Turn the Page...Tuesday

Hey!  It's Turn the Page...Tuesday and I'm not late this month.  There is still 1 hour and 50 minutes left in this Tuesday and I think I can squeeze my post in before it's over!

I read two books this past month and my favorite was Kindred by Octavia Butler.

Incredible! In Kindred, Octavia Butler creates a surreal world in which Dana, a black women in 1976, is somehow pulled through time again and again and deposited into the antebellum south. During the first travel expreience, Dana finds herself on the banks of a river where a small red-haired boy named Rufus is in serious danger of drowning. She jumps in to save his life, only to be confronted by the muzzle of the boys dad's rifle. Dana feels dizzy and once again finds herself back in her Los Angeles home, wet and muddy. Her husband, Kevin, saw her go and come but finds the story she tells him very hard to believe. A few hours later, Dana is called to the past to once again save Rufus' life. This time she realizes she is not only traveling to another place but also to another time. Each time she "visits", she seems to stay in the past longer. Rufus Weylin turns out to be the son of a plantation owner and Dana finds herself in the dangerous world of the slave trade. Tom, Rufus' father, is a man of his time who looks at his slaves as property and thinks nothing of beating them, selling them and hunting any runaways down with the help of patrollers and packs of dogs. As Rufus grows older, will he become another version of his father?

 The author has painted a picture of a harsh time and done it very well. Dana is a very likeable woman who struggles with living in two very different times. She finds that to keep herself and the other slaves around her safe, she had to learn to quietly accept, at least outwardly, the way things are and what is expected of her as a black woman on a plantation. It is disconcerting to her, and to the reader, to realize how easy it is to make a slave of someone.
 This is a very good read that brings our countries slave era into sharp focus. A novel that I would recommend to everyone and have already lent out to a friend.
 

The second book I read this past month, How to Bake a Perfect Life by Barbara O'Neal, was a quick and fun read.

How to Bake a Perfect Life is set in Colorado Springs in a bakery run by Ramona Gallagher. Ramona inherited the old Victorian house from her Grandmother and has opened her bakery in it where she makes and serves wonderful artisian breads. The story opens with Ramona and her daughter, Sophia, talking in the kitchen when the phone rings and Sophia gets the news that her soldier husband has been wounded in Afghanistan. As Sophia rushes off, she asks her mom to take in Katie, Sophia's step-daughter. Katie has had a hard time and her mom has just been arrested for meth use. Bringing Katie to live with her brings back memories from Ramona's teenage years. As a 15 year old, she became pregnant and was sent to live with her Aunt Poppy until the baby was born. There Ramona learned the art and love of bread baking from her aunt. She hopes that maybe she can help Katie to come to terms with her new life by helping her find something to love as well. Katie comes with a dog, Merlin, who seems to have special skills in keeping Katie safe and out of trouble.

Not going to say more so that I don't give away to much. Just know that this is a very fun read and fairly light even though it deals with some tough issues. I'll certainly pick up more by this author. Oh! And there are some wonderful bread recipes interspersed throughout the story that will be baking in my oven soon.
 
As for reading a book from a series this month - I read about half of L.M. Montgomery's Pat of Silver Bush but just didn't get it finished.  Maybe in March...
 
Pop on over to Adrienne's Some of a Kind to see what others are reading. Add your voice and let us know where your reading is taking you these days.

Coffee Spoons

I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.

~T.S. Eliot

Because the Pacific Northwest is a wet and rainy place, coffee is a staple and coffee shops can be found around each and every corner.  We have to have many places to pop in from the weather, warm up with a nice hot brew, read a good book or cruise the internet while sipping. 

Yesterday morning, Riff and I decided to have a coffee date at Coffee Girl on Pier 39.  Coffee Girl is one business that's located in the old Bumblebee Cannery at the east end of town.  What a neat old historical building that sits on the Columbia River. The views can't be beat.

Such a cozy and inviting spot to spend a stormy Saturday morning.  Rain splashing down, surf pounding and fog obscuring the edges.  Beautiful!

Coffee and quiche are the perfect topping to a perfect setting.

As you see, this coffee shop is in the same location as the original cannery coffee counter.  A hot cup of Joe has been a tradition here for a very long time!

Look at those coffee specials.  Yum!  I had the Hot Mama and Riff had the Salted Caramel Latte'.  Delicious!

In nicer weather, you can sit right out on the back dock with the Columbia River right under your feet.  A wonderful place to watch the ships come and go as they make their way up and down the river.

Next time you're in town, stop by Pier 39 and have yourself a delicious cup of brew with a view.  I'll meet you there...

A Faery Wood

Enchanted woods surround us here in the Pacific Northwest.  A walk through them will clear your senses and make you believe once again in magic, just as you did as a child.  Ferns, moss, fungi and the chatter of birds add to the mystical feel as you wander down paths barely traveled.

What a joy to come upon a rope swing where some other wonder filled soul has spent some time among the lush foliage of our forest.

