Mary E. Trimble

“We are the sum total of all the choices we have made.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt

You Learn by Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life by Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 – 1962), former first lady and civil rights activist, impressed me by its relevance today, sixty-five years after it was published in 1960.

Eleanor Roosevelt was the niece of one U.S. president, Theodore Roosevelt, and married a man who would become another, Franklin D. Roosevelt. She redefined the role of first lady, and was outspoken for human and women’s rights. She held press conferences and penned her own newspaper column, “My Day,” published nationwide six days a week. After she left the White House in 1945, she became chair of the United Nation’s Human Rights Commission. In her day, she was one of the world’s most widely admired and powerful women.

Within each chapter are words of wisdom on topics mentioned in the book’s subtitle: “Learning to Learn, Fear—the Great Enemy, The Uses of Time, The Difficult Art of Maturity, Readjustment is Endless, Learning to Be Useful, The Right to Be an Individual, How to Get the Best Out of People, Facing Responsibility, How Everyone Can Take Part in Politics, Learning to Be a Public Servant.” Each chapter reflects Roosevelt’s views with suggestions on how to apply the concepts to our own lives, wisdom that resonates in any era.

Eleanor Roosevelt lived a life of affluence with boarding schools, education abroad, housekeepers, cooks and nannies. Yet she devoted her life to helping people become the best they can be by sharing her wise philosophy on living a fulfilled life.

You Learn by Living is a treasure of wise concepts still applicable in today’s world. Reading this memoir, I discovered the depth of Eleanor Roosevelt’s passion for life, her confidence, maturity, and civic stewardship. I was impressed with this stellar woman’s devotion to mankind.

Book Review: Tubby Meets Katrina

Posted on March 24, 2025 by Mary

Tubby Meets Katrina by Anthony Dunbar, is book seven of the suspenseful series, “A Tubby Dubonnet Mystery.” I especially enjoyed this novel that takes place in New Orleans, 2005.

New Orleans lawyer Tubby Dubonnet arrives home after an extended stay in Bolivia. He arrives at Louis Armstrong International Airport to the news that a massive hurricane is making its way to New Orleans. Oh, well. Just another inconvenience. But the storm becomes more than an inconvenience, it becomes Hurricane Katrina, a Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that causes over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas.

Following record-breaking winds, New Orleans has massive flooding when the levee system that held back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne becomes overwhelmed, flooding southeastern Louisiana.

As the flood waters overtake a New Orleans detention center, escaped psychopath Bonner Rivette breaks out of jail when a guard unlocks the cell door to save the inmates from drowning. Bonner makes his way to an office building that happens to be Tubby’s office. He devises a way to lure Tubby’s college-age daughter into the office under the guise of helping her injured father. She falls for the ruse and is held hostage. Tubby asks a private detective friend for his help in freeing his daughter.

Author Anthony Dunbar, a New Orleans-based attorney and writer, writes what he knows, and does so with aplomb. I’ve spent some time in New Orleans when I visited The Big Easy with my husband on a business trip, then again when I worked with the American Red Cross after Katrina. I’ve seen the good and the bad, and found that the author describes both with accuracy. I again enjoyed vicariously visiting the great landmarks of the city, the French Quarter, fine restaurants, and some of the elite neighborhoods. With the Red Cross I also witnessed unbelievable devastation—miles and miles of ruined homes, curbs lined with moldy refrigerators and furniture, destroyed businesses, the city’s infrastructure turned upside down. Dunbar describes it all. Tubby Meets Katrina is an enjoyable read about the dangerous days just after Katrina, and of the frustrating weeks that followed. The story line is intriguing with a mix of suspense and low-key humor.

Book Review: Outlive

Posted on March 17, 2025 by Mary

The time to repair the roof
Is when the sun is shining
—John F. Kennedy

Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity by Peter Attia, MD with Bill Gifford is an in-depth study of how to live a longer, healthier, and happier life.

Although modern medicine has made impressive progress, it has failed to make adequate headway in the diseases of aging that kill most people: heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and type-2 diabetes. Attia explains why these diseases exist and how in many cases we can alter the outcome. He claims that today’s medicine should have greater emphasis on prevention than treatment.

The book has three sections: The Long Game From Fast Death to Slow Death, Centenarians: The Older You Get, the Healthier You Have Been, and Thinking Tactically

Each section is packed with examples of existing unwanted conditions and ways to make changes that will extend long-term health, both mentally and physically. The book details how we can lengthen our lifespan while simultaneously extending our healthspan.

One section I found especially interesting showed that exercise has the greatest power to determine how you will live out the rest of your life. I think we have all seen examples of people who refuse to exercise, people who have slowly but surely reduced their activity to result in a life that is barely existing, solely dependent on others to get though the day.

