By your cross
We were redeemed
By your childhood
We were raised
By your hands
We were led
By your feet
We were brought
By your words
We were taught
By your miracles
We were awed
By your parables
We were molded
By your psalms
We were enriched
By your side
We remain
By your mother
We were soothed
By your apostles
We were converted
By your martyrs
We were inspired
By your saints
We were emboldened
By your father
We were created
By your son
We were taught
By your spirit
We were confirmed
By your water
We were baptized
By your love
We are nurtured
By your courage
We were spared
By your grace
We were sanctified
By your pain
We were crippled
By your taunting
We were provoked
By your crucifixion
We were saved
By your death
We were delivered
By your body
We were fed
By your blood
We were bathed
By your cross
We were redeemed
You Had Me at Pet-Nat: A Natural Wine-Soaked Memoir by Rachel Signer
When requesting this book to read and review, I thought it was a novel, but I have since learned from Googling the author that it is a memoir. I’ve read a lot of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs over the years, and this book reads more like a novel to me.
It was great learning the difference between natural wines and wines that were not made using the natural process. I didn’t know any of this before; I drink wine, of course, but I only know that I like all reds and only some white, and that rosé is my favorite. Now, I will look at labels and the names of vineyards in a different way.
I think I would have enjoyed this book more if it was less technical with respect to the world of wines. For me, the abundance of information on certain labels, and some of the terminology unique to the wine-making industry, were a bit overwhelming, and the story of the author’s life took a backseat. However, it is clear that the author knows a great deal about wine in general, and about natural wines specifically. I also felt like at times the author was trying to shock me with some of her decisions, both those planned as well as those spontaneous.
Overall, a novel about a waitress-turned-wine expert and her journey through Europe might be more entertaining to me. Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced ebook edition of this book to read.
By Anthony Doerr (Published June 12, 2007 by Scribner Book Company)
I realize I am late to joining the Anthony Doerr fan club, but I tore through this piece of nonfiction in less than two days. I probably would have finished it in one day had I not stopped so frequently to admire his wide breadth of knowledge in many different subjects as well as his just outright beautiful command of the English language. He may not be fluent in Italian after living there for an entire year, but man, oh man, can he write!
Years ago I discovered the British tv series A Year in Provence based upon a book of the same title written by Peter Mayle, a British advertising executive who retires to an ancient farmhouse in Provence, France, to try his hand at writing a novel. The novel doesn’t happen, and when his deadline for turning in the novel arrives, Mayle submits instead his journals of his four seasons in the French countryside, where he renovates the farmhouse with limited use of the French language. Novels do come later, but his reputation as a writer is secured with his anecdotes of the people in the nearby village, the glorious meals he and his wife share, and his outsider’s view of the beauty of the Provence countryside, earning him an award for best travel book of the year and eventually Knight of the Legion of Honor by the French government.
Part memoir, part travelogue, part nature journal, Four Seasons in Rome comes about in much the same way as Peter Mayle’s A Year in Provence. It is the story of how Anthony Doerr and his wife Shauna come to live in Rome for one year, after learning a mere twelve hours after his wife gave birth to twin boys of winning an award he had not applied for nor knew existed. Doerr is shocked to learn that he was anonymously nominated based upon his collection of short stories and debut novel. The award he won was none other than the Rome Prize, one of the most prestigious awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, that comes with a one-year stipend to live and write in Rome. Along with the stipend comes a furnished apartment next door to the Academy, where he is also given a studio as an office from which to write a novel of historical fiction about occupied France during WWII.
Much like Mayle, however, he does not actually write the novel, which he later completes back in Idaho, and which subsequently brings him the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. What he did write was a journal of his time in Rome, his love affair with the city itself, and his journey as the father of bambini gemelli in a foreign land.
While strolling his twins over nearly every square foot of Rome, he observed nature–especially trees and birds, architecture, and the many fountains of Rome. It is here that his writing really shines. I’ve been to Rome twice, and I might as well have been blind-folded both trips as I didn’t see any of what he so eloquently describes. His descriptions of the birds and trees reminded me of one of my favorite books, Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, which also won Dillard the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction.
Doerr doesn’t actually come out and say he is Catholic in this book, but if he isn’t, he is the first non-Catholic I have heard of who was so consumed by the health and ultimate passing of Pope John Paul II. Having myself attended the outdoor Mass on Easter Sunday in St. Peter’s Square in 2004, which was the last time Pope John Paul II celebrated Easter Mass, I could feel what he was experiencing in a poignant way. Standing in the brilliant sunshine, we could see how frail and pale the Pope was, and we feared that he was nearing the end of his earthly journey. I really enjoyed reading Doerr’s memoir of his year in Rome, even the difficult parts surrounding his wife’s hospitalization. And now I’ll do something I should have done much earlier, read Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See.
Yesterday I made the cookie dough for the “Rye – Chocolate Shortbread” from Dorie Greenspan’s forthcoming cookbook. Today I sliced and baked. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and this one says it all!
They were everything shortbread should be: crumbly, sandy, buttery, melt in your mouth goodness. But, they also have the crunch of the rye flour and the swooning feeling you get from really good quality dark chocolate. Not overly sweet and just perfect with a pinch of sea salt on top. An unusual cookie, but a lovely addition to afternoon tea!
