Autumn

Yesterday we once more set out on a motorcycle ride.  Cliff needed to get some stuff at Scott's Bargain Barn in Excelsior Springs.  I've mentioned it in this blog before; that place definitely isn't a lady's idea of fun shopping, so I took my Nook along, and while Cliff meandered through the junk aisles, I read.  Presently I'm reading an excellent book that I checked out of the library's e-book selections.  Stargazer, a school teacher in the state of Washington, has reviews of books she's read on the right-hand side of her blog.  She highly recommended "Cutting For Stone".  Somehow I'm having trouble finding time to sit down and read it, but the two hundred pages I've read so far keep me on the edge of my seat, and I spend lots of time when I'm occupied around the house wondering what's going to happen next.  Between motorcycle rides and other interruptions like laundry and cooking, I'm just going to have to make the time.  One problem I have is that I can't read in the evening; even the best of books put me to sleep after 7 PM.  And of course this perfect autumn weather lures me outside often.  There's an idea!  I should take the Nook outside.  
After Cliff was done shopping it was lunch time, and the GPS directed us toward a Subway.  Unfortunately, there was a Chinese place in the same strip mall, so you can guess what happened to our healthy, low-calorie lunch:  it went down the tubes.  
After sinning eating, we went to Cameron to visit with my cousin and his wife.  

The leaves are changing color quickly.  We can see a difference every day.  

The autumn color is supposed to peak in this area around October 15.  

Mother Cat and her brood of two are staying in the barn most of the time, but sometimes Mom likes to try out my lawn chair.  We saw her carrying a mouse or mole to the barn the other day, and the biggest of her kittens practically fought her for it.  It's good to know they are doing the job for which they were intended.  When I go out to milk the cow, they lead me to the barn as if I might lose my way, and meow constantly until I feed them some cat food.  Then they get a drink of warm milk when I'm done milking.  

I'm still loving my Nook e-reader

Barnes and Noble has come up with a new-and-improved Nook, but I'm very happy with the one I have; I hope it keeps on ticking for years.  
I don't spend money on books; for the most part I read library books checked out here at home.  The only way I "buy" a book is when I use the Swagbucks I've earned doing Internet searches, and of course, that costs me nothing.  At present I have 860 swagbucks; when I have 1,200, I'll be able to purchase an e-book from Barnes and Noble.  When I get a book in this manner, I try to make sure it's one I really want and might want to re-read someday, because it will be on my Nook forever if I so desire.
One drawback to checking out library books for an e-reader is that there's a waiting list for popular books, sometimes a very long one.  For instance, "The Help":  I put a hold on it weeks ago; I'm now number 5 on a list of 103 people.  Wow!   
Another drawback to checking out library e-books is that you can only have four books on hold at one time, but I'm about to take care of that problem.  When we went to get a library card, I told the lady that we didn't two cards; so we got a card in Cliff's name.  Next chance I get, I will also get a card in my own name.  That will make a way for me to have eight books on hold at one time.  This wouldn't be necessary if it weren't for the lengthy waiting lists.  
Right now I'm number one on the lists for "The Lincoln Lawyer" and "A Big Little Life", so there's a good chance I'll have two books to read at once; but of course, I have to have them read in two weeks' time, because after that time the books magically return themselves to the library!  


I just finished "Up From The Blue" and couldn't put it down.  I love reading a book that makes me want to keep on reading until I reach the end!

I'm reading

We're back to unseasonably cool weather, so all the yard-and-garden fun is on hold.  So far the temperatures haven't dipped below freezing.  Because I started more pepper plants than I can possible use, I planted a row of them last weekend; I also set out two of my tomato plants.  Oh, and I have some corn up.  If we get a frost or freeze, there's plenty of stuff it could affect now; one year we had a freeze on May 10, I believe.  Peas, lettuce and spinach love the cool weather, and are doing great.  Even a hard freeze won't affect those crops.  
Meanwhile, the furnace is kicking on from time to time and I'm curling up with my Nook.
There are two library books on my Nook right now.  "Washington, A Life", is 1,100 pages long.  It's extremely interesting, but I won't get it even half read before it goes "poof", so I have already gotten in the cyber-line to re-check it out; you can't renew books on the Nook, you have to check them out all over again.  I'm fifth in line, and that's OK.
The way the Revolutionary War is going so far as I've read, I don't know why we're not still British subjects!  What a bunch of losers those ragtag soldiers appear to be, running from battle at the first sound of a musket, deserting at will, and the few brave ones get killed.  Honestly, if I didn't know how it turned out, I would think England was going to win.  As for George, one minute I love him for his courage... he truly was courageous... and the next minute I don't like him much for his snooty attitude about people of a lower class than himself.  Oh, and did you know they used to shoot or hang people for deserting?  Did you know Mr. Washington had his personal slave with him all through the war?  His wife was fairly close at hand a lot of the time, too.  
I needed a break from watching my side lose a war, so I checked out "Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter", which I can hardly put down.  It's been a long time since I've been this riveted to a book, and I'm going to cut this short and get to it now.    

