January 2025 Reading

 A Spool of Blue Thread, Anne Tyler, 4* - Kindle

This started as a 5, and ended on a 3. Thus, my 4 star rating. Tyler writes perfect prose and dialogue.  Her description of memory loss in the main character was stunning, in my unexperienced opinion. The end was depressing and maybe too realistic.   

From Here Til the Great Unknown, Riley Keogh, 4.25*

Bestseller. Interesting insight into a topic (Elvis) that I know nothing about. Lisa Marie Presley still seems like an enigma.  

The End of the Hour, A Therapist's Memoir, Meghan Riordon Jarvis, 3.5*

Well written. More description of her family might have given me a better perspective of the situation.  There seemed to be some added trauma she didn't touch on. She should have gone there. 

Peggy, Rebecca Godfrey, 4.25* - Kindle

Really interesting piece of fiction and history. Rebecca Godfrey sadly passed away before she finished this fictional take on Peggy Guggenheim's life.  It was finished by her friend and fellow author Leslie Jamison. I enjoyed the second author's prose better. Though Jamison buttoned up Peggy's life, she also left out some years I would have been interested in hearing about.  

All the Broken Places, John Boyne, 4.5* 

Exceptional Holocaust book from a different point of view.  I have read so many Holocaust books, that I thought I had had my fill.  Glad I took a chance on this one. Adding Boyne to my "Authors to Read" list.  

Wine Review: Spring in a Bottle - Wolffer Estate

 The boyfriend and I drove from vineyard to vineyard one hot August Saturday in our friend's cigarette reeking car.  It was 2009, and Long Island's North Shore wineries had jumpstarted as the Hamptons continued to grow, and the internet spread the word.  While all of these wineries had beauty and tasting rooms, one of the wineries we pulled into that afternoon seemed organized, clean, and smelled tobacco-free. It also had good wine. It was Wolffer Estates.  We left with two bottles of their signature $30 sauvignon blanc, which was no small sum in your twenties.  

Wolffer Estates hit the national scene in 2013 with their "Summer in a Bottle" Rose.  Now living in North Carolina with the husband, it was warming to see Wolffer Estate bottles on shelves, remembering our stop there years before.  

Now, moving with the times, Wolffer Estate is offering a non-alcoholic "Spring in a Bottle" Rose. While not partaking in Dry January myself, I decided to "spring" for the bottle and review. And $20 for non-alcoholic wine is quite a spring!   

The wine proved to be a lively pairing with meatball subs.  While it had lower acidity than wine with alcohol, it was more than made up for with the perfect bubbles.  "Spring" suggests floral notes, but there were none to be found, merely perfectly balanced slight red berry with grass.  It elicited the notes of the warm February Carolina day we were experiencing, and allowed our children to taste with us.  And at 36 calories a glass, allowed me to treat myself to dessert.  

While we had initially thought we would have to open another bottle, the husband and I declared this wine a "buy again," and declared the wine fully satisfying.  Wolffer Estate has given us another way to make memories.