Lyrical Pat Conroy

Mandy had left a comment asking if I had read South of Broad by Pat Conroy yet and did I enjoy it. Yes and yes! I have read every one of Pat Conroy's books and was so excited he had a new one coming out. It has been 14 years since Mr. Conroy has written a novel and this one was worth the wait.

My friend Jean from church, a retired librarian, was reading it the same time I was and we had a hard time hushing up when our Bible study started because we were too busy comparing notes and finding out where the other was in the book, what was happening at the time and the crazy emotions we were feeling. Jean believes Mr. Conroy is definitely going to be remembered as one of the great American writers of this century. My mother even remembers his newspaper columns when he began writing for the Atlanta Journal/Constitution probably 40 years ago.

Mr. Conroy's writing style is a beautiful, lyrical prose that sings to you every sentence. You will remember his characters the rest of your life, every dysfunctional thing that can happen, will inevitably happen to one of his characters some time, but you will cheer them on regardless.

So yes Mandy, this would be an excellent book to take with you to the beach in a few weeks. You will be unable to put it down.

...and Mr. Conroy, please don't make us wait so long until your next book!

Savannah looking in the cannon in Mont St Michel, France 2009Savannah looking in the cannon in Edinburgh Castle, Scotland 2008
...the things she does for her mom and a photo.

North and South

I think Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South ranks right up there with Austen's Pride and Prejudice. What a wonderful Victorian period piece of film!

A Bug

Pardon the break. We have all been felled by the stomach flu this week. Things are almost back to normal. I did the grocery shopping today and almost passed out by the time I got home. Took a rest and then cooked a healthy dinner for us. My southern cornbread came out of the oven so golden and crispy on the outside and like cake on the inside, my dad would even be impressed. Poor Savannah had to miss her 3rd and 4th day of school, but was back better than ever today. It was strange and pitiful to see DH down for the count yesterday and today he is a new man. He is the worst patient. Are all men that way? Anywho, we are thankful for healthy days again!

E.A.T. With Leslie

I was thinking of a delicious lunch Les and I had in New York a couple years ago. Eli Zabar's E.A.T. on the Upper East side. We had been to a church on 81st and were wanting a good place to eat lunch, turned a corner and saw this darling restaurant packed with people, yummy breads and even darling large napkins. After lunch, we went next door to his gift shop and oooohed and aaaahed over so many cute things. What a fun Sunday afternoon!

Cute Squirrel

This cracked all of us up! This squirrel "weaseled" his way into this family picture in Canada. It's all over the news right now. Curious little thing, isn't he?

August Book Group Meeting

Last night Jodie and I hosted our August book club. The book discussed was The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. We had fourteen members which we thought was a good turn out because of school starting. We have quite a few teachers in our group, so there was talk of first days and classes. Most were quite tired already.

For a book that is around 1000 pages long, probably 12 out of the 14 finished it. This was probably the 2nd longest book our group had read after Katherine Graham's A Personal History. Everyone enjoyed the character developments, the building of a cathedral details and medieval history. We all had enough of the detailed explicit attacks that were carried out against women of that time. Once was enough Mr. Follett, we get it.

In September we move from England to Russia in The Madonnas of Leningrad.