Southern Reading Challenge: Garden Spells

I finished this one a couple of days ago, but I'm just now getting around to blogging it.

Allen, Sarah Addison. Garden Spells. New York: Bantam, 2007.

This is a delightful book. Sydney Waverley had always wanted nothing more than to get out of her town of Bascom, North Carolina. After being involved in an abusive relationship, she finds herself heading back there to provide safety and security for her daughter Bay. She moves in with her sister Claire who has never been involved in a romantic relationship. There is an apple tree in their yard with magical powers, a colorful relative named Evanelle who has quite the instinct for gift-giving, and several other memorable characters. It was a fascinating read that held my attention as I waited on the inevitable to happen. I do caution fellow Christians that the book contains premarital sex and characters who live alternative lifestyles.

What an Animal Challenge!

Kristi at Passion for the Page is hosting the What an Animal Reading Challenge. The books can be fiction or non-fiction. You only have to read 6 books before June 30, 2009 that fit the criteria. Since I'm reading one at the moment that fits, I'll have only 5 more to go. Basically any animal will do. The animal role can be as simple as a picture of an animal on the cover or in the title of the book, an animal with a major role in the book, or a main character that turns into an animal (although I doubt any of mine will fit into that last category). You just have to sign up with Mr. Linky at Kristi's site.

My first book is the latest Miss Zukas mystery by Jo Dereske entitled Index to Murder. It has a cat on the cover. Those of you who have read previous Miss Zukas mysteries know that Helma's cat is Boy Cat Zukas. I'm going to opt to not list the other five I intend to read right now because I have no idea which ones from my stash, the library, or books that I purchase between now and the time I finish that 6th book I'll be motivated to pick up first!

UPDATE OF BOOKS READ ALONG WITH DATES COMPLETED:

Dereske, Jo. Index to Murder. (completed 4 July 2008)

Tuesday Thingers: Top 100

This week's Tuesday Thingers involves the top 100 books on LibraryThing. Here are the instructions: Bold what you own, italicize what you've read. Star what you liked. Star multiple times what you loved!

Just a side note. I used to own many more of the classic literary works, but I parted with them in a move a few years ago. I owned some of the ones that are not marked in any way on here now because I didn't read them!

1. Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone by J.K. Rowling (32,484)
2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6) by J.K. Rowling (29,939)
3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5) by J.K. Rowling (28,728)
4. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2) by J.K. Rowling (27,926)
5. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book 3) by J.K. Rowling (27,643)
6. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4) by J.K. Rowling (27,641)
7. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (23,266)
8. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (21,325)
9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) by J.K. Rowling (20,485)
10. 1984 by George Orwell (19,735)
11. Pride and Prejudice (Bantam Classics) by Jane Austen (19,583)
12. The catcher in the rye by J.D. Salinger (19,082)
13. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (17,586) *
14. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (16,210)
15. The lord of the rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (15,483)
16. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (14,566)
17. Jane Eyre (Penguin Classics) by Charlotte Bronte (14,449) *
18. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (13,946)**
19. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (13,272)
20. Animal Farm by George Orwell (13,091)
21. Angels & demons by Dan Brown (13,089)
22. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (13,005)
23. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (12,777)*
24. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Oprah's Book Club) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (12,634)
25. The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, Part 1) by J.R.R. Tolkien (12,276)
26. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (12,147)
27. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (11,976)
28. The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, Part 2) by J.R.R. Tolkien (11,512)
29. The Odyssey by Homer (11,483)
30. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (11,392)
31. Slaughterhouse-five by Kurt Vonnegut (11,360)
32. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (11,257)
33. The return of the king : being the third part of The lord of the rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (11,082)
34. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (10,979)
35. American Gods: A Novel by Neil Gaiman (10,823)
36. The chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis (10,603) *
37. The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy by Douglas Adams (10,537)
38. Lord of the Flies by William Golding (10,435)
39. The lovely bones : a novel by Alice Sebold (10,125)
40. Ender's Game (Ender, Book 1) by Orson Scott Card (10,092)
41. The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, Book 1) by Philip Pullman (9,827)
42. Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman (9,745)
43. Dune by Frank Herbert (9,671)
44. Emma by Jane Austen (9,610) *
45. Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (9,598)
46. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Bantam Classics) by Mark Twain (9,593) *
47. Anna Karenina (Oprah's Book Club) by Leo Tolstoy (9,433)
48. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (9,413)
49. Middlesex: A Novel by Jeffrey Eugenides (9,343)
50. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire (9,336)
51. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (9,274)
52. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien (9,246)
53. The Iliad by Homer (9,153)
54. The Stranger by Albert Camus (9,084)
55. Sense and Sensibility (Penguin Classics) by Jane Austen (9,080)
56. Great Expectations (Penguin Classics) by Charles Dickens (9,027)
57. The Handmaid's Tale: A Novel by Margaret Atwood (8,960)
58. On the Road by Jack Kerouac (8,904)
59. Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt (8,813)
60. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery - (8,764)
61. The lion, the witch and the wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (8,421) *
62. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (8,417)*
63. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (8,368)
64. The Grapes of Wrath (Centennial Edition) by John Steinbeck (8,255)
65. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (8,214)***
66. The Name of the Rose: including Postscript to the Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (8,191)
67. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (8,169) *** [This is not showing up in my LibraryThing, but I know I own it. It's one of those that is packed in a box.]
68. Moby Dick by Herman Melville (8,129)
69. The complete works by William Shakespeare (8,096)
70. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond (7,843)
71. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris (7,834)
72. The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel (Perennial Classics) by Barbara Kingsolver (7,829)
73. Hamlet (Folger Shakespeare Library) by William Shakespeare (7,808)
74. Of Mice and Men (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century) by John Steinbeck (7,807)
75. A Tale of Two Cities (Penguin Classics) by Charles Dickens (7,793)
76. The Alchemist (Plus) by Paulo Coelho (7,710)
77. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (7,648)
78. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (Barnes & Noble Classics) by Oscar Wilde (7,598)
79. The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition by William Strunk (7,569)
80. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (7,557)
81. The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, Book 2) by Philip Pullman (7,534)
82. Atonement: A Novel by Ian McEwan (7,530)
83. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (7,512)
84. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (7,436)
85. Dracula by Bram Stoker (7,238)
86. Heart of Darkness (Dover Thrift Editions) by Joseph Conrad (7,153)
87. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (7,055)
88. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (7,052)*
89. The amber spyglass by Philip Pullman (7,043)
90. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Penguin Classics) by James Joyce (6,933)
91. The Unbearable Lightness of Being: A Novel (Perennial Classics) by Milan Kundera (6,901)
92. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (6,899)
93. Neuromancer by William Gibson (6,890)
94. The Canterbury Tales (Penguin Classics) by Geoffrey Chaucer (6,868)
95. Persuasion (Penguin Classics) by Jane Austen (6,862)
96. Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (6,841)
97. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (6,794)
98. Angela's Ashes: A Memoir by Frank McCourt (6,715)
99. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers (6,708)
100. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli (6,697)

Non-Fiction Five Challenge: Book 4

Maxwell, Nancy Kalikow. Sacred Stacks: The Higher Purpose of Libraries and Librarianship. Chicago: American Library Association, 2006.

3 stars. The author draws an analogy between religious calling and the calling of librarianship. There were parts of this book with which I could nod my head in agreement; however, the author takes an analogy and consistently stretches it too far throughout most of the book. I had to force myself to continue throughout most of the early chapters, but the later chapters were written in a more engaging style. I struggled as to whether or not I should rate this as a 2.5 or 3. I decided to err with the more generous rating although I'm not sure that it's quite at that level.

Book Review: The Richest Season

I received this title through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.

4.5 stars.

The Richest Season is a very enjoyable read. Joanna has lived the life of a corporate wife for years. When the prospect of another move due to her husband's promotion to Vice President confronts her, she just can't take it any more and moves out. A corporate merger means Paul is out of a job. Both of them come to terms with what is really important. The ending was not a surprise for me as I could see how the story line was building. I was also very satisfied with the outcome. This book would make an excellent beach read. I look forward to McFadden's next novel.

