the one our book club should have picked.

There's this little book called Little Bee.  It's really incredible.  I'm not supposed to talk about it.  The cover actually admonishes readers from revealing too much of the plot.

People who have read the book comment that it sticks with them.  Some call the book depressing.  They're right.  It is depressing.  But the book is written with an intelligent audience in mind and made me reflect on how often and easily I turn away from what's uncomfortable in our world.  There are violent scenes in this book but fortunately they are not gratuitous.  The telling of this violence serves an educational purpose (unlike in Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).  Others may disagree.

This book has been all over the Target shelves and paraded around the internet.  One of my favorite books of the summer.  But according to Chris Cleave (or his publisher) I'm not allowed to talk about it.

A Simple Poem

 


















The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.
I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light.
For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.

I don't think ahead to loss and let it color the fullness.

I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.
I am content in the here, the now.

Be. here. now. Rest in the grace of the world and be free.

Wendell Berry

the one that follows the first.

I just finished the sequel to The Hunger Games.  Love.  Love.  Love.

Suzanne Collins is going to be dirty, filthy rich when they make these books into movies.  The second book was as compelling as the first.  It absolutely drew me in.

Waiting for August 24th now to find out what happens to Katniss and the country of Panem.

my favorite one in a long while.

This is a trilogy I can actually get behind (vs. Twilight & The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo).  A book that totally consumed me and seemed completely novel and unique.  This book should even capture the attention of my 17 yo nephew who hates to read (gasp!) and much prefers audio books.

Normally I am on top of book phenomenons and internet crazes but I feel a bit behind on the Hunger Games series.  My friend Kate reviewed it recently on her blog so I'll refer to her spot on comments:

Kate's Review

I am now racing through the second book and eager for book three (Mockingjay) to release on August 24th.  I would love, love to see Suzanne Collins at Wild Rumpus on Friday, October 1st but may be otherwise occupied at home. Drat!

Info on Suzanne Collins Event

I love when good books find the shelf at just the right time.  Cure your book slump, encourage blanket reading in the dog days of August. 

This book was a winner!