A Very Literary Meme

I tagged myself over at Sayre's for this meme because I thought it was cool. Y'all do know I gave up coffee for Lent, right? Things might be a little odd over here for 40 days or so. Anyway... the rules:

Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).

Open the book to page 123. Find the fifth sentence.

Post the next three sentences.

Post the title and author.

Tag five people and ask them to do the same.


"Working cows couldn't be sharing their milk with their own offspring. It all had to go to the farm. At least the other new calves were outdoors."

Bleeding Kansas by Sara Paretsky

I am going to pull a Sayre here and tell you to just tag yourselves if you want. I can tell you that the book I am reading is not nearly as agricultural or as creepy as those three lines would lead you to believe.

If you are here for Round Robin Photo Challenge, please just scroll down.

Book Review - Pontoon

I just finished reading this book this morning. I started it yesterday. I laughed out loud in the middle of the library where I was killing time until it was time to pick up the little man. I laughed out loud at home. I read my husband excerpts out loud.

I love Garrison Keillor. I love Prairie Home Companion, the radio show. The movie? Not so much. I love the cadence of Mr. Keillor's speech and the lovely way he strings words together. When I read something that Mr. Keillor has written, it is his voice that I hear in my head. This is generally a good thing.

Reading about "400 pounds of menopausal flesh bumping around and breathing hard" while hearing Mr. Keillor's voice in my head - slightly disturbing. OK, very disturbing. And very, very funny!

I love Lake Wobegon with it's dark Norwegian bachelors and it's dark Norwegian Lutherans and it's dark Norwegian nutcases.

I love that my ancestors went no farther north than the northeast corner of Iowa and that I am not Norwegian, nor am I Lutheran.

A very funny book.

A Good Book is Good to Find

I finished this book this morning before I left for Abilene.

I loved it.

I have read all of the "Mitford" books by Jan Karon and enjoyed all of them.

I did often wonder, though, how Father Tim had got to be Father Tim.

This book answers those questions and more.

It also made me remember how much I enjoy a well written book, a book with complete sentences and proper grammar. It made me remember how a good book, one with good subject matter, makes me feel when I finish it. It made me realize what drivel I had been reading lately.

It is not often that I finish a book that I can recommend to everyone with no reservations. This book is one that I can.

History Buff

Our hot water heater went out the other day. It is located in an interior closet in the back bedroom with no outside access. While cleaning out the closet, I found a box of my husband's books that had been stored there the year that lil man was born.

They are "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare" published by Columbia House in 1967 in 20 volumes.

Lil man, in 2nd grade, is fascinated. He finds an interesting picture, asks about it, we read about it and we all learn. Granted, this is not state of the art weaponry, but the pictures from D-Day are exceptional.

His favorite thing to do is to find a "cool" picture and make a tracing of it. That would explain the lamp (yes, it is askew and no, it is not usually positioned there) over the bar separating our kitchen and living room (dining room to the left). It is such a joy to see him so interested.

Fall into Reading

FALL INTO READING

I found this wonderful idea when I was reading one of the Anglophile Football Fanatic's blogs. I have always been a reader. I truly cannot remember when I did not read.

Nowadays, it seems as though all I read are blogs and while I love y'all, I do love a good book, also. As a matter of fact, hardback books are what I get my kids and grandkids for Christmas every year. It was a great idea when I started but with 17 grandkids now, it's getting just a wee bit on the pricy side. Oh well, it is hard to think of money better spent.

Anyway, here is my list of books that I hope (no, intend) to have read by December 21st. A couple of classics and a whole lot of mind candy. Some days I just read to escape rather than to learn, you know.

Happy reading, everyone.

Playing for Pizza..........................John Grisham

Play Dirty....................................Sandra Brown

Free Fall ....................................Fern Michaels

High Noon...................................Nora Roberts

Shoot Him if He Runs....................Stuart Woods

Justice Denied............................. J.A. Jance

Double Take............................... Catherine Coulter

Knit Together.............................. Debbie Macomber

Mad Dash.................................... Patricia Gaffney

What Matters Most........................ Luanne Rice

Lean Mean 13............................... Janet Evanovich

6th Target.................................... James Patterson

Wuthering Heights........................ Emily Bronte

Rebels of Ireland:

The Dublin Saga........................... Edward Rutherford

Lord John and the Brotherhood

of the Blade............................Diana Gabaldon

Fun Not Monday

Robin, over at Pensieve, was contemplating the topic for next week's Fun Monday and put it to a vote. Shoes won, and that will be fun, but I am a book-a-holic. Not a recovering book-a-holic, an enjoying-it-to-the-hilt book-a-holic.

I started thinking about my favorite childhood book and could not stop at just one.

As a kid, I read a lot. I was the youngest child and my sisters were considerably older than I was. I was a late in life child for my parents and I think they were done before I came along. Not whining, just explaining.

Anyway, when I was 8 or 9, our neighbor was injured in a construction job and his wife had to go to work. This was in the day when this was NOT the norm. Lucy decided to go to nursing school and my mom, her BFF, went also. My dad was a functioning alcoholic (you knew there had to be psychobabble in this somewhere, didn't you?) so I just sort of escaped into books.

I had read everything in my school library and in the children's section of my local library by the time I was in 4th grade. I was at the library and picked up some book that our librarian, Mrs. Emily Shortell, did not think appropriate. She guided me to which is the first historical novel I ever read. I was hooked. I skipped history class my senior year in high school every day except for tests and passed with an A-. I attribute this entirely to the amount of history that seeped it's way into my brain from the novels of Irving Stone.

And to Mrs. Emily Shortell...a truly great librarian.

My other bestest book tomorrow....

My Head Hurts

me - it cracks me up that lil man can read 2nd grade books 'cause he's in 2nd grade but he can't ready Pokey Little Puppy

Julie - I tried to explain that he can read kindergarten books and 1st grade books and 2nd grade books but he says he can't cause he is in 2nd grade and can only read 2nd grade books

me - makes me nuts

Julie - makes my head hurt

me - so I can only read 53 year old books

Julie - "the look"

me - so I must get all the books published in 1954

Julie - so I must get all the books published in 1977

me - you were born in '76, baby

Julie - but you said '54

me - but I was born in '54

Julie - but you said '53

me - I am '53 but I was born in '54

Julie - (stomped her foot) you can only read 2nd grade books!

Please read a book this month!

I guess I should just call this soapbox Wednesday and be done with it....or maybe next week I'll go for Wordless Wednesday....or maybe I'll just quit reading the flippin' news!


http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/wayoflife/08/21/reading.ap/index.html


The next time someone asks you what is wrong with this country, just refer them to the above-referenced article.