Read With Us: The Unsettled Ground Discussion

September 14, 2021 By Carole

Ready to talk about Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller? I don’t know if it’s just me, but I feel like I read this book a lifetime ago. You too? Or maybe not. But either way, today is discussion day, not just here but over at Bonny’s and Kym’s, too.

I have two questions with regards to this discussion.

How did the novel encourage you to explore how humanity deals with people who live on the edge of society?

As I was reading the book, I often had to remind myself that it was set during the present time. Something about the cottage and the garden and maybe even the setting in general felt old world to me. Did you have that same impression? Discuss whether you did or did not.

I look forward to your comments. And don’t forget, we’re doing a zoom session tonight at 7pm EST to discuss things . . . errr . . . face to face. Okay, not really, but you know what I mean. I hope to see many of you later!

Monday On My Mind

September 13, 2021 By Carole

Before I get to what’s on my mind today, I want to remind you that tomorrow is discussion day for the Read With Us summer book selection, Unsettled Ground. Bonny and Kym and I will be posting questions on our blogs and then holding a zoom meet up at 7pm EST to discuss the book with anyone interested. It’s not too late to join us, just leave a comment or send me an email and I’ll make sure you get an invite.

Okay. Onward.

I went for a haircut on Friday and had to wait a few minutes for my stylist. While I was sitting there, a young woman was brought over to sit under the hair dryer. Her stylist made a point of telling her, “if you’re on your phone, make sure you hold it up at eye level so you aren’t looking down at it, otherwise the front of your hair won’t be getting enough heat.” Made perfect sense to me but I didn’t think too much of it at the time.

Then, last night, Dale and I were watching the Patriot’s game and every time they scanned the crowd I was struck by how many spectators were looking at their phones. I’d guess it was 1 in 4 that was looking down at a cell phone . . . while at a major (and rather expensive) sporting event.

Now. I’m probably shouldn’t judge, as I have an iPhone that I’m very attached to and I enjoy time on Facebook and Instagram and (lately anyway) TikTok. But, I like to think, and I’m aware that I could be very wrong about this, that I’m pretty cognizant of putting down the phone and . . . you know . . . living my life. Being present. Engaging with the people and things happening around me. I can absolutely tell you that I wouldn’t be looking down at a phone while attending a Pat’s game.

I think it’s safe to say that cell phones and devices are here to stay and an accepted part of our daily lives. At the same time, though, I think we have to be very careful about just how much we’re engaging with these devices and how much we might actually be missing by not putting down the phone and looking around. Phones are a great tool for so may things (remind me to tell you about the great meal planning app I just started using) and I have a lot of apps that I use that are not related to social media at all . . . Spotify and podcasts and Audible and so much more. And none of it is wrong. But some of it . . . well . . . maybe it’s too much.

I’m making a promise to myself, and I’m telling all of you so that I don’t forget, to engage more with people I am with and not so much with those on the screen. To save the social media stuff for when I’m alone. To be fully present.

I’m a firm believer in you-do-you, so please don’t take this as me lecturing you on your personal cell phone habits. But if you’ve got a little voice telling you that you’re maybe on TikTok too much (raises hand) then perhaps you’d like to reconsider how you spend your time, too.

And that’s what’s on my mind this Monday.

Read With Us: The Unsettled Ground Promo Post

July 13, 2021 By Carole

Today it’s my turn to convince you to read Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller. When I blogged about this book as the Read With Us summer choice I had not read it yet. Now I have and I’m here to tell you, it’s a winner!

Set in a small English village in the present day, it’s about Julius and Jeannie and the life they live on the fringe of society. Their mother dies in the opening pages (I’m not giving anything away by telling you that) and the ripple effect from her death is huge. Secrets that have been harbored for years are revealed, financial circumstances are changed, and living situations are heartbreakingly altered. It’s a story I really wanted to read slowly to savor it but it was so compelling that I couldn’t put it down.

