Author: Cozie

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In The Nook With… Because I Could Not Stop For Death

“Working with your hands will drive your hardship away.  Tears will make it worse.”

Hello Adventurers!

Long time, no write.  Between facing health challenges (which eventually led to having surgery), hunting for and moving into a new apartment, and taking courses to hopefully change careers, life has been extremely busy.  I haven’t had much time for reading.  Luckily for me I was invited to join a murder-mystery-themed book club (which I might talk about more in another post), which introduced me to today’s read.

And what a treat of a read it was!

Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Amanda Flower takes us to Massachusetts in the 1850s, where we follow Willa Noble, a humble and diligent young housemaid as she begins work in the home of Emily Dickinson.  When Willa’s brother dies in a stable accident and she suspects foul play, she and Emily become a somewhat unlikely investigating duo, uncovering a more complicated plot than either would have imagined.

I am so glad that I encountered this book, as there is so much to love about it.  Those of you who have read my previous posts will know that I have never been much of a murder mystery reader.  It’s not that I hate the genre; it just never actively piqued my interest before.  Last year it had been my goal to venture out and try other genres, but as always, life got in the way.  If it hadn’t been for the book club bringing this to my attention, I would never have read it, and I definitely would have missed out.

I am a sucker for a period drama, whether on the stage or the page, and this book does not disappoint.  Amanda Flower transports us to 1855 Massachusetts in such a way that you feel at home there.  It’s not that you feel that luxurious sort of ‘home’ that period pieces give you when they focus on the lives of the wealthy.  Instead, it’s more of that feeling you get when you put on an old, tattered sweater that you’ve worn a hundred times to get things done around the house.  The picture of the past painted for us feels easy to slip into, and it’s facilitated by the likeability of the protagonist. 

Willa’s disposition and her station in society make her easy to sympathize with.  I also happen to love seeing a historical figure reimagined, so I thoroughly enjoyed the portrayal of Emily Dickinson here.  The two are a pleasant pair to follow.  Emily’s forthrightness and bucking of traditional roles plays well against Willa’s more conservative and uncertain way of walking through the world, and both women are clever and sincere.  They make for great companions in this investigation.

Flower walks a bit of a delicate balance, keeping the story from becoming too dark even while dealing with the difficult subject of runaway slaves.  She focuses on the plight of our main characters while still treating the subject matter respectfully and giving it a significant presence.  And the mystery is satisfying, too.  You’re provided with enough breadcrumbs to puzzle things out as Willa and Emily go on their journey without being hit over the head.  I won’t say that I was kept guessing entirely to the end, but it was pretty close. 

Apparently this is the first in a series, so I am looking forward to the rest.

Have you read Because I Could Not Stop for Death?  What did you think?  Let me know down below in the comments, and I’ll see you on our next adventure! -Cozie

Family Friendly Content Considerations:

Recommended for Middle School and Up

Mild Warning for Light Violence and Adult Situations

Email: chat@nookandbook.club

Twitter: @TheNookAndBook

Instagram: @nook.and.book

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In The Nook With… Shadow Man

“He wanted the illusion for his daughter and his wife that nothing ugly happened here.  It was the illusion that all happy childhoods were built upon.  To be happy in this world, you had to ignore some things.”

Hey Adventurers!

I’m back again.  I’ve really been struggling this year, so I’m sorry that the wait has been so long.  I wanted to get the 2023-review-ball rolling earlier, but life sometimes gets in the way.  They say, “you plan, and God laughs,” but it’s painful to think that an all-powerful God is laughing at me while I futilely try my best, so I prefer to think of it as God lovingly redirecting me.  I hope your year has been going well.  Anyway…

Alan Drew’s Shadow Man follows Benjamin Wade, a detective who moves his family from chaotic Los Angelos back to his quiet, perfectly planned hometown of Rancho Santa Elena after an incident on the job, hoping to save his marriage and start over.  The emergence of a serial killer in this normally safe community, however, forces him and everyone around him to face harsh realities that places like Santa Elena work so hard to hide from.  This book is the first up in my experiment of trying new genres that I don’t usually read, and what a way to begin!

I must start off by saying just how beautiful the writing of this book is. Every detail, from the dusty Southern California scenery, to the complex family, friend, and community relationships, to the tumultuous inner world of the characters, feels excruciatingly real.  The pace is near perfect, giving you enough time to digest, but never enough to get comfortable.  You feel the urgency of the case as if you yourself were Detective Wade.  The characters have a unique depth while at the same time feeling perfectly ordinary, reminding you that the disturbing events that occur here in this supposedly safe community can occur, and are occurring, in safe little neighborhoods all around you.  The thing that I find most beautiful about Shadow Man, however, is the story itself.  It’s a hard story, but it’s a necessary story.

