You CAN Tell A Book By Its Cover

September 18, 2010

I fell out of my chair laughing, as I read my friend Ridgely’s endorsement of the Kindle, that wonderful e-reader. Do you have one? I do, because I begged and pleaded until my Sweet Spousal Unit broke down and bought me one. I enjoy it, but I’m too cheap to actually purchase books on it, [...]

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The Dog Ate It

March 26, 2010

Those were the words of the little boy who turned in this book at the school library where I worked this week: “The dog ate it.” I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Well, OK, you are right. I laughed. Then the librarian told me that he was the first person to check out [...]

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Are Encyclopedias Extinct In The Digital Age?

February 6, 2010

When I was about eleven or twelve years old, a group of us stopped our heated debate over which Beatle was the most adorable (my favorite was Ringo, of course) and moved on to the more cerebral topic of books. The question arose: “If you were stranded alone on a desert island and could only [...]

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Titillation Part Two

January 21, 2010

At my age, I’ve decided that life is too short to read books I don’t enjoy. A book has to titillate me in the first chapter, or I’ll close it and walk away. Now, I defined “titillate” in Part One, so stop tittering about it. I simply mean that a book has to excite my [...]

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My Muse, Or Inner Child, Loves The Library

January 9, 2010

[Editor's Note: There is a "voice" that talks to me inside my head ... some would postulate that there are several voices in there. The one I recognize, I call Muse, but other people might call Her the "Inner Child." She is definitely that. Talking to Her is a bit like talking to a seven [...]

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Mother Neff State Park And Great Minds

September 28, 2009

Allan Kimball’s eyes must have popped out of his head when he Googled the name of his upcoming book to discover that a blogger had used the same unusual title for an insignificant little blog post. When he read that post, his jaw must have dropped to the floor! Some woman he didn’t know (that [...]

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Friday Slipped Up On Me

June 26, 2009

Do y’all remember what it felt like when you were in High School, and the teacher told you there would be a test on Friday, but you got busy and plumb forgot? That’s how I feel this morning. It’s a good thing that I’m addicted to designer coffee! If I hadn’t started jonesing for an [...]

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Saddest Coffee Table Book On Earth

March 12, 2009

I heard a comedian (I was nearly asleep and didn’t get her name) mention this book the other night, and I didn’t believe it existed. I looked it up this morning and there it was: Vegan Cooking For One?? Yes, folks, y’all can buy this book to proudly display on your coffee table. Then the [...]

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Giving Eudora Welty A Second Chance

February 26, 2009

When you were in High School, did you enjoy the reading that you did for your English classes? I find it strange that I consume reading matter like a starving man devours bread (not missing a single crumb) until you tell me I HAVE to read it. If you want me to analyze it, then [...]

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City of Ember Sparks The Imagination

October 22, 2008

Y’all I get embarrassed sometimes when I sit with a group of women and they talk about the books they are reading. My naturally garrulous nature becomes subdued, and that always draws attention. Invariably they ask me what I have been reading, and I have to admit that mostly I read old folktales, “juvenile” fiction, [...]

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Getting Lost In The Story, With Audiobooks

July 24, 2008

I’m not a very “trendy” person, especially when it concerns these new-fangled electronic thingies. I don’t own an iPod. I don’t lust for an iPhone. About the time I got interested in using my VCR to play movies, DVDs became popular. In fact, I only began using my computer in earnest a few years ago. [...]

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Finding New Homes For The Books

June 21, 2008

After you have gone through the painful process of culling books from your shelves, you need to get them out of the house! If you don’t, you will begin looking at them and pining for them. You will pick up one book, and decide, “Oh, I really can’t part with that one.” Then, another and [...]

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How Do I Sort These Books?

June 12, 2008

It’s time to remove some books in our lives. I know it’s true, and I have been denying it for years. It’s time to put on my “big girl panties” and deal with it. Since we hope to move to a house that is at least one third smaller than this one, I have optimistically [...]

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Bibliophile or Bibliomaniac?

June 11, 2008

I find them at yard sales, stacked aside in boxes. They whisper to me from the boxes under the tables. Paperback and hardback books for less than a dollar apiece! Oh, Sweet Heavens! I can never resist loading my arms and bringing them home to my house. They need me! Sad, isn’t it? I would [...]

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The Librarian Is Your Friend

June 9, 2008

I visited the home of a librarian in Mexico. A single woman, with her children grown, she had mastered the art of “simple living.” She worked for the American Schools in foreign countries, and found herself moving to a different country every few years. Because of those moves, she had learned to keep her possessions [...]

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Recycled Books. A Book Lover’s “Mecca” in Denton, Texas

March 15, 2008

No bells sound a call to worship, as I enter the front door of one of my most revered shrines. But, when I leave, a “cha ching” of the cash register is the “closing hymn.” Now, I’m not being sacrilegious. This atrocious purple edifice is not an opera house, and it is not really a [...]

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Bookmarking

August 5, 2007

My Momma taught all of us kids to respect books. We were told never to write in a book or “dog-ear”(fold down the corner) a page. Not only did that harm the book, it was disrespectful to the author. Now, some authors don’t deserve any respect, however I still refuse to mark my place in [...]

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Bibliography for Storytellers

June 9, 2007

I don’t know if I told y’all that my son is an artist in San Francisco. Actually, he is “studying art,” but as you can see by this picture I think he has already “arrived” as an artist. This is a picture he has titled “SHORT LOVE STORIES, EMPTY CALORIES.” My son’s name is Matt [...]

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Storytelling 101—Do Tell

May 26, 2007

I have good news and bad news for you, friends. The bad news: I can’t teach you to “be a storyteller.” The good news: You already are a storyteller, though you may not know it yet. What I can teach you is how to find a good story, some tips for making it your own, [...]

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