Links I love

 

We've been cracking away at college visits.  The above is Syracuse University - I did my law studies there.  The photo is taken from the top of the college of engineering.

I got diagnosed this week with an ear infection which was not fun. I've eased off on running until I feel better.  My bathroom has been redone, which is exciting. 

1. What do you think of this AI generated Bible game?
2. The winning bid for Darth Vader's light saber.
3. Last Bear Brook victim has been identified.
4. Vitamin D and weightlifting.
5. Books set in the Middle East.
6. National Book Award for 2025 longlist announced. The longlist for translated literature has also been announced. 
7. Best Halloween decor on Amazon for under thirty dollars. 
8. Books that take on an epic journey.
9. Dan Brown has a new book out.
10. National book award longlist for nonfiction.
11. Pulitizer prize winning biographies.
12. This makes sense.
13. National book award list for fiction.
14. Giftable nonfiction books and must read new feminist books. 
15. A different kind of wellness retreat in the Catskills.
16. This book sounds interesting.
17. Banned! Some of the books they didn't want you to read.
18. Some easy fall recipes.
19. 8 times authors took revenge in fiction.
20. Some great fall hikes

I hope that everyone has a good week!

Links that I love

 

Another week has gone by.I am reading Richard Russo's new novel and taking another break from Outlander. I will return to it after I finish this book!  I hope to be done by the time the last season comes out.  Work on my bathroom starts on September 11. I'm hoping that it doesn't take more than the 2 days it has allotted. 

A few weeks ago, my fiancée and I hiked up Mt. Major and were afforded this view of the big Lake!

It was the second hike I've done since coming back from oral surgery.  This month, I'm doing Mt. Chocorua.  I'm excited about that too.  

My son and I are doing more college visits.  Those visits include Syracuse University, UVM and WPI. 

We did Syracuse on Friday. Here are my favorite pics:

Academic Quad - Carrier Dome on the left (with the structure that  looks like a roller coaster and Houghton Chapel straight ahead, also with a dome)

College of Arts and Sciences

You can buy this pie from a vending machine if you're in Texas!

• Fighting the urge to make everything about yourself.
• Our town library was featured on NHPR!
• In anticipation of fall, here are some witchy books to read that are being released.
• Most children, including mine, are headed back to school without their phones.
• Books with occupations in title.
• 20 vintage recipes for fall.
• Margaret Atwood's satirical response to book ban in Canada.
• Fall means apple pie spice.
• 13 quintessential Gen X books.
• New park map reveals changes at Animal Kingdom.
• Best Japanese novels of the 20th century.
• SNL has five new cast members. 
• 15 vintage casseroles that everyone ate. 
• This is a crazy mystery.
• Historical novels with strong female leads.
• Foods that people ate during the Depression.
• How did Boston Beans get their name?

Links I love

 

I'm currently reading two books - one is an Outlander novel so it's long - but I should have a review for you this week.  I'm on week three of running and am happy about it! 

• This book sounds good.
• Sipping this tea is good for your health.
• Hamnet is get4ting a movie?
• What reading diversely means today.
• How long people wait for food delivery before getting impatient.
• President Obama's 2025 summer reading list.
• Top fiction and non fiction book pairings.
• Why Swift/Kelce engagement is resonating so much.
• What books from High School shaped NPR listeners?
• This looks like it's worth a try. Maybe next weekend!
• Tarot readings are fun!
• Best state parks for hiking.

Review: King of Ashes - Sidney Cosby

 

This book has been all over the place this summer. I'm ashamed to say that I hadn't even known about this author before, but I'm glad that I finally found him - better late than never. We meet Roman Carruthers right away - he's a successful financial advisor in Atlanta, GA who gets a panicked call from his sister in rural Virginia after their father is in a car accident, which happened under suspicious circumstances. Upon receiving that call, Roman puts his life on hold and goes home to figure out what is what. The people he's returning to - sister Neveah, brother Dante and father Kevin - are people that he voluntarily estranged himself from. There is a lot of resentment, and distrust on Neveah's part and Dante is the family outcast, who can't seem to get it just right. Their mother disappeared many years before under mysterious circumstances and that ghost hangs over the family. In this novel, Roman returns to his home to solve what happened to his father and, in doing so, reveals secrets that have been in the family for years. 

