The weather today is sunny, with the glare on the snow quite blinding.
The time and temperature lady on the phone says it is 36oF. I coulda said it’s above freezing without pressing any buttons, because I can hear the water dripping in the downspout on the other side of this corner wall.
Yeah, I’m sure the Groundhog has seen his shadow.
Over at Diane’s Place, she wrote up the answers to some memes she had been tagged with, all in one sitting.
I have decided to take the one in the middle and use up some time I might otherwise treat more productively.
The Book Meme
1) One book that changed your life:
First on the list would be the Holy Bible because of all the time taken to memorize verses for Sunday School and church camp, sitting through sermons, services and meetings, hearing my mother’s quotes (often mis-quotes).
I didn’t read it all the way through for my own self until I went to a church-affiliated college and took Bible Surveys classes. The professor there certainly helped me with putting written words into perspective.
A book I read for leisure when I was 15, and caused my whole world to tilt, is Speak Now by Frank Yerby. There are a few copies for sale on AMAZON as Collector’s items, but I already have a nice hardback on my shelf.
The book is about how a black man, Viet Nam veteran, musician, and a white woman, daughter of a Southern gentleman, meet and help each other through the strife of the 1960s, then fall in love after a ceremony at the magistrate’s office.
2) One book that you have read more than once:
Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse in Hideaway Island
was oldest son Joey’s favorite book when he was a toddler.
Every night, for 9 bedtimes in a row, we read that book.
although in this picture, the book we were reading is Little Lost Bee by Joan Kapral, another toddler favorite
Ya see, after 9 nights in a row, I could not bear for even ONE. MORE. TIME. to see the dear sweet Mickey loafing in his hammock.
So, I hid the book. I put it up on the top of the chest of drawers, under the dresser scarf.
The boy went searching all over the apartment, looking under his own bed and even under Daddy’s pillow.
He never suspected that Mom was the one who took it away.
May I be forgiven before I am lowered into my grave.
I brought it out the next morning, and we read it before breakfast. And yes, it was read more than 10 times because its tattered and taped pages turned again with two more sons and a whole bunch of childcare younguns.
3)One book you would want on a desert island:
In Every Tiny Grain of Sand by Reeve Lindbergh because of the nice mix of comfortable quotes, the illustrations of 4 artists
4) One book that made you laugh:
Have Spacesuit, Will Travel by Robert Heinlein, the part where the boy and the dad are discussing the needs and future of son’s education. Deciding the high schooler’s class schedule, the dad blurts out “Beetle-trackings!”
5) One book that made you cry:
there’s a whole list I could use to fill in this one, I tend to read when I’m already depressed; trying to escape this life situations, I guess.
First book that comes to mind is The Golden Hawk by Frank Yerby a most wonderful book about sailing ships and gold treasure and family connections.
I probably should not have been reading it in 7th grade Study Hall because it was not “age appropriate” but mostly because there was this really sad part where the lady professes her love and our handsome blond-haired pirate Cristobal Gerado knows he cannot return her affections, and I had to dig around in my purse for a tissue, and Mark Ogden and Gary Misenhelder both noticed, so they smirked with their 7th grade boy faces.
There’s also a copy of this book on my shelf.
6) One book you wish you’d written:
Good Harbor by Anita Diamant which is about a couple women who are best friends, and that aura is captured so nicely with these written words.
I read it when I was in the middle of my 40s, right at a time when I realized that girlfriends and sisters mean having a wonderful and necessary relationship.
7) One book you wish had never been written:
can’t think of an actual Title, but there are several textbooks about children’s education and/or teaching requirements that are a waste of good paper
8) One book you’re reading:
I just finished a trio of books written by Amy Hest, about a girl named Katie Roberts, whose soldier father died in the war and her mother remarries so they move from New York City to a ranch in Texas.
I haven’t decided if they will stay on my shelf or I will find some tweener age girl to give them to.
9) One book you’re going to read:
there’s a whole pile of waiting books on my night table, and another at the end of the hall, and some behind me here on the bookshelf. It would be safe to say that eventually I’ll pick up a book written by Barbara Delinsky or David Baldacci or Dr. Seuss.
Iffen you want to copy the leading questions and write something, then feel free.
And you can always go on over to Diane’s and see what she’s been up to.
~~love and Huggs, Diane
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