Be sure to keep your eyes wide open.  You never know what may be waiting for you just up ahead.

The Faery Forest

by Sara Teasdale

The Faery Forest glimmered

beneath an ivory moon;

The silver grasses shimmered

against a faery tune.

Beneath the silken silence

the crystal branches slept;

and dreaming thro' the dew-fall

the cold white blossoms wept.

Late Tuesday...

It seems that I'm late to the Turn the Page Tuesday party once again.  Just trying to make an entrance...Turn the music up and let's get this party started!  (or turn the page quietly so we can all continue to read.)

Adrienne from Some of a Kind is the lovely host of this party.  Pop on over to her house to see what everyone has been reading this past month.

For 2012, Adrienne has thrown down the challenge to read a book each month that is part of a sequel or series.  Any one you choose, no limitations there.  For January I choose to read An Absence So Great by Jane Kirkpatrick.  This is the sequel to A Flickering Light which I reviewed back in December.

An Absence So Great by Jane Kirkpatrick


My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Another wonderful book by one of my favorite authors! An Absence So Great carries on where A Flickering Light left off in the life of Jane's grandmother, Jessie Gaebele. Jessie is now eighteen and living and working in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She has gone away from her family and hometown of Winona, Minnesota as a punishment to herself for the longing of a married, much older man; her boss and mentor Fred J. Bauer. In Milwaukee, Jessie is working for Suzanne Johnson, a woman who has lost her husband so is now running his photography studio. She is living with the Harms family who are actually relatives of Mr. Bauer and in the course of time it comes out that Mr. Bauer is paying them for Jessie's room and board. She does not at all want this support, so begins to take photographs at the local dances in order to tuck away enough money to pay Mr. Bauer back and be once again out of his debt. When word gets to Jessie that one of the studio's in Winona is up for sale, she goes back home only for a short visit to approach the bank manager for a loan to secure the studio. Turned down on the basis that she is a woman, Jessie instead goes to work for this same studio to prove her abilities to the owner. She does so and the banker has a change of heart and gives her the loan. But all is well only for awhile and circumstances have Jessie once again leaving her family and hometown for the wide open prairies of North Dakota. Will painful memories ever leave Jessie behind? Will she come to terms with the pullings of her own heart?

Another historical novel beautifully written. Jessie Gaebele will grab your heart.

View all my reviews

I got a couple of very fun books for Christmas, including The Unfinished Clue by Georgette Heyer.  Read on...
The Unfinished Clue by Georgette Heyer


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I haven't read a murder/mystery in a long time but I got this for Christmas and dug right in. I completely enjoyed it! Set in the English countryside mansion of Sir Arthur Billington-Smith, guests have assembled for a week-end get together and they are a strange combination of guests! Sir Arthur himself is a tyrant with a penchance for yelling at his young wife, Fay. He has invited Basil and Camilla Halliday as he is expecting a fun weekend flirtation with the pretty, and money-grubbing, Camilla. Fay has invited Stephen Guest, a man who is in love with her and patiently waiting for her to decide to divorce her over-bearing husband. Sir Arthur's son Geoffrey, from his first marriage, is coming for the weekend and bringing his fiance', the beautiful cabaret dancer La Lola de Silva. His father is horrified by the match. Geoffrey is a writer whose father has never had any love for anyway and this engagement intensifies that feeling. Fay has invited her sister, Dinah Fawcett, to join them as a buffer between her and her husband. Sir Arthur's nephew, Captain Francis Billington-Smith shows up unannounced, needing to ask a favor of his wealthy uncle. Also invited to dinner is the town Vicar and his wife along with Mrs. Twining, a neighbor widow whom Sir Arthur has known for many many years.

The dynamics of this group is crazy and it is a thunderous weekend indeed with Sir Arthur in a rage most of the time. By Monday luncheon, the tyrant is dead - stabbed in his own study. In comes Inspector Harding of Scotland Yard to try and sort out the mess. I thought I had it figured out from the get-go, but that twist at the end got me and I was wrong!

What a fun book and a light read that I really needed!  Very Murder She Wrote-ish.

View all my reviews

There you have my contribution to this month's reading frenzy.  Right now I'm spending my reading time in a bakery in Colorado Springs.  Where is your reading taking you this month?

Birthday Winner!

(Mom in her new Christmas Parka - Ketchikan, Alaska 1971)

Early January and much of the northern world is covered in snow and ice.  When I was a small child, we lived in Ketchikan, Alaska where my dad had graduated from high school and my grandparents were commercial fisherman.  Mom was an Oregon girl who went to live on the island of Revillagigado with her young husband, having not even met her new in-laws until arriving in Alaska. Mom always said that Dad had a bit of gypsy blood and couldn't quite decide where he wanted to live.  We moved, along with the fishing or hunting seasons that were calling Dad's name, back and forth between Alaska and northeast Oregon several times when we kids were small. 

