#OpenBook for June 2026

 

Welcome to #OpenBook. I'm joining up with Carolyn Astfalk who hosts an #OpenBook Linkup on CatholicMom.com. Here's what I've been reading this past month. The dates indicate when I finished the books. Thanks for stopping by!

5-10-26  This Book Made Me Think of You - I read this Mother's Day weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it. If you saw the movie P.S. I Love You, with Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler, or read the book by the same name by Cecelia Ahern, it definitely has a similar vibe. A husband dying of cancer arranges with a local bookstore for his wife to have one book and an accompanying letter given to her each month to help her work through her grief and keep living.  

 5-11-26 Pretty as a Peach - Grace Helena Walz- The Five have been friends all their lives, but a MLM company that promises cosmetic miracles and riches to those who sell it threatens to tear the thirty-something women apart. This Southern story, set in Georgia, is a testament to the power of friendship and features a touch of romance. (Read for a book review publication.)

 5-15-26 When the Silence Breaks - Elizabeth Goddard - In this gripping adventure, Former CIA operations officer Sarah Ellison goes to the small town of Mercy Ridge in Washington State to discover the truth behind her brother's suspicious death. Her brother had been hunting down information about a WWII mission that their grandfather mentioned on his deathbed. The place he was flying officially crashed in the Pacific, but the wreckage actually lies on Blackspire Mountain. She hires guide Ryder Goodwin to take her up, but this trip may be way more than he bargained for. (Read for a book review publication.) 

 

5-17-26 The Promise of a Nation: Celebrating 250 Years of Patriotism, Resilience, and Aspirations from the National Collection - Smithsonian - This is a museum in a book, featuring lots of images, timelines, and interesting information from the birth of the United States until the present day. As a history buff, I found this fascinating. 

5-19-26 Story of My Life - Helen Keller - I read this one with my daughter for school. I always find Keller's story inspirational and am amazed by how she learned and did so much while being both blind and deaf, with the help of her teacher, Anne Sullivan. (As an aside, Anne Sullivan was born in Agawam, Massachusetts, about a 1/2 hour drive from where I live. They have a monument to her there.) 

5-22-26 Daughters of the Wreckage - Stefanie Koens - This is a powerful dual-timeline story centered around the 1628 ill-fated Batavia shipwreck, which I had never heard about before reading this book. In the modern day, Tess McCarthy is grieving her father, who was a historian, and working to finish his last academic paper about the shipwreck. She also wants to know more about her ancestor Aris Jansz, who was the undersurgeon on the voyage. In 1628, orphan Saskia Pietersz embarks from the Netherlands with her aunt and cousin, but the journey is hazardous, and once the ship crashes, things only get worse. (Read for a book review publication.)

5-24-26 In This House of Brede - Rumer Godden - I read this classic work of Catholic fiction on the recommendation of Barb Szyszkiewicz and Carolyn Astfalk and I enjoyed it a great deal. It offers a fictional behind-the-scenes look at a Benedictine Monastery set in England in the 1950s and 1960s, including as they navigate the winds of change of Vatican II. It made me think about the lives of consecrated women in a way I hadn't before, especially the pasts that they might carry with them. 

5-22-26 The Best Dog in the World - Alice Hoffman - I'm a dog lover, and so, I am always up for a good book about dogs. In this collection, a number of writers, including Amy Tan, Jodi Picoult, and Adriana Trigiani, share essays about the dogs that have touched their lives. 

5-25-26 Magnifica Humanitas - Pope Leo XIV - I was excited to dive into Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical. There is much to reflect on in it, but I especially appreciated his overview of the history of Catholic social teaching since the publication of Rerum Novarum, his denunciation of slavery in all its forms, and his encouragement to use AI with discernment.    

 5-28-26 In These Hills - Tamera Alexander - In 1905 Atlanta, suffragist Josephine Dunham kills the mayor's son in self-defense and has to run for her life. Beaten and bruised, she escapes to the small town of Lynchburg, Tennessee, where she ends up working for the Jack Daniel's Distillery, despite being staunchly against alcohol. Transplanted from the city to the country and in profoundly changed circumstances, she learns life isn't as black and white as she thought it to be. Jack Daniel is a prominent character in this story. I knew nothing about the man previously. It turns out he was quite a generous soul and had an interesting backstory. (Read for a book review publication.)

5-30-26 Off the Spectrum: Why the Science of Autism has Failed Women and Girls - Gina Rippon - I picked up this book from the library because I was interested in how Autism presents in women and girls. This did touch on that, but it was more about the history of researching autism. 
 

Since the spring of 2019, I have been making my way through the Great Books Curriculum of Thomas Aquinas College (I'm currently working on the readings for senior year). 

5-22-26  On the Sacraments - Thomas Aquinas (Summa Part III, Questions 60-90) - This was an exploration of the sacraments, with a particular focus on Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, and Penance. While I knew most of the information included here, it was interesting to delve into the theological underpinnings of the sacraments. Aquinas is definitely a "leave no stone unturned" type of thinker/writer. I also appreciated reading about Confirmation as my daughter was confirmed right around the same time I was learning more about it. 

 

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