What if you love your best friend but feel trapped in a life with her? What if you love someone but the thing you can give her that will make her happy is a lie? What if the people who love you most, who you love most, have depths you haven’t realized? Kate and Bertie, BFFs since high school, spend a magical day at the Louvre while it’s closed. But Kate feels trapped in her life. Bertie isn’t ready for changes. Undercurrents of resentment and anger mar their last vacation together. Tuesday at the Louvre ends with Kate going one way, Bertie another. Bertie wakes up the next morning and it’s Tuesday, Louvre day. The next day is alsoTuesday. Deja vu mingles with the increasingly open hostility between the two friends. And then one day it’s not Kate with Bertie in the Louvre, but Dylan, the boyfriend she didn’t know she had. End of the World House is set in the near future or possibly just an imaginatively described present — bombings and growing police presence in the US, mega-conglomerate corporations so wealthy they have rockets, ever larger tent cities of homeless people, droughts and floods, and grocery shortages. This is the second book I’ve read this month about reliving an event until you get it right. It’s definitely the better written of the two. It certainly has a more satisfying ending.

Confusing, tedious, annoying read. Life after Life will be interesting only to someone equally fascinated by multiverse theory of time and everyday life in the first half of the 20th century. Ursula is born, but immediately dies, in 1911. Ursula is born in 1911, but drowns in early childhood. She falls off of the roof. She dies of Spanish flu (several times). Ursula doesn’t know why, just knows she must stop the housemaid from going to London to celebrate the end of the Great War (the maid will catch the flu in the crowds and bring it back). Ursula finally survives 1918, but is raped at 16 and eventually beaten to death by an abusive husband. It’s almost a relief when Ursula makes it to WWII, but then her story is just variations on death in the Blitz. I guess if you have always looked at death stats in various years and wished you could read a narrative to really understand beyond the numbers, you might enjoy this book.

Very good book

Lucy Delaney's memoir is the only firsthand account of a freedom suit. Lucy's mother, Polly, and several other free black citizens of Illinois were kidnapped, taken to Missouri, and sold as slaves. Polly married the valet of the man who bought her and they had two daughters. After the death of the owner and his wife, Polly's husband was sold "down south." Polly remembered growing up free and encouraged her daughters to always look out for the chance to run away. Lucy's older sister did make it to freedom in Canada. Polly ran away, but was captured in Chicago by slave hunters. She sued for her freedom, proving she was born free. Polly sued for Lucy's freedom, too, on the basis that a slave could not be born to a free woman. The jury agreed. Polly (laundress) and Lucy (seamstress) worked and saved, finally having enough to visit Lucy's sister in Canada. Polly died without ever knowing what happened to her husband. After Emancipation, Lucy located her father in Virginia. Lucy was a leader in the black churches, social, and political organizations of St Louis.

Excellent and courageous

This is a story about teen alcoholism. The book is divided into four parts (background - out of control, hospital, rehab, recovery). The main character Bella has been thrown a lot of punches such as her parents divorce, her grandmother dying, and her boyfriend breaking up with her. She thought she had everything under control until one devastating night that landed her in the hospital. A great read!

This is Schaub’s third “year of no” family project recorded on her blog and then published in book and audiobook forms. She and her husband and two daughters tried to reduce, reuse, and recycle everything for one year. Zero waste. Many things really were just a matter of thinking about items and retraining themselves to recycle everything which could be recycled and ditto for composting. She acknowledges that they have more composting options living in rural Vermont than most families. They just had to worry about their compost piles attracting critters and the pets *really* loving the smell of some of the compost when added to potted plants. She quickly discovers that plastics are the real problem. She spent most of the year reading articles and blogs, calling and emailing manufacturers (and stores and recycling companies), and even taking an online class on plastics. Which she also acknowledges isn’t feasible for most people, even in 2020 which was the unfortunate year she started this project. She researched and tested many zero-waste and biodegradable and eco-friendly items, with usually frustrating results. She sums up the year of no garbage (and her previous projects) as a year of awareness.

Great read

Very good! And led to some good conversation with my daughter by reading with her

The book was written a few months before Alex Trebek died. It seems odd to me that they knew he had Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, but didn't chose to wait until after he died before publishing the book. It would have been more complete if the author/publishing house had waited. Despite that, it was a well-written book about Alex, warts and all.