March StoryGraph Stats

 

Factory Girls by Michelle Gallen

Factory Girls by Michelle Gallen was an assigned book for me. 

I listened to it on Libby. The reader had a strong Irish accent. This book takes place in Northern Ireland. It took a bit to get used to the accent. I loved the vocabulary, the swearing, the dialogue in general. 

When I started, I had to stop to find a TV series. I was remembering Derry Girls from Netflix, also Northern Ireland, which I quite liked. These are two separate pieces, to my knowledge, not related. 

The long and the short of it is, I was mostly ambivalent about Factory Girls. I finished it. I understood it. I could keep track of the characters. The writing was good. But the story itself did not engage me until the very end. 

I think this author has two published books -

In each book post, I utilize https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/

This is a wonderful website that helps clarify the publication order of books and verifies book series. I use this website because there are no spoilers. 

In this case, author Michelle Gallen was not included on the website. 

Factory Girls was also not listed on my SuperSummary website. 

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin

I just relistened to The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin for one of my book groups. 

1.20 was a good speed for me this second time. I probably listened to it at regular speed the first time.

I had previously read The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin for another book group, fall 2024.

I loved this book just as much the second time. 

GoodReads allows multiple read dates for the same title, which is very kind. So I was able to enter the second set of dates for this relisten.

This time, I am reading Marianne Cronin’s second book too. 

I am on the waiting list (Libby) for Eddie Winston is Looking for Love.

https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/marianne-cronin/

Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay

Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay is Youngest’s assigned book for the April meeting of her book group. 

Youngest and my husband again read this book a couple weeks before I did. I was finishing my John Marrs series and Paulette Jiles series when they were reading Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay.

I think it’s fun we read Youngest’s assigned books. Her group is excellent at picking books, it gives us a good book list. It is great to discuss books. It feels supportive. This a great long distance connection.

We all liked this book. It was a mystery/thriller. It was a good read. But not so great that I am reading more of Alex Finlay’s books. I enjoyed this one, but not going on to read any more.

https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/alex-finlay/

Orange-ish at the quilt retreat

I attended a quilt guild retreat a couple weeks ago. 

I went for three of the four days. I went Friday-Saturday-Sunday. Most of the rest of the group started Thursday.

Thursday was an already reschedule massage appointment I did not want to change. 

Friday middle worked from home so the dogs were covered. Thursday, the dogs were with me.

Plus four days felt like too much to me. Even three seemed like a lot. 

I took the orange related fabric (yesterday’s post) as my project for the retreat. 

It was a very safe easy project, I took it so I would be able to be social while I sewed. I did not want to take anything complex. I wanted to take as few supplies as possible. 

I washed and cut all my fabric at home. I cut 8” squares for very simple (one patch) charity quilts. 

I laid them out, one at a time, on my kitchen table. I labeled the rows with blue painters tape. Middle and my husband helped me package each top in order, in zip lock bags, so it was all ready to sew at the retreat.

This meant I only needed to take 

- a sewing machine

- a sandwich size zip lock baggie filled with 2 spools of thread, 4 filled bobbins/package of extra sewing machine needles, and a small pair of scissors

- 2 large zip lock plastic bags full of 8” cut squares. 

Individual garbage cans and power strips were provided by the facility at each table.

Irons and ironing boards were available at the retreat facility, but I did not use them. I waited until I got home to do the pressing.

I planned very carefully. I did not want to have to take half my sewing room with me. 

No one was as minimalist in their approach as I was. It was astonishing how much stuff the other retreat participants brought with them. 

We have this cart we use for dog training - it worked perfectly. I used my cart to move things between my car and the conference room and my hotel from at the same facility. 

I got all five of my tops (below) sewn together over the three days. I have all the backing fabric. These quilts are ready to go to the long arm quilter in future years.

I paced myself carefully. I would sew for a bit, then visit or shop or take a nap. I did very well. I was glad I went.

I went around and looked at what everyone else was sewing at the retreat, I was social.

I shopped at two stores in that area that I like. 

I attended an Amish dinner with the group. 

2027 and 2028 charity quilts

I discovered a collection of orange-ish reproduction fabric in my studio, a lot of orange fabric, mostly in small pieces. The photo below is just part of it.