The chapter on mental health is engaging. Attia discusses attitudes and the importance of believing that you can change, that you deserve better, and so do others around you. He stresses that we should pay as much attention to mental health as we do to physical health.

I found Outlive fascinating. The author cites in-depth examples of both good and bad behavior that has produced expected, or possibly unexpected, results. He often refers to his own physical and mental health issues as examples of the need for proactive strategy for longevity and mental well-being, both attainable goals. This book is a valuable guide to a richer, more satisfying life.

Book Review: Just After Midnight

Posted on March 10, 2025 by Mary

Just After Midnight by Catherine Ryan Hyde is a heart-felt, uplifting novel about loss, friendship and the value of kindness to a stranger.

Faith has had enough of her husband’s abuse and escapes to her parents’ California beach house. She needs to make a plan for the rest of her life. While contemplating her situation, she sees a young girl sitting alone on the beach, looking desolate.

Sarah, fourteen, feels overwhelmed with the sudden, suspicious death of her mother. Not only that, but Sarah’s father has sold her prized horse, Midnight, saying he needed the money to pay off a debt. Sarah is staying at her grandmother’s beach house while the older woman is scrambling to get custody of her deceased daughter’s only child.

Faith approaches the forlorn young girl sitting on the beach. She listens to the girl’s story about her mother’s tragic death, but also about her beloved mare, Midnight. Sarah and Midnight were meant for each other, competing in shows with impressive results. But now Sarah’s world is shattered.

Just After Midnight is a story of hope in the face of tragic, life altering loss. Although I’m familiar with western horseback riding, this book features dressage, a form of horse riding performed in exhibition using English tack, the type of competition featured in the Olympics. In this story, Sarah, only fourteen, is amazingly accomplished with dressage, and I was fascinated with all that is involved in this highly competitive sport.

Typical of author Catherine Ryan Hyde, Just After Midnight features decent people with high values, and lessons learned while trusting your instincts. The author describes dressage and the amazing connection between rider and horse, and how the relationship between the two form a strong bond. I’ve read several novels by this author, and this is yet another worthwhile read.

Book Review: Where the Lost Wander

Posted on March 3, 2025 by Mary

Where the Lost Wander, a novel by Amy Harman is a rousing story set on the Overland Trail, 1853.

Naomi May became a widow at the age of twenty. Trying to put grief behind her, she sets out with her family for a new life in California. She’s the only daughter in a large family of boys, all younger than she. The Mays join a wagon train with forty other families.

John Lowry, a half-Pawnee, straddles two worlds. His Pawnee mother died while he was still a young boy. John’s white father and his wife took him in and raised him along with their daughters. John’s father was a much admired mule-skinner, a profession that John intends to follow.

His foster mother’s older brother was hired to lead a wagon train, and John goes along to begin a life of his own, taking a string of mules with him. While on the trail he meets Naomi and the two are immediately attracted to one another.

Like wagon trains before them, theirs is struck with hardships, illness and deaths. They meet Indian tribes along the way and John is able to communicate with them, paving the way for safe passage along what could be hostile territory. But through it all, there are good times, too, and John and Naomi’s friendship develops into trust and love.

John and Naomi are separated when John briefly leaves the wagon train to go to a nearby fort for supplies. When he returns he finds a scene of death and destruction with only two of Naomi’s younger brothers alive, and learns that Naomi and her baby brother have been taken by hostile Indians. John begins his search for Naomi and her little brother, leading himself into danger while fearing for Naomi and the baby’s life. What follows is a testimony to the power of love and the inner strength it takes to survive when all hope seems lost.

This well-written historical novel offers fresh viewpoints of life on a wagon train. Although this story has its similarities to other wagon train accounts, its refreshing and original twists make an interesting blend of fact and fiction.

Book Review: Women at the Helm

Posted on February 24, 2025 by Mary

Women at the Helm, a memoir by Jeannine Talley (1937-2022) is an in-depth account of two women who set sail with the intention of sailing the world’s oceans.

Jeannine Talley had always sought adventure. Being married and having children had no appeal for her. At the age of 35 she decided to realize her dream. Jeannine had always loved being on the water and decided that sailing would fulfill her adventurous desires. She enrolled in sailing classes and bought her first sailboat, a sloop. She worked toward her goal and later met a like-minded woman, Joy Smith, who owned a 34-foot cutter-rigged sloop, Banshee.

After exhaustive preparation, the women, both in their forties, set sail aboard Banshee in March, 1985 from Catalina, California bound for Mexico. Throughout the book, they never appeared to be on any schedule. Their purpose was to thoroughly soak in the atmosphere of their various ports-of-call. At times they had another person with them, which was challenging on a rather small boat, but it did relieve watch routines.

