Henry Holt and Company | Book Chatter

Yesterday we met my son in Solvang. We four (the pup joined us) met him there because it’s about an hour away from him. They have shops, restaurants and Danish bakeries galore! They also have a quaint little book shop. It was so good to see him. Editing note: WordPress got rid of the Classic Editor and the Block editor leaves a lot to be desired. Images and things may be out of whack.

Right Now:

Church and youth group. Possibly a quick lunch afterward and then a long walk for the pup.

This Week:

We are leading up to Easter aren’t we? My daughter requested a typical ham dinner, like we always have. I am now vegetarian so I will do all that and then make myself a tiny Salisbury Steak made out of Impossible Burger meat. The recipe is here but it has a ton of ingredients. I am going to just use it as a guide. All the sides should go well with my addition.

This week I will shop for all the ingredients. Last Easter our Honeybaked Ham meal barely arrived in time. It was such a weird, sad time. No church services. Nobody outside. The delivery guy was way late, it was delivered Saturday at 9pm. Then I worried because the ham was not cold. It was fine but this year will be quite different.

I have a day off from work this week for Cesar Chavez day. If I can help it, I plan to do nothing on Wednesday. Just read and lounge around. Maybe make a special dinner, the kind that cooks all day long.

I’ve got nothing else going on this week.

College Decision:

She will be attending Missouri State University this fall for their BFA in Musical Theatre program.

Missouri State Acceptance Photo — Emma will be a Bear at MSU!

So many things contributed to this. I can’t even tell you. All I can say is that you want your kids to be treated well and you want to know that wherever they go, they are wanted and will be cared for and that she will get the best training she can get. That’s what it came down to. Yay!

Reading:

I finished The New Neighbors. I should have that review up soon.

I am about to pick up this beauty which was delivered to my door this past week. Thank you Henry Holt!

And then, Care and Melissa announced this read-along. #The GreenMileAlong begins in April. I went online and found an ebook version that has all the installments so I am ready to go!

Watching:

I am finishing up WandaVision and then my son wants us to watch Barry.

Our Netflix plan still has a DVD option attached to it which was grandfathered in. It’s good for those movies that aren’t streaming. I had The Big Chill set to arrive but my daughter was playing the song Maniac the other day and it occurred to me that she has never seen Flashdance! So, we have that coming in instead.

Grateful for:

The upcoming Easter services. We will probably attend the Saturday before because of potential crowds but it’s not Easter without a church service.
The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service has announced that the federal income tax filing due date for individuals for the 2020 tax year will be automatically extended from April 15, 2021, to May 17, 2021. We already filed but we ended up owing quite a bit more than last year. Not a fan of that but yay for not having to pay it to soon.

Are you reading anything really good right now? Will you be joining this Stephen King read with us? I’ve read The Green Mile before but it was when it first came out so a re-read is welcomed.

Where My Heart Used to Beat
By Sebastian Faulks
Henry Holt & Company, Hardcover, 9780805097320, January 26, 2016, 352pp.

The Short of It:

A well-told story about love and loss.

The Rest of It:

Description from Indiebound:

London, 1980. Robert Hendricks, an established psychiatrist and author, has so bottled up memories of his own wartime past that he is nearly sunk into a life of aloneness and depression. Out of the blue, a baffling letter arrives from one Dr. Alexander Pereira, a neurologist and a World War I veteran who claims to be an admirer of Robert’s published work. The letter brings Robert to the older man’s home on a rocky, secluded island off the south of France, and into tempests of memories–his childhood as a fatherless English boy, the carnage he witnessed and the wound he can’t remember receiving as a young officer in World War II, and, above all, the great, devastating love of his life, an Italian woman, “L,” whom he met during the war. As Robert’s recollections pour forth, he’s unsure whether they will lead to psychosis–or redemption. But Dr. Pereira knows.

I really enjoyed this novel and I am not a fan of “war” stories so that should tell you something. This story is delicately told and hints at darkness but there are plenty of moments where the light shines through.

Hendricks is a lonely man. He seeks the company of women many times in this novel, mostly of the paid variety, but when he meets Luisa he knows he’s met the love of his life. However, all is not perfect and she has her own story to tell.

When Hendricks agrees to meet with Dr. Pereira to discuss the possibility of working for him, he finds himself revisiting his past where he’s forced to deal with the death of his father and the events that have shaped him thus far. All of which have everything to do with his current relationships.

This was a good read for me. Good storytelling, liked the setting, and although parts of the story were tragic, it never seemed heavy to me. I enjoyed it.

Source:Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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