Joy School by Elizabeth Berg ~ my review

Joy School by Elizabeth Berg

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Honest. Clever. Guileless. Did I mention honest? Joy School's heroine is as winsome as they come. Elizabeth Berg's twelve-year-old Katie is a child so sincerely trying to grow up, get by, do the right thing, be liked, love and be loved, I cannot help but be in her corner. Katie is smart, observant, sensitive, and funny. From her hilarious descriptions of her high school teachers to her desire to know how to kiss when the time comes, this novel entertains. And helps me laugh at what I probably felt at twelve but never articulated nearly as well as Katie does. Joy School also tugs at heartstrings. Katie is lonely and learns who she wants to be through ups and downs of friendships and her first big crush. Elizabeth Berg masterfully crafts all the characters. I enjoyed Joy School more than a decade ago and thoroughly enjoyed it again this time.



View all my reviews

Jan Karon's Mitford novel, To Be Where You Are ~ my review

To Be Where You Are by Jan Karon

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Fans of Jan Karon’s Mitford series will be pleased to know this 2017 novel, To Be Where You Are, continues the stories. Chapters alternate between Meadowgate Farm with Dooley’s and Lace’s family/veterinary practice and the town itself with Father Tim and the motley Mitford crew. Briefly, Dooley and Lace face financial and artistic challenges in the process of adopting Jack as their own son. Father Tim and townsfolk rally around some who need help with a variety of problems.

When I read a Mitford novel, I appreciate Karon’s light touch with life’s highs and lows. The plot in this novel feels like real life. I hold my breath with the characters’ pains and sorrows, breathe easy with their joys and celebrations, and laugh with their silly human foibles. But I do not wig out over anything, because Karon infuses the plot with an “It is well with my soul” mentality.

Although I feel grounded in a Mitford story’s realness, I also feel challenged. I could appreciate and trust God more in order to approach life’s realities with more thankfulness and certainty that “It is well with my soul.” I could show up with a casserole or cake more often when I know a family is having a hard time. One attraction of a Mitford novel might be that it inspires readers to aspire to make the world a better place, one small kindness at a time.

Just as Dooley and Lace were adopted in previous novels, in this one, they adopt Jack. In To Be Where You Are Karon repeats the adoption concept and describes again what they were adopted out of and into. It’s an apt picture of Jesus’ inviting us to be with Him now and forever just by admitting we are sinners needing to be saved by grace and wanting to be with Him now and forever.

I liked a few sweet moments when a character said to a loved one that all he or she wanted was “to be where you are.” That’s love.




View all my reviews

Macaron madness

So, blog post here is pretty similar to my Facebook post yesterday. My dear friend Connie and I made macarons. After perusing four recipes, two of which I had tried before, we landed on one from The Daily Herald. It was the winning recipe after the local cook had experimented twelve times. After doing it twice, I understood why it took her twelve times to get it right. So after yesterday, I’ve done it three times, and I can tell you right now, I will not make it to twelve times. I won’t even aspire to twelve! Macarons are lovely little delicacies. When savoring one, you know you have had a treat. Macaron making, however, has variables way beyond me.

Ladurée, look out! Connie Macaron Komora (yes, she has officially changed her middle name to Macaron) and I, Jane Ganache Hoppe, will be stiff competition. Well, maybe not today but someday soon, we will move right next door to your famous bakery in Paris and give you a run for your money. Granted, Ladurée, you sell 15,000 gorgeous, perfectly domed, exquisitely colored, 36-flavored, luxurious macarons PER DAY, and Connie and I spent four hours TODAY making 48 lopsided, misshapen, cracked-meringue macarons in both vanilla and chocolate flavors (count ’em, two), both with a sublime dark chocolate ganache filling (count it, one flavor).

But you know what, Ladurée, I bet Connie and I had more fun. We laughed when we accidentally poked holes in the meringue. This happened a lot. We laughed when the macarons were so bulgy, they rolled around on the plate instead of sitting flat. Yes, we had a great time. And you know what, our macarons melt in the mouth, same as yours. Maybe we’ll stay right here and let you have the international macaron market.

Thanks to my French friend Françoise for giving me the fun macaron tablier et torchon—apron and dish towel—a few years ago after I went crazy for these cookies in France. Although Parisian bakeries' macarons are more famous, my taste buds favored macarons from Ortholan in Montpellier.