Tuesday Teaser//Attn. PWR

I first heard of the Tuesday Teaser meme from Sarah of “Brainfluff.” It is a post hosted by “The Purple Booker.”  Here is my first Tuesday Teaser from May 1, 2018:

[The idea is]”… to tempt others to read the book participants are reading.  The instructions are to randomly open a book to a page, run a finger down the page and copy a couple  of sentences from where you are reading, being careful of spoiler alerts.  The reader must also give the title and author, and sometimes I include whether the book is from the library, a book I own (and might be willing to loan out when I finish) etc.

If you write a blog, please include the address of your blog for us to find your Tuesday Teaser on.  THIS IS SOMETHING I WOULD LIKE TO SEE YOU (PWR on-line member, friend, first-time commenter) PARTICIPATE IN.  Just scroll down until you see the open [reply] box or click on comments on the left-hand side, read others’ comments, and scroll down until you find an open comment/reply box that you can type in.  After you have copied your Tuesday Teaser into the box, hit post comment. And, voila! You are either there, published or awaiting me to moderate which I will do asap, so your Teaser will be published for all to see.  Perhaps someone will be tempted to read your book! Who will be first to put down her/his Tuesday Teaser?

Here is my Tuesday Teaser from The Thoughtful Dresser by Linda Grant.

“There are nostalgic items I do not want but do not want to throw away, and there are things that don’t fit, and things that don’t suit me, and things that were always a mistake, and things I meant to wear but didn’t, and the workhorses of my collection…”  Then she gives some examples of these.  Has she been peeking into my closet?  Who knew there was a book about clothes and shopping for them?  It is at the Alvin Library (after me, please, I’m only halfway through.

I have a wonderful idea PWR members! Let’s have a clothes exchange like the book exchange we do every so often when we get together. Anybody interested?”

I still think a clothing exchange would be fun in summer,2019.

FLASHBACK FRIDAY

FOR NOVEMBER’S FLASHBACK FRIDAY, HERE IS AN EARLIER POST FEATURING A NARRATIVE FROM MY TEEN YEARS:

This was a short piece, a narrative I wrote in undergraduate school.  I found it when clearing out an old file folder, and thought it might be worth sharing.

We had taken inventory at Woolworth’s that night, and I was late coming home from work.  I dragged myself upstairs, prepared to face high school homework, and tiptoed through the room where my twelve year old brother was sleeping  and into my own attic bedroom.  Dad had divided the attic between us and had done a good job converting it to bedrooms. The paint on the walls was battleship grey, appropriated from the Naval Base, and the door between our rooms was a few inches too short for the frame, allowing heat from the register to heat both rooms.

I lay down to sleep and was immediately startled by a rustling noise that sounded like crumpled paper scratching across the linoleum.  The noise seemed to be coming from under the bed!  I had been terrified about the idea of mice ever since at the age of nine, one had tried to make a nest in my long hair in this very room. Turning on the bedside light, I searched quickly, not really wanting to find anything. My heart sickened as I lay down and turned out the light again when the noise resumed. This time I leaped far clear of the bed, unfolded the double bed spread on the twin bed, and kneeling peered under the bed itself.  I almost had my nose snipped off by an old snapping turtle!  MICHAEL MARION MASON, I yelled at my brother, come get your snapping turtle out from under my bed!

Mother said she heard us both barrel down the stairs, then Mike with no explanation to anyone, opened the side door and threw something frisbee-shaped out.  Poor me.  Poor turtle. Poor confused parents. Lucky Mike, for he received no punishment.

 

I Regret to Say…

…that the on-line book club, Powerful Women Readers (PWR) is folding due to busy schedules and work obligations on the part of many of its members. THIS BLOGGING SITE, however, WILL CONTINUE. To be sure you get posts, reviews and other cool stuff included here, be sure to click “follow” if you haven’t already done so.

The last few get-togethers of the PWR book club were sparsely attended, and although the food and fellowship has been great, sadly many of our members simply do not have the time to read or at least to read “assigned” books.

