The Book Woman's Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson ~ Book Review

In the sequel to The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek Honey Lovett, the daughter of Cussy Mary, the famed blue skinned pack horse librarian of Troublesome Creek, has lived her life in hiding with her mother and father.  Because her father was white and her mother blue skinned, their marriage was considered against the law.  But when the law catches up with them and her mom and dad are imprisoned for miscegenation, Honey flees to avoid being sent to children's labor camp.  Fleeing back to where her mother grew up, Honey gets a library pack horse job herself and delivers books deep into the Appalachian mountains to the poorest of poor.  Hoping to prove that she can survive on her own at 16 and look out for herself, she is planning on applying to become emancipated from her beloved family in order to avoid child services and the labor camp.  On arriving, Honey is befriended by a young woman who is the first woman to work in the fire towers in the area.  But being friends can also mean danger as there are those who resent a woman taking that job from the men of the area.  Honey will have to be strong in her determination to make it work.

I enjoyed this continuation of the story.  Honey also has the blue skinned gene from her mother though it is not as obvious as it was with Mary.  She can hide it quite well.   Even though the library pack horse program has been running for awhile now, Honey still finds resistance to the program.  She faces challenge after challenge both in delivering the books that she knows will bring freedom and learning to the poor of the area, but also in her daily survival.  Her friendship with Pearl was endearing as they supported one another.  A few more layers of  different kinds of prejudices that women of the time faced were added in Pearl's character with her fire tower look out job and that of Bonnie who had to take a mining job for her family to survive after her husband died were very interesting.  Loved the exploration of what these courageous women all faced in their time.  

Rated this book 9/10

Reading Goal Met:  Reading off my own shelves

the Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

Cussy Mary is a young 20 year old woman living in the poverty stricken part of the Appalachian outside of Troublesome Creek.  Nicknamed Bluet by the local doctor after her blue skin, Cussy works as one of the Packhorse Librarians under the Packhorse Library Project started by President Roosevelt.  Cussy is passionate about her job, facing treacherous mountain conditions to get any reading material she can to her patrons up in the hills, even putting together reading scrapbooks from any articles and materials she can find.  It holds a special place in her heart as her mother, who passed away when Cussy was just little, taught her to read and it is her connection to her.  Cussy's father is a poor working miner and his goal is to get Cussy married in case something happens to him.  But all potential suitors are soon turned away after seeing Cussy's blue skin.  On Cussy's route she meets those who can't wait for her to arrive with new reading materials but she also meets those who are opposed or are distrustful to either the Library Project or her blue skin or both.  No different than the townspeople.  She has always faced those who accepted her for who she was and those who viciously teased, bullied her, blamed her for every thing gone wrong or showed outright racism including in her workplace.  But she has been able to make some precious friendships through her work and she will do everything to keep it in spite of the obstacles thrown her way.  The doctor in town has always had a keen interest in Cussy, or Bluet as he calls her, because of her blue skin and when he thinks he finds an experimental therapy that can "cure" her blue skin he talks Cussy's father in making her go along with it against Cussy's wishes.  Humiliated by her treatment at the big city hospital, she nevertheless, keeps going hoping the results will change her life for the better.  But will it actually change her impoverished community's minds about her?

I love, love, loved this story.  The stories that touch my heart in some way, that pull the emotions out of me while at the same time teaching me things I had no idea about are those that stick with me and bring out those 10 out of 10 ratings.  And this one did just that.  Though a few pages in I wondered if I would like it.  It took me a little bit to get used to the rhythm of the way the characters spoke.  But once the story got going I was totally invested.  It's a story about love, hate, prejudice, racism, and extreme poverty.  I had no idea about the Packhorse Library Project or the Blue Skinned people of the area.  I learned a lot.  The story also gave me another view of the Appalachian area's history of poverty and community after reading "Hillbilly Elegy" last year.  The author was able to weave historical information so well into a personal story of a young woman facing all those things. It took me on a roller coaster ride of emotions from horror to anger to happy to crying through several parts of Cussy's story and round about again.   Excellent, powerful and moving story.

