RenovationGirl

Lakeshore Christmas by Susan Wiggs

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by MotherTalk on behalf of Lakeshore Christmas and received a copy of the book to facilitate my candid review. In addition, Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.” 

What is it about small town America that draws us towards it?  Is it the simple life that we really all desire, or is it the honest people we imagine living there, or the great sense of fellowship?  I find myself drawn to stories set in these small towns, being pulled into a life I think I would enjoy immensely. 

Lakeshore Christmas, part of The Lakeshore Chronicles by Susan Wiggs, delivers that small town feeling at a time of year that reminds us what friends, faith, and simplicity really mean in our lives.  The characters are typical, but that's what makes them so endearing to us...the reserved librarian with a past, the Hollywood star/rocker with a heart of gold, the struggling teenage mom, the bad teenagers who find the right path. And of course, the conflict...

At the heart of the story is the town Christmas pageant, the one thing that can save the characters and the heart of the town.  In the end, miracles will happen and it makes the reader believe again in the goodness of others. 

Lakeshore Christmas makes you want to get those decorations out and start baking cookies.  Grab a cup of tea and your coziest blanket and enjoy a heartwarming and fulfilling novel! Thanks for MotherTalk for hooking me up with yet another delightful read!

School of Essential Ingredients

  Very rarely does a book come along that renews my faith in the written word.  I am a fast reader, one who skims hungrily to find out what happens instead of reading each and every word.  This is unusual since I teach literature.  I teach students to read every single word, sentence, and paragraph.  But I find that so much of contemporary literature isn't worth reading so closely.  And then, I was asked to read The School of Essential Ingredients Erica Bauermeister. 

Here is what I discovered...I had to slow down to read this book.  Not because it was structured grammatically difficult,  not because the message was far too intricately woven into the plot, and not because the language required a dictionary and an advanced degree in linguistics.  No.  This book commanded that I slow down.  At times, I felt compelled to make myself a cup of tea, a ritual I use to calm my spirits and help me savor experiences.  I wanted to explore each word and sentence.  My heart rate calmed and I felt light.  All this from a book?  Yep!

The book explores a group of students who have all committed to taking a weekly cooking class.  Their teacher, Lillian, restaurant owner, developed an appreciation for cooking and a respect for food at an early age, discovering the power of a well-made meal.  She imparts this love of food with each class and each class is a small lesson in life and love.  As these students navigate the kitchen, they are uncover truths about themselves and face difficult memories. 

Each class, Lillian presents ways of  making food, not recipes.  I have learned a multitude of cooking lessons myself as I read this.  And I will read it again and again.  It is most definitely a book to which I will turn when I am stressed and overwhelmed to remember the importance of slowing down and savoring what is in front of you.

Thank you, MotherTalk, for introducing me to this book.  Hands down, this book is five-star, two thums-up!  Go buy it!!

Read Kiddo Read

It's rare that I post the reviews that I do for BBM Review here, but sometimes a review comes up that is so important, I can't not share it (oooo, double negative!).  Please indulge me.  If you have children, you'll be glad you kept reading...

For as long as I can remember, books have held a place of great importance in my life.  From the nightly bedtime books read to me by my parents, to the Nancy Drew books I read as an independent reader, to the first time of many times reading Jane Eyre and being told by  my 8th grade English teacher that my writing was "very Victorian," to discovering Jane Austen, to uncovering obscure 18th Century novels-the books I have read chronicle my growth not only as a student of literature, but as a child growing up.

It was never a problem for me to find another captivating book to read, but today, in such a fast-moving world, it's hard for kids to settle down enough to find something that draws them in. Author James Patterson has taken this problem and provided a solution.  ReadKiddoRead provides parents, teachers, and librarians a place to go to find truly great books, books that will have kids asking for me, instilling in them a love of reading that goes beyond iPods and texting.  Separated by age category, you can easily navigate the website to quickly find some book titles when you're on your way out the door to the library.

My son does not want for books...while I may stop the "gimmies" when it comes to toys, if he finds a book he wants to buy, he gets it.  To me, books are an investment.  If he grows up to read anything  for pleasure, my job will be done!

