One morning a husband returns after several hours of fishing and decides to take a nap. Although not familiar with the lake, the wife decides to take the boat out. She motors out a short distance, anchors, and reads her book. 
 
Along comes a Game Warden in his boat. He pulls up alongside the woman and says, " Good morning, Ma'am, what are you doing ? "Reading a book," she replies, (thinking, "Isn't that obvious ?") You're in a Restricted Fishing Area," he informs her. "I'm sorry, officer, but I'm not fishing, I'm reading. "Yes, but you have all the equipment, for all I know you could start at any moment, I'll have to take you in and write you up " For reading a book," she replies. "You're in a Restricted Fishing Area," he informs her again. "I'm sorry , officer, but I'm not fishing, I'm reading."
 
"Yes , but you have all the equipment, for all I know you could start at any moment, I'll have to take you in and write you up." "If you do that, I'll have to charge you with sexual assault," says the woman. "But I haven't even touched you ," says the Game Warden. "That's true, but you have all the equipment, for all I know you could start at any moment." "Have a nice day ma'am," and he left .
 
MORAL : Never argue with a woman who reads. It's likely she can also think 

   I loved Ford’s earlier book, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, and I love this one, a story of love, resilience, and hope set in Seattle in the early part of the twentieth century and in 1960. There are no perfect answers in life but in doing the best he could, Ernest, a Chinese-Caucasian orphan, led an honorable, happy, moral life. 

      This book offers a serious, well-documented expose into the business dealings of Jared and Ivanka, referred to as Javanka. Their upbringing was filled with greed, sheltered from people from different walks of life, diverse backgrounds and ethnicities, and devoid of examples of compassion for others. I have compassion for them and for others who have no family to show them that love is the way to success and peace. 

    I read this on my Kindle while flying to Italy and then while enjoying pasta in Florence. The prefect entertainment, with offerings of compassion for the kinds of people I admire and for those I don’t. Reading leads me to fewer judgments about the actions of others. Life happens. And yet, at the end, there is redemption for many. 

          This is not an easy read; not one I’d recommend easily; rather one you might read up on and decide if you want to read the story of three generations of women in a dysfunctional family. Thompson, through dialogue, conveys a deep understanding of the nuances of human relationships in families. And there is where the compassion come in.
        I’m not certain this will go on my 2019 Top Ten Favorite Books, but I sure wont’ forget it. 

    I love the writings of C.S. Lewis and I love his life story. Admittedly his life has been romanticized through the movie “Shadowlands” and now through this book. So be it. In spite of Joy (Davidman-Gresham-Lewis) short life ending with cancer, this is a feel good story. 

   A profoundly deep novel set during the coal industry in Ohio in the early 1924s. Although not an easy bedtime read, it is nuances the struggles of women, poor miners, and even of the men in power during that time. I’m thinking that money is the root of at least some evil. It’s not easy to build a fortune (more than you need) without hurting a few and killing many.
    I’m not certain this will make my top ten list, but it could get an honorable mention.

    I love this author. She doesn’t divide the characters into good guy/bad guy (gal) categories. They are like all of us, sometimes good, sometimes not so good, trying to makes sense of the lives into which we are born. As I read this very engaging story, I felt compassion for each character, and for myself as I try to be a good gal, but am sometimes a bad gal. 

     Memoir full of compassion, reality, and hope. Mooriani is uplifting without an affiliation to a specific religious tradition. Her message is universal.
     “I know I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: I now live my life from joy instead of fear. This is the one very simple difference between who I was before my NDE and who I am today.”

    What I consider a good read. The story line keeps moving along, full of little twists and turns, compassion, and surprises. This is a hopeful book, depicting a time in the not too distant future when people of all colors, races, and gender orientations will live in harmony, and showing a way it might be accomplished.