This orange-ish fabric was purchased at the fabric garage sale I attended a couple years ago. A quilter had died, her husband sold her fabric stash in a series of garage sales. 

I had bought gold and orange fabric sort of together, not seeing how orange some of it was. I used the gold in the two Lottie quilts (3 and 4). That left the orange.

No one needs a pumpkin quilt in my family. I made identical pumpkin quilts a couple years ago. Oldest has the original. I made exact copies for both girls.

I debated what to do with all the orange-ish fabric. I absolutely did not want to make an orange quilt for anyone in my family.

As I was actively pondering the orange fabric, I found a photo that inspired me to plan an orange charity quilt for two years from now, 2027.

There is no danger in working ahead on charity quilts. I will not decide they are the wrong color or style. They will be fine.

With this inspiration photo (above) in hand, I looked for theme fabric to go with orange fabric at my local JoAnns.

I was open to fox fabric, but found none at JoAnns. I did find football fabric and butterfly fabric that blended well with the orange. 

I later found a fox fabric remanent at a quilt guild yard sale.

My original guess was I would get three charity quilt tops from the fabric pile. 

More orange-ish tomorrow.

2026 pink and green charity quilts

Next year, 2026, I am donating two pink and green charity quilts to my local guild’s cancer camp collection.

I made the blocks for these quilts long ago, spring 2016. I sewed the blocks into rows. Then for some unknown reason I stopped. The rows were not sewn together, the project was abandon. I neatly packed the rows away and forgot all about them. I did not think I had any UFO’s. I was wrong.

Again, I think I made the two coordinating pink and green block sets with grandkids in mind. And again, not at all what I want to give granddaughter now, but perfect for charity quilts. 

I sewed the rows together and added borders March 3 - 8, 2025.

These pictures (below) show the quilt tops laying on the pink backing fabric. 

I measure the batting, backing against the top, each time I finish a quilt, before giving it to my long arm quilter, to make sure there are at least 5 extra inches all the way around. 

The binding will be the pink backing fabric.

They are ready to go to the long arm quilter, later this year.

What is very interesting is I have no pink fabric in my bins. I also have none of the green fabric. 

I found several of the small squares in the 9-patch were scraps sewn together.  I clearly used up every bit in the blocks for these two quilts. 

2025 Eye Spy charity quilts

 This year, 2025, I am donating two I Spy quilts, that I made several years ago, to my quilt guild’s collection for the cancer camp. This is one charity quilt donation from middle and one from me, we are both guild members.

These quilts are finished. I made them many years ago, they are clean and have been kept dust free in plastic bags in the large cupboard in my sewing room. 

I originally made three I Spy quilts thinking I would need them for grandkids. Now, not so much. The style and color are not what I want to give granddaughter. So I am very happily using them as charity quilts. 

Again, my good with color quilting friend encouraged me to give the minimum number of quilts per year. And I agree with that. So even though I have three, I am only donating two this year.

I will donate the two eye spy charity quilts at the April meeting, taking them for show and tell, and then handing them in to the charity quilt chairperson.

The fronts are nearly identical. The backs are flannel and different prints -

This solves all kinds of problems. 

It completes the May 2025 charity quilt deadline easily, the quilts are already finished. 

These quilts were painful for me. I did not know what to do with them. Making them for grandkids, too far in advance, did not work. What looked good to me years ago, no longer looks good now. 

This is a great use of these quilts. They are colorful and detailed. They are quality quilts. Somebody will love them.

Charity quilts are an opportunity to declutter

My local quilt guild supports a children’s camp that hosts children with cancer one week each summer. Members make and donate children’s quilts. Each child at the special cancer camp gets to pick one quilt to keep. The guild provides more than are needed, so the last child picking still has a wide selection.

Years ago, like 25+ years ago, I chaired this committee. My kids were very small at the time and really loved having the quilts in a pile at our old house. It was quite the stack, the guild donates over 120 quilts each year.

Last year, going back to the guild, I thought I would not participate. I did not plan to donate charity quilts. I thought, based on the reality of my hands, I should not waste my time sewing for other people. I thought my priority was sewing for my own family, while I can.

