September
Mary Antin: "The apex of my civic pride and personal contentment was reached on the bright September morning when I entered the public school." from "The Promised Land"
Summer is drifting away and fall is creeping closer. Daisies and impatiens are moving aside for pots filled with mums and pansies. The evening air is becoming a bit chilly as the sun drops behind the treeline. It's time to settle into a new routine of school, reading, and shorter days.
New books:
Ken Follett - Edge of Eternity
Lee Child - Personal
Lena Dunham - Not That Kind of Girl
Kathy Reichs - Bones Never Lie
James Ellroy - Perfidia
Tana French - The Secret Place
Ian McEwan - The Children Act
Ginger Alden - Elvis and Ginger
Geoffrey Ward & Ken Burns - The Roosevelts
Carl Hiaasen - Skink - No Surrender (YA)
September is Library Card Sign-up Month & Be Kind to Writers and Editors Month
September Days
1 - National No-Rhyme Day
1-7 - International Enthusiasm Week (share your enthusiasm for reading!)
3 - Birth of Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers)
4 - Birth of Richard Wright (Black Boy)
8 - International Literacy Day
11 - Patriot Day; National Day of Service and Remembrance
13 - Birth of Roald Dahl (James and the Giant Peach)
16 - Anne Bradstreet Day. American poet,1612-1672. "I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold." Questioned her Puritan faith as well as the role of women in society.
20 - Birth of George R.R. Martin (Game of Thrones)
21-27 - Banned Books Week
21-27 - National Keep Kids Creative Week
22 - First Day of Autumn
22 - Hobbit Day (Thanks, J.R.R. Tolkien)
24 - Punctuation Day. Watch those commas and periods.
24 - Death of Dr. Seuss (Green Eggs and Ham)
26 - Birth of Jane Smiley (A Thousand Acres)
27 - R.E.A.D in America Day. Celebrate Reading Helps Everyone Accomplish Dreams Day. Encourage a child to read each day.
30 - Birth of Truman Capote (In Cold Blood)
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Sunday, August 31, 2014
Monday, August 4, 2014
August
Natalie Babbitt: "The first week of August is motionless and hot. It is curiously silent, too, with blank, white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color."
from "Tuck Everlasting"
Celebrate the arrival of August with picnics, chilled white wine, ice cream desserts, and trips to the cool library! On the shelves are new books by Chris Bohjalian, Amy Bloom and Stephen Carter. Look for paperbacks by Louise Penny, Margaret Atwood and Edwidge Danticat.
This month marks the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I. I'm reading Barbara Tuchman's "Guns of August" and Erich Maria Remarque's "All Quiet on the Western Front."
August Days
3 - Birth of P.D. James (Children of Men) in 1920.
5 - Birth of Guy de Maupassant (The Necklace) in 1850.
7 - Garrison Keillor was born on this day in 1942. No, he wasn't born in Lake Wobegon!
9-13 - Play Scrabble Days. Check those dictionaries!
10 - Read Hunger Games in honor of Suzanne Collins' birthday.
12 - In 1964, the world welcomed Katherine Boo (Behind the Beautiful Forevers) and said farewell to Ian Fleming (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang).
14 - In 1949, Margaret Mitchell (Gone With the Wind) died.
18 - Bad Poetry Day. Choose your own worst poet!
10 - Ogden Nash (Candy is Dandy) was born in 1902.
17 - Freedom author Jonathan Franzen was born in 1959.
18 - Birth of Nicole Krauss (History of Love) in 1974. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes author, Anita Loos died in 1981.
22 - Ray Bradbury (The Martian Chronicles) was born in 1920.
27 - Theodore Dreiser (Sister Carrie) was born in 1871. Bennett Cerf (Shake Well Before Using) died in 1971.
28 - Anna Karenina's Leo Tolstoy was born in 1828.
30 - Mary Shelley (Frankenstein) was born in 1797.
Natalie Babbitt: "The first week of August is motionless and hot. It is curiously silent, too, with blank, white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color."
from "Tuck Everlasting"
Celebrate the arrival of August with picnics, chilled white wine, ice cream desserts, and trips to the cool library! On the shelves are new books by Chris Bohjalian, Amy Bloom and Stephen Carter. Look for paperbacks by Louise Penny, Margaret Atwood and Edwidge Danticat.
This month marks the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I. I'm reading Barbara Tuchman's "Guns of August" and Erich Maria Remarque's "All Quiet on the Western Front."
August Days
3 - Birth of P.D. James (Children of Men) in 1920.
5 - Birth of Guy de Maupassant (The Necklace) in 1850.
7 - Garrison Keillor was born on this day in 1942. No, he wasn't born in Lake Wobegon!
9-13 - Play Scrabble Days. Check those dictionaries!
10 - Read Hunger Games in honor of Suzanne Collins' birthday.
12 - In 1964, the world welcomed Katherine Boo (Behind the Beautiful Forevers) and said farewell to Ian Fleming (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang).
