cultivating me

It’s Spring! It’s Spring!

Happy Spring Everyone! Here in So Cal, we have been having some fabulous weather lately. I know that is not the case for those of you in other parts of the country – I do hope that the official arrival of Spring brings you warmer days.

Katrina over at Callapidder Days is hosting The Spring Reading Thing. I thought I would play along. I have been trying hard lately to get back to the things in life that bring me joy. It has been amazing what taking just a few minutes each day to take a walk, try a new recipe, or write in my journal has done for me. I definitely seem to have pulled myself out of my funk and doing these things are key to keeping me out of it. I still think of my grandmother often. In fact, just yesterday, I caught myself driving to her place. I miss her greatly.

The love of reading is something my grandparents passed on to my parents and they in turn have passed in on to me. I do not get all the time I want to read (if I had my way, I just might do nothing but read all day!) but I have been working in time to read, usually before bed. I find myself carrying a book around me like I used to not that long ago. I have put together quite an ambitious list for the reading challenge. I have been averaging about one book a month but for the 3 months of Spring, I lined up 5 books! And here they are (I’ve included all or part of the info from the cover or back of the book to give you a peek into the story.)

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer : About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him – and I didn’t know how dominant that part might be – that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.

I am reading this book because my daughter read it, along with the other 2 books in the series and she talks non stop about these books. She has been begging encouraging me to read it for months now. So to get her to stop gain insight into her love of this story, I am finally going to read it.

life on the refrigerator door by Alice Kuipers: a deeply touching story told through a series of notes left on the kitchen fridge. Fifteen-year-old Claire and her mother are preoccupied with their busy lives, and rarely in the same room at the same time. But then a crisis breaks into their lives – a momentous change that will redefine their relationship and unfold through their notes left on the refrigerator door. Moving and unforgettable, Alice Kuipers’ first novel delivers universal lessons about love in a wonderfully simple and poignant narrative.

The thing about this book that caught my attention the most once taking a peek inside is that it is not written in a narrated format. The story is simply told through the notes left on the fridge – no backround info or explanations, just the notes one after the other. It looks to be quick read.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver: As the U.S. population made an unprecedented mad dash for the Sun Belt, on carload of us paddled against the tide, heading for the Promised Land where water falls from the sky and green stuff grows all around. We were about to begin the adventure of realigning our lives with our food chain. Naturally our first stop was to buy junk food and fossil fuel…This is the story of a year in which we made every attempt to feed ourselves animals and vegetables whose provenance we really knew…and of how our family was changed by our first year o deliberately eating food produced from the same place where we worked, went to school, loved our neighbors, drank that water, and breathed the air.

I have heard a great deal about this book lately from all sorts of places and people; so much so, that I think the universe is trying to send me a message. Not one to ignore such things, I will read this book. I think it will be interesting especially since I have been making efforts the last few months to eat fresher, organic fruits and veggies along with unprocessed foods that have been locally grown.

The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak: Turkish author Elif Shafak confronts her country’s poignant past in a vivid and colorful tale about the tangled history of two families – one Turkish and one Armenian American. Filled with humor and understanding, this exuberant, dramatic novel is about memory and forgetting, about the tension between the need to examine the past and the desire to erase it.

I first heard about this book while listening to an NPR book review that included an interview with the author. After hearing about 5 minutes of the interview, I was hooked! I found it fascinating that the publishing of this book caused the author to be arrested for insulting Turkish identity.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colnel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when this father took him to discover ice… One Hundred Years tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendia family. Inventive, amusing, magnetic, sad and alive with unforgettable men and women – brimming with truth, compassion, and a lyrical magic that strikes the soul – this novel is a masterpiece in the art of fiction.

I picked up this book based on a recommendation from my Spanish professor. He constantly mentioned the beauty of this writing and so I figured I would find out for myself. Let’s not tell him that I am reading the English translation, ok? Great!

So there it is folks, my list of books that I want to read in the next 3 months. Before I can start on this list, I first have to finish the book I am currently reading. The Opposite of Fate, Memories of a Writing Life by Amy Tan. I am down to the last 60 pages. More on that to come.

For other reading lists or to add your own, please visit Callapidder Days.

Happy reading and Happy Spring!

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