100 Best First Lines from Novels

The American Book Review has released their 100 Best First Lines from Novels.  A lot of my favorites are on here.  How about you?

Decline in the life of the mind

This sidewalk bookseller in New York sees a decline in the life of the mind.  What do you think?

Okra Picks: Great Southern Books fresh off the vine

I love this take on "Oprah's Picks" highlighting fresh titles that are southern in nature but covering any genre, not just fiction.  Okra Picks

Library Information Desk

This enormous library desk made of recycled books is a very clever idea.

Fight for Libraries as you do for Freedom

Karin Slaughter books check out pretty well at our library.  This op ed piece that she wrote in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution is very well stated.

The joy of reading more than one book at a time

Do you read only one book at a time, or do you have a pile of books on your desk or nightstand that you are reading simultaneously? NPR's Talk of the Nation recently covered the topic of reading more than one book at a time.

Template for local Chamber of Commerce sites

I think we would do well to emulate Debbie Macomber's Chamber of Commerce for her fictional town Cedar Cove.  Our town would really be hopping then.

How to Open a New Book

I too wish I had this on a T-Shirt.  The comments underneath the graphic are hilarious.

13 Books Nobody's Read but Say They Have

This interesting list appeared in the Huffington Post today.

Être the Cow by Sean Kenniff

There are two extraordinary things about this little book.  One is the quote from Jane Goodall on the back, which states "Être the Cow is one of the most extraordinary books I have ever read.  Dr. Sean Kenniff describes, in a completely convincing way, the drab, sometimes terrifying world of a modern 'farm' seen through the eyes of a bull.  The characters and their inescapable fate will linger on in my mind for a very long time--probably forever.  Please read it, and send copies to your friends--as shall I." And the other is the review from Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, which states "Être the Cow is one of the most important books written in a generation. Être's fight for freedom and dignity is a fight for life itself. Sean Kenniff's Être the Cow depicts a very human struggle—and it's a story I won't soon forget."

Okay.  That was enough to make me want to read the book.  Jane Goodall and Desmond Tutu blurbs on the same book.

As the two introductory pages state...this is a story about a cow...or not.  It's obvious this sweet little book is a satire or parable that will have you chewing its prose like  Être's chewing of cud.  What does it mean to be aware, and yet be caught up in forces that are beyond your control? Aren't people like that? This little book is so intensely thought provoking and emotionally hard hitting you will revel in its beauty.

Make room on your shelf next to Ferdinand (one of my favorites from childhood) ...Être is here.

Body Parts: A Collection of Poems About Aging

Janet Cameron Hoult is a Professor Emerita at California State University, Los Angeles.  Now in her 70s, she lives with her husband in Southern California.  This collection of poems about aging takes a humorous look at the whole degenerative process involved in aging (something we will all face if we are lucky enough to live very long on this earth).  She has written these poems from experience, but I think all of us can relate.  If you can manage to laugh about your aging body parts, then I'm sure all the other little problems that life throws your way will be a breeze by comparison.  Her writing is simple and direct, as well as sincere and funny and wise.  This book is worth spending some contemplative moments with.  Here are a couple of examples to show you what I mean:

Wrinkle Free

My skin's not like it used to be

All soft and smooth and wrinkle free.

It's lined with wrinkles wrought by care

And years and years of wear and tear.

Wrinkles come as each day passes

'Cause we're no longer lads and lasses

Perhaps it's time to look at life

In different ways and reduce strife.

Grandmother said it's best to smile

Though you can't go that extra mile.

She said "Keep yourself from getting down

'Cause you get more wrinkles

when you frown."

Repair Job

Kegels and exercise

Don't do the trick.

So, I'm off to the doctor

To get myself fixed.

A snip and a tug,

A mend of a tear,

My doctor has done it.

She's made a repair!

So tell me a joke

Something funny and rare.

I don't leak anymore

I can laugh without care!

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