Daughters-in-Law and Books

In this episode, we call up Lanie’s daughters-in-law to chat about a special book they received from her as a Christmas gift. The conversation takes a few fun turns and we dive into what everyone’s been reading. Grab a cozy drink and join us in the Book Barn!

Books Mentioned:

•How to Read a Book by Monica Wood

•A Sky Full of Love by Lorna Lewis

•The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez

•The Echo of Old Books by Barbara Davis

•The Women by Kristin Hannah

•A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Thanks for listening!
We would love to hear from you!
Email:  bookbarnbookclubpodcast@gmail.com
 
You are invited to join our Facebook group, Book Barn Book Club, where we announce our monthly book club selections and continue the discussion! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Book Barn. I'm Laisha. And I'm Lainey. And let's talk books. Laisha, have you been reading on all these rainy days? Oh, you know, I have not so much. I did just finish one book, and I loved it. But you know what? I think we are going to save that one for a special episode coming up. So I'm going to skip that one today. I'll tell you the name of the book. It was How to Read a Book by Monica Wood. And it was very good. And I think I'm talking you into reading it too. I have it on my hoopla list. Okay. All right. So what about you? What have you been reading? Well, I started out This month, reading Sky Full of Love by Lorna Lewis. And you actually helped me get that title. I did not realize that you could get free books on Amazon. Oh, you can. I hate for this to turn into an Amazon commercial because we love to support our independent bookstores. But if you have Amazon Prime... If you keep an eye out for those Amazon first reads, you can get a free title every month, sometimes a bonus short read along with that. So I clued you into that and you were able to go and grab this one for free. I did. And we both started out reading it. You just didn't finish yet.

UNKNOWN 1:38

I just didn't finish yet. That's okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

I liked it all right, but it wasn't moving along for me as fast as I was wanting, so I kind of switched gears, and I'm not sure that I'm going to totally abandon it, but I have put it aside for now. What did you think about it? So the book is called A Sky Full of Love by Lorna Lewis, and it starts out pretty intense because the main character, she... She's held captive for years, many, many years. Fifteen years. And her captor ends up dying. And this all happens in the first couple chapters. And his family, the captor's family, finds her. And she goes back to her family, but it's been 15 years. And so, so many things have happened. Right. She has a teenage daughter now. She had a toddler when she disappeared. Missed so much. And her husband is remarried. He looked for her for a very long time, but 15 years he thought she was dead. And her father has died. And I don't want to give a whole lot more away, but... The majority of the book is her trying to find herself again. So I did like it. I gave it a three. Okay. I say it's good.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

All right. Worth the read.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

I think I will pick it up. I can't remember. I think I have made it about 40% in. And so I'll probably pick it back up at some point. Okay. And I also finished on audio the book called The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez. How do you say her last name? Jimenez. Jimenez. It's a romantic comedy. It's about a young lady. She has a minor little accident with a very good looking guy. And it turns out that this guy is in her best friend's wedding, the best man. And they become very good friends. He has made it very clear that he wants children in the future. And she can't do that because of some female issues. And so even though they both feel the sparks, she tries to stay in that friend zone. And I'm going to leave that one there. But I liked it. Again, I would give it a three. Okay. So good. But I've read better. Well, we both have read the book that we plan to talk about a little bit more in depth today. Different level of book. Yeah. So we both read The Echo of Old Books by Barbara Davis. I read it first and I recommended... That you read it. And you took that and ran with it. I did. So I was looking for a book to buy for all of my daughter-in-laws for Christmas. And you spoke so highly of this book. I thought, mm-hmm, this is the one. And so I purchased four copies, one for myself and then one for each of my daughter-in-laws. And I gave it to them for Christmas with a little note inviting them to be on one of our episodes.