It is with a sad heart that I bring to a close the book club originally established back so many years ago as an offshoot of the Alvin Chapter of AAUW, but I hope you, dear friends, will keep in touch through e-mail and perhaps through following this blog at https://powerfulwomenreaders.wordpress.com.

KEEP ON READING!

Rae

Sunday (Evening Post)

This week has been filled with trips to the mall to visit and walk the mall with a friend from Las Vegas, and going four days in a row (each day a larger percentage off) to an estate sale down the road where we purchased a bedside table in anticipation of visitors from Boston in June and a roll-top desk as an early anniversary present to each other. We also brought some smaller items none of which we needed, but all  nice additions to our house and lifestyles.  Because of the unusual busyness, I did very little reading.

I finished Vanishing Grace by Phillip Yancey, borrowed from the church library, which I returned this morning.  A review follows soon.

I am continuing to read The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas which deals with a white on black shooting and is so interesting that I am halfway to three fourths of the way through.

I started an old book, Tender Mercies by Taylor Caldwell that a friend brought to donate to my LFL when she attended a book party, and I am wondering why I haven’t heard of it before? It is old-fashioned, but wonderful.

I have been cooking this week: Greek lemon-roasted golden potatoes, spaghetti and meatballs, roast beef in the crockpot, and fresh green beans and new potatoes from a friend’s garden.  We are eating well.

It is hot on the Gulf Coast of Texas, hitting 90 degrees, at least, each day with 0ver 85 to 90 percent humidity.  Whew! With washing clothes, taking extra showers, and watering the plants, I dread seeing my water bill!

The Powerful Women Readers’ “Hen Party” is next Sunday, so I have another busy week ahead, shopping and cleaning in anticipation of that. I have read and prepared book talks on all three “assigned” books, but this get together will focus on food, fellowship and fun.

Sunday (Evening) Post

How can a week be totally uneventful and totally busy at the same time?  I managed to complete an item on my bucket list, visit the Brazos Bookstore in Houston; shop and eat at Central Market not too far away from the bookstore; and celebrate the end of the semester at The Dessert Gallery–all in one day! Wednesday.  This was thanks to our “grandson” driving us from Alvin, negotiating all the crazy traffic (which had us overwhelmed at the thought of driving in it), and returning us safely home at the end of the day.  That’s a good grandson!  It took me a day to recuperate from our adventure, but that, too was a busy day. It seems like the things you have to do (or maybe choose to do, for some of them are fun or productive things) will expand to fill up the time you have to do them in.  I always used to say this about housework, but it seems today my life seems to behave by this principle as well.

This past week I finished reading Memoirs of a Geisha (a selection for this quarter’s PWR) and will try to review it by tomorrow.  I also finished The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, thus checking off the selected book for the Third Tuesday Book Club (thanks to my friend Janet who passed on her copy of the ones reserved on a shelf for us by our fine Alvin Public Librarian.  She has really become an asset to our club and to our city.

I took Printz’s “textbook,” Beyond Human Nature, out into the yard on this beautiful Sunday afternoon, and whether it was the change of scenery or for some other reason, I really “got into it.” I have only about 200 pages left, and although serious, non-fiction is not always my cup ‘o tea, I may be able to finish and can definitely say I’ve read some good evidence and fascinating case studies along the author’s premise. The book could be dry, dry, dry, but the author gives the perfect amount of basic, background review and writes so well that I’m glad I tackled the book. I also am still reading Gary Pegoda’s Who Is Human, but did not get too far this week because it is on my laptop, and I’ve been reading paper books all week. I think I also often slow down to admire the words and the writing.

After purchasing it Wednesday, last night I started The Hate U Give, which tempts me to put everything aside and read from dawn to dusk.  I have a feeling it will “go” all too fast.

I have watched practically nothing, but have worked in the yard, and it does look good.  Thanks to My Better Half for digging all the holes and the watering-in he will do for me this evening when it cools down. I have also cooked in an attempt to smother an unwarranted grumpy mood, and I may mention this in Monday Morning’s post.

