Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

This book was a pick for my neighborhood book club. I am ashamed I had not read it before!


I could not put this story down and recently, when I was going through some of my daughter's high school notebooks, I saw that she had read this book. It was surprising to me that it was one of the books her class had read since I always thought that some of the classics that I was supposed to read were boring. Like what I call, 'The Tale of Two Boring Cities'. I also had read other classics last summer that I had not read, thinking I should, and found them to be just as boring. But I know that this book, if it had been one of the required readings while I was in high school, would have been enjoyed. But of course I was in high school during the time of the beginning of integration. Perhaps this book would not have sat well with our parents. To stir things up. We couldn't have that, right?


But when my children were in the same high school that I went to, it was different. It was filled with children from all backgrounds and nationalities. It had become a Magnet High School and populated with different cultural backgrounds. It was grand to see the friends that my daughters brought home.


So, about this book, get it. Read it. Enjoy.

The Bolter by Frances Osborne

I could not put this book down. I found it on the Goodwill shelf and the spine of the paper cover caught my attention first. It looked old and yellowed with B&W photos as well. I took it off the shelf and looked at the front cover and saw what you are seeing above. Then I really wanted to read it. I immediately took it to the check out counter and bought it for less than two dollars.

Yesterday was a cloudy day that was cool/warm enough to have the screen doors open in my sitting room. I basically decided to take a staycation and curl up on the couch and read and read and read. Finally finished the book this morning and am sorry to have to say good-bye to it.

The book was written by Frances Osborne whose great-grandmother was Idina Sackville. Idina lived her own life in her own way, being married and divorced five times! She loved Africa and ended up building her home there called Clouds. It sounds wonderful. Idina stripped away any boundaries or mores at the time and had so many sexual encounters that there aren't the pages to fill them. She married men who also, but being British nobility, if you kept it discreet, then nobody said anything.

Idina wasn't discreet.

I think you may find this true story as fascinating and as enthralling as I did. Make sure you devote a staycation to its read.





Just Breathe by Susan Wiggs

Just Breathe is a book that would be a good Summer Read. After all it is set near water.

I think the cover is misleading as this is not a story about a very young girl at the beach but rather about a married woman who has tried unsuccessfully to get pregnant. Over and over. About her marriage that falls apart and about how she begins to put it back together again with the help of her family and so forth. If I tell you the whole story then you won't have to read it, right?

So it's got humor but it's not all rose colored glasses. It's real. We all have our ups and downs, don't we? If not then you just haven't lived long enough yet.

As usual I grabbed this off the Goodwill shelf. 

ME: Stories of My Life by Katharine Hepburn

What a delight to read! Ms. Hepburn writes as she speaks and therefore you get to "see" her as she talks you through the stories of her life. Included amongst the pages are photographs which are always a delight. Especially the big two page spread of her and Spencer. You can see the love.

I enjoyed this book immensely and didn't want to put it down. She was truly a new woman in her day and age. She lived her life as she wanted and acknowledges her selfishness except when it came to S.T.

Wouldn't it have been lovely to be her friend? I think so.



(A Goodwill shelf find)

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

This book should be read by all. It was hard for me to put it down but it was fun to pick back up. It is a novel about two sisters who endeavored to change the way their generation looked at slavery and women.




It is set in Charleston, South Carolina, where these two sisters really lived and grew up when slavery was de rigueur. You may know them ... Sarah and Angelina Grimke.




You will vicariously grow up with them as well as Sarah's personal maid which she was given on her birthday. Her maid was called Hetty, or Handful by her Mauma, (and yes I spelled that correctly). As these girls mature they are the generation that realizes that slavery should be stopped within their parents world where slavery is the norm and expected.




How will these young women challenge the system in order to right a terrible wrong?


At the end of the book the author goes into more detail about the true dealings these women went through and I am sure you will be enlightened by their true stories put into a historical fiction. I wanted to read on but alas must go to the library or the internet to look up more about these sisters who gave up so much for their cause.


I can thank my neighborhood Book Club leader who picked this one out for our group to read.

The Lincoln Myth by Steve Berry

This book was a good read once you got past the slowness in the beginning. It does make you think about what may be the secrets passed down through the office of the Presidency that we as mere mortals will never know.


Do we know all that the Founding Fathers wanted for our United States? Is there possible paperwork hidden in places that would reveal all their purposes? One such myth may surround our revered Abe Lincoln. A myth that if known could transform what we as a nation can be allowed to do which would destroy all we know.


Read on and find out what Steve Berry's well known characters Cassiopea Vitt and Cotton Malone have to do in order to keep the secret or let it be known.


What would you do?

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok

Do you have a trip you have to take and you need a good book to keep you company on the plane or in your hotel room between meetings or you just want to take a staycation on your couch with a fuzzy blanket over your legs?


Then pick this page turner up wherever you can get it. Of course you know where I got this one, right? That's correct. Goodwill.


Make sure you have food around you as well because you are not going to want to put it down to grab a bite from the fridge, or even take a bathroom break, or even answer your cell phone. Why? Because you have just entered Jean Kwok's semi-autobiography about growing up in America with English not being your first language. You will live with her and her mother as they try to navigate their new world. Understanding how others live from hand to mouth day in and day out but with an unswerving determination to succeed is inspiring.


Kudos to you, Jean.