Sarah Anne Carter's Blog

Soccer season came to an end and with a few weeks until basketball starts, I had more free evenings to do some more reading. One of my new favorite books was read this month – A Canticle for Leibowitz. I read some really good fiction and some very interesting non-fiction books in October. Here’s what I read:

What They Let Them Choose is a futuristic novel best read after Kimble’s The Hurricane Trilogy as it happens in a world after that story. Teens living in Seraphis find out their job assignments and their future spouses based on data. They take quizzes, do tasks and get evaluated to get them a life that is suited to them. However, after decades of this system working, signs of corruption are showing and Zeph and Calla are going to have to decide how far they will go to find out the truth and possibly be together.

Eddi Jaku is a holocaust survivor. The Happiest Man on Earth is his story on how he has dealt with his past and come to live a full life. The book is fairly short, but very profound. I enjoyed reading his outlook on life. Faith, however, does not seem to be a big factor in his happiness.

A Canticle for Leibowitz is going to be one of my top books for the year and I will probably go back and re-read it several times in my life. It’s a dystopian book set after worldwide nuclear fallout where the survivors reject any technology afterwards. However, some monks start saving and hiding away any writings and books that they can. Many decades go by before man is ready to start studying technology and science again. New moral issues abound and have to be faced by the remaining church.

Beth is as happy with her life with Frank as she can be – or so she thinks. The loss of their son several years ago still affects the dynamics of their relationship. However, when her first love returns to his home nearby, recently divorced, along with his own son, her world starts to tilt. She plans to stay away from him, but then his son’s dog comes to attack her farm’s lambs and one action sets in motion things that can never be taken back. Broken Country keeps many secrets to the end and was fun to read, although there’s some descriptive romance scenes.

I heard about Mind Your Body on a podcast and had to wait quite a while to get it from the library. It’s a book about how chronic pain could possibly be your body processing emotions and trauma. She provides examples, personal testimonies and a way to journal to help a body release and deal with trauma. I think it’s a great book and a great option to pursue for anyone with chronic pain.

Pauline and Thomas decide to move to Philadelphia for a change of pace after their youngest son dies as an infant. They take their three daughters and establish a life where they live above a funeral home as their dad is learning the trade from his uncle. However, just as they’re settled, WWI kicks off and the Spanish Flu starts to spread like wildfire. As Bright As Heaven follows the family through grief and moments of joy and healing.

A Passage to India has been in my to-read pile for a very long time. It’s considered a classic and I started it as an audiobook, but I couldn’t focus on the plot. I checked out the book and was able to focus more. The story is set in India and through fiction, shows the caste system and the affect of the British “rule” in India. It’s a bit of a sad story, but it is a good way to learn about that time period. 

As I was looking for good books to read, I came across The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare by Chesterton. The plot was interesting and reminded me some of It’s a Mad, Mad World where people aren’t who they seem at first. It’s about police trying to uncover an anarchist plot and the ending is a bit mystical. 

The Lost Bookshop is a generational story where women are connected by a bookshop that disappears over time. A bit hard to explain, but it begins with Opaline. She escapes a brother who is demanding she marry a stranger and finds work at a bookstore. She thinks she is safe and has found love, only to have her brother find her. Her life changes drastically at that moment, but she does find a way back to her books somehow. In the present time, a few generations later, Martha is escaping an abusive marriage and runs into Henry who is trying to find the lost bookshop.

Jeremy is lost at 17. His father died when he was young and now his mother has passed away from cancer. His two living relatives give him one option. His grandmother has had a stroke so he goes to live with his Uncle Aiden. Aiden is a recluse to the world except his coworkers doing mining. Jeremy joins the mining business and has to grow up fast to deal with his new job and his uncle.

Share an interesting book you read recently in the comments!

A Summer in Springfield is set in Springfield, Ohio, and I used many of the local businesses and people in the story. Some names were changed, but if you live here or know Springfield, you can probably guess many of the places mentioned in the book. Here are some of the places and people that inspired scenes in A Summer in Springfield.

Mighty Mustard, where Lisa is an intern for the summer, is based off Springfield’s own Woeber’s Mustard. Their mustard is delicious and is found all over the state. They do have an annual mustard festival that features an eating competition and a weiner dog race.

