Beginning ~ with what it's like to be a woman

"Whenever a woman does anything — write a book, create a life, have a career — the labor is often manifold and doesn't come with a break from laundry, home-work, floor scrubbing, or cooking.  During the course of writing this book, my whole life changed.  I went from being married to being a single mom."

God Land: A Story of Faith, Loss, and Renewal in Middle America is a memoir by Lyz Lenz.  In the wake of the 2016 election, Lyz Lenz watched as her country and her marriage were torn apart by the competing forces of faith and politics.  Click on the title to read what I wrote about the book when I got it three weeks ago.  I've finally gotten around to reading it, and I'm finding it interesting so far.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays.
Click this link for more book beginnings.

Black cat? or Black Friday shopping?

I'll take the cat.
(I'd also take that sunny weather from early September,
if I could.  It got up to only 43 degrees in St. Louis today.
Wow!  An extreme thunderclap at 9:20 pm while I'm typing this!
I have never, EVER heard one that loud.  Clawdia jumped and ran.
Just one, LOUD, but Clawdia is watching the window, just in case.)

Thankfully Reading Weekend Bingo

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz is offering a Bingo game during this Thanksgiving weekend, because there's a reading challenge going on.  Deb says:

"Start any time.  Do as much or as little as you like.  Talk about it on your blog (or Twitter or wherever you like to talk books) as little or as much as you like.  When you are finished (with a square, a row, or all the squares) link up here and throw your name into the hat to win a $25 gift card from Book Depository.  The BINGO game Linky will be open from November 27th through the end of the day CST December 1, and it is open to anyone in the world who can receive books from Book Depository."

Someone asked, "Does a Kindle count as a computer?"  Deb replied, "Absolutely.  I hope you will join in!  Do as little or as much as you want.  Add your name to the Linky."  So if you are interested, click Deb's Linky and sign up to play Bingo with us.  I'm in, and some of my reading will be on my Kindle.

You may also sign up with Jenn at Jenn's Bookshelves to read thankfully from now through Sunday evening.  I'm in.

Deb Nance = Thankfully Reading Weekend BINGO
Jenn's Bookshelves = Thankfully Reading Weekend

The Moonflower Vine ~ by Jetta Carleton

The Moonflower Vine ~ by Jetta Carleton, 1962, 1990, fiction, DNF

On a farm in western Missouri during the first half of the 20th century, Matthew and Callie Soames create a life for themselves and raise four headstrong daughters.  Jessica will break their hearts, Leonie will fall in love with the wrong man, Mary Jo will escape to New York, and wild child Mathy's fate will be the family's greatest tragedy.  Over the decades they will love, deceive, comfort, forgive — and, ultimately, they will come to cherish all the more fiercely the bonds of love that hold the family together.

Risé sent out reminders yesterday that the Fourth Wednesday Book Club will discuss this book today at 1:00 in the library.  I told someone I hadn't even started reading it.  Oops!  I discovered this morning I have a bookmark showing I've read 55 pages.  Now I vaguely remember SOME of what I read, maybe a month ago, but obviously it didn't grab me enough to forego other novels.  So I'll return it to Risé in a couple of hours, unread, or at least unfinished.  Risé's note also says:

"If you haven't started reading it yet, I suggest reading the section about Matthew, page 109."

The six sections of the book are The Family (pp. 7-44), Jessica (pp. 45-106), Matthew (pp. 107-174), Mathy (pp.175-234), Leonie (pp. 235-283), and Callie (pp. 285-318).  Here's a quote from the last page, so the character must be Callie, the mother:

"It would be a good day. ... she felt giddy with happiness.  Matthew was waiting for her.  The children were coming home.  And they would watch the moonflowers bloom.  Oh, if she never got to heaven, this was enough, this lovely earth with its sunlight and its mornings and something always to look forward to. ... She looked up at the clear sky.  'Thank you,' she said and went home to breakfast" (p. 318).

Two of Clawdia's friends

Here's Clawdia with her friends Tomoko (on the left) and Sharon, who is petting her.  We neighbors often meet near the elevator on our floor of the Crown Center, brought together by my gregarious cat.

This cat gets around.  Last night, after visiting in the hall with Sharon, Clawdia wanted to visit Gail, who invited us into her apartment.  When we talked too long, she meowed to go home.

Music for a Saturday

This song was originally recorded by the Glenn Miller orchestra for the film "Sun Valley Serenade" in 1941.  If the video quits working, click here for YouTube.

Beginning ~ with something wrong on stage

"Katherine knew, before the first act was half over, that something was wrong with Manya."

The Small Rain ~ by Madeleine L'Engle, 1945, fiction

This novel is about the many difficulties in the life of talented pianist Katherine Forrester, a gifted but socially isolated adolescent studying to be a concert pianist at a strict boarding school, who falls in love with her piano teacher.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays.
Click this link for more book beginnings.