Teaser Tuesday -- 26 April 2011




Well, it is time for another Teaser Tuesday hosted by MizB at shouldbereading.wordpress.com.  Coming off the heaviness of the Deliverance Dane book, I decided to read something shorter and lighter this week.  So, I chose "Family Affair" by Debbie Macomber.  I haven't read any Macomber, up to now, even though I have a number of her books in my library.  I opted for this one because it was on the sale table at B&N, it is 100 pages long, with two more pages of recipes for your cat, and.....yes, it had a lovely cover.  So, here goes with my teaser --

"Walking into the kitchen, she opened the refrigerator and stuck her head inside, rooting out some sorry-looking leftover, two boxes of take-out Chinese, and the tulip bulbs she'd meant to plant in her balcony flower box last October.  'I'm starved.'  She opened the vegetable bin and toouok out a limp stalk of celery. 'You know my problem, don't you?' " (Page 2.)

25 April 2011

I decided to participate in Musing Mondays hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.  This weeks topic is "Do the members of your family read?  Do you think it was passed down to you?  Who do you think influenced you?

Yes, I come from a reading family.  My father, while not highly educated, was a very well read man.  He loved Egyptology -- he didn't read or tell me stories when I was small, he taught me Egyptian history.  I loved mummies!  He also loved religion, politics and sci-fi.  He taught me that anything you wanted to know was in books.

My mother was a reader.  One of my earliest memories was of my mom reading the newspaper and me sitting on the sofa next to her asking what it was like to be able to know what it said.  I must have been very young when I asked her that because I knew how to read before I was in kindergarten.  As time went on, my mother came to love the library system and by the time my kids were old enough, they made weekly treks to the library bringing home bags of books.  She generally got through all of them before the two week due date arrived. My grandmother read so many library books that she had to put her initials in them so she could tell if she had read them and my aunt had a running list, by author, on a little spiral notebook that she carried in her purse.

I have to say that my biggest influence in reading, after my parents, was my cousin, JLSHall.  She was my "big sister" and even though we behaved like siblings a lot of the time, I still wanted to do everything she did (still do, really) and I loved her books.  As a result, we generally got the same books for Christmas.  We would play "school" with me being the student and she being the teacher -- it was only right since she was in school and I wasn't and I really think that she is the one that taught me to read.  I don't remember a conscious effort on her part but I think that is how it happened since I could read before I went to school.  And, after all these years, I finally got my own copy of "Star Girl". 

Reading was important to my husband and me so I made it a big part of raising my kids.  We always had books in the house, made trips to the local bookstores, bought books at school book fairs, went to the library, etc.  As a result, they are readers as well and both excelled in academics.  I hope that they would say that we were an influence on their interest in reading.

Booking Through Thursday

This week's question asks what is the strangest thing I have ever read.  Well, while it  is technically a book, I would have to say the telephone directory.  Now, before you say that isn't odd -- I guess the circumstances surrounding my reading it are what are odd.  You see, like many teenagers, I had a boyfriend who was the one I hung out with when I was between "real" boyfriends.  I was the same sort of "girlfriend" to him.  Anyway, we would talk  on the phone for hours and when we ran out of things to talk about, we would read the phone book together and find as many funny names as we could.  The funniest that comes to mind was Weldon Rumproast.  I now feel bad about making fun of Mr. Rumproast's name but you have to admit -- it is unique!  As far as teenagers reading the phonebook for entertainment -- what can I say -- we were really innocent!

Wordless Wednesday

I am still reading "The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane" and have posted a couple of teasers from it already so I am going to move on to one of the two newly acquired books.

This teaser is from "The Postmistress"  by Sarah Blake.  I haven't started reading it yet so I will just open the book and start there.



"No, it became clear to them that Miss Iris James's motives were best understood by looking around at the Franklin post office.  As in any of their houses, the spirit of the woman had insinuated itself firmly there." Page 51

So, there you have it.  Not much to go on and not very intriguing but the book looks to be promising.  It takes place in Franklin, Massachusetts in 1940.  It involves the townspeople of this small town during World War II, their attitudes toward the world and to themselves. 

Since I haven't started it, I can't say much more but I am looking forward to reading this one.

Booking Through Thursday


Series? Or stand alone books?


Late with this, again, I realize but this has been a very busy week.  So, the question is, do I prefer series books or stand alone books?  Well, it depends -- cop out answer, I realize but it is true.

If it is a good series, like the Mitford series, I love it because if the book is that good, I really hate to see it end.  However, if it is mediocre, or worse, it is a problem for me because I have a problem not finishing things and a bad series can be a real drag.

For that same reason, I like stand alone books.  Sometimes, in series, they start out great and, like the movie that should have ended half an hour earlier, they sort of "wear out their welcome".  It is especially satisfying when the entire story can be told within one cover.  In the case of the Mitford series (I know, I know), the original story really needs to be told in multiple books.  However, Karon's new Fr. Tim series is stand alone.  Even though the second book subtly references the first, you don't have to have read the first to read the second.  With that said, however, if you haven't read the first, you will want to.

