Where to Pick Up

July!!!

It was a busy busy spring... wrapping up the school year, enjoying extended visits with my beautiful daughter and amazing grandchildren, and of course... reading.

You know I do the reading for you... right?
Yes, it all for you!

  I've been posting a lot on my  (somewhat) new instagram account, bee_tweenthelines.  It is a heavy on book suggestions, with a sprinkling of blooms and fun in the kitchen.  It is a public account. If these things interest you, I would love for you to join me.

I have warned you in the past...

 When those squeaky wheels in my brain start turning, I can be a bit dangerous.  Stir in time and a few conversations with my daughter (there may have been some bubbly involved)...
it can get explosive around here.

I don't know if anything will become of all this talk; hopefully I'll have something to share this fall.
I'll keep you posted.  

In the meantime, I'll be reading, cooking and sharing with you here.

Now I'm off to see what you have been up to.

Happy Reading Friends!

Book Talk - Literature at it's Best

"And yet, what Ada had written about joy was entirely true. When she stands before you with her long, naked limbs and her mysterious smile, you must embrace her while you can."

The Snow Child

Eowyn Ivey

I have a new favorite author to add to my list. 

  I am so excited to talk about Eowyn Ivey's The Snow Child.   I want everyone to run to your nearest bookstore or library and grab this book.  If you are snowed in, perfect... download it.

Ivey takes her inspiration from a Russian folktale by the same name, The Snow Child, and in fact, the children's book has a role in her novel.   Stunning scenery... tightly woven narrative... well-developed characters.  Set in a valley near the Alaskan Wolverine river, this book is brutal, magical, mysterious, romantic and heartbreaking.  I wanted to make this one last and savor every sentence, but I couldn't put it down.
  

Grab a blanket, a cup of tea (or beverage of choice... wink, wink), and perhaps a few tissue... yes I was crying at the end of this one... plan to spend this weekend in Alaska.

Have you read The Snow Child?  If so let me know your thoughts.  

I have a question...

Do you participate in reading challenges?  I actually do sign up on Goodreads (I don't know if this is a good thing), but I don't really make it a challenge.  I do it more or less to keep up with my reading habits during the year.  I don't think I have ever committed to more that 25 books in a year.  While I sometimes go well over, I don't want my desire of quantity to take away from my enthusiasm for reading.   And... I have been told (blushing) I am a pretty picky reader.  

  Do you read to log an impressive number of books a year or do you savor a good book searching for themes and messages?  As I tell my children.... there are no right or wrong answers.  We read for different reasons... I am just curious.  

I am building my 2018 TBR list, and would love to hear want you are reading or want to read.  Let's meet here and chat about it.

Stay warm friends and
Happy Reading!  

   

Favorites of 2017

Happy New Year friends!

Do you love the expectation of a new year?  Do you view it as a fresh slate, or is it just the day after December 31st?   I am a big fan of the fresh start.   I like the thought of the old year with all its wrinkles and warts swept out to sea, as a new sparkling unblemished year gently washes ashore to be collected with all 
the promises of tomorrow. 
   
What are your hopes for 2018?

I am dying to tell you about my first read of the year, but in line with putting away the old year I want to share a few of my favorite books I read in 2017. 

A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles.

I first heard about this book, while listening to NPR and loved the premise of a Russian aristocrat living out a life sentence of house arrest in a luxury hotel across the street from the Kremlin.  I fell madly in love with Count Alexander Rostov as he comes to terms with his fate and discovers his purpose through his encounters with employees and patrons of the hotel.  When I finished the last sentence, I wanted to stand up and cheer. 
We are never too old to discover our purpose.

Reading with Patrick , Michelle Kuo

This amazing memoir should be required reading for everyone studying education.  Michelle Kuo tells of her time spent in Helena, Arkansas, one of the poorest areas in the US, teaching for Teach America.  This simply told story is of one teacher, one student and the power of literature to save.  This is what teaching should be about!