Seeing what I want to see

The entry I did this morning got me thinking about the way I read books and see entirely different themes than the author intended.  For instance, in the book "Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret", what I saw was a little girl's search for God.  The story actually deals with all the things girls of that age worry about:  a bra not filled out, when and how to kiss a boy, and what it might be like when she gets her period.  What my eyes saw was a story about somebody searching for God.  It isn't a religious book, by any means.  If I remember correctly, after trying different religions, Margaret decides to keep on dealing with God one on one like she's always done, and not worry about churches or synagogues.  I guess I should read the book again, just to see.    
I recently mentioned here that I'd read "Just Kids"; I said it was about Patti Smith (a rock singer I honestly hadn't heard of before) and the hippie lifestyle; Patti was the author of the book.  
Well, all that is in the book, and that's what grabbed me.  That's what I saw.  However, the book is actually about a photographer I had never heard of, Robert Mapplethorpe.  It starts with him on his deathbed, tells his story, and ends with him dying from AIDS.  When I blogged about the book, I didn't even mention him.  It seems he's quite famous and even has a foundation named after him.  
Those drugs he took must have done something for him.   
This business of seeing and hearing what I want (or need) happens with sermons, too:  The preacher's words will sink right into my soul and I know exactly what he's getting at; he's stepping on my toes.  Then I compare notes with someone else who was present at church that day, and when they tell me what they got out of the sermon, it might as well have been a totally different sermon AND preacher.   
Selective hearing and selective reading.  I guess I'm guilty of both.   

The Bobbsey Twins (and other stories)

I still remember the first two "big" books I received.  They were a Christmas gift from my school teacher, and I felt quite grown-up to hold in my hand some books that were so much more impressive than my favorite Little Golden Books: "Little Black Sambo" and "The Little Engine that Could".  
One of the books, "Heidi", seemed difficult, so I put it aside to read the other one:  The Bobbsey Twins, the first in a series of many.  I couldn't put it down.  I later owned "The Bobbsey Twins in the Country" and "The Bobbsey Twins at the Seashore", and one other one about them flying in an airplane.  None held the magic of the first, though.  
Because these books were originally written when my mother was a kid, they are old enough to be a free download on the Nook; so I nabbed that first one I ever owned, just for the memories.  It's the one that taught me how to make a dollhouse out of a shoebox, and how to make a sturdy igloo by pouring water over the top of a pile of snow to make it strong.  I later used that knowledge to help my kids construct an igloo in the seventies.  
Heidi was a difficult read for me, but it drew me in right away because it was about a little girl who went to live with her scary-but-nice grandpa, and got to spend her days romping in the mountains barefoot, playing with goats.  Now, at that time I'd never been around goats, but it seemed like it would have been a wonderful life.  I would read about Grandfather making cheese and I could almost taste it.  I'll admit I got bored when Heidi went to stay with the little rich girl, but I stuck with the book until it was done, even re-reading it at least once.   
I have no idea how old I was when I received these books; I only know that we still lived in Iowa.  I'm thinking perhaps I was in the second grade.   
Now I'm reading a library book on my Nook called "Just Kids".  It's a biographical book by Patti Smith, a name that wasn't familiar to me; seems she's a rock singer.  I chose the book because it seemed to portray life in the hippy culture, back in the sixties and early seventies.  I was raising babies then, living in the country.  I'd have fainted if somebody had so much as offered me a joint, but I had a secret fascination with hippies, Woodstock, communes, and the whole back-to-the-land movement.  It all seemed so romantic.
Patti drops a lot of names throughout the book, at least half of which I'm not familiar with because I was listening to country music, not rock.  However, she and her friends hung out at times with Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, and Jimi Hendrix.  Those names made me sit up and take notice.  
The venereal disease and crabs, however, left me shuddering and unimpressed.    
Books give me glimpses into places I don't have the nerve to go in real life.  Sometimes I'm glad it's only a glimpse.  
Now I'm going to go cyber-shopping at Barnes and Noble; I'm using all the Swagbucks I receive searching the Net to get myself Barnes-and-Noble gift cards.  Free books, best-sellers I wouldn't normally shell out the bucks for.  Sweet!