UNKNOWN 5:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Yay! Yay! And two are joining us here in just a little bit. My other daughter-in-law was unable, but she did send us some answers to a few questions. Oh, good. Good. So we'll get to hear from all three of them on what they thought about this. Well, I hope that they love it because it's been one of my favorites. Now, I will admit that it has been long enough that... I do remember loving the book, loving her writing. I know that there were so many quotes and lines that I just, I thought her use of language was just so exquisite. I remember the main plot, but some of those little details. Yeah, little details. I'm not sure that I can remember. So you guys may have to fill me in on that. And honestly, it has been since December that Since I've read it. Oh, yeah. And so it's a little older for me, but it took the girls a little longer. They're mothers. They work. So we just waited till they were all finished before we decided to call them. Yeah. Which is understandable. I know how life gets. So do you think we're ready to give them a call? Well, I think beforehand you need to read the synopsis. Oh, okay. I can do that. Rare book dealer Ashlyn Greer has a unique gift. She can sense the emotional imprints left behind in old books. When she finds two unpublished volumes with incriminating inscriptions and conflicting accounts of a tragic romance, her curiosity turns into an obsession. Let's give them a call. All right. Hello? Hi, Sarah. It's the book barn. Can you hear us okay? Yes, I can. We're going to connect to Ashlyn, and so it's going to take just one second. Okay. Hello? Can you hear me? I can. Can you hear us all right? Okay. Yes, sorry. You're good. You're good. You're a busy mama. Yes, and I pooped on the potty, so that is what I was doing. Hello, girls, and welcome to the book barn. Hello. We have been excited to talk about this book for a little bit. Did you like it? Yes. Yes, I did like the book. Good. So Ashlyn, our character in the book, she is able to actually feel the lingering emotions that cling to old books. What emotions would she pick up on your latest reads if she held your copies of the books? Sarah, why don't you go first? The last book that I read was The Women. And the emotions that I felt while reading the book was courage, terror, heartbreak, and struggling, kind of depended on which part of the book I was reading. Myself, I feel relief whenever I sit down to read a book just to kind of get away from everything. Yeah. What about you, Ashlyn? So my last book, probably... was trying to think. I read the first book of the Court of Thorns and Roses and really enjoyed it, but my emotions were probably a lot of exhaustion. I just had a baby, so I'm pretty tired here, but a nice escape from my busy reality. Sure. And going back to the women, I also listened to that one, but I too was finishing out a school year when I listened to that one. And so I bet my echoes would be that of, am I going to get everything done? You know, a little sadness because I'm losing a class, but a little excitement too, because summer break was on its way. So yeah. Alaysia, what about you? I just finished How to Read a Book. And I loved that book. And I read it in my downtime. So I was nice and relaxed, probably. And I really enjoyed the book itself. So I think I should get a feeling of contentment from me while I was reading it. I did get answers to our questions from Daniela, and she said, hmm, the most recent book I read was a very depressing, dramatic play set after World War II, so she'd probably feel some pretty sad feelings, she said, unfortunately. How did you girls feel about the mysterious pair of anonymous author books? Which perspective did you enjoy reading the most, Hemi? Belle or Ashlyn? Sarah, you can go first. I can't say that I had a favorite. I liked all the perspectives and I think all of the perspectives really made up the book. So yeah, I don't have a favorite. I agree with that. I loved them all. Yeah. What about you, Ashlyn? I really enjoyed Ashlyn's point of view, just like the mystery behind it and trying to solve it. That tends to be more of the books I go for. So I think I really enjoyed that part. See, and Daniela said that she equally liked Hemi and Belle's parts, but sometimes she felt like she wanted to skip Ashlyn's to get back to them. So that's funny. I liked Timmy's writing about the bell of the ball. And I loved when Dee sent all of us that picture of her reading the book in the park in New York City. I bet that was pretty cool. You know, reading about parties in New York City and actually being in that city as you're reading it. I bet that was pretty cool. So why do you think that Ashlyn was so motivated to track down the original authors of the book? And do you think that you would have invested that effort if you discovered them yourself? I think that Ashlyn wanted to bring closure to both of the lovers in the books. Ashlyn herself had a history of traumatic events in her life, which made her a little more empathetic person. As myself, I would have not even known where to start. Right, right. It just would have seemed like so much effort. But yeah, I think she thought that they did have some untold stories. So she needed to help finish that out. Yeah. What do you think, Ashlyn? I agree with untold stories for sure. I feel like she got invested because of her own failed relationship and she wanted to find the closure that she never had. That's how I felt with that. Now, if it was me, I would probably go down the rabbit hole to solve it. I tend to latch on to unsolved stories and try to help figure out the endings. Yeah, I did think that probably she was just so intrigued. Okay. What genre would you place this book in? Is it historical fiction? Is it magical realism? Something else? What are your thoughts? Romance. That's what I said. Yeah, they were both storylines. The past and the present were both romances. So I agree. I had romance and historical fiction. Yeah. So if you could change anything about the plot, what would you tweak in this story? I think I wouldn't have changed the plot at all, but I did kind of struggle with the interaction they had with Cece. I wanted more of it. So I was a little bit disappointed that it was like kind of pushed towards the end. I just made a note that if Belle had met Hemi at the train station, the story would have had a beautiful ending, I think. I know there's always things about books that you're like, why didn't that happen? But then we wouldn't have that tension and intrigue sometimes. Well, and I know Ashlyn said to me, it was the ending that really raised the book rating for her. And so if they had met at the train station, that ending wouldn't have happened. Yeah, yeah. So one of the main themes of the book is forgiveness. Which character do you think had the most to forgive and could you forgive in that situation? I think Kemi had the most to forgive in the aspect that he was never given the opportunity to help raise his son and adopt a daughter. I'm a mom, so that part stuck out to me the most. I don't understand how keeping such a secret from another human being is possible. raising your children and watching them grow is one of the most important jobs in the world. I would have a hard time forgiving in that situation. I put down myself that it was the baby and that she should have told him. That's what I put as well. So girls, would you recommend this book to another friend? Yes, I would. Yes. Good. Well, I loved it so much. So I'm glad that you guys ended up liking it because when you were in the middle of it I heard that maybe you guys weren't as big of fans and I think that that might be our age difference too possibly possibly age difference Dee did put an answer to that question she said she would recommend it she said it wasn't necessarily a life changing read okay we've got to hear a rating girls what do you think I did three stars. I would absolutely recommend it, but it wasn't something I couldn't put down. Sure. I would say a three or four for the same reasons. When I finished reading it, I was all on board for a five. And then we just finished a different book that I think I like just a little more. And so I'm going to go with 4.5. Yeah, that's probably where I would stand with it too. But it was, it was pretty close for a five for me. I know that this is difficult when you have kids running around. Thank you for taking the time to, to speak with us. We appreciate it. Yeah. Thank the dads too. Yes. For letting us do this. It means a lot to me. So we'll just, uh, We'll talk to you again very soon. Sounds good. Thanks for having me. Bye-bye. Bye. Well, that was fun. That was fun. We do have to share some beautiful paragraphs and lines from this book. I think I'll start if you don't care. That's fine. Page 32. It's August 1941 at a party in New York, New York, and Hemi has been talking to the bell of the ball. I nod politely then and step away. I've just spotted Goldie, who has reappeared with a fresh coat of shellac in place and a keen light in her eye. I joined her at one of the bars, glad for the gin and tonic she presses into my hand. I take a long pull, fighting the urge to glance back at you. You're a thread I don't dare pull, not because I'm afraid you won't survive the unraveling, but because I'm certain, even in this early moment, that I won't. I love that one. Do you have one, Leisha?

