Category: What I’m reading

Books I Finished Reading in April 2026

May is Get Caught Reading Month, Mystery Month, National Share a Story Month, and Latino Book Month, so I wish you a happy May in all those ways and the other ways you celebrate it.

Here in the northern hemisphere, it is truly the month when we transition into summer. What’s not to love about that? (I know… humidity, snakes, and mosquitoes, but let’s not go there.)

As has been my practice (some months and years more so than others), I like to blog early in the month about some of the books I read the previous month.

I will point out (again) that I am not a book reviewer. There are people who do that as a profession, and I am not one of them. Occasionally, I receive an email from a stranger asking me to review their book. I don’t do that. My reading time is precious and I only read the books I choose to read.

My fiction reading has been sparse for several months now due to the brain fog that is part of ME/CFS, which I have lived with for 39 years.

This is frustrating, to say the least. I used to love to read and, as a fiction writer, it is especially difficult for me to admit that I have difficulty reading a novel and remembering what I’ve read on a page – much less to try to remember the plot of a story.

This makes for embarrassing times at book club, where I feel like an intruder in a group where everyone else knows the minute details of novels. All I can do is marvel at what extraordinary memories they have as I sit quietly and listen to the discussion.

You may wonder how and why I’m trying to write novels. I have spent years working on two novels, and I have no idea when either of them will be completed. It is only because I have worked with this story and these characters for so long that I am able to believe I can finish writing the book. It is challenging work, but writing brings me joy and a sense of accomplishment.

That said, I will share a little of what I read, or more accurately, finished reading in April.

40 Days of Decrease: A Different Kind of Hunger, A Different Kind of Fast, by Alicia Britt Chole

40 Days of Decrease: A Different Kind of Hunger, A Different Kind of Fast, by Alicia Britt Chole

I’ve been a Presbyterian all my life, so fasting for Lent has never been a thing for me. There has been a growing emphasis on Lent in the Presbyterian Church USA in recent decades, but fasting or “giving up something for Lent” is not part of that emphasis. 

I was drawn to the title of this book several years ago. I finally purchased a used copy of it and looked forward to reading it in the 40 days of Lent leading up to Easter this year.

I am a flawed human being and a flawed Christian. I read it “religiously” (pardon the pun) for the first 20 days. Then, I got distracted. I lost my focus and read the last 20 chapters on a hit-and-miss basis. That is not a reflection of the book. It is merely a reflection on me and my failings.

This book is excellent! If you want to give up eating chocolate or something for Lent, that’s quite all right, but this book takes a different approach. I believe it takes a deeper approach.

For each day during Lent, the book encourages the reader to give up something in their lives.

For instance, on Day 1, we are encouraged to give up Lent “as a project” with a beginning and ending date. On Day 2, we are encouraged to give up regrets. That is a huge one! Especially if you are in your later years. Another day we are encouraged to not speed up sorrow. Give yourself and others time to grieve. Don’t rush it.

As you can see, this book is packed with baggage we all have. Each day gave me something to ponder and to try to get rid of.

I highly recommend 40 Days of Decrease: A Different Kind of Hunger, A Different Kind of Fast, by Alicia Britt Chole. I don’t plan to wait until Lent 2027 to re-read it. Most of the topics in the book are things that I need to work on constantly. I think many of us could benefit from reading it throughout the year. Some of the daily topics could be dwelt on for a week.

Even though the book was designed to be read in daily increments during Lent, I refuse to feel guilty for taking several extra weeks to finish reading it. In fact, I think that’s perfectly okay.

It takes some of us longer than 40 days to get our lives straightened out. I’m a work in progress.

Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy,by Nathaniel Philbrick

Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy, by Nathaniel Philbrick

I wanted to read the entire book, but I was unable to devote the time necessary to do that. My reading for pleasure tends to just be for the pleasure in the moment of reading a well-written, interesting novel. This book is not a novel but a retracing of George Washington’s 1791 tour of the southern states. I was especially interested in his travels in South Carolina and North Carolina in light of the novel I’m writing.

I enjoyed that part of the book and took some notes for future reference. I was disappointed, though, that the book jumped from Washington’s time with the Catawba Indians to “his next stop in Salisbury.”

Washington’s next stop was not Salisbury. He traveled to Charlotte, and spent the next night (May 29, 1791) as a personal guest of Red Hill Tavern owner Martin Phifer, Jr. near the present-day intersection of US-29 and Poplar Tent Road in Concord, Cabarrus County.

Mr. Phifer had served with Washington at Valley Forge, so they were more than acquaintances.

I’m puzzled over why the author skipped over Mecklenburg and Cabarrus counties and went directly to Rowan County.

Otherwise, what he covered that I got to read was very interesting and easy to follow. I think anyone interested in George Washington or his tour of The South in 1791 would enjoy this book.

Until my next blog post

I hope you have one or more good books that you’re reading! I’m reading The Mad Wife, by Meagan Church and Brawler: Stories, by Lauren Groff.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

New nonfiction book about Regulator Movement in NC

This weekend I finished reading and taking copious notes from an excellent new nonfiction book, The Regulator Movement in North Carolina: Prelude to the Revolution, by Marcia D. Phillips.

Today is National Tell a Story Day, and this nonfiction book tells quite a story!

The Regulator Movement in North Carolina: Prelude to the Revolution,
by Marcia D. Phillips

If you want to know some of the little-known background leading up to the American Revolution, I highly recommend this book. As a native North Carolinian, I learned about the Regulators in North Carolina History classes; however, to read the details of it as an adult is to better grasp the terror that many residents of my state were living under in the late 1760s and early 1770s.