I'd love to say more, but I don't want to give away the plot!

Update (6/20): Replaced advanced review copy jacket with jacket that will be used on book.

Boston Diary - June 13, Part 2

The waterfront with Bunker Hill Monument (on Breeds Hill, of course) in the background.
This bird was posing for me!
"Old Ironsides," the U.S.S. Constitution. I did go aboard today.

I walked back across the bridge to Hanover Street. I decided to try a different Italian restaurant, but I picked the wrong one. I chose the Florentine Cafe because it was charming with the window boxes of flowers. Inside the Italians were all watching the soccer game on ESPN. Somehow the sports atmosphere ruined the charm of the flowers.
I wanted something with a marinara sauce. Since the only thing on the menu I saw with this type of sauce was spaghetti and meatballs, that's what I ordered. This is after I cut up the meatballs. I wish that I'd gone back to Giacomo's. I'd rate Giacomo's 5/5 and I'd rate the Florentine 3/5 on taste. Not to despair though. Mike's Pastry was nearby so I had my final cannoli of this trip. I wonder if they'd like to put in a branch in East Tennessee? I'm really going to miss Mike's!
The produce looked good!
I also went to King's Chapel Burial Ground.

Gov. Winthrop is one of its most famous burials!
Overview of cemetery.
My last stop (because my feet were too tired to go on much longer) was the Brattle Book Shop, a renowned antiquarian book dealer. I browsed the local history and genealogy sections, but I didn't purchase anything because I don't have room in the luggage for more books! (I'd already found some nice books on the burying grounds in the book section of a gift shop early. Those were the only ones I could make fit!)
Since my feet were "dropping," I decided it was time to take the T back to Quincy and call the hotel for the shuttle. I came back and was saddened to hear of Tim Russert's death. Someone in the NBC news family will have big shoes to fill.

May 2008 Reads

Here is my list of books read in May 2008:

Riggs, Cynthia. Deadly Nightshade.

Stanley, J. B. Chili Con Corpses.

Page, Katherine Hall. The Body in the Snowdrift.

Gilbert, Elizabeth. Eat, Pray, Love.

Webb, James H. Born Fighting.

Rubin, Chana. Food for the Soul.

Foose, Martha Hall. Screen Doors and Sweet Tea.

Brandenburg, Molly. Everyday Cat Excuses. (This one does not necessarily meet the criteria for the book binge.)

Gilmore, Susan Gregg. Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen.

Taylor, Sarah Stewart. Still as Death.

Belmond, C. A. A Rather Lovely Inheritance. (I'm ready to begin page 145 of 355 tonight.)

Reviews of most of these are on my blog or in my LibraryThing reviews.

Southern Reading Challenge: Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen

Gilmore, Susan Gregg. Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen. New York: Shaye Areheart Books, 2008.

Catherine Grace Cline lives in Ringgold, Georgia. She is reared by her father, a Baptist minister. Growing up without her mother, Catherine Grace seeks womanly advice from the next-door neighbor Gloria Jean who has been married five times. Catherine Grace has one dream--to leave Ringgold on her 18th birthday. With Gloria Jean's help and advice through the years, she is able to accomplish this. Secrets from the past threaten Catherine Grace's future. I'll stop here because I don't want to give away the rest of this excellent coming-of-age novel. It is sometimes funny and sometimes tear-jerking. I didn't want to put it down and stayed up way past bedtime on a work night to finish reading it.

I forgot to scan the cover before I returned the book to the library! Sorry about that!

This was read for Maggie's Southern Book Challenge.

Non-Fiction Five Challenge: Book 2

Webb, James. Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America. New York: Broadway Books, 2004. (ISBN 0767916883)

Webb outlines the warlike spirit of the Scots-Irish as he tells their history. I enjoyed the earlier parts of the book which were based on research far more than the latter parts which were more of a personal memoir. The author does offer insights into the cultures of Appalachia and the South. The reader can see how the Scots-Irish settlers shaped these cultures.

