TUESDAY POTPOURRI: AUTUMN LEAVES & ENGAGING BOOKS

The messy leaves are annoying…but they tell me that fall is really here!  At last.

And there is a crispness in the air that makes me feel energetic.  Does fall create a special feeling in you?  Or are other seasons the ones that invigorate and energize you?

Today I decided to try something I haven’t done in a while:  I am reading two books at once.  I read one for a bit, and then the other.  I couldn’t do this if they were the same genre, but since they are quite different, this seems to be working out for me.

 

Dark Witch, by Nora Roberts, is one I am reading on Sparky…and it’s the first book in a trilogy.

 

 

 

With indifferent parents, Iona Sheehan grew up craving devotion and acceptance. From her maternal grandmother, she learned where to find both: a land of lush forests, dazzling lakes, and centuries-old legends.   Ireland.

County Mayo, to be exact. Where her ancestors’ blood and magic have flowed through generations—and where her destiny awaits.

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I don’t often read books about witches or magic, but the draw for me was Ireland.  There is something about books set there that is magnetically appealing.  Perhaps because my photographer son lived there for a while and brought back lovely photos, some of which line the walls in my bedroom.  (Below), see an angel in a cemetery, left; and behind the desk, a castle.  These are just two of the ones in my room.

At any rate, I am having a great time reading this one…so far.

 

 

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My second book is The Oleander Sisters, by Elaine Hussey, and the story takes us back to 1969, and is set in Mississippi…the setting and the times are the draw for me with this book.

 

 

 

 

In 1969, the first footsteps on the moon brighten America with possibilities. But along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, a category five storm is brewing, and the Blake sisters of Biloxi are restless for change. Beth “Sis” Blake has always been the caretaker, the dutiful one, with the weight of her family’s happiness—and their secrets—on her shoulders. She dreams of taking off to pursue her own destiny, but not before doing whatever it takes to rescue her sister.

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Now can you see why I can’t put either of these down?  I try to find a stopping place in each before switching to the other book.  It has kept me hopping and enthralled.

Do you sometimes find yourself drawn to two books (or more) at the same time?

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TUESDAY POTPOURRI: INTROS/TEASERS — “SOMEWHERE OFF THE COAST OF MAINE” — MAY 14

Welcome to another Tuesday celebrating bookish events, from Tuesday/First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea; and Teaser Tuesdays hosted by Should Be Reading.

Today’s feature is Somewhere Off the Coast of Maine, by Ann Hood, which I have downloaded for Sparky.

Intro:  To Sparrow, her father was a man standing in front of a Day-Glo green VW van in a picture dated June 1969.  The picture had been taken the year before Sparrow was born.  In it, her father’s hair was bushy and blond and he had a big droopy mustache.  Sparrow liked the way he was looking up, with his head tilted back and his mouth open in a wide smile.

Sparrow’s mother, Suzanne, never talked about Sparrow’s father.  Suzanne was a serious businesswoman.  She dressed in pleated skirts and Oxford shirts with little bow ties.  She would tell Sparrow to forget about the past and look ahead.  “Don’t worry,” she would say, “about things that happened a long time ago.”  Sparrow’s obsession with her father began to grow when her mother started to date Ron.

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Teaser:  For the past year or so, Sparrow’s mother called her Susan.  She said that the name Sparrow was too dated, too silly. (4%)

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Amazon Description: “Brilliant….[The Vietnam era] is vividly captured by Ann Hood.”—New York Times Book Review

In 1969, as Peter, Paul and Mary croon on the radio and poster paints are splashing the latest antiwar slogans, three friends find love. Suzanne, a poet, lives in a Maine beach house awaiting the birth of a child she will call Sparrow. Claudia, who weds a farmer during college, plans to raise three strong sons. Elizabeth and her husband marry, organize protests, and try to rear two children with their hippy values. By 1985, things have changed: Suzanne, now with an MBA, calls Sparrow “Susan.” Claudia spirals backward into her sixties world—and into madness. And Elizabeth, fatally ill, watches despairingly as her children yearn for a split-level house and a gleaming station wagon. Reading group guide included.

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I love revisiting this era through books and movies.  What do you think?  Would you keep reading?