Yellow Crocus - a story worth telling

This is my 14th entry to the 2014 Ebook Reading Challenge. Hosted by Sarah at  Workaday Reads.

Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've given 5 stars to a lot of books lately. Maybe I should be more selective, but they are all really good.

The first paragraph drew me in. I already felt bad for Mattie. How could the plantation owner expect her to just leave her own baby, to be the wet nurse to their new daughter? How could the Missus not want to hold and nurse her own child?

Elizabeth attaches quickly  to her nurse, preferring Mattie to her own mother. Mattie keeps an eye on her own son by watching out the window of the nursery. Luckily, because the quarters are close, when Lisbeth is finally old enough to be without Mattie for a few hours, Mattie is allowed to visit Samuel, and keep a relationship with him as he grows.

As Mattie transitions into becoming Lisbeth's maid, Lisbeth changes. As she grows into a young woman and then becomes betrothed, she ponders the way of her life. A disturbing event makes her really consider her future and she makes a courageous decision.

I really enjoyed the storytelling in this book. I hope Laila  Ibrahim writes again.


View all my reviews


Until next time
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Wondrous Words Wednesday 10/29/14

Every Wednesday, Kathy at Bermudaonion's Weblog host this wonderful meme to showcase words we encounter in our reading. Join us and tell us about words you discovered.



from Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls

"His handwriting was elegant, if a little spidery, and his sentences were long and extravagant, filled with words like "mendacious" and "abscond".


Mendacious : adjective

: not honest : likely to tell lies
: based on lies

The sentence in which mendacious was used gave me no clue as to its meaning. I knew abscond but needed to look up mendacious.


"Cowboys who could ride anything, caught them and ran them on fear, spurring and quirting them too hard, taking pride in staying on no matter how desperately they bucked and fishtailed.

quirt : transitive verb

:to strike or drive with a quirt

        quirt: noun  - a riding whip with a short handle and a rawhide leash.

I thought I knew that the word whipping could be substituted here, but the word was unfamiliar to me.


from beth's book-nook blog. 10/25/14 - her Saturday Snapshot post. She is involved in a local theatrical production

"Wish me break a leg as this is our final weekend (and we are being adjudicated)."

adjudicated:  transitive verb

: to settle judicially

     intransitive verb

: to act as judge

I should have been able to discern the meaning because it sounds like "judicial". But I looked it up to confirm. 

Have you come across any word you did not know or were unsure of?  

Until next time, 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

A Happy Read: The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap by Wendy Welch

I am linking this review to the Nonfiction Reading Challenge hosted by The Introverted Reader.


The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap: A Memoir of Friendship, Community, and the Uncommon Pleasure of a Good Book by Wendy Welch
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As of this date, Goodreads says this edition has 500 pages. It does not, only 391. That being said I read this book in a fairly short time. I really became engaged to the character of this story, mainly Wendy, Jack and the cats, Beulah and Val-Kyttie.

Wendy Welch and her husband, Scottish-born Jack Beck, leave the Snake Pit of her current job to find a quiet, more relaxed life. Their search leads them to a struggling Virginia coal-mining town and a wonderful "old" house that seems perfect. They soon find that they are ill prepared for the logistics of their endeavor , but with grace and good old-fashioned chutzpah they soldier on.

As they struggle to build inventory, they find friends and a few foes that help them in their journey. Wendy Welch tells their story with humor, candor and love. This book makes me want to continue to support my local businesses and wish for a used bookstore, like Tales of the Lonesome Pine, in my hometown.


View all my reviews


Until next time,
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Yellow Crocus

 Every Tuesday Diane at Bibliophile By the Sea hosts this meme. It is a place to share the first chapter and first paragraph or a few, of a current read or one you hope to start soon.

Yellow Crocus

Laila Ibrahim

Lake Union, Seattle - 2014

Chapter 1

April 14, 1837

Mattie lay curled around the the warm shape of her son when the unwanted messenger knocked. She stayed on her pallet, reluctant to end this precious time, and listened to the sound of quiet snores coming from her grandfather. She gazed at Samuel, pressed her nose close against his soft neck to take in his sweet baby scent. She gently wiped the glistening sweat away from his damp forehead and gave him a tender kiss upon his temple. Another intrusive knock struck the door. Mattie got up. Cradling Samuel so close that she could feel warm puffs against her breast, she shuffled across the packed dirt floor. Though she expected this visitor, had anticipated a knock for weeks, she dreaded this moment.
Once she opened the door, her life would be forever divided into before and after.

_________________________________________________________________________________

What do you think?   Would you read on.


Until next time,
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

It's Monday!. What Are You Reading? Yellow Crocus & The Little Bookstore in Big Stone Gap

It's Monday! What Are You Reading is a fun weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. Join us and link up your current reading list. I guarantee you'll add to your reading lists.

