Tuesday, April 3, 2018

                   Is it snowing again?

"Here cometh April again, and as far as I can see, the world hath more fools in it than ever." Charles Lamb, essayist & poet 


Hey, Mother Nature, it's time to make the donuts, wake up and smell the coffee, shake a leg.

In other words, it's time to wake up and allow spring to fully bloom and shine. Release the sun, please. We were told that the first day of spring was March 20. So far, spring has been coy and mildly flirtatious. There have been soft days, warm days when the spirit feels fully awake and rejuvenated. But the snow falls (again), shovels rest (again) against the house ready to get to work on snowy sidewalks, winter coats and gloves are pulled (again) from the closet with a sigh.

Dear Mother Nature: since December we've had temperatures well into the negative numbers; we've pumped gas when the thermometer read 16 degrees; we've had day after day of not seeing a blink of sun; we've had nights of gusty winds pounding the house and dropping tree branches. We get it. Seasons are notoriously difficult with transition. Please prove T.S. Eliot wrong - April does NOT have to be the cruelest month.

Now we ask (beg, really) for warmth, color, and tender green leaves. We promise to step outside and appreciatively take deep breaths of fresh air. Mother, you're right about human nature - soon we'll be complaining about hail and sunscreen and allergies run amok. But until then, please send some rays of sun and yellow tulips. Thanks, your biggest fan.

It's time for new books and adventure, even if it's raining or snowing. In April, we can get advice, learn new ways to cook pasta, solve a mystery and read about all kinds of families.

                                                        Nonfiction

Leslie Jamison - The Recovering
Lauren Graham - In Conclusion, Don't Worry About It
Michael Benson - Space Odyssey
Outside Magazine - Out There
Cecile Richards - Make Trouble
Barbara Ehrenreich - Natural Causes
Andrew Morton - Meghan
Giada deLaurentiis - Giada's Italy
Ali Wentworth - Go Ask Ali
Sloane Crosley - Look Alive Out There 
Madeleine Albright - Fascism

                                                           Fiction

David Balducci - The Fallen
Meg Wolitzer - The Female Persuasion
Charles Frazier - Varina
Madeline Miller - Circe
Curtis Sittenfeld - You Think It, I'll Say It
Robyn Carr - The Family Gathering

                                                     Mystery/Thriller

John Sandford - Twisted Prey
Mary Higgins Clark - I've Got My Eye On You
Stuart Woods - Shoot First
Martha Grimes - The Knowledge
Anne Hillerman - Cave of Bones
Lisa Scottoline - After Anna
Jo Nesbo - MacBeth
Iris Johansen - Shattered Mirror


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