good reads – Peaceful Reader

The lazy days of summer

I like to do yoga in my pajamas. I do. Before the pandemic I went somewhat faithfully to a yoga studio with other like-minded folks and I enjoyed the camaraderie. I did. But when the pandemic hit I discovered the joy of doing yoga right upstairs in what used to be my child’s room. That child now owns a home of his own and only sleeps over on Christmas Eve so I turned it into a yoga/meditation home studio and reading corner. I love to wind my way from my bed to bathroom and then take a sharp right over to my studio all while still happily sporting bed head and soft pink pajamas. It’s a beautiful thing. I bring up Adriene’s monthly calendar and pick that day if I seem drawn to it or any of the other amazing videos she has on her YouTube channel and I just get down to it. After heart surgery it took me awhile to make it back to that room to specifically do yoga but I’m back there and I appreciate it all the more for the break.

I like to read in my pajamas. I do. Even on my patio which is in the back of my house and no one can see me except for the chickens and the dogs. They don’t judge. My reading time right now is on elementary-middle grade fiction for the state award books. I have to mix it up with a few adult books over the summer as well. On my Kindle app I’m reading Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid and I just finished That Month in Tuscany by Inglath Coooper. A friend lent me her copy of The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill and another friend highly recommended The Messy Lives of Book People by Phaedra Patrick. And on a recent lunch date my husband and I wandered into our local Barnes and Noble. We found quite a few books I’d like to read in my pajamas but we “only” walked out with three; All the Broken People by Leah Konen, The Promise by Damon Galgut, and The Pallbearer’s Club by Paul Tremblay. Also on my list to read are Lucy Foley’s The Paris Apartment, Justin Baldoni’s Man Enough, and Rebecca Serle’s One Italian Summer.

What else am I doing this summer while I am healing and on break before school begins again in August? Walking the dogs, cooking, and thinking…just processing all that is around me. I’m doing a lot of that in my pink pajamas.

May Celebrations

The weather is chilly here, I am still wearing a warmer coat to walk the dogs, and haven’t planted anything yet because it gets too cold at night. Every once in a while the sun is strong in the afternoon and feels nice and warm. I’m ready for the intense heat of summertime. I’m also ready for my school students to run wildly out the door, to be free for the summer, to put this year behind. I don’t know what next year will look like but these kids need a summer break.

Yesterday I drove back home after visiting my brother and sister-in-law in the Minneapolis area. It was cold there also. Friday night we had an excellent dinner with this chickpea soup prepared by both my brother and his wife and old family friends helped as well. I feel like I’ve known them my whole life and there is something so reassuring about having people in your life that knew you as a young person. Marv was one of my dad’s best friends and Marcia still remains one of my mother’s besties. It was wonderful to watch the two of them talk at the table together, heads leaning in. My mother broke her hip in a recent fall and uses a walker right now and Marcia has her own. Marv recently recovered from a very serious heart surgery as well. We are all getting older. Yep. The night was magical though and it was lovely to visit with both Marv and Marcia, sharing and listening to their life stories. My nephew Beckett interviewed Marv about his Cold War experiences guarding the Berlin Wall. I loved hearing Marcia’s stories about childbirth in the 1970s where she had to argue to have her husband in the delivery room. We’ve come a long way baby.

The next day we had a lazy morning (I slept until 9:30!) and then went to Excelsior, browsed and had lunch at Coalition. We celebrated Mother’s Day all weekend and my brother’s 49th birthday. We had four different delicious desserts over the course of two days. And then I made fresh cinnamon rolls for Sunday brunch before we left town. I should think about giving up sugar for a few weeks. My brother is an amazing chef and really enjoys planning a menu and sharing food with friends and neighbors.

And then we had to come home, back to reality, back to lesson planning and waking up early. I did come home to a lovely daughter, and another calling me to leave a happy message from Brooklyn, and a son who took time to call and chat about everything. I felt loved all weekend long and even more so pulling into my own driveway, reaching my home destination because my family was happy to see me and my dogs were so excited to see me. I could tell because of the full body tail shake!

I finished The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich, an excellent read, Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi, the author of Homecoming, another excellent read. Now I am reading The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, author of The Mothers, both wonderful stories. I’m trying to squeeze in lots of adult fiction before summer hits because I’m taking two classes and I have lots of award contenders to read before August. Librarian Life. Enjoy…

Freezing temps mean lots of delicious soups

The weather is still chilly here and this morning there were big fat flakes floating down. It looked lovely but I was too bleary-eyed to snap a photo. We made it through the week without one snow day though which will help us in June. We’ll see what this week brings with more snow predicted.

