Welcome to Thursday, a day that once seemed lost, with nothing exciting happening anywhere. But then that changed, and today I am celebrating a couple of the bookish events around the blogosphere, like Lexxie’s Thirsty Thursday & Hungry Hearts; and Christine’s Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts.
Today’s featured book is Another Brooklyn, by Jacqueline Woodson.
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After her father’s funeral, August and her brother meet up at an old, familiar diner…a place that reminds them of the 1970s in Brooklyn when they were growing up.
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The diner smelled of coffee and bread and bleach. A neon sign flickered EAT HERE NOW in bright green, dusty silver tinsel draping below it. I had spent Christmas Day at the hospital, my father moaning for pain medication, the nurses too slow in responding.
A waitress brought my brother more hot water for his mint tea. I picked at my eggs and lukewarm home fries, having eaten the bacon slowly to tease my brother.
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A very sad breakfast indeed, but the poignant feel of it drew me into the story.
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- As we approach the end of this year, I am thinking how happy I will be to say goodbye to 2016.
- But what will happen in the New Year? I am trying to stay positive.
- Right now I’m focusing on finishing as many books as I can for my Read the Books You Buy Challenge. I have already finished 94! The parameters are books bought between June 2015-December 31, 2016.
- This has been a good reading week! I’ve finished three full-length books and a short story.
- Now I’m ready to tackle the January NetGalley review books…but first, I’m reading a book that I’ve been eagerly awaiting for a while: When All the Girls Have Gone, by Jayne Ann Krentz. Thrillers always spur me on in my reading.
- Yesterday I had a lovely lunch with an old friend at Pismo’s, a restaurant around the corner that I don’t visit often enough. The place was crowded and filled with merriment. I wondered what they were celebrating. Maybe they had all finished their Christmas shopping. I had two martinis for the occasion, along with my chowder.
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- My Christmas decorations are up, such as they are…every year, I seem to pull out fewer things from the bins. Here’s a “long view” of the room with the most holiday spirit. I have another miniature tree on the pub table, which is not visible in this photo.
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- Below, my niece’s snow-covered cottage in the mountains. To me, it looks like a Christmas card.
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That’s it for this week. What are the rest of you sharing?
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SERENDIPITY 
The breakfast definitely sounds sad, Laurel-Rain, and at the same time, I kind of had to smile, too. As August ate her bacon slowly to tease her brother 🙂 Thanks for participating!! I hope your Thursday is terrific 🙂
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Thanks, Lexxie, I liked that tease, too. I’m eager to read the book now. Thanks for stopping by.
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Your niece’s cabin looks like a Christmas card! So lovely. I hope you’re enjoying the Jayne Ann Krentz! I really liked it and it definitely kept me reading. 94 on the Read Your Own books challenge is impressive! I’m hoping to read more of the books I already own in 2017 though those new shiny review books get awfully tempting!
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I am loving the JAK books…and the short chapters keep me going. A suspense book with short chapters seems to turn its own pages, and before we know it, we’re done.
Thanks for visiting, Katherine, and I also love that snow-covered cottage. It reminds me of the A-frame house I had in the foothills a few years ago, but we had no snow that low down to the valley.
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A good opening even if it featured a pretty poor breakfast! I’m so impressed with your read what you’ve bought challenge and I hope those Martinis had you celebrating nothing in particular!
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Thanks, Cleo, I am pleased at how many purchased books I’ve read, but I keep buying them, so the numbers never really go down that much. LOL.
I do enjoy having a martini (or two) when I go to lunch in a restaurant. It feels festive, just being there.
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I’ll look forward to your review of Another Brooklyn – it wasn’t a book that I was familiar with until I compiled the list of books that were most often mentioned in ‘Best of 2016’ lists, but it looks fantastic.
Your niece’s cabin is stunning – makes me wish for a white Christmas (because in Australia, our Christmas Day is usually sweltering!).
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Thanks, Kate, and I can’t imagine having the seasons turned around….but I guess you get used to it. It doesn’t snow here in the valley (well, it did a couple of times in the last fifty years!), but we’re close to the mountains and the snow. I love that snow-covered cabin, too…and then think of how much work is involved to get in and out when the snow covers the driveway, etc.
Enjoy your week, and thanks for visiting.
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