Last week, while eating my lunch in the dark in my classroom, one of our regular substitutes, who knows that I read a lot, brought me this book. She said she really liked it, that it was "different" and that I did not need to return it to her. I promised to pass it on when I was done, but I'm not sure I want to let it go. This book was very powerful. I feel certain it will be high on this year's top ten list of reads.
Me Before You is the story of Will Traynor, a quadriplegic, and Louisa Clark, his assistant who was hired to try to make Will see that his life, no matter how limited in function and scope, was worth living. Will had tried to commit suicide not long after the injury that landed him in a wheelchair at age 35 and he was very unhappy with his current life situation. He longs for his former freedom and adventurous life. It's Lou's job to bring him back to the life of the living. She has six months to accomplish this goal before Will's family will take him to Switzerland to end his life.
I'm not going to detail anymore of the plot because it will ruin the story, which is brilliantly written. The story is mainly told by Lou, but each character at some point in the book gets a chapter to tell his/her views and to continue the story. I was mostly moved by the chapter told by Will's father, a man who was no longer in love with his wife and was having an affair. When he explained that the only way he could live his life as he wanted (ie-- to leave his wife) would be for his son to die. What a dilemma. Lou's family is precious and endearing, especially her father. These characters are lively and memorable. I felt as though I was watching a movie play out in my head, they were all so clearly crafted.
Despite the fact that I was sobbing at the end, I think this is a book you could read at the beach, or by the pool. (For my female friends, the lack of make-up and need to wear sunglasses are a bonus--you wouldn't have mascara to cry away and your sunglasses will hide your puffy eyes, if you do.) It was a very quick read, too. I started the book on Sunday and finished it today (Saturday), but really read most of the book between last night and this morning. Had I not been distracted by a friend and her desire to see a movie on our snow day on Monday, I couldn't finished it all in one day, I am sure. I just wanted to keep reading to see how Lou was progressing with her calendar (read the book to find out about that!).
There's so much more that I want to say about this book and how it handles sex and love and death and dying and people's choices for their own lives, but I can't without ruining the story. So, I'll guess for once I'll just stop typing and let you read this amazing story. It really is wonderful. And different. Just like Judy said.
I think this one is going to stick with me for a while.
Happy reading!
:) Dodie
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Sunday, March 24, 2013
#10: The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
For those of you who want me to get to the core of the apple, I will say this to you: go buy this book and read it. It is worth your time and you will be better for reading it when you are done. One warning: this book is about Nazi Germany. It is graphic in places and it will make you mad (or at least it should). It is not an easy read, nor should it be tossed in your beach bag. This book is heavy, it is deep, and it will move you (or it should). I was physically exhausted when I finished reading last night. I am getting tired thinking about all that I have to say about this brilliant novel. In all seriousness, I bought a set of magnetic bookmarks a few weeks ago and was excited that there were cute little cupcakes on one side and arrows on the other so that if you needed to mark your page or mark a quotation you wanted to remember, you could. I used all 8 of them while reading this book. My family laughed at me as I carried around a totally bookmarked book for two weeks. It seems, then, that this blog entry will be, in part, a recollection of those quotes and ideas that I marked. This novel is filled with powerful words and it touched my heart because, as with other favorites of mine that came before, this book is about the power of words. Words can entertain you, but words can be powerful enough to save your life. Just ask Minka.
Back when I read Uncle Tom's Cabin, I mentioned that I wished that I had read it as part of a class in college, so that I could gleam every tiny nugget of gold out of the story, as only teachers of English can do. I feel the same way about The Storyteller. I would love to hear an English teacher's take on the storyline and the characters. But, I guess you all will have to settle on a Kindergarten Teacher's take, but one who majored in English, so perhaps I won't be too far off. Although I am leaving a lot out as to not be a spoiler.
The Storyteller opens with an excerpt from a story that is written in italics. Anyone who has read Picoult before knows that she often alternates between characters from one chapter to the next and will signal this change through a font change. It was not until much later in the book, however, that I finally figured out that the italicized sections with no title were sections from Sage's grandmother's (Minka) book. Once I figured that out, the story became even more brilliant to me. It was also then that the light bulb truly went on and I figured out that Minka was The Storyteller. I think.
