PICTURE BOOK - Up and Down by Oliver Jeffers

Illustrated by the author

2010 Philomel Books

Still in print 8/18 - HC $17.99

40 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 4.07 - 2849 ratings

My rating: 4

Endpapers: florescent orange

1^st line/s:  "Once there were two friends....who always did everything together."

My comments:  This is, apparently, the fourth book Oliver Jeffers has written about "the boy."  It's a heartwarming story of friendship - between this boy and his penguin buddy - and the penguin's desire to try out flying.  Very cute, very Oliver Jeffers.  Must find others about "the boy!
1 - How to Catch a Star
2 - Lost and Found
3 - The Way Back Home

Goodreads:  From the illustrator of the #1 smash hit The Day the Crayons Quit comes a humorous, resonant tale about the value of shared experiences.
          A penguin has wings for a reason . . . doesn't he? Having a best friend with his own airplane is one thing, but actually experiencing what it feels like to fly by himself? Here is one penguin who believes this is precisely what he needs to feel complete. Only . . . if flying by himself is so wonderful, then why does he feel so empty?Because some experiences are better shared. (And penguins are much happier on the ground.)
          Oliver Jeffers delivers the perfect companion to his much-loved Lost and Found. Penguins everywhere will take flight in delight.

76. Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

#1 Lux
listened on Audible
2011, Entangled Publishing
287 pgs.
YA SciFi/Dystopia
Finished 8/9/2018
Goodreads rating: 4.22 - 191,833 ratings
My rating:  2.5
Setting: Contemporary West Virginia

First line/s:  "I stared at the pile of boxes in my new bedroom, wishing the internet had been hooked up."

My comments:  What you see on the cover (any of the many) is pretty much what you get in the book.  Lots and lots of sexual tension and page after page of the same kind of banter and discourse.  The sci-fi and dystopian aspects, though interesting, were too much of a minor part of the story.  If I had a quarter for every time one of the characters asked, "are you okay," or "how are you feeling," I could purchase enough of these books to fill a whole shelf.  Felt somewhat like a Twilight wannabe, but not as well written, and I'm not even a big fan of the Twilight series.  The gal who read the book - I listened to it - had a breathy, ridiculous voice that turned me off completely other than the one she used for Deamon.  If the next book in the series was a 20-page summary, I would probably read it, but i think a full length novel would be just too painful.

Goodreads synopsis: Starting over sucks.
          When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring.... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.
          And then he opened his mouth.
          Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something...unexpected happens. 
          The hot alien living next door marks me.
          You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades. 
          If I don't kill him first, that is.

PICTURE BOOK - Louisa May & Mr. Thoreau's Flute by Julie Dunlap & Marybeth Lorbiecki

llustrated by Mary Azarian

2002, Dial Books for Young Readers

Out-of-print, but available used at still reasonable price

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 3.93 - 30 ratings

My rating:  4

Endpapers:  Beige

Illustrations:  Lovely woodblock prints

1^st line/s:  " ' Jump, I dare you!' "

My comments:  Based on facts garnered from journals and letters of Louisa May Alcott and Henry David Thoreau, the authors craft a lovely story showing Alcott's roots -- and her feisty personality.  This story takes place when "Louy" is seven, the oldest of four daughters, and shows quite clearly her life of chores, love of nature, and beginnings of her writing prowess.  There's lots of text, but interesting and insightful.  Mary Azarian's gorgeous woodcuts accentuate the story beautifully.

Goodreads:  Louisa May Alcott is fascinated by her Concord neighbor Henry David Thoreau. He carries a flute in his pocket and a pencil behind his ear, and he takes the children of the town on nature excursions. 
     Writing is difficult for Louisa, so she admires the way Mr. Thoreau can jot down a few lines in his notebook when a thought occurs. Through their friendship, will Mr. Thoreau be able to help Louisa find her own inspiration?
     The exquisite woodcuts of Caldecott Medal winner Mary Azarian transport readers to nineteenth-century Massachusetts to discover a friendship between two of America's most beloved authors, and their search to find their own inner voices. 

