Teaser Tuesday asks you to : Grab your current read, Open to a random page, Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page. Since I’m too lazy to go upstairs and get one of the books on my nightstand, I grabbed The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver from the shelf above my desk. It’s about a woman who is given a toddler outside a bar and the emotional journey of abandonment and belonging that follows. I’ve enjoyed reading everything Ms. Kingsolver has written over the years, but this was one of my favorites. On page 17, as the main character first meets the child, she writes…She wrapped her blanket around and around it until it became a round bundle with a head. Then she set this bundle down on the seat of my car. A good read. Still no baby news here. After losing her first baby girl at five months gestation last April, Meagan feels like she’s been pregnant and waiting for over a year for this baby, which is true. That’s my niece’s little daughter, Aryielle, in the photo. I took her outside for pictures the other day and she immediately pulled a bloom off one of great-grandpa’s flowers so she could smell it. I then proceeded to chase her and her flower around for over thirty minutes, taking a two year old’s picture is not easy! I did get a few good ones though that I might post tomorrow for Wordless Wednesday:)
Category Archives: Books
teaser tuesdays
Teaser Tuesday asks you to : Grab your current read, Open to a random page, Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page. I’m reading The Laws of Harmony by Judith Ryan Hendricks. I won the book at a giveaway from the book blog Reading with Ti as well as a pretty shawl like the one on the book cover, thanks again Ti! It’s about a woman whose life is turned upside down when her boyfriend dies in a mysterious accident. She takes off in an attempt to reinvent herself and begin a new life. My book club just finished Paul Auster’s, The Book of Illusions, which is a much darker take on the same theme. A character leaving a life of sorrow behind, isolating themselves from their grief and from other people. We had an interesting discussion in book club about this, about how we deal with what life throws at us and about identity, who we would be if you took away our families, jobs, and friends. My two sentences from this book are from page 282, I feel disorientated, one foot in Aromina, the other in Harmony. And the memories will be back soon enough. I did the photo-mainpluation a while ago and thought it illustrated this idea perfectly!
teaser tuesday
Rather than pick up the book I’m reading now for my two Teaser Tuesday lines, I went to my bookshelf and pulled out The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodson Burnett. As a young reader, it was one of the first novels I read and I haven’t looked at it for many years. As a matter of fact, I don’t think I’ve ever read the actual book in my hands, I bought it just so I would have a copy in my library. I hope my future granddaughter is a reader. I would love to have her wander into my den and pick up this book someday, then ask me what it’s about and whether I liked it. When I opened the book this morning my eye went right to this wonderful line, “Fair fresh leaves, and buds-and-buds-tiny at first but swelling and working Magic until they burst and uncurled into cups of scent delicately spilling themselves over their brims and filling the garden air.”
I’ve been working outside a lot for the past few days, weeding and planting flowers in my own garden. We’re making a lot of major changes in the landscaping around the house this year, taking down many old trees and shrubs. There are times in our lives when we don’t want change, when we perhaps get a little too comfortable with the way things are. This spring, I felt like I needed to shake things up a bit. While Mr. bookbabie was concerned about cutting down the overgrown trees, I couldn’t wait to have them gone. I wanted to cut out all the old growth around our property and let in more light, start over again with new trees and shrubs and a whole new color palette for the flowers. Perhaps it’s silly, but I think a part of me hopes that this landscape makeover will also help makeover my spirit, cutting out the old dead growth and letting in a rainbow of fresh new light 🙂
teaser tuesday
I’m participating in a Tuesday book meme this week where you open the book you’re reading to a random page and share two lines. I just started reading the Pulitzer Prize winning book, Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. I opened the book to page 127 and spotted these two sentences: They weren’t young anymore, this was the thing. They kept telling each other as though they couldn’t believe it. Those lines struck me as pretty funny because my husband and I often do the same thing. He’ll complain about some misbehaving aging body part (on himself, he knows better than to notice or point out mine!) and then we’ll comment on how old we’re getting. This exchange is usually followed by shrugs and one of us saying rather Zen-like, “Well, what’s the alternative?” And no, that is not me and Mr. bookbabie in the photo smooching, but hopefully it will be someday! Click on brown box below to see what others are reading at Teaser Tuesday…
tuesday tidbits
Need some help picking your next book? Go to this reader generated website, plug in one of your favorite books and get a list of similar books. The painting in this post is by the French painter, Jean-Baptiste-Camille. Looking at his work has gotten me thinking about taking one of the photos I did of Andy and Meagan and painting it. I seem to be “thinking” about going back to painting more and more lately, which is good I suppose, now I just need to put those thoughts into action! I still haven’t quite kicked the flu, it’s been over two weeks and I’m feeling a little frustrated. Luckily, I did a lot of the prep for Meagan’s baby shower earlier this month so I’m not stressing about the fast approaching May 3rd date. Meagan is feeling good and baby Brooklyn is over three pounds now so we are all counting our blessings and waiting for the day we can count her tiny fingers and toes!
mosaic monday
I’ve never made a blessing journal but I’ve decided to make that my spring art project (she says looking out the window forlornly at the freakin’ snow!) and I think I’ll do it in the form of an altered book. If you’ve never seen one, an altered book is when an artist takes a book and turns it into a mixed media work of art. You do this with collage, paints, folding, glue, stamping…etc. There’s a set of altered books on flickr and this artist has a cool portfolio. They are sold in galleries or just used as personal journals or scrapebooks. I’ve never “violated” a book before like this, but I think it will be a good creative exercise for me. Click on the blessings poster if you want to make your own, happy spring, I guess I’ll go shovel the driveway now!
winning wednesday
Mr. Bookbabie dipped his germy little fingers (he’s home with a nasty cold) into a hat (yes, I really do it the old fashioned way!) and he pulled out a winner. Drum-roll please…..the winner of the March Madness Book Giveaway is Ti! I’ve sent you an email asking for an address, as soon as I get it a new, hard cover copy of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society will come your way directly from Barnes & Noble. Congratulations Ti, hope you enjoy the read:)
march madness book giveaway
I recently read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and really enjoyed it. It’s written as a series of letters between a group of people and when I first started it I wasn’t sure if I’d like the format. It wasn’t long, however, before I forgot about the format (which is actually great for starting and stopping, each letter is like a little chapter) and became absorbed by the story. Juliet Ashton is a writer looking for inspiration for her next book. She begins to exchange letters with a small book club on Guernsey in the Channel islands off the coast of England. The story takes place just after the Second World War, and as she gets to know the people of the island she learns how the German occupation during the war impacted their lives. You get a little history with this novel, the Channel Islands were occupied during the war, you get some tragedy, a touch of bravery, a scenic setting, and of course, love. What more do you need? Sadly, the novel’s first time author, Mary Ann Shaffer, passed away before the book was published and her niece Annie Barrows saw it through to publication in honor of her aunt. It is a charming, entertaining little book that will take your mind off the evening news and the economy. If you’d like to win a new, hard cover copy of this book, leave a comment on this post, I’ll pick a random winner on March 25, good luck!
bookbabie 