My Love of Books

It's a miracle!!!  I figured out how to add something not of my doing to my blog.  (I hope it works.)  A FB friend posted this wonderful "book story" she found on YouTube.  I've watched it a least a dozen times watching for things I'd missed.  I hope you love it too!  There's nothing better than a great bookstore!

All of you know I love books.  All books.  I love reading new books but also love re-reading ones I've enjoyed before.  It's cold and snowy here so I've been reading a lot.  I'm so grateful I am retired.  I don't leave the house unless I have to.  I went out today for the first time in 5 days.  Love it!

I decided last week I was going to re-read 3 of my favorites, 2 relatively new and one I have had since 1984.  I'd like to share a few of my favorite parts and you can decide if you'd like to read them too.

First Lady from Plains by Rosalynn Carter (and my copy is autographed!)
Whatever your politics might be, this is a love story about a man and a woman who fit perfectly together.  From childhood to today they have a partnership to be envied by many of us.  This is also a story about a strong woman who hates to lose.  If you remember, their presidency ended with the release of the Iranian hostages just AFTER Reagan took his oath of office.  After 4 years in the White House she writes, "I had been afraid we might be bored and restless without a major new goal in the works.  What I felt instead was a growing sense of relief that there was no pressure to move on to the next big project as well as a certain satisfaction as I looked back that my childhood dreams had been fulfilled in ways beyond my wildest imagination." 
*I hope all of us can say that.

Crossing Troublesome - 25 Years of the Appalachian Writers Workshop
This book is a compilation of many writers' works.  Several years back HC Baker and I drove to Hindman, Kentucky, so I could see this place.  It's wonderful.  And so many writers have attended over the years. One of my favorite Kentucky authors is Silas House.  If you haven't read any of his novels, get started now.  You'll fall in love not only with him but with his mountains.  He writes about attending the workshop, "When I am here, I am among not only friends, but family.  It seems I can sing in harmony better with people here.  We are able to have good conversations because we don't have to fill in the gaps - we know easily what the other means.  We danced on the porch last night and we all knew how the other was going to move; it was as if we had rehearsed our steps for many years together."
*I am blessed by friends who are like family.  I hope you are too.

A Pearl In The Storm by Tori Murden McClure (and once again my copy is autographed!)
I believe this is one of my all-time favorite reads.  And Tori is now the President of Spalding University!  What a woman with a heart full of love for all of humankind.  She took a while to find her place in life but when she did, she committed herself to being the best.  In writing about her first attempt to row alone across the ocean she said, "Reprimands will not bring the waves into line.  Anger will not alter the wind.  Sadness will not bring back the Gulf Stream.  The greatest freedom allotted to any human being is the freedom to choose one's attitude.  Whatever the weather, it is my weather, and I must do my best to enjoy it."
*I should print that and tape it to my bathroom mirror so I can say it to myself every morning.  How 'bout you?

P.S.  This time next week my kitchen should be complete!  Can't wait!