One of Springfield’s favorite spots to meet up is the local brewery. Mother Stewart’s Brewing is located on the edge of downtown and features a lot of space to sit inside and a courtyard to sit outside. It’s named after one of Springfield’s historic leaders who supported Prohibition. Food trucks can often be found there

Young’s Jersey Dairy is a favorite spot in Clark County, where Springfield is located. They have deep-fried cheese curds, ice cream, food, goats to feed, a carousel, putt-putt golf, a driving range, batting cages and a tall slide. It’s always a good place to take out-of-town guests.

Fireworks and 4th of July parades are a thing around Springfield. It is true that fireworks happen almost every night the week before and after the actual holiday. Parades are often in the smaller surrounding towns. Springfield is known for its Memorial Day parade.

There are many places to go kayaking around Springfield. My family has used Mad River Adventures since we don’t own kayaks. Those who own them sometimes go to the Buck Creek Dam or local lakes in addition to the Mad River.

Springfield, Ohio, does have a university – Wittenberg University. It’s a great option for young adults who want to go to school locally and it’s has a great athletic program.

Myer’s Market is Springfield’s coworking building that has many great restaurants in it. It’s a renovated building that was Springfield’s original city market.

Sushi by Thomas is the restaurant Thomas opens in The Cookie Connection, so I had to put it in A Summer in Springfield as a nod to the original Rose City Romance!

To learn more about Springfield, Ohio, visit their Web site.

I read some longer books in September, so I have just four to share this month. It’s a great balance of two fiction and two non-fiction books. I did start two that I ended up putting down after deciding not to read them. Here is what I read in September:

Cara has stayed away from her South Carolina home as long as possible. But, after she’s been fired, she leaves Chicago and visits her mother at their beach house in South Carolina. The past gets dug up rather quickly and Cara has to find a way to forgive and move on before it’s too late. The Beach House was an interesting family story, although there’s much trauma in this family (abuse). I enjoyed that it was set in a place we had visited on vacation.

I had Brave Companions in my to-read pile for quite a while. The book tells the stories of various historical figures who are often the sidekicks instead of the main figure. I found the first half of the book very interesting – explorers, pilots, freedom fighters. The second half was more about saving the environment rather than about historical individuals.

The Mystery Guest is the second in The Molly the Maid series. Molly is in charge of a grand event at the hotel where a famous author plans to make an important announcement. However, he passes away on stage after drinking tea. Molly and her coworkers are on the case again to find out who did it. Molly may hold the key as her grandmother cleaned the author’s house when Molly was a child and she used to talk to him in secret. And, there are so many secrets!

Dayton, Ohio, was home to some of the code-breaking that happened during WW2 and I’ve been wanting to read a book about it for a while. Code Girls mentions that part of history, but didn’t go as much in-depth into it as I was looking for. Still, it’s a fascinating part of the war story – thousands of intelligent women were hired to break codes and they did so quite successfully!

Let me know what good books you’ve read lately! Share in the comments!

“Can I spend my birthday money on a hotel room so we can go to NYC?” Our oldest asked the question and there was one weekend open that we could both go, so we planned another trip to NYC. There’s always more to do and see there. Of course, it was right after my other three trips, so I wasn’t sure if I’d be up for it, but I was.

We flew from Cincinnati to JFK. It was my daughter’s first time at JFK. We were able to take the AirTrain from JFK directly to the closest train station. We took a train to the station closest to our hotel, Lyfted to our hotel, checked in and then did the reverse with a destination of Penn Station. Our goal on the first day was to see some places in Lower Manhattan.

We got lunch at Bluestone Café and then got a Lyft to Kolkata Chai. This was my second time trying their chai lattes and they’re delicious. This was a different location than the one we visited before. We then walked south wanting to find Trinity Church and Alexander Hamilton’s grave. On the way, we stopped by the World Trade Center Memorial and found that all the first responders are also named on the memorial. We went into the Oculus and found the subway station entrance to the World Trade Center towers that has still been preserved. We then found the NYSE bull and were surprised to see a long line behind the bull instead of in front of the bull. Guess it’s a thing to take pictures with a certain part of the bull’s anatomy. We took pictures up front. 

