FOUR AND A HALF BEACON REVIEW

Throwing Sticks and Skipping Stones is Gloria MacKay's latest collection of essays and observations, many of which were inspired by her life in the Pacific Northwest.  I thoroughly enjoyed the thoughtful, engaging commentaries of this longtime writer/ broadcaster and related easily to her theories about time and tides.  "You can take the woman away from the tides, but you can't take the tides away from the woman" is a truism for anyone raised within sight of the ocean, as I was.

"If you water the edges of your lawn, you will never have to worry about the center," is another pithy observation which turns into a lesson on how to take care of just about anything.  And about wordsmithing, "From time to time … certain words make me stumble and take an extra breath.  Often these are of a vague, lollygagging variety, weeds in the garden of succinct expression."  She would know, having tended her garden well for many years.

Ms. MacKay's tongue-in-cheek dissertation on the difficulties of adhering to the latest health protocol recommending the daily consumption of alcohol made me laugh out loud, but with the turn of a page, I found myself agonizing with her as the only dissenter on a six-member trial jury.

"Those of us who survive here are ordinary people, except for all the salt in our systems … This gives us a flavor all our own," she opines.  So have a taste for yourself.  I think you will relish the experience as much as I did.

Judi for Lighthouse Literary Reviews

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Throwing Sticks and Skipping Stones is a humorous, heart warming, good for the soul book. This book is filled with true life stories exerts, life lessons, thoughts, and rants on every subject possible. Some of these topics make you laugh until your sides hurt. Other stories remind the reader to take advantage of the important things in life. All of the stories are entertaining.

I suggest that you take this book, sit yourself down on a bench or under a tree on a beautiful spring day. Then, relax and let your busyness and worries fall away and enjoy the read.

Tami Brady for Book Pleasures.com