75. Open Season by C. J. Box

#1 Joe Pickett, Wyoming Game Warden
listened on Audible
2001, Putnam
278 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished  8/7/18
Goodreads rating:  3.92 - 17,043 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting:  Contemporary Wyoming

First line/s:  "When a high-powered rifle bullet hits living flesh it makes a distinctive -pow-WHOP- sound that is unmistakable even at a tremendous distance."

My comments: Joe Pickett is a game warden in Wyoming, a "family man" with a wife and two kids.  He's a pretty ordinary guy, thoughtful and good at his job, although bad luck seems to follow him around.  This first in a series of 14 or 15 so far is about endangered species and the possibilities of what might happen to a huge hunting area if this sort of ecological/environmental dilemma enters the picture.  It's a little bit Mike Bowditch and a little bit Walt Longmire!

Goodreads synopsis:  The first novel in the thrilling series featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett from #1 New York Times bestselling author C. J. Box. 
          Joe Pickett is the new game warden in Twelve Sleep, Wyoming, a town where nearly everyone hunts and the game warden—especially one like Joe who won't take bribes or look the other way—is far from popular. When he finds a local hunting outfitter dead, splayed out on the woodpile behind his state-owned home, he takes it personally. There had to be a reason that the outfitter, with whom he's had run-ins before, chose his backyard, his woodpile to die in. Even after the "outfitter murders," as they have been dubbed by the local press after the discovery of the two more bodies, are solved, Joe continues to investigate, uneasy with the easy explanation offered by the local police.
          As Joe digs deeper into the murders, he soon discovers that the outfitter brought more than death to his backdoor: he brought Joe an endangered species, thought to be extinct, which is now living in his woodpile. But if word of the existence of this endangered species gets out, it will destroy any chance of InterWest, a multi-national natural gas company, building an oil pipeline that would bring the company billions of dollars across Wyoming, through the mountains and forests of Twelve Sleep. The closer Joe comes to the truth behind the outfitter murders, the endangered species and InterWest, the closer he comes to losing everything he holds dear.

MOVIE - Eighth Grade

R (1:34)

Wide release 8/3/18

Viewed 8/6/18
IMBd: 7.5

RT Critic:  99  Audience:  83
Critic's Consensus:  Eighth Grade takes a look at its titular time period that offers a rare and resounding ring of truth while heralding breakthroughs for writer-director Bo Burnham and captivating star Elsie Fisher.

Cag:  2/Bleh...it was okay, I guess

Directed by Bo Burnham, who also wrote it

Studio A24

My comments:  This movie was painful.  Difficult to believe.  Even weird kids have friends (most of the time), and Kayla isn't weird.  She's average.  Nothing-special looks, almost cute other than she doesn't stand up straight.  Probably an average student.  Thoughtful.  She seems to lack self-confidence, but that again is "average."  But she would have friends, of this I am certain. (I was a teacher in three different K-8 schools, for some of the years actually teaching 8th grade). This movie depicts her a being totally friendless.  No way.  Probably one of the biggest themes in the movie is the social networking that's happening in kids' lives now.

RT/ IMDb Summary  Thirteen-year-old Kayla endures the tidal wave of contemporary suburban adolescence as she makes her way through the last week of middle school--the end of her thus far disastrous eighth grade year before she begins high school.

MOVIE - Avengers: Infinity War

PG-13 (2:36)

Wide release 4/27/18

Viewed 8/5/18, the last week on the big screen, at the cheap theater in Harrisburg (Colonial Four, I think)
IMBd:  

RT Critic:  83    Audience:  91
Critic's Consensus:  Avengers: Infinity War ably juggles a dizzying array of MCU heroes in the fight against their gravest threat yet, and the result is a thrilling, emotionally resonant blockbuster that (mostly) realizes its gargantuan ambitions.

