
About the book, The Coldest Winter I Ever Spent Genre: YA / Contemporary / Suicide & Family Issues Publisher: Carolrhoda Lab Date of Publication: March 7, 2023 Length: Print – 352 pages / Audio – 9 hours, 11 minutes Scroll down for Giveaway! Eighteen-year-old Del is in a healthier place than she was a […]

About the book, The Legend of Rachel Peterson Outraged when The Post Gazette overlooks him for a promotion, 43-year-old Sports Writer Christian Kane quits the Paper and moves to the country to write fiction. Inspiration flows from a grave he stumbles upon in the woods. He pens The Legend of Rachel Petersen, a fascinating story […]

About the book, Rip the Sky Genre: Speculative Fiction / Fantasy / Science Fiction Publisher: Bluestreak Publishing Page Count: 317 pages Publication Date: August 21, 2023 Scroll down for a giveaway! After a shocking courtroom tragedy, a disturbed Vietnam veteran and the vindictive judge who sent him to prison become an unlikely pair of […]

About the book, Tested by Fire Genre: Christian Fiction / Suspense / Romance Publisher: Texas Sisters Press, LLC Page Count: 278 pages Publication Date: August 21, 2023 Scroll down for Giveaway! Meet Robin Flynn: a woman of artistic soul and iron will, who forges metal and paints vibrant canvases as an escape from life’s […]

About the book, Mumentous (Original Photos and Mostly-True Stories about Football, Glue Guns, Moms, and a Supersized High School Tradition That Was Born Deep in the Heart of Texas) Genre: Nonfiction / Photo-Driven Memoir / Women’s History / Pop Culture / Texana Publisher: Atmosphere Press Page Count: 178 pages Publication Date: April 25, 2023 Scroll […]
Books! What a role they played in our home.
“Don’t tell me you are bored”, my mother would admonish,”go read a book!”
And other times ” You always have your nose in a book, go get some fresh air.”
Fresh air and books, those were my mother ‘s recurring themes.
And so I cannot be without a book, and if I am at a cafe, the beach or waiting anywhere I have a book.
And on days when I don’t have a new book to read I’ll read an old favoite. sort of like re-runs but better, no commercials.
When Melissa was a sprite with two bouncng braids, thick glasses and the vocabulary of Miss Ann Shirley, she was never without a book.
I would call out to her in the morning to encourage her to get through her bathroom routine and come down for breakfast.
Finally, sounding just like my mother I would say ” Miss Melissa Annette put the book down!” her response ” Moooom, I am not reading!” And then I would here the clunk of a book being dropped.
Living in La Paz, Baja California Sur, where there is one bookstore with limited to no English language books, no libraries and it is near impossible to have books mailed, makes the desert we live in feel more bare and dry. When clients and friends say they are coming and ask for a list of essential items for themselves, and something I might like, I always say BOOKS! And they bring them, their favorites or a recent bestselle or a specific genre or author that I request.
Powell’s Books in Portland will send books to Mexcio without freight charges. We have tested it, the system works.But it takes weeks.
There is not a big culture of reading, whether it be for busines, research or pleasure, especially pleasure, among the local Pacenos ( La Paz natives). My Spanish teacher said she is amazed that wherever she goes in town, and especially in cafes and at the beach, Americans and other foreginers are alays reading. She thought it was nice, but wondered why people would travel to a foreign country just to read!
Those of us that read, and cannot bear to be without a book in progress (or two) need to promote reading to children the world over. Melissa your choice of charity for this year’s blogathon has made me proud again.