Welcome to Quick Lit: March 2024 Edition where I share books that I chose for my own reading enjoyment in a mini-review format. These are not books I received for review, but books that I’ve been wanting to read or that have caught my attention. Most of them have been talked about ad nauseam or have been on my to-read list for a long time so they don’t really need a full review. But, I’d still like to give them some space here on the blog, so instead, I’m offering mini-reviews of the books that won’t get full-page space here.
I’ll be linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy and her monthly Quick Lit link-up. Be sure to head over to see others share their Quick Lit posts. This post contains affiliate links. Click here to read more about that.
I recently reviewed IF YOU SEE THEM a nonfiction look at homeless and unaccompanied youth in America, specifically a program that is working to change the lives of teens in Tampa, Florida.
I’m currently reading THE WOMEN and I PROMISE IT WON’T ALWAYS HURT LIKE THIS, and I’m listening to VERA WONG’S UNSOLICITED ADVICE FOR MURDERERS.
Quick Lit: March 2024 Edition
RIGHT NOW MATTERS BIBLE STUDY
A 28-Day Guided Adventure to Living as a Right-Now Woman
By: Julie Lefebure
Published: December 14, 2023
Publisher: Julie Lefebure
Christian Non-Fiction
Format: Paperback
This Bible study companion to Julie’s book RIGHT NOW MATTERS takes readers deeper into the concept of living in the moment. Each day allows readers to connect to her book as well as Bible verses related to living distracted. The study has lots of space for journaling and reflecting as well as space for writing out verses about that day’s particular lesson.
This study is a perfect companion to the RIGHT NOW MATTERS book with opportunities each day to apply Julie’s tips as well as Biblical applications to living less distracted. You can easily complete the daily journaling in about 20 minutes but could also spend more time if a particular day requires more introspection.
Day 3 was an incredibly impactful lesson for me and I saw a particular story from the book of John in a whole new way. I will also be trying one of Julie’s tips for preventing our thoughts from being a distraction in our lives. I highly recommend Julie’s book, RIGHT NOW MATTERS, and her Bible Study. Get a group together in your office or a group of friends together to read and study how to live less distracted.
POET X
By: Elizabeth Acevedo
Narrated by: Elizabeth Acevedo
Published: March 6, 2018
Publisher: Quill Tree Press
Young Adult Fiction
Format: Audiobook through Libby
Xiomara lives in Harlem and feels invisible at times and too visible at other times. She has a twin brother, Xavier, who seems different and Xiomara even feels more alone and unheard. When she learns about a poetry club at school she is devastated to learn that it meets at the same time as her confirmation class which her very religious mother expects her to attend. Xiomara struggles with what to do and continues to write in her journal while finding poetry is a way for her to express herself.
“How does a girl like me figure out the weight of what it means to love a boy?”
This coming-of-age story with a bit of a first romance is a young adult novel written in verse. It’s quite short and could easily be read in one setting. I listened to the audiobook narrated by the author and really enjoyed the narration.
“Write about the most impactful day of your life. And although it’s the first week of school and teachers always fake the funk the first week, I have a feeling Ms Galiano actually wants to know my answer.”
TOM LAKE
By: Ann Patchett
Published: August 1, 2023
Publisher: Harper
Fiction
Format: Hardcover
Tom Lake has been the book seen everywhere since its debut. Everyone has been talking about it and I chose it as my First Book of the Year. But, of course, things came up and I had to set it aside, not because I wasn’t enjoying it, but it was more my inability to read a physical book due to my schedule. So, even though I’ve been reading it since January, I read most of it in the month of February.
A lot of the book focuses on the play OUR TOWN and I knew that going in so I did find the book and read it last fall for the first time. Even though you don’t have to read it first, I do think it helps understand the story a bit. Ann Patchett even writes at the end that her goal for this novel was to turn the reader back to OUR TOWN and Wilder’s work.
There is no explaining this simple truth about life: you will forget much of it. The painful things you were certain you’d never be able to let go? Now you’re not entirely sure when they happened, while the thrilling parts, the heart-stopping joys, splintered and scattered and became something else. Memories are then replaced by different joys and larger sorrows, and unbelievably, those things get knocked aside as well, until one morning you’re picking cherries with your three grown daughters and your husband goes by on the Gator and you are positive that this is all you’ve ever wanted in the world.
It’s the pandemic and Lara and Joe’s three daughters have returned home to their Michigan cherry farm to work during the summer. During Lara’s young adult years, so was an actress, performing OUR TOWN during summer stock at Tom Lake. While picking cherries, her daughters ask her to finally tell them the whole story of her time on stage and her romance with her leading man, Peter Duke, the famous actor.
The stories that are familiar will always be our favorites.
As Lara reflects back and tells her story, the girls learn unexpected surprises about their parents and how they really got together. I think readers will naturally reflect back on their own relationships and how much to tell of their romance story to their kids.
It was like being a leaf in a river. I fell in and was carried along.
The setting is near Traverse City, Michigan which our family has traveled to and enjoyed the area. In fact, I remember seeing cherry orchards and trying some of the sweet cherries. So, it was nice to be able to imagine the area during the story.
TOM LAKE is the perfect Spring to Summer read. If you have yet to read it, add it to your list for this summer. Patchett, as always, has a skill for taking the reader back in time and to the setting. Her descriptions are impeccable, her characters relatable, and the whole scene appears on the page. When you finish, you are sad you won’t be able to attend Emily’s wedding or hear any more stories about this family you have grown to love.
The next thing I know we are all lying in the soft very green grass, staring up through the branches and cherries and leaves at the Michigan sky, little clouds tumbling high above us. How many years has it been since we have lain in the grass together, beneath these trees, the four of us, discussing which of the clouds were duckies and which were bunnies?
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Posted Under Ann Patchett, audiobook, Book Review, Christian, Elizabeth Acevedo, Julie Lefebure, non-fiction, Quick Lit
Thanks for mentioning Our Town is a big part of Tom Lake. I am not familiar with Our Town, so that may be a good start since I keep seeing Tom Lake and want to read it eventually. Linking my recent reads, if interested!