Books

Taking the Easy Read

/ still a dreamer / 2 Comments

Have you had times in your life when you just couldn’t get through a book? No focus, no attention, but somewhere inside still longing to read? I think we all have, and as one who loves reading, I find it quite disconcerting, but there it is.

Difficult times are just a part of life, and for months there have been a bit more in my own than I’d like. During this time, I switched from book to book, but couldn’t really focus. So I returned to my ever-faithful and always-waiting selection of unread books, hoping to find the one that would ease me back into reading. And I found it, Dear John by Nicholas Sparks. I checked out all the quickie reviews, and this seems like the book for me – a love story that will engage me but not rip my heart out, that will entertain me without boring me. It’s taking the easy read, but I believe it will hit the spot right now.

And then … much like baking muffins for myself in broad daylight … I did what I really needed, (and wanted). to do. I gave myself the gift of curling up in a chair in the afternoon sun and I began to read Dear John. The cats take this sunshine-seeking in stride; they find the brightest spot of light, position themselves for maximum exposure, and luxuriate in the warmth. I decided to do the same. The dust, the vacuuming, the laundry … it’s not going anywhere.

We need to give ourselves these small gifts, whatever they may be. They make us feel whole. And happy. Why not give yourself a gift today?

Water, Water Everywhere and Not A Drop to Drink

/ still a dreamer / 4 Comments

Forgive me if I’ve misquoted that; it’s only a lead-in anyway … to books, books, and not a page to read. But that wouldn’t be true. I’ve got plenty of books to read. I just can’t seem to figure out what I want to read.

Do you go through periods like this? You want to read a good book, but it seems no matter which one you pick up, its not the right one for right now? That’s where I am. Restless Reader. I’ve turned back to my selection of yet-to-be-read books from last Spring’s book sale and perused other bookshelves and nothing is jumping out at me. I want the book that reaches out, grabs me and sucks me in with fast moving prose and a faster moving storyline. And, of course, it must be very well written. One of the books that comes to mind like that was White Oleander. I need one of those.

So I grabbed this book, Ghosts by John Banville, as the jacket flap reminds me of why I picked it up in the first place. Who can’t get into a good ghost story? We shall see.

And I now have a backup plan. If this isn’t the one, I’m heading over to my local library and getting The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Just saw that in the movies and it was one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. The book can only be better, right? But for now, I’m pinning my hopes on Ghosts.

 

Nov. 26 – Shop Small Business Saturday

/ still a dreamer

Here comes the onslaught – the endless ads and commercials on radio, TV and web -all promising you the perfect Christmas if you just buy from them. And who is ‘them?’ All the big box stores that have multi-millions to advertise, of course.

But while everyone is busy cramping about the crappy economy, they’re also busy running out to these same stores to get a deal. And this while the small businesses in your very own neighborhood are languishing and slowly shuttering their stores due to lack of sales. People … here’s the chance. Shop local!

“The 2nd annual Small Business Saturday® is a day dedicated to supporting small businesses on one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year. On November 26, we’re asking millions of people to shop small at their favorite local stores and help fuel the economy. When we all shop small, it will be huge.” What a great idea.

How about it? Nirvana is not really at Wal-Mart, and by shopping at the small businesses in your town or county, you keep merchants alive who are trying so hard to bring you what they think you want. Got a car wash? Get some gift certificates for friends or family – who wouldn’t love someone else cleaning their car inside and out .. or detailing it? Gift and card shop? There’s always something special for a hard-to-get person, and you’ll most likely be buying Christmas cards. Have a favorite restaurant in your area? pizza place? cafe? Again – gift certificates to eat out are a real treat in this economy, and bound to please anyone. It’s not rocket science, just a shift in thinking.

There are so many options before blowing it all at a big box store. Help your local businesses thrive and get cool stuff for your gift recipients. And although Small Business Saturday is November 26, spread the wealth and expand the time frame. Think small – you’ll feel great.