From Mexico they sailed to the South Pacific, making their first landfall in the French Marquesses. At one point Jeannine says, “Sailing to a different country isn’t luxurious, it’s a lot of work. You have to learn to appreciate the good moments, the new sights, meeting others like yourself who are captivated by the adventure, the small rewards along the way.” This memoir covers mostly the South Pacific. They spent lengths of time discovering the various countries, their history, meeting people along the way, sometimes renting a car to travel overland. At one point they rented a car and trailer for an extensive camping trip in New Zealand.

Women at the Helm covers the first four years of their extended cruise. I very much enjoyed reading their adventures in those places where my husband and I cruised aboard our 40-foot sailboat, Impunity in 1989-1990. Although we were on a much tighter schedule—our journey lasted fourteen months—we experienced many of the same joys, hardships and observations that Jeannine and Joy did.

I enjoyed this memoir and admire the author’s observations and insights of the countries they visited. Even people who have no desire to take such an adventure would appreciate learning about the different cultures these two women encountered. I was impressed with their knowledge of sailing techniques and their courage to pursue their dreams.

Book Review: Small Great Things

Posted on February 17, 2025 by Mary

If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.
—Martin Luther King Jr.

Small Great Things, a novel by Jodi Picoult, deals with race, privilege, prejudice, justice and compassion, subjects many would just as soon not talk about. The contemporary story takes place in Connecticut.

Ruth Jefferson, an African American, is the proud mother of a seventeen year old, exceptionally bright son. She was widowed several years earlier when her husband was killed during his second tour of duty in Afghanistan. Ruth is a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital and has practiced her profession for more than twenty years. A baby boy is born during Ruth’s shift and she performs her duties—routine testing and bathing the infant. When Ruth brings the baby to the mother to breast-feed her baby, the father demands that she doesn’t touch his wife or infant. Ruth is abruptly assigned to another case. Later she sees a note in the patient’s file: “No African American personnel to care for this patient.”

The story toggles to Turk Bauer whose wife, Brittany, just gave birth to their baby boy. Turk and Brittany are hard-core white supremacists, and practice their hate on anyone who isn’t white. There are very few limits to their actions. Turk operates a white supremacist website with a huge following. It’s hate to the extreme. When he sees a Black nurse handling his baby and touching his wife, he explodes into a rage.

After the baby boy is recovering from a routine circumcision, he goes into cardiac distress. Ruth is alone in the nursery. What should she do? Does she obey orders and not touch the baby, or does she try to save him? What she does results in a charge of a serious crime with a likely outcome of time in prison.

Kennedy McQuarrie is assigned as Public Defender for Ruth Jefferson’s case. As Kennedy tackles her assignment she learns what prejudice is really all about, how deep it can go, and how we are often blind to how we look at people of another race. Can justice be served in this case?

I greatly admire Jodi Picoult’s research in the many aspects of this story. The novel delves into the practice of medicine as it applies to an expectant mother and new-born infant. She explains the difference between Aryan Nations, Skinhead, White Supremacists, and Neo-Nazis, and even to those who believe in equality, but perhaps not when it comes to schools and neighborhoods. And finally, the fallacy that everyone is equal under the law and that all individuals are treated the same by the legal system, regardless of their status, race, gender, or other characteristics.

Small Great Things made a profound impression on me. I highly recommend this well-written, highly informative book.

Book Review: Finding Me

Posted on February 10, 2025 by Mary

Finding Me: A Memoir by Viola Davis, one of Hollywood’s most acclaimed actors, is a heart-wrenching story as well as one of hope, victory and self-love. Viola was born in 1965, Central Falls, Rhode Island, and the story begins when she was a young girl.

Her family was poor. They lived in a crumbling, rat infested apartment with no running hot water. As she grew older, Viola became self-conscious about smelling bad. She began washing her clothes with cold water at night and the next morning, getting dressed for school, putting on the often still-damp clothes. Viola envied kids whose parents called them in for dinner. Just imagine! A family sitting down for a real meal, a practice that was absent in Viola’s family. She was often hungry and when she did eat, it was usually junk food. Viola was one of several children, though in her early years three older siblings were being raised by grandparents. Her father was unfaithful and abusive to her mother, and the children were often subjected to his alcoholic rages. Viola was often bullied at school, not only by students, but by teachers as well. Viola utterly lacked self-love and the ability to open up to anyone. She always felt like an outsider. Viola’s was a life of chaos, violence, anger, and poverty mixed with shame.

When she reached high school, Viola joined the Upward Bound Program, a U.S. Department of Education federal grant program that helps low-income students prepare for higher education. It offers academic instruction, tutoring, counseling, and cultural enrichment activities. Viola thrived, and for the first time could see possibilities for a worthwhile future.

