Hey there– It’s reading weather around here– cooler, calling for mugs of tea and books on the couch. I wonder if you’re in the middle of a good book these days. What are you reading??!
“Let’s be reasonable and add an eighth day to the week that is devoted exclusively to reading.”
– Lena Dunham
If you’re a reader (and I think a lot of you are!), get read to be charmed by Anne Bogel’s new book, I’d Rather Be Reading, the Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life. You’ll see yourself on these pages in chapters like Confess Your Literary Sins or Bookworm Problems (so funny!).
Here’s a quote from Anne:
“It took me thirty-five years to find my twin… We’re no bound by blood or formal ties. We’ve never shared a last name or an address or Thanksgiving dinner. Our twinness is confined to our reading lives: she’s that remarkable reader whose taste bears an astonishing resemblance to my own.”
The good news is that Anne also has a well curated book blog at Modern Mrs. Darcy. Check it out!!
I discovered Kate Morton this year and am starting to make my way though her engaging stories. Mostly recently, The House at Riverton. In this book, is the recounting of a 98 year old woman with the family who lived in the house and the tragic death that shaped their history. It was written before Downton Abbey but feels very much the same in detail and characters (I wonder if Julian Fellowes read the book!). The narrator tells the stories of Hannah and Emmeline, sisters, whom she served as a lady’s maid. The story pulls you along right until the end when the mystery unfolds. Now I’m waiting for her newest book, The Clockmaker’s Daughter!
I have a special affinity for Fatiima MIrza’s book A Place for Us. Rafiq and Lyla are the parents of 3 grown children who were raised in their conservative Muslim family in the Bay Area. When the oldest daughter marries, the prodigal son, Amar, returns to the family. Different family members recount incidents in the the growing up years of the children with tenderness and sometimes sorrow. I loved the parents hearts for their three children and the last section of the book, the father’s recounting of his interactions with his son, had tears streaming down my face. Beautiful complicated characters and the beautiful telling of one family’s story.
Love and Ruin by Paula McLain describes of the tumultuous love affair and marriage of Martha Gellhorn and Ernest Hemingway. Mostly told from the point of view of Martha, third of Hemingway’s four wives. She is a writer and journalist and strong personality who comes to love Hemingway when they are both war correspondents, in war torn Madrid, as Franco captures the country. They made their home together in a writer’s get away in Cuba and travel and write around the world. Fascinating picture of their relationship– and of course, it sent me to Wikipedia to see home much of the story was actual. MacLain also wrote The Paris Wife, the telling of Hemingway’s first marriage, also a worthwhile book.
Last month’s book for our was Lit group was Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward. This story was a difficult one, narrated by sturdy 13 year old Jojo and his drug using mother Leonie. Living in southern Mississippi with Jojo’s grandparents, they set off on a road trip to collect Jojo’s father who is being released from prison. The story is populated by Jojo’s younger sister, his steady grandfather, Pop, an ailing grandmother and a pair of ghosts from the past. The book is at points disturbing and at others hopeful. Not an easy book, but a worthwhile one. Winner of the National Book Award.
I’ll end with a sweet story, Dear Mrs. Bird by A J Pearce. Emmeline is a young woman, living with her best friend Bunty, in war torn London during WWII. She spends her nights at the phone bank for the Auxilary Fire Services, which responds to nightly bombings. And by day, she is the assistant to crotchety Mrs. Bird, an advice columnist for a women’s magazine. When Mrs. Bird discards letters from people who truly need help, Emmy can’t help responding to them. It’s a story of deep loss and firm loyalties, of the courage of two young women. I’m not sure why, but this book reminds me of a 1940’s Katherine Hepburn movie– girls with spunk! Very enjoyable
To read more book notes (all my books from the the last 3 years)–
Click on Booklist
And to go with a good afternoon read on the couch, it’s pretty essential to include a mug of hot tea and perhaps a plate of cookies. Here’s a chewy chocolaty cookie that came out of our kitchen this week. You might like them along with a good book…
DOUBLE CHOCOLATE OATMEAL COOKIES
3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 stick), room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup water
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa*
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup whole oats (uncooked!)
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
With an electric mixer, beat together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar to make a creamy paste. Then beat in the egg, water and vanilla. When that’s blended, mix in the flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder and oats. And finally beat in the chocolate chips and nuts.
Drop the batter by large spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray (or has a silpat mat). Bake them up at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes, until they feel firm. Let them cool a couple minutes on the cookie sheet before you lift them onto a cooking rack. So chocolaty good!
*I used Hershey’s dark chocolate cocoa
And here’s a couple other cookie recipes that could accompany your reading:
Chocolate Toffee Slice and Bake Cookies
Gingerbread Chocolate Chip Cookies
And to finish up– a few of my favorite pictures of people reading:
The Lady in the Polka Dot Pants by Rae Andrews
Self Portrait by Michelle Ranta
Little Girl and her bedtime books– Claire Fletcher
Daniel Gerhartz
Yuri Petrovic Kugach
Young Clergyman Reading by Martinus Rorbye
Henry Loved Eating all sorts of books! Oliver Jeffers
“Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.”
– Henry David Thoreau
The brilliant painting at the top of the post is by Karen Cooper. thanks.
Susan Loomis sort of has my dream life– She moved to Paris as a young woman and attended La Varenne École de Cuisine, a cooking school for Americans. She found friends and small shops with tempting foods all over the city. Later when she returned home she met, loved and married a sculptor, Michael Loomis and eventually the two found their way back to France where they purchased an ancient convent building in Louviers, a charming town in Normandy. It took a long a grueling renovation to make the place a home for them and their small son. But through the years they encountered a large circle of people, from the surly priest next door to warm shop keepers, farmers at the market, the florist sisters across the street and many others who became close friends. I was totally charmed by the book, wanted to write to Susan and ask if I could drop in and stay for the summer! If you like glorious food, beautiful countryside, and wandering cobbled streets, I think you’d like this book as much as I have.
The Thankful Heart 