In this post you see photos of just a small portion of the wide selection of what’s in store in a small business not too far from me. It’s primarily a card and gift shop with an amazing assortment of things inside; it’s called This `N That on the Corner, and it’s located at 38 Bridge Street in Milford, NJ. Shopkeeper Tracy puts her heart and soul into searching out great merchandise and also features local artists. You can come to my neck of the woods and shop here if you’d like – she’d love it! – or maybe take a look around your own neighborhood with new eyes.  The season of giving is upon us – happy small business shopping!

I Wanted to Feel What They Felt

/ still a dreamer

Once you become engaged more seriously in writing, you become much more observant of what you’re reading. It’s not that I am judging or critiquing as I read; I just seem to be much more aware of what is and is not grabbing me.

I just finished Kim Edwards’ The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, recommended by a friend. I actually found it hard to finish; it was simply not engaging me sufficiently. And I know why.

It wasn’t the premise. The premise was excellent and intriguing – David is a doctor who delivers his wife Norah’s baby in a snowstorm at his own clinic, unable to get to the hospital, further away. A healthy baby boy, Paul, and an unexpected baby girl, Phoebe, who clearly has Down’s Syndrome, are born. It is 1962 – a time in which it was sadly common to “get rid of” such babies and put them in institutions. The husband, with weighty memories of a sickly sister who died at 12, asks his nurse, Caroline, to take the girl away to such an institution, telling his wife that the infant died at birth. Caroline brings the baby girl to the institution and cannot bear to leave her there; instead, she brings Phoebe home and secretly raises her on her own. And so begin lifetimes of secrecy and deception.

The potential is here for so many feelings – Norah’s juxtaposition of  joy at her son Paul’s birth, and sorrow in her unknown daughter Phoebe’s supposed death; David’s own loss and guilt; Caroline’s joy in becoming a mother, tangled with guilt; the later developing conflictual feelings between Norah, David and Paul as he grows; and the challenges in Caroline and Phoebe’s lives. So why didn’t I feel them?

In my humble estimation, it seemed the author wrote from a distance. There was plenty of description of what these characters went through, but it wasn’t enough. I wanted to feel what they felt, and I didn’t. I wanted to spend haunted nights with Norah … I know what she did about her feelings, but I didn’t feel her heart. I wanted to feel Caroline’s conflict in a gut-wrenching way. I did not. And so it wasn’t until near the end of the book that I finally felt suspense and became more involved in possible outcomes, and that’s just too late. Overall, I was disappointed.

Granted, this is one woman’s opinion. True that I just came off reading a very powerful author, Barbara Kingsolver. But as I picked up E. Annie Proulx’ collection of short fiction, Heart Strings, I suddenly reconnected to the power of words and their ability to fully engage me, and I can’t wait to get back to this book.

Such things are always reminders of what a challenge it is to really write well, to really engage and touch a reader. Writing novels sure isn’t for sissies.

Some Authors Just Never Get Old

/ still a dreamer

Sometimes it seems like it will take forever to finish a book. No comment on the book itself, just a million distractions, some good, some bad. But how wonderful is it when you are reading an author you love to read and can finally come back to and re-immerse yourself in the story.

I am always amazed when people tell me they don’t like to read. I can’t figure out how that happens. I was most fortunate to be reading at a very early age, perhaps because I was being read to at a very early age. Whether my mother, grandmother or father – or actually even my grandfather sometimes reading us the Sunday comics! – it does seem that there was always someone engaging us in the magic of reading. For this, I am deeply grateful.

I am also deeply grateful that there are so many wonderful authors writing. One whom I’ve loved to read, though I have admittedly only read 3 of her novels thus far, is Barbara Kingsolver. When I first read The Poisonwood Bible, I was blown away. The storyline, the characters, the premise, the setting, but most of all, just how she wrote. So recently, I read The Bean Trees and reread Pigs in Heaven, more wonderful than I remember it.

I am sad to end one of Kingsolver’s books, though I have another one from that annual book sale awaiting me on the shelf, but I got the chance to peruse the many novels I’d chosen from the sale, and am starting The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. Having shelves of books awaiting to be read is, indeed, an embarrassment of riches.