So, I guess my answer to the question is -- both -- depends on the book, the topic, and the author. 

Following the Lead


of LoneStarPrep  I am going to do the ABC meme.  This is an alphabetized list of facts about yourself -- join me in the fun!

A  Age:  Old enough to know better, young enough to not care! Ok, maybe not that young anymore but I really don't want to put an actual NUMBER up here.

B  Bed size:  king -- getting harder to put sheets on due to A.

C  Chore you hate:  eh, pretty much all of them now. 

D  Dogs -- I don't have one but if I did it would be a clone of my sweet Tessie -- a Cairn Terrier.

E  Essential start to your day -  waking up.

F  Favorite color -- don't actually have one

G  Gold or silver -- either -- seems I have a "neutral" complexion which means I can wear either equally well. 

H   Height -- well, I USED to be 5'5 1/2" but after people kept asking me if I was shrinking I had the hubs measure me and I am now 5' 4 1/2" .  I think I will have him remeasure me -- I don't feel any shorter.

I  Instrument you play -- I used to play the piano but now I have no piano so I don't play anything

J  Job title -- wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, cousin, homemaker although I don't really do any work anymore

K  Kids -- two but they aren't kids anymore

L  Live -- Texas

M  My mom's name -- which name -- the one she went by or the one we barely realized she had been given at birth. 

N  Nickname -- Liss

O  Overnight hospital stay -- see K

P  Pet Peeve -- don't really have any except for the giant construction project behind my house.  Other than that, I am pretty laid back.

Q  Quote from a movie -- "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."  I think that is how it went.

R   Righty/lefty?  Righty unless I am sitting on the left side of my husband in a restaurant and then I am a lefty because he is too and if I don't eat with my left hand, we run into each other.

S  Sibling -- zero

T  time you wake up -- depends on several factors none being that I am rested

U underwear -- I don't understand the question. 

V  veggies you dislike -- zero

W  what makes you run late?  Nothing anymore.  Kids used to.

X  Xrays you have had -- knees when 11 years old -- teeth, teeth, teeth all the time with the teeth already.

Y  Yummy food you make -- uh, I am not a good cook however, people do ask for my potato salad.

Z  zoo animal -- It is too hot to go to the zoo -- I guess I really like the penguins. And the bears.  Not crazy about the hippos.

Okie dokie, that is me!

 Wordless Wednesday

Teaser Tuesday

I have been busy so I am only a couple of chapters into "The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane".  It started out a bit slow but picked up quickly.  It begins with Connie Goodwin taking her oral exams so she an begin her research for her doctoral dissertation.  She is, however, interrupted by her mother wanting her to deal with her grandmother's house which has stood vacant for twenty years.  Connie is not happy.  However, as I left off, she and her roommate and best friend Liz have arrived at the house to determine how much of a hot mess they are in.

The next chapter, "Interlude", takes us to Salem Town, Massachusetts, mid-June 1862.  And here is my teaser-

"The day outside was dusty and warm, and yellow, sunbeams spilled through the meetinghouse windows, casting bright puddles of light on the wood-planked floor.  Appleton sat in a majestic tapestried armchair behind the broad library table at the front of the room, elbows propped on the table, arms folded." Page 51.

Blue Monday

Just sitting at our favorite, neighborhood fish place -- Rockfish -- and I looked around and saw this lovely sign.  Fortunately, I had the camera with me.  I think I need a new camera, though, because all my photos are turning out blurry lately.  Could it be because I dropped it on the stone floor?  Hmm.  Could it be because I am just getting old and shaky?  Maybe a bit of both.  Anyway, happy Blue Monday.

Five Things I Can't Live Without

There is a popular meme circulating dealing with the five things the person writing the meme can't live without.  I sort of take issue with this, even though I know it is all in fun, because unless you are talking about food, water and shelter, I don't really know of any of the trappings of today's life that we can't live without.  Look at the generations of people who lived without much of what we have today.So, I am changing things up a bit. My meme is going to be about preferences. Also, I won't be adding God, Hubs, The Kids (all four) or the G-Kids (3) because, after all, they are NOT THINGS, they are all a very necessary, serious, life sustaining part of my life and will not be part of something as superfluous as a blog meme.


So, I prefer to call my meme --

The Five Things I PREFER Not To Live Without

1.  Central heat and air.  I live in Texas,  'Nuf said!

2.  Refrigeration.  Living out of a cooler isn't fun unless you are camping.  A power outage isn't considered camping in my book.

3.  Books.  Once a reader, always a reader.  I am not complete unless I have a book to read.  Or a magazine.

4.  My gas stove.  While I did have to override the electric igniter when we had the power outage during the Big Snow last year, I could light it with a match and cook.  So, yeah, no electric cook tops for me anymore.

5.  My glasses.  While I can see from here to probably Austin, I can't, however, read the aforementioned book without specs.  So, yeah, gotta have them.

So, there you have it.  Maybe the next meme should be called "Five Things We Could All Do Better Without".  I have a list for that too but that is another post.