By pacing myself carefully, and taking care, I am doing fine. A lot of this is because I have my binder. The handwork of binding is the main part that is too much for me.

I realized I have finished quilts, parts of quilt tops, cut fabric, and uncut fabric (all that I no longer want) cluttering my studio. 

Anything goes with charity quilts.  They can be crazy. The backs can be pieced. The batting can be pieced. Charity quilts are an excellent way to use up materials.

I realized I can make charity quilts, with very little effort. 

I realized I need to participate in Guild activities in order to feel part of the guild.

By donating two charity quilts each year, I can actively declutter my sewing room. 

Middle also attends the guild with me and is a member. One quilt from each of us, two quilt donations per year.

Sharing this plan with my good with color quilting friend, she thought it was a very good idea. She encouraged me to pace myself. She suggested only donating the minimum number of quilts (2) each year. She suggested working ahead so this process is not painful. 

I am working very far ahead. The two eye spy quilts for this year are done, the 2 pink/green quilt tops are ready for the long arm quilter, I just finished a series of orange-ish quilts.

I feel very motivated in finishing charity quilts. I really look forward to reducing materials in my studio. I enjoy being several years ahead. I look forward to sharing them at Show and Tell each year. I look forward to a child enjoying them. I look forward to getting them out of my house.

Educated by Tara Westover

Educated by Tara Westover was a book group assignment for me. The audio version was easily available on Libby. 

Interestingly, the author did not read the audio version herself. I found that a little unusual, contemporary writers seem to read their own nonfiction pieces these days.

https://tarawestover.com/bio

I had never heard of Educated by Tara Westover. Most of my group was familiar and very excited to read/discuss this book.

Well written, engaging, unique story. Fair warning, there is abuse/violence/injury. 

I devoured this book, listened to it straight thru, only pausing when necessary. I started very early in the morning and finished before I went to bed.  

Many other people on my group expressed the same experience, they devoured this nonfiction book.

Everyone in my group really liked this crazy family story. Great discussion. 

This is the only book by this author. A detailed biography and the story behind this book can be found here -

https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/tara-westover/

The Westover family appears very fractured, a detailed article from 2023 is here - 

https://www.deseret.com/indepth/2023/1/29/23575258/what-does-educated-tara-westover-family-think-about-reconciliation-book

Finished Paulette Jiles

You might recall, I read the newest (3) Paulette Jile’s books first and really loved them, excellent books - The News of the World, Simon the Fiddler, Chennville. These stories were all just after the Civil War, Texas. These books are all from the same era with overlapping characters. The books are not listed as a series, but they are definitely a series.

Then I read her oldest book, available in audio, Enemy Women, which is set during the Civil War, Missouri. Not quite as good as Jiles later books, but I still enjoyed it. Enemy Woman was a stand alone book.

Then I had a pause, reading five John Marrs’ books and a couple other assigned books. 

As soon as I had a chance, I dove right back into Paulette Jiles to finish Stormy Weather, The Color of Lightning, Lighthouse Island.

Stormy Weather is definitely a stand alone book. It started just a little slow for me, as it introduced characters and settings. Then it rolled into a really great story of a family in Texas, 1920’s and 1930’s. 

The first part of the book centers on the wanderlust father and the middle daughter, the rest of the book is focused on the same middle daughter with her two sisters and their mother, back on the family farm.  

Loved it. It felt like Jiles was in her true voice/mature writing. It was well written and a great story.

I understood, in a way I never have before, that the same people who survived the Great Depression and Dust Bowl, then rolled right into WWII.  The book ends right at the end of the Dust Bowl, just before the war.

The Color of Lightning is back to the time span of the Civil War, but has very little to do with Civil War, other than the war caused people to move west to Indian Country. 

This story focuses on life in the untamed west with settlers in close proximity to the Indian tribes. The story is (very) violent in places, especially in the beginning. 

This was a great story. A really terrific book. Again, Jiles was up to her full stride as an author. It is extremely well written.

And such a surprise, as I read, I quickly realized this is actually the first of the series. There are four books, not three. There are overlapping characters, locations, plot, interest between all four books. They are most excellent in my opinion.

