Right now I'm almost finished with a book that is so lovely that I just had to mention it here!  It is The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs.  This is a volume that makes one glad to be a woman, and ever so appreciative of female relationships.


I'm so close to being done, that probably I'll finish it at lunch today.  Thankfully, there are further books in the series, because I do not want to leave my new knitting friends!


Of course, I'm also reading another book,  Avenue of Mysteries by John Irving.  This is pretty fantastic also, although maybe not for every audience of readers.  I was sort of thinking that maybe John Irving was my favorite author, but then I got further caught up by my knitting ladies.


Yes, there is a bit of contrast in my current reading selections, but thank the Lord that the world is so full of books that all one has to do is open one up and read it for fun.  I forget also that some of the adult themes in books may be  objectionable to some readers, you know, like conservative adults, but I guess I'll just be careful in my recommendations.


Like on my obnoxious blog, that anybody can read.  Really, let's just all be grown ups and think for ourselves, and let's not forget the cardinal rule of book-reading, that you can always close it up and forget about it, if you feel like it.


Best wishes!

I'm sorry not to have been here in so long, dear readers.  I think my reading got stalled briefly, but now I've got a few more books going.  Yay!


I read The Guilty, by David Baldacci, after it was recommended by one of my favorite ladies.   Now, I knew that it would be a thriller, but since I usually don't read those, it was totally intense for me.  It was good, despite some awfulness, but the ending was surely a reward.  I doubt that I'll read another thriller for awhile, though, because of the intensity.  I get freaked out by violence!


So I'm also reading another book!  The Friday Night Knitting Club, by Kate Jacobs.  Okay, so this is about ladies who get together at a knitting shop regularly, and they do have interesting lives and relationships.  This book was also a recommendation, and I'm so much enjoying it.  It is the book that I read at lunch.  Lovely characters make for a pleasant read, and this book has surely got them.  And it's a series!


I'm also dabbling in nonfiction, but mainly books about being shy.  Oh yes, though, I'm also reading Albert Ellis, and am becoming ever so rationally emotive.


Thank you for following my reading journeys.  Good ol' blog.

My love affair with Jojo Moyes has continued, as I read After You, the follow-up to Me Before You, that I so dearly loved.  While that was a hard book to follow, this sequel is not only inspiring, but a great and entertaining read, with romance and everything.  It did not have a super fantastic ending, but one that is ordinary yet full of promise, like life.  Thank you, Ms. Moyes for these great books.


With love on the mind still, I read another great book, Our Souls At Night, by Kent Haruf, that was not really a love story exactly, but a lovely meditation on human connection and consolation.  This was so great that I really don't want to give away too much of the story, as it is quite a lovely journey of discovery, as much for the reader as the well-drawn characters.


Now I'm delightfully reading P. D. James, The Private Patient.  I think that I really just want to be British,  but at least it does suffice to read these novels by British authors.  And I must say that the English, really do have a nice grip on the English language, unlike myself, I suppose.  Oh well, I'll just write my silly little blog, and enjoy reading.


Hopefully the weather is treating everyone all right currently!

10% Happier, by Dan Harris, is a great report on meditation, and how it can actually be practiced without magical thinking, etc.  As a newsman, Mr. Harris is ever-skeptical, but his journey as described in this book is a very convincing endorsement for this practice.


Thankfully he reports scientific evidence, and interviews many practitioners of many faiths (debunking the mystical and religious association of "Enlightenment" as the goal) and really comes to describe a health measure of great benefit.  He even concludes the book with an appendix of no-nonsense guides to the practice, vetted by well-known meditation teachers.


The moral of this story is just to sit quietly and pay attention, to the breath, and to those thoughts that will arise, but not defeat us as we recognize them as just thoughts and part of our human "monkey minds" that are just going to think.  While Dan Harris explains how he began to tame his thinking patterns, and to derive greater focus, we also see how he can embrace this "peace-lovin' hippie" practice and not lose his edge as a successful and timely reporter, while gaining emotional resilience in light of the suffering of the world that it is his job to report.


I loved this book!  It was not annoying, and just funny at times and serious as well.  Although I do not try to convert folks to meditative practice, being not so good at it myself, I do believe that this is a right course for humanity as we all strive toward maturity and good sense.  Much gratitude to Dan Harris for writing this book, and for sharing an invaluable gift, without wrapping it up in a mysticism that detracts from this goal of simple self-care.

Read  a nice little book about unrequited love, An Unexpected Guest, by Anne Korkeakivi.  I just happened to see it on the book shelf at the library, and checked it out. 


Oh my goodness, if it is not satisfying to read about a love that meant so much, yet that those involved were able to move on and create meaningful lives despite the heartache.  Add to this the  intrigue of an ambassadorship and past political unrest, and there results a story that captures the attention as well as the heart.


Resolving the past is never an easy task, and this lovely story adorned with the pleasant details of arranging a state dinner, makes the journey a significant one.  Perhaps we are all this important, like statesmen and their families, as we create our lives that build upon the past by each meaningful day, with secret treasures of memory in our hearts.


This book does transition between past and present nicely, with all accompanying emotion.  The characters are interesting to say the least, and the involvement of the readers' emotions with the allure of mistakenly unrequited love is ever-entertaining, or at least I think so.  Some readers might not be interested, but I enjoyed it, and was glad to have read it.

Well, I finally read Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, and I'm so glad that I did.  It is one of those books that is full of surprises, as characters grow and develop, and life is incredibly difficult, as it is.  Ms. Moyes does have such a way of creating characters for whom the reader becomes incredibly concerned and emotionally attached.


By no means do I want to make this book any less exciting by explaining why and how the characters do what they do, as the element of surprise is crucial to the oddly life-affirming story that is also quite heart-wrenching.


Have not yet read the sequel, but am so much looking forward to it.  While the emotional investment in her novels is quite high, this is probably what makes them so endearing.  I love the fact that she draws very real-seeming people very precisely and true to the form that she invents.


So, yes, I do love emotional "chick-lit" and think that everyone should read it to warm the heart and grow as a human!

Not reading thrillers makes my life much more complete.  I feel badly to be unusual in this way, but I just don't as much enjoy fast-paced books.  Oh well, I try to read a variety of stuff.


In order to satisfy my slowness and contemplative tastes, I recently read The Guest Cat, by Takashi Hiraide (translated by Eric Selland).  Of course I loved this book, particularly because of my affinity for cats, but it was just a lovely meditation on mortality and the precious, unique nature of life on earth. I'm thinking of offering this book for any guests in my home, though rarely do I have guests, and it does take a little while to read.  Who knows what the future holds, though, and it's good to always be prepared, right?  I do suspect that my cat has been seeing other families, so my appreciation of this book has been made all the more poignant and sweet for this reason.


This is such a pleasant read for any animal lover, and any lover of life.  Although there are sad parts, this volume does just warm the heart.  I want to lend it to my dearest ones, with a little piece of my affectionate heart included.