The author did an amazing job, like no one else I’ve read, of giving hundreds of years of history leading up to the Regulator Movement in North Carolina. She wrote about how the feudal system in Europe and even the Magna Carta laid the groundwork for what happened here in the mid-1700s!

I had never connected some of the dots that Ms. Phillips connected, but it all fits together now in my mind.

The book also does a great job of explaining the differences between the Regulator Movement in North Carolina and the Regulator Movement in South Carolina. That’s something important for me to keep in mind as I write my historical novels in progress.

Quoting from The Regulator Movement in North Carolina: Prelude to the Revolution, by Marcia D. Phillips,

“In a nutshell, the North Carolina Regulators were not attempting to overthrow the colonial government, just convince it to be the same one they had for years and true to British common law. Their actions were not intended to disrupt the law but to ensure the government’s actions were regulated, to promote uniformity and fairness. The issues of the day – excessive taxation and fees with limited recourse in the assembly, lack of justice in court rulings, and forced taxation for the Anglican Church, which none of the Regulators attended – were the sticking points but also indicative of underlying principles being violated. These discontented farmers were even willing to self-regulate if the colonial government would allow it.”

The Regulators signed petitions in an effort to get Governor Tryon to address their grievances. His appointed officials in the North Carolina Piedmont – particularly in the northern Piedmont part of the province owned by Lord Granville – were robbing the citizens blind and pocketing the money they collected.

They were sick and tired of paying tax to support the Anglican Church. They were Presbyterians and Baptists, and they wanted the right to pay their own clergy. Their clergy were not allowed to officiate over marriages or funerals. For people who had left Europe for religious freedom, this was unacceptable.

The Regulator Movement in North Carolina came to a head in Alamance County on May 16, 1771, when Governor Tryon ordered eight cannons to fire upon a group of Regulators who had asked to be heard. Under the Johnston Riot Act, Tryon gave them until noon to disperse; however, instead of arresting them at noon when they did not disperse, he turned eight cannons on them. It is called the Battle of Alamance, but it was really an ambush.

As the book gives in detail, that was not the end of Tryon’s reign of terror. He had a number of Regulators hanged and had many of their farms burned to the ground.

The book includes an extensive bibliography for readers wanting to do additional research. Thank you, Ms. Phillips, for giving us such a concise and well-researched account of the Regulator Movement in North Carolina.

Perhaps it is partly because of our current political environment that, but while reading this book, it struck me how similar Governor William Tryon of North Carolina was to Donald Trump. I’m not just referring to the fact that he built an extravagant palace for himself while in office.

Some leaders build palaces. Others build ballrooms and triumphal arches.

But it is the pattern of retribution demonstrated by Tryon and by Trump that hit me as an undeniable and frightening similarity between the two men.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

Books I Read in March 2026 & National Literature Month

April is National Literature Month in the United States. Maybe I’ll get to read more books this month than I did in March of any of the recent previous months. Writing this blog almost every day along with other things pressing on my time and energy have left little time for reading for pleasure.

In the more than ten years that I’ve been blogging, I have traditionally blogged on the first Monday or around the first day of the month about the books I read the previous month. That has not been the case over the last year or so, but maybe I will get back into that rhythm this year… or eventually. I miss having time to read.

Photo by Susan Q Yin on Unsplash

I read one very small book and part of another book in March. Perhaps what I have to say about them will giver you the incentive to read them.

The Greatest Sentence Ever Written, by Walter Isaacson, is a tiny book with great importance during our country’s 250th birthday this year. Walter Isaacson has done extensive research and written many books about individuals who played instrumental roles in the formation of the United States. It was only natural for him to write a book about the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Isaacson takes that sentence and breaks it down by word and phrase to address their meanings and how those particular words made it into the final draft of the Declaration of Independence.

He states in the first chapter, that “We the people” “is as profound as it is simple. Our governance is based not on the divine right of kings or the power imposed by emperors and conquerors. It is based on a compact, a social contract, that we the people have entered into.”

That early sentence in the chapter titled, “We,” sets the tone for the 67-page book. “We the people” is also the opening phrase in the United States Constitution.

Being a wordsmith of sorts and a political science major in college, I especially enjoyed how Isaacson brought in details about Benjamin Franklin’s input and editing recommendations of Thomas Jefferson’s early drafts of the Declaration of Independence. Both men were learned and very specific in word choice.

Both men were well-read and students of philosophy. They drew on the theories they had read about humanity and governance.

For instance, Jefferson had written “sacred and undeniable” but Franklin insisted that “self-evident” was a more accurate description of our rights. Franklin had become a close acquaintance of Scottish philosopher David Hume. Hume’s theory, known as “Hume’s fork” maintained that there are two types of truths. One is dependent upon empirical evidence and observations (such as, New York is bigger than Philadelphia), while the other type of truth is just true. Such truths are not contingent upon physical evidence or observations. An example is “All bachelors are unmarried.”

Franklin held that our rights are self-evident. They are not based on information that must be gathered and analyzed.

Another interesting tidbit was that Jefferson wrote that we are endowed by our Creator with certain “inalienable rights,” but when John Adams copied from Jefferson’s document, he changed “inalienable” to “unalienable” and that’s the way it was approved on July 4, 1776. No wonder I get confused sometimes over which word ended up in the document!

There is really no difference between “inalienable” and “unalienable.” Perhaps it was a case of personal preference… or an error in copying.

A book that I started reading for book club in March was Where the Rivers Merge, by Mary Alice Monroe. Time ran out, as it often does, and I did not finish reading it before the club met for discussion on March 22. I hope to read it in its entirety before the book club reads its sequel perhaps in 2027. The sequel has not been published, but book club members said it is being written.