Until that point, what I knew was this: the main character is Sage. She is a brilliant baker with a scar that covers a good portion of her face. She does not share how she got this scar until later in the story, but she spends her days sleeping and her nights baking so that she can avoid contact with people. She prefers to be alone, is sleeping with a married man, and is a bundle of anxiety. Then she meets Josef in her grief group (she has lost both of her parents) and the two become good friends. He is in his nineties; she in her early twenties. Josef finally confides in her that he was a Nazi officer and he wants her to help him die. Sage, an atheist raised in the Jewish faith, finds Josef's story unsettling and contacts the Department of Justice. Now, the story really begins. And it quickly evolves into Sage's and Leo's (the DOJ lawyer assigned to the case) attempts to uncover the truth behind Josef's claims.
The Storyteller is divided into three sections. The first is basically what I described above but it also includes Josef's story as an officer at Auschwitz. The second section is Minka's story as a girl living at a time when it was not safe to be Jewish, as a girl who was ultimately separated from her family, and as a girl trying to survive in Auschwitz. The third section of the book is when everything comes together and where the story eventually ends. I will let you read this on your own and won't spoil it for you.
I have to admit that I went into reading this book having a purely historical opinion of concentration camps. I knew very few, if any, personal stories about the people who were impacted by concentration camps. I have never been to the Holocaust museum, but knew enough to know that the people suffered and that Nazis were bad people. Honestly, I never took a single History class in all of my years of school that taught anything past WW1. So the idea of Sage trying to implicate a 95 year old man made me scratch my head a little. Why would she bother? He is old. He has lived his entire life regretting his actions and feeling horrible about the people he killed. Why not let him live out his days continuing to torture himself with his regrets? But I quickly felt her anger when I read his
words, his story. I wanted to help him die. If Sage wouldn't do it, I was ready to volunteer.
Then when I read Minka's story, I became even angrier, tears fell on the pages as I devoured every word of her story, not being able to turn the pages fast enough, but throwing the book across my bed at one point because I was so angry at the life Minka had to live. It was so unfair and so cruel. I suddenly felt guilty for being alive, for having a life that was so easy compared to hers.
I don't want to tell you anymore about the plot of this book. I'll let Part Three unravel as it will. But, I want to indulge myself and my bookmarks a bit. It would've been easier to read this sort of book on my Nook, which I don't actually have anymore now that I have my iPad, but bookmarking important passages is certainly an easier thing to do with some sort of e-reader. And, I'd have the passages bookmarked forever. Oh well. It is what it is.
On page 18, I read the first line that made me smile, and probably the last line that made me smile, "It's silly to anthropomorphize bread, but I love the fact that it needs to sit quietly, to retreat from touch and noise and drama, in order to evolve. I have to admit, I often feel that way myself." Me too, Sage. Me too.
Then, on page 124, I began to understand Josef's dilemma and his request of Sage. "When your existence is hell, death must be heaven." Perhaps it also explains why some of the men and women in Auschwitz did not fear death. Sadly, I bet this is true of battered women, people who battle illness, and probably even more instances in modern day life than I can think of right now. It makes me sad to think of people who live every day wishing it was their last because their life is so hellish. Life should not be that way for anyone.
Page 139 reminded me of my own personal religious dilemma: "No child really chooses his religion; it is just the luck of the draw which blanket of beliefs you are wrapped in." How do we know that what we are taught is what's right? Or, do we blindly believe what our parents believe must because they are our parents? I imagine this is why so many children grow up to be like Sage and abandon the religion of their parents. Or, you end up like me, still struggling at age 40 to figure out what it is that I do believe. I guess this is why, on page 187, the ideal that I have tried to uphold throughout my life (note I said "tried") was verbalized and I felt vindicated: "Morality has nothing to do with religion. You can do the right thing and not believe in God at all." Amen.
