The Cafe by the Sea by Jenny Colgan (2016)

I could live in these rural worlds that Colgan spins forever. No, I don't want to live there, just visit and hang out during her stories. This is about the fictional island of Mure off the northern coast of Scotland. Yes, there are plenty of islands out there and somebody lives on them and tourists go visit them.

Flora grew up in Mure, but went to live in London and works in a law firm, where she is in love with her workaholic boss Joel. But, they have a rich client Colton, who wants the law firm to help him win a case to move a wind turbine field away from the island, so it doesn't ruin the view from his new exclusive resort. 

Flora is sent up there to be a liaison with the town. She does not want to be there, as she left in less than ideal circumstances after her mother died. After failing to feed her father and brothers with fancy food from the city, she discovers her mother's cookbook and starts recreating her mom's wonderful recipes and healing herself.

When she meets Colton, he is nice enough, but he has totally ignored the town and its inhabitants and is not liked there. Flora starts mending the relationship and one example is that he owns a storefront that he has kept empty, while young islanders go off the island to find summer and permanent jobs. Flora is put in charge of opening up a cafe in the storefront, which becomes very successful with the locals and visitors. Anyway, a nice mix of people and lives. I also like that Colgan doesn't just rip her character out of the city life and plop her in the country, but she keeps contact with her city friends and keeps them involved in her life. Next book please...

Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall (2018)

Had to check out the latest Caldecott Medalist. Wonderful story of a lighthouse keeper, who lives alone until his wife comes and they have a child and he is displaced by an electronic light that does not need to be maintained by a person. Gorgeous, creative illustrations - of the power of the sea, the cut away of the different floors of the lighthouse, how they all lived and worked there and obviously loved it. The inside back cover has the story of how the author became interested in light houses and all the facts she dug up to create this charming book for kids and the rest of us.

Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward (2018)

I bought this book after seeing Woodward talking to Stephen Colbert. I admired his work during Watergate, and remember reading All the President's Men and Final Days, but for some reason haven't read any of the many books he has written since. This is the only book I have read about the current president, as I feel we hear about him way too much already. Even during the election process, I kept thinking, can't the late night shows just take a break and not mention him for a week, or even just a night. But I did want to know how the insiders have been dealing with him, so I bought the book, I started it, and then it just ended up on the bottom of my pile of books to read. Then I just asked for it in audio, and taking it in bits, with other books listened to in between, I got through it.

It is pretty incredible how the staff of the White House have to work around this guy, who is not only uniformed, but not interested in learning anything - he already knows best about everything - and obviously he doesn't. There were voices of reason trying to educate, explain how the government works, smooth his ruffled feathers, and counting on him forgetting things - removing documents from his pile to sign, just to avoid some embarrassing or disastrous move. Woodward kept calling some of the meetings like Groundhog Day, where the same arguments would be made every month or so - on issues like tariffs and our presence in South Korea.

No reason to go into the range of issues Woodward covered, but I do realize this book came out in 2018, before a lot more s#&t has hit the fan, so I actually may read Woodward's next installment on this most dysfunctional of presidencies not only in my lifetime, but possibly in the history of this country.

The question I did not get an answered was - why did these people even promise to work for the guy? How did they deal with their own conscience? I get that working in the White House is one of the most prestigious positions one could have, but for him? Maybe some felt they were serving the country by trying to bring some sense and order to the White House, and true, many people resigned when they felt they could no longer work with him any more, where he was refusing to take their sound advice. But did they ever think he was a good president? I guess some of them did agree with some of his economic policies, but two phrases sent shivers down my back. One was being thankful that a wet blanket was removed from the economy. I hear that as all the deregulation that has happened that will now endanger the environment, workers, consumers and the world. The other phrase that the guy used a lot was something like - They don't understand anything, they are not business like. e.g. why don't we make the world pay for all its own protection. Well the government is not like a business. There are some business principles that are useful, but people have worked for decades to create a stable world in which all can prosper, and the richer countries have to shoulder a bit more. He also kept jeering at global thinkers - sorry bud, we live in a globally connected world, we can't disconnect. All in all, the book was not surprising, just disheartening and scary.