Thursday and I made it!
I had commitments for days from Saturday run arounds, Sunday Easter-Get-Through-It, Monday trivia night with friends, Tuesday Library time and Wine and Words start-up meeting, and Wednesday City Library Board meeting. Now I have 4 days of calm that I have purposely left open and non-committal as I make my way towards the one year mark. These next days will be days of last time memories (tomorrow will mark 1 year since I went to stay with Justin in his apartment the night before the interview with Scott Eastwood), these are the anniversaries of the last time I seen my son and as painful as they are, I would not trade them for the world. I had this time with him….. it was because of this blog that I was there. Crazy…. but true.
But this…. is not supposed to be about that.
I am instead talking about the joy of books. You may remember that I have mentioned that last summer when my Mom’s Sister had knee surgery I brought her a basket of books, magazines, movies, and snacks to pass the time while she was healing. It was then that she and I bonded over books. I did not know she was a dormant reader…. someone who had always enjoyed reading but with life and other commitments had moved away from it. Since that time last summer, I meet up with her every couple of weeks and I bring her new books she may enjoy and we discuss the ones she read. It is a coffee date and a book club for two.
Over the past few weeks with my schedule I had been unable to connect with her. Then last week she had surgery on the other knee. Yesterday, I went through the book room choosing books for her recovery time. At first, I was picking up books that I felt would stretch her a bit, they were not the normal genres that I bring her, and some were books that I had not yet read myself…
and then my eyes landed on The Fault In Our Stars and I could not help but smile. I wondered if she would enjoy dabbling into a brilliantly written YA read. And from there I seen my row of books from Claire Cook and my smile broadened. She had enjoyed Mary Kay Andrews, Dorthea Benton Frank, and Elin Hilderbrand’s books. I knew she would adore Claire Cook.
When I came home yesterday after my visit with my Aunt and Uncle as well as the book delivery, there was a package in the mail. As I was opening it I felt a lump in the book and thought that our mailman had again squished a book into the box and bent it… but no, that was not it. The lump was a luggage tag and it went with the book that was in the package:
The word that came out of my mouth when I seen what had been delivered was “Fun!” I love the little extras that publishing houses do and now this book is calling to me. I have one I am in the middle of, and just finished an audio book this morning so soon Mary Kay Andrews, soon I will join you to busy my mind with others lives and happenings…. the joy of books. ♥
Book Journey 
I’ll be thinking of you and your family during these difficult days, Sheila.
I love the way books connect people!
Thank you Kathy.
I keep thinking there is some sort of campaign in this thought about cook connections and reminding people what they loved about reading a book…. I think we are sitting on a world of dormant readers who have busied their lives with commitments, and changed up their reading time for social media, TV, video games, and the internet. I keep tossing around the idea of a book campaign…. like a revival 🙂
I’ve never read The Fault in Our Stars. But I like a good YA. Maybe one of these days I’ll get to it.
It was my first John Green and I then went on to read everything the man wrote. Make time for that one.
I enjoyed The Fault in Our Stars…the first (and so far only) book I have read by this author. I have a couple others on my Kindle.
I also love Mary Kay Andrews…and what a great gift stack of books for your aunt! Finding joy in books can help us in the dark times.
Laurel I have turned to books all through my life and they have been such a mind break when the reality of life is all a little too real.
I haven’t read that Stars book yet because it was so popular when the movie came out. The hold list was ridiculous. You are so thoughtful and sweet to select and bring books for your aunt. My mum lives reading May Kay Andrews. We gave her books for Christmas and that author was one of them. So now she’s been reading all that the library has of her.
Isn’t it fun to connect people to authors and books they find they enjoy? FIOS is a must read. I hope you get to it soon 🙂
I am sure she will enjoy that nice stack of books.
She was excited. While both her and my uncle are retired,he works around the yard and does other things during the day giving her time to enjoy a good read.
What a wonderful way to connect with your aunt. I’m sure she’s grateful for you, Sheila.
I’m hoping the new MKA book finds its way to my mailbox (with or without the fun extras!) 🙂
It’s so wonderful to bond with people over books, especially when you don’t expect it. When I’m talking to someone and they say, “Well, I’ve been reading this book,” I sort of want to jump up and down.
The cover on the book sure does draw you in, huh? One of the reasons I adored going into the book store was to shop the cover art. I miss that very much. E-books are convenient on more economical but don’t offer that same pleasure in my opinion.