The Color of Lightning

The News of the World, 

Simon the Fiddler,

Chennville

In both The Color of Lightning and News of the World, settlers taken by Indians and kept as captives is a main topic. 

Again, I have read another book on this topic, that I cannot remember, which (I think) took place earlier and on the east coast.

I looked up some of the famous real life captives -

Lighthouse Island is dystopian novel, set in the future. Totally different than the rest of Jiles’ books. Like where did this book come from? 

I am not normally attracted to dystopian books. That is middle’s preferred genre, but absolutely not mine.

Luckily this was the last Jiles’ book on my list, by this point I was committed to finishing this author.

I fully intended to listen to this book. Reality - I listened to 50% of this story on Libby. 

At the half way point, I read reviews on GoodReads and I realized, it was not going to get better. I stopped. I am considering 50% to be “done”.

If I had picked up this book first, I would never have read any of Jiles other books. And that would have been a shame. I loved those other books.

The only other dystopian novels I could think of, that I have read in this genre, is The Giver series by Lois Lowry. That is a beloved series at our house.

I looked up a list, I had read many more dystopian novels, but not all 30.

https://reedsy.com/discovery/blog/dystopian-novels

https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/paulette-jiles/

The Children's Blizzard by Melanie Benjamin

The Children's Blizzard by Melanie Benjamin is Youngest’s book group assignment for March. This is a historical fiction book based on a real blizzard in January of 1888. 

This book had a very long waiting list at all the libraries. It must be very popular. We purchased it on Audible.

We talked about this book, before anyone listened to it, because there are blizzard stories and winter stories in the Little House on the Prairie series. We pondered life on the prairie in winter. 

I looked it up, The Long Winter is based on the winter of 1880-81, which started with an early October blizzard. I think I also remember a story where a school teacher, maybe Laura, was faced with a sudden blizzard and the safety of the school children.

If your family loved The Little House series as children, probably this book would be loved by now adults. There are adult themes in The Children's Blizzard.

Youngest and my husband listened to The Children's Blizzard on Audible, overlapping. Multiple devices can listen to the same story on Audible. 

They both liked it a lot. My husband in particular really loved it, he grew up in Iowa. He understands prairie weather and the vastness of the landscape. He has never read the Little House series. I read it out loud to the kids, each in turn, so I have read the whole series many  times.

March 2025 is a tight book month for me. I read this book two weeks after youngest and my husband read it. I squeezed it in just before her group met. 

I thought The Children's Blizzard was a terrific book. It was well written. The story was very engaging. 

There is an author’s note at the end of this audio book. Melanie Benjamin shares, that only in this one book of hers, the characters were fictional and the event was real. (In the rest of her historical fiction, she is writing about real people.)

That is how historical fiction should be written in my opinion, real event, fictional people.

I boycott historical fiction where the author makes up a story about real people. That is how most historical fiction is written.

So it is very fortunate that this is the one book I am reading of hers. 

Melanie Benjamin has published many books, listed at the bottom of this post. Anyone who likes traditional historical fiction, she writes very well.

Two nonfiction titles are mentioned in the author’s note at the end of Melanie Benjamin‘s The Children’s Blizzard. 

Melanie Benjamin -

https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/melanie-benjamin/

In each book post, I utilize https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/

This is a wonderful website that helps clarify the publication order of books and verifies book series. I use this website because there are no spoilers. But if I need a description, I can click over using the links, easily. There are also author bios.

The One Universe series by John Marrs

 Looking ahead at my March and April books, at the end of February, I discovered one of the early April assigned books was actually part of a series.

The Marriage Act by John Marrs, assigned for early April, is fourth in a five book science fiction universe series. The books can be read stand alone. But the publisher suggests reading the whole set, in order. The set is not numbered/listed correctly on GoodReads. The correct order is below.

The One 

The Passengers 

The Minders

The Marriage Act

The Family Experiment

 

My reading list for March was quite full. I still have the last three Paulette Jiles books to finish. I have my assigned books for March. The end of the month is my tightest timeline. I usually have two book groups meet the last week of the month. I knew I could not read five books in late March in preparation for the first week in April. 

What to do? What to do? 

I decided to read the first book of the series, The One, in February, to see if I liked it. If I loved it, I would read the whole series, in order, very early. 

