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on x opens in new window x share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on linkedin opens in new window linkedin share on reddit opens in new window reddit share on pinterest opens in new window pinterest share on tumblr opens in new window tumblr share on threads opens in new window threads share on bluesky opens in new window bluesky print opens in new window print email a link to a friend opens in new window email like loading book review the autobiography of benjamin franklin july 3 2026 july 4 2026 book club mom 31 comments the autobiography of benjamin franklin rating 5 out of 5 being mostly a fiction reader i wasn t sure i would enjoy reading the autobiography of benjamin franklin but i was happily surprised to find franklin s memoir a remarkable and amusing record of time in america during the mid to late 1700s i also enjoyed refreshing my memory about the colonies before the american revolution and the steps that led to independence but one of the most important things i learned was that franklin was simply exploding with ideas to make life better in america both industrious and frugal he knew how to succeed in many enterprises including owning a printing shop a newspaper being a postmaster and establishing a library a university a hospital and a fire company in addition he had an excellent instinct for human behavior and was able to reconcile many tense discussions among both his fellow men and important leaders he used this diplomatic skill throughout his life the franklin stove image benjaminfranklinbio com franklin was always thinking and had many inventions including the franklin stove still around better street light fixtures a system for keeping the streets clean and of course proving the relationship between electricity and lightning with his famous kite and key experiment franklin was daring and witty and was an incorrigible flirt in his later years he wrote poor richard s almanac a publication full of clever advice in addition to inventing things franklin loved to find ways to bring people together to support interests and causes he formed junto a secret men s discussion and debate club he organized a volunteer defense and he helped raise money for buildings and churches i also learned these franklin tidbits franklin was the youngest son of seventeen children he attended school for one year he was a learner through and through and taught himself math and several languages he loved to read as a young man he had a hankering for the sea but his father wanted to keep him on land he apprenticed with his older brother james a printer in boston mrs ben franklin image benjaminfranklinbio com he ran away to philadelphia at age 17 and met his future wife miss read on his first day in town he had a son out of wedlock another son died of smallpox at age 4 and franklin forever regretted not having him inoculated although he did not consider himself a military man he was commissioned to build a fort in bethlehem pennsylvania to protect the american frontier he refused to obtain a patent for the franklin stove because said he only invented it to help people i enjoyed franklin s comments about the cost of a college education a big worry for his father but my father in the meantime from a view of the expense of a college education which having so large a family he could not well afford chose to establish his children in successful jobs franklin also mentions a few regrets which he calls the great errata of his life one of them is during a year long trip to england only writing once to miss read to inform her only that he d be gone a long time she didn t wait and married another man read and franklin finally got together later after her husband deserted her another mistake was agreeing to collect money for a friend then spending it ben franklin contributed generously to early american life he had tremendous foresight and knew how to deal with people i recommend this memoir to readers who are interested in history and the character behind important figures want to know more check out these additional sources fi edu the franklin institute benjamin franklin faq ushistory org the electric ben franklin wikipedia benjamin franklin thanks for visiting come back soon it s nice to share share on x opens in new window x share on x opens in new window x share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on linkedin opens in new window linkedin share on reddit opens in new window reddit share on pinterest opens in new window pinterest share on tumblr opens in new window tumblr share on threads opens in new window threads share on bluesky opens in new window bluesky print opens in new window print email a link to a friend opens in new window email like loading book review london falling by patrick radden keefe june 26 2026 book club mom 31 comments london falling by patrick radden keefe rating 4 5 out of 5 last year i saw a story in the news about a teenage boy from london who died under strange circumstances in a fall off a luxury apartment balcony zac brettler s family learned that prior to his death in 2019 their nineteen year old son had been posing as the son of a russian oligarch and was navigating a dangerous underworld how did zac wind up in such a bizarre and tragic situation in 2024 an article written by patrick radden keefe first appeared in the new yorker prior its publication zac s family had not gone public with their story but after several years they were still searching for answers after the new yorker article keefe wrote london falling published in april 2026 after his death zac s parents matthew and rachelle desperate to understand what happened dove into an intense and agonizing investigation into their son s secret life they kept in close touch with scotland yard and shared what they found with the detective in charge of the case did zac jump or was it an accident or was it murder in addition to the story about zac keefe s narrative provides a detailed look at the changes london underwent in the 1990s after the dissolution of the soviet union in 1991 there was an influx of foreign money and by the time zac became a teenager the next generation of russians the children of oligarchs had populated the area including zach s private boarding school zac a clever and gregarious child who liked to joke and tell stories grew into a teenager who was obsessed with money he started boasting about big real estate deals and his contact with power movers and he got mixed up with two men akbar shamji a business man in his forties and verinder sharma who said he was a rubber tycoon but was really a violent mobster you might ask how zac s parents missed these dangerous developments the answer is complicated they were loving parents and involved in their two sons lives but they also believed in independence at eighteen zac was a legal adult and according to interviews with the brettlers they gave their son enormous latitude to live his life this was despite their concerns about his obsession with money and bragging about deals teenagers go through phases and they hoped he would grow out of it the author also devotes a good portion of the book to the brettler family both of zac s grandfathers were holocaust survivors rachelle s father arrived in london alone and became a well known and highly respected rabbi and both their fathers who came to london with nothing were intent on building families it was rough digging into zac s digital life left behind