Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce

Tired of being ridiculed by her students, Margery Benson decided to leave her life in London and pursue her dream of finding the undiscovered golden beetle in New Caledonia Island. She becomes interested in the insect when she was a child from her father...  To fulfill her wish, she needed an assistant for the expedition as it was 1950 and ended up with an unlikely candidate, Enid Pretty. What follows is an incredible adventure across the Pacific, surviving a deadly cyclone on the island, among other challenges. It is a fascinating read with the transformation powder of friendship, the backdrop of vivid sights and sounds of a tropical island, but danger and mystery still lurk in the natural world.

The Chiffon Trenches: A Memoir by Andre Leon Tally

Tally's memoir gives us an insider look at the high fashion industry, as well as his career. Growing up in Durham, North Carolina with his parents gone all the time, he was nurtured by his grandmother. He studied French and received a scholarship at Brown University. His hard work and talent lead him to both New York and Paris, gaining recognition from Diana Vreeland, Andy Warhol, Karl Lagerfeld, Yves St Laurent, and more. Despite racism and prejudice, he breaks ground to become the creative director writing and photographing for the Vogue Magazine while falling in and out of favor with its chief editor Anna Wintour. He reflects on his friendships and comes to terms with his weight and sexuality, with the belief that education and knowledge is key to his success, in addition to the love of his grandmother and mentor Diana Vreeland. It is an interesting read.

Strong by Kara Goucher

 

“This is My Race

I Am Fearless

 I Belong”

 

From the publisher:  Kara offers a look inside her private Confidence Journal. Interactive prompts teach you how to implement this practice into your own daily training routine.

 Confidence techniques include Positive Self Talk, Setting Goals, Power Words, and Visualization Techniques.

 Inspirational read from a two-time Olympian for boosting confidence!

 

 

My Stylish French Girlfriends by Sharon Santoni

Even though this book is a coffee table style book, I read it from cover to cover. It appealed to my artistic side, as well as my interest in house decorating and garden keeping. It features 20 different French women. Each woman has a few pages dedicated to them with a short synopsis of how they live and a photo shoot of their workplaces and homes. Some of them live in the French countryside, others live in Paris and have a country home, some also live in small villages. Each woman has an established way of life. Their families vary as to being single with grown children to married with kids still in the house and everything in-between. To me, they each seemed to have an elegance to them and the knowledge of how one should enjoy the simple pleasures in life and seek the quiet joys of everyday living. This, of course, is balanced against the busy, motivated life of working. Some of their professions were: selling antiques, country home interior shop, painter (as in on canvas), bridal gown designer, champagne producer, horse raiser, home renovator, and wire sculptor to name a few. So interesting and beautiful, a really enjoyable book.

The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson

Neurosurgeon Jake Baker reminisces about growing up in 1980's Niagara Falls, the summer when he turned twelve where his eccentric uncle Calvin formed The Saturday Night Ghost Club with him and the new neighborhood kids Billy and Dove. They go for haunting adventures in town and inadvertently past family tragedies resurface... The story is about childhood innocence and friendship as well as teenage angst and rebellion. It touches on bullying, family dynamics and how one's memories shift with changing perspectives over time. Except for the medical description of the brains, it is a good story with layers that I enjoyed.

Magnolia Journal (magazine)

   The theme from the Summer Library Program this year is "Imagine Your Story". I was thinking how a trip is similar to that, having recently gone on vacation with my husband to Waco, Texas (before Covid-19!), where we visited Magnolia SILOS, among other places, it was fun to imagine what it might be like to live somewhere else or be someone else.
   Now, I admire Joanna Gaines, but I fear I could never 'wear her shoes', because, oh my goodness, not only does she and here husband , Chip, have five children, they do a ton of other stuff as well.Starting off with the popular filming of Fixer Upper, which I really enjoyed, and now they have the businesses: Magnolia Marketplace, Magnolia Bakery Co., Magnolia Table, Little Shop on Bosque, and the online Magnolia Marketplace.
   Joanna also has gone into publishing some of her own books and creating the magazine Magnolia Journal. The magazines are really cool- if, like me, you like Joanna's style. So I have enjoyed reading many of the issues, because we do subscribe to it. So, CHECK IT OUT at your Pella Public Library.

Tending Roses by Lisa Wingate

  This was the perfect story for someone like me. The farm where Katie and her husband go to, so resonated with my own life growing up on a small, lovely farm. The underlying current of the story was meaningful and poignant.
   Katie and Ben struggle with their priorities. The importance of earning a living and getting things you want versus spending time with family. Their son, Joshua, needed heart surgery as a baby, so suddenly their finances are not as stable as they were. Also, their is friction between family members, notably strained since the death of Katie's mother. There is tension in the marriage and exhaustion from caring for a baby and now a grandmother.
   Katie and Ben agree to go to the family farm and stay with Grandma Rose for a few weeks until a decision can be made as to what should be done about her. Now, Grandmother Van Gortler is a force to be reckoned with. Her preaching criticism has to be taken with a grain of salt. After Katie spends some time with her, she begins to learn what makes her like she is. Rose's difficult past has definitely shaped her. However, in her old age, Rose sees an opportunity to pass on to Katie sage wisdom gained from her own life...to enjoy the beautiful and simple things, to ask for help when you need it, to be patient, to except others for who they are, to forgive, to help those in need, to love your children.Through a series of short stories her grandmother leaves for her, at just the right times, Katie is given a legacy to cherish forever.
   I really enjoyed this story and would highly recommend it. Lisa Wingate is also the author of the well-known book Before We Were Yours.