Non-Fiction Five Challenge: Book 1

Gilbert, Elizabeth. Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everthing Across Italy, India, and Indonesia. (ISBN 978-0-14-303841-2)

I ran out of books on my trip to the Bahamas. The book selection was rather limited in the Fort Lauderdale airport. This sounded like one of the more interesting reads, although I knew that I'd disagree with the author in regards to spiritual matters. I purchased it to read on the flight home. I also discovered that we disagree on political matters. The author set out to find herself after a divorce. She travelled to the three I's--Italy, India, and Indonesia. The real search was for God, but she was searching for Him in all the wrong places. No one will find God in Yoga or in Hinduism. In many places in the book, the observations she wrote sounded similar to Biblical truths; however, I'm reminded that Satan is a liar. He will often snare someone by making something appear to be good when in reality it is leading one down a slippery slope that will eventually separate them from God. (cf. 1 John 2) I found myself wanting to tell the author about the one true God--much as the apostle Paul told those in the Areopagus of the one true God in Acts 17.

Non-Fiction Five Challenge

I'm sure that I can do this book challenge, so I'm signing up! Basically, a participant needs to read 5 non-fiction books between May and September. At least one needs to be a different category than the others. (I learned of this challenge via Maggie.) I'm sure several of mine will be history or genealogy related, but I've got a few others from different categories that I've been wanting to read, so I'm going to sign up. If I'm lucky, my Advance Review Copy from March will arrive from Gefen Publishing House that I obtained through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers' Program. It will fit nicely into this challenge.

May 20, 2008:

1. Gilbert, Elizabeth. Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia. (read May 15, 2008)
2. Webb, James. Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America. (read May 21, 2008)
3. Rubin, Chana. Food for the Soul: Traditional Jewish Wisdom for Healthy Eating. (read May 22, 2008)
4. Maxwell, Nancy Kalikow. Sacred Stacks: The Higher Purpose of Libraries and Librarianship. (read June 30, 2008)

Books, Books, and More Books

I just found out that I'll be receiving an early reviewer's copy of the cookbook Food for the Soul by Chana Rubin through LibraryThing's early reviewer program. It is published by Gefen Publishing House. This is the blurb for it:

With the information included in this book, you will be well equipped to make healthy food choices and prepare nutritious meals for you and your family. Food for the Soul: Traditional Jewish Wisdom for Healthy Eating addresses nutrition and health from a Jewish perspective. The nutrition information is universal, but tailored to the Jewish population's specific needs - kashrut, lifestyle, Shabbat and holidays, fast days and the unique Jewish culture of food.

I'm excited about receiving this book. I always love cookbooks with a twist, such as an ethnic one. I love culinary histories too. I'll see whether it lives up to my expectations when it arrives.

I found great buys on some cookbooks yesterday, picking up three titles that I will enjoy.

A friend of mine emailed me about a great book sale so I went tonight and purchased several books. I'm very excited about getting copies of Daniel Boorstein's The Colonial Period and The Democratic Experience for $3.50 each. I also picked up several other books, but the history books are the ones that excite me. The colonial period is my favorite era of American history. The other book deals with the period immediately following the Civil War. I've used these books before, but I've never owned them!

My 700th Post

This is my 700th post. It's going to be one of those posts that really doesn't have a single topic because it's been a very busy day for me (as are most Sundays).

I spent the late afternoon conducting auditions for the speaking parts in our church's children's musical for the spring. After getting home from church tonight, I'm just now getting around to checking email, reading blogs, etc. I guess I just haven't had time to think up a better post. I'm not as organized as my cousin Terry who has his posts for the week determined in advance. I guess that's how those of us who are "ENTP" are!

Most of you know that I have a weakness for cats! I love the cross stitch project Renee has just completed. It's a Margaret Sherry pattern for the spring "Cool Cat."

I found the Lynn Shoeworkers Strike post, the post on the Irish famine, and the post about Natick's establishment interesting this week at Mass Moments.