14 - In 1949, Margaret Mitchell (Gone With the Wind) died.
18 - Bad Poetry Day. Choose your own worst poet!
10 - Ogden Nash (Candy is Dandy) was born in 1902.
17 - Freedom author Jonathan Franzen was born in 1959.
18 - Birth of Nicole Krauss (History of Love) in 1974. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes author, Anita Loos died in 1981.
22 - Ray Bradbury (The Martian Chronicles) was born in 1920.
27 - Theodore Dreiser (Sister Carrie) was born in 1871. Bennett Cerf (Shake Well Before Using) died in 1971.
28 - Anna Karenina's Leo Tolstoy was born in 1828.
30 - Mary Shelley (Frankenstein) was born in 1797.
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Welcome Back
Russell Baker: "Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it."
Summer - what happened to summer? June is a fond and distant memory of being busy with classes, books, plans for fall etc... There was another writing class scheduled in July along with the dream of day trips and enjoying summer afternoons. However, during a visit to my hometown just before Independence Day, acute bronchitis took control of my family. Tucked back into our own homes (in three different states) we complained to each other via texting (it hurt too much to talk). We compared doctors' visits and temperatures. We coughed a lot. A whole lot. I missed my class in early July and spent the rest of the month in a tired haze.
A hopeful sign of better health around the corner was a renewed interest in evenings spent reading. And I was fortunate enough to have a leaning tower of books as company.
Nancy Jensen's "The Sisters" is a poignant story of an older sister trying to protect a younger sister, and the plan goes horribly wrong. "The Sisters" examines the power of family secrets and misunderstood actions.
The newest memoir by Gail Caldwell, "New Life, No Instructions" will resonate with baby boomers as Caldwell works through the universal question: "What do you do when the story changes in midlife?" Caldwell shares her own struggle with aging and making sense of a rapidly changing life.
The first book I've read from the long list of Kate Morton's work is "The Secret Keeper." Morton's character, Laurel, witnesses a murder, and as with many family secrets (especially in Morton's books) the truth demands to be set free decades later.
If you need to cool off and shiver with fear at the same time, check out these two books: "Winter People" by Jennifer McMahon and "Mind of Winter" by Laura Kasischke. I read them back-to-back over a weekend. If I had to choose which was the most gripping - "Winter People" would be my choice. Told from different viewpoints and even different eras in West Hall, Vermont, the story involves a mother's disappearance and asks the question - can we bring back the dead? "Mind of Winter" tells the tale of a young couple who adopt a baby from Russia. But did something else join them on the trip back to the United States? A snowed-in Christmas Day provides all the answers. If you still need to feel a shiver, read Stephen King's latest - "Mr. Mercedes." The novel is both unsettling and sad.
And just in time for back to school, read "Year of Billy Miller" by Kevin Henkes. It is a sweet, but not sentimental, story of a little boy's journey through second grade.
Happy Reading!
Russell Baker: "Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it."
Summer - what happened to summer? June is a fond and distant memory of being busy with classes, books, plans for fall etc... There was another writing class scheduled in July along with the dream of day trips and enjoying summer afternoons. However, during a visit to my hometown just before Independence Day, acute bronchitis took control of my family. Tucked back into our own homes (in three different states) we complained to each other via texting (it hurt too much to talk). We compared doctors' visits and temperatures. We coughed a lot. A whole lot. I missed my class in early July and spent the rest of the month in a tired haze.
A hopeful sign of better health around the corner was a renewed interest in evenings spent reading. And I was fortunate enough to have a leaning tower of books as company.
Nancy Jensen's "The Sisters" is a poignant story of an older sister trying to protect a younger sister, and the plan goes horribly wrong. "The Sisters" examines the power of family secrets and misunderstood actions.
The newest memoir by Gail Caldwell, "New Life, No Instructions" will resonate with baby boomers as Caldwell works through the universal question: "What do you do when the story changes in midlife?" Caldwell shares her own struggle with aging and making sense of a rapidly changing life.
The first book I've read from the long list of Kate Morton's work is "The Secret Keeper." Morton's character, Laurel, witnesses a murder, and as with many family secrets (especially in Morton's books) the truth demands to be set free decades later.
If you need to cool off and shiver with fear at the same time, check out these two books: "Winter People" by Jennifer McMahon and "Mind of Winter" by Laura Kasischke. I read them back-to-back over a weekend. If I had to choose which was the most gripping - "Winter People" would be my choice. Told from different viewpoints and even different eras in West Hall, Vermont, the story involves a mother's disappearance and asks the question - can we bring back the dead? "Mind of Winter" tells the tale of a young couple who adopt a baby from Russia. But did something else join them on the trip back to the United States? A snowed-in Christmas Day provides all the answers. If you still need to feel a shiver, read Stephen King's latest - "Mr. Mercedes." The novel is both unsettling and sad.
And just in time for back to school, read "Year of Billy Miller" by Kevin Henkes. It is a sweet, but not sentimental, story of a little boy's journey through second grade.
Happy Reading!
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