Page 230 reminded me of my past. "The bigger the hole inside you, the more desperate you became to fill it." This was spoken of hunger, but as Minka so wisely noted, power, revenge, and love are all just different versions of hunger. We are all hungry for something at some point in our lives.
This book is called The Storyteller. As I mentioned before, what became clear to me after Part One is that Minka is the storyteller. Her story saved her life. I"ll let you read the book to find out what is meant by this. But there's more than one story being told in this novel. We hear Josef's story, Sage's story, even Leo's story. Words are powerful. Here's why, as so explained on page 300, "Fiction is like that, once it is released into the world: contagious, persistent. Like the contents of Pandora's box, a story that's freely given can't be contained anymore. It becomes infectious, spreading from the person who created it to the person who listens, and passes it on." Minka's story was infectious, but so was Josef's. Words captivate, they allow us to escape, they inspire. They are powerful enough to save your life, or to ruin it.
Finally, the last quotation I want to mention here is one we all can benefit from pondering. It's about forgiveness, which I'd imagine we all have needed to give or have asked for at some point in our lives. The Storyteller is a story about forgiveness. Josef wants it desperately and Sage struggles to provide it until her friend Mary reminds her that, "He doesn't deserve your love. But he does deserve your forgiveness, because otherwise he will grow like a weed in your heart until it's choked and overrun. The only person who suffers, when you squirrel away all that hate, is you." Forgiveness. Easier said than done. But why spend your entire life hating someone or something? Imagine all of the time you'll get back by just forgiving. And then moving on.
I'm not sure how this novel will rank for me at the end of the year when it's time to formulate my top ten list. I'm not sure this story was life changing, although I feel like I learned something about history through this fictional story (ironic?) and have been made more aware of a time in history that, I have to be honest, I don't know much about. It makes me feel sad that people we treated so cruelly because of their religion. It makes me sad that others so blindly followed cruelty. It makes me sad that they lived a life of shame. It all just makes me sad. The end of the book is filled with sadness, too. I was hoping for something happy to make up for the tears and tears I cried while reading this book. But, the end just heaped more sadness onto my overflowing plate. There was a plot twist I never saw coming, and it happened right at the very end. And I cried more.
The Storyteller is a long book. 460 pages of intense reading. As I said before, don't throw this one in your beach bag for spring break, and don't use this book to reward yourself for reading some other hard to read book. This one is tough. But, then again, most things that are worthwhile in life usually are.
Happy reading,
:) Dodie
Back when I read Uncle Tom's Cabin, I mentioned that I wished that I had read it as part of a class in college, so that I could gleam every tiny nugget of gold out of the story, as only teachers of English can do. I feel the same way about The Storyteller. I would love to hear an English teacher's take on the storyline and the characters. But, I guess you all will have to settle on a Kindergarten Teacher's take, but one who majored in English, so perhaps I won't be too far off. Although I am leaving a lot out as to not be a spoiler.
The Storyteller opens with an excerpt from a story that is written in italics. Anyone who has read Picoult before knows that she often alternates between characters from one chapter to the next and will signal this change through a font change. It was not until much later in the book, however, that I finally figured out that the italicized sections with no title were sections from Sage's grandmother's (Minka) book. Once I figured that out, the story became even more brilliant to me. It was also then that the light bulb truly went on and I figured out that Minka was The Storyteller. I think.
Until that point, what I knew was this: the main character is Sage. She is a brilliant baker with a scar that covers a good portion of her face. She does not share how she got this scar until later in the story, but she spends her days sleeping and her nights baking so that she can avoid contact with people. She prefers to be alone, is sleeping with a married man, and is a bundle of anxiety. Then she meets Josef in her grief group (she has lost both of her parents) and the two become good friends. He is in his nineties; she in her early twenties. Josef finally confides in her that he was a Nazi officer and he wants her to help him die. Sage, an atheist raised in the Jewish faith, finds Josef's story unsettling and contacts the Department of Justice. Now, the story really begins. And it quickly evolves into Sage's and Leo's (the DOJ lawyer assigned to the case) attempts to uncover the truth behind Josef's claims.