Muddy called his post "How to Get Attention," but I thought it might have an alternate title as "Sitting Upon the Throne Where I Belong. Now go do my bidding."

Randy is extending a discussion that we have been having on the APG mailing list about what people call their grandparents to the blogosphere. I've already replied to Carolyn privately so I won't confuse the mix by adding mine to the discussion again, but if you haven't contributed yours, please do so. It's become a very interesting discussion.

Now, I'm off to read. I'm in the midst of Murder on Marble Row by Victoria Thompson. This installment in the series is set in the late 1800s when Teddy Roosevelt is New York's police commissioner. This is the 6th book in the series, and I can't wait to get back to reading it. That should tell you something about how much I'm enjoying it!

One last thing . . . they are predicting snow for Wednesday. I hope they are right!

Blood Ballad

As soon as I finished the book I was reading, I had to read Rett's latest book. I loved it. Torie receives some recordings that threaten to overturn her carefully researched family trees, but rather than accepting them at face value she carefully reseaches the quick conclusions others have reached. In the meantime, Torie and local busybody Eleanore Murdoch are in the path of bullets while they are out birding before a body gets "dumped" (almost) on them. An extra horse shows up in Torie's pasture about the same time. Torie's genealogical sleuthing skills help resolve all the mysteries and a few more. This book is better than I recall the last two or three books in the series being. I loved the plot and the twists, and I must say that I didn't have a clue on the "whodunit" aspect of the modern mystery until near the end. I kind of suspected the "whodunit" of the older mystery but had not fully resolved it in my mind. (I still wondered if it could have been done by a few of the other suspects although I thought the one who did it had.) If you love genealogy and the cozy mystery genre, this is a great read!

It's Here . . . the latest Rett MacPherson book!

I had pre-ordered Rett MacPherson's genealogical mystery, and I found it on my doorstep when I got home.

I can't wait to finish the book I'm reading so I can begin this one. This is the 11th in the series, and I've loved every single one of them since I stumbled across the first book in the series on the new book shelf at the Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County years ago!

Non-Fiction Meme

Just by reading Maggie Reads, I've been tagged in a meme created by Gautami.

What issues/topic interests you most--non-fiction, i.e, cooking, knitting, stitching, thereare infinite topics that has nothing to do with novels?

My number one category of non-fiction is that of history and genealogy. I particularly enjoy books about the colonial period of American history. My number two category would be cooking. A third category in which I read a lot of non-fiction is Christianity. My reading interests are very varied in that category and do not usually extend to the latest Christian best-sellers.

Would you like to review books concerning those?

Sure. I apply for books in LibraryThing in those categories, although I've only received one fiction title so far. The February giveaways will be announced soon. I don't remember any history titles in this particular batch that I requested. However, I'm always open to reviewing books that I think would be interesting.

Would you like to be paid or do it as interest or hobby? Tell reasons for what ever you choose.

Compensation would be nice, but it's not required. I'd do it for the love of reading.

Would you recommend those to your friends and how?

Like most librarians, I'm always making recommendations and even asking people how they liked a particular book. I have been posting reviews of books I've read on Facebook (via one of the book applications) and on LibraryThing. I occasionally post reviews or observations from reading on my blog.

If you have already done something like this, link it to your post.

I haven't been posting reviews to LibraryThing that long, but here is a review of Unchristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity, one of The Jane Austen Cookbook and one of Boston's North End. Here's an observation I made while reading South Boston: My Home Town. Here's one of The Walker Sisters of Little Greenbrier. (I did purchase my own copy when I visited the park to see the fall foliage.) Here's another observation made while reading The Eastern Frontier: The Settlement of Northern New England, 1610-1763. Here's an observation I made while reading The Story of Gatlinburg. (Full reviews of the books in which my blog contains only observations are usually available in my Facebook books application.)

Please dont forget to link back here or whoever tags you.

