Life in the Slow Lane

Contemplating life, faith, words, and memories

Category: Book Review

A Happy Truth: Last Dogs Aren’t Always Last by D.A. Hickman | Review — November 5, 2019
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A Happy Truth: Last Dogs Aren’t Always Last by D.A. Hickman | Review

/Sherrey Meyer/6 Comments
Caring for them is also a gift in disguise; it’s not optional.

Their needs can motivate and inspire us to keep moving.

Keep breathing, at a minimum.

Daisy Hickman shares with readers once again her gift of lyrical prose. In A Happy Truth: Last Dogs Aren’t Always Last, the story emerges as if she paints with a fine brush in delicate colors. Hickman’s story unfolds as one filled with immense love among dogs, cats, and humans.
 
A Happy Truth, memoir, animals, people who love animals,This fascinating story drew on my imagination to the exclusion of the outside world. It was as if I quietly sat in the midst of the storytelling and watched the story unfold. Animal lovers will discover a sense of magic in these pages. And not-yet animal lovers may be converted.
 
Hickman shares stories of a variety of pets. Some finding her family. Family searching for the “right” pet. Traveling in the middle of the night with ill companions, and walking with happy dogs. Each example brought me close to home and evoked memories I had not considered for some time.
 
Growing up with dogs, I related to stories of energetic puppies alongside older dogs. Often the older ones showed patience with their newly chosen younger family members. Since my marriage some 38 years ago, cats have become the animal to share our lives. Currently, we enjoy the antics of two cats; yet, over time we’ve loved and nurtured three others.
 
Hickman shares bits of wisdom about the love and care afforded to our animal family members. Often, out of the blue, she asks her readers a question, and I found myself answering many of them. In other words, you, the reader, become the author’s companion as she tells her story.
We talk to our pets, doesn’t everyone?
I recommend this book to anyone who loves animals. Readers considering adding an animal may find it helpful. And those readers looking for a beautiful story to read will be delighted.
 
A Happy Truth will make an exceptional gift to someone on their birthday or at any other time.
 
Thank you, Daisy Hickman, for this beautiful example of what we can learn from our animal friends. 
Some people doubt that animals and emotions coexist, but it seems

we would have to be slightly oblivious to overlook the

endless and poignant ways in which they try to share

their understanding, awareness, and generous affection with us.

Disclosures:
I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review and nothing more. Opinions expressed here are solely mine.
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This Particular Happiness: A Childless Love Story by Jackie Shannon Hollis | A Review — September 11, 2019
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This Particular Happiness: A Childless Love Story by Jackie Shannon Hollis | A Review

/Sherrey Meyer/3 Comments
In society today, we celebrate the label “mother” more than any other label given to women. To decide against being a mother seems foreign and strange to many of our culture.
 
This Particular Happiness, memoir, Jackie Shannon Hollis, childlessness, bookBut Jackie Shannon Hollis chose between her husband’s love and childlessness. She writes about her choice in This Particular Happiness: A Childless Love Story. Hollis opens the door on her own feelings and emotions at play in making this decision.
 
When Hollis and her husband attend a family gathering, she is the only woman in the group without a child. Making such a decision doesn’t mean we don’t look back and wonder if it was the right choice. Hollis had moments and days when she wondered this very thing. Past relationships played a role in both Hollis’s feelings and those of the man she married.
 
Over time, Hollis talked with her husband about the possibilities of having children. She felt as if she were missing something, but not with certainty what it was. Yet, their discussions never altered their decisions.
 
Hollis offers her readers an opportunity to experience pressures and tensions from others. A couple’s choices, such as childlessness, bring out family and friends with opinions. This is a suitable book for individuals considering childlessness. It provides an overview of certain issues that may come up in conversation with others.
 
Hollis is authentic in revealing this tender and emotional time in her life. Bringing this book into the public arena took courage on the part of both Hollis and her husband, Bill.
 
This memoir is well written and structured. The story unfolds with each chapter and in a timely fashion. Hollis’s voice is strong and bold. She paints a detailed description of her feelings.

My thanks to Jackie Shannon Hollis and Forest Avenue Press for providing an Advance Reader’s Copy to me in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are solely mine.

This Particular Happiness: A Childless Love Story will be available on October 1, 2019. Preorder your copy here.

 

 

Mennonite Daughter: The Story of a Plain Girl by Marian Longenecker Beaman | Review — August 21, 2019
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Mennonite Daughter: The Story of a Plain Girl by Marian Longenecker Beaman | Review

/Sherrey Meyer/4 Comments

Mennonite Daughter, memoir, Mennonite childhood

Marian Longenecker Beaman’s memoir shares heartwarming vignettes of life in Lancaster County, PA. The author paints images with words of the joys and frustrations of growing up as a Mennonite. I visited Lancaster County several years ago. But I was not as aware of the Mennonites and their restrictions as I was of the Amish. So, some of Beaman’s revelations were surprising to me.
 
The author’s use of detail in descriptions of people and places brought them to life. Thus, the reader feels an actual part of what and where Beaman was describing. The inclusion of family photographs allowed the reader to “see” the life Beaman described.
 
Beaman’s family’s devotion to their Mennonite faith was unmistakable in all they did. I have known Beaman from her blog, Plain and Fancy, for several years. I was not surprised at the faith commitment. Yet, reading about Beaman’s baptism at age 10 took me quite by surprise. Everything changed for this young girl. The church’s rigid rules about dress, everyday activities, and schooling controlled her life. The little girl who wore frills and ruffles her Mennonite mother sewed had to put those dresses away. How conflicting this must have felt to her.
 
Beaman also writes of her father’s punishments and abuses. It is not uncommon for an abusive parent to declare his/her faith and to use Scripture as a basis for the punishment. I felt Beaman’s pain and heartbreak as I read her emotional words and desire to know why. Beaman was a strong young woman who stood up to the leaders in the church and to her father. Although she mentioned a fear of her father’s actions, she overcame that fear. What courage this took. 
 
Beaman has taken the opportunity to tell her true story. While telling of punishments and abuse, she reflects on the loving nature of her home life. The author shows respect and admiration for her mother. Yet, she questions the lack of intervention on her mother’s part at times.
 
She also expresses the love felt for her grandmother and Aunt Ruthie. In fact, one might say Beaman had two homes. There was a home filled with parents and siblings. And the home maintained by her grandmother and Aunt Ruthie. This second home was a place of escape where restrictions were a bit looser. Beaman enjoyed many happy days with their grandmother and Aunt Ruthie.
 
I enjoyed reading Beaman’s memoir and taking a trip back in time to Lancaster County, PA. The story is rich in family and one woman’s history with traditions and culture. Her shining moment is in her courage to take a step away to build her own life.
Beaman is a master storyteller and wordsmith. Her writing is fluid, detailed, expressive, and strong. I highly recommend this memoir not only to those who enjoy reading a memoir. But also to those who want to write or are writing a memoir. Beaman does it just right.
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