Wow. I've been gone from the blog for a LOOONG time. Life caught up with me, I suppose. We were living in a hotel for seven weeks, while our rental home was treated for black mold (which had been there since before we moved in, apparently). I got a lot of reading done during that time, but mostly magazines. I did start this book, the sequel to Blackbird, which I read back in April or May of last year, before we got back into our house. But, when we got back into the house, there was a lot of clean-up to do (the construction workers were not very respectful of our home), then it was Thanksgiving, then Christmas, and we were traveling out of state, and I was reading more magazines, then it was New Year's, and now, here we are. I will say that my New Year's resolution this year was to read more. Specifically, I vowed that I would read a little every day. Last year, there were many days when I wouldn't read a word for leisure. So I've started taking an hour or so every day to read something for pleasure. It's helping me get through the rest of the magazines I had piled up, and now I'm almost through my first book of 2016.
So. Still Waters. I believe I bought this copy from Powell's online...I can't recall at this point. I started it while we were still in the hotel, in October, and finished it just after Thanksgiving. It basically picked up where Blackbird left off. Jennifer is now an adult, living on her own, and the book follows her search for answers with respect to her brother's suicide. It traces her quest to heal herself and forgive her family for the hurt she suffered as a child. It details her relationship with the man who would eventually become her husband, and follows their relationship as Jennifer has children of her own.
It was good. There wasn't as much ugly crying as with the first one, but there was still some. Jennifer's struggle touched me. I was glad, though, that she managed to find some happiness in this book, as the last one was so full of pain.
Four out of five Whatevers. Recommended for anyone who has read the first book, for people who enjoy memoirs, or for anyone who likes a tearjerker. I'll be reading Lauck's other two books, also.
2015-14
