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Confessions of a Frumpy Mommy | Family Love Inspiration Education
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Foxy’s Domestic Side | Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After | Sprinkled Just Right |
Good Friday, no really GOOD FRIDAY afternoon, gentle readers,
I am writing this from the prone position in my daughter Brennyn’s guest room bed in Ft. Worth while PC catches forty-winks beside me. I truly meant to have this post up earlier today or maybe even last night but snuggling with my granddaughter Cady, live and in person (none of that space age Skype business this time), got in the way.
I know you understand.
Before we start talking books and what’s on my reading list, I want to welcome my BFF Sharon’s new twin grandbabies into the world.
Welcome, sweet Davis and Millie.
I already love them just as I do their not-so-very-big sister Ella. And hope to meet all three this summer. I would love for two-year-old Ella and my four-year-old Cady to meet, too.
Someday.
SOON.
When I am reading to kids at school or to Cady in person or via Skype, I am a pretty fast reader. I fly through a picture book in record time, stopping to comment on the illustrations and taking time to make sound effects and read in different voices for each of the characters.
But as I have confessed in earlier posts, I am a slow silent reader. Slow adult book reader. And I have to fully concentrate on what I am reading, and ponder it some. So I don’t sit down for an afternoon of reading. I read a few pages at a time, usually at night, and then have to kinda chew on that until bedtime the next day.
One of my Rediscover Me goals is to read a book a month. A grown-up book. And would like to read a children’s book a month as icing on the cake. For my March book, I just finished reading The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman. I can’t remember where I first learned of this book, maybe through Barnes and Noble’s NOOK Recommends. I realized I had read an earlier book by Hoffman, Here on Earth, when, upon my daughters’ combined insistence, I began reading grown up books again after years of reading only picture books to them.
The exotic-looking face on the cover of my Nook version of The Museum of Extraordinary Things reminds me of a combination of my daughters. Not that Coralie, one of the book’s main characters, really looks like Brennyn or Lauren. But they have these hauntingly, crazy-pretty, green eyes and in my mind, Coralie’s are the same color.
The story is set in turn-of-the-twentieth-century Coney Island, New York and parallels the lives of Coralie Sardie and Eddie Cohen. Coralie is the star attraction of her father’s Museum of Extraordinary Things; billed as a human mermaid of sorts, due to the webbing (birth defect) between her fingers on both hands and her exceptional swimming ability. Shortly after Eddie immigrates to America from Russia with his father, he runs away from their Orthodox Jewish community, and sort of lucks into a career as a freelance photographer. Hoffman weaves the story of how Coralie and Eddie’s paths cross and their love story unfolds against the tragic backdrop of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory and Dreamland (amusement) Park fires.
Part historical fiction, part fairy tale; as the threads of Coralie and Eddie’s separate lives unravel, the author deftly gathers those same loose ends and intertwines them to create a satisfying ending to her yarn. Complete with a happily-ever-after ending.
I am still savoring this story.
And something about this book reminds me of the children’s title The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applewhite. I was honored to have been asked by fellow blogger Joy Cochran to share some of my favorite books and it was among those. Check out that blog post here.
But it is well into the first week of April and I have not yet decided on this month’s read. At this rate, I am going to have to base my decision on which of the books on my Goodreads.com ‘to-read’ shelf is the shortest! Here are some of the titles I am considering.
Quite the eclectic collection.
For years I have enjoyed the historical fiction of Philippa Gregory. You might recognize or have read The Other Boleyn Girl. Or maybe seen the movie?
So, do I return to a genre I have loved in the past or do I branch out by reading something more current?
Then again, I do love a good midwifery kind of story. And that love being further fueled by the births of Hudson, Davis and Millie, I am reminded of how much I loved the children’s book, The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman.
Why is that cover so enormous? Maybe it is trying to tell me something, because try as I might, I cannot seem to reduce its size.
Maybe I need to read another good baby birthing book.
On the other hand, everyone is raving about The Girl on the Train. Maybe I need to read it if only to stay current and relevant and be able to talk a good game among other librarians and avid readers.
And there are all those other great ‘to-reads’ on my Goodreads bookshelf. You can peruse them here.
Decisions, decisions.
So many books, so little time.
I know you will all be waiting with bated breath to know which title I choose. And I promise to have that decision for you tomorrow.
So come back then. Same time, same channel.
And in the meantime, please stop by the blogs of my Style Me Bloggers buddies to see what they are reading. Heck, maybe in their great posts, I will be enticed to try something altogether different.
Hugs and kisses,
Sharon
Thanks for the shout out to my 2 new sweet angels. So excited to be a Gma again. I hope to return to reading grown up books again someday but for now it’s kids books. 🙂 Happy Easter BFF to you and your beautiful family! XO
Leslie Roberts Clingan
It has been hard for me to get back to reading grown-up books. They just take too long to read! Found a book about life-long friendships that might be good to read with you. I will look up the title and send it to you. So glad to hear the good update about Millie and Davis. XO
Sharon
Send me the title friend. I can dl it on my iPad. 🙂
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Let me find the title of the book and I will send it. Can’t remember now where I saw it. Ugh, I hate getting old.
Deena
That Alice Hoffman one caught my eye, I`m adding it to my list. Also, I feel like I would like the Boleyn Girls books…maybe I’ll try them too.
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Oh, the Other Boleyn is so good, Deena. If you haven’t seen the movie, put the kids to bed early, pour some wine and check it out!!