"A nomad I will remain for life, in love with distant and uncharted places." -Isabelle Eberhardt
"A nomad I will remain for life, in love with distant and uncharted places." -Isabelle Eberhardt
Reading Challenge 2019 Update
Aimee Geurts • Apr 18, 2019

Mystery – Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

When I picked this up, I didn’t realize it was a murder mystery despite that being on the cover quote from the New York Time Book Review. I was happy when I realized it would fill a Read Challenge category and even happier after reading it. I loved this book. It’s Delia Owens’ first novel and I find that so impressive. Somewhere along the way I saw someone say fans of Barbara Kingsolver would enjoy this story and they were right. What I love about Kingsolver, all the background on nature etc, was also what I loved about this story.

Kya, the main character, was abandoned by her entire family at a very young age. This was hard for me to swallow – that her parents and all her brothers and sisters would leave her behind. The siblings had to escape the alcoholic abusive father and I understand that, yet I don’t understand why one of them wouldn’t have taken Kya with them. Anyway, with the help of a few people Kya learns to be self-sufficient in the family shack in the marsh of Barkley Cove, NC. And by few, I mean three. A young boy her age, Tate, and an older gentleman called Jumpin who owns a store off the marsh. Jumpin’s wife Mabel becomes a care-taker to Kya as well. Eventually, popular boy Chase Andrews is added to the mix and that’s where things start to sour. Chase is found dead and Kya is charged with his murder.

I won’t go into any spoilers regarding the murder. My favorite part of the book is when Tate finds Kya’s nature paintings and descriptions, after he helps her to learn to read. She goes on to sell these as book collections and is able to make a living while continuing her solitary life in the marsh. My least favorite is all the poems by Amanda Hamilton! I can’t even say why but I would eye roll whenever one would come up. Of course, at the end, it makes sense why there were so many but until then…eye-roll city. This is a great, easy story and I would recommend it to anyone.

Self-Help – soulful simplicity by courtney carver

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The Life and Times of the Tiny Dictator

By Aimee Geurts • 07 Feb, 2023
An Ode to Midge

The Spines of Books

By Aimee Geurts • 29 Jan, 2023
A poem

What if the next adventure is to indulge in no adventure at all?

By Aimee Geurts • 20 Jan, 2023
In Great Circle Jaime says, “The compromise is that I’m living day to day without making any sweeping decisions.” I realize I have fallen into this way of thinking. Whispering to myself, everything is fine today. Although I do still enjoy imagining other lives, get caught up in the swell of possibility, for the first time in a long time I feel settled.  Jamie’s sister Marian says, “Is that compromise? It sounds a bit like procrastination. You don’t think you’ll go back to being how you were before, do you?” I know I won’t go back to being how I was before. I know that today. I’m not sure what I’ll know tomorrow. Reading articles about women realizing they are tired of working the corporate ladder and feel vindicated in my low-paying jobs with no benefits. When the farmer in Spain doesn’t reply to my emails about a room and board work agreement, when the Airbnb host in Greece offers me his camper van instead of his home, I decide it’s all too much and I give up. I’m not upset about it. I’m relieved. Instead, I make easy plans to see the Redwood Forest, right here in the good ol’ U. S. of A. I plan to stop in Medicine Bow, WY on my way from Denver to Bismarck next time I’m there. My next adventure is right around the corner instead of a nine-hour flight away. I make plans to make less plans. I stop looking for more jobs. The low-paying jobs I have now are quite fulfilling and they pay me enough to cover my health insurance and put a little aside. What they give me is time. Time to have lunch with my sister-in-law on her birthday. Time to take a 4-day weekend to see my new niece. Time to take a walk downtown on a Wednesday and bring Roxy a sandwich while she slings books at the low-paying bookstore where I no longer work. Time to read all the books in my house. Time to volunteer in the middle of the day. Call it compromise. Call it procrastination. I call it feeling settled.
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