The Storyteller is divided into three sections. The first is basically what I described above but it also includes Josef's story as an officer at Auschwitz. The second section is Minka's story as a girl living at a time when it was not safe to be Jewish, as a girl who was ultimately separated from her family, and as a girl trying to survive in Auschwitz. The third section of the book is when everything comes together and where the story eventually ends. I will let you read this on your own and won't spoil it for you.
I have to admit that I went into reading this book having a purely historical opinion of concentration camps. I knew very few, if any, personal stories about the people who were impacted by concentration camps. I have never been to the Holocaust museum, but knew enough to know that the people suffered and that Nazis were bad people. Honestly, I never took a single History class in all of my years of school that taught anything past WW1. So the idea of Sage trying to implicate a 95 year old man made me scratch my head a little. Why would she bother? He is old. He has lived his entire life regretting his actions and feeling horrible about the people he killed. Why not let him live out his days continuing to torture himself with his regrets? But I quickly felt her anger when I read his
words, his story. I wanted to help him die. If Sage wouldn't do it, I was ready to volunteer.
Then when I read Minka's story, I became even angrier, tears fell on the pages as I devoured every word of her story, not being able to turn the pages fast enough, but throwing the book across my bed at one point because I was so angry at the life Minka had to live. It was so unfair and so cruel. I suddenly felt guilty for being alive, for having a life that was so easy compared to hers.
I don't want to tell you anymore about the plot of this book. I'll let Part Three unravel as it will. But, I want to indulge myself and my bookmarks a bit. It would've been easier to read this sort of book on my Nook, which I don't actually have anymore now that I have my iPad, but bookmarking important passages is certainly an easier thing to do with some sort of e-reader. And, I'd have the passages bookmarked forever. Oh well. It is what it is.
On page 18, I read the first line that made me smile, and probably the last line that made me smile, "It's silly to anthropomorphize bread, but I love the fact that it needs to sit quietly, to retreat from touch and noise and drama, in order to evolve. I have to admit, I often feel that way myself." Me too, Sage. Me too.
Then, on page 124, I began to understand Josef's dilemma and his request of Sage. "When your existence is hell, death must be heaven." Perhaps it also explains why some of the men and women in Auschwitz did not fear death. Sadly, I bet this is true of battered women, people who battle illness, and probably even more instances in modern day life than I can think of right now. It makes me sad to think of people who live every day wishing it was their last because their life is so hellish. Life should not be that way for anyone.
Page 139 reminded me of my own personal religious dilemma: "No child really chooses his religion; it is just the luck of the draw which blanket of beliefs you are wrapped in." How do we know that what we are taught is what's right? Or, do we blindly believe what our parents believe must because they are our parents? I imagine this is why so many children grow up to be like Sage and abandon the religion of their parents. Or, you end up like me, still struggling at age 40 to figure out what it is that I do believe. I guess this is why, on page 187, the ideal that I have tried to uphold throughout my life (note I said "tried") was verbalized and I felt vindicated: "Morality has nothing to do with religion. You can do the right thing and not believe in God at all." Amen.
Page 230 reminded me of my past. "The bigger the hole inside you, the more desperate you became to fill it." This was spoken of hunger, but as Minka so wisely noted, power, revenge, and love are all just different versions of hunger. We are all hungry for something at some point in our lives.
This book is called The Storyteller. As I mentioned before, what became clear to me after Part One is that Minka is the storyteller. Her story saved her life. I"ll let you read the book to find out what is meant by this. But there's more than one story being told in this novel. We hear Josef's story, Sage's story, even Leo's story. Words are powerful. Here's why, as so explained on page 300, "Fiction is like that, once it is released into the world: contagious, persistent. Like the contents of Pandora's box, a story that's freely given can't be contained anymore. It becomes infectious, spreading from the person who created it to the person who listens, and passes it on." Minka's story was infectious, but so was Josef's. Words captivate, they allow us to escape, they inspire. They are powerful enough to save your life, or to ruin it.