[From Minimalist Baker}

I made two hearty dishes to keep us all warm and full this week. On Monday I whipped up Minimalist Baker’s Rich Red Curry with roasted vegetables. We played with the ingredients and added tofu and regular brown lentils and left out the cabbage. This I will make again – the red curry sauce was delicious and would pair well with many vegetables. I used a mix of broccoli and cauliflower and swapped yellow potatoes for the sweet. We love sweet potatoes here but Groovy Girl does not like them mixed in with other ingredients. This recipe made enough that we had leftovers for the next few nights and even added it with brown rice into a tortilla for an on-the-go dinner.

[Gimme some oven]

Yesterday I was craving fish and found some raised-in-the USA cod, fresh in the glass case. It’s very difficult to find quality fish-I don’t want my fish to come from China-sorry China but you’re not known for good fishing practices and I like my food to be a little more local. I already have issues about eating fish and pollution in the ocean and depleting numbers of fish in the ocean and for the most part have stopped buying fish and ordering fish when I’m out just for this reason yet yesterday I guess I was in the mood. I bought $20 worth of nice fat pieces of cod. It was delicious, tender and flaky with a little cracker crust and a lemon squeezed over the top. I loosely followed this recipe.

We had baked sweet potatoes with our flaky cod fillets plus I made this lemon lentil soup for an appetizer but we ended up eating all at the same time. I got held up making the soup as I scoured my kitchen for my immersion blender which is missing. I love my Hamilton Beach immersion blender and I’m confused as to where it’s gone. Anyway we used the big Ninja blender instead (more parts to clean) and this soup, Lemony Lentil Soup, was fantastic.

To match with my two new recipes I also I have two books to share. Cold weather always makes it easier to lay on the sofa and read, except lets be honest, any season has me sitting/laying somewhere and reading. I wouldn’t be adverse to springing ahead to some hammock-time soon.

Less by Andrew Sean Greer ( 2017): The comical tale of Arthur Less, an accomplished author, who feels less than all the time. His current lover has left to get married in Sonoma and he takes this opportunity to plan via a few author invites for teaching abroad and odd award ceremonies to get away from his current Bay Area life. What follows is a wonderful travel journey in much the same vein as Kerouac’s On the road but with planes instead of cars and gay lovers and wine instead of copious amounts of drugs. This is my first Andrew Sean Greer novel and I’m happy to be introduced. I can’t wait to discuss this with my book group.

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones (2017): Recently I was able to break away from dance mom week to see If Beale Street Could Talk which is a beautifully done film almost in an old noir style, slow and steady with great acting and a good background jazz beat. This book has a similar story line probably all too common in the racist world we live in. We have to realize this happens far more than we can ever imagine. Celestial and Roy, married for one year, find themselves separated by a prison door after one woman’s rapid complaint against Roy who is innocent. Jones’ writing is very easy to read and I’ll have to go back and read Silver Sparrow.

Stay warm where ever you might be. I have friends headed to Mexico today and friends who just came back from a cruise. All I can do is bask in the winter sunshine flowing through the library windows.

July is almost over…

It’s been an amazing summer so far! It’s always hard to see summer melt away. And I’m one of the lucky ones in that I have days off to enjoy and sit in my hammock and read.

I met a friend at the farmers market this morning and I bought beets. She had a great time exploring-it was her first time at our downtown market-and she bought sweet corn, a huge tomato, and a berry pie. I’m sure they’ve finished at least half the pie by now. It looked delicious.

I met another friend at the library and we talked books for about an hour and a half. She’s also a librarian and she makes it to Book Expo so she is always far and ahead of me on what is new and great.

Book I finished yesterday:

Ms. Bixby’s Last Day by John David Anderson (2016): An excellent read about three boys who try to make their cancer-stricken teacher have a great last day before she leaves for treatments. Perfect for elementary and middle school.

In my bag now:

The Impossible knife of memory by Laurie Halse Anderson (2014): Recommended by a friend and I love Anderson’s work.

Bannerless by Carrie Vaughn (2017): Read about this one in an article about post-apocalyptic novels and after reading American War I decided this one sounded interesting as well. (RT update-I read almost the entire book in the car yesterday)

The Island of Dr. Libris (2015): Need to read for school, highly recommended.

The Witch’s Boy by Kelly Barnhill (2014): I loved Iron Hearted Violet and more recently The Girl who drank from the moon!

