good summer read Archives - Have Sippy Will Travel

Widow Walk – New Book

I recently finished reading this new book by Gerard Lasalle, Widow Walk. Once I began reading it, I finished it quickly. It was a good read, had a good flow, likeable characters, and an interesting plot.

Here’s a brief overview: Pioneer Isaac Evers, based on the historical figure Colonel Isaac Ebey, and his wife Emmy, settled on Whidbey Island and established a prosperous, small colony there. Their life was fairly quiet until a bloody attack on northern indigenous tribe members set a group of natives off on a path to revenge. When their path crosses the Evers’ homestead, chaos ensues. Emmy must use every resource and muster every thread of courage she has to protect and piece back together what matters most – her family.
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Everybody Has Everything- New Book

There is a new book out, about a topic that seems to be newly OK to talk about- women who don’t really want kids, and couples who really don’t want to, or shouldn’t be, parents. For a long time, women and couples who didn’t want kids were made to feel like something was wrong with them or her, that they were selfish or wrong in some way. This book explores what happens when a couple is suddenly thrust into parenting an older child.

A little about the book Everybody Has Everything–

“What happens when the tidy, prosperous life of an urban couple is turned inside out by a tragedy with unexpected consequences? After a car crash leaves their friend Marcus dead and his wife Sarah in a coma, Ana and James are shocked to discover that they have become the legal guardians of a 2.5 year-old, Finn. Finn’s crash-landing in their lives throws into high relief deeply rooted, and sometimes long-hidden, truths about themselves, both individually and as a couple. Several chaotic, poignant, and life-changing weeks as a most unusual family give rise to an often unasked question: Can everyone be a parent?

Combining a pitch-perfect, whip-smart dissection of contemporary urban life with a fresh and perceptive examination of our individual and collective ambivalence towards parenthood, Katrina Onstad’s Everybody Has Everything balances tragedy and comedy with verve and flair.

I read this book while traveling, over about a day and a half in planes [Read more…]