Finally, the last quotation I want to mention here is one we all can benefit from pondering. It's about forgiveness, which I'd imagine we all have needed to give or have asked for at some point in our lives. The Storyteller is a story about forgiveness. Josef wants it desperately and Sage struggles to provide it until her friend Mary reminds her that, "He doesn't deserve your love. But he does deserve your forgiveness, because otherwise he will grow like a weed in your heart until it's choked and overrun. The only person who suffers, when you squirrel away all that hate, is you." Forgiveness. Easier said than done. But why spend your entire life hating someone or something? Imagine all of the time you'll get back by just forgiving. And then moving on.
I'm not sure how this novel will rank for me at the end of the year when it's time to formulate my top ten list. I'm not sure this story was life changing, although I feel like I learned something about history through this fictional story (ironic?) and have been made more aware of a time in history that, I have to be honest, I don't know much about. It makes me feel sad that people we treated so cruelly because of their religion. It makes me sad that others so blindly followed cruelty. It makes me sad that they lived a life of shame. It all just makes me sad. The end of the book is filled with sadness, too. I was hoping for something happy to make up for the tears and tears I cried while reading this book. But, the end just heaped more sadness onto my overflowing plate. There was a plot twist I never saw coming, and it happened right at the very end. And I cried more.
The Storyteller is a long book. 460 pages of intense reading. As I said before, don't throw this one in your beach bag for spring break, and don't use this book to reward yourself for reading some other hard to read book. This one is tough. But, then again, most things that are worthwhile in life usually are.
Happy reading,
:) Dodie
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
#9: Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
In honor of my oldest daughter's school play, I spent the past three weeks reading Charlotte's Web to my kindergarteners. It had been a long time since I had read this amazing story of friendship and loyalty and I found myself fighting back tears as I read the paragraph where Charlotte dies at the end of the book. (I found myself fighting back the same tears when Charlotte, portrayed by Abigail's good friend Cameron, died in the Holman Middle School production a few weekends ago. I think I am a sap. ) Anyway, I think that it is important for children to hear this story and that's why I am taking the time to blog about this book.
If you have a child in your life, read this book to him/her. Let the child hear the voices of the animals, let the child imagine the animals talking, let the child hear Charlotte reassure Wilbur that he will be saved. Let the child witness the story of friends who take care of one another, who sacrifice for each other, and who love each other beyond the grave. Let the child wonder if he/she will ever have a friend like Charlotte. And then, because it's 2013, let the child watch the DVD. It's as good as the book!
My mother read this book to me when I was five. With her voice, she made each animal sound different and I remember listening to the story each night before bed with my eyes closed. I didn't want to see the words before I heard them (I could read a little, but I wasn't taking any chances). I could see the action taking place in my head. I think it was probably Charlotte and Wilbur who made me love books and characters and made me want to take in every word I could read. I guess this is why I still read this book to my classes. It makes me wonder how many of my little ones will recall listening to this story 35 years from now with the same memories I had. You never quite know how the power of a good book might impact a life.
Happy reading everyone!
:) Dodie
If you have a child in your life, read this book to him/her. Let the child hear the voices of the animals, let the child imagine the animals talking, let the child hear Charlotte reassure Wilbur that he will be saved. Let the child witness the story of friends who take care of one another, who sacrifice for each other, and who love each other beyond the grave. Let the child wonder if he/she will ever have a friend like Charlotte. And then, because it's 2013, let the child watch the DVD. It's as good as the book!
My mother read this book to me when I was five. With her voice, she made each animal sound different and I remember listening to the story each night before bed with my eyes closed. I didn't want to see the words before I heard them (I could read a little, but I wasn't taking any chances). I could see the action taking place in my head. I think it was probably Charlotte and Wilbur who made me love books and characters and made me want to take in every word I could read. I guess this is why I still read this book to my classes. It makes me wonder how many of my little ones will recall listening to this story 35 years from now with the same memories I had. You never quite know how the power of a good book might impact a life.