A note to PWR members:  Don’t forget we have a get-together at Rae’s on May 28th from 1-4 (or so), and I encourage you to read one of the three books we selected for this quarter: Sea Change (the thinnest), Memoirs of a Geisha (a wonderful book you won’t be able to put down) and Madeline Engle’s Many Waters. I will begin the last mentioned soon, but have copies of both of the others I’m willing to lend.  If anyone would like to volunteer to talk about one of the three books (and spare yourself listening to me!) please contact me by phone or e-mail. I am so hoping some of you can come!

HAPPY READING!

 

Friday Tag–I’m IT

While reading my daily “fix” of a friend, James J. Cudney’s blog ,This is My Truth Now, (really worth checking out), I came across a “tag” or challenge put out by the blog Always Trust In Books.  In it there were 20 quick questions to answer about your blog.  I do not have the time or inclination to answer all 20 questions, but I thought it might be fun to address a few of them and give followers and readers some insights into Powerful Women Readers.

What were the last three books you read?

Memoirs of a Geisha, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, both book club selections, and The Education of Dixie Dupree. The last is a debut novel I’d read a review on, and debut novels fascinate me; I guess it’s because I’ve always heard the saying, “Everyone has one novel inside them.”

Spoilers or No Spoilers?  Nothing spoils a good book or a good movie for me, even if someone gives away the ending, especially if I am appreciating the good writing as I read, but I would NEVER skip to the end and actually read the ending of a book.  That’s UNTHINKABLE!

How long have you been blogging? A year and two months

The last book you read in one sitting  I’m going to cheat and choose a children’s book, Tadpole’s Promise by Jeanne Willis

Favorite genre   I’ll read anything; I like all genres if the characters are well developed and the writing is good

DNF (Did Not Finish) The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood, not because it was not good but because I got caught in the rush of the school semester and had to return it to the library 

Approximate number of books read per month   Depends on the month and the position I’m in in the school semester      I usually read at least two books a week and seldom more than four.  This is hard to estimate because I have three or even four books going at once.

Music or quiet when reading?  Definitely quiet

Favorite blogging position    Sitting on the bed, propped up by firm pillows with the laptop braced against my drawn-up knees

Are you a professional blogger  Absolutely not.  I would not enjoy getting a free book in return for a “fair review.”  I do not blog about (or even enter into my reading log) books I did not like.  Books I review are only ones I think have merit or I have enjoyed and want to “tell” someone about them.

Best piece of advice for starting-out bloggers  Have fun!

Tuesday Teaser

“Tuesday Teaser is a bookish meme, hosted by The Purple Booker” which I read every Tuesday.  Bloggers from all over (and those who read blogs) grab their books, choose two or so random sentences, and copy them down in the effort to perhaps interest someone else in the book they are reading. How about participating here? Be careful not to include spoilers, but list your Tuesday Teaser in the comments below.  Here’s mine for today:

“I touched his shoulder again, and Rowdy flinched.

Yes I touched him again.

What kind of idiot was I?

The kind that got punched hard in the face by his best friend.”

This is from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, a YA novel I tried once upon a time, gave up on, but am trying again because it is the monthly selection of my Third Tuesday Book Club at the local library.  Once I got over the language in the first chapter, I have to admit, I’m enjoying it. (Or perhaps the language has become more common, and thus more acceptable over time.) What’s your Tuesday Teaser?

Sunday (Evening) Post

My Sunday (Evening) Post, loosely based on Caffeinated Blogger’s Sunday Post, has turned into an Every-Other-Sunday (Evening) Post. For the past two times, busyness and life “got in the way,” and I missed a week; thus, it’s now been two weeks since I attempted to catch friends up with what I’ve been reading, viewing, and doing.

During the past two weeks since Easter Sunday, I have…

Finished: Big Magic, a definition and exploration of creativity, recently reviewed on this site.

