Amy Kay
Hooked on Books
The staff of the County of L&A Libraries are avid readers and are always eager to share their favourite books. Here is a sampling of some of the books we’ve recently enjoyed.
Karen suggests My Hearth Will Find You by Jude Deveraux
Finding herself suddenly stranded in Kansas during the initial shut-down for COVID, Etta finds herself having vivid dreams of the past … but are they really dreams?
Etta has heard bits in the news about the pandemic, but hadn’t really been paying all that much attention, like many of us. On her way across the country to visit her sister, she has to switch planes in Kansas City and the lockdown hits, stranding her. Walking the streets desperately trying to find a hotel that’s open and has space, she meets Henry, an elderly man sitting on his porch who offers her cookies and lemonade – and ultimately, a place to stay.
As it turns out, the person hired to help Henry is also stranded and unable to get there, and his son and daughter-in-law have moved out to California so it makes sense for both of them if Etta just moves in with him. Henry is an author, with a huge library brimming with books on local history and Etta devours them. In an old trunk in her room, Etta finds an old lace shrug, and soon she starts having vivid dreams of Kansas City in the 1870s where she’s a mail order bride (wearing the same lace shrug) to a man who doesn’t really want a real marriage, and many of the people she encounters look and behave exactly like people in her real life.
Each time Etta spends time in what she considers her dream world, she notices it seems to have impacted her present world in one way or another. More and more she finds she wants to be in that world rather than the present, and she’s falling in love with her husband.
Is there a way she could maybe stay in the past with her Max? Why does it seem like Henry’s keeping secrets? Any most importantly, is it possible that the man she loves in her dreams might be real, and out there somewhere waiting for her?
Patricia suggests The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise by Colleen Oakley
Tanner is 21 years old, has recently suffered a sport injury that has changed her life trajectory. Desperate to get Tanner to embrace life again her parents are kicking her out and forcing her to take a job as a caregiver for elderly Louise.
Louise is a spunky 80plus year old who had a fall which resulted in the need for a hospital say after surgery. Her family has decided she is no longer able to live alone. Louise isn’t thrilled with this notion.
These are circumstances bring Tanner and Louise together. As the forced together roomies settle into their new routines Tanner starts to notice strange things – why is the garden shed locked up so tight, why is Louise so obsessed with the news and why all of the sudden does Louise have a gun and need a ride across the county at 1 a.m.?
This book in the end embodies friendship and reminds the reader that everyone has secrets that are theirs to share and a story to tell – or not. Fans of The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett, A Man Call Ove and The Story of Arthur True Love will enjoy this quick paced, humorous tale about an unlikely duo who take a life changing road trip together.