Small Great Things, Jodi Picoult

I hadn't picked up a Picoult novel in many years, until I read an article by one of my favorite authors stating "Small Great Things is Jodi Picoult's best book, and one of the best books of 2017.  I don't know where to begin with this one.  I think one reviewer puts it nicely... "With incredible empathy, intelligence, and candor, Jodi Picoult tackles race, privilege, prejudice, justice and compassion -- and doesn't offer easy answers."   Reading Small Great Things, I felt I was helplessly watching a train wreck.   I wanted to shake a couple of the characters and scream, "what are you thinking".  Though, in my opinion,  the ending was wrapped up a bit too comfortably, I did have to sit for awhile with this one and wonder where I fit into this story.  It will sound, maybe, a little clique, and it is perhaps a nod to Reading with Patrick, good literature can be the spark to ignite conversation for change. 

Just one more.... I promise!

To the Bright Edge of the World, Eowyn Ivey

This is a book I picked up because it was late evening, the book I wanted to download from the library, Ivey's first book, was not available.   Ivey gives us a beautiful descriptive story of adventure, love, loyalty and heartbreak.   Using journal entries, letters, news articles and artifacts we are lead on a  treacherous journey with newly commissioned, Colonel Allen Forrester and a few men as they navigate and chart  Alaska's Wolverine River.  Sophie, Forrester's pregnant wife is left behind never knowing her husbands fate.  Writing an epistolary novel would be difficult, giving each person her/his own uniques voice.  Ivey brings to life multi-deminsional characters throughout.  
 The characters... the writing... exquisite!

What were your favorite books of 2017?
If you have read any of my favorites, I want to hear your thoughts.  If you are looking for a good book to open, perhaps one of the above peeks your interest.  There are so many good books on the shelves, and more released every week.  I love hearing what you are reading or want to read.

What will be our favorites of 2018?  
I think I may have just finished one on my list.

A good book, a crackling fire and a cup of tea....

perfect prescription for our cold weather.

Stay warm and

Happy Reading!

Why I Can't Finish "The Polar Express"

I love reading.  

I love reading to children.

Each year before we leave for Christmas vacation I read Chris Van Allsburg's  The Polar Express  to our oldest pre-schoolers.  This year I ask, "Am I reading this year?"  This is probably where I should tell you, The Polar Express is not an easy read for me.   I am an avid reader, and  a make-believe writer...  words are not my problem.  It is this a magical book.

If you are not familiar with this amazing story, here is an abbreviated version.   The narrator, an older man,  who as a child is transported by train,"The Polar Express" to the North Pole to meet Santa, on Christmas Eve.  Each year, after everyone has arrived and gathered in the center of town, Santa appears and selects one child to give the first gift of Christmas.  It is our storyteller who is chosen.  When given the chance to ask for anything, his simple request is one of the reindeer's bells.  Santa delighted by the humble request instructs a bell be cut from a harness and declares it to be the first gift of Christmas.  Upon reboarding the train the child discovers he has lost the precious bell through a hole in the pocket of his robe.  Heartbroken he returns home and bed in time for Christmas morning.  After opening all the presents his sister finds one small box hidden behind the Christmas tree with his name on it.  Inside he finds the lost bell with a note from Santa Claus.  He tells us when he rings the bell, only he and his sister hear it's ringing.  

"At one time most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of them.  Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound.  Though I've grown old, the bell still rings for me as it does for all who truly believe".

You may think this is just a simple story about a boy, Santa and a lost gift.  Oh, my friends,  it is so much more; and I promised an explanation of why I cannot finish without becoming overcome with emotion.  You see, I still hear that bell.  

I always have. 

 I heard it at four when a neighbor told me there was no Santa, and my mother told me Santa was found in my heart.  I heard it at eight when we were told my mother was very sick.  I heard it 29 years later when my mother passed away just before Christmas.  

Yes, just like everyone else, I get stressed out.  I get caught up in the memories, comparisons, and hype of trying to make sure "this Christmas" is the best ever.  Then...  I open The Polar Express, and like our narrator...

I find what is lost, I remember Christmas is not a celebration of what is seen, and 
I hear that tinkling of the bell.

So, amid the stress, sadness, anger and transitions we all face at Christmas and throughout the year, there is no better way to end than with believing in the magic of Christmas, 
and the miracle birth of the Christ child.

May you find time to breathe, to listen and to celebrate.
Merry Christmas!