41 Comments

This is a great synopsis and you've added some books to my long list. If you ever want to read and review my recent novel, "Alfred's Journey to Be Liked," I am happy to gift you a copy. In the meantime, I am glad you are back writing!

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Thanks for reading Jill! At this time, I'm not accepting books from authors for general book reviews. I may do this at some point in the future and if I do, I'll be sure to contact you. Thanks for offering.

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Sure. Absolutely no pressure from my end.

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Thanks for the great suggestions! Glad you're back.

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Thanks for reading Patti! It feels good to be back.

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Love this! So many great picks here. :)

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Thanks Brooke and thanks for reading!

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Nice read! I saw that someone below offered to send you a free book to review. I'm willing to do the same!

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Thanks for reading Lisbeth! At this time, I'm not accepting books from authors for general book reviews. I may do this at some point in the future and if I do, I'll be sure to contact you. Thanks for offering.

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What a great list of reads, Gayla, thank you! I've been curious about Jesmyn Ward's latest and am now interested in the Kinsella and Kwok books as well as the others. Your takes are short, insightful, honest. I appreciate them very much!

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Thanks Betsy! Thanks for reading.

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Great post. I just did a spotlight on Adam Grant!

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Thanks Jaymi! I don't remember seeing/reading about Adam Grant in your newsletter, was it somewhere else maybe? If so, can you drop the link? Thanks

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That’s because it was on my Instagram! 🤦🏻‍♀️ I’m excited to see him speak in November ! https://www.instagram.com/p/Cx7xKkcru_E/

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Thanks for the link; I'll check it out.

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Lol! When I first retired from teaching, I couldn’t drive near the school because I felt like I was ditching! But don’t you love rolling over in the morning to pick up your book rather than turn off your alarm?! I’m still amazed 6 years later!

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I'm finding I like a lot of my new experiences. I have been taking a nap more often than not and then staying up later to read. I've been reading during the day and find that I'm reading more books now than ever in the past. I go shopping during the weekday when the stores are not busy. Retirement is good so far. lol

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Thanks for these great recommendations Gayla. I found it hard to adjust to retirement because of the lack of pressure and deadlines. It took a while for me to find my own rhythm (which mainly involved establishing when I should read and/or write). I love it now, but still struggle to make time for housework!

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I agree about the lack of pressure and deadlines. In my job there was pressure and deadlines and when I didn't have those, I tended to fiddle around doing things that weren't important and procrastinating on the things that were important. I can think of a hundred others things I'd rather do than housework, so I'm sure that will be a problem for me too. Thanks for reading!

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Welcome back!

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Thanks Jan!

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Be patient. There is a retirement groove, once you find it.

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I'm trying. Patience is NOT my strong suit. lol

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This is so good, Gayla. I love the variety....just not sure what to read first.

I also love your comments about retirement and not knowing what to do with all the time! I'm thinking that you're starting to fill it in. Good for you!

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Yes, I'm starting to fill it with things other than unpacking and organizing. I have so many things I want to do, but I don't know which I want to do first. At the risk of trying to do all of them at the same time, I'm trying one new thing at a time until I know if it's something I want to continue. After all, I seem to have plenty of time now. lol

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Gayla, I was just thinking out loud...I often do a book review in my Substack, After 21 Club. If you'd ever be interested, it would be lovely to have you do a 'spotlight' on a book as a guest. I usually do 6 topics each Friday. We could include a bit about you and link to your site. After 21 Club is not much more than a month old so there are only a little more than 100 subscribers, but if you are interested, you are certainly welcome. heather@thebrebaughs.com

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Heather, I'm still trying to get settled and figure out my life in retirement, but I'd like to do this if we can look at this sometime in the next couple of months, would that be possible? I've saved your email address and if a couple of months works for you, I'll be in touch. Thanks for asking. :)

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Of course. It's just for enjoyment. Anytime at all.

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A wonderful edition, with so many picks I want to read! Welcome back, Gayla! I have a feeling you’ll do just fine in retirement!🤗

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Thanks Ruth! I'm sure I will once I figure out what I want my retirement to look like.

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Great to see you in the inbox today. I've been under the weather so reading my faves is the next best thing to getting back to writing. The SharonSaysSo link seems interesting. Gonna check it out.

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I'm sorry to hear you are still not feeling well. I hope it ends soon. @Sharonsaysso is the woman that spoke at the George Bush Center in Dallas that I sent you the link for that you watched. I know you don't like FB/Meta which probably includes Instagram, but if you were to sign up for IG and only followed one account, this is the one you should follow.

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Wow. This is exceptional. I loved her talk. In the time since I signed up for IG and have been passive. I was going to look at Threads but kinda let that die. Maybe someone to follow!

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I follow several people on Threads and so far, I like it. I was never active on Twitter/X, and at least at this point, Threads seems a little bit nicer than what I hear Twitter/X is. Give @sharonsaysso a week and be sure to follow her stories daily as that is where all the action happens. I believe you will be hooked, for good reason.

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I have some great books for you.

Cane- Jean Toomer. The first experimenta novel in America, Sumptuous and Dazzling.

Union Street- Pat Barker, the lives nof struggling women on one industriral street in England.

Elbow Rooom- James Alan mcPherson's Puitzere Prize winning. ELBOW ROOM.

more tpfa;pw/

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Thanks for sharing the link to those books! I've never heard of any of them; I'll have to check them out.

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send me your email. There are marvelous worlds awaiting you, that I hope you will pass on to other and improve on the old saying, "This too shall pass' ( and it is way more positive than kidney stones, trust me.

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dont be suprised if you havent heard of them. It's a shameful fault of many, many of whom had no idea what we had not received from our education "systems" nor from the more selfish narcssitic parts of the literary world. But we are always rebeginning the battle not only to keep banned books, but to let others know about the beyon gold that's out there. Case in point: if you want to be totally startled check out the poetry of Hyesoon Kim, and the prose and poetry of Vi Khai Nao, especially Swimming In A Sea Of Dead Stars. Fasten your seatbelt.

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I am so excited for the new Jesmyn Ward!

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I'd love to hear what you think about it if you read it.

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It’s always good to have more books to add to my list. Thanks for these.

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