It took me a while to get into this novel. My initial impression was that it read like the Twilight books and was fan faction for something else.  It did eventually grow on me though.  I did, eventually, grow to really enjoy the book.  It was fast and entertaining.  A very quick and entertaining mystery that provided me with a break from the serious stuff that I've been reading lately!

Links I love

 

I received some good news this week - my oral surgeon has cleared me to go back to regular activities! I've restarted running with a couch to 5K program and am going to the gym today to lift as well.  I'm so happy!  I hope that everyone is doing well!

• A different type of summer camp.
• Which American Girl Doll had the best clothing?
• John Grisham movie adaptations, ranked.
• The top risk factors for dementia.
• Costco's 8 best snacks to put in the airfryer.
• Is there anything else annoying about Whole Foods grocery shopping?
• Women are under muscled according to NPR.  i've been trying to increase protein and lift - I'm perimenopausal so this was timely!
• What makes a cabinet shaker style?
• Top ten scariest villains in science fiction.
• Top fantasy books for people who don't like fantasy.
• MMD's Part I of best books of summer (so far)
• NPR's publishing this week article - the Baldwin book looks good.
• 5 dark academia books that came before The Secret History.
• States with the highest and lowest literacy rates. 
• Historical novels set in Asia.
• There is a possibility that Queen Victoria had an affair.
• Interesting list.

Links I love

 

I'm sorry about being MIA - we were away last week.  We went here for the week and I didn't have my computer with me.  I like having a break but I definitely miss the routine. I also love that I cleaned my fridge -helpful when it's empty. So that's why I missed the last links I love!  I'm 

1. Will Little Free Library be impacted by online reading?
2. Celebrity book club picks for August, 2025.
3. These coffee companies grow their beans in the United States.
4. How do you know if ice cream has gone bad.
5. I may have to read this.
6. Gas stations and classical music.
7. Boston Public Library is using AI in a new way.
8. Why so many grocery store eggs are white.
9. How the new Aliens Franchise series fits into the timeline.
10. Bring It On is 25?!
11. Best coffee for longevity.
12. When was your State founded?
13. 11 most famous people of 1985.
14. Books about the American South that will change how you feel about the South
15. Interesting article on NPR book stories.

Enjoy!

REVIEW: The Barn by Wright Thompson

 

I was a history major in college, with a focus on the South.  When I travelled to Alabama (twice!) for training, I made sure to visit places, like the 16th Street Baptist Church.  So when I saw this book, I was intrigued. 

In this book, Thompson, a son of Mississippi, looks at the history of the land and the structure (which still stands) where Emmett Till was lynched. Thompson, in fact, grew up in the town where Till was killed, so this was a reckoning for him as well. I think that this gave him access that most people wouldn't have.  That being said, his research was masterful. He was able to go back in history and show how different points in history, things could have gone ever so slightly differently, which could have changed what happened to Till, a child, in th3 South of the 50's. Till's murder mattered to Thompson not only because it happened in his hometown, but because so many facts have been seemingly buried even though this artifact is in plain sight.

I learned that the barn currently is on a property owned by a dentist and it houses ornaments and the like.  The dentist had no idea what he had acquired. In 1955 the barn belonged to Leslie Milam, who took part in the slaying. No one knew that Milam played a role because the two killers protected him after their acquittal by an all white jury. The barn also signified another type of whitewashing - ludicrous allegations about the NAACP planting a corpse and claiming it was Till, disappearing transcripts of the trial, sightings of Till as a grown man (and those stories appearing in Southern history textbooks).

This powerful book is a must read for any person and will haunt you.  It's important simply because it unearths a part of the history that most of us don't know and because it keeps Till's memory and story alive.