Happy reading everyone!
:) Dodie
Sunday, March 10, 2013
#8: The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani
I had started reading The Shoemaker's Wife when I found The Pioneer Woman's book, so I put it aside for a week. I knew I would come back to it, but I had no idea that when I did, that the book would be so absolutely amazing. Kathryn Stockett (author of The Help) is quoted on the front cover of the edition I have as saying that the book is "Utterly splendid." Not even close. It's ten times better than utterly splendid.
I read Trigiani's Big Stone Gap books years ago because my husband's family is from Big Stone Gap, as is Trigiani. Her series was fabulous and I became hooked on her style of writing...tons of description, completely formed characters, a plot that is unusual and different from anything I had ever read. As a result, whenever a new book was released, I read it. And I read it happily. My favorites of hers have been Very Valentine and Brava Valentine, both about shoemakers. So, when I discovered The Shoemaker's Wife, I knew I'd love the book. And I loved it. Oh, did I love it!
I'm afraid that I am not skilled enough at writing summaries to even begin to summarize this book. What I can tell you is this. It's set in the very early 1900's, right at the turn of the century, and spans through the Second World War. It's the love story of Enza and Ciro, beginning when they met as teenagers, and extending through their lives together. During the story, we meet their extended families, their friends, and we experience their lives as they leave Italy and move to America, as America was expanding westward. We live their ups and downs, their goods and bads, and we are reminded of what it truly means to be part of a family. As I finished the book last night after a long day of family obligations, I cried into the shoulder of my husband. I cried because it was comforting to know that I was part of a family who loved each other and who supported each other. I cried, too, because thinking of my life without my partner, was more than I could bear.
Another aspect of this novel that I love so much is that it leaves almost no question unanswered. I am a big fan of epilogues. I need to know what happens next and Trigiani delivers. Until the end. But the ending is so fabulous that it doesn't matter that some things are left up to the reader to decide. I like, too, that Trigiani gives us this chance to participate in the story. She has faith in us.
Stories like this one that touch my heart typically leave me with something...a catch phrase, a moral, an idea to ponder. The Shoemaker left me with words to think about every day: "Beware the things of this world that can mean everything or nothing." Beware. Beware. Beware. Beware the things that mean nothing to you but everything to your partner. Don't assume that things that mean everything to you mean anything at all to others. Beware. I suspect that this one idea will stick with me forever. It molded Ciro's life. I hope from this point on, it will guide mine.
Happy reading everyone!
:). Dodie
I read Trigiani's Big Stone Gap books years ago because my husband's family is from Big Stone Gap, as is Trigiani. Her series was fabulous and I became hooked on her style of writing...tons of description, completely formed characters, a plot that is unusual and different from anything I had ever read. As a result, whenever a new book was released, I read it. And I read it happily. My favorites of hers have been Very Valentine and Brava Valentine, both about shoemakers. So, when I discovered The Shoemaker's Wife, I knew I'd love the book. And I loved it. Oh, did I love it!
I'm afraid that I am not skilled enough at writing summaries to even begin to summarize this book. What I can tell you is this. It's set in the very early 1900's, right at the turn of the century, and spans through the Second World War. It's the love story of Enza and Ciro, beginning when they met as teenagers, and extending through their lives together. During the story, we meet their extended families, their friends, and we experience their lives as they leave Italy and move to America, as America was expanding westward. We live their ups and downs, their goods and bads, and we are reminded of what it truly means to be part of a family. As I finished the book last night after a long day of family obligations, I cried into the shoulder of my husband. I cried because it was comforting to know that I was part of a family who loved each other and who supported each other. I cried, too, because thinking of my life without my partner, was more than I could bear.
Another aspect of this novel that I love so much is that it leaves almost no question unanswered. I am a big fan of epilogues. I need to know what happens next and Trigiani delivers. Until the end. But the ending is so fabulous that it doesn't matter that some things are left up to the reader to decide. I like, too, that Trigiani gives us this chance to participate in the story. She has faith in us.
Stories like this one that touch my heart typically leave me with something...a catch phrase, a moral, an idea to ponder. The Shoemaker left me with words to think about every day: "Beware the things of this world that can mean everything or nothing." Beware. Beware. Beware. Beware the things that mean nothing to you but everything to your partner. Don't assume that things that mean everything to you mean anything at all to others. Beware. I suspect that this one idea will stick with me forever. It molded Ciro's life. I hope from this point on, it will guide mine.
Happy reading everyone!
:). Dodie
Sunday, March 3, 2013
#7: The Pioneer Woman--Black Heels to Tractor Wheels
I am in love with this book and I can see myself becoming a stalker of The Pioneer Woman's television shows. I have already checked both Amazon and Barnes and Noble to see if this brilliant writer has written anything other than a cookbook (Lord knows I don't need those), and I am sad to report that she does not. Unless you count the book that is published in Italian for some unknown reason. Why Italian? It makes me wish I could read Italian.
I picked up Drummond's book last weekend on sale at BN, and have decided once and for all that my favorites come from the publishers' overstock sale table. I may never buy a new book ever again. Kidding, but you get my point. I have watched The Pioneer Woman on the weekends on Food Network and Rob has gotten some fabulous real life recipes from her fabulous show. Personally, she lives the life I have always felt I should be leading...the life of a cowboy's wife. Born in Texas and transplanted in Virginia not long after, I have often felt that my real destiny was ripped out from under me at an early age. I could have been the Texas girl who wore boots with everything, who grew up on a farm (well, that part came true), and who spent her life being the wife of a rancher. It all just seemed so romantic and idyllic.
Then I read Drummond's book. I no longer want to live the life of a ranchers wife. The story about taking the cows' temperature did me in. Realistically, I can't feed a troop of ranch hands, I would never be able to homeschool my kids, and I have zero desire to get up at 4:00 am on a daily basis. But, I loved her story.
It is the story of how she met, dated, and married her husband and it is worth reading. It's like reality television in book form. She does include the events of her first year of marriage, as well. I would love, love, love for her to continue her story, but I will settle with following her blog and keeping up with her story that way.
Drummond is a fabulous writer and her story made me cry at times, laugh out loud at others, and in general feel blessed to have found the one person who changed my life for the better. Even if he didn't resemble the Marlboro Man or drive a white pick-up, seeing his face makes me go weak in the knees, even 21 years later.
Read this book! It won't disappoint!
Happy reading!
:) Dodie
I picked up Drummond's book last weekend on sale at BN, and have decided once and for all that my favorites come from the publishers' overstock sale table. I may never buy a new book ever again. Kidding, but you get my point. I have watched The Pioneer Woman on the weekends on Food Network and Rob has gotten some fabulous real life recipes from her fabulous show. Personally, she lives the life I have always felt I should be leading...the life of a cowboy's wife. Born in Texas and transplanted in Virginia not long after, I have often felt that my real destiny was ripped out from under me at an early age. I could have been the Texas girl who wore boots with everything, who grew up on a farm (well, that part came true), and who spent her life being the wife of a rancher. It all just seemed so romantic and idyllic.
Then I read Drummond's book. I no longer want to live the life of a ranchers wife. The story about taking the cows' temperature did me in. Realistically, I can't feed a troop of ranch hands, I would never be able to homeschool my kids, and I have zero desire to get up at 4:00 am on a daily basis. But, I loved her story.
It is the story of how she met, dated, and married her husband and it is worth reading. It's like reality television in book form. She does include the events of her first year of marriage, as well. I would love, love, love for her to continue her story, but I will settle with following her blog and keeping up with her story that way.
Drummond is a fabulous writer and her story made me cry at times, laugh out loud at others, and in general feel blessed to have found the one person who changed my life for the better. Even if he didn't resemble the Marlboro Man or drive a white pick-up, seeing his face makes me go weak in the knees, even 21 years later.
Read this book! It won't disappoint!
Happy reading!
:) Dodie
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