This picture of Mom was taken during one Alaska stay in 1971.  I remember it clearly.  Dad had purchased this beautiful parka for Mom for Christmas and made the mistake of taking me with him when he picked it up.  I was a precocious four year-old at the time and remember Dad telling me, "Now Paula.  Don't tell Mama about her new coat.  It's a secret."  I barely made it through the door at home that evening before blurting out, "Daddy bought you a new parka.  It's a secret!"

Dad didn't tell me secrets much after that....

Today was Mom's birthday so it is the day to draw a name for her birthday giveaway!

I hopped on over to random.org, popped in the numbers 1 through 9 (the amount of comments on the giveaway post) - clicked on go...and the winner is....

Tipper !

Congratulations to Tipper of Blind Pig and the Acorn!  These two coasters and that box of tea, along with two more coasters for a complete set of 4, will be headed your way!! (and for anyone who doesn't know Tipper - pop on over and introduce yourself - you will get lost in her incredible blog about life in Appalachia!)

Thanks everyone who stopped by and left a comment on the birthday giveaway post -

Happy January!

Terrible Tilly

Terrible Tilly, a photo by paulaniz67 on Flickr.

Tuesday - It's Tuesday!

Hey!  So maybe it's Wednesday but I seem to be making it a point recently to be late to everything, so...why not be late for Tuesday as well?  Now that we've decided it's Tuesday AND it's the first Tuesday of January   -   It's time for Turn the Page...Tuesday hosted by Adrienne of Some of a Kind!  Yipeee! Time to tell you all what I've been reading the last month and for you to tell the rest of us what adventures your reading has taken you on.

I read some fantastic books in December but am going to stick to telling you about just two of them so this post doesn't get to long and out of control. 

The Winter Sea was a wonderful novel that I didn't want to end. Even now, over a couple of weeks after finishing, my mind keeps going back to Sophia and wondering what she is up to now. In the Winter Sea, author Susanna Kearsley takes us on a journey of another author, Carrie McClelland, as she settles into a charming cabin on the Scottish cliffs. Carrie is writing a historical novel set at Slains Castle and gives the heroine the name of one of her own ancestors, Sophia Paterson. As Carrie writes and explores the ruins of Slains Castle, her characters become quite chatty and the story just seems to come alive as Carrie types.

The year is 1708 and the Jacobites are trying hard to help the young King James to reclaim his crown. Slains Castle is a very busy place, full of Stewart supporters and is the perfect cover for both French and Scottish fleets who support the cause as well. With some well-hidden coves, the ships can slip in and out quietly when needed. Sophia lost both of her parents young and her and her sister were sent to live with her uncle, John Drummond. Her sister has now passed away as well, in terrible circumstances and her uncle is deceased also. Sophia has arrived at Slains as the guest of the Countess of Erroll, a distance relation to John Drummond. In her research, Carrie begins to see startling similarities between what she has written and what actually took place at Slains during the time of her story. A retired Scottish doctor that is helping Carrie with her research suggests the possibility of ancestorial memory. Could this be what is happening? Is it even possible?


I really loved this book and the possibility of ancestorial memory. Our brains work in so many mysterious ways that are yet untapped and unknown. The author did a wonderful job of weaving both the past and present into her story; such wonderful history and just the perfect touch of romance.

For the new year, Adrienne has challenged us all to continue to dust off those books that have been lingering too long on our shelves, but to also read books from series that we have started.  Christmas with Anne covered both of those catergories for me this past month.  I loved the Anne of Green Gables series and always like a good Christmas read every year, so when I saw this at Goodwill months and months ago, I just had to bring it home.

Many of the short stories in this book were written as magazine stories by L.M. Montgomery and they are all either Christmas or New Years stories with sweet lessons to be learned. A couple of the stories are actually taken from the Anne series, so they were like visiting with familiar friends.  I very much enjoyed this one; it was the perfect light read for the week before Christmas and will go on my shelf with my other L.M. Montgomery books. 
 
Tell me, where did reading take you in December?  I hope you had some down time with a good book and a hot cup of tea. 
 
Speaking of that....please scroll down to my last post and enter the giveaway in celebration of my Mom's birthday!  

Mom's Birthday Giveaway

This is the perfect picture of my Mom.  She loved reading in the early morning and this picture was taken at my sister Stacey's house when Mom and Dad were visiting one year.  January 9th was Mom's birthday and even though she has been gone for many years now, Stacey and I like to celebrate her day by having Birthday Giveaway's on our blogs. 

This year Stacey is giving away a wonderful book that she thinks Mom would have loved called The Healing Quilt by Laurainne Snelling. 

Mom also loved to drink her tea in the mornings with her quiet time reading, so I will be making a set of four quilted coasters for my giveaway and a nice box of tea.  Just leave a comment, even just Hello will do, and you will be entered in my drawing for the coasters and tea. I'll draw a name sometime on the 9th.  

~Don't forget to pop over to Stacey's place, Stacey's Treasures, to be entered in her giveaway as well~

Happy beginning of 2012 all!