Saturday I started two new books. The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap is the November selection of my F2F book club. It was recommended by the daughters of our oldest member. So we decided it might be worth a look. I put on hold a copy from our library and when I picked it up, it was a Big Print edition. Yea for me! I don't normally find books I want to read in Large Print, but sometimes it a rest for these old tired eyes. And I am really liking the story so far.

A book about losing your place, finding your purpose, and immersing yourself in what holds community, and humanity, together—books

Wendy Welch and her husband had always dreamed of owning a bookstore. When the opportunity to escape a toxic work environment and run to a struggling Virginia coal mining town presented itself, they took it. And took the plunge into starting their dream as well. They chose to ignore the “death of the book,” the closing of bookstores across the nation, and the difficult economic environment, and six years later they have carved a bookstore—and a life—out of an Appalachian mountain community.

A story of beating bad odds with grace, ingenuity, good books, and single malt, this memoir chronicles two bibliophiles discovering unlikely ways in which daily living and literature intertwine. Their customers—"Bob the Mad Irishman," "Wee Willie," and "The Lady Who Liked Romances," to name a few—come to the shop looking for the kind of interactive wisdom Kindles don't spark, and they find friendship, community, and the uncommon pleasure of a good book in good company.
The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap will make you want to run to the local bookstore, and curl up in an arm chair with a treasure in bound pages.

And I downloaded Yellow Crocus on my Kindle back in August. I was needing to read a book whose title started with Y as part of The Mega Mix II Challenge on Goodreads. I know, I know but I like this particular challenge. It stretches me. I have read lots of books I would never have tried with out the challenges that I participate in. I had no real idea what this book was about, but it had a gorgeous cover and the title started with Y and it was not expensive to download. I am really enjoying it, so I guess I "did good"!!

Mattie was never truly mine. That knowledge must have filled me as quickly and surely as the milk from her breasts. Although my family ‘owned’ her, although she occupied the center of my universe, her deepest affections lay elsewhere. So along with the comfort of her came the fear that I would lose her some day. This is our story...

So begins Lisbeth Wainwright’s compelling tale of coming-of-age in antebellum Virginia. Born to white plantation owners but raised by her enslaved black wet nurse, Mattie, Lisbeth’s childhood unfolds on the line between two very different worlds.
Growing up under the tender care of Mattie, Lisbeth adopts her surrogate mother’s deep-seated faith in God, her love of music and black-eyed peas, and the tradition of hunting for yellow crocuses in the early days of spring. In time, Lisbeth realizes she has freedoms and opportunities that Mattie does not have, though she’s confined by the societal expectations placed on women born to privilege. As Lisbeth grows up, she struggles to reconcile her love for her caregiver with her parents’ expectations, a task made all the more difficult as she becomes increasingly aware of the ugly realities of the American slavery system. When Lisbeth bears witness to a shockingly brutal act, the final vestiges of her naiveté crumble around her. Lisbeth realizes she must make a choice, one that will require every ounce of the courage she learned from her beloved Mattie.

This compelling historical novel is a richly evocative tale of love, loss, and redemption set during one of the most sinister chapters of American history.

This week I also will put the finishing touches on a quilt for a challenge in my quilt group. I will post a picture after I do "show and tell" on November 2nd. 


Until next time, 
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Saturday Snapshot Halloween

Melinda hosts this fun meme on Saturdays. Check out her blog, West Metro Mommy Reads and check out the rules. There are only a couple. Easy Peazy!!

 I play Bunco, monthly with a group of ladies that I met when I was working. Some of us are now retired, some of us work at other places and some are new to the group and it is always in flux. Our October gathering is always held at the home of a very creative, wonderful lady. She decorate "over the top". Her grown grandson, studying to be an elementary teacher, lives with them and he helps a bunch. This year, Mr. Bones sat in a chair near one of the tables. See the spider painting on the wall, Jordan did that at one of those, paint-you-own places. Cool, huh?

There were vignettes everywhere. I wish my phone took better pictures in low light. This is collection of tea light candle burners.

Even her guest bath was decorated, unfortunately I did not take my phone into the bathroom with me!  Hahaha!


Hope you all have a Happy Halloween,
Until next time,
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Letter To My Daughter - Maya Angelou

Hosted by Jennifer at The Introverted Reader this annual challenge is a place to share all the nonfiction books you are reading. Link up with Jen at her sign up post and join the fun. This is my 9th entry in this challenge. I signed up at the Explorer Level = 6-10 books.





Letter to My Daughter by Maya Angelou
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a quick fun read. Set up in short letter style pages, Ms Angelou tells about life lessons she learned but chooses not to give advice, or give a moral to her stories. It is for you or me to take these life lessons and apply them.

Maya Angelou uses her superb story telling skills, her command of language to share her life and the lessons she learned. I wish I could have heard it in her own unique voice. I loved listening to her large husky voice.

I checked this book out from our local library. But I know now that I must own this volume. I read this in one day, taking a few breaks to process and share what I read. I will re read and re read. I want it on my shelves!