Then we found Trinity Church. The church was closed, but we found Eliza, Phillip, and Alexander Hamilton’s graves. We also found Angelica Schuyler Church’s grave. Unbeknownst to us until after we got home, we were there on Eliza’s birthday. We then walked to Battery Park and found the Seaglass Carousel and the Elizabeth Ann Seton shrine. The shrine was closed, but it was Seton’s home, so that was neat to find. 

We then got a ride up to Washington Square Park, which had a really neat artsy vibe. It was quite crowded. There’s a fountain and an arch statue. It’s next to NYU’s campus. We found a restaurant that is just French fries and more than 30 dips you can pick from to try. We got three different kinds and enjoyed the atmosphere. We walked up 6th Avenue toward Penn Station to go back to the hotel. Along the way, we stopped for a slice of pizza and looked around in the new Harry Potter New York store. We grabbed ice cream while waiting for our train and then headed to the hotel.

On the second day, we decided to check out and take our backpacks with us. (We packed just backpacks on purpose in case we decided to do this.) We headed to Grand Central Station to go to mass at St. Patrick’s. The 10:15 a.m. mass on Sunday is solemn, which means doors are closed to the public. It was nice to not have the distraction of people walking around during church.

We then got coffee from Ralph’s Truck and caught the beginning of the Dominican Parade. We saw the NYPD band at the start. We stopped in Rough Trade, which is a record store. They have a photobooth that many celebrities have used and put their pictures on the wall – Jonas Brothers, Sabrina Carpenter, etc. 

We got lunch to go from Eataly and dessert from Magnolia Bakery and took it to Bryant Park and enjoyed lunch there. It wasn’t too crowded. We were able to find a table pretty quickly. After lunch, we checked out the Bryant Park bathrooms, which are known to be some of the cleanest in NYC. They are! Worth the wait in line if you need to go.

We then went to a branch of the NY Public Library nearby that has a free rooftop balcony on the 7th floor. We spent a while just soaking up the atmosphere. 

Then, it was time to leave. We had flights out of La Guardia, so we took the train to the closest station to the airport and then took the free bus from the train station to the airport. It took a good half hour for the bus ride, but it was good to finally see how that public transportation worked. My daughter flew back to Cincinnati and I flew back to Dayton. My four trips in 12 days was over.

I took just a few trips in August, which lent itself to more reading time on airplanes. I read just one non-fiction book about the Astors and the rest were all very interesting fiction books. Here are the books I read in August:

The Storm Breaker is the final book in The Hurricane Trilogy. Ash has finally discovered her father inside of the stationary hurricane but now needs to find a way to get out. Her father and most people inside are reluctant to even try. Ash has to not only figure out why they don’t want to leave, but also find out how they can weaken the storm. It’s a riveting end to the trilogy.

Molly is a maid at a small hotel that is on the spectrum. She was raised by her grandmother, but now lives on her own. One day, she discovers a man dead in his hotel room. She has the best intentions of helping her friends and the investigation, but she learns she can’t trust everyone close to her. The Maid was a very fun, quirky read.

I had The Moving Finger in my to-read pile for a long time, and I finally borrowed it through Libby to read. It’s a classic Agatha Christie mystery and while I thought I had it figured out, I didn’t. People in a small village are receiving anonymous letters alleging they have been unfaithful to their significant others. Then, two people die in quick succession. A man and his sister who are visiting the town for him to recover from a plane accident are the main detectives helping solve the case.

After visiting New York City again, I saw this book about the Astors and read through it pretty quickly. Anderson Cooper comes from the Vanderbilt line and had met an Astor when he was younger. (I plan to read his book on the Vanderbilts soon, too.) I learned a lot about how the Astor fortune was built and lost within generations. 

Josie runs a laundromat in the small town of Paradise, Ohio. Life is quiet and easy until the town is left off the new state map. To try and draw attention to the town, Josie decides to try and invite the nation’s household tips sweetheart – Tyra Grimes – to their town to talk about stain removal. Tyra does appear – on Josie’s doorstep and then there’s a murder in town. Life won’t be quiet again until Josie can figure out why Tyra really came to Paradise. I really enjoyed Death of a Domestic Diva.