That being said, I find it extremely hard to recommend this book to anyone.  Shadow Man is not for the faint of heart, and I feel that even the strongest person emotionally may find this story hard to stomach.   To be honest, my mental health has not been amazing so far this year, and that made this read hard to get through.  I found this book in a little free library in town, which I enjoy visiting, but I would have a hard time with the idea of a little reader happening upon this in said free library and reading it on their own.  Hopefully they would have a loving adult with them who could help them decide which books are age appropriate.

This book is nothing like the cozy mystery novels you snuggle up with for comfort or the paint-by-numbers crime dramas that you consume effortlessly multiple times a week.  You will not be taken away on a nice journey that relieves you of your real-world woes, nor will you be able to put aside the painful aspects of the crime in this novel to focus on putting the investigative puzzle pieces together.   Alan Drew really forces us to see everyone’s pain, their ugly thoughts, and the parts of themselves that they hate or don’t understand, even the serial killer’s.  There is a great deal of pain coming from all sides, and the only way to get to the end of this novel is to go through it all with the characters.  Shadow Man also has a lot to say about the complicity of a community in its own people’s suffering, and what we are willing to ignore in order to preserve our own happiness.  This book confronts and at the same time is compassionate toward its audience, which is quite rare.

Read at your own risk, but if you do read it, I think it will be worth it.  I think you will be changed.  And let me know if you do!  – Cozie

Family Friendly Content Considerations:

Extreme Content Warning – Recommended for Adults Only

Adult Themes

Mild Use of Adult Language

Sexual Situations

Blood and Violence, including Sexual Violence

Email: chat@nookandbook.club

Twitter: @TheNookAndBook

Instagram: @nook.and.book

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New Year, New Books!

New Year, New Books!

pexels-photo-13088176.jpeg
Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels.com

Hello Adventurers!

I have missed you guys so much over the past year.  I had several difficult circumstances that needed my time and attention in 2022, but it’s 2023 now and I want to start the year off right.  I have been doing a lot of thinking about reading and art and their place in my life, and it led me to making some New Year’s Resolutions that I want to share with you here.  Hopefully they will be beneficial to you all as well, since I think they will bring new life to the Nook.

Resolution 1: More Reading, Less Watching

To be honest, it could also include ‘Less Scrolling’.  Back in the day, about 5 years ago, I was actually one of those unicorns that only had an old-school flip phone.  I know that sounds crazy, but I must admit that it was a much more enjoyable phone experience.  I spent so almost no time looking at my phone at all – it stayed my purse or coat pocket for the majority of the day.  I did way more reading back then, and I spent more time studying the things I loved, like acting, voice, dance, and sewing.  I didn’t even desire a smartphone.  It wasn’t until a mentor I had at an internship recommended that I get one for work purposes that I even considered it, and shortly after that I switched to a smartphone when it came time to change the plan I was on. 

Ever since then, my time (and my awareness of that time) has been slowly slipping away.  Little by little I filled pockets of time waiting for the bus or sitting in a doctor’s office with a quick video here, or a little bit of scrolling there.  This only intensified as my life became busier and more stressful. Quick little distractions have served as coping mechanisms.  Before I knew it, I was spending more time on my phone than most anything else, just like many phone addicts nowadays.

Reading is fun, but in order to really get involved with a book, I have to commit to it.  It takes time.  In a previous post, I discussed the reasons why reading has been a challenge for me in the past, even though I love it.  On top of that, many of my favorite books are fantasy adventure, which means there may be considerable world-building before we get to the meat of it.  If I’m perfectly honest, opening up YouTube or Hulu is just a lot easier than starting a new book, which I will probably love, but which will require more of me.  Don’t get me wrong; I enjoy a good TV show or commentary video, and I think that there is plenty of media truly worth watching.  But if I’m watching it all the time and not leaving room for much else, then even that media is losing its value in my life.  So more time for reading it is!

Resolution 2: In With the New

I am definitely a creature of habit, possibly more than most people are.  There are certain genres that feel like home to me.  My absolute favorite is the fantasy adventure novel.  Between imaginary worlds, mythical creatures, and impossible prophecies, it’s probably the farthest you can get from real life, which is probably why I like it so much.  I also enjoy the type of comfy, slice-of-life stories that give you a window into another ‘regular’ person’s day-to-day.  And I’m always down to read a non-fiction book.  I love to learn. 

But I don’t want to be limited to just these.  I want to expand my literary horizons and try new things.  I’ve thought about a few genres that I’d like to at least give a try this year, including:

Mystery/Crime – I am actually reading one of these right now, which you will be hearing about soon.  I don’t know why I have never reached for a book like this before, as this is my mother’s favorite genre.  But I am excited to give it a try!

Romance – I will admit, I have been extremely negative about this genre in the past.  I don’t know if it’s because I am not really much of a romantic in my real life, or if the particular tropes of this genre just aren’t my thing, but it hasn’t really appealed to me.  But tastes change, and art can always surprise you, so I will have to find one to give a chance.