UNKNOWN 17:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:27

I do. I'm trying to find it. Sorry. Okay. So this is actually from page 41. So this is Hemi and he says, people use the word breathtaking. No doubt I've used it myself, but it dawns on me as I watch you from behind my watered down gin and tonic that I've never really truly grasped the meaning of the word until now that is when I suddenly find all the air has gone out of the room. There is a subtle shimmer about you, a play of light that seems to cling to your skin, and for a moment I fancy I can see the cold rising from you in silvery little waves, the way that heat rises from the pavement in summer. I feel an utter fool, a boy smitten. Preposterous, since I'm not a boy. Still, I cannot look away. Your ice and steel insulated by your coolness, but your frosty exterior has the opposite effect on me, the pull of it, of you, so strong it feels like a threat. I remember that line. Isn't it amazing? And it's been a long time since I've read this book, but I remember that line because it was so amazing. I thought that was just beautifully written. Chef's kiss. There was a quote in there from Henry Ward Beecher. Where is human nature so weak as in a bookstore? And I kind of agreed with that quote. But the thing that I loved about that is I know that writer, Henry Ward Beecher, because one of my favorite children's books also quotes him. That's always fun when you see something that you recognize that you're reading. Agree. Agree. So finally, from page 104, this was at the lake. And Bill asked Hemi if she could read his novel. And he said no. Well, this is actually what he said. It was something my father said to me once after he read a piece I'd written. I've never forgotten it. He said, all truly good writing, fiction or nonfiction, has a heartbeat, a life force that comes from the writer like an invisible cord connecting them to the reader. Without it, the work is dead on arrival. Nice. So I think this is it. We're ready to wrap this thing up. If you loved Echo of Old Books, or didn't, or if you have another book that you would like to recommend, drop us a line. We would really love to hear from you. So until next time, I'm Laisha. And I'm Lainey. And keep those bookmarks busy.