Now, I'm supposed to tag 10 others. I tag:

Apple (Apple's Tree)

Miriam (AnceStories)

Tim (Walking the Berkshires)

Bill (West in New England)

Lisa (Small Leaved Shamrock)

Chery (Nordic Blue)

Colleen (Orations of OMcHodoy)

John (Transylvanian Dutch)

Melissa (Mainelife . . . thru the eyes of someone from away)

Shawn (Everything and Nothing)

Cemetery Visit Inspires Novel

Tom Wiley visited a cemetery near Meridian, Mississippi which inspired him to write The Angels of Lockhart. The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal has an article/review talking about the author's inspiration and giving a brief summary of the book. It sounds like a "must read" for family historians.

The Great Awakening

One of the things that has happened as a result of researching my own family history is that I've gained a greater appreciation for events I studied in history classes of the past. One such event is The Great Awakening. I learned that one of my ancestors was converted under George Whitefield and then went on to preach in churches in upper New England himself. PhiloBiblos has a review of a new book published by Yale University Press on this significant event. The Book is entitled The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America. Its author is Thomas Dodd.

Christmas Books

What Christmas is complete without a few good Christmas reads?



I'm sure all of us had a copy of A Visit from St. Nicholas (or Twas the Night Before Christmas) by Clement C. Moore that we read each year at our homes. I'm not sure whatever happened to the copy that I had while growing up, and I wish I knew who the illustrator was so that I could obtain another copy.



Then, we all know the story of Ebenezer Scrooge that Charles Dickens brought to us in A Christmas Carol. Even if you never read the book, you've seen a movie adaptation or play.



Kate Douglas Wiggin brought us another Christmas classic in The Birds' Christmas Carol.



O. Henry brought us The Gift of the Magi.



I decided to search my LibraryThing to see what I have tagged as a Christmas book. Some of the fiction titles in the list will end up being traded for credit at McKay's in Knoxville. Here's a quick run-down:



Debbie Macomber / Christmas Wishes



Jan Karon / The Mitford Snowmen



Cookies for Christmas (I think this is a small cookbook that came with my Taste of Home subscription.)



Anne Perry / A Christmas Journey



Dorothea Benton Frank / The Christmas Pearl



Marcia Evanick / A Berry Merry Christmas



Jeff Smith / The Frugal Gourmet Celebrates Christmas



Fern Michaels / Comfort and Joy



Rhonda Gowler Greene / Santa's Stuck



Janet Dailey / Mistletoe and Molly



Marcia Evanick / Mistletoe Bay



Christmas with Southern Living 1993



Carolyn Kramlich / Mary's Treasure Box



Toni L.P. Kelner / Mad as the Dickens



Valerie Wolzein / Deck the Halls with Murder



Valentine Davies / Miracle on 34th Street



Comfort & Joy (This is one of those Gooseberry Patch cookbooks someone gave me.)


Iza Trapani / Jingle Bells

I'm currently reading Murder Most Merry, a short-story collection that features a lot of well-known mystery writers.

I've also decided that I must not have tagged all my Christmas books as "Christmas" because there are a few picture books that I know I have that aren't in the listing. I just can't remember all the titles right now. I have one that is the neatest little picture book that shows how Christmas is celebrated in different cultures around the world.

This is the grab bag post for the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories.

Let's Get Kids Reading Again

I find a new report that 4th graders in the United States lag behind other countries in reading skills very disturbing. We need to read to kids from an early age and then get them excited about reading. I invite all my readers to reply to this with their suggestions of books 4th graders might find interesting or which they remember reading in the 4th grade. I'll begin with a book that I picked up at Borders in Knoxville recently as I was browsing. The book was written by Deborah Wiles and is entitled Each Little Bird That Sings. I think it would make a great read-aloud book. In the book, Comfort Snowberger lives in a funeral home in Snapfinger, Mississippi. She enjoys writing obituaries. In the book, Comfort's Great-Uncle Edisto and Great-Great Aunt Florentine die. Comfort and younger cousin Peach have a near-death experience of their own.

P.S. - I've added another entry in the page 161 meme. I made some comments about a comment that George Morgan made regarding library funding that really ties in well with this.

Update: An interesting Wall Street Journal editorial on the subject of reading.