Horror – I am pretty terrified of getting into this genre.  I rarely ever even watch horror movies or tv (although I am a huge fan of the Twilight Zone).  I just don’t think I can handle the gore I might find (and I have some complicated thoughts about gore and mental health, but that’s a topic for another time).  That being said, as long as a book isn’t too gross, I am willing to give it a try.  I may have to work up to this, though.  Maybe for Halloween?

Resolution 3: Reading About the Reading

This is another thing that slowly but surely went by the wayside as my smartphone took up more of my time.  Previously, I always researched the writers of the books I read, including their other works and the recurring themes they worked with. I also looked into the time and place the books were written in and anything else that might have been relevant.  This is a habit that had been drilled into me over numerous years of studying acting, where part of preparing to perform a role means learning what you can about the playwright and the world that role originally existed in.

I think that research can help you grow your perspective and really see the work in the way that its creator may have wanted you to.  It’s not something you have to do in order to simply enjoy a book, but it can be an exciting learning experience.  I also think that since I am taking the time to share my experience with the books I’m reading with you, what I learn could add a fun layer to everything that I can also share with you.  That’s why I am determined to do this kind of research on every book I read this year.

Hopefully I can stick to all of these, and I hope that it can enhance the experience for you reading my blog.  And I want to thank you for being here with me and giving me the opportunity to share my literary adventures. 

On to the next one!  – Cozie

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I Didn’t Know How Much I Needed Makoto Fujimura’s Art and Faith

First of all, I want to say thank you for your patience during my mid-May to July hiatus.  I am back and moderately better than ever (or at least better than recent times).  I am sorry that I didn’t post my hiatus in the update section.  Having my own website is very new to me and I am still learning.  In the future I will remember to make sure you all know what is going on in the Nook.

Now, onward to today’s topic…

Makoto Fujimura’s Art and Faith is a deep dive into what it means to create, not only for yourself, but for the world around us.  It explores what the act of making is, what it takes to make with meaning and purpose, and why we absolutely need to do it.

I did not know where to begin with this book.  There is so much in this insightful work that struck a chord with me that it’s hard to even put any of my feelings to words.  This is the first non-fiction book that I am discussing in The Nook (though it won’t be the last and these types of books will most likely be given their own place here), and I don’t think I can review it in the same manner as the others. The only way I really feel that I can speak on this moving work is to share part of my own story.  Please bear with me.  To be honest, I am still trying to find the words to express myself even now.

Since childhood I have always wanted to be a performer.  I cannot recall a specific beginning or inciting incident sparking this desire; it has always been a part of me.  I found energy and delight and adventure on the stage, and the stage could literally be anywhere for me as long as there was someone to perform for.  When I was very small, this was acceptable to most of the people around me.  Art is the kind of interest that well-meaning people, at least people in America, see as a fun hobby that you may grow out of when you get to be a ‘mature, serious, sensible’ adult, or that you will give up on because a successful career (i.e. Hollywood fame and fortune) is hard to attain.  As I got older, there was less and less support for me in the pursuit of an artistic career, not only from family members, but from multiple directions.  Fellow classmates felt that I couldn’t be an actress because my strict religious observance wouldn’t allow me to be daring (amongst other things), and honestly, I can see why.  People from my church (and the broader Christian community in America) felt the same, condemning the hedonistic world of the arts altogether. American secular culture doesn’t do much better. Despite its seeming obsession with and glorification of tv, movies, books, music, etc., our society finds little concrete value in any of it, seeing all these things as mostly frivolous entertainment – something to be consumed and then be done away with.

None of these views ever really sat right with me, even though I wasn’t always conscious of it, and for many years I had no idea why. I never had a fellow artist of faith to talk about it with, nor did I have any fellow artists who wanted to talk about faith, so it wasn’t easy to flesh out my thoughts and feelings.  But art always seemed like more than what the people around me made of it.  The impulse to sing, to move, to act out stories – to do anything creative, really – never felt frivolous to me.  It has always been a need, and on some level, I truly believe that it’s a need that everyone has.  Not only to create in the way we think of most artists doing, but in some way or another, in every area of our lives, we all must be involved in the crucial and restorative work of creating.  Has there ever been a child that did not want to color or draw or build or dance or play? This comes from their very nature.  So how could something so innate to our being be considered frivolous? If God is a creator and his work is art, then why have Christians largely distanced themselves from deeply creative endeavors? And why does the secular world seem to feel that there is no place for faith in the arts, when so many works of art have faith as a central issue? Because I could never really answer these questions I have felt for years as though I am an artist and a Christian without a home.