A scarf connects two women through time. One is recovering from watching people fall from the building she worked at after it caught fire in 1911. One of them was a man she was beginning to know. She escapes facing her grief by working on, and never leaving, Ellis Island. That is, until a new doctor comes and starts to push her comfort levels. One hundred years later, another woman is dealing with losing her husband on Sept. 11, 2001, in one of the towers. She blames herself and so hasn’t shared her story. Her picture is published 10 years later on the anniversary, forcing her to finally face all that truly happened that day. The book was intense describing the fire and tower falling, but the storyline was captivating.

The Last Battle is the final book in the Chronicles of Narnia series. I’ve been enjoying slowly reading through the books the last couple months. The Last Battle is definitely a book that alludes to the Last Times in Christianity. I loved how it ended and its description of how Heaven is just the real beginning of life.

Hamnet is a historical fiction book about Shakespeare’s family. The book mainly focuses on his wife and children. They have a daughter and then twins – a boy and a girl. When the plague visits their house when Shakespeare is gone, both twins get sick. Only one survives and how each person in the family deals with grief changes their futures. It was a very interesting book to read.

Share your latest read in the comments below!

It was time for another senior trip and this child of mine loves the beach. We made a plan to go to San Diego for three nights with one of her friends and her mom. The night before when I went to check our flights, they had filled up, so we had to change plans to leave from a different airport and an hour earlier. We made a quick connection thanks to the other plane being a bit delayed and landed in San Diego early afternoon Pacific Standard Time.

We got a rental car, checked into our hotel, got situated and then decided to head out to one of the many beaches. Ocean Beach was the closest and we immediately got the chill California vibe. We saw the surfer vans and walked along the beach for a bit. We found a restaurant with a beach view to get some dinner and then headed back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep.

Our first full day was an exploration day. We headed to Balboa Park where we found an artist’s hub with a cute coffee shop, a fountain, a rose garden and walked by several museums. Then, we headed to Old Town San Diego to get authentic Mexican food at Café Coyote (yum!). Across the street was the Whaley House, which is supposed to be the most haunted house in America. My daughter and I did a self-tour and didn’t notice anything. We spent the afternoon wandering around, looking at stores and historic sites and I even found a Catholic Church.

After grabbing some food at Panera, we headed to a 3-hour whale/dolphin watching boat tour. We saw so, so many dolphins, including many baby dolphins! Several got really close to the boat. We didn’t see a whale, but on the way back, we saw a very large Ocean Sunfish. The sun set on our way back to land, which was incredible to see.

The second day in San Diego was more of a beach day. We headed to La Jolla Shores and spent about two hours just enjoying the sun, the sound of waves and people watching. I took a walk along the beach with the other mom and we saw a house built on the beach that looked like a castle. Then, we found cute coffee house nearby for lunch. In the afternoon, my daughter took a surfing lesson while the rest of us enjoyed the beach for a bit more. She got the hang of it by the end of her lesson. 

Then, we headed to downtown La Jolla (it’s a drive since it’s up a cliff). We were going to go into a sea cave, but we had to find a restroom first. As we walked down, we started seeing a lot of pelicans and then we started seeing seals and sea lions. There were more than a hundred of them enjoying the shore! We spent our time watching them instead of visiting the cave. 

Dinner was at In-N-Out before we headed back to the hotel to pack up and get some sleep before heading out the next day. It was another early flight and tight connection, but we got home as planned. California was fun and a very different, chill vibe everywhere.

My husband’s work schedule was a bit crazy in July and I had yet to be a passenger on a flight he was piloting, so I decided to go and visit him on the road. 

He had an overnight stay in White Plains, N.Y. that landed before noon, giving him the entire afternoon and evening off. The plan was to catch flights that would get me to the White Plains airport about the same time as him so I could catch his shuttle to the hotel. The hotel they stay at there is over in Stamford, Conn., so it would have been a very long Lyft ride by myself. That part of the plan worked out exactly as planned. I’ll get to the return trip in a minute.

After getting settled at the hotel, we took a Lyft to the Stamford train station and caught the express train into Manhattan, arriving at Grand Central Station. We headed first to Eataly – an international Italian restaurant that we had tried in Boston – and grabbed some sandwiches to go. We also grabbed banana pudding from Magnolia Bakery. We took our food over to Rockefeller Center, found a table and enjoyed a beautiful New York City afternoon. 

