Wrapping Up

It is hard to believe that summer is practically over. I still want to know how we lost the month of August to school!
Anyway, I finished 'North Toward Home' and ended up really liking it once he got out of Mississippi. I just prefer more stories - even if it is autobiographical.
I have not been faithful to my blogging and for that I am sorry. I guess I never read a book this summer that I was passionate about!
I just finished 'Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead' by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The amount of time she spent writing was incredible! But then I realize she never had to cook, clean, do the yard work, walk the dog, laundry, etc. I am sure she would have been an excellent blogger! It was very interesting.
Now I am going to look at what my fellow bloggers have been reading and select a book from one of them!

This is the book I am reading now: North Toward Home by Willie Morris. I am enjoying reading it but for some reason I cannot sink my teeth into it. I think it is just me and not the book, however. Usually we go to the beach in the summer and I "save" books to read while lounging on the beach. This summer we do not have a beach trip planned and so I keep putting off reading...I am going to have to just pick my book up, relax and read at home! Ah, a novel idea!!

Delta Wedding by Eudora Welty

I really took a wide turn from All Over but the Shoutin' when I chose my second book: Delta Wedding by Eudora Welty. I suppose they are about as opposite as two stories could be! Where All Over is all about poverty and a family who literally scratched the dirt for survival, Delta is about a family that is so spoiled and seems to have nothing much going on. The entire book is about a daughter's wedding and covers just a few days. As much as I like Eudora Welty and admire some of her work and photographs, I found the book a little lacking. The book is set in the 1920's but the people act as if it were the 1850's. I prefer a better story and I am going to go to Maggie's list and choose another. I have never read William Percy so I am thinking about that. I definitely want to read the two sequels to All Over but I am not going to count those towards this reading program.

Blog Braggin' with Rick Bragg

How is this for luck? The author of my first book, Rick Bragg, came to Oxford last week to Off Square Books and I asked him if I could take a picture with him for my blog! It was so neat to get to meet him. He was in town promoting his third book, The Prince of Frogtown. He read an excerpt from it and answered questions and spoke a while. It was interesting to me because I liked his book All over but the Shoutin' but I am not sure I really like him. He is very honest and open about his childhood spent in poverty and that he still has a chip on his shoulder. He does not like rich people - in fact in Oxford he said, "I still hate rich people." I figured he probably had more money than anyone in the room! I did not like the way he treated women. (Although now he has remarried.) But what I did like is his stark honesty. I liked the way he has used his understanding of poverty to help other poor people and get their story out. I like that he never has tried to be someone he is not and has no patience for people who think too highly of themselves! All in all I think this is a book I would recommend. I plan to read his next two but not as a part of my three books. Lettura felice!

Why I Love to Read!

I called my mom last night and we discussed my reading and my blogging. I can't wait to go visit her and help her set up a blog! I have thought a lot about her lately because if you were to ask me why I love to read, I would say to you that you must know my mother! Here she is with the 3rd generation of her children to sit and cuddle and read.

"You may have tangible wealth untold. / Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold. / Richer than I you can never be – / I had a mother who read to me."
— Strickland Gillilan

My first book to review...

The best part about signing up for this summer reading/blogging project is getting around to reading books I have been meaning to read for some time! I have heard about Rick Bragg from my mother and she suggested it would be a good book for me and so I decided to read his first book All Over but the Shoutin'. It is a perfect summer read and the preface gripped me. Rick Bragg and I are the same age and yet I can tell you his upbringing and his view of his Alabama are COMPLETELY different from my own which makes the book so fascinating! With this beautiful weather I hope to be able to sit out on my patio and read a few pages before the sun fades and the mosquitoes fly! I hope my fellow bloggers are enjoying their books and many thanks to Maggie for doing this!