Summer Reading with Joanne Fluke

This summer I have been indulging in light reading and having fun with Joanne Fluke's murder mysteries. 

What's not to like with these fun stories? Hannah is the owner of The Cookie Jar, a bakery/coffee shop. She is an amazing baker and an amateur sleuth. She seems to always be around when a murder takes place and uses her amazing investigative skills to help detective Mike solve the case. Mike also happens to be one of  Hannah's love interests.

Hannah's family often assist Hannah in her sleuthing - mother Delores, and sisters, Andrea and Michelle. And then there's Hannah's cat, Moishe, an orange & white ball of fur. He likes salmon flavored kitty snacks and leaps in Hannah's arms when she walks in the door. 

The names of the books are fun. As a baker, I enjoy the way Joanne includes recipes of the desserts that are part of the stories. 

I just finished The Wedding Cake Murder, The Christmas Cake Murder and the Banana Cream Pie Murder. I'm currently reading The Red Velvet Cupcake Murder and next in line will be the Blueberry Pie Murder and the Christmas Caramel Murder.

I'm not reading the books in order but it doesn't matter. Each story is complete in itself. But one thing is constant: there is a murder, there is a dessert and Hannah solves the mystery. Yay, Hannah!

Joanne has a new release in early 2020 called the Coconut Layer Cake Murder! 

If you like light reading and cozy murder mysteries, you'll love Joanne's stories.


Happy reading!

Watership Down

One of my favorite stories is Richard Adams's novel "Watership Down" (1975). I've been a fan of this story for years and re-read it periodically.

There was an animated film made about the story in 1978. It was beautifully done and faithful to the story. I recently discovered the 2018 TV series of Watership Down. I didn't know they could top the 1978 version, but I was delighted to see they did a wonderful job.

I highly recommend the novel and the animated films. 

"All the world will be your enemy, Prince of a Thousand Enemies. Digger, Runner, Listener, Prince with the Swift Warning." 


Check out this link to see the TV series trailer:
Watership Down TV Series

A Christmas Carol

Christmas is a time of traditions. One of my traditions is my annual reading of  "A Christmas Carol." I love this story of transformation and redemption, set in a Victorian Christmas setting. 

One of my favorite passages: 

“But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,' faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.

Business!' cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The deals of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”

I've seen many film versions of the story but my favorites are the Patrick Stewart and the Jim Carey versions.

Stewart, because of his excellent performance.
Carey, because of the delightful animation and being true to the text of the book.

I recently watched the 2017 film "The Man Who Invented Christmas" - the story of how Charles Dickens came to write "A Christmas Carol." This was a fun film with interesting tidbits about the original story that might be missed by those who are not devoted fans of the book. I enjoyed seeing the clues.

Here's to a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

God bless us, everyone!

What are you reading?

I've been plowing my way through the Mitford series by Jan Karon, but am taking a break. 

I read John Grisham's latest "The Reckoning" - not really impressed with the story line and characterization, but appreciated his in-depth research regarding the Bataan Death March in the Philippines during WWII. 

I'm reading some nonfiction as well, classic writings: Common Sense by Thomas Paine and Democracy in America by Alexis De Tocqueville. 

I've also picked the The Silver Chair for a delightful re-read. Love the Chronicles of Narnia. 

So what books are you reading?

Color Book Art

So excited! I was blessed to part of this fun project spearheaded by my writer/poet friend Dean Miller. Dean asked me to illustrate his Haiku alphabet color book. I had a blast creating these coloring pages. Check out this brand new book on amazon:

Color Me with Haiku ABC

Mouse Stories

Mouse on Rock, watercolor by Luana Krause

I've been doing some fun art projects. I'm currently working on some mouse illustrations to inspire a new series of stories about a mouse. 

All this has made me think of literary mice. Reepicheep (The Chronicles of Narnia), The Lion and the Mouse, Stuart Little, Tales of Beatrix Potter, (The Tailor of Gloucestser, The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse), the Mouse and the Motorcycle, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Mole Meets Rat (Wind in the Willows).

Of Mice and Men (well, that's a bit of a stretch but it is one of my favorite novels). 

And let's not forget rat stories like Ratatouille!

Do you have any favorite mouse stories?

Timothy's Discovery

I finished the first book of the Mitford series by Jan Karon, "At Home in Mitford," and am continuing the saga with "A Light in the Window." The stories tell of the adventures of Father Timothy, an  Episcopalian priest in the town of Mitford.

Sweet, funny and at times heart-wrenching. This passage captured my attention. Father Timothy had been courting his next door neighbor, Cynthia Coppersmith, a writer and illustrator of children's stories. He had gone on a trip to Ireland and was away for two months. Upon his return, he had tried to meet up with Cynthia, but they hadn't had a chance to get together because of their work schedules. 

In this passage, Father Timothy had just found out that Cynthia has moved to New York City. 

He was struck by the endless number of things he hadn't thought about concerning Cynthia. Why had he never been more curious about her life, about her work? Where had she gone to school, for heaven's sake? And why hadn't he found out why she nearly died in a hospital? He'd even lacked the courtesy to ask lately about her nephew who was as cherished as a son. It seemed a small thing to wonder, but what was his last name? He didn't even know what kind of work he did.

She had asked him to pose for a wise man in "The Mouse in the Manger," yet he'd never inquired about the finished book. Worse, he'd never even read anything she had written. 

He had treated her, he realized, as if she didn't really exist.

That realization was overwhelming to him. He'd believed what his parishioners had told him, that he was caring and nurturing. Yet, it was a lie. He wasn't really either of those things. The truth was, he was unutterably selfish and self-seeking, going his own way, doing his own pious thing. It was disgusting to him.

How had he come this far without seeing himself for what he really was? How had God let him get away with this loathsome deception for so long?

He believed he had never married because he was married to his calling. The truth was, he had a complete lack of the equipment demanded for truly loving. 

Yet underneath all that show of sop and decency was a man utterly fixed on himself, on his own concerns. And underneath some shallow layer of seeming warmth and caring was a cold stratum of granite. 

The very last place he wanted to be day after tomorrow was in the pulpit. It was all a joke, and the joke was on him.