And this brings me to the life-giving work of Art and Faith.  The thing about Makoto Fujimura’s book that I love the most, the thing that truly uplifts and feeds me, is the way that he lays out for us in convincing detail how art is not only necessary but should be a central part of how we experience our faith and our world.  We are made from the Creator’s artistry and it is imperative for us to live in this artistry.  It’s our way to love one another, to heal ourselves and others, to learn about our world, and to transform life for the future.  Fujimura reminds us, a society driven by industry and science and practicality, all very important, that life cannot thrive on these things alone.  In fact, he shows us how life cannot truly be lived well or fully without the gratuitous beauty of art.

I feel as though my words are failing me; I cannot fully articulate how I feel about this book.  I must rely on his words to speak for themselves.  I can only say that this book gave me something for which I was starving, even though I did not know how to ask for it.  I know that I haven’t described the book in much detail, but if I did, I would feel guilty.  This book in and of itself is a work of art and everyone deserves a personal experience with it. And I do mean everyone. If you are a Christian in the arts and feeling purposeless or vocationally/spiritually homeless, read this book.  I you are not a Christian or an artist, read this book. If you get anything at all out of this rambling I have done here, I hope it’s that you should read this book.

Have any of you already read Art and Faith? If so, what do you think of it? What are your creative outlets? What do you think the purpose of art and imagination is?  I would love to hear everyone’s stories about what art means to them. You can reach out to me on Twitter, Instagram, or even email me. You can also leave a comment below and get the conversation started.  One of my goals is to make this a space where art and creativity can be openly talked about, so feel free to talk here. Just keep it classy.

Subscribe to become an adventurer and get notified when a new post hits the Nook!

See ya next time! – Cozie

Email: chat@nookandbook.club

Twitter: @TheNookAndBook

Instagram: @Nook.And.Book

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In The Nook With… Black Buck

“In sales and in life, you’re either all in or you’re not.”

Welcome back Adventurers!

I know it’s been a while since we went on a literary journey together, but unfortunately, I have had to take a break and deal with my health.  It turns out that my body has an unbridled contempt for me and is determined to destroy me from the inside out, even if it has to go down with me.  Anyway, enough about that.  Let’s talk about this wild book!

Mateo Askaripour’s Black Buck is a hyperbolic tale about a young black man named Darren Vender who leads a fairly uncomplicated life in Bed-Stuy, working as a manager in Starbucks, living with his mom, and enjoying time with his best friend Jason and his girlfriend Soraya.  But when one moment of courage turns into a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to enter the white world of sales and startups, his life starts changing in ways neither he nor anyone around him expects.

Honestly, I don’t know where to start with this one.  There’s so much to talk about.  I want to begin by saying that this one is strictly for adults.  Sorry kids, but there’s plenty of other amazing works for you to read that are more age-appropriate.

That being said, this book is definitely a wild ride.  From the very beginning, Askaripour creates a casual yet exciting atmosphere as he sets the stage for this story.  Darren Vender is a very likeable character at the outset, even if he doesn’t stay that way (no spoilers), and the group that rallies around him endears itself to you pretty quickly, especially his mom, who wants the best for him and does whatever she can to push him to get more out of life.  The author incorporates some delicious humor throughout that had me laughing out loud at times, and that almost never fails to hit, even when the circumstances in the novel get dire. And the circumstances get very dire. The reader is worked up to a frenzy as more and more pressure lands on Darren and he makes more and more difficult choices, wrestling with the consequences along the way.  And the author keeps you guessing as to where this story will go next.

I will say, however, that not only does our main character change for the worst as he moves up in the business world, a black man trying to be himself in a space that is constantly trying to change or label him, but the circle of family and friends that supposedly support him falls apart in a way that makes me dislike them as much as I began to dislike Darren himself.  Askaripour doesn’t entirely take sides, but I find it hard to judge some of Darren’s mistakes as much as the other characters do.  But maybe that’s the author’s intention.

As far as the cultural content of this book, I feel hugely conflicted.  As a black woman who spent the first half of her childhood in a poorer, predominately black area in Queens and the second half, as well as the college years, in ‘whiter’ and more affluent areas, there are some aspects of this novel that truly resonate with me.  I have had that experience of sticking out in a sea of white individuals, some of whom genuinely care about you but don’t know how to cross the divide, some who want to reshape you in their own image and make you feel, unintentionally and intentionally, that your culture and understanding of the world results from ignorance and that you need white help to elevate yourself, some who put you in a box that they can understand, and some who outright do not like you.

But unlike Darren, I don’t feel that pain of being confronted with a rigged game.  I don’t feel that there’s a war between my people and white people.  I wouldn’t say that I think everyone starts out on equal footing, but I have never felt the contempt for white people that our main character seems to, and I don’t think that the book is necessarily critical of this.  The business world laid out for us in Black Buck seems to be comprised of white people who hate you, white people who see you as black when they want to, and white people who are oblivious to your black problems, and they all want the world to stay just the way it is. It is neglectful of all the white people who know that things can be improved and are honestly trying.  Much of what the author critiques about the white world of business is not, from my perspective, due to its whiteness, but to the fact that humans who gain power without being grounded behave inhumanely. People in the world of Black Buck criticize Darren for becoming more ‘white’, when actually he’s becoming more powerful and less humble, and those things are not the same.  