Mary Alice Monroe knows the ACE (Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto) Basin area of coastal South Carolina very well. The story in Where the Rivers Merge is anchored in that location and it is a deep love and respect for that physical environment that is the heart of this book about a family whose members have varying degrees of appreciation for the place and differing ideas about its worth.

The ACE Basin is a large undeveloped estuary in Colleton, Charles, and Beaufort counties in South Carolina on the Atlantic coast. In addition to being an author, Ms. Monroe is very interested in conservation and the environment.

Happy reading during this National Literature Month!

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

Books I Read in October 2025

For starters, relax, no mention of politics in America in today’s post.

Second, where did October go? Or September, for that matter?

I only read two books in October, but they were both wonderful reads that gave me much to think about. It was great to get back in the groove and read some excellent historical fiction!

The Weight of Snow and Regret, by Elizabeth Gauffreau

Two weeks ago, on October 20th, I blogged about The Weight of Snow and Regret, an historical novel by Elizabeth Gauffreau. If you missed reading that post, please go back and read it now: The Weight of Snow and Regret.

Photo of the front cover of The Weight of Snow and Regret, by Elizabeth Gauffreau
The Weight of Snow and Regret, by Elizabeth Gauffreau

I don’t want you to miss it! Ms. Gauffreau’s novel will take you back to a time in our country when poor houses were available for people who did not have anywhere else to go. The book is populated by distinct characters who will tug at your heart.

After not finding any novels that held my attention for months, October was a much-needed dive back into reading for pleasure for me.

15,000 Kilometers, by Laleh Chini

In addition to reading Elizabeth Gauffreau’s new novel, I read Laleh Chini’s new book, 15,000 Kilometers. In case you are an American and kilometers don’t mean anything to you, 15,000 kilometers is more than 9,300 miles. The book is Laleh Chini’s husband’s memoir.

15,000 Kilometers, by Laleh Chini

Hassan was a teenager when he risked his life to escape Iran after the Shah of Iran was overthrown in 1979. Life under the Shah’s rule was not perfect, but things deteriorated rapidly during and after the revolution.

This book will take you along with Hassan every excruciating step of the way as he was determined to get to Canada and have a free life.

Hassan’s decision was gut-wrenching for himself and his parents, but he faced a bleak future if he stayed in his home country. He already had his eye on the lovely Laleh, who was from his hometown. He never gave up on his dream of reaching Canada and reuniting with Laleh.

He joined others who sought to escape Iran, and they bonded as they walked and ran to the border with Afghanistan, then braved the desert with very little food and water, always at the mercy of smugglers they had placed their lives in the hands of.

Then came two more countries! Hassan continued to do everything he needed to do to blend in and not draw attention to himself in one strange land after another.

Did Hassan make it to Canada? How did he and Laleh find one another again after so much terror and sacrifice? I don’t want to give that away. You must read the book to appreciate Hassan’s bravery and sacrifice and to see if he realized his dream.

The exquisite hand-drawn illustrations are a bonus in 15,000 Kilometers. There are wonderful detailed images of Hasson, the guards and other men he encountered, and some of the sights he saw along the way.

The words and the images in 15,000 Kilometers, by Laleh Chini, are a real treasure that reminded me how fortunate I was to be born in the United States. Even with all of America’s flaws and current challenges, I was blessed to be born and grow up in a free country.

Hurricane Helene Update

As of Friday, October 31, 31 roads in North Carolina were still closed due to Hurricane Helene’s wind, flooding, and landslides on September 26, 2024. That’s two fewer roads than were closed when I gave my last update two weeks ago. Friday’s count included five US highways, two state highways, and 24 state roads.

Future progress will probably be slow, as winter weather is already setting in in the mountains. I will give updates periodically as there is something new to report.

Sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina will remain closed for at least another year, and I-40 at the Tennessee line will continue to be just two lanes at 35 miles-per-hour for a couple more years while five miles of the highway are being rebuilt in the Pigeon River Gorge.

But western North Carolina is open for business and tourists this fall, although the elevations above 3,000 feet are well past their peak of fall color. Be aware that you might run into a detour, and you can’t drive the full length of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

If you visit western North Carolina, please drop by Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville and Highland Books in Brevard. Tell them I sent you. They sell my books!

Janet

The Weight of Snow and Regret, by Elizabeth Gauffreau

I planned to write one of my #OnThisDay history blog posts today about the Treaty of 1818, which established the 49th parallel as the Canada-United States border from the Great Lakes, west. However, I couldn’t get very excited about that topic.

I’m sure it was a big deal in 1818, during President James Monroe’s first term in office, and I’m sure it meant a lot to the people in the border states and provinces in the two countries. I just couldn’t come up with much to say about it.

I’ll just say, “I think I can speak for all Americans when I say, ‘We love you, Canada.’”

With that said, I will jump into what I am excited to write about today: a book I finished reading Friday night.

The Weight of Snow and Regret, by Elizabeth Gauffreau

If you regularly read my blog, you know I used to blog the first Monday of each month about the books I read the previous month. Some months I read so many books, it took two posts to write about all of them.

Then, January 2025 came along. I read The Frozen River, by Ariel Lawhon, in January, but then I hit a dry spell. I became so distracted by politics that I found it impossible to find a novel that I could concentrate on long enough to get interested, much less finish reading.

Then came October, and the release of The Weight of Snow and Regret, by Elizabeth Gauffreau. Historical fiction is my “go to” genre for reading and writing, and I had yearned all year for another book that would grab me like Ariel Lawhon’s book.

