Tag: reading

Rain Delay Book Club

IMG_2968It is now 11 days of rain and counting. I love baseball and I’m no fair weather fan. I also take public transit to the park and read en route. In the ten plus years I’ve been a frequent attendee at Washington Nationals games, there have been many rain delays. After all, this IS Washington. Fortunately, the team is on the road so this week’s ceaseless slosh hasn’t affected my viewing. But I do like to have a Plan B.

So what’s a book-loving baseball fan to do? Find other readers who are waiting for the game to resume! It’s a much better option than trying to get a signal so you can peer at weather radar for an hour.

Are you in? Doesn’t require much. Post on Facebook or Twitter or even Instagram. Tag it #RainDelayBookClub and include the title of your book. Share your location if you wish, after all, you are already squashed up close and personal with 20,000 or more strangers. Here’s a chance to meet some kindred spirits. And you can join in whether you are at the park or not, or even at Wrigley or Fenway or Pac Bell.

For my part, I’ll pick a title or two each month of the season (hopefully, through October) and share it here and on Facebook. If you have suggestions, bring ’em on. And I’ll be happy to meet up with you at Nats Park and ask you, “So what are you reading?”

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May titles:  Fiction – Circling the Sun by Paula McLain; Nonfiction – Pumpkinflowers by Matti Friedman

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The Power of Water – Michelle Brafman’s Washing the Dead

Water is essential to life. Calming, cleansing, purifying, devastating – from a cup of tea, to a hot bath, to a torrential downpour – it all starts with water.  Michelle Brafman naturally weaves water in all its forms throughout her debut novel, Washing the Dead.

IMG_2940The story revolves around Barbara Pupnick Blumfield, a member of the sandwich generation. Mother to Lili, a teenager facing stresses and challenges common today, and daughter of June, her mother, whose new health challenges threaten the emotional distance Barbara has fought hard to maintain. Washing the Dead is a story about keeping secrets from those you love and baring secrets to be able to share love. Continue reading The Power of Water – Michelle Brafman’s Washing the Dead

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Grab a glass of iced tea, settle in and read “The Truth According to Us”

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Annie Barrows

There are some books that beg for a summer day, a screen porch or a hammock. Even if your reading spot is a subway seat, Annie Barrows’ The Truth According to Us will whisk you off to the fictional town of Macedonia, West Virginia in the summer of 1938.

The Romeyn family, long the elite of Macedonia’s business and social circles, has fallen on hard times. Twelve year-old Willa is an astute observer of her family and those around her, unafraid to follow her instincts in search of understanding. Willa and her younger sister, Bird, are raised in the family manse by their Aunt Jottie, who attends to the needs of others while setting aside a life of her own. Divorced, Willa’s father, Felix, is often away as a salesman, or so they have been told. Felix is charismatic, has a way with the ladies, and, in today’s terms, is a “Teflon man.” He is at the center of a tragedy that changed the family’s fortunes and destroyed the dreams of those closest to him. Continue reading Grab a glass of iced tea, settle in and read “The Truth According to Us”

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Ellen in Wonderland- The Last Hurrah

By the third day of BEA15 I had totes filled with unread titles and a blister or two on my swollen feet. It wasn’t a “more is better” philosophy that kept me coming back – it was the prospect of the Book Group Speed Dating event on Friday afternoon. With that knowledge, I was very particular about the booths I visited beforehand. Continue reading Ellen in Wonderland- The Last Hurrah

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Ellen in Wonderland – Day 3

This partial view of the floor at Book Expo provides an inkling of the vast territory we explored each day.  IMG_2905While you’d think it’s all about the books, the reality is a conference of this size is also about all the many people, from the author to the publisher to the bookseller and reviewer who help bring it to life. Everyday there was an extensive agenda of presentations and a far larger lists of author signings. The publisher’s goal is to get their books into the hands of broadest range of consumers. My goal is to search out great titles I can share with readers, through book groups, topical presentations or book reviews on this blog.  To do this, I hone in first on smaller publishers whose lists have proven to be well-written and thought-provoking. Continue reading Ellen in Wonderland – Day 3

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