Midwestern

Draws you in

Revisado: 03-26-22

I love the cover of the book, it draws you in slowly. First you notice the pleasing rococo color palette (of Boucher and Fragonard) and how more and more you notice the beautiful simplicity of wild roses, and the celadon leaves and stem. The book draws you in the same way. First you notice the gentle and simple civility of the post-war Britain and then you notice more and more the beautiful intricacy of the heart that beats inside each human body, the secret hopes of deep passions that blow them one direction or another.

The beginning of the book offers a foreboding warning, but you sail along with the characters seeking the answer to the mystery, knowing it might bring happiness or pain. It doesn't matter because of the Buddhist truism "that which you are seeking is causing you to seek". We are each pulled by our desires; and it doesn't matter where it leads us or even if it will bring tragedy and disappointment because if the journey is rewarding, that is pleasurable reward enough.

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What a lovely book

Revisado: 02-26-22

This is the first book I've read by Starhawk but it is only the first of many books by her I will read. The blessings are so warm, and lovely, and thoughtful. It's wonderful to be reminded of what really matters in life. These are very helpful gems of how to create your own very personal but universally understood blessings. Wonderful and heart-warming.

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Exciting adventure

Revisado: 02-26-22

I loved this story! You know how when you get to know an author how you can tell which bits are autobiographic versus which parts are imagination? I just knew this story was based on something true that had happened in J.K. Rowling's life. I knew that she has a sentimental heart --ie. little well loved dirty stuffed toy and Christmas tree topper made from a toilet roll more than brand new fancy things. And the idea of a world of lost things, its very environmentally conscious as well as sensitive to people who are deeply empathetic to all life consciousness. Very clever, exciting and thought-provoking. Thank you J.K. Rowling. oh-my favorite part is how she refers to the little pigs legs as "trotters" because you can almost hear the sound they make.

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Several times I forget where I was in real life.

Revisado: 07-13-21

I hated the first chapter and yet.. . This story is very good. It's a Cinderalla marries her Prince Charming premise, and yet its really fun to criticize the narrator and still have complete sympathy with her too. It also provides a really an interesting moral dilemma because its natural to want to cheer for the narrator and the people she loves, but should we?

By the end of the book, I listened to this while driving, I found myself imagining the scenes in so much detail that it would confuse me, I would for a moment loss track of where I was in my journey driving home, like all of sudden everything was unfamiliar. I could see and feel what the narrator was seeing and feeling.

It's just exciting in the way there is that little tug of push and pull, with all of the privilege of wealth on such obvious display. Absolutely great story!

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Love this so much

Revisado: 04-23-20

My ancestors settled on the North East Coast, so I time travel back listening to this, feeling the cool humidity, the smell and taste of salt in the air, the bracing caress of the wind. I can see the beach and the beach grass, and hear the absence of trees that I know were once there. Its just so moody and delicious. It also sounds like night. Feeding my imagination with the sight, sound, taste, smell and feeling of the landscape. Thank you for this.

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A Rosetta Stone

Revisado: 01-29-20

I love this book, it’s the book I buy several copies to give to friends because it is so important!

For anyone who cares about the Earth and how to live in right relation with all the people on the Earth.

Robin Wall Kimmerer is Potowatami tribe of the Anishinabe nation.

It’s well known that world wide any environmental protection or restoration project will be more successful when indigenous people of that land are involved. They hold the ancient knowledge of how to work in balance with that land.

This title is a metaphor for blending different kinds of knowledge: ancient folklore, modern science, with personal observation and experience.

I learned a little from Keewaydiniquay, the Ojibway medicine woman from Garden Island, Michigan. I wish I’d spent more time with her to learn more. But robin wall Kimmerer,s book has added to those teachings. Her precious listing of protocols for The Honorable Harvest are such a gift.

The entire book is a gift beyond measure.

This has to be one of the most important books ever written.

Thank you.

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Author's voice is a warm smile and loving hug

Revisado: 01-22-20

Every so often you'll find a voice that infuses warmth within the words, Sy Montgomery radiates enthusiasm with grace.

I feel invited into her east coast home when listening to this book, to walk along with her on her scientific travels as well as leisurely hikes when she's working at home. She quickly feels like a friend you've always had even though you just met.

