Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

Of a sort, that is. You may have guessed that the kiddos and I were out of town over most of Memorial Day weekend–I got to attend the temple with much of my side of the family, since my brother’s oldest son went through for the first time, and then we got to listen to my sister’s youngest daughter speak in church before starting at-home missionary training. (By the way, she’s currently got Covid, so keep her in your prayers, please.) In between, I went through some boxes and papers in my parents’ computer/sewing/junk room and unpacked/recycled/organized. I confess, there was an initial ulterior motive–I wanted to be able to set up an air mattress in there–but my mother had become overwhelmed with the level of stuff piling up, especially since my father’s last fall resulted in a T12 compression fracture and a need for more of her time. I didn’t finish the job–not by any stretch of the imagination–but I did manage to at least make a difference. We drove home on Monday and I spent the rest of the week catching up on housework and laundry and unearthing and then using my craft desk. I’ve decided that right now, offering some of my time each week for family history work will be more successful if I work on our own family history, and to that end I’ve been putting family and school pictures in scrapbooks, putting extras aside in a labelled envelope, and throwing away the garbage produced by the effort. My family loves looking at the pictures, my pile of clutter decreases, and we have a record of our growth. What’s not to love?

Anyway. I also managed to read Hope Larson’s Salt Magic this week, and when I failed to make a review happen yesterday, I decided I’d better not wait ANOTHER day before doing so and passing it on. (I have that graphic-novel-loving-12-year-old, you’ll recall.) I haven’t read anything else by Larson, but Salt Magic seems different than what I’ve seen of her work. You could call it historical magical fiction, I suppose–the story begins with Vonceil’s brother returning from WWI to marry a local girl and settle down, and Vonceil is NOT PLEASED. She and her brother had a special bond, but now he’s occupied with Amelia and focused on his future. When a glamorous–and mysterious–woman comes to town to see him, however, Vonceil discovers that Elber’s choices have brought magical disaster down on their farm and family; luckily, she has the courage and determination to rescue them all, learning to reevaluate her own priorities in the process. It’s not an unqualified happily-ever-after, but it strikes a deeper chord because of that.

On the other hand, I struggled with the thinness of the world-building. There’s not enough about history to make Salt Magic‘s historical fiction aspect truly meaningful, and yet the magical process and progression felt arbitrary to me. I doubt my 12-year-old will be overly bothered–she’s a bigger fan of realistic fiction and is going to care more about what happens with the characters’ relationships–but fantasy fans may not be so impressed. All in all, Larson’s fans may be the best audience for this one; as for me, I’ll try her ‘Eagle Rock’ trilogy and see if I enjoy it more. If you’ve read it, let me know what YOU think!