Baker's Bedtime Book-of-the-Week

George and Martha - Complete Stories of Two Best Friends
written and illustrated by James Marshall

At the library this week I spied this book collection of stories about a hippo couple I remember fondly from my childhood. The endearing friendship of George and Martha teaches simple life lessons in whimsical ways. "The Tooth" is the fave... the front right to be exact. The "beautiful golden tooth" story is requested nightly right now... but it is "The Photograph" that incited rollicking laughter. I may just have to purchase this one to save for my children's children.

In My Summer Bookbag...

Ladder of Years
by Anne Tyler
Pharmakon... Or the Story of a Happy Family
by Dirk Wittenborn
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

BTW... If it seems I am reading slowly, I am not. I do not wish to post negative reviews on my blog. I read many a book that may entertain... or not. But, unless I am thoughtfully engaged, or duly impressed, I do not note the book here. This blog is reserved for books I, and my boys, find worth the invested time. For every three or four books, I interact with one in a way I do not with the others. That interaction is what compels me to post here...

Also, the last months of my life have been crazy and hectic... with a major surgery for me and two deaths in my immediate family. Posting was the last thing on my mind. My goal is to begin anew. Every day brings the thoughtfulness of text into my house. I hope to spark that adventure in you.

Best Book I've Read in a While

The Story of a Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer is an examination of what we know and what we think we know... and the complex interrelationship between self-preservation and real, unconditional love. If I say anything further, I could spoil the delicate lessons therein. For those who eschew "outside-the-Christian-box" real-life earthly issues and have a strong compulsion toward judgement... this book is not for you. For those with minds willing to examine issues of the human heart freely, I challenge you to crack the cover. I dog-ear pages of my books that contain lyrical lines of beauty or truth. This book is fully-folded.