Cag:  4.5 It was really, really good

Directed by Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

Walt Disney Pictures

Robert Downey, Jr; Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson; Benedict Cumberbash, Don Cheadle; Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Zoe Saldana, Chris Pratt, Josh Brolin; Paul Bettany, Peter Dinklage

My comments:    A REALLY good movie, though I'm not sure how to take the ending.  What will come next?  What CAN come next?  So much humor, and of course a lot of action.  The special effects were quite amazing, and I loved seeing so many of the Marvel characters making an appearance (it must have cost a small fortune to make).  How do you make a movie like this?  The list of credits was incredible - I wonder how many people it took to create this?  Names just roll and roll.....and so much of the audience stays because they know there'll be some sort of scene at the very end of them.  And there was.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  The mad titan Thanos (Josh Brolin) begins his hunt for the most powerful objects in the universe, the Infinity Stones, in Marvel Studios' highly anticipated Avengers: Infinity War. With the Space Stone, given by Loki (Tom Hiddleston), and the Power Stone, Thanos sends (Ebony Maw, Cull Obsidian to retrieve the Time Strone from Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), sends Proxima Midnight, and Corvus Glaive) to retrieve the Mind Stone from Vision (Paul Bettany). Meanwhile, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) meets up with Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) and sorcerers Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Wong (Benedict Wong). With help from Peter Parker (Tom Holland), A.K.A. Spider-Man, Stark and Strange join forces together and agree to stop Thanos. In space, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) also joins forces with the Guardians of the Galaxy, Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), Groot (Vin Diesel), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), and Gamora (Zoe Saldana), the daughter of Thanos who warns Thor of his power. Thor travels away to defeat Thanos with Rocket and Groot while the other Guardians join forces with Stark, Strange, and Parker. In Wakanda, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and his team, Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), War Machine (Don Cheadle), and Bruce Banner to protect Vision and the Mind Stone in his forehead. With protection given from King T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman), A.K.A. Black Panther, and his Wakandan army, Thanos will come for everyone to destroy half the universe.

74. Scorched: A Dry Earth Story by Theresa Shaver

read on my iPhone
2017
203 pgs.
YA (or upper middle grade) Dystopia
Finished 8/5/2018
Goodreads rating: 3.98 - 157 ratings
My rating: 2
Setting: southern California and Arizona 50 years from now

First line/s:  "I huff out a breath of despair as the thin trickle of water dribbles out of the hand pump."

My comments:  Very simplistically written, with lots of unedited errors, which is always frustrating.  A very promising story, but just didn't follow through.  The bad guys were very,l very bad and the good guys were very, very good.  Blah.  The plot, setting, basic ideas were super - but the writing left a lot -for me- to be desired. 

Goodreads synopsis:  Theresa Shaver, author of the best selling Stranded Series brings you her first stand-alone adventure novel set in a wrecked world. 
All choices lead to death when the sun has Scorched the world. 
          Claudia has never seen rain or any water that hasn’t come from the old well behind her house. Now the well’s about played out and today they closed down the ration stations, for good. The gangs are circling to rob and loot the little they have. Her only choices are go north to the slave labour camps or stay and die by the gangs. 
          Her grandmother wants them to run south and follow an old map that will lead them to a secret valley with all the water they will ever need. She swears it’s there but how can she drag her nine year old sister and an eighty-year old woman out into the desert wasteland that surrounds them based on an old map? 
          Enjoy this clean, stand-alone adventure novel that moves at fast pace! 

73. The Bone Orchard by Paul Doiron

#5 Mike Bowditch, Maine Game Warden
listened to Audio/Overdrive  borrowed through Pima Country Library
2014 Minotaur Books
306 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished August 4, 2018
Goodreads rating: 4.06 - 1923 ratings
My rating: 5 - Doiron keeps getting better and better
Setting:  Contemporary Maine - back and forth between Portland, Rockland, and Aroostook County

First line/s: "When I think of Jimmy Gammon now, I remember the way he was before the war: a redheaded, freckle-faced kid with a body like a greyhound, all arms and legs, with a jutting rib cage he'd gotten running up and down the hills of midcoast Maine."