Alright, guys. I want to hear from you.  Have you read this book? If not, then I definitely recommend it.  It’s a great read and very thought provoking, and I would love to chat about it with you guys, so let me know what you think in the comments.  And subscribe to my blog in order to get notified when the next post hits! See you soon! – Cozie

Family Friendly Content Considerations:

For Adults Only

Mature Themes

Multiple Depictions of Sexual Activity

Extensive Use of Profanity

Depictions of Violence

Email: chat@nookandbook.club

Twitter: @TheNookAndBook

Instagram: @nook.and.book

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In The Nook With… Every Other Weekend

“Thing is, you can be cursed and not cursed at the same time.  Just because you have trouble doesn’t mean you’re troubled all the time.”

Hello Adventurers!

Grab your tea or cocoa (or soda, or apple juice, or IPA, whatever you want – I can’t tell you what to do) because it’s that time again. Today’s journey is a great recovery from last time, and I have to say that it’s probably one of the best ways I have ever spent a dollar.  Yes, this book cost me a dollar.  I found this book in the dollar store around Christmastime looking for some bows, and I was honestly shocked that the dollar store even had books.  I have no idea how the book ended up there, but I am so glad it did because I don’t think I would have seen this book otherwise. And I would have definitely been missing out.

Zulema Renee Summerfield’s Every Other Weekend follows the life of eight-year-old Nenny, child of divorced parents whose life becomes a series of trips back and forth between her mother’s noisy, blended-family home and her father’s empty, lifeless one. Along the way she struggles to navigate her endless fears, the slew of tragedy and trauma around her, and her desires for real home and family.

First off, I have to say that every aspect of this book makes me feel like it was written for me.  The tale is broken up into mostly one-to-five-page chunks (which is wonderful for my childlike attention span) as it follows the thought process and emotional life of this little girl whose world is in a constant state of unrest. Her parents get divorced and they live in separate homes.  She, her mom, and her two siblings move into a house with her mom’s new husband and his two children, whose parents are also divorced.  The emotional lives of the parents involved are unstable, and it trickles down to the children. And in the midst of all this, life’s unexpected troubles continue to crop up (no spoilers), continuing to unravel her already rocky sense of safety and comfort. 

Summerfield is expert in her handling of fear and anxiety at an age where you really don’t have words to even express it.  The story is told to us in fragments, almost as if we are getting a window into how Nenny herself sees the life she’s been thrust into.  Her world is interrupted every other weekend, and again when tragedy strikes, and again when adults make decisions around her that she has no say in.  She looks for comfort in the people should be able to get it from, but the problem with tragedy and family trouble is that everyone in the family is going through it, and they may not be able to see their way through their own mess enough to help you with yours, even if they want to.  They may not even see you at all.  But Summerfield also reminds sends glimmers of hope our way, as Nenny finds hope and comfort in short, beautifully imperfect moments, and a few people who show her what love really means.

I love Nenny.  Nenny, with her never-ending anxieties and her deep-rooted longings that she can’t really express, is me.  Honestly, Nenny is everyone.  That’s not to say that everyone comes from a broken home with parents that hardly speak to each other.  I don’t.  But many of us can say that we’ve been through so much, even from childhood, and we haven’t always even had the mental and emotional tools to deal with it all.  We can say that we’ve needed to grieve without even knowing that’s what we needed, or even knowing how to do it.  We’ve entered difficult, traumatizing seasons in our life, without asking for it or expecting it, that seem like they will never end.  There isn’t a soul on this Earth who gets through life without realizing that pain and fear are a part of it, and part of growing up is learning how to make a safe space for yourself in spite of it.

I cannot recommend this book more.  It’s wonderful, and if you’ve ever felt alone in your suffering, this is one book you shouldn’t miss. Oh, and let me not forget to mention that this book is a great nostalgia trip for anyone who lived in (or wishes they lived in) the 80s! It will certainly give you those vibes.

Have you read Every Other Weekend? What did you think? Let me know in the comments and subscribe to get notified when my next review comes out. 

Thank you to l.lorraine.w85 for subscribing to the Nook. You are an adventurer! Happy literary trails! – Cozie

Family Friendly Content Considerations:

Recommended for Middle School Age and Above

Occasional Harsh Language

Discussion of Violent Imagery

Email: chat@nookandbook.club

Twitter: @TheNookAndBook

Instagram: @nook.and.book

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Worth It: A Love Letter to Authors

winding road photography
Photo by Johannes Plenio on Pexels.com

There are plenty of times when I really don’t feel like reading.  I know that’s an odd way of starting a post about authors, but it’s true.  I have to admit that I struggle to read a lot of books each year.  I always have a list of books that I want to get through, fiction and non-fiction, but I never seem to get through the list.  It’s actually one of the reasons I started this blog.  I wanted to push myself to read more.