on his phone and ipad rachelle wanted to get into zac s mind what was he feeling on the day he went off the balcony matthew was more analytical and took solace in compiling details of the events leading up to zac s death both were searching for a way to reconfigure their family i was fascinated with the details of this story and was glad to discover another author of narrative fiction i learned a lot about london the history of the thames akbar s family and the huge and complicated businesses his father built after the family was evicted from uganda by idi amin i recommend london falling to readers who like history and true crime stories thanks for visiting come back soon it s nice to share share on x opens in new window x share on x opens in new window x share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on linkedin opens in new window linkedin share on reddit opens in new window reddit share on pinterest opens in new window pinterest share on tumblr opens in new window tumblr share on threads opens in new window threads share on bluesky opens in new window bluesky print opens in new window print email a link to a friend opens in new window email like loading book review saoirse by charleen hurtubise june 22 2026 book club mom 18 comments saoirse by charleen hurtubise rating 3 5 out of 5 last week my og book club met to discuss saoirse by charleen hurtubise before i talk about the book i want to talk a bit about my book club because i am so grateful for these women i met these ladies through our local mom s club and then quickly through friends of these moms back then we were busy with babies and preschoolers but we were all readers who wanted to make time to talk about books we officially started a book club in 1999 and met once a month but not until after our babies were down for the night the first book we read was the bonesetter s daughter by amy tan our children have grown and sadly we lost a dear friend but we re still reading and getting together and chatting in a group text between our meetings and we meet a lot earlier in the evening it was a beautiful night when we met last week my friend st hosted on her covered deck with a great spread of food and drink i had not heard of saoirse but there were copies at the library and we all grabbed them first if you re wondering how to say the title it s pronounced sear sha it s an irish name that means freedom and symbolizes everything that happens in the book the story begins in 1990 and spans about ten years with alternating timelines where we follow sarah a young woman who at nineteen escapes an abusive and dangerous family situation in michigan sarah knows she must leave forever and that means changing her identity and leaving her baby sister behind to escape she steals her friend s passport and builds a new life in the coastal town of donegal ireland sarah later known as saoirse works through the trauma she experienced in michigan by sketching and painting her talent is undeniable and gains attention but saoirse worries that her past will catch up with her with a partner and two young daughters there s a lot more at stake how could she explain would anyone understand i enjoyed reading about ireland the customs and beliefs about family and taking care of your own the author includes several characters whose strong beliefs drive their decisions even when it hurts others i also enjoyed the author s descriptions of the ireland the cover alone makes me want to visit the story reads quickly and shows several conflicting perspectives readers will have to suspend disbelief because the plot depends on several unlikely situations coincidences to keep it going i also enjoyed learning about hurtubise and her experiences living in michigan and ireland here s more information about the author taken from her website charleen hurtubise is a novelist and artist she is author of the polite act of drowning published in ireland and the uk in 2023 saoirse is her us debut she holds an m sc from trinity college dublin and an mfa in creative writing from university college dublin where she has facilitated creative writing seminars the sixth sister in a family of nine she spent much of her childhood in michigan her early adult years in boston and has now lived half of her life in ireland which is home though she lives in dublin with her irish family the pull of donegal never leaves and continues to influence her drawings and writings including saoirse i recommend saoirse to readers of women s fiction who enjoy suspense and drama thanks for visiting come back soon it s nice to share share on x opens in new window x share on x opens in new window x share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on linkedin opens in new window linkedin share on reddit opens in new window reddit share on pinterest opens in new window pinterest share on tumblr opens in new window tumblr share on threads opens in new window threads share on bluesky opens in new window bluesky print opens in new window print email a link to a friend opens in new window email like loading when sue grafton s books appear as props in tv shows and movies june 19 2026 book club mom 26 comments i love when books show up as props in tv shows and movies especially when i recognize the titles did you know that sue grafton s alphabet books have appeared as props in at least two shows and one movie i love this kind of trivia here s what i found out in the mayham episode of the sopranos season 6 episode 3 carmela sits by tony s bedside in the hospital reading g is for gumshoe in the local ad episode of the office season 4 episode 5 phyllis goes to a sue grafton book signing at the mall to try to get her to be in the dunder mifflin scranton branch commercial she meets grafton who turns down the offer and phyllis is eventually thrown out of the store in the 2006 film stranger than fiction starring will ferrell emma thompson and dustin hoffman professor hilbert is spotted reading i is for innocent while lifeguarding if you can add to this list leave a comment and i ll update the post thanks for visiting come back soon it s nice to share share on x opens in new window x share on x opens in new window x share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on linkedin opens in new window linkedin share on reddit opens in new window reddit share on pinterest opens in new window pinterest share on tumblr opens in new window tumblr share on threads opens in new window threads share on bluesky opens in new window bluesky print opens in new window print email a link to a friend opens in new window email like loading book review a is for alibi by sue grafton june 18 2026 book club mom 39 comments a is for alibi by sue grafton rating 3 5 out of 5 if you re a mystery fan you may already know about sue grafton s alphabet series of detective novels featuring private investigator kinsey millhone in the fictional city of santa teresa california grafton published a book for every letter of the alphabet except z she passed away in 2017 before she could finish her final book z is for zero when i was picking books for our mystery book club at my library job i realized we had never read any of grafton s books so i selected the first in the series to get the group started a is for alibi is the first of the series and was published in 1982 told in millhone s voice the story begins when she tells us the day before yesterday i killed someone and the fact weighs heavily on my mind 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