Thank you again to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.
You had me at rye-chocolate shortbread!
I love to read and I love to cook, so it is only natural that I read cookbooks like some people read novels: devouring them and savoring every last headnote, ingredient list, recipe, footnote, and photograph. Baking with Dorie by Dorie Greenspan is no exception. I can't wait to purchase a copy of this glorious compendium for my very own, and bake my way through it.
I enjoy apple pie and chocolate chip cookies like the rest of us, but I really love cookbooks that have great recipes for the all-American standards combined with favorites from other parts of the world. This brings me to the rye and chocolate shortbread. In a recipe named "Tenderest Shortbread Four Ways," Greenspan pushes us way out of our comfort zone (and what could be more comforting than a piece of buttery sandy shortbread with a steaming hot cup of tea) into a recipe for "The Rye-Chocolate Shortbread." I love rye bread, and during the pandemic have spent some time trying to copy the Harvest Loaf from my favorite farmers' market. I know it's part rye and has lots of other seeds and grains in it but I'm not there yet. Now I know just what to do with one cup of the rye flour I ordered for those experimental loaves. I can almost taste that Rye-Chocolate Shortbread now!
Since the pandemic has all but frozen us in place, I loved being able to dream about all the places I'd love to travel to, where I could eat all of the goodies from those places that are detailed in Greenspan's book, like the "Biscuits Rose" sold all over the Champagne region of France, the "Glenorchy Flapjacks" straight from New Zealand, or the "Szarlotka" apple dessert from Poland.
This is a beautiful cookbook, with gorgeous photos of almost every recipe in it, but what I really appreciate is what Greenspan includes at the end of each recipe: Playing Around. Here she details how to add/delete ingredients to make the recipe your own, or to bring it back to what it was originally, like the updated World Peace Cookies 2.0 recipe on page 160. In the Playing Around section at the end of the recipe, she gives instructions on how to go back and make the original World Peace Cookies. But, hey, since the 2.0 version calls for 1/2 cup of rye flour and a pinch of cayenne pepper, I'm going to start with the updated one!
The publication date for this beauty is October 19, 2021. Being a Libra, I think this would make a wonderful birthday present that I will gift to myself!
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this in exchange for an honest review.
This debut novel by Pamela Terry represents authentic Southern storytelling. It unfolds slowly and the reader gets to know the characters and plot as it is peeled back layer by layer like a Vidalia onion. So much of the story resonated with me as a Louisiana native whose mother was first generation Scottish-American. Lila’s descriptions of Scotland are so on point and very similar to my exact feelings when I visited my mother’s homeland for the first time. While I have never tried my hand at weaving, I have visited a sheep farm in the Highlands and purchased wool that I later knitted, so I feel as though Lila and I share that connection. Terry’s descriptions of the Highlands and of the rocky coast of Maine drew me in as much as her pitch-perfect portrayal of Southern customs.
When I first started reading The Sweet Taste of Muscadines, I was struck by how Terry’s writing reminded of the style of writing and quirky characters of Beth Henley, whose Pulitzer Prize-winning Crimes of the Heart dealt with family secrets, loss of parents, and siblings/cousins trying to deal with it all. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to learn that Terry was a fan of Henley’s work. The opening line of the prologue to Terry’s book, “The first time Mama died…” is so very intriguing and so very Southern.
I loved this book, and I look forward to future works by Pamela Terry, especially if she continues with her unique blend of Southern and Scottish themes. My only criticism, and it is slight at that, is I would have preferred that there be some unsolved business at the end, or at least one end of the ribbon not completely tied in a neat bow. Otherwise, a very enjoyable read indeed.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this novel (Ballantine Books-March 16, 2021) in exchange for this review.
March 12, 2021, marks the one year anniversary of the last day I was teaching in my classroom last school year. It seems like eons ago, doesn’t it? This pandemic and quarantine business has been very difficult and challenging for all of us. With the third quarter of the 2020-2021 school year almost over, we will soon be starting our summer break!
Here are some interesting pieces of literature that would make for perfect summer reading for tweens and teens. Some of these titles are for more mature teens, and some may be considered middle grade reading level, but the stories were compelling enough for me to want them on my list. These are things I’ve taught, read and enjoyed, or highly recommended and/or award-winning titles. Newbery winners are always a good choice! I will continue to add to this list, so check back often! If you have titles you’d like to suggest to me for adding to the list, please let me know!