My comments:  Paul Doiron keeps on getting better and better.  This installment was wonderfully written, and traveled up and down Route 1 - and Interstate 95 - from as far south as Portland and as far north as Presque Isle.  His Maine descriptions were terrific, as were his knowledge of the flora and fauna of Maine's springtime.  The story was believable and interesting, the mystery unfolding at just the right pace.  Can't get enough!  And it ends with him finally taking his future into his own, more mature, hands.  Yippee!

Goodreads synopsis:  In the aftermath of a family tragedy, Mike Bowditch has left the Maine Warden Service and is working as a fishing guide in the North Woods. But when his mentor Sgt. Kathy Frost is forced to kill a troubled war veteran in an apparent case of "suicide by cop," he begins having second thoughts about his decision. 
          Now Kathy finds herself the target of a government inquiry and outrage from the dead soldier's platoon mates. Soon she finds herself in the sights of a sniper, as well. When the sergeant is shot outside her farmhouse, Mike joins the hunt to find the mysterious man responsible. To do so, the ex-warden must plunge into his friend's secret past—even as a beautiful woman from Mike's own past returns, throwing into jeopardy his tentative romance with wildlife biologist Stacey Stevens. 
          As Kathy Frost lies on the brink of death and a dangerous shooter stalks the blueberry barrens of central Maine, Bowditch is forced to confront the choices he has made and determine, once and for all, the kind of man he truly is, in The Bone Orchard by Paul Doiron.

PICTURE BOOK - Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall

Illustrated by the author

2018 Little Brown & Co.

HC & price40 pgs.- the last one folds out

Goodreads rating:  4.44 - 648 ratings

My rating:  5

Endpapers: front:  photos and writing on beige; Back:  "About Lighthouses"

1^st line/s:
"On the highest of a tiny island
at the edge of the world stands a lighthouse.
It is built to last forever.
Sending its light out to sea,
guiding the ships on their way."

My comments:  I enjoyed reading and admiring this book three times before I closed it.  It's a lovely story about a keeper, and then his family, that inhabited a lighthouse through the seasons for a number of years.  And this lighthouse was on a rock, with no yard or walkway, totally surrounded by the sea!  Sigh.  A lovely book.

Goodreads:  A new picture book that will transport readers to the seaside.
Watch the days and seasons pass as the wind blows, the fog rolls in, and icebergs drift by. Outside, there is water all around. Inside, the daily life of a lighthouse keeper and his family unfolds as the keeper boils water for tea, lights the lamp's wick, and writes every detail in his logbook.

PICTURE BOOK - Two of Everything retold and illustrated by Lily Toy Hong

A Chinese Folktale
1993, Albert Whitman & Co.

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.16 - 698 ratings

My rating:  4

Illustrations:  Illustrations have thin, light-colored lines around each of the drawings that remind me, a little, of Paul Gole's illustrations.  I wish I knew how she created these lovely, soft and gentle drawings.

1^st line/s:  "Once long ago, in a humble little hut, lived Mr. Haktak and his wife, rs. Haktak.  They were old and very poor.  What little they ate came from their tiny garden."

My comments:  The story, a retelling of a Chinese folktale, is fun and funny.  Gentle, soft illustrations frame the story beautifully.  This is an excellent read aloud to include when you want a simple Chinese folktale to enhance teaching/learning about China.

Goodreads:  Mr. Haktak digs up a curious brass pot in his garden and decides to carry his coin purse in it. When Mrs. Haktak's hairpin slips into the pot, she reaches in and pulls out two coin purses and two hairpins--this is a magic pot!

72. Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda

read on my iPhone
2017 Simon & Scxhuster
337 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished 8/1/18
Goodreads rating:
My rating: 3.5
Setting: contemporary western PA

First line/s:  "The cat under the front porch was at it again."