Books

The Internet really distracts me from reading books, and has ever since 1998 when I got my first computer.  
This is a real shame, because I love to read a good book.  
Cliff and I went on a road trip to Iowa last weekend, and I searched through our garage-sale finds for something I could read aloud as we traveled.  I discovered an Alex Cross novel we hadn't read:  Perfect!    
We've shared several books from that particular James Patterson series while on the road.  They're scary enough to keep you awake, with enough twists and turns to hold your interest.  You know there will be lots of people killed, and even Alex's family is never really safe, so in that way they're predictable.  But the magical thing about these books is that the chapters are only one to three pages long.  If you've never read aloud in a car to a person who is hard of hearing, you probably can't appreciate that; but short chapters give you lots of opportunities to take a break, look around, get a drink of water, and rest the old vocal chords.  If we didn't sometimes go on a road trip, I'd probably never pick up another Alex Cross novel; for reading on the road, they're perfect.  
When I spent a night at the cabin a couple of weeks ago, I took the Loretta Lynn bio, "Still Woman Enough".  It isn't the most well-written book I've ever read, but because it was about someone with whom I'm familiar, it held my interest.  Cliff read it later, and agreed; although he sure did hate Doolittle Lynn by the end of the first chapter.  "He's just a child molester, in my book," said Cliff.  "marrying a fourteen-year-old girl and then beating her up all the time."  
But I digress.  My point is, at the cabin there are no distractions, and I read like crazy when I'm there, as long as daylight holds.
  

Yesterday we were at Sam's Club and I saw a super-sized anti-gravity chair.  I've been wanting one of these ever since I tried one out at the State Fair a few years ago, and my birthday's coming up.  Cliff advised me to get it, since he figured if I didn't get it while we were there it would only mean a trip back in a few days.  
Sitting in this wonderful creation is like being in my recliner.  I spend a lot of time, mornings and evenings, sitting in the yard watching my dog and enjoying the flowers, and now I'll be doing it in comfort.  It even has a pullout tray with a spot for my morning cup of coffee.  
I wondered to myself if this chair in my yard would be distraction-free enough for me to get lost in a book, and looked through my collection for something I had not read; I chose "The Color of Water" and headed to my comfy chair.  At first I had my Ipod playing on shuffle beside me; then I realized it was distracting me and turned it off.  Yes, I am as easily distracted as a two-year-old.  
The book is great; I'm halfway through it.  Maybe I'll get back into reading again!  
My friend Joanna brought her Kindle along when she was here, and I think it would be a great thing to have; I do have a problem with the prices of most of the books to be downloaded,  See, I'm used to getting my books at garage sales, never paying over a dollar.  If there's a book I want to read that I haven't found at garage sales, I go to half.com; there I can find most any book I want in paperback, used, for under $5 with shipping.  
In case you're wondering why I don't just go to the library, I don't drive.  The nearest library is ten miles from here.  But I was just reading Jeanie's latest blog entry telling about her Nook (that sounds a little off-color to me, but it's just another brand of reading device that works like the Kindle).   She mentioned choosing from the Library:  I'm thinking that simply means choices from Barnes and Noble... surely the public library wouldn't be that simple to reach.  But in the future, I'll bet that happens:  You browse your local library VIA wi-fi, choose a book, and it stays on your Kindle for a couple of weeks, then disappears.  It would have to disappear after a given time due to copyright issues.    
What a wonderful world of possibilities!  
By the way, "The Color of Water" is a great book.

Is there something I should know?

I saw these books at Sam's Club today. Looks to me like someone is expecting times to get really hard!


I was certainly glad to see these two, since Cliff and I have crossed off everything on our bucket lists. Perhaps if we read these, we'll get some new ideas.

Books

Cliff and I are both doing quite a bit of wintertime reading. Last month I asked my readers for book suggestions, and Katie suggested "The Shack".