Photo of the front cover of The Weight of Snow and Regret, by Elizabeth Gauffreau
The Weight of Snow and Regret, by Elizabeth Gauffreau

The Weight of Snow and Regret is written in a way that would not let me go. Ms. Gauffreau was inspired to write the book after learning about the Sheldon Poor Farm in Vermont, which closed in 1968.

The book is expertly researched, which made it possible for the talented writer that Ms. Gauffreau is to infuse every scene with a level of authenticity that puts the reader in the story.

Each resident at Sheldon has a distinct personality and way of speaking that makes them easy to remember and tell apart.

The main character, Hazel, is matron at the Sheldon Poor Farm. Her husband runs the farm. The reader can’t help but be drawn to Hazel as she has the overwhelming job of cooking, cleaning, and in all ways caring for the residents of this very real poor farm. She has a heart for the job, and as her backstory is revealed the reader learns why she is the way she is.

Every time I thought I could close the book, I found myself plunging into the next chapter to see what was going to happen next. Every time I thought life couldn’t get more difficult for Hazel… it got more difficult. Somehow, Hazel kept her sense of humor, and that comes through in the book.

This novel is set in the 1920s, 1940s, and 1960s. I usually don’t enjoy novels that move back and forth between decades, but Ms. Gauffreau pulled this off masterfully. I think it was the perfect way for this story to be told.

The characters in The Weight of Snow and Regret will stay with me for a long time. It’s that kind of story.

There were “poor houses” when I was a child for people who were too poor to live anywhere else and had no relatives willing to take them into their homes. This novel made me stop and wonder where those people go now. I guess they are the people who live under bridges on the streets and highways in the cities.

If you like to read historical fiction, I highly recommend The Weight of Snow and Regret, by Elizabeth Gauffreau.

Hurricane Helene Update

As of Friday, 33 roads in North Carolina were still closed due to the September 26, 2024, Hurricane Helene. That count included five US highways, two state highways, and 26 state roads, meaning two state roads opened since my last blog update two weeks ago.

Of course, sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina will remain closed for another year or more, and I-40 at the Tennessee line will continue to be just two lanes at 35 miles-per-hour for a couple more years while five miles of the highway are being rebuilt in the Pigeon River Gorge.

But western North Carolina is open for business and tourists this fall. Just be aware that you might run into a detour, and you can’t drive the full length of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Janet

The Book I Read in September 2025

I only read one entire book in September. I pre-ordered it early in the summer and had great expectations that it would contain some information to supplement my research about the Great Wagon Road.

The Road That Made America: A Modern Pilgrim’s Journey on The Great Wagon Road, by James Dodson

Photo of the cover of The Road That Made America, by James Dodson
The Road That Made America, by James Dodson

Perhaps I should have done more research into the book itself. It was not what I expected, but I read the entire book. I did not want to miss a morsel of new detail about the Great Wagon Road.

I will not write a review of this book, because it very well might be my fault that I expected too much from it. I know from experience that it is difficult to recover a high rating once someone has left a mediocre review.

For what Mr. Dodson set out to write, he did an excellent job. It just wasn’t what I hoped for or needed.

If you are looking for a travelogue that is about half set in Pennsylvania and pretty much peters out when he gets to the northern piedmont area in North Carolina, you would probably enjoy this book. The author tells where he ate, where he stayed, and who he met along the way. He met some old friends along the way and he gives background details of their years of friendship. There is an emphasis on the Civil War battlefields along or near The Great Wagon Road, so a Civil War buff would find that of interest.

It just wasn’t what I hoped would supplement my research for the historical novel series I’m writing.

My reading continues to suffer

I have been in a reading funk since January 20. Actually, it dates back to November 5, 2024. You can read between the lines and figure out why I have lost my desire to read. It is a sad and dangerous thing for a wannabe writer to stop reading.

My writing projects

This summer I finished writing and self-published I Need The Light! 26 Weekly Devotionals to Help You Through Winter and I Need The Light! Companion Journal and Diary. They are available on Amazon and you can look for them at your favorite bookstore.

If can even order the devotional book (and soon, the companion journal) from your favorite independent bookstore by going to https://www.janetmorrisonbooks.com, click on the book covers and place your order by using the Bookshop.org button.

I appreciate each of you who have ordered either or both books.

At the request of a distant cousin who is a very dedicated member of the Sons of the American Revolution, last week I set my short stories aside and wrote the honoring statements for four American Revolutionary War patriots and soldiers who are buried in Spears Graveyard of Rocky River Presbyterian Church in Cabarrus County, NC.

With that research and writing completed on Saturday evening, I turned my attention back to proofreading and editing my historical short stories. Stay turned for an announcement in a few weeks when I publish Traveling Through History: Historical Short Stories.

Hurricane Helene Update

As of Friday, 35 roads in North Carolina were still closed due to Hurricane Helene. That count included five US highways, two state highways, and 28 state roads, meaning three state roads opened last week.

Of course, sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina will remain closed for another year or more, and I-40 at the Tennessee line will continue to be just two lanes at 35 miles-per-hour for a couple more years while five miles of the highway are being rebuilt in the Pigeon River Gorge.

But western North Carolina is open for business and tourists this fall. Just be aware that you might run into a detour, and you can’t drive the full length of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Janet

The Book I Read in July 2025 & Why It Stood Alone

You know a reader is in trouble when the only book she read in the month of July was a cookbook!