We then stopped in St. Patrick’s for a few minutes of adoration and then went to visit the New York Public Library. I showed him the original Winnie-the-Pooh stuffed animals and the Guttenberg Bible they have on display. We also checked out the New Yorker exhibit they had going on then. 

We had some time to kill before dinner, so we walked up to Times Square to soak in the atmosphere. We saw a lady walking around with a suitcase covering her from head to mid-thigh. We saw the Naked Cowboy who plays guitar in boots, hat and underwear. 

Then we went to get in line for Joe’s Pizza for dinner. My daughter and I had seen the line before but didn’t have time on that trip. It’s very good slice pizza and there’s a lot of celebrity pictures on the wall. 

Then it was back to Grand Central and the train to Stamford. Right before we got to Grand Central, we stumbled upon an old fire station and a statue dedicated to the city’s firefighters. It was such a fun way to have a date together. I also added another state to my list as I’ve never been to Connecticut.The next day, the plane my husband was flying ended up being full, so I had to take a different flight home. Guess we’ll just have to do this again – maybe Florida next time?

The original plan was to fly standby to Boston early in the morning and come back that evening. However, flights filled up and we had to go with Plan B – Washington, D.C. I took two daughters and one of their friends with me on this trip.

We got up early and landed at Reagan Airport around 7 a.m. We just had one backpack between the four of us, so we headed straight to the airport’s metro station and went to Pentagon City (2 stops away) to find breakfast. We found Origin’s Coffee and enjoyed some gourmet breakfast sandwiches, pancakes and coffee. 

After that, we got back on the metro to go one stop to Arlington Cemetery. It was a very hot day, so we took the trolley and it was worth paying for it. It’s a hop on and off and the first stop was at the JFK Jr. eternal flame gravesite. Jackie and their two infant children who died are buried by him. The next stop was the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We saw the changing of the guard on the side where you can see the guard being inspected. The last stop was at Arlington House. It’s the site of the gazebo where Decoration Day (precursor to Memorial Day) first started. It’s also General Lee’s old family home. There’s a great view of the Pentagon from that location. The trolley guides did a great job of pointing out significant tombs along the way as we were riding from stop to stop.

From Arlington Cemetery, we went to go find lunch. Our aim was Gordon Ramsay Burgers. We found the restaurant that said Ramsay Street Pizza and were slightly confused as another glass pane said Ramsay Street Burgers. Inside, we found out that the pizza restaurant is on the main floor and the burger restaurant is in the basement. You have to tell the hostess what restaurant you want. We choose burgers. There’s free pool, arcade games and a photo booth in the burger restaurant. It was a delicious meal!

We then went to Ford’s Theater, which is free, but you do need to get a timed ticket. First you walk through a museum, which has a lot of interesting items, and then you enter Ford’s Theater. It’s still a working theater but no one enters the booth where Lincoln was shot. 

We then wandered nearby to look at stores and get gelato. I also stopped in an old Catholic Church that we walked by – “erected about 1792.” Then headed to the airport to catch the late afternoon flight home. We were tired at that point from the heat. There was a later flight if we wanted, but we had filled our day.

If you’ve seen all the monuments and just have a day in D.C., Arlington Cemetery and Ford’s Theater are good places to visit.

I read some very interesting books in July. One was about a psychiatrist who prescribed cats instead of medicine. One was a historical fiction book about the heiress of the Post cereal fortune. I finished a true classic. I also read a second book this year about a woman who survives an attack at a colony near Boston somehow. Here’s what I read in July:

We’ll Prescribe You a Cat was such a fun read. I grew up reading Japanese fairy tales when my family was stationed in Japan and this book has some nods to the Japanese mysticism. There are five short stories that all intertwine at the Clinic for the Soul. Each person is prescribed a cat to help him or her with the life problem going on – and the cats help, but often in unexpected ways. 

The beginnings of Narnia are told in The Magician’s Nephew. I’ve been re-reading the Narnia series and there’s only one book left. It’s been great to reacquaint myself with this world. Two children meet up and explore the attic spaces of their building, falling into the boy’s uncle’s library. The uncle is dabbling in magic and tests his magic rings out on the children. The find the world between worlds and accidentally bring the White Witch back to England and then to Narnia in its early days. I won’t give it away, but the book explains the lamp post and the wardrobe. 