My comments  The story was told in a very roundabout way, which made it all the more interesting. The hardest part was trying to discover whether the protagonist/teller of the story was reliable or unreliable.  I wish the setting was described as more than “western Pennsylvania” because the setting was another interesting part of the story and it would be fun to pin down the locale. Even though everything was just about explained by the end, there were still a few questions that were left open for interpretation. Oh well. A pretty decent read all in all.:

Goodreads synopsis:  Confronted by a restraining order and the threat of a lawsuit, failed journalist Leah Stevens needs to get out of Boston when she runs into an old friend, Emmy Grey, who has just left a troubled relationship. Emmy proposes they move to rural Pennsylvania, where Leah can get a teaching position and both women can start again. But their new start is threatened when a woman with an eerie resemblance to Leah is assaulted by the lake, and Emmy disappears days later.
          Determined to find Emmy, Leah cooperates with Kyle Donovan, a handsome young police officer on the case. As they investigate her friend’s life for clues, Leah begins to wonder: did she ever really know Emmy at all? With no friends, family, or a digital footprint, the police begin to suspect that there is no Emmy Grey. Soon Leah’s credibility is at stake, and she is forced to revisit her past: the article that ruined her career. To save herself, Leah must uncover the truth about Emmy Grey—and along the way, confront her old demons, find out who she can really trust, and clear her own name.
          Everyone in this rural Pennsylvanian town has something to hide—including Leah herself. How do you uncover the truth when you are busy hiding your own?

July 2018 Reads

Adult: 10
Middle Grades:  1
YA:  2

Audio: 7
eBook:  6

5 Star:  3
4.5 Star:  3

Mystery:  6
CRF: 3
SciFi: 1
Romance:  2
Dystopia/CRFish : 1

Total Pages: 4149 pages (laid up with bad knee for over a week!)

59.  Massacre Pond (#4 Mike Bowditch) - Paul Doiron, Audio 320  pgs. (19,019 pgs.)
60.  Losing It - Cora Carmack Audio 189 pgs.(19,208 pgs.)
61.  Only the Lucky (#8.5 Kate Burkholder) - Linda Castillo eBk (4) 56 pgs.(19,264 pgs.)
62.  The Color of Our Sky - Amita Trasi - 2017 eBk (4) 419 pgs. (19,683 pgs.)
63.  Deep Freeze (#10 Virgil Flowers) John Sandford - 2017 Audio (4) 399 pgs. (20,082 pgs.)
64.  Fields of Corn - Sarah Price - 2010 eBk (2.5) 272 pgs. (20,354 pgs.)
65.  Blooming at the Texas Sunrise Motel - Kimberly Willis Holt - 2017 eBk (5) 336 pgs. (20,690 pgs.)
66.  Far From the Tree - Robin Benway - 2017 Audio (5) 374  pgs. (21.064 pgs.)
67.  Nyxia (#1 Nyxia Triad) - Scott Reintgen - 2017 eBk (4.5) 384 pgs. (21,448 pgs.)
68.  A Gathering of Secrets (#10 Kate Burkholder) Linda Castillo - 2018 Audio (3) 308 pgs. (21,756 pgs.)
69.  The One - John Marrs - 2016 eBk (5) 416 pgs. (22,172 pgs.)
70. Play Dead (#1 Elise Sandberg - Anne Frasier - 2014 Audio (4.5....5?) 366 pgs.
71.  Stay Dead (#2 Elise Sandberg) - Anne Frasier - 2014 Audio (4.5) 310 pgs.

71. Stay Dead by Anne Frasier

#2 Elise Sandberg, Savannah homicide detective
listened on Audible
20014 Thomas & Mercer
310 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery/Police Procedural
Finished 7/31/2018
Goodreads rating:  4.13 - 4910 ratings
My rating:  4.5
Setting: contemporary Savannah, GA

First line/s:  "The voice on the phone was hesitant."

My comments:  I loved the unusual way this book came together...Elise surviving a harrowing kidnapping, but we don't know of any of the details of the case or the crime.  They emerge slowly, intertwined with present happenings.  Very cool, and a good way to present the story.  I love these characters - all of them, even the bad guys!  The Savannah setting, the Gullah culture, the wonderfully written characters, and the touch of will-the-or-won't-they combine to make this a terrific read!

