ooooky...

i'm sorry...

i have to put the castaways aside for a bit...

elin hilderbrand has cooked up this story about four couples who are the "best" of friends... on the surface. you know, they do a bunch of stuff together: eat, raise their kids, vacation, whatnot... but now that i've read enough to dip bit below the surface, ugly things are coming into light.

so, what's the drama?! the drama for me is i have this same scenario, and all of the sudden, going to have a beer at the {new} idaho brewing company after work with my friend-- who happens to be a guy--makes me feel more than a little oooky. not because there is a reason to feel that way--no guilty feelings, but because ... oh, i don't know... it's weird how these "things" can slowly evolve... eeww...

don't get me wrong--i'm loving the book... but i need to step back and take a refreshing deep breath. have you read this book? am i being as ridiculous as always? most likely...

happy reading!

can you expand on that please...

oh, dear, miss rebecca... i'm afraid that you may have forgotten to add somethings to your new book, the crowing glory of calla lily ponder because altho i finished the book, i'm definitely not finished with this story! i did take liberal "reading breaks" this weekend because i couldn't put this book down--i escaped to "water" a friend's garden for an hour and a half, and locked myself in the tub for two hours. but never-you-mind about that.

now i'm sure you want to know what i think about the book, and of course, i loved it... i loved it so much that i want MORE! i'm going to give you a list of the things i'd like to see more of:

• i'm dying to know the romantic history of calla's parents, and where did m'dear come from rather than mama...
• i want to have a whole, entire book about sweet and calla, from beginning to end and their life in the big N.O... if i had a better glimpse of that, maybe i'd have been more ready to let him, oh, you know...
• i want to know more about sukey and her mom, and what shaped her to be who she was. and i need more information about the whole bunny lifestyle, especially in new orleans...
• i'd also like to get more background about the tuckers, their daughter and and that whole thing...
• what happened to tuck in california...
• and i were to ask for more about calla, sukey and renee (oh, man, i've kinda forgotten the other friend's name) growing up, are we then crossing into ya-ya territory. probably, so i won't ask.
  

now don't for a minute think that i'm going to pull a teddy duchamp {again}, and want to know what happens after the story ends. i'm actually okay with the ending... it's the fact that i had to leave la luna, louisanna when i turned the last page that makes me melancholy. there is something about the south that is so intoxicating to this rocky mountain girl, and the town of la luna has got to have many more stories to sate my selfish reading wants!

okay, miss rebecca, you now know what i want... but because i eat up everything you write, i guess i'll let you write what you want and be satisfied with that. the crowning glory of calla lily ponder is a great story, mayhaps a skeleton to flesh out with more books? maybe? i will be patient...

warmly- jh

PS: but maybe because i'll be recommending this to everyone at the library, maybe you could help me out and give me a little something more about la luna. thanks!

watch miss rebecca talk about the new book...

walking away...

the richest season has similiarities to anne tyler's ladder of years...

on the spur of the moment, almost as a fleeting thought, these women leave their homes and families because they just can't do it anymore...

um, hello...

who hasn't wanted to run-away for a while every now and then?

it sounds like such a freedom to leave behind everything that wasn't working in your life...

starting your life over as someone entirely different, leaving the past and embarking on a better future...

doing things that you weren't able to try because of limits--self-imposed or otherwise...

is it okay to react to the selfishness with more selfishness?

is it the only way to be heard? is it punishment for those left at home?

i don't know.

i chose this book because it was about pawley's island in south carolina, because i love books about the south. it was about the beach, and i love books about the beach... little did i know it would be an cautionary epistle about what happens when there is a loss of communication breaking down relationships.

it's easy to look back in hindsight and see how it happens... but is it as easy to identify the grind when it's gradually eroding everything important around you? when do the important things that we once held so close drift away? are we really so busy that we don't notice when we get caught up in work, in kids' activities, my friends versus your friends...? it's scary.

but then again, do we escape only to save our loved ones from the pain we will unavoidingly inflict? this is one of those books with two characters running away for two different reasons...

happy reading!

(is unavoidingly a word? i need a proofreader)

(photograph of pawley's island was shamelessly swiped from blue sky gallery)

i love the ocean...

that's why i chose the richest season by maryann mcfadden... am i the only one who chooses books by their covers?

or what about books about the ocean... beach music, body surfing, colony, shell seekers, barefoot, the ocean within, an ocean apart, off-season, comig home, summer sisters. the beach house, the sound of waves...

any other good beach books?