Clover is a death doula, sitting beside people who will die soon to help them process what they’re going through. When she comes back to her apartment after each death, she records the person’s last thoughts in one of three notebooks – advice, regrets or confessions. However, having these at the forefront of her life does nothing to convince her to live in the present in her own life. However, new acquaintances start pushing her again to open up and she starts to even though she’d rather protect herself from getting hurt. The Collected Regrets of Clover is an interesting novel.

Stunned by Scripture is a quick read, but it has great depth. The subtitle is “How the Bible Made Me Catholic.” He goes through Catholic beliefs that are often specifically targeted by non-Catholics and shows how they are Biblical. I like how he explains things very easily and shows how his own thinking changed over time.

Marjorie Post is the daughter of the inventor of Grape Nuts, who goes on to build a food empire in America. However, her parents’ marriage is in shambles and she flees their turmoil to a marriage that is not a good match. Her wealth is paired with a great work ethic and a desire to try risky business moves. As she tries to find true love and happiness in her four marriages, she also seeks ways to help those in need around her. The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post is a fascinated historical fiction novel about a character I had never heard of before.

I bought a copy of The Hunchback of Notre Dame while I was in Paris at the Shakespeare & Co Bookstore last summer. I’ve been slowly reading it and enjoying seeing how it is so much different than the Disney movie story. I was captivated by the characters and how much Quasimodo is truly a caring person under his ugliness. The ending is so much different than I thought it would be but is very profound.

Charis is the lone survivor of an attack on her colony near Boston. She’s a teenager and while she flees with her younger sister, her sister is injured and dies the next day. She travels alone for days to find shelter and is taken in by a wonderful family. However, as she seeks to re-establish herself in society, she gains employment in a different town where people tend to be on the lookout for witches. An interesting story about fighting for truth and loyalty.

What good book have you read lately? Share in the comments!

Only 6 books in June? I know that “only” just for me. We painted the interior of our house in June after living here for almost 12 years. So, it was a lot of work prepping, cleaning, sorting and moving all of our things. I would fall asleep so fast at night so it took my longer to get through some really good, but longer, books. Here’s what I read in June:

I used to be a big NCIS fan, so when I saw that Mark Harmon had written a book, I wanted to check it out. While the story is interesting – about the first Japanese American Naval Intelligence officer – I went into the book thinking it was a novel and it’s actually non-fiction. The book follows the story of Douglas Wada from childhood to post-WW2 during the tribunals in Japan. History buffs would really enjoy Ghosts of Honolulu.

An ocean lover, an AI entrepreneur, a student who lives in world where he feels he doesn’t belong and a girl who loves the islands all find their lives merging in Playground. The island of Makatea is where they all end up either wanting to help or thwart a plan to bring floating islands and a booming economy to Makatea. While the story was a bit hard to follow in some places, the themes are love of nature and how to eventually ask for and find forgiveness. The descriptions of the ocean life were a highlight of the book.

Wanting a fresh start, Elise moves to spend her senior year with her aunt and uncle. She quickly falls in love with Cole and he feels the same. However, their lives are both thrown into a roller-coaster of emotions and decisions when she finds out she’s pregnant from her former boyfriend. Two weeks refers to the waiting period for an adoption to be finalized after birth, giving the birth mother time to change her mind. Two Weeks is a profound pro-life story.

Based on a true story, Miracle at St. Anna is about some Buffalo soldiers during WW2 who get surrounded in a village after one of their men rescues a young boy found in a barn. It’s very well written and kept my attention the entire time. It tells of bravery, selflessness, cruelty, war and the miracles of relationships. 

I slowly worked my way through The Life of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque during adoration during the past six months. It tells the story of the saint from her childhood in the 1600s until the first churches are dedicated to the Sacred Heart and she’s canonized as a saint in the early 1900s. It’s amazing how long it took for the devotion to be officially recognized, especially in France. It’s also amazing to have been to Sacre Coeur – France’s church dedicated to the Sacred Heart – it’s beautiful!

The Housekeepers is a fun tale about a heist planned for during a ball. It’s a personal job for many of the crew, who some of them also served as housekeepers at the house. Secrets get uncovered as the team plans the heist, which changes their motives. And, then, in the middle of the ball, the royal princess appears with her security. Can they actually pull it off?

What have you read lately that you’d recommend? Share below!