Recommended by my friend:

This is how it always is by Laurie Frankel
The stranger in the woods by Michael Fink
We were the lucky ones by Georgia Hunter
Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak
Small great things by Jodi Picoult

I’m excited to check some of these out from the library. After waiting and waiting for a copy of Alex and Eliza to come in at the library I finally downloaded it only to get a notice the VERY next day…#lessonlearned

3 amazing reads all in a row.

1. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood ( 1998): You enter the sterile and odd world of The Handmaid’s Tale and you get an eery feeling like you should look over your shoulder. While this seems so far removed from our world now, it feels like it would only take about 2 steps backwards to be in Atwood’s world. For those that haven’t read The Handmaid’s Tale it relays the events of a woman, Offred, of child-bearing years who’s been pulled from her own life and inserted into another family in order to bear an older man’s child(ren). The change from one life to the next happens slowly but also in a blink of an eye. Imagine in your life time that you could live one moment with your husband and beautiful child; only to be repurposed in a retraining camp where you learn to surrender your will to this next family. There are so many details of this new life mixed with her memories of before. If you like dystopian or politics; this is a fantastic read. I stayed up way too late each night to read just a little more. Other days I slammed the book down in disgust. I am searching for the original movie with Natasha Richardson (it’s not on Netflix or Amazon Prime) before I start streaming the new Hulu series. Here is a great NYT article by Atwood herself discussing her novel.

2. A man called Ove by Fredrik Backman (2014): I am watching this one Amazon Prime. The book was an amazingly funny read. I laughed out loud many times and when I neared the end of this sweet tale I cried. I love a book that brings about that much emotion. Ove is a curmudgeon at best; an absolute old grump and yet we love him for it because he emerges a changed man. Even when he’s at his worst he’s an interesting character. Ove is ready to end his life, ready to join his beautiful Sonja in the afterworld. He even thinks about what he should wear so she’ll be happy when she sees him coming through the pearly gates. The unexpected happens though when a new family moves in next door and the wife pulls Ove into her own life. All the hype about this book is true.

3. This side of home by Renee Watson (2015): This is a delightful tale about two twins, Nikki and Maya, living in Portland with intellectual parents surrounding them with love. What is ever-changing though is their neighborhood which is being gentrified rapidly and their high school as well. The neighborhood, high school, friends and family all provide a wonderful backdrop to the life experience of Nikki and Maya as they learn to accept each other as more than just a reflection of each other. My one and only complaint is about the cover; neither girl has the loose hair of the girl pictured on the front. She’s brown-a good start-#weneeddiversebooks BUt it would be a reflection of the character if her hair was braided. Maya repeatedly talks about her hair in braids down her back; Nikki with pressed hair and sometimes loose and free. Neither girl is represented by the photo on the cover except by skin color. #rant

Now I’m reading Bill Browder’s Red Notice for book club. I’m not a fan of nonfiction but his tale of intrigue has me reading. I also just finished this short article about White Fragility that’s worth reading. Someone sent it to me to remind me of a conversation we had about Ta’Nehisi Coates’ book.

Best book club choices-2016

December and January were good reading months for my book club. We read The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin and Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller. Both books, while different styles, are very good.

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry (2014) by Gabrielle Zevin: This is a quirky story about A.J., a young man after his wife’s death. The couple built their life around owning an interesting bookstore on Alice Island, a fictional area near Boston. A.J. drinks a lot after he closes the book store at night and one night while passed out a prized collection of poems by Edgar Allen Poe is stolen.

Soon after a baby Maya appears in his bookstore with a note attached and the mother cannot be located. Until a proper family or a relative can be found A.J. agrees to foster the child only because he feels an obligation to the mother who trusted him, the owner of a bookstore because she felt that a bookstore was a good place for a baby to grow up. The rest of the story unfolds around Maya, the bookstore, an interesting police chief, a book representative from the mainland and A.J. of course. This is an delightful tale that loves literature. Each chapter opens with a short story suggestion such as Lamb to the slaughter by Roald Dahl, The diamond a big as the Ritz by F. Scott, and What feels like the World by Richard Bausch. Everyone at book club decided it would be great fun to reach out and read the short stories suggested by Fikry. Witty and unique I would read this one again and I would give it for a gift.

Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller is a bit of a mystery adventure set in Norway. Sheldon Horowitz, an aging vet, moves across the ocean to live with his granddaughter and her husband after his wife dies. His granddaughter Rhea feels that her beloved grandfather is losing his mind and will be better off away from the memories of NYC.

One day home alone Sheldon hears arguing from an unknown man in the upstairs apartment and in another moment he opens the door to trouble. Fleeing to safety wherever that may be in a country he hardly knows with the young son of the upstairs neighbor Sheldon takes off on a wild adventure with his silent (and terrified) charge. Sheldon is a funny character and keeps us thinking with his wit about racism, family, vengeance, war, and human nature.

