Picking Cotton: our memoir of injustice and redemption

by

Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton, with Erin Torneo.

I have to admit that when I picked this book, I did it entirely by it's name. So, I thought it was about cotton pickers and what they went through. Can you tell I didn't read the flap? I just picked it from a list of books.

I was surprised to find out that it was actually about a man who was wrongfully identified in a rape case and sent to prison for 11 years.

This is the true story of his life in prison and his forgiveness for the person who sent him there.

This story not only tells of his prison experience but also tells what happened between he and his accuser after he is released and their unlikely friendship that ensues.

It makes you question just how many people ARE in prison for crimes they never committed.

The Secret Life of Bees

I really enjoyed reading this book by Sue Monk Kidd, about Lily, who grew up believing she had accidentally killed her Mother when she was four years old.
At fourteen, she yearns to know more about her Mother and gain forgiveness for the act, somehow.

She lives on a peach farm in South Carolina with her father and her only friend, Rosaleen, who is a black servant.

Living in the sixties, in South Carolina, where segregation is still prevalent, she and Rosaleen find themselves in a predicament with some white men who Rosaleen will not 'bow' down to. Subsequently, Rosaleen is arrested and beaten, by these same men. Lily, decides to act.

Fleeing from the law and from Lily's demanding and harsh father, they subsequently end up at the home of three beekeeping sisters, Lily starts a journey that will eventually change both she and Rosaleen's life.

Southern Storm

I just finished "Southern Storm" by Terri Blackstock. This is her second in the Cape Refuge series. I have really enjoyed her last two books and will continue reading the series.

I am taking a break from that series to read a book I got from the library, "The necklace : thirteen women and the experiment that transformed their lives" by the women of jewelia and Cheryl Jarvis.

Four years ago, Jonell McLain saw a diamond necklace in a jewelry store window. The necklace aroused desire first, then a provocative question: What if we shared what we desired? Several weeks, dozens of phone calls, and a leap of faith later, Jonell bought the necklace with twelve other women. With vastly dissimilar histories and lives, the women transcended their individual personalities and politics to join together in an uncommon journey. Part charm, part metaphor, part mirror, the necklace weaves in and out of each woman's life, and comes to mean something dramatically different to each of them. What started as a quirky social experiment became something far richer and deeper, as the women transformed a symbol of exclusivity into a symbol of inclusiveness. They discovered that sharing the necklace was only the beginning: the more they shared with others, the more profound this experience became.--From publisher description.

I just started it last night. It's looking like it will be more than a book about sharing a necklace but how it affects each woman and what they learn from it.

What have YOU been reading?

Char

Cape Refuge Series

Another great read!

I just finished, "Cape Refuge" by Terri Blackstock and am starting the second in this series, "Southern Storm".

What I like about reading a series is that you get to know the characters and when the book 'ends'....you know that when you pick up the next in the series, you will basically take up where the first book ended. You will get to stick with the same characters and be introduced to new characters. This is good if you really like the characters to begin with. The characters will become more and more familiar to you, so to speak as you watch their personalities evolve through out the series.

"Cape Refuge" is not only about a small coastal town and a homeless refuge called "Hanover House", but it also involves a double murder. Who did it? WHY? Was it someone visiting the town, was it one of the residents of the town?? You will constantly be wondering which person did it as suspicion gets cast on first one person and then the next.

I kind of figured it out towards the end, but it was still a good read! My first book my Terri Blackstock, but not my last.

"Dewey: The small town library cat who touched the World"

by Vicki Myron

I don't know how many people recommended this book, to me, before I actually checked it out at my library. I have to say that it was a great read! And, it's a true story! :-)

I love cats, so it was a no brainer that I would love this book. The thing is, it was also interesting to read about a small town named, Spencer, Iowa.

Here is an excerpt from my Library website:

This book traces the author's discovery of a half-frozen kitten in the drop-box of her small-community Iowa library and the feline's development into an affable library mascot whose intuitive nature prompted hundreds of abiding friendships, in a tale told against a backdrop of the town's struggles with the 1980s farm crisis.

Let me know if you, too, have read this book! I seem to be on a animal kick, lately with several other animal books I have read.

Have a great day!!
Char

Back to blogging

After having my reading blog at Wordpress for awhile, I have decided to try it over here again.
Blogger seems to be easier for me to navigate and I am used to it.  So, maybe that will make it easier for me to actually keep up??  We'll see!
This past few months, I have read a few books.....and a variety, I might add.

January

A Cedar Cove Christmas Debbie Macomber
A Christmas Wish Richard Siddoway
The Angels of Morgan Hill Donna VanLiere
Snow Blind P.J. Tracy
The Church Ladies Lisa Samson

                              

February

The Art of Racing in the rain: A Novel Garth Stein
The Moment I Saw You Lisa Samson

March

Open Season C. J. Box

The Help Kathryn Stockett
I really enjoyed this book written about several black maids that told their stories of working for white women back in the 60's.  I just felt like I was right there visiting with them and hearing their story.
I'm currently reading: Dewey: The small town library cat ….. Vicki Myron
Of course, being a cat lover, I had to pick up this book when so many people recommended it to me.  But, it's more than just about Dewey.  The author tells the story of small town living in rural America.
Next in line are:

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel David Wroblewski
Tell Me Pretty Maiden Rhys Bowen
Tell Me Where It Hurts Nick Trout  ( I started this book and just can't seem to finish it)
Cape Refuge Terry Blackstock

Moved my Blog

I set up this blog and then decided to try Wordpress....and set up a reading blog there. But, I didn't have the heart to take down this one with my dog photos on it ;-)

If you would like to visit my other reading blog....just click on the link!

http://pawsn2read.wordpress.com

As you will notice, I am behind on that one too but hope to get back to it now that the holidays are over.