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I have said that there is no upside to an extended Minnesota winter. I am about to have a fit when it continues to snow, sleet, and produce icy rain into April. But I know that attitude is everything, and I must adjust mine—a “tune-up,” so to speak. My one savior is books. Now, as in my childhood, I seek books to move me from long winter days to stories of adventure and wonder. When I was young, I preferred the Boxcar Children. Gertrude Chandler Warner was my favorite author. I dreamed of living in a boxcar and cooking outside. (I prefer a warm home and a stove, but that comes with age.) My 5th-grade teacher, Jo Ellen Bailey, liked to tell the story of me reading on the playground, pushing dodgeballs out of my way never looking up from my book.
I am in two book clubs right now and thinking of starting another. The first is a group of like-minded friends who gather monthly for a soup supper and good reads. We rotate houses, and the hosts are excellent cooks. The recipes are adventurous and usually tied to the book theme. It is my turn to host in April. We’re reading Joe Hill’s The Fireman, so I think a firehouse chili might be on the menu. Maybe a flaming dessert if I feel risky. The second book club is a community of readers from the Annandale area. We meet at the Thayer Hotel once a month, order drinks and dinner, and spend an hour or so discussing the book selected that month. This is open to the public, so we never know how many will attend. It’s a fun way to meet new people in the area. I want to start a daytime book club at the new bistro in Annandale. Maybe classics or romance novels, as I haven’t read many of those.
It breaks my heart when I meet someone who doesn’t like to read because I get so much out of the world of reading. I seek out all kinds of books. My Kindle has over 500 unread books in my library. Books form my ideas, thoughts, imagination, education, vocabulary, empathy, and more. If you want to break my heart, tell me I have to live in a world without books. I will tell you it can’t be done. Hugs and Peace, Sandy
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” George R.R. Martin
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