The Scottish Cookbook: Hebridean Baker, by Coinneach MacLeod

Photo of the front cover of The Hebridean Baker by Coinneach MacLeod
The Scottish Cookbook:
The Hebridean Baker, by Coinneach MacLeod

This was a fun read. I doubt I’ll try any of the recipes, but the recipes are interspersed with stories about the islands in the Outer Hebrides. They were interesting and the photographs brought back memories of my visit to Lewis and Harris.

Some of the recipes sounded interesting, but I was primarily drawn into the stories MacLeod shared. The photographs were beautiful and took me back to my wonderful trips to the Outer Hebrides and my dear friends on the Isle of Lewis.

More than a reading slump

Those of you who have followed my blog over the years have, no doubt, noticed that I have read very few books this year. In one or more blog posts I have blamed my slump on the current threats to our American democracy. That was not an idle excuse. It is very much the reason I have read almost no fiction in 2025. In conjunction with that same reason, I have spent an inordinate amount of time writing blog posts up to six times a week instead of my former usual of once a week.

However, this summer there has been a third reason for my lack of reading novels. If you subscribe to my newsletter, you know what I’m talking about.

I Need The Light! 26 Weekly Devotionals to Help You Through Winter

A couple of years ago, I started writing a devotional book. Imposter Syndrome set in, and I put it away.

Imposter Syndrome tells a person that they aren’t good enough. It says to a writer, “Who do you think you are? You can’t write a book!” It says to the writer of a devotional book, “You’ve got to be kidding! You have no formal religious training! You have no degrees in theology!”

Late this spring, I decided to publish my devotional book anyway. Due to the nature of the subject matter, I needed to get it out before winter set in.

Self-publishing a book requires one to jump out of the boat and into the water at the deep end of the pool without knowing how to swim.

I’ve done that before. I self-published two local history books, two historical short stories, and a cookbook through Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). However, KDP being part of Amazon, I soon learned that bookstores are not interested in selling your books. Amazon is seen as a bookstore’s enemy.

You live and learn. It just takes some of us longer to learn than it takes others.

In the spring I started researching IngramSpark. A book self-published through IngramSpark can be ordered by bookstores and libraries!

Those of you who know me well, know that I am not computer literate. Those of you who know me very well know that I have memory problems that make it incredibly difficult to learn new things. Having to learn a new computer program, for instance, is just about my worst nightmare.

It was with more than a little apprehension that I created an account with IngramSpark and jumped into the deep end of a new pool.

My summer has been a whirlwind of learning new things, editing words I wrote a while back, and adding contemporary examples. I learned new marketing techniques and have tried my best to implement them.

In my July newsletter, I offered Advanced Review Copies (ARCs) for the first time in my life. There was a learning curve there as I had to create a special ARC book cover. I also learned who in my small circle were willing to accept a free ARC and who were not. The timing wasn’t right for some people. It is all part of the process. Writers are required to have thick skin.

I anticipate the release in early September of I Need The Light! 26 Weekly Devotionals to Help You Through Winter.

Photo of front cover of I Need The Light! 26 Weekly Devotionals to Help You Through Winter by Janet Morrison
I Need The Light! 26 Weekly Devotionals to Help You Through Winter, by Janet Morrison

Be on the lookout for more specific announcements!

Hurricane Helene Update

As of Friday, of the 1,457 roads that were closed in western North Carolina last September due to Hurricane Helene, 34 remain closed, which is the same number reported for the last three weeks. The NC Department of Transportation reports 40 roads have just partial access, which is a decrease of two roads since the previous Friday.

In case you missed my weekly update on July 26, here’s a link to that blog post in which I gave the National Park Service’s three-phase plan for reopening the Blue Ridge Parkway: Books Banned at U.S. Department of Defense Schools.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Alert!

In a related story, on Saturday, US-441/Newfound Gap Road – the only road that crosses the entire Great Smoky Mountains National Park from Cherokee, North Carolina to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, was closed due to heavy rainfall causing the undercutting of a section of the road in Tennessee by Walker Prong Camp Creek between Mile Marker 12 and Mile Marker 13.

The entire road was closed for evaluation, but part of it in the North Carolina part of the park has reopened. There is no estimate of when the Tennessee portion of the road will reopen. The stated detour route is I-40, which is still just two lanes and 35 mph due to the massive damage done last September by Hurricane Helene.

Until my next blog post

I hope you have time and are in the mood to read a good book – fiction or nonfiction.

Remember the people of Ukraine, the starving children in Gaza, and the people of western North Carolina still reeling from the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene last September.

Janet

Two Other Books I Read in June 2025

After my blog post for yesterday got too long for anyone to want to read, I split it up into two posts.

The books I write about today will sound familiar to those of you who follow my blog, but I think both warrant a revisit.

White Hoods and Broken Badges, by Joe Moore

Photo of book cover for White Robes and Broken Badges by Joe Moore
White Robes and Broken Badges,
by Joe Moore

If this book sounds familiar, it might because I blogged about it on October 7, 2024, in What I Read Last Month & a Hurricane Helene Update .  I read it again last month because on my recommendation it was the June book for the book club I’m in.

It was sobering the first time I read it, but it was even more chilling to read it during Donald Trump’s second term in the White House. All the things Moore anticipated and predicted about a second Trump term are coming to fruition right before our eyes.

We are in a bad place in the United States, and we have the 2024 voters to blame. I’m beyond mincing words about the people who brought authoritarianism down upon us when they put on their red MAGA baseball caps and voted last fall.

After reading White Hoods and Broken Badges, I have a better understanding of just how deeply embedded in our government and all levels of law enforcement the Ku Klux Klan and all the various allied white supremacy and white nationalist people are.