In real life she admits that as a child she would forget people but always remember their animals. That's charming and understandable, and reassuring.

So the only problem I have with this book is that I wonder, I want her to explain, how she has gotten over her emotional responses to scientific study methods that are galling. To snatch an octopus out of the wild and it put it on display in a marine museum, it's heart-breaking. How did she learn to accept things like that? You know it hurts her, because it hurts to hear it. So how did she resolve that inner revulsion to enslaving something that is wild and free?

I guess we're in the beginning of awakening to the wider world of consciousness, and so this book, as warm and lovely as it, is a product of its time. We live in a world that is at best imperfect and unjust, and maybe that's part of the intriguing part of all of this. Our cultural awareness of animal consciousness is tettering on a precipice, where we see enslaving animals en masse within the animal agriculture industry, treating them as if they are inanimate, while a few rally for their emancipation.

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I kept saying "Oh My Goodness!"

Revisado: 11-29-19

I really wanted to like this book. I heard author talk about it in an interview and actually learned more from that then the book itsself.

The worst part of this book is that it is so old-fashioned racist, completely unaware of how racist it is. Whenever talking about the interactions between the puritan pilgrims and the Native Americans I kept saying "Oh my goodness!" It was so shocking! How can anyone say such horrible lies? If the author believes the lies, or simply lacks imagination of something more realistic it doesn't matter because it was that shocking.

I listened to the whole book. Sadly my first book about the Mayflower people. I hope to next listen to Native American version before attempting anymore Mayflower books. I will read historic accounts like that by William Bradford.

I just find it shocking in this day and age to still be peddling this very unenlightened views of pilgrims. I can't recommend the book. I also did not like the reader's voice.

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Evocative of an actual experience

Revisado: 10-14-19

Every year life and experience brings renewed eyes to see the world. This story was so convincing in the description of a vampire that it made me wonder if the author had actual experience with one.

That might sound like an outrageous statement but the whole time I was listening to the story I just wanted to understand the author better. That does not often happen, but with this story it felt vital to understand.

So researched on Wikipedia; Sheridan Le Fanu was married to the daughter of a barrister with three children during the time of the Irish [potato] famine, trying to live as if prosperous when in fact he was plagued with financial difficulties. He started his career in law, then abandoned that, to pursue journalism. They lived in a house rented to them by his wife's father.

His wife began to have symptoms of anxiety, neurotic, and a crisis of faith. She suffered a hysterical attack, and died the next day in unclear circumstances. In his diaries, Le Fanu, expressed the anguish of guilt and loss.

Understanding that about him, helped me understand this story. I didn't need it of course, the work stands alone, but there is something unspoken within the story that made me need to dig for some kind personal explanation behind this story -what is it really about?

Some reviewers talk about the male gaze on women's sexuality, maybe that's it, maybe that's the question I was asking. What is this story really about? Is it about energetic vampires? Or something else? This 1872 gothic novella by an author from Dublin is a mysterious pool of evocative suggestions, for a myriad of questions, with unknowable answers.

With all performances there are some that are right on, and some that felt off, but overall 5 stars!! Thanks Audible!

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Surprising romance hidden in young adult novel

Revisado: 10-12-18

I saw the Studio Ghibli animation based very loosely on this novel, and that is no doubt why this story was completely unexpected!

While this novel sometimes reads like a 1930s screwball comedy, in a completely proper way, it's a surprisingly sexy comedy romance between two imperfect characters. Their extended community of friends and family sometimes bump against or misunderstand each other, but still love each other as would a gentle family with good boundaries. I love this novel! It instantly put me in good mood every time I started the car, narrator Jenni Sterlin came through the Bluetooth, and in my mind I reentered the castle. After I listened to it once I had to listen to it again to pick up on what I'd missed the first time. It is just as delightful the second time through.

I read an interview of the author, she said young girls wrote and told her they want to marry Howl! I also want to marry Howl! Despite being a bit a drama queen, which he makes fun of himself for, he is keenly observant and indulgently patient. He may act as though he doesn't notice everything that is going on but don't be deceived. I dare you to NOT fall in love with him, and the other characters in this book!

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