Reading in the Garden

The Big-Hearted Blue Book Woman.     What a book! This one will stay with me a long, long time. I won’t soon forget the kind and gentle Cussy, a woman who loves books and being a “book woman”—a pack horse librarian in the 1930s in the Kentucky mountains.    Although it’s a novel, it’s based on the factual Pack Horse Librarian program which ran from 1935-1943 delivering reading material to people in remote mountain locations who had no access to libraries. The program also provided much needed jobs to the women who rode horses or mules to their isolated patrons. Cussy has a true medical condition which gives her skin a blue tone, and for that she’s an outcast, harassed and discriminated against, a reminder of the injustices many people of color have suffered. Only those who eagerly await her deliveries can see past her skin color to see the genuine heroine she is.  A breathtaking book! I loved this book so much, the moment I finished it, I handed it to my husband and urged him

A Joyous Reminder. This book is a great boost I didn't even know I needed until a customer highly recommended it, and I'm glad he did. It is both an affirmation and an awakening on what it takes to cultivate true joy, ending with specific practices we can use.  The book provides insights on how to deal with stress, anxiety, fear, and loneliness and other adversities. It emphasizes that joy is happiness that does not depend on what happens. We can develop our own joy.  Whether you're facing hardship or just want to be revitalized, you can't go wrong with a joyful pep talk especially from these celebrated leaders of two different religions: the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.  Wishing you much joy, Annette

Favorite Books So Far This Year. 1. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman 2. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles 3. The Library Book by Susan Orlean 4. Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks 5. Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Stewart Pruitt - Review coming soon. Happy Summer, Happy Reading! Annette

Tom Hanks’ Icing on the Cake.    What a pleasant surprise to find that Tom Hanks isn’t just a great actor, he’s a good writer, too!  His prose is sharp, intelligent, polished and his stories run the gamut from funny to thought-provoking—with one head-scratcher thrown in the mix.   I can almost hear Tom’s voice in each story, many of them seeming to correlate to his movies or life as an actor. One story is about an actor’s exhausting press tour, one about WWII with tones of  Saving Private Ryan.  Another leads us through Central Park and the streets of New York City which makes me think a little differently of one of my favorite movies,  You’ve Got Mail.  The common thread through each of the stories is the appearance of a typewriter.   I don’t want to say that Tom should give up his day job, because I love him too much as an actor. But I sure could see him turning the story of the laugh-out-loud, exhaustingly controlling Anna into a full-blown novel (minus the  Apollo 13 -