When Louis Armstrong sings “What did I do to be so Black and Blue?”, he is evoking a color that holds various meanings to black people. The song was originally in a musical and was sung by a black woman bemoaning the fact that fairer skinned black women seem to get all the men. Of course, that is part of colorism. Certainly, the musical genre
Ann Tyler has been writing books for 60 years. Her first one, If Morning Ever Comes, was published in 1964 when Tyler was only 22 years old. The first Ann Tyler book I remember is The Accidental Tourist. I hate to admit that I found the book difficult to get into, but my husband read it and liked it a lot! I read French Braid
Golfer and retired executive Jimmie James sat out on a remarkable journey in 2017 to play the Top 100 Golf Courses in the USA. He achieved his goal and wrote about the experience in an intriguing book. AND I got to hear him speak today at Our World on Kiawah Island. If you are a golfer and/or know a golfer, this book will interest you.
Ocean Park is a relatively newly developed area in Kiawah . They have a very active book club there, and my friend offered to send me a list of the books the members have read. Take a look and see how many you have read. Here they are:
How to Read a Book, by Monica Wood (288 pages) The Frozen River, by Ariel Lawson (448 pages) The Briar Club, by Kate Quinn (432 pages) An Immense World, by Ed Yong (464 pages) The Wedding People, by Alison Espach (384 pages) James, by Percival Everett (320 pages) Nineteen Minutes, by Jodi Picoult (480 pages) Here One Moment, by Liane Moriarty (501 pages) God of the
Time of the Child by Niall Williams is a book that I meant to feature at Christmas. The story is set in the 60’s in a small Irish village called Faha. While Williams has written many other books, the one he wrote before Time of the Child (This is Happiness) is also set in Faha. This isn’t a Christmas book, but it takes place during
Before we go on to the 2025 ‘Book World’, there are books that I missed featuring on the blog that I obviously should have featured. I know this because I’ve had people tell me, “Oh, I just read the best book!” and then proceed to tell me all about it. I love it when people do this, and I want to share a few of
Every year, the Sandcastle Book Club and the Kiawah Island Club Book Club hold a joint luncheon. The clubs alternate the responsibility of planning the lunch and getting an author to speak. This year, the Sandcastle hosted at the River Course thanks to a Kiawah Island Club member