The book has garnered some noteworthy attention and is on the shortlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. There’s an interview with Claire Fuller here that is worth listening to, if only for hearing her read portions of the book aloud. I know some of you have already read it and enjoyed it (which is always reassuring when it comes to our choices) and if you haven’t read it I highly encourage you to pick it up. These are characters worth knowing and it’s a story that will burrow itself into your heart and stay there.

I hope you will read it and I hope you will join us for our Zoom discussion on Tuesday, September 14th.

Read With Us: The Summer Book Announcement!

June 22, 2021 By Carole

Today is the day, friends . . . Bonny and Kym and I are announcing our pick for the summer for those of you who Read With Us. And that book, without further ado, is:

Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller.

Full disclosure, I have not yet read this book. I do, however, currently have it on my Kindle and I will be reading it very soon. I may even have started it by the time this post goes live.

Here’s the synopsis from GoodReads:
What if the life you have always known is taken from you in an instant? What would you do to get it back?

Twins Jeanie and Julius have always been different from other people. At 51 years old, they still live with their mother, Dot, in rural isolation and poverty. Their rented cottage is simultaneously their armour against the world and their sanctuary. Inside its walls they make music, in its garden they grow (and sometimes kill) everything they need for sustenance.

But when Dot dies suddenly, threats to their livelihood start raining down. At risk of losing everything, Jeanie and her brother must fight to survive in an increasingly dangerous world as their mother’s secrets unfold, putting everything they thought they knew about their lives at stake.

This is a thrilling novel of resilience and hope, of love and survival, that explores with dazzling emotional power how the truths closest to us are often hardest to see.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? I mean, the combination of literary fiction and suspense feels rare to me so that right there makes me want to read it. And there is also the fact that one of the characters is named Julius. Ahem. As if that all weren’t enough, it’s also on the short list for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2021. Various reviews I have read have called it terribly beautiful, thrilling, moving, dramatic, unsettling, and hopeful.

It sort of sounds like everything we want in a Read With Us choice! I hope you’ll join us and read it this summer.

Read With Us: It’s A Wrap for Shuggie Bain

June 15, 2021 By Carole

Bonny and Kym and I had a big time last Tuesday when we hosted our Zoom Meet Up to discuss Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart. I think it’s safe to say, at this point, that the things we post on our blogs and the comments you leave there are great, but it’s the virtual discussion time that is truly engaging.

There is so much to cover when talking about Shuggie Bain and Kym got us off to a great start by asking each of us to name which character we found most sympathic, aside from Shuggie and his mom, Agens. The question served as a great ice-breaker and it also illuminated how our different backgrounds and experiences influenced our choices. I’ll just say that several people sympathized greatly with Leek while I . . . did not.

From there we went on to talk about Agnes and her alcoholism. Our frustration with Big Shug and Eugene. Our incredible heartbreak for Shuggie. The complexities of Glasgow in the 1980s. Douglas Stuart’s own life and the influence that had on the writing of this book. And so much more. We considered the themes of love, abandonment, poverty, and hope. We discussed the beautiful literary quality of Stuart’s writing. And we all pretty much concluded that although it was a difficult book to read because of the heartbreaking subject matter, it was ultimately a story of love and hope. We basically gave Shuggie a bright future that Stuart just hadn’t gotten around to writing himself.

I think it’s been mentioned that this book was my choice and I just want to take a moment and thank everyone who read it with us. I related in a very personal way to some of the things Shuggie went through and I appreciate the opportunity to share some of that with all of you in what I know is a safe and supportive space.

Stay tuned for the announcement of our summer choice next Tuesday!

In the meantime, and I’m particularly thinking of anyone with a Bingo square for the Read With Us book choices, here’s what we’ve read so far in our awesome bloggy book group:

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

Fever by Mary Beth Keane

I’m Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez

Wild Game by Adrienne Brodeur

The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart