Hello,

It's been a busy couple of days for me but a promise is a promise!

I want to talk about James McBride and his book The Color Of Water: A Black Man's Tribute To His White Mother.

First a little bit about the book and how I came to read it. I was part of a book group at The Bookery in Ephrata Washington at the time and this was to be the next book pick. I came home from book group, fixed myself some tea and sat down and thumbed through the book. I ended up staying up all night reading it because I was so fascinated by this man's love and admiration for his mother. It's not unusual that I would stay up all night reading a book but it is unusual that I would stay up reading a memoir!

The Color Of Water: A Black Man's Tribute To His White Mother was published in February of 1998 and stayed on the New York Times best seller list for two years. It has sold over 1.5 million copies and published in 16 languages, in over 20 countries.

Ruth, James's mother, left home and married at the age of 16. Not that unusual in 1942 but she married Dennis McBride, a black man from Harlem. Ruth grew up in a traditional Jewish family but was terribly abused by her father. When she married Dennis she converted to Christianity and raised her family within their church. She was uneducated but very intelligent and wanted only the best for her children.

James is one of 12 children and this book is basically his love letter to his mother. Throughout the book James weaves his own story with his mother"s and let me just say it is riveting. For Ruth it was very important for her children to know how to work hard and for them to get the best education. James was very influenced by his mother's opinions on race, philosophy, and religion, although for Ruth, she was more concerned with moral beliefs. All of the children grew up to be very productive people, all with successful careers. The best part of this story for me is the sheer will of Ruth to make sure her kids were well taken care of and educated, even though she wasn't.

I suppose one of the reasons I liked this book was the wonderful way McBride writes. For me to stay awake all night to read a memoir, the writing has to be great and it is. I hope you will give this book a try even if memoirs are not your thing because I promise you won't be disappointed.

Okay in other news I made the decision this year that I want to read the Pulitzer Prize winners of fiction. So I've been busy gathering many different books. From Wallace Stegner, William Syron, to Toni Morrison and Philip Roth. I am pretty excited about it and know that I will be reading some really great stuff. I will keep you posted!

Right now I'm reading The Good Girl by Mary Kubica and it is so good. Of course I will have to talk about it when I'm finished. I'm also getting ready to finish The Martian by Andy Weir for book group in a couple of weeks. I can't say much until we discuss it in book group but after that I will tell you all about the discussion we'll have.

Have a great day and sneak in a little time to read.

Lets talk Non-Fiction

Okay I've been looking forward to this blog because I want to specifically talk about a book I read several years ago by James McBride called The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute To His White Mother. Obviously this book had an impact on me and I still think about it quite a lot. It's one of those books that just surprised me. I am not often a fan of memoirs because I have to be pretty interested in a person to read their story. But.......this book just reached out and grabbed me, it had me enthralled from the first page until the last, in fact I read it in one sitting, staying up all night to finish.

The trade paper edition was published in 1998 and was on the New York bestseller list for 2 years. It has won several awards and been published in 16 languages in 20 different countries. That is very impressive for a book but that isn't what kept me reading into the wee hours of the night. It was the words this man used to tell a story about his mother, the way his love for her flowed out of the pages. It was incredible.

Her name was Ruth and she left an abusive home life, moved to Harlem and married a black man in 1942. She was white and Jewish, he was black and a Christian. It shouldn't have worked but it did, she faced many hardships and criticism but the couple loved each other deeply.

James was one of 11 siblings and he weaves his story into his mother's story and the result is brilliant. It was very important to Ruth that all of her children attended the best schools and she would do whatever it took to get them there. Ruth required hard work and respect from her children and while often James wondered about his white mother and race issues, his mother was more concerned with his moral make-up. In spite of struggling with drugs and alcohol, James went onto to a prestigious school and became a respected author and musician. James wasn't alone in his success each of his siblings went to college and obtained various degrees. In Ruth's eyes her hard work has paid off, even though she herself suffered from depression and at times despair. She had left her own family as a young girl and never quite got to reconcile with her own brothers and sister. She was completely uneducated but inherently wise. I admire her.

I hope this gives you a little push to read this book. It is timeless and I hope that you will love it as much as I did. When you're done reading lets talk about it! Can't wait.

Here we go!

Hope everyone had a great day and hopefully made time to throw in a little reading.

To get us started off I want to hear from all of you that read YA novels. What do you like about them? How many do you read in the course of a year? I want to know everything. Usually I stay away from them because I'm just not a fan.......but someone I respect has gotten me to rethink my view. So help me out and tell me what you think.

I want to talk about Daniel Silva. I've been reading his Gabriel Allon series for several years and I just love his writing. Gabriel Allon is an art restorer and works for the Israeli government....he is one bad ass guy. The first book in the Allon series is The Kill Artist. This is where we meet Gabriel and learn about what makes him the man he is. Dark, haunted, very loyal, says what he means and means what he says. With each following novel Silva builds on Gabriel's story. We find out that he is married, that his wife Leah and son Daniel were hurt in a car explosion. Sadly Daniel died and Leah has never recovered and resides in a asylum. The author does a wonderful job of taking the reader all over the world. France, Germany, Italy, England, Corsica, and even our own United States. In each of these countries Gabriel has allies and enemies which he uses to his advantage.

I finished The English Girl on Sunday afternoon. Gabriel works along side  a former enemy, Christopher Keller whom we met in an earlier novel. Keller at one time tried to kill Gabriel and in this novel they work together. Let me tell you it is hilarious and I must admit that I have never laughed while reading a Daniel Silva book. In most all of the books we come to know Gabriel's team and understand that these wonderfully brave lonely people have become a family. Not all of the novels have a happy ending, in fact most don't......but there is enough within to always make me cheer for him.

I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series The Heist and of course I will have to talk about it. I mean, you know how it is.

So what's up next in the next few weeks? One of my book groups is reading The Martian by Andy Weir so I will have to share what we talked about. I'm about half done with it and wow! That's all I'm going to say.

Most of you know that I work in a bookstore (I know.....am I addicted to books or what) and lately I've been selling a book that I read many years ago. It is a non fiction book called The Color of Water by James McBride. I read this about 15 years ago and I still think about this book. So in an upcoming post I'm going to be talking about this book and why I think it is timeless and why after all these years I still think about it.

Well enough for tonight. I'm off to bed and a little night time reading........not sure what I will land on for tonight but I'll be sure to let you know.

Thanks for talking books with me!

Why I have to talk about books!

Greetings,

I want to start this whole thing off by trying to explain why I crave, need, want, have to have books in my world everyday of my life. Simply put it is like breathing to me.....I cannot be without them.

From an early age books were my oasis, a way for me to escape real life, an opportunity to travel away from the tiny little town I grew up in. My best memory is seeing the Bookmobile drive into town and knowing that I got to go and pick a new book. Loved it! Still do.

There has never been a time in my life when I have been without a book. I have always had a library card, when I travel the first thing I shop for is a book, (then fabric, but that's another story) and I never leave a new or a used bookstore without buying a book. Ask any family member or friend and they will tell you that one of the first questions I will ask is "what are you reading?".

So basically I started this blog because I want to know what you're reading and I want to talk about what I'm reading. Simply put I want to talk about books.

Since I am writing this late I will just share a bit about the book I just finished by Daniel Silva who is a favorite of mine. I finished The English Girl earlier this afternoon and I have to say that it may be one of the best I've read. I will share more about it on tomorrow's post but let me leave you with the three books I'm reading right now. (yes I read more than one book at a time) I'm reading The Martian by Andy Weir,  Sophie's Choice by William Styron, and If I Stay by Gayle Foreman. I'll be letting you know what I thought of these books very soon.

Can't wait to hear what you are reading!