Moore says whereas the KKK and militia groups like the Proud Boys used to not mix or associate with each other, now they have joined forces under a common cause: the destruction of our democracy. Their goal is a second civil war in the US, and it has already started. All it needed was the blessing of a second Trump term as US President.

Moore says that whereas it used to be that white supremacist tried to infiltrate law enforcement, now there are people in law enforcement who recruit them. Therein lies the KKK’s power. He writes about the part white nationalist groups played in the January 6, 2021, insurrection and how they fueled the mob attack on the US Capitol.

He went so far as to state, “It’s estimated that somewhere between half and three quarters of all self-identifying Republicans either identify as white nationalists or hold white nationalist beliefs. That means as much as 30 percent of the United States population wants to see the country burn.”

 He knows whereof he speaks. As a confidential informant for the FBI, he infiltrated the KKK twice over a ten-year period. He and his family are living under assumed names.

Please read this book. The statistics I’ve cited are in the opening pages of the book. The book itself is a well-written account of Moore’s time infiltrating the KKK and the things he witnessed. You won’t be able to be complacent after reading it.

How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith, by Mariann Edgar Budde.

Photo of the cover of How We Learn to Be Brave by Mariann Edgar Budd
How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Live and Faith, by Mariann Edgar Budde

I blogged about the fourth chapter in this book in my June 20, 2025 blog post, Reacting to the Cards You Are Dealt. I invite you to read that book and the post I wrote in response to reading the fourth chapter. I hope to eventually read the entire book.

Until my next blog post

Get a good book to read. Your local public library has lots of them, and a library card is free!

Don’t forget the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.

Janet

Two of Four Books I Read in June 2025

This has not been a good reading year for me when it comes to fiction. You may recall that I did not read any novels in April and only read a couple of books in May. There are plenty of wonderful novels out there, I’m just not in a good place mentally right now to concentrate on a plot and enjoy them. The memory problems caused by Chronic Fatigue Syndrome are a daily frustration.

Nevertheless, my blog today is about two of the four books I read or attempted to read in the month of June. I will blog about the other two tomorrow.

My Name is Emilia Del Valle, by Isabel Allende

I thought this would be the historical novel that would rescue me from my drought of reading since January 20, but not even Isabel Allende could do that.

Photo of the front cover of My Name is Emilia del Valle, by Isabel Allende
My Name is Emilia Del Valle, by Isabel Allende

I enjoyed the first half of the book, but then I was too distracted by current affairs to concentrate on the war in Chile in the 1890s. I wanted to see if Emilia would locate her biological father in Chile and, if she did, I wanted to see how that meeting took place and if they formed a relationship. (Spoiler alert: After that meeting took place, I began to lose interest in the rest of the plot.”

I cheered Emilia on because she was a female trying to be a writer. I cheered her n when she got a job as a reporter for The Daily Examiner in San Francisco, for that would unheard of for any newspaper in the US in the 19th century.

It was disappointing for me when I lost interest in the story. That’s not a reflection on the writing, for Isabel Allende is a wonderful novelist. Some of her other novels have held me spellbound. I think it just was not the right time for me to read this book.

Please don’t let my comments deter you from reading it.

Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service, edited by Michael Lewis, with essays by Michael Lewis, Casey Cep, Dave Eggers, John Lanchester, Geraldine Brooks, Sarah Vowell, and W. Kamau Bell

This book pulled at my heartstrings, because in my early adult life I was a public servant. That was what I prepared myself for in six years of college. As is true for most public servants/government employees in the United States, I had little interest in politics.

If that statement sounds strange to you, then you have a misunderstanding of how government in the United States works.

If that statement sounds strange to you, you need to read Who Is Government?

Photo of front cover of Who is Government? edited by Michael Lewis
Who Is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service, edited by Michael Lewis.

This book is a collection of stories about specific unsung heroes who work in our government. None of them wanted fame or fortune. You don’t know their names.

They were just doing their jobs, all the while dodging the arrows being shot at them daily by a general populous who choose to believe and perpetuate the myth that all government employees are incompetent and lazy.

The writers of Who Is Government? beg to differ with that long-standing misconception of government employees.

The essays in this book are about a government employees who did such things as:

  • Figuring out how to make “roofs” in coal mines so they would not collapse – a problem that has killed thousands of coal miners worldwide;
    •  Figuring out an almost flawless way to run the National Cemetery Administration so that the 140,000 veterans and their families are interred annually are treated with the utmost precision and care as well as immaculately maintaining the final resting place for more than 4 million other veterans in our 155 national cemeteries;
    •  Figuring out how to build the future Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope “which will have a panoramic field of vision a hundred times greater than the Hubble Space Telescope” and will perform something called starlight suppression to enable us to see behind and around faraway stars;
    •  Keeping track of every statistic imaginable, which is what the Consumer Price Index actually is – and it doesn’t just happen – it takes lots of government employees measuring things and keeping meticulous records that an individual could never do but all our lives are affected by that number; 
    •  Catching and arresting cyber criminals who are defrauding people or perpetuating pedophilia on the internet and the dark web;
    •  Overseeing and accomplishing the digitalization so far of 300 million of the 13 billion government documents so that every American, regardless of their location, will have access to all the records housed by the National Archives and Records Administration;
    •  Working in the US Department of Justice (I hope Olivia still has a job there!) in the antitrust section because she sees helping to enforce antitrust laws as a way to make sure one person’s American Dream does not “impede on other people’s American Dream”; and
    •  Helping doctors find new treatments for rare deadly diseases. (I sincerely hope Heather still has her job, but I’m not optimistic.)

