s only been recently that it feels like all that suppressed darkness is beginning to seep out.

When I look back at my long career, there is a lot I am proud of. I have caught some of the most notorious killers of the twenty-first century and brought justice and closure for their victims and families. I want to tell you about a lifetime solving these cold cases, from Laci Peterson to Jaycee Dugard to the Pittsburg homicides to, yes, my twenty-year-long hunt for the Golden State Killer.

But a deeper question eats at me as I ask myself, at what cost? I have sacrificed relationships, joy—even fatherhood—because the pursuit of evil always came first. Did I make the right choice? It’s something I grapple with every day. Yet as I stand in the spot where a young girl took her last breath, as I look into the eyes of her family, I know that, for me, there has never been a choice. “I don’t know if I can solve your case,” I whisper. “But I promise I will do my best.”

It is a promise I know I can keep.

The Best of Me by David Sedaris

The Best of Me by David Sedaris -- 387 pages 

For more than twenty-five years, David Sedaris has been carving out a unique literary space, virtually creating his own genre. A Sedaris story may seem confessional, but is also highly attuned to the world outside. It opens our eyes to what is absurd and moving about our daily existence. And it is almost impossible to read without laughing.

 

Now, for the first time collected in one volume, the author brings us his funniest and most memorable work. In these stories, Sedaris shops for rare taxidermy, hitchhikes with a lady quadriplegic, and spits a lozenge into a fellow traveler’s lap. He drowns a mouse in a bucket, struggles to say “give it to me” in five languages, and hand-feeds a carnivorous bird.

 

But if all you expect to find in Sedaris’s work is the deft and sharply observed comedy for which he became renowned, you may be surprised to discover that his words bring more warmth than mockery, more fellow-feeling than derision. Nowhere is this clearer than in his writing about his loved ones. In these pages, Sedaris explores falling in love and staying together, recognizing his own aging not in the mirror but in the faces of his siblings, losing one parent and coming to terms—at long last—with the other.

 

Taken together, the stories in The Best of Me reveal the wonder and delight Sedaris takes in the surprises life brings him. No experience, he sees, is quite as he expected—it’s often harder, more fraught, and certainly weirder—but sometimes it is also much richer and more wonderful.

 

Full of joy, generosity, and the incisive humor that has led David Sedaris to be called “the funniest man alive” (Time Out New York), The Best of Me spans a career spent watching and learning and laughing—quite often at himself—and invites readers deep into the world of one of the most brilliant and original writers of our time.

In the Enemy's House by Howard Blum

In the Enemy's House by Howard Blum
336 pages / 11 hrs, 12 mins

"In 1946, genius linguist and codebreaker Meredith Gardner discovered that the KGB was running an extensive network of strategically placed spies inside the United States, whose goal was to infiltrate American intelligence and steal the nation's military and atomic secrets. Over the course of the next decade, he and young FBI supervisor Bob Lampshere worked together on Venona, a top-secret mission to uncover the Soviet agents and protect the Holy Grail of Cold War espionage--the atomic bomb...

"A breathtaking chapter of American history and a page-turning mystery that plays out against the tense, life-and-death gamesmanship of the Cold War, this twisting thriller begins at the end of World War II and leads all the way to the execution of the Rosenbergs--a result that haunted both Gardner and Lampshere to the end of their lives."  --from the publisher

It can't be easy to write about breaking codes and solving puzzles in an engaging way, but Blum managed it very well. Even with lots of real-life characters in the mix, the story is exciting and easy to follow. I give it four out of five stars.

Attracting Birds and Butterflies by Barbara Ellis

Attracting Birds and Butterflies by Barbara Ellis-266 pages

Now that I am sequestered at home, I am so glad that I read this.  It is simply written with some great tips.  The pictures are beautiful and helpful.  Now I can't wait until I can purchase some of the plants and shrubs that they recommend.  To all you gardeners out there ready to dig in and get those hands dirty, I highly recommend this book.

The Art of Frugal Hedonism: A Guide to Spending Less While Enjoying Everything More

The Art of Frugal Hedonism by Annie Raser-Rowland and Adam Grubb 256 pages

The authors give you fifty tips on ways to save money, save the planet, AND enjoy yourself more. The book highlights the extreme over consumption first world countries have made their way of life and explains why going back to the basics will make you way happier and healthier than stuff ever would.

I LOVED this book. The authors do have some tips that are quite extreme in here, but most are a great reminder of how and why we should come back down to earth and focus on the important things.

Little Weirds by Jenny Slate

Little Weirds by Jenny Slate -- 304 pages

Hello and welcome to my book. Inside you will find:

× The smell of honeysuckle
× Heartbreak
× A French-kissing rabbit
× A haunted house
× Death
× A vagina singing sad old songs
× Young geraniums in an ancient castle
× Birth
× A dog who appears in dreams as a spiritual guide
× Divorce
× Electromagnetic energy fields
× Emotional horniness
× The ghost of a sea captain
× And more

I hope you enjoy these little weirds.