Because I’ve had little time for reading as I attempted to close out the semester at the university, I’ve continued but made scant progress on Prinz’s Beyond Human Nature: How Culture and Experience Shape the Human Mind.  This is an easy book to set aside, not because it is not interesting or well written, but because it is a challenge as well as out of my usual genre, but I hope to discipline myself enough to spend some time with it in the coming week.  I am still enjoying the excellent writing of friend, Gary Pegoda’s Who Is Human, a sci fi novel and am really “into” Memories of a Geisha, which has been my “escape read” throughout a mountain of paper grading.

I started Phillip Yancey’s Vanishing Grace, recommended by my church’s librarian, and at the opposite end of the spectrum, began this month’s selection for my Third Tuesday Book Club, a YA novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian.

On TV I found time for a taped episode of “Scorpion”, always suspenseful and always entertaining and have four more episodes awaiting me.  I have watched three episodes of “Rick Steves’ Europe” , a great PBS travel show which is the perfect thirty-minute entertainment while eating a meal. Several mornings of NBC’s” Today Show,” and am up to date on “Superior Doughnuts” and “The Big Bang Theory.” I managed to reward myself for grading with two movies, Jackie and a French film, The Class when I reached certain goals in my grading progress.

I am pleased to report that the Grading Marathon is over, grades are averaged (Everyone did well.  I had an amazing group of writers this semester, one filled with serious students who took ownership of and pride in their writing and assignments. What a blessing!) and all that remains is posting the grades on line.

It will seem strange not going to class Wednesday, but I plan on an outing with a friend to  Central Market in Houston for shopping and lunch in place of class, so I am one happy camper! I hope your coming week is as promising and that you will find some time in it to read something really wonderful.

SUNDAY (EVENING) POST

I can’t believe it’s Sunday again! And January is almost gone as well.  My how time does fly.

What I finished this past week: The Jealous Kind by James Lee Burke (reviewed in post preceding this one) and Textbook by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, described as “not exactly a memoir”(will be reviewed this week)

Continuing to read:  Freeks by Amanda Hocking

Peeked into and read a chapter or two: Just One Damned Thing After Another, the first book in the “Chronicles of St. Mary’s” series by Jodi Taylor, The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahri, and Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, all of which I want to finish, for sure.

What I watched: One episode of “Bull,” Two new season episodes of “This is Us” and a couple of “To Tell the Truths”.

School is well underway and clicking right along. The Reading Improvement class for kids will be at it’s midway point this coming Wednesday, and I will have to decide whether to offer it again in March and April or to wait and offer it this summer, which I’m sure will happen.  Decisions, decisions, decisions.

PWR (Powerful Women Readers, our on-line book group) meets here  a week from today, and we will discuss the three assigned books (Members are asked to read one of the three.), Fannie Flagg’s The Whole Town’s Talking, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, or local writer, Leon Hale’s Paper Hero.  I have read two of the three and am hoping someone will bring a copy of Fannie Flagg to loan Sunday. There will be a door prize from a local boutique. Contact Rae if you can help with the refreshments.

And, as Porky Pig always said, “That’s All Folks!”

TUESDAY TEASER

Ok, PWR members and friends thereof, it’s time for your Tuesday Teaser.  Let us know what you’re currently reading by randomly opening your book and copying two or so lines to tease us into adding your current read into our TBR (To Be Read) List. Be careful not to include any spoilers.   Here’s mine from The Cat, The Quilt, and The Corpse, a cozy mystery by Leann Sweeney from her “Cats in Trouble” series:

Several crates of cats which had been rescued from the dead cat-stealer’s house have just arrived at the cat-quilter’s home for temporary fostering.  “The Siamese  began wailing its head off, and my three [cats] ventured into the foyer to check out the noise.  Merlot (one of her cats) took one look at those crates (full of rescued cats), hissed and hightailed it back to wherever he’d been hiding.  But apparently Syrah (her second cat) wasn’t bothered, and Chablis (her third cat) was too drugged to care about possible unwelcome visitors.”

Who was this derelict dead man who had stolen her precious cat? And more important, who had stabbed him to death?  If only the cat could talk.