Goodreads synopsis:  New York Times bestselling author Anne Frasier takes readers back to her dark, enchanting Savannah—a place as terrifying as it is mesmerizing.     
          Homicide detective Elise Sandburg is traumatized after her run-in with a madman the press has dubbed “The Organ Thief." As Elise takes refuge in her deceased aunt Anastasia’s abandoned plantation to investigate and recover from her ordeal, she begins to question everything—from her dangerous line of work to her complex relationship with her handsome, tortured partner, David Gould. But with a madman on the loose, and her mother’s claims to still hear from aunt Anastasia, she may have more immediate problems on her hands. In Elise’s world, where cold hard crime mixes with the local Gullah culture, nothing is ever what it seems, and no one is above suspicion—not even the dead.

Library Requests and HOLDS

as of 11/23/2022

then 1/1/23

next was 2/12/23

then 3/4/23

Waiting on 10 TITLES

Not Yet  Released - get on Audible?

2/14/23  Lost Coast Literary (Ellie Alexander) out in paper 2021, out in audible 2/23

TPPL:

The Good Wife of Bath (#17 on 1) (#15 on 1) (#12 on 1) #11 on 1

The Matchmakers Gift (#21 on 3) (#12 on 3)

The Bodyguard (#29 on 7)

Thank You For Listening - Whelan (#46 on 3) (#28 on 3)

Remarkably Bright Creatures - VanPelt (393 on 8) (#27 on 20)

              (#20 on 4 @ CCLS)

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - Zevin  (#223 on 30) (#108 on 30) #59 on 30

Chain of Thorns (#12 on 1)(#8 on 1) #6 on 1

Exiles (#28 on 1) (#18 on 5) #5 on 5

Welcome to the Goddamned Ice Cube - Braverman Memoir (#2 on 1) DNR

Nine Liars - Johnson (#14 on 1) #12 on 1

Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead - Cosimano (#17 on 3) #10 on 3

Maame - George (#17 on 3) #10 on 3

Unlikely Animals - Hartnett (#19 on 1) # 12 on 3

Now is Not the Time to Panic - Wilson (#34 on 6) #22 on 6

No Plan B - Child (#82 on 13) #49 on 13

Freewater (2023 Newbery) #3 on 1 copy

It's One of Us - J. T. Ellison #16 on 3

PICTURE BOOK - Islandborn by Junot Diaz

llustrated by Leo Espinosa

2018 Dial Books

HC & price

48 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.52 - 1290 ratings

My rating:  4

Endpapers: lime green palm trees and city buildings

1^st line/s:  "Every kid in Lola's school was from somewhere else."

My comments:  Huge cudos for this wonderful picture book! My only problem with it (nothing like beginning with the problem, right?) is that it's written for an older kiddo or needs a bit of explanation for younger ones.  And as an adult, the explanations don't come until the whole book is read.  As an adult, I love the mystery of the beginning, trying to figure out what's going on and where the story is headed.  And what a great history!  A short author's note at the end of the book would have been GREATLY appreciated!  Wonderful illustrations.  Wonderful book.

Goodreads:  From New York Times bestseller and Pulitzer Prize winner Junot Díaz comes a debut picture book about the magic of memory and the infinite power of the imagination.
          Every kid in Lola's school was from somewhere else. Hers was a school of faraway places.
          So when Lola's teacher asks the students to draw a picture of where their families immigrated from, all the kids are excited. Except Lola. She can't remember The Island—she left when she was just a baby. But with the help of her family and friends, and their memories—joyous, fantastical, heartbreaking, and frightening—Lola's imagination takes her on an extraordinary journey back to The Island. As she draws closer to the heart of her family's story, Lola comes to understand the truth of her abuela's words: “Just because you don't remember a place doesn't mean it's not in you.”
          Gloriously illustrated and lyrically written, Islandborn is a celebration of creativity, diversity, and our imagination's boundless ability to connect us—to our families, to our past and to ourselves.