Each of the above stories is fascinating. Each one renews my faith in the United State Government and serves as a reminder that ours is a “government if the people, by the people, and for the people” as so eloquently stated by Abraham Lincoln in The Gettysburg Address.

As I stated a few paragraphs ago, the writers of Who Is Government beg to differ with that long-standing misconception of government employees being incompetent and lazy – that misconception that the Trump Administration and the teenagers working for Elon Musk latched onto with all their might and money this year. And thousands of hard-working, knowledgeable, dedicated, non-political government employees lost their careers.

The brain-drain and experience-drain that resulted from the massive firings and layoffs in the US Government and the trickle down through various state and local government programs won’t be recognized or calculated in its entirety for decades.

In many cases, we will never know what we lost. We will never know the cures for cancer or Alzheimer’s Disease that were missed because the researchers that were on the cusp of those discoveries were let go in the name of “government efficiency.”

We won’t be able to ever recover the beauty and plants and animals that have been and will be lost to mining and deforestation in the name of “government efficiency” and “Make America Great Again.”

If I sound bitter, it is because I am. If I sound unforgiving, it is because I am.

Who Is Government? should be required-reading for all Americans – or at least for everyone in Congress and in the Trump Administration. If they read it, they might not be so quick to paint all government employees with that “incompetent, inefficient, and lazy” brush.

I will close by quoting a paragraph in The Cyber Sleuth” essay in Who Is Government? written by Geraldine Brooks. That essay tells how effective Jarod Koopman and his cyber crime team at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have been in catching criminals ranging from bitcoin fraudsters to pedophiles.

This is my favorite paragraph in the book: “The next time a politician or a pundit traduces the IRS, or JD Vance suggests firing half the civil service and putting in ‘our people,’ consider whether a system that filled out its ranks with a new batch of political loyalists every four years would have the expertise of these dedicated lifelong civil servants.”

In 2016, many Trump supporters said, “We need a businessman in the White House.”

I might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I’d like to know what business fires their employees without any consideration of their value or merit every four years just so they can hire all new people. I don’t think that business would last long. That business model makes no sense for a for-profit enterprise and it certainly makes no sense for the United States Government.

Hurricane Helene Update

As of Friday, of the 1,448 roads in North Carolina that were closed due to Hurricane Helene last September, 1,409 were fully open, 39 were closed, 50 had partial access, and one was closed to truck traffic. Eight roads reopened last week.

The statistics posted online by the NC DOT are a little difficult to follow as it is unclear in the chart by geographical divisions which roads are completely closed and which ones of partially closed, etc. Five US highways, three state highways, and 43 state roads are indicated on the chart without explanation of exact closure status.

I-40 is still just one lane in each direction with a 35-mph speed limit, and most the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC is still closed. That road is not included in the DOT chart since it is a federal park-maintained road.

Until my next blog post

Keep reading for pleasure.

Hold your family and friends close.

Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.

And remember the people of Texas where there was devastating flooding in the wee, dark hours of Friday morning. The death toll continues to rise as I write this, and there are still 11 missing from Camp Mystic along the Guadelupe River. From my Hurricane Helene update above, we know they have a long, difficult road ahead.

Janet

How do we get out of this mess?

Many of my blog posts this year have been about the mess we’re in. American democracy is being challenged like no other time in recent history, if ever.

Some people have been known to say in the last six months that we could have another civil war in the United States. Perhaps you’ve thought it yourself or heard someone else say those words.

Series of Webinars Sponsored by The Carter Center

Photo of President Jimmy Carter
President Jimmy Carter Photo by Library of Congress on Unsplash

This spring I watched a series of webinars sponsored by The Carter Center about our divided country. Panelists explored how we got to this place, how we can learn from other countries, what we can do to avoid what other countries have experienced, and where we can start.

The country that served as the example in the four webinars was Northern Ireland.

The facilitator for the webinars was the Rev. Dr. Gary Mason, a Methodist minister, peacemaker, and peacebuilder from Northern Ireland. Dr. Mason founded Rethinking Conflict in 2015. It seeks to model the principles of Northern Ireland’s Good Friday Agreement.

That agreement finally ended the conflict on Good Friday, April 10, 1998. Dr. Mason has taken this model to the Middle East and now, to the United States.

Dr. Mason spoke from personal experience growing up during “The Troubles.”

If you are interested in watching the four “Why are we divided?” webinars, here’s the link: https://georgiadrn.org/divided-webinar/.

What if “The Troubles” happened in the United States?

British troops occupied Northern Ireland in August 1969. Everyone thought it would be over before Christmas, but there was an amazing amount of violence over the next 30 years. It was the longest occupation by the British Army in history.

To give Americans some perspective on the amount of violence that took place in Northern Ireland during “The Troubles,” Dr. Mason gave the following statistics: At that time, Northern Ireland had a population of 1.5 million. During The Troubles, nearly 4,000 were killed, 47,000 were injured, there were 37,000 shootings, 30,000 people went through the penal system, there were 22,000 armed robberies, and 16,000 bombings.

He extrapolated that out to compare with the population of the United States over a 30-year conflict. If we had such a civil war in the US, we could see 800,000 killed, 9 million injuries, 7 million shootings, 6 million political prisoners, 4 million armed robberies, and 3 million bombings.

Imagine that level of carnage in America. I can’t.

An estimated 618,000 Americans died in our Civil War in the 1860s. To bring it “home,” I’ve studied the local losses in my own church in that war. Out of a membership of 400 white members and 200 black enslaved members, the congregation lost 74 men in the war. I cannot imagine that number of deaths in this community.