Rating:  10/10

February Read Your Bookshelf Challenge Goal:  Red on the Cover                                                                      Read a Book Purchased in 2019 -2021

U.S. cover

February 2021 Reading Possibility Pile

I would say January's reading went pretty well.  I finished the library book I had on hold, I read 2 books from the Read Your Bookshelf Challenge I'm doing with the theme of "A home-ish word in the title" and read a book from my goal of reading at least one book "specifically purchased during 2019 - 2020".  Four books total.  Yay me.  I'm loving the challenge as it's really motivating me and I love that I can still mood read within the prompt!

February's theme is "A book with red on the cover or spine".   Well today I took the time to pull all my books that I have that have red and to make my possibility pile for February. And oh boy, do I have a lot of books within that category!  

Twenty-Four to be exact!  Lots of possibilities this month! And lucky for me the book I'm choosing from my "purchase pile goal" also has red in the form of the woman on the cover having red hair. Ironically my library hold is enroute and it also has red on the cover.

So here's the possibility pile for February:

ON HOLD AT THE LIBRARY:

          ~My Name is Eva by Suzanne Goldring  (finished!)

READ YOUR BOOKSHELF CHALLENGE:  Theme-Red on the cover or spine

          ~The Line Between by Tosca Lee  (finished!)

          ~The Complicated Heart by Sarah Mae

          ~Day After Night by Anita Diamant

          ~Caroline by Sarah Miller

          ~The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom

         ~Daughter of Jerusalem by Joan Wolf

         ~Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

         ~The Chili Queen by Sandra Dallas

         ~Before and Again by Barbara Delinsky

         ~A Thousand Splendid Sons by Khaled Hosseini

         ~Can't Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg

          ~A Hundred Flowers by Gail Tsukiyama

          ~While My Sister Sleeps by Barbara Delinsky

          ~Levi's Will by W. Dale Cramer

          ~Embrace Me by Lisa Samson

          ~The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas

          ~A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

          ~The Golden Son by Shilpi Somaya Gowda

          ~Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (my copy has red)

          ~The Pearl That Broke It's Shell by Nadia Hashimi

          ~Bachelor Girl by Kim Van Alkemade

          ~The Whistler by John Grisham

          ~The Illegal by Lawrence Hill

A BOOK PURCHASED SPECIFICALLY 2019 - 2020

          ~The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson (finished)

What are you reading in February?

Linking with Faith at Gold in the Clouds for Take Time Tuesday.

Friday's Fave Five #613

Hello and welcome to Friday's Fave Five.  Sharing 5 of our favorite blessings of the past week is how we are intentionally teaching ourselves to naturally keep our main focus of what good things God places into our lives so that we can develop grateful hearts.  Please join us.  If you are new the guidelines are linked in the sidebar.

So it's been quite a week around Living to Tell's parts.  Alberta is doing horrible right now in the Covid case department going into a second or third week with upwards of 1500 cases a day.  The Alberta government has brought in a boatload of tighter restrictions with all sorts of business' being once again shut.  Stores that get to stay open are only allowed 15% capacity so we'll be looking at lineups once again right when the weather is going to turn colder.  Masks are now provincially mandatory.  And there is no social gathering inside or outside.  That means for Christmas we are only allowed our own households.  Unless you live by yourself.  So that means it is highly unlikely two of our kids will be home for Christmas.  Our youngest is a student out of our city and so is allowed to come home because otherwise she would be by herself.  But in spite of all the hard stuff there are still bright spots to be thankful for.

~ healthcare workers and medical help ~  my mom is still in the hospital going onto it's 3rd week come Sunday.  It has been brutal because part of the restrictions that came down was hospital visitation has been reduced to one person that the patient (if they can) names.  Which is fine and dandy as long the patient was only in there a few days, but this has been an extended, longer term for my Mom.  So last Friday, the load of visiting my mom has fallen on my sister.  It has been really difficult and stressful, for her because she has to be there everyday and for me because I can't,  but at the same time we are so grateful that because she is in the hospital she is finally being assessed and helped with the debilitating pain she suffers from.  And we are so thankful for all the healthcare workers, that in spite of the scary time, are showing up everyday for work and working their tails off in the midst of all the extra stress and still manage to show loving care.