It’s not that I don’t enjoy reading.  I love books; I have since I was a little girl.  But sometimes I find it hard to start. For me, reading can be a lot of work.  I have always been a painfully slow reader, even as a child.  I remember being in class and being assigned to read a handout in a small group.  My classmates would be ready to turn the page while I was still only halfway done with it.  I’ve pushed myself to read faster over the years, but I am still behind most avid readers my age.

On top of that, my attention span tends to be embarrassingly short (which I am working on). I get restless sitting still for long periods of time. And I often find myself rereading the same sentence three or four times before it registers with me.  It just takes me longer to process information sometimes, and occasionally, when my brain is feeling especially helpful, it causes me to misread words entirely. I’m sure all this has made me sound like an adult toddler, but it is what it is.

So I often come to a new book with hesitation.  I know that once I get into it I’ll be having a great time and I won’t want to put it down, but I sometimes don’t want to make the effort of pushing past the frustration of my own issues in order to get there.

thoughtful young ethnic woman eating toast and reading book at campsite
Photo by Uriel Mont on Pexels.com

But there’s always someone alongside me to help me out: the author.  It’s like we’re two adventurers on a road trip.  I’m the neurotic one who’s dreading it, not knowing where we are really going or how we are going to get there. I’m already regretting the long hours spent in the car and we haven’t even gotten in it yet. But the author is steady, having picked out a fabulous destination and planned the travel well.  They invite me along, promising that as long as I engage, they’ll drive and it will be worth it.  Often the opening pages are slow, just getting us out on the road, and my easily distractable mind wanders.  But the author is patient with me, reminding me that this road is leading somewhere exciting.

Along the road, the author invites some interesting people.  Some I like and some I don’t, but they ask me to give them all a chance, hinting that they’ll all add something to our journey. I gravitate toward one new friend in particular, and the author smiles knowingly.

The road they have chosen is at times winding and at times bumpy, and it takes us through many different terrains.  I’m laughing at times, and crying at times, and everything in between as I see how the trip moves my fellow passengers, and that moves me. Some pages in, I’m struck by a beautiful location the author has described or a neat roadside attraction.  I want to stop the car for a bit.  That’s okay.  The author thought I would like it and they are happy to have us stay here a while so I can enjoy it.  Other times I’ve missed something my guide has driven past, and I need us to backtrack.  They oblige me, and we do so until I’m back on board, usually with a fuller investment in the journey.

I’m a slow reader, and life gets in the way, but my literary guide kindly reassures me that it’s okay to put the book down.  Whenever I’m ready, we’ll get back on the road.  And we do, and I’m back to laughing, and crying, and staring in shock and wonder.  And without my realizing it, we’ve arrived at our destination, and I’m saying goodbye to the author and my newfound friends and wishing the journey wasn’t over.

No matter how many times I question if I want to start a new book, the author always makes it worth it.

Do you have a favorite author? Who makes picking up a book worth it for you? Let me know in the comments and subscribe to my blog to get notified every time a new review or post gets published.

Thank you to Erin Alexis Randolph for subscribing! You are an adventurer! Happy literary trails!

Write to you guys soon! – Cozie

Email: chat@nookandbook.club

Twitter: @TheNookAndBook

Instagram: @Nook.And.Book

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In The Nook With… Thoughtreal

“Desire can lead to good things, things that must be and should be pursued.  Like love.”

Welcome back adventurers!

I know that I said I would post this review Sunday evening, but I have been awake since Sunday evening working on it, so that still counts, right? Anyways, today you are in for quite the strange trip, and I don’t think the writer intended it to be as strange as it was.

Michael Gryboski’s Thoughtreal tells the story of Detective Brittany Johnson as she investigates a seemingly impossible triple homicide in Washington, DC with few clues. In the process she meets a man with incredible powers, a tragic past, and a brother that he is scared to face but will ultimately have to, despite the danger.

I was so anxious about writing this review.  You guys have no idea how long I debated with myself about whether or not I should even do it.  You see, this would be my first ‘bad’ review on the blog, and I hate writing negative things about someone’s work.  I know that this person put a lot of time and effort into their story and I don’t want to discourage that.  The concept of this tale was really intriguing to me.  The idea of two brothers going through the same terrible events and coping with them in completely different ways drew me in.  There are a few gripping sequences in the book as well, including an armed shootout that was genuinely exciting.  For the most part, though, this book turned out to be a disappointment.