Just like it, undoubtedly, took decades for my community to recover from the war, 27 years after the Good Friday Agreement, Dr. Mason says in Northern Ireland “we are still wrestling with the legacy of the conflict. It’s really the one piece of unfinished business of the peace process.”

Indeed, in the United States we’re still wrestling with the legacy of our civil war. Confederate statues were taken down, but Trump wants them put back in place. Confederate names were removed from US military installations, but now the names are being restored, albeit technically they are not being renamed for the Confederates.

For example, Fort Bragg here in North Carolina was originally named for Braxton Bragg, a Confederate Army General who owned slaves. His name was removed, all the signs and letterhead replaced to say “Fort Liberty” in June 2023, and then in February 2025, Fort Liberty was renamed Fort Bragg but this time for a decorated Private in World War II, Roland X. Bragg.

We are still wrestling with the legacy of our Civil War, so it is not surprising that 27 years after the fact, the people of Northern Ireland are wrestling with theirs.

In Northern Ireland, People Hated Each Other

When peace talks began in Northern Ireland, the people in the room hated each other. No wonder it took so many years for them to develop a peace agreement.

Is that where we are today in the United States of America?

In polite society, we generally get along with each other. But, as I wrote about in my April 17, 2025, blog post, Is your family getting together during Holy Week? Brace yourself!, it only takes one person making an inflammatory remark and a heated argument can break out even among a group of friends or a family gathering.

Do Americans hate each other?

I don’t hate anyone, but I hate what some individuals and groups are doing to our country.

I hate that the US Congress has relinquished its legislative responsibilities to a US President who is legislating via Executive Orders.

I hate that thousands of federal employees have been fired or forced to take early retirement.

I hate that medical research funds and researchers have been eliminated.

I hate that people are being shipped off to a prison in El Salvador without due process.

I hate when people are shipped off to a prison El Salvador by mistake, the US President says he is powerless to do anything about it.

I hate that USAID was halted and will result in people starving.

I hate that universities, museums, and libraries are being targeted and punished.

I hate that Moms for Liberty think they have the right to dictate which books should not be read.

I hate that the Heritage Foundation was able to slide Project 2025 into the White House while the Republican Presidential nominee denied having anything to do with it.

I hate that many of the most vocally hateful voices in this country come from people who claim to be Christians. They give Christianity and Christians a bad name.

So how do we get out of this mess?

If we take the peacemaking and peacebuilding experience of Dr. Gary Mason into consideration, since he has lived through a civil war, we will open avenues of communication with people with whom we disagree.

The core advice from How to Have That Difficult Conversation in Uncivil Times, by Janet Givens is that we start by finding common ground to break the ice with people we need to have that difficult conversation with. Surely, there is something you and they have in common. (See my August 22, 2022, blog post, <em>L.E.A.P.F.R.O.G.: How to hold a civil conversation in an uncivil era</em>, <em>Third Edition, </em>by Janet Givens.)

Photo of cover of L.E.A.P.F.R.O.G.: How to hold a civil conversation in an uncivil era, by Janet Givens
LEAPFROG: How to hold a civil conversation in an uncivil era, by Janet Givens, M.A.

Taking Dr. Mason’s advice, we will then calmly and sincerely ask the person or persons why they feel the way they do about the topic with which we know we disagree with them, and then we will respectfully listen to their story.

Hopefully, they will be equally curious about our story and allow us to explain our position and why or how we arrived at it. Without honesty by both parties and a genuine curiosity by both parties, and a real listening by both parties… it won’t be a successful conversation.

Then, we move on to another person with whom we disagree and repeat the process.

Hmmm. Sounds easy on paper?

No, it doesn’t even sound easy on paper, much less in real life.

Bottom line is, I don’t know how we get out of this mess.

It has been my experience that people who stand on the opposite end of the political spectrum from where I stand, are not interested in hearing my story. They tend to be loud, rude, and condescending. They tend to call names and belittle, like their political leader on Pennsylvania Avenue.

So I really don’t know how we will get out of this mess. When I consider having “that difficult conversation” with anyone I know who supports Trump, I honestly cannot imagine that I would be able to have a productive conversation with them about politics. Our worldviews and core beliefs about democracy are just that far apart.

A chilling perspective

I just reread White Robes and Broken Badges: Infiltrating the KKK and Exposing the Evil Among Us, by Joe Moore. I blogged about that book on October 7, 2024, in What I Read Last Month & a Hurricane Helene Update, and I will blog about it again on July 7.

Photo of book cover for White Robes and Broken Badges by Joe Moore
White Robes and Broken Badges, by Joe Moore

Speaking from the unique place of having infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan twice for the FBI, Moore stated in his book, “The radical right cares nothing about process, only outcome. They’re not interested in a civil discussion to work out differences, because they are so consumed by ideology that it has hijacked their civility. They have a clear vision of what they want the country to look like, and democracy itself is the only thing standing in their way.”

That leaves us in a hopeless situation. I don’t want to be hopeless, but I admit I don’t know how to have a productive conversation about politics with anyone who supports Donald Trump.

Even when Donald Trump is no longer in office, the people who agree with his tactics will still be with us. Our mess is bigger than an election or two can clean up.

Until my next blog post

How do you think we can get out of this mess?

What have you tried? Did it work?

It is going to take all of us to get our country out of this mess. The politicians certainly aren’t going to save us!

Remember the people of Northern Ireland, Ukraine, and western North Carolina.

Janet

P.S. I wrote and scheduled today’s blog post before the United States bombed three nuclear facilities in Iran on Saturday night, Eastern Time.