~ new bookstore ~ a gutsy husband and wife team, right in the middle of a pandemic, opened a little independent bookstore in town a couple of weeks ago.   It has been well received and I excitedly made my shopping appointment to go last Sunday.  It is charming and has such a cozy vibe with antique typewriters for decor, a fireplace with a couple of comfy chairs and a resident beautiful, friendly cat.  I bought a couple of books I've been wanting:  The Scent Keeper and The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek to support them and had a lovely time looking through all their shelves.  It's lovely to have a small, independent bookstore again in town.  

~ tree decorated ~  in spite of not really feeling the Christmas decorating at all this year for the first time ever, the tree went up last weekend.  It was a bit bittersweet as it was the first time that I have done it on my own.  Last year even tough Tamara was living elsewhere, she was in the city and still came home and decorated it with me.  But this year she is taking some courses out of town and wasn't around to come make it fun.  But I put on some Christmas music and soon the mood perked up and the tree got finished.  And now that it's up, it makes me happy.

~ bbq ~ we found a little bbq restaurant in a town about 1/2 an hour out from us that was getting rave reviews on facebook so we decided for our date night to take a drive out and bring home some bbq.  It was worth the drive and now we have another little "hole in the wall" kind of place to add to our list of faves.

~ Christmas candle ~ I have found a new brand of candle that I have been enjoying:  DW candles.  Marshalls/Homesense/Winners sells them around here.  So when I wanted a new Christmas scented candle I decided to see what they had.  They had quite a good selection of different Christmas-y scents but I finally settled on this one.  It smells so nice, like a walk in the woods on a cold, crisp day.  And it's not overpowering which I love.  Bonus for the lovely jar it came in and for being a decent price.

What were your favorite blessings that lifted you over the past week?

Friday's Fave Five #624

Hi and welcome!  It's Friday and time for Friday's Fave Five.  A place to share some of the blessings that have been in your life the past week.  Some weeks are easy to list off five blessings and others one must dig a little deeper.  I'll not lie, this has been one rough week for various reasons.  But I know there is still blessing in there, God wanting to lift me up amidst the trials and stress.  Won't you join me in looking for those blessings?

~ Sunday relax day ~ The weekends have been so busy lately that is was really nice to have a Sunday without running around.  I finished my book, watched a movie, cleaned my house and just relaxed.

~ bird song ~ this week's weather has been absolutely gorgeous with warmth and sunshine which has brought out the birds.  And they are singing their spring songs.   It's so pleasant to go outside and listen to their happy song.

~spring candle ~ I ran into Marshalls on Sunday for something for my Mom and found this springy smelling candle.  It's fresh and "green" smelling.  Perfect for spring.  DW candles are becoming one of my favorite brands.  Every candle I've had from them I've used right up.  That rarely happens with other brands.  I end up getting tired of them before way they are done.  

~ When Calls the Heart marathon ~ Netflix has finally got season 5 of this series.  I've been waiting probably almost 2 years.  And because it's been that long I restarted the series to remember everything that went on.  I'm reminded how much I like it.  It's been fun getting reaquainted with the characters as I enjoy an episode or two each evening.  Interestingly enough quite a few of the actors are from towns and cities close to me here in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan and the book the show is based on was written by Janet Oke, a Christian author who was born about 75 km (46 miles) from my city and I think still resides around the area.  As a new Christian way back in the day I devoured her pioneer stories.

~ really great books ~ I finished a book on the weekend that I just loved.  It totally engaged all my emotions and the story was well researched and written.  I looked forward to picking it up whenever I could.  I love stories like that.  I'll be reviewing "The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek" soon.  

What have been your favorite blessings of the week?