At 299 pages, this book isn’t very long.  There is nothing wrong with that, of course.  When I saw the length, I was excited to read a succinct and fast-paced science fiction novel.  I am a slow reader to begin with, so short and sweet is okay with me.  But unfortunately, you don’t get a lot out of those 299 pages, in plot or character development.  All we get to learn about Brittany is that she has trouble with men and she stopped going to church.  All we learn about Adonijah and Absalom, the brothers at the center of this mystery, is that they had a specific tragedy in their past (that I won’t reveal here), they like books, and they have studied different religious philosophies.  That’s it.  The characters all feel flat.  It’s hard to engage with them.  There is more time spent on describing different physical locations and their rich history than on the characters’ inner life, motivations, and emotions, so its hard to care for them. There is an attempt at writing romance, but it feels forced, and you don’t feel enough for the characters to want to see it happen.  Aside from the relationship between the two brothers, there is little emotional development in the book at all. This not only leaves you disconnected, but it also has you perplexed, wondering why characters choose to do or not do things that would easily get them what they want.

On top of that, very little actually happens in the book. I don’t want to spoil anything, but there is very little to spoil.  There are some murder cases, a short and relatively uneventful investigation, a lot of discussion, and finally a big showdown.  It feels like such a long journey to get to the end, but once you’ve gotten there, you realize that you haven’t traveled much at all.

On a smaller note, the language itself makes the book difficult to read.  Gryboski takes more words than necessary to describe minute actions like swiping right or left on a dating app and details the same environments for us at length multiple times.  Some of the word choices seem bizarre, and the ordering of scenes can be a bit disorienting, so it’s hard to develop a flow while you’re reading. Overall, it was quite a difficult read and took me longer than usual.  Gryboski has some great ideas but they are not well fleshed out here.

Have you read Thoughtreal? Do you agree with me or was I too hard on him? Let me know in the comments below! See ya next time! -Cozie

Family Friendly Content Considerations:

Recommended for Older Teens and Adults

Violence

Mild Sexual Situations

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In The Nook With… The Nightingale

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

“In love we find out who we want to be. In war we find out who we are.”

Welcome back adventurers! I hope you’ve had a good week and a great 2021 so far.  I have just finished quarantining because my family member tested positive for COVID-19, so this year is already fabulous. Today’s book was a good quarantine companion, though, so it wasn’t so bad.

Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale tells the story of 2 sisters, Vianne and Isabelle, as they navigate life in France before, during, and after World War II, each dealing with their circumstances in their own way. 

I have to admit that this book was quite a slow start for me.  I didn’t want it to be because a friend of mine recommended it and I didn’t want to tell her that I didn’t like it, but I just didn’t connect with it right away.  I am not sure if the language felt too flowery or if it was the pacing, but I just couldn’t get hooked in. 

But I have a rule for myself when it comes to any type of art that I take in.  For each type, I ask myself to stay open and absorb a certain amount of the work without truly connecting to it before I decide that it’s not for me.  With a book, I try to give it at least 1/3 of its pages before I call it quits.  In a way, I feel like a work of art is a life in its own right, and just like with a new friend you need time to get acquainted.

I am very glad I followed my rule with this book.  It was well worth it.  This story that I initially felt distant from soon became a story that I could not put down, even when my body was begging for sleep. I will warn you that this tale is not for the faint of heart, especially the second half, when our characters are deep in the midst of the war. But if you can handle the dire circumstances and if you are patient, you will be rewarded with a story so rich you can’t help but be changed.

The Nightingale shows us the day-to-day life of citizens in German-occupied France in stark, excruciating detail. We see them suffering through rationing, the destruction of home and personal property, harsh winters, constant surveillance, and the looming threat of abuse or loss, all the while trying to protect themselves and the ones they love. Hannah brings to life the fear, desperation, and hopelessness of these characters and you cannot help but feel it.  There is a heartbreaking beauty in following Vianne and Isabelle as they face impossible choices and grow to understand who they really are.  Most importantly, she reveals to us how the extreme pressures of this war affect the relationships of the characters. 

Some of the relationships took a while to sell me on.  At first I felt some indifference toward the relationship between sisters Vianne and Isabelle, mainly because to me it seemed as though the women felt somewhat indifferent toward each other. Wild child Isabelle has a more rebellious approach to the war while nervous Vianne takes to doing whatever she can not to make waves, and they clash over this. I didn’t feel much for them in the beginning, but as the story went on and more layers of their relationship are revealed, I found myself rooting for their bond to grow.  I was captivated, however, by the relationship between the sisters and their cold and distant father, not only in how they related to him, but how that relationship colored all the other relationships in their lives.  I didn’t quite enjoy the romance between Isabelle and the young man she meets while fleeing Paris.  Maybe it’s because I’m not a teenager anymore like Isabelle or because it takes a lot for me to buy into a romance in any story, but I felt as though she fell in love too fast to be believed.