Please check out ReadKiddoRead for the little and not so little ones in your life.  We have such an important job.  Instead of buying those flashcards to make your own kiddos more advanced, just pick up a book and snuggle on the couch reading together. 

Well Read?

On Monday, while being sick as a dog with very little voice, I had to suffer through a 13 hour day.  Teaching in the morning and then conducting parent-teacher conferences all afternoon and evening  was a killer on the voice.  I bumped into a parent of a former student who had asked me last year to compile a list of books that her child should have read/be reading.  This family is exceptionally intelligent and they work very hard constantly to challenge themselves on all issues.  I never did compile that list for her.  It's hard to say what "should" be read.  I am a very traditional student of literature-I believe in the literary canon.  I believe that Shakespeare should be taught.  I believe that kids should read some Dickens.  I believe that children should Austen, and the Brontes, and Hardy.  I am a lover of British literature and early American literature (except Hawthorne...blech!).  I appreciate some amazing contemporary pieces that are out there (anything by Ian McEwan), but if I want to curl up and lose myself in a book, it's to the classic pieces I go.  But I know there is more to literature than my classic choices.  And so I didn't feel that I could adequately provide this family with a definitive "list." 

I was thinking this while waiting for parents to conference with me.  I started obsessing about all the books I haven't read.  I looked up the Top 100 Novels of All Time and was thoroughly disgusted with myself...of the 100 books listed, I was under 20.  I have a Masters in Literature...how pathetic is that?!  I vowed that I would read the top 100.  Some of the books I own and just have never read, so I will start with those.  Currently, I am starting Native Son by Richard Wright, a book that used to be taught in our school before it was censored by parents (please, don't get me started).   But 80+ books is a bit overwhelming.  So, I found a new list over at Big Read.  I'm still at just about 30,but it's much more my speed and makes me feel a bit better about my literary background. 

So tell me, what are you reading?  What do you like to read?  Have any good book suggestions for me? 

Where I belong

I have a very overactive imagination.  I don't like super scary or gory movies because, trust me, my what I create in my mind is far worse than anything inspired from a movie.  And those romantic films, yeah, mine are so much better-the more romantic and drippy, the better.  So when I read, I am not a passive participant-I engross myself in the book.  I become a character, the characters become my friends, I walk away from the book and later wonder what is happening in the world of the book.  I can't wait to pick up where I left off and I am known to stay up all night just to see what happens.  I feed off of the words, hungrily reading page after page until the book is over...only to feel sad that there is no more.

I guess that's why I wanted to teach high schoolers literature.

But often, after having finished a great book, one that captures me with rich characters, clever text, or a moving plot, I have had a feeling of sadness beyond post-book blues.  I should clarify that while I appreciate some of the contemporary writing, my passion resides in the literary canon, the dead white men, if you will.  Well, actually, not just the dead white men, but the dead white women who pretended to be men with their pens.  The contemporary fiction I read is also steeped in history.  I am drawn to the English countryside.  Or an English hamlet.  Or London.  My sadness comes from my feelings that I was born in the wrong time or place.  I realize, of course, logically speaking, that had I been born in a time earlier than this, I would be painfully impoverished, most likely working the fields, keeping someone else's house...or worse. 

But still, I connect with the English setting.  Perhaps it is the characters who entrance me.  Or the author's artistry of words.  Regardless, there is always that nagging sense that this is a time and place where I would feel comfortable.  The birthplace of Shakespeare, and Austen, and the Brontes.  The strong tea and buttery biscuits.  The warm hearth.  An appreciation for history, art, and words. 

This is where I belong-in the world of the book.

Dirty Little Secrets

    Check out my review for the book Dirty Little Secrets by Trisha Ashworth and Amy Nobile over at BBM Review.  If you are a mom, this is a must-read.  Whie you're there, get details about the contest over at Mother Talk for a $25 Amazon gift certificate just for sharing your dirty little secret!

Only Child

If you are interested in reading a wonderful book of essays discussing only children written by only children, I highly recommend the book Only Child:  Writers on the Singular Joys and Solitary Sorrows of Growing Up Solo.  You can read my review of it at the BBM Review .