If I did not like it, I would then just read The One (#1) in February and the assigned book, The Marriage Act (#4) just before my April meeting.

I did indeed love it, The One is a great book, in my opinion.

I moved on to books 2 and 3, The Passengers and The Minders, they were excellent also, in my opinion.

Then came the assigned book, The Marriage Act. I finished it, but I was not a fan. I did not like the story line/premise, I was not attached to the characters. If I had read it stand alone, it would have been out of context of the universe, and I think I would have liked it even less. It got better as I went, but it was my least favorite of the set.

I finished the series, reading The Family Experiment. I liked this one a lot. 

These are all science fiction, they are clever. The writing, characters, plots are well done. Parts of all of them are dark. 

My GoodReads account (below, in reverse order) shows how quickly I went thru this series. (I also fit another assigned book in the middle in preparation for a meeting.)

A very good book is a 4 for me. 

(I give very few 5 star ratings. It has to be one of the best books I have ever read to rate a 5.)

I squeezed an assigned book in here.

Please note, there are a lot of characters in all these books. In audio format, these books had multiple readers which helped. 

At the start of each book, I wondered if I needed a list, but just kept going with each one. I quickly acclimated. I did not need lists, until the 5th book, The Family Experiment (below).  

Here is a very good character list for The Family Experiment  -

Rufus Green and Kitty Carter are in their late twenties and have a MetaBaby named Olivia.

Salena and Jaden Wilson are in their early thirties and have a MetaBaby son named Malachi.

Woody and Tina Finn have been married for fifteen years and have a MetaBaby named Belle and a daughter named Issy.

Cadman N’Yu and Gabriel Macmillan have been together for seven years and have a MetaBaby named River.

Dimitri and Zoe Taylor-Georgian are in their forties and have a MetaBaby named Lenny and a previous son named Adam.

Hudson Wright is a single man aged 22 who joins The Family Experiment to prove that single parent families can provide as much love as two-parent families. Hudson’s metachild is named Alice.

Note, the description below is a little misleading. The books are set in a current timeline (not far in the future). The stories take place in modern day England. Each book focuses on one or two new pieces of technology. But these are not far fetched science fiction. Each new technology development is just slightly beyond modern day. Most of them are things that could be in our future. 

I added the rest of the John Marrs stand alone books to my To Read list. 

https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/john-marrs/

In each book post, I utilize https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/

This is a wonderful website that helps clarify the publication order of books and verifies book series. I use this website because there are no spoilers. But if I need a description, I can click over using the links, easily. There are also author bios.

Time change!

 Yes, it is that time again! Hard to believe! 

My calendar automatically has an entry for Daylight Savings. 

I have a second alert (below) set for the day before at 4pm.

We run around the house and change all the clocks on Saturday afternoon (today), almost 12 hours in advance of the actual time change. 

Then, quite frankly, I do not notice the time change, at all, it is invisible to me. I do not notice anything amiss the next morning. I do not walk around for a week complaining about the time change. 

 

Note - if we had no extra clocks, if the only clocks I had were my phone and my car, which both change automatically, I would not notice the daylight savings change at all. But I am a clock person. We have clocks all over the house. Changing clocks is an event. 

Indiana has followed Daylight Savings since 2006. Most of the state stays on Eastern, the western corners remain on Central. 

For years, prior to 2006, most of Indiana did not follow Daylight Savings. We liked that. We liked not changing our clocks. 

Now, all of Indiana is on eastern and follows daylight savings, except the western corners.

Would I like to go back to NO time change in Indiana? Yes. Yes, I would. 

The only inconvenience not changing used to have was live network TV (and radio). Since my area did not change, and national TV did, prime time was 7-10pm half the year and 8-11pm the other half. Now I watch no live network TV. I also do not listen to the radio. So not following Daylight Savings would have no impact on me. 

The history of Daylight Savings in Indiana is complex:  

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Indiana#:~:text=As%20a%20result%20of%20a,%2C%20effective%20April%202%2C%202006.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2006/01/20/06-563/standard-time-zone-boundary-in-the-state-of-indiana#:~:text=In%201918%2C%20when%20the%20Federal,move%20more%20of%20the%20State.