From high school she received a full-ride scholarship to Rhode Island College. For the first time in her life she had her own room, a desk, a little closet, a shower with hot running water, heat, and nourishing meals. Still she fought depression and often felt inadequate. She had dreams of becoming an actor, and took English and other classes relating to theater. Viola graduated from Rhode Island College with a theater degree.

Viola was accepted in The Circle in the Broadway Square Theatre and began performing in plays. She attended a four-year program at Juilliard, graduated and eventually performed on television and movies. At the age of 38, she married Julius Tennon, a versatile and experienced film, television, and theater actor and producer.

My husband and I have often admired the talented Viola Davis and have seen her in several television series (Law & Order, The Jesse Stone Series, Murder She Wrote) and movies (Doubt, Fences, The Help). I’d never known of her struggle. Her story is a remarkable journey from stark poverty and self-doubt to a richly successful actor with a satisfying family life. I’ve barely touched on the highlights and low periods of this remarkable woman’s journey. Finding Me is a highly inspiring testament to resilience and self-acceptance.

Book Review: Unsheltered

Posted on February 3, 2025 by Mary

Unsheltered, a captivating novel by Barbara Kingsolver, captures the angst of change as it affects families in two different eras. The story takes place in Vineland, New Jersey.

Willa and Iano Knox are facing hard times. The magazine she wrote for has folded, and the college in which her husband Iano had tenure has closed. Their two adult children have lives of their own though their daughter, Tig, lives with them. Her mother fears Tig will carry the terrible-twos into old age. Their son, who lives in Boston, is agonizing over his partner’s death, leaving their new-born son, who is now living with Willa and Iano. Iano’s cranky father, critically ill with advanced diabetes, also lives with them and needs constant medical attention. In the meantime, their home, a brick house that Willa inherited, is collapsing around them with crumbling ceilings, moldy walls, a sagging roof, and ruptured ductwork. Because of a gas leak, they cook on a campstove. The house is obviously damaged beyond repair.

One hundred fifty years earlier, in the 1870s, Thatcher Greenwood, his new bride and her social-climbing mother live in the same house as the Knox’s, but they have just had it built. Thatcher can see that the house is unsound, but the women in his life refuse to acknowledge it. Their main concern is social status. Thatcher is a science teacher and has a passion for seeking the truth. He is fascinated by the exciting just-published work of Charles Darwin, but his employer forbids him to speak of it to his students, believing that Darwin’s theories are anti-Christian. Thatcher makes friends with a neighbor, Mary Treat, a naturalist who regularly corresponds with Darwin on her findings with plants and insects.

Unsheltered weaves the present and past, allowing us to examine life as it is now and how it was in bygone days, and the human capacity for resiliency and compassion. Upheaval in some form is always present. How we deal with it dictates our future.

Barbara Kingsolver has managed to write another equally exceptional novel as The Poisonwood Bible, a novel I read and reviewed ten years ago. Unsheltered has a similar message as it deals with ordinary characters under extraordinary circumstances. I loved this provocative novel and highly recommend it.

Book Review: The Giver of Stars

Posted on January 27, 2025 by Mary

“The woman of the mountains leads a difficult life, while the man is lord of the household.”
….The Giver of Stars

The Giver of Stars, an historical novel by Jojo Moyes, is a gripping novel that takes place in southern Appalachia in the little town of Baileyville, Kentucky, 1937.

Margery O’Hare was one of the first in her community to respond as a Packhorse Librarian, a part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the United States government’s New Deal agency, that would employ millions of unemployed people to carry out public works projects. She took her job seriously, riding her mule to remote homes in the Kentucky hills to deliver library books to those families who would not otherwise have access to them. Margery was often challenged, mostly by men, who did not approve of their families being subjected to “outside ways.” But Margery, stubborn as any man, carried on, convinced her work was important and indeed the salvation of their community.

Alice VanCleve, newly married to Bennett VanCleve whom she met in her native England, was disappointed with her new situation. Her husband insisted they live with his widowed father, who demanded that everything in the home be maintained as his late wife had left it. In fact, Mr. VanCleve dictated how everything should be, including his son’s marriage. To be useful and to get out of her stifling house, Alice joined Margery in the Baileyville Packhorse Library’s mission, much to her father-in-law’s dismay and disapproval.

Soon other women joined the Packhorse Library project, some over the objection of their families. But the women were dedicated to their cause and willing to deliver books despite steep and arduous roads or paths, scrambling over huge rocks or fallen trees, navigating narrow ledges, always keeping an eye out for snakes, and delivering books in all kinds of weather.

When the body of a well-known mean drunk was found, the incident created an uproar, false accusations, and an arrest, with devastating results.

The Giver of Stars is an excellent, well-written and informative novel. The author does an excellent job of depicting Appalachian attitudes and conditions in this time period. The Packhorse Library project, carried out by dedicated women, opened up the world for many families. This historical novel is rich in history with well-developed characters and a strong sense of place.