Books ~ and a repeat

Zen Happiness ~ by Jon J. Muth, 2019, sayings for ages 5-18, 26 pages, 10/10

This beautiful, small-format gift book contains twelve inspiring and affirmational sayings that take on deeper meaning when paired with Jon J Muth's beautiful art, featuring Stillwater, the panda bear.  Every saying pictured is worth a thousand words!  Here's are three examples from the book:

Words, both true and kind, can change the world.

We are born again with each new day.  (See also HERE.)

With our thoughts, we create the world.

The Ponder Heart ~ by Eudora Welty, 1954, fiction (Mississippi), 156 pages

Daniel Ponder is the amiable heir to the wealthiest family in Clay County, Mississippi.  To friends and strangers, he’s also the most generous, having given away heirlooms, a watch, and so far, at least one family business.  His niece, Edna Earle, has a solution to save the Ponder fortune from Daniel’s mortifying philanthropy:  As much as she loves Daniel, she’s decided to have him institutionalized.

Foolproof as the plan may seem, it comes with a kink — one that sets in motion a runaway scheme of mistaken identity, a hapless local widow, a reckless wedding, a dim-witted teenage bride, and a twist of dumb luck that lands this once-respectable Southern family in court to brave an embarrassing trial for murder.  It’s become the talk of Clay County, and the loose-tongued Edna Earle will tell you all about it.

A comment on Amazon warns about the way two Black servants are "depicted as simple-minded, ill-spoken, child-like figures in the worst tradition of black people as comic relief. ... Also be advised that the n-word is used once in the book, in dialog spoken by an unpleasant character."

Zenned out?

Tomorrow's post will be a rerun.  I have recently posted books about Zen, so tomorrow I'll share something I first posted in 2011.  The content will be the same, but I'll format it differently.  So check back and see a fellow so focused on his "device" that he is unaware of what's happening around him.  To be "zenned out" may not be exactly "zoned out," but the illustration I used in 2011 makes it seem the same.

Deb at Readerbuzz hosts The Sunday Salon.