Fiction – Classics:
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
The Pearl by John Steinbeck
Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
The Complete Works of O. Henry (short stories) by O. Henry
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Mythology by Ingri and Edgar d’Aulaire
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (short stories) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Little Women by Louisa Mae Alcott
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Fiction – Contemporary:
House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Rebound by Kwame Alexander
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
Anything (many series to choose from) by Rick Riordan
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt
Countdown by Deborah Wiles
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
Wake Up Missing by Kate Messner
Eye of the Storm by Kate Messner
Silver Jaguar Society mystery trilogy by Kate Messner
Wonder by R. J. Palacio
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
Red Kayak by Priscilla Cummings
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass
Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman
Drama:
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
Antigone by Sophocles
Our Town by Thornton Wilder
Fences by August Wilson
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
The Monsters are Due on Maple Street by Rod Serling (screenplay)
Non-Fiction:
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
The Kingdom: Arabia and the House of Sa’ud by Robert Lacey
Apollo 13 by James Lovell
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II by Daniel James Brown
Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World by Jennifer Armstrong
Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin
Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
Boys in the Boat: Young Readers Adaptation by Gregory Mone (or the adult version by Daniel James Brown)
All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat
Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin (or sequel More Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin)
A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle
Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck
I’m glad I persevered with this book. When I was at 27%, I wasn’t sure I wanted to finish it. But, I hate leaving books unfinished out of respect for the author and the hard work involved in bringing a book project to fruition.
The beginning of the book focuses a lot on Amy’s hidden life behind the firmly closed door of her home. Once someone who collected pretty things, she has slipped past that into collecting everything. She can’t let go of anything because she can’t grab onto the one thing she sorely wants and needs to move on in her life: closure.
The writing in this book is fine, but I felt the exposition dragged on a bit for my liking. It seemed to take forever for us to find out about her backstory and why she is so damaged. Once that story starts unfolding, my interest in this book really took off, especially as her relationship with her new neighbors develops.
I requested this book because of the description: “For fans of The Keeper of Lost Things and Evvie Drake Starts Over comes a funny and tender debut about a reclusive artist whose collection has gotten out of control—but whose unexpected friendship with a pair of new neighbors might be just what she needs to start over.” Since I loved both of those books, I was hoping to feel the same way about this one. In the end, I loved this book. I think there is a bit of Amy in most of us, and letting go is a difficult thing to do, whether it is a material item or a loved one. The lesson to be learned in The Missing Treasures of Amy Ashton is that in letting go, we make room for something new and wonderful to enter our lives.
Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an early e-book edition of this book.
Just for fun: How many of these can you check off?
☐ Do you ever lose your train of thought when you stumble upon a typo while reading a magazine or newspaper article?
☐ Do you cringe when you see a billboard or signage in a store with an apostrophe being used to show possession when in reality the sign writer wanted to show a plural state?
☐ Do you wonder if anyone–ANYONE–is actually proofreading any article published on a website?
If you have checked off one or more of these, you are experiencing some of the frustration I have on a daily basis. My first career was in the legal field, drafting and negotiating legal documents between landlords of shopping centers and malls and their prospective tenants. Clear and concise language is imperative in a legal contract. Ambiguous language in a legal contract leads to future lawsuits over a tenant’s responsibilities versus a landlord’s obligations In my second career, I spent thirteen years as a middle school language arts teacher using my red pen (Flair Paper Mate, as all teachers know) to grade tests and quizzes, student work, essays, research papers, and reflections on literature. Teaching writing is challenging, and it is further complicated by the fact that technology (laptops, tablets, smartphones) has made us lazy. We are texting and ignoring the basic rules of grammar, and when we want to use a bit more care like for a school or work assignment, we are using spell check and Grammarly to suggest edits for us.
Now, a bit more serious: Which group are you in?
☐ Group A – Readers: If you are an avid reader, your basic grammar rules are ingrained and reinforced by materials that have been heavily edited and proofread. Yes, there may still be minor errors, nothing and no one is perfect, but a published print edition of a book —fiction or nonfiction —will be in much better shape than a magazine or newspaper article with the pressures of periodical publishing. You are probably a better writer because you are an avid reader, and your vocabulary and sentence structure will be stronger. You may not know the rule behind that comma being correct, you may not remember learning the difference between hyphens and dashes, you may not know when to use quotation marks instead of italics for the titles of short stories, poems, novels, songs, or albums, but you know instinctively how to use basic punctuation and capitalization correctly.
☐ Group B – Nonreaders: But, what if you are not a reader? I know people who haven’t read an entire book since they left middle school, where much of it was done in class. High schoolers and college students, left to read large portions of classics and contemporary literature on their own, use a variety of methods to skirt around the assigned reading. The internet once again can be at fault here with online study sources like SparkNotes, which instead of being used to supplement the reading experience and classroom discussions, is being used instead of the reading.
Recently, someone very near and dear to me asked, “What is a participle?” This comes from someone with an excellent high school education, a college degree with a BA and a minor in language based studies, published work, and professional writing credits. This person is a GREAT writer, but still isn’t quite sure what a participle is.
[A participle, by the way, is a verb whose ending has been changed so that it can be used as a different part of speech, usually an adjective or a noun. Example: shoot is a verb, but by adding “ing” to it, it becomes an adjective, as in “Mary saw a shooting star when she was walking her dog.”]
Do you need to brush up on your grammar rules? Do you wish you were a better writer? Do you want to do better in school or at work on assignments that require writing?
I CAN HELP!
Reach out to me for information on how I can help you with your writing, whether you need to know more about participles, or you need to know how to structure an essay. Email me at michardillo@gmail.com. All work will be virtual, and I promise to be kind with my red pen!
And don’t forget: commas are important, otherwise you might see something like this:
