Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson

Go find a copy of Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson. Find it right now because you will like it. Think Jane Austen time period with a feisty, funny, intelligent heroine and a dashing, determined hero.

You will laugh and laugh, especially with the dairymaid song.

You may cry (I did) at the heroine's vulnerability and honesty.

And you will get your fix of the Regency period as you haven't done since PBS remade all the Jane Austens.

But one thing you won't do, but I did . . . is remember the courtship of the woman who recommended this book to you.

Because the woman who recommended this to me acted very similarly as the heroine acted towards the hero as he was trying to court her, when my recommendeder was being courted by her husband-to-be.

I liked the guy all along, and cheered for him all along.

So here's to the woman who recommended this book to me, and her husband who proposed once by writing a note to her and putting it on the library bulletin board, "(Name withheld) . . . will you marry me?"

Here's to me when I said, "I think he really likes you" and here's to her who said, "No, he's just kidding."

And here's to their marriage and the adorable children who followed.

Here's to women who are hard to woo. And the men who catch them in the end.

Here's to Donaldson for bringing it all back, for writing such a great debut book, and for not killing off her characters in the end---a common misstep of new writers.

And here's to you . . . find a copy and enjoy.

Maternity Leave Over

Does anyone see these gaps and think, "Oh, Deborah must be pregnant again"? Like Meg in Sheridan, my one fan :), do you get suspicious about that?

Because the same thing happens in my journal. I went to write in it and found the last entry was mid-May, which would have been about week six. Now it's early October, about week 26. 20 weeks out of commission, first trimester to third, that's about right.

Oh yes, I am expecting again. A boy this time, in January.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!

I'll write more about the pregnancy in another post, but sufficieth to say: We are excited and I am large with child. All I want to do is just sit, sit, sit. And read, preferably, because my mind isn't blurry anymore from fatigue or morning sickness.

I'm starting with the complete works of Madeline L'Engle, for no particular reason. All that I can find. Anyone want to join me?

Anyone have any other suggestions? Putting my feet up (and reading) is, actually, exactly what the doctor orders as it turns out.

Perfect!

Oceans, Chimpanzee, African Cats, the movies

Has anyone seen the movies Oceans, Chimpanzee, or African Cats?

They are playing in our movie theater as dollar movies and I'd love to take the kids, but not if there's violence.

Anyone?

Mariann, Guess What Happened. Harry Potter.

I knew today would come eventually. The books were sitting there on the shelf, just waiting for my oldest son to grow up.

But today is the day. His buddy Sam has been reading them, devouring them, and begged his mom (my friend) to loan my son the books.

His mom assured him that, really, Deborah probably owns the whole set.

So . . . .

After some discussion from me about scary parts and It's-OK-to-Skip-the-Battles, I handed my oldest child the first book in the Harry Potter series.

I've been trying to put a name on these feelings I've been having.

I can only imagine this is what it will be like to discover that my teenage son has been kissing girls. "Is he old enough for this?" I'll wonder. "Guess so. Here we go."

After this, Kid, life will never be the same.

First Harry Potter, then LOTR. I can see it coming . . .

Ah, my baby is growing up.

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks

I'm getting to the point in my literary feasting that I don't really care what the author writes about as long as it's uplifting, and as long as the author writes it well. Kind of like I don't really have a preference for one ethnic restaurant over another as long as the food preparation is executed nicely.

Who knew I would enjoy a book about the workings of the brain, written by a neurologist? Or rather . . . the workings of the brain when it's working differently than most.

But so I did enjoy it! Oliver Sacks is a solid writer and gives case by case examples of patients he has seen whose brains are working in interesting ways. Like the man who mistook his wife for a hat, for instance.

Not a novel to cruise through, not a beach read. More of a "Let it sit on your night stand and read one chapter a night." Read it and go, "Hmmmmm. Wow. Interesting." Then take a break and come back.

Probably not a book group read, unless all members are cerebral (no pun intended). Sue Ann and Laura, you might take a stab at this one.

Interesting at the very least.

Books on CD, recommendations?

So the most expensive lesson I learned recently is that our van CD player gets stuck on the stickers on library CDs. Or the stickers on any CDs, for that matter, are no-no-no's for our van CD player. To the painful tune of $200 or so to pay to fix the CD player, consider it a lesson learned. No more CDs with stickers allowed, which means we won't be getting anything from the library, thank you very much. It's just less expensive to buy the ones we want. Or borrow them from friends.

So with summer road trips coming up, anyone have an ideas for books on CD that you love? Here are our top six:

1. Charlotte's Web by E B White.

2. Stuart Little by E B White.

3. Beatrix Potter tales

4. Wind in the Willows

5. The Cat in the Hat and Other Dr. Seuss

6. Green Eggs and Ham and other Servings of Dr. Seuss.

We listen to these over and over. Great, sound investments.

Any other suggestions?

Jig

If you need a good Netflix documentary fix, try Jig, about Irish dancing competitions.

It's fun. But at the end I found myself saying, "Ahhhhhh . . . I wanted the other kid to win."

Liz, you should try this. You could even watch it with Millie, I think, if she's be interested in it.