Quick Lit, November Edition

I'm linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy for this month's quick lit, where I share short and sweet reviews of a few books I've read in the past month (or so). You can also find me over at Goodreads if you are interested in other books I've read or reviewed.

"There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather" by Linda Akeson McGurk. Swedish-born and raised Linda McGurk moved to small-town Indiana with her American husband in order to start their family. She quickly realized that the outdoors lifestyle she embraced as both a child and adult was not normal. After being fined for allowing her kids to play in a creek, she set out to explore the differing cultural approaches to the great outdoors. With her father facing a health crisis in her native Sweden, she and her two girls plan to spend six months there. What they experienced became the basis for this memoir. McGurk looks deeply at how Scandinavian culture values the outdoors and the benefits that are felt as a result. This book is an eye-opening look at just how much our culture needs to embrace the outdoors, not just for ourselves but for society as a whole.

"Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson. Read this book. It is a powerful look at the criminal justice system, poverty, and race in America, particularly in the south. Stevenson developed a passion for helping the nation's forgotten in the justice system after spending most of his internship negotiating appeals for death row prisoners and ended up founding the Equal Justice Initiative. He has dedicated his career to fighting for true justice--making sure that punishments for crimes committed are fair and that the poorest in prisons have the opportunity for representation in their cases. The book revolves around the case of Walter McMillian a black man who was falsely accused of murdering a white woman. Despite lack of evidence and a plethora of witnesses who put him nowhere near the scene of the murder, he was unjustly tried, convicted, and sentenced to death row. Packed with stories, this book is both deeply moving and extremely thought-provoking. Just read it.

"Cozy Minimalist Home" by Myquillyn Smith. Such a practical book! Smith takes the reader on a journey through one room in your house, any room you want, in order to quiet the space, make it cozy and keep it simple at the same time. Her steps make it easy to think about how your want a room to feel, identify how to get it there, and then make it happen according to your taste and family needs.