This and That

It was pointed out to me the other day that I haven't featured Miss Emma in a while, so I'm making up for it in this post.  :-)  Here she is looking cute as a button after a trip to the groomer this morning.

Before . . .

After . . .  no jeweled ear tips this time . . . just a pretty little bow.

It's been a busy, hot, hot week. On Monday, my cousin Linda came for a visit with her boys, and let's just say Emma was smothered in love by F. age nine and D. age 6. It was a sizzling, humid day so a trip to Hornstra Farm for ice creams was definitely in order.

 Don't you just love these hibiscus blossoms. . . Do you think this is the same little green bug that photo bombed a flower shot in a recent post???

I've been doing quite a bit of reading lately, and I have a few books to recommend.

A few months back, I recommended The Red Coat - A Novel of Boston by Dolley Carlson which told the story of an Irish Catholic family at the turn of the last century. The Boston Girl tells the story of a young Jewish girl growing up during this same period, and it was a very good read.

The next two novels were each written by first time authors. The Bookshop of Yesterdays tells the story of a young woman who inherits a bookshop from her estranged uncle who had left baffling literary clues in a number of books. As she follows these clues, troubling family secrets are revealed. I have to admit that I figured out what had happened fairly quickly, but that did not take away from enjoying the heroine's pursuit of the truth. I think I must have a soft spot for novels set in bookshops as I seem to have read a number of them in the last few years.

I was drawn to The Hope of Azure Springs by Rachael Fordham by its lovely cover. At the age of eleven, the protagonist along with her little sister traveled west on an orphan train.  Some children found loving homes; this was not the case for Em who was separated from her sister. I don't want to give anything away, so I will just say it was a light but interesting read. As I read it, I kept thinking that this story would make a good movie for the Hallmark channel.

I'm also reading In Other Words by Pulitzer Prize winning author Jhumpa Lahiri. How would  I describe this work? It is an exploration of how one learns a foreign language, the falling in love with a different culture and the difficulties in attempting to assimilate, and a writer's struggle to successfully express herself in a new language. The language she has fallen in love with is Italian. 

If you follow my blog, you may be wondering if I ever finished Ron Cheron's Grant. Well, no, I haven't. I'm on page 464 with a mere 495 pages to go!!!  It's in timeout until the cooler weather when I will pick it up again.

So what have you been reading and recommending to your friends?