Have you guys read The Nightingale?  If so, what do you think? Did you get hooked in right away or was it slowing going at first? Or did you even like it at all? Let me know in the comments, or hit me up on Twitter or Instagram. I would love to hear from you! See ya next time! – Cozie

Family Friendly Content Considerations:

Recommended for Older Teens and Adults

Violence Associated with War

Sexual Situations

Twitter: @TheNookAndBook

Instagram: @nook.and.book

chat@nookandbook.club

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A Good Meal: Why We Need Storytellers

Photo by Askar Abayev (Pexels)

Hi Adventurers!

Today I wanted to talk a little about a subject that is close to my heart: artists and storytelling. Since childhood, I have spent many years studying and practicing to be an actress, singer, and dancer.  And for almost as many years, I have heard people saying that these types of careers, along with a host of other artistic aspirations, are not really worth pursuing.  They say that art is mostly entertainment, most people can’t make much money this way, and you may not be as talented as you think you are.  Everyone has heard this, and every artist has tried to explain why they are needed.  So I’ve decided to throw my hat and the ring and try myself.  I won’t explain every reason; that post would never end.  But I will try to explain one.

Storytelling accounts for most of the communicating that any of us will ever do in life.  It’s part of who we are, and we cannot function without it. 

When you meet up with a friend for coffee, one of the first things you will probably do is tell them a story.  “Girl, the drive over was crazy. The guy in front of me must have been drunk because he stopped so suddenly…” And you will probably receive a story from them.  In fact if you think about it, you’ll notice that most of your time spent with family and friends (or coworkers, or your doctor, etc.) is taken up by sharing and receiving stories.  I recently had a phone call with a friend that generally went like this:

                -Greetings

                -My story of what happened that morning

                -Her story of what happened that morning

                -Her questioning why I was upset

                -My story of what happened at work

                -My asking about her holidays

-Her story of how her family was ill over the holidays

-You get the idea

You probably haven’t gone a day without sharing a story with someone, whether it’s chatting about a hot date you had the night before, complaining to your boss about your coworker, or sharing a glimpse of your childhood with your child. It’s human nature.

So, okay.  We know that story is part of everyday life and we participate in it all the time.  Why does that mean that we need professional storytellers? If we do it without even thinking about it then we don’t need any help. Well, let’s look at another aspect of life that is just as natural and commonplace – eating. Everyone eats all day long, every day.  We all know how to do it after a certain age, and we don’t need any help.

But as of 2020, 42.4% of America (where I live) is obese, and we’re not the only country with this kind of problem.  Many adults don’t know how much to eat, how often, what to eat, where to get the best ingredients (or even how to tell if an ingredient is good), and how to put those ingredients together safely and tastily. And even if they know some of these things, they may not know the importance of cultivating family mealtime and traditions. They may lose interest in what they know how to cook because their recipe books are limited.  Or they may lack an understanding of healthy digestion. And on and on and on. We know how to eat, but we don’t know, and even what we do know can be improved upon for a better life.

So professionals are vital.  Nutritionists teach us a balanced diet and show us how to understand our own dietary needs.  Therapists help us clarify our relationship to food and help us learn how to eat for the right reasons.  And chefs teach us how to prepare food well and get the most out of every ingredient, as well as exposing us to the wonderful foods from around the world.  That’s all on top of giving us that fully nurturing gift of cooking for us themselves.

Photo by RT._.studio (Pexels)

And it’s the same with story.  We know how to tell stories, but we don’t.  We witnessed damaging communication from our parents when we were kids.  We take to lying or gossiping – two of the worst forms of storytelling there are.  We share something with someone or they share with us, but it goes misunderstood. And on and on and on.

We need what artists have spent their lives cultivating – good storytelling skills.  Writers teach us how to choose our words carefully, which comes in handy when you need to get your point across without hurting someone or make a big presentation at school.  The expose us to other worlds, other times, and other lives, giving us a fuller understanding of our own world. And writers are not the only storytellers who help us.  Actors show us that what is really being said behind the words is as important as (if not more important than) the words themselves, so we can see past them in an argument and get to the heart of the matter.  They, along with musicians and dancers, teach us to listen fully and respond well, and dancers model for us how story is communicated through our whole body.  Honestly, there are so many more ways that artists teach us, but then this post would never end.  And of course, they satisfy our hunger for entertainment and experience by treating us to their work.

I cannot believe that I just wrote all that. I absolutely hated writing papers in college and repeatedly said that I would rather stab myself in the eye than write a paper.  I guess times change.

So hopefully I’ve convinced you that I had good reason to spend all those years studying. Tell me what you think! Have I over-inflated the importance of artists in the world, or has our society underappreciated them this whole time? Or is it neither? Let me know in the comments below, or if you want, reach out to me here:

Email: chat@nookandbook.com

Twitter: @TheNookAndBook

Instagram: @nook.and.book

Se ya back in the nook! – Cozie