Cliff got around to reading it first. He kept asking me, "Who told you about this book? It's strange."

I'd say, "I don't know; somebody on Blogger."

So this morning I looked up that entry and found the guilty party.

I understand what the book is saying. I like the way it ended. But frankly, most of it bored me. Plus, it's hard for me to imagine God being portrayed as looking like Aunt Jemima. It's just too much stretch of the imagination for this old gal.

But you know, it's nice sometimes to read something I wouldn't ordinarily have chosen; it's good for me to get out of the box to which I usually confine myself.

Now I'm going to check out some other books my readers suggested.

The next four on my list, suggested by my loyal readers: "The Color of Water", "The Secret Life of Bees", "Autobiography of a Face", and "Pillars of the Earth". That last one was suggested by one of you, and also recommended by a co-worker of Cliff's.

Thanks for your book suggestions

Notice the poll on the right and take part if you want to. Gotta put that in here for those who read VIA Google Reader or Bloglines so they can get over here and vote.

I've already ordered "Shack", and will be getting some of the other suggestions later on. I order used books from half.com, and they're pretty cheap that way. Especially older books. I really need to get back to using the library, but since I don't drive, it's hard to coordinate trips to the library with everything else. Now, in summer it would be fairly easy, because Cliff is happy to go anywhere on the motorcycle!

We went to do our grocery shopping today by motorcycle, taking the trailer along. Cliff considered taking a vacation day, but he goes to work at 3:30 and it gets dark at 6. Since we don't ride in the dark, that wouldn't have lengthened our day by much. Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer than today, so if the wind isn't too overpowering we'll go for a long ride then. We are loving Cliff's three-day weekends!

THOUGHTS FROM MY CABIN

I keep some ratty old books at my cabin; it's been rough getting the mice to stop eating them, but so far they haven't gobbled anything more than edges of the pages.

One of my treasures is a book of poetry my mom picked up years ago at a garage sale and finally gave me, because I was always looking through it. It has no cover. It's filled with the kind of poems I love (with rhyme and meter). It was published in the 1930's.

But there's this really special thing about it: the ghost of an unhappy woman named Doris inhabits its pages. She made notes alongside some of her favorite rhymes that give me a feel for who she was/is.

I puzzle over her notes beside the poem above.

She wasn't totally thrilled with the town of Altadena, California, where it seems she lived.

As Doris grew older, she wondered just how much her children loved her.

And she realized a person can die in spirit without the body dying.

So, did she find heaven, or hell, as a bride?

She missed her mom.

She grew tired, at times, of living.


She believed, through it all, in the love of God.

about books and reading

One of my daily journal reads is "Ramblings From The Reservation". I don't have a clue as to how I discovered that particular blog... probably followed a link from someplace else, noticed the horses, and put her in bloglines. (If you go visit her, please tread softly... she seems to have a bit of seasonal affective disorder at present.) Today she was on the subject of books she's reading.

So when I came here to make an entry, I saw the paperback, "Koko", which I've been trying my best to get into for at least a month, over there on the sidebar. It's supposed to be riveting and suspenseful, but I just cannot stay with it. And the thing is, I have some really good books waiting in the wings. I only paid a quarter for "Koko" at a garage sale, so it wasn't a big investment. It's time to switch books.

When Cliff and I travel, he's the chauffeur, since I don't drive. He doesn't enjoy travel (unless we're on the Honda Gold Wing). Years ago we were heading home from an antique tractor show in Minnesota; I'd bought the book, "Old Tractors and the Men Who Love Them". Cliff was dreading the long drive back to Missouri, and I casually suggested I read a few pages of our new book to him.

I finished the whole thing before we got home, and the hours of freeway time had whizzed by for both of us. Cliff is hard of hearing, so I was (and am) thankful for strong vocal chords and a loud mouth. Reading that book set a precedent: Cliff may have to do all the driving, but now I am doing my part to make freeway time enjoyable.

These days, when I acquire a book, I have to make the decision whether to save it for a road trip (will Cliff like this one?) or read it for myself. I don't need many "road trip" books, since Cliff would never travel, given his choice (not by car anyhow). James Patterson is great for long drives: He holds our interest, and his books are in two-to-three page chapters, so it's easy to find a stopping place when I need to take a break.

Gee. Now I'm ready for a road trip!