Tide, Feather, Snow

by Miranda Weiss
For many years I have been intrigued by Alaska. I have heard stories from people who have traveled there, read magazines and books that featured this mysterious place. I have longed to visit, all the while knowing that chances of that happening were slim, at best.

I recently read Not One Drop by Rikki Ott, a book that tells the story of the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez disaster as it relates to Cordova and its people. An engrossing and compelling read, that made me want to learn more.

When this book became available, I knew I wanted to read it, and I am glad to have the opportunity to do so. It too explores the vastness and purity of our forty ninth state. It paints a picture of the beauty as well as the hard core grittiness to be found there. This book takes us across Alaska and allows us to look into the lives and homes of some of the people who have chosen to make the state their home, as well as those who were born there.

I think this is a must read for anyone who enjoys a good adventure story, learning about another way of life, or simply enjoys reading a memoir about someone who is essentially like them, an ordinary person but one who makes extraordinary choices.

Heart In The Right Place

by Carolyn Jourdan



I hardly know where to begin. This is a beautiful story of a loving family and a very special community. It is a story of a woman who finds her truest self.

Carolyn Jourdan was a high profile attorney who worked on Capitol Hill. She drove a Mercedes, and had a high profile circle of friends. She knew all of the important people, and they knew her.

A family emergency sent her back to the hills of Tennessee, for a few days. It wasn't easy. She missed her place in DC from almost the first moment she was away. Her best friend was there. Her life and work were there. She was somebody there...or was she.

As the days and then weeks passed, far longer than she had expected or planned, Carolyn began to see things just a little differently. She had always wanted to help others, but had seen it more as a grand scheme. Helping many at one time. Making a difference . But is is more important to make a difference to many people at one time than it is to do so one by one. That was a conundrum she had trouble solving.

I loved each and every one of the people I met in this book. There were tears in my eyes more than once. A story filled with compassion, love and faith that will have a firm place on my small self of books that are to be read again and again.

Have you found her : a memoir by Janice Erlbaum

Have you found her : a memoir by Janice Erlbaum

early review selection

I hardly know where to begin. I have been holding my breath through the entire last half of the book. I am not sure if I was holding it for Janice, or for Sam.

This is the most emotionally provoking book I have read in a very long time. It reads like a novel, but it is all too real. Each page is filled with compassion, yearning and vulnerability. The author is brutally honest about herself and her feelings, her motives.

To say that I could not put this book down is an understatement. Even now, when I have come to the end of the book, I know that it is not a true ending. How can it be? I think I will always wonder what has become of Sam. Will she always be hovering on the edges of the lives of women who cared enough to bring her into their lives, and truly care for and about her? How many more will there be?

I have been angry with Sam, and felt compassion for her. I have mentally raged at Janice, and wondered why she could not see! And I have understood how she could be drawn in. Most of us want to do good things. We want to be helpful. I feel so much a part of what happened here, due to the remarkable storytelling abilities of this author. Before the end of the day I will have ordered her previous book, Girlbomb from Amazon.

I urge everyone to read this book, in order to be reassured that there are still more good people than bad surrounding us. There is love and selflessness., kindness and generosity. There is hope for us, due to the kinsness of strangers.

Girlbomb: A Halfway Homeless Memoir by Janice Erlbaum

Girlbomb: A Halfway Homeless Memoir by Janice Erlbaum

It is simply extraordinary that the author is able to write so dispassionately about her own life.
This is a revealing story about a young girl who made many dramatic choices, and so many of them poor and life altering.

In this coming of age memoir that reads like a novel, Erlbaum relates how she managed to survive in a city filled with temptations and pitfalls. She shares with you the wild ride that took her from her mothers home, through a girls shelter and group home. It is a breathtaking ride through several years filled with drugs, sex and a palpable aloneness.

This is can't put it down read from the author of Have You Found Her. This is actually the beginning of her story, well and simply, if shockingly told. highly recommend this book. Read it, and then read Have You Found Her. You will want to know what happened next.

I look forward to more remarkable stories in the years to come. I suspect that whatever or whoever her subject will be, that they will be revealed in a clear and penetratingly honest way.