THE BOOK JAM
  • Book Reviews
  • Meet the Author
  • Book Groups
    • Young Adult & Kids
    • Non-Fiction
    • Fiction
  • About Us
    • A Short History
    • We Are What We Read
    • Get In Touch
    • SUBSCRIBE HERE
  • Search
    • Armchair Traveler
    • Belly Laughs
    • Closet Mystery Lovers
    • Fiction Fanatics
    • Food Lovers
    • Just the "Facts"
    • Kids at Heart
    • Must Read Memoirs
    • Perfect Gifts
    • Poetic Souls
    • Sports & Adventures
    • Search All

The Book Jam Blog

Read our latest reviews

A HOT PICK (OK TWO)

1/20/2020

 
Picture
This week each Lisa decided to pick just ONE book we are excited to tell EVERYONE to read. Surprisingly enough we did; we actually narrowed our reading lives and each picked only one book we think you should read ASAP. ENJOY! And, Happy Martin Luther King Day.    
Picture
When We Were Vikings by Andrew David Macdonald (2020) - I am so looking forward to putting this book in the hands of everyone I know when it is finally published next week on January 28, 2020. To sum, this book lovingly, and with great prose and plot, reminds us that we are all legends of our own making. The heroine, Zelda, has some significant health difficulties, and she knows they stem from fetal alcohol syndrome (even if she isn't exactly certain what that means). She also has a fierce determination to live her life boldly and an obsession with Vikings (the historical ones, not the football team) helps her in this quest. This book starts with her 21st birthday party and slowly unfolds to show how she and her brother Gert navigate, as young adults, the honestly crappy hand life has dealt them: dead mother, absent father, abusive uncle, and poverty - just to name a few obstacles. When Gert, who is trying to both take care of the two of them and keep his college scholarship, makes some pretty poor choices, Zelda rises to the occasion with help from a superb librarian (love a book with a helpful librarian), a great social worker, and Gert's strong-minded on-again/off-again girlfriend - AK47. You will cheer for Zelda every step of the way and be a bit sad when you leave her orbit at the end. I find it hard to believe this is Mr. Macdonald's debut novel; both Kirkus and Publishers Weekly agree. ~ Lisa Christie

Picture
Good Husbandry: Growing Food, Love, and Family on Essex Farm by Kristin Kimball (2019) - If you’re in the (farmer’s) market for a mid-winter read that inspires you to start thinking about the greener days ahead and picking up your farm share come summer, then this is the book for you. Kristin Kimball’s second memoir (which is as good if not even better than her first The Dirty Life - see a Book Jam review here from the days when we had a podcast) is a compulsively readable and an incredibly beautifully written account of her time growing a marriage, a family, and a CSA farm that feeds 250 people in New York State. When we initially met the author in 2011 with the publication of her first book, Kimball, then a city dweller and travel writer in her thirties, had unexpectedly embraced the rural life after meeting and falling in love with both farming and with Mark. Now almost a decade has passed and both she and the story have matured. She doesn’t shy away from sharing the challenges faced raising two young girls while trying to manage the increasing debt and the risky odds that come with farming. Nor does she ignore the building tension in her marriage as she and her husband adjust to parenthood and the never ending work of a diversified farm that leaves little time for their relationship. Instead, Kimball thoroughly explores these difficult topics with grace and wisdom, growing a story -and a life - full of awareness and insight. At certain points, Kimball’s prose and perspective on the natural world reminded me of the poetry of Mary Oliver. Her stewardship and environmental ethic called to mind Rachel Carson or Terry Tempest Williams. And at others, her food sense and the descriptions of heavenly meals around her farm table made me think of a rustic Ruth Reichl. But she is a brilliant voice in her own right. Don’t miss this book. Read it and Eat (local). ~Lisa Cadow

Picture

Comments are closed.

    Archives

    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018

    Search

    RSS Feed

Book Reviews

Meet the Author

EVENTS

ABOUT US

SEARCH

© COPYRIGHT 2019. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Book Reviews
  • Meet the Author
  • Book Groups
    • Young Adult & Kids
    • Non-Fiction
    • Fiction
  • About Us
    • A Short History
    • We Are What We Read
    • Get In Touch
    • SUBSCRIBE HERE
  • Search
    • Armchair Traveler
    • Belly Laughs
    • Closet Mystery Lovers
    • Fiction Fanatics
    • Food Lovers
    • Just the "Facts"
    • Kids at Heart
    • Must Read Memoirs
    • Perfect Gifts
    • Poetic Souls
    • Sports & Adventures
    • Search All