Bluebird Books

All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffen is one of those books that makes you think and makes you want to talk to your friends about it.  So, hello friends!   I heard about this book from the Modern Mrs. Darcy summer book club picks.  It isn't slated to come out until the end of June.  The description had me hooked: something terrible happens among the teens of a private high school in Nashville...how do the parents react?  How do the teens react?  How would you react?   The story focuses on an incident between Nina Browning's son, Finch, and Tom Vlope's daughter, Lyla.  This incident forces the people in the story to sort through their views on what happened and whom they will defend. All We Ever Wanted was told in present tense/first-person narration.  The perspective changed in each chapter.  This made it easier to understand both sides and watch the characters evolve.  Present tense created a sense of urgency.  There were moments when I literally could not put it

Do not tell me I'm being over dramatic, either.  It started off innocent enough.  April ended and we were looking forward to the full bloom of spring.  The kids anticipated cruising leisurely into the end of the school, getting the respite we are all ready for.  I got an email reminding me that I had signed my son up for baseball.  "Great," I thought, "An evening or two each week spent outside, at the ball field.  Dinners in the waning light."  I think I even sighed at the perfection of the image I'd conjured: well-behaved kids sitting on a quilt spread over a grassy field, happily eating food I'd cooked hours before because I am such a great planner.  Then, my daughters started bringing home notices for tests, projects, and concerts.  As the pile grew, I felt a pang of annoyance that instead of hikes in the woods on weekend afternoons, we would be in the craft store loading project supplies into our cart. Doing research and filling out permissi

Dear Readers, I am a lover of classic works of Literature.  There is nothing that brings me more joy than diving into a book that is as big as a brick.  Reading the beautiful prose crafted by the masters either painstakingly or drunk, makes my heart flutter.  Surely many of you feel the same way (unless you leave a comment dissenting).  So, without further ado, I present: This month I read The Great Gatsby .   It was wonderful to revisit this classic that I hadn't read since I was in high school.  So many ideas stood out to me that I either ignored or forgot from my first reading (Daisy and Tom had a child...This crew was beginning their 30's...Gatsby wore many colorful suits).  Have you read it lately? If not, you should.  Here's why.  There are some striking similarities with our culture.  The Great Gatsby takes place in the early 20's.  People were making lots of money doing bad things and the gap between people who had money and people who didn&

Do you ever read angry?   I do.  More often than I'd like to admit.   Some people can cast aside a book that is not to their taste.  They read 15, 50, or even 100 pages and decide this book is a waste of time.  Without hesitation, they can jettison a book and never look back.   I kind of wish I was like that.   For me, I'm always worried about giving up on a book.  Maybe I'll miss the truth that will speak to my soul.  Maybe I'll miss the comic genius that only crops up 2/3 of the way through.  Maybe I won't be able to add another book to my "Finished" list.   It's really the last one most of the time.  I am a compulsive finisher of books.  I can count on two fingers the number of books I've abandoned because I like to finish what I've started.   Loving literature makes me this way.  So many classic works have lulls.  In Anna Karenina , there were chapters dedicated to mowing strategies.  Chapters.  In War and P

April was a good month for reading.  The difference between a good and bad month is often determined by how many books I have previously started (spoiler alert, May will be terrible).  I was able to tie up some loose ends on books I had started before April and therefore my total was this year's record: 6! Raising Great Kids 🌟🌟🌟🌟 "In a child's life, parents are the dispensers of truth and reality."  "Parenting is a temporary job." I was reading this book for a mom's group I led this winter for our church.  We finished in April after reading a chapter (or two) a week.  There was a lot discuss and I even worked up questions for each chapter.   Some things I didn't agree with (you're not evil if you put your baby on a sleep schedule) but overall, this book helped me be more intentional with my kids and more thoughtful in my family life.  Definitely worth it, though a little overwhelming at times. Letters to Malcolm, Chiefly on Pra