If you need a good book to read to get you through another few weeks of winter-these are two excellent choices.

Literary list from Groovy Girl

Today is a little like the first day of summer for the two of us. The first real part of summer was all about cleaning up Highland Library, planning our trip out west, and summer arts camp that now we are truly in the state of RELAXING. I read in bed for 45 minutes before emerging from my bedroom. We lazily watched two shows on her favorite HG-TV. I’ve folded a little laundry and we cleaned out the dirty pond that needs a new pump but it has been essentially a lazy day.

So she pops this question off to me as she is eating her noodle lunch:

“Mama, what’s your favorite kid books-

chapter books only-like books that people my age read?”

She asked me for my top three which quickly became five.

The quick list off the top of my head was

1. From the mixed up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
2. The Tale of Desperaux by Kate DiCamillo
3. Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate
4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
5. Wonder by R.J. Polaccio

I quickly added Maggie Steifvater’s The Raven Boys series even though it is YA. Too old for now she says. Just books I would have read.

And once I listened to her list I wanted to add some of hers on as well such as The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle-I had to really push her to read that book which was a school assignment and then once she got into it she couldn’t stop.

Then I asked her for her choices:

1. 11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass
2. Ida B. by Katherine Hannigan
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
4. Wonder by R.J. Polaccio
5. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
6. Crash by Jerry Spinelli
7. Pegasus series by Kate O’Hearn
8. Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
9. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
10. The Quirks by Erin Soderberg
11. Runaway Twin by Peg Kehret
12. The Land of Elyon series by Patrick Carman

And her 13th title is one we cannot remember title or author. It involves a troupe of traveling actors, a crow as her spirit animal and when she cannot kill her spirit animal she is banned from her community. For some reason I do not have it listed on my Goodreads account. If this synopsis rings a bell to you please let me know!

Happy reading and maybe our lists will inspire you to read one of our favorites.

Reading Recap. Say goodbye 2012.

I read a grand total of 62 books this year. I count chapter books not picture books but I’m seriously thinking about changing that up and counting new picture books that I read. Of course, job wise if I counted every picture book I read to kids everyday my numbers would appreciatively sky-rocket. I noticed Mr Schu at Watch. Connect. Read counts the picture books he reads. I think this may be an idea to embrace.

As the new year has quietly ushered in 2013 I’ve been reading lists at Mr. Schu’s, The Brain Lair’s and the many Cybil’s list that came out just a few days ago. I love to browse through and see how many I’ve finished and new ones that intrigue me.

I also compiled some of my own stats and arranged them into categories. They are lined up in the order that I read them. Trying to pick my top favorite in each category would take way more brain strength than I have right now as I’m exhausted after my first day back and I’m battling this dang old Dell computer which keeps stalling and timing out as I flip from tab to tab. I need a new baby and by that I really mean a new computer. Wish I could blog and pin from my Kindle Fire.

Adult Top Reads:

Me and Emma by Elizabeth Flock
Claire Marvel by Jonathon Burnham Schwartz
Mudbound by Hillary Jordan
The Kitchen Daughter by Jael McHenry
The Wild Girl by Jim Fergus
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Round House by Louise Erdrich (review to come)

YA Top Reads:

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Ask the Passengers by A.S. King
What Happens Next? by Colleen Clayton

MG:

Breadcrumbs by Anna Ursu
The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine
The Clockwork Three by Matthew J. Kirby
Something to Hold Katherine Schlick Noe
Abarat by Clive Barker (review to come)

Elementary Fiction:

The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
Rules by Cynthia Lord

Favorite Picture books/2012:

Boy + Boy by Ame Dyckeman/Dan Yaccarino
Red Knit Cap Girl by Naoko Stoop
All the Awake Animals are almost asleep by Crescent Dagonwagon/David McPhail
Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett/Jon Klassen

My top choices in all categories would be a tie between Ask the Passengers and What Happens Next? with Breadcrumbs and The Lions of Little Rock right behind them. As I peruse the list again I have to give a shout out to Neverwhere as it is begging to be noticed. Gaiman is a genius. Louise Erdrich would be my author pick of the year with one old one and one new one making my list. I feel like I could make a whole ‘nuther list that would have to do with fiesty girl characters and The Land of Elyon’s Alexa and Kelly Barnhill’s Iron Hearted Violet would show up there.

Happy 2013! It’s going to be a fantastic year. Change is in the air.