The Last to Vanish by Megan Miranda

Hello everyone. I hope your day is going well.

As you lose people in your family, ultimately many of their belongings are divided up among those that are left grieving their absence.  My parents and grandparents had some nice dishes. With four of us all wanting certain pieces, despite losing these family members long ago, we still argue over who has what. Right now, the issue is these gigantic yellow Pyrex bowls.  My mother had one so did my grandmother.  One of my sisters has both of them.  This has become an issue of cataclysmic importance.  My mother made great potato salad and always served it in the humongous yellow bowl. None of my three sisters....NONE...have ever even made potato salad.  I, however, make fantastic potato salad (which I'm currently eating, hence this story), in fact, I make my mother's potato salad.  My potato salad and the elusive yellow Pyrex should be together, it is how the world should be.  I know there are terrible things going on in the world, heck plenty in the US alone and we have it better than so many others.  Yet, I implore you to consider my bowl dilemma, it is unfair that I am the only one able to use the yellow bowl as intended by family tradition, yet my sister holds TWO of them and feels not a twinge of guilt over her ceramic gluttony!  While I usually try and tie the opening of this post with the book, but I have little to say about hiking and have potato salad in my mouth.  Eh, it's free, take what you can get.

I recently read The Last to Vanish by Megan Miranda. This is the story of a woman, Abby, who works at an inn in western North Carolina.  The big draw of this picturesque vacation spot is the hiking, rafting, general outdoorsiness.  In the past, there have been problems when people have gone missing on the hiking trails.  When a mysterious guest checks in, Abby's curiosity is peaked.  She discovers that the guest, Trey, is the brother of one of those who had disappeared.  As Trey begins his exploration of his brother's actions Abby is surprised by what she discovers while trying to assist him.  All is not right at the inn and the evidence is mounting that something is very wrong.

While I don't really consider Megan Miranda's books heart pounding thrillers, this is more thriller than usual.  The mystery is interesting and complicated. The story is intriguing and grabs you quickly.  The writing is pleasant, as always.  I wished it was a bit shorter, but at 336 pages the length doesn't seem outrageous. Overall, this was very enjoyable and my favorite by this author so far.  Can't wait until the next. 

You know what would be great to take on a hike?  Potato salad!

Big Lies in a Small Town by Diane Chamberlain

Hello everyone.

Have you ever checked out your genealogy? I started looking at my family and hubby's years ago. We had a 486 computer with a dialup modem. I could literally brew a pot of coffee and make a cup while waiting for a single census page to load. Thankfully, we've come a long way. If you haven't coughed up a couple of dollars and joined a company that holds all those family records, stop being a cheapskate and do it for at least one month. You will be surprised what you find. While I am definitely a Yankee, hubby has firm roots in the south. His family is one of the North Carolina's first settlers and founders.  We had a bit of problem with one set of great grandparents, finally finding them and a long line of predecessors in a tiny town called Edenton.

Edenton has been named prettiest small town in America. It is one of those places where shop keepers can leave merchandise on the sidewalk outside their shops overnight. Nothing disappears and people wanting to buy something just leave the money. Yes, places like that do actually still exist. They have a noise ordinance to keep the peace, a highly active downtown, and have voted Walmart out. Many of the houses date to the 1700's and range from modest to enormous. Amazingly, most are perfectly kept despite their age and the amount of work that goes into an old house. Indeed, Edenton is a beautiful town.

I recently read the newest offering from Diane Chamberlain, Big Lies in a Small Town. This entire story takes place in Edenton, North Carolina, where we follow two artists at two different periods of time. In 1940, Anna, from New Jersey, wins a contest through the WPA to paint a mural for the Post Office in Edenton. We also follow Morgan, a former art student and convict, suddenly let out of jail thanks to the will of a recently deceased famous artist. He had a way of taking people he doesn't know under his wing and improving their lives. This mysterious benefactor has left a wish in his will that Morgan restore the 1940 mural painted by Anna. There is so much to discover in this story, I don't want to spoil it for you.

The characters in this book are imperfect, yet enthralling. Art plays a huge role as does the town, yet neither is overwhelming. So much care has been done to research the artistic endeavors and the real town of Edenton. Anyone going to this southern sanctuary would easily recognize it from this story. The pacing is perfection, just fast enough to spur you through pages but slow enough to let you savor the story. This is a good one, happy and sad, light and dark, and highly memorable....a Diane Chamberlain trademark.

If you vacation on the Outer Banks this summer and have had too much sun, take a little trip to Edenton. You'll find this town as charming as this book.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Hello everyone. I need you to join me for a bit of "mind traveling" today. Imagine you are in the northeastern US.  Parts of New England had a wind chill of -15 yesterday. The whole area has had snow and ice too, winter has arrived.  Okay, now get ready, we are going to slowly start going south for a vacation. Come on, pass the singing snowman that sounds like Burl Ives.  Ooops, try not to get run over by that sledding electric razor. Definitely ignore Buddy the Elf when he offers you some gum! Tune them out and think more like the Price is Right and "come on down". Pass NJ, wave to the Cape May Victorians. Careful of the speed traps in Maryland...hey, why are you speeding anyway? Be careful. Ah, hitting the eastern shore of Virginia now? Make sure you stop at Stuckey's and get some chocolate covered coconut patties. Now, get out your wallets and be prepared to be shocked at the $12 toll to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. At least it is picturesque and interesting if you are going to the bottom of the bay at the exact time a ship is going over. Keep going.

In North Carolina yet? Good, stick as closely as you can to the coast. Notice all those bridges? Why if you are driving close to the coast are there all those bridges? One word, marshes! Yep, all those places where the ocean tries to go inland, or rivers try to get to the ocean are marsh lands. Now you might ask what is the difference between a marsh and a swamp? Ahhh, that is using the old canoodle!  A swamp has more woody things like stumps and trees, but a marsh is more grasslands. Marshes are nutrient rich wetlands that support all kinds of animal and plant life. Now I know you think I'm more off my rocker than usual and about to break into some kind of song probably from School House Rock but no, I've just read a great book about a marsh in North Carolina.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens is an amazing book, set in the marshes of coastal North Carolina. It is beautifully written, almost lyrical in parts, while still being an interesting, easy to read story. That story is epic in its journey following a little girl, abandoned in the marsh as she learns how to not only survive but live. The reader is witness to the hardships and bravery of little Kya Clark as she grows up and learns about the world and herself. There is a mystery in this book that is interesting but the strength of it is how enchanting the story is as a whole. This is not that much of a who-dun-it and definitely not a thriller. Amazing, and sweeping in scale, the pacing is excellent and writing superb. The way the author handles things like Kya's childhood innocence reminds me of Tom Sawyer, and I can think of no higher compliment than that.

As Christmas approaches, I keep saying books would make an excellent gift. Different books for everyone's taste. Where the Crawdads Sing would be an excellent gift for those that like a little emotion in their story, something quiet and thoughtful. Almost a classic. For the right person, this would even be a great hostess gift when you've forgotten that pricey bottle of wine. Where the Crawdads Sing is smoother, fuller bodied and will linger longer, too.