Love,
Jenny Slate 

The 50 Greatest Love Letters of All Time by David H. Lowenherz

The 50 Greatest Love Letters of All Time by David H. Lowenherz - 208 pages



If a picture speaks a thousand words, a love letter speaks a thousand more . . .

Even in this age of e-mail, faxes, and instant messaging, nothing has ever replaced the power of a love letter. Much the way light displays every color when passed through a prism, love letters express the spectrum of our emotions, offering a colorful glimpse into the soul of the writer, and of the writer’s beloved. For passionate readers and lovers of words, a letter is irresistible.

Internationally renowned collector David Lowenherz sifted through hundreds and hundreds of historical and contemporary epistles and selected the most ardent, witty, whimsical, sexy, clever, and touching letters for this inspiring collection. Unlike interviews or biographies, these letters give us marvelous insight into the lives of some of history’s most famous lovers and provide intimate glimpses into the hearts of some whose fervent or amusing expressions of devotion will come as a great surprise.

Zelda Fitzgerald to Scott Fitzgerald
Michelangelo Buonarroti to Vittoria Colonna
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to Constanze Mozart
Harry Truman to Bess Wallace
Khalil Gibran to Mary Haskell
Benjamin Franklin to Madame Brillon
Horatio Nelson to Emma Hamilton
George Bush to Barbara Pierce
Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn
Elizabeth Barrett Browning to George Barrett
Jack London to Anna Strunsky
Marc Chagall to Bella Chagall
Ernest Hemingway to Mary Welsh
Jack Kerouac to Sebastian Sampas
Alfred Dreyfus to Lucie Dreyfus
Marjorie Fossa to Elvis Presley
Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf to Vita Sackville-West
Ludwig van Beethoven to the “Immortal Beloved”
Emma Goldman to Ben Reitman
Frida Kahlo to Diego Rivera
Dylan Thomas to Caitlin Thomas
Franz Kafka to Felice Bauer
Napoleon Bonaparte to Josephine Bonaparte
Abigail Smith to John Adams
John Ruskin to Euphemia Ruskin
George Sand to Gustave Flaubert
Simone de Beauvoir to Nelson Algren
Anaïs Nin to Henry Miller
Voltaire to Marie Louise Denis
James Thurber to Eva Prout
George Bernard Shaw to Stella Campbell
Sarah Bernhardt to Jean Richepin
Marcel Proust to Daniel Halevy
Frank Lloyd Wright to Maude Miriam Noel
Anne Sexton to Philip Legler
Elizabeth I to Thomas Seymour
Oscar Wilde to Constance Lloyd
Katherine Mansfield to John Middleton Maury
Charles Parnell to Katherine O’Shea
Lewis Carroll to Clara Cunnyngham

ALEXANDER AND THE WONDERFUL, MARVELOUS, EXCELLENT, TERRIFIC NINETY DAYS: An Almost Completely Honest Account of What Happened to Our Family When Our Youngest Son, His Wife, Their Baby, Their Toddler, and Their Five-Year-Old Came to Live with Us For Three Months

Alexander and the Wonderful, Marvelous, Excellent, Terrific Ninety Days: An Almost Completely Honest Account of What Happened to Our Family When Our Youngest Son, His Wife, Their Baby, Their Toddler, and Their Five-Year-Old Came to Live with Us for Three Months.
-by Judith Viorst 113 Pages


Whatever became of Alexander after that famously bad day? And did you know that Judith Viorst is his mother? And what happens to her passion for household neatness and orderliness, her deep devotion to schedules, her compulsive yearning to offer helpful advice when Alexander -- now grown up, married, and the father of three -- moves his family into his parents' house?  

What happens is controlled, and sometimes not so controlled, chaos, as lives and routines are turned upside down and the house is overrun with scattered toys, pacifiers, baby bottles, sippy cups, pink-sequined flip-flops, jigsaw puzzles, and fishy crackers. With her characteristic sparkle and wit, Viorst relates her efforts to (graciously) share space, to become (if only a little bit) more flexible, to (sort of) keep her opinions to herself, and even to eventually figure out how to unlock the safety locks of the baby's (expletives deleted) bouncy seat. She describes how she and her husband, while sometimes longing for the former peace and tranquillity of unravished rooms and quiet dinners for two unaccompanied by cries of "Oh, yuck!" survived and relished the extended visit of the Alexander Five. She also opens our eyes to the joys of multigenerational family living and to the unexpected opportunities to grow that life presents -- even under the most unlikely circumstances. 

Embraced by the Light by Melvin Morse, M.D.

Embraced by the Light byBetty J. Eadie - 147 pages

Betty J. Eadie, author of the international bestseller Embraced By The Light, had the most eminent, prominent and extensive near-death experience ever recorded. She has written several books in an effort to share with others what she was shown in the spirit world about God and man’s existence, the meaning of life and what awaits all in the after life. Betty has given countless speaking events, lectures, radio and television appearances and interviews across America and abroad informing others that death need not be feared, the exquisite beauty of the spirit world, meeting Jesus, reuniting with deceased loved ones and the most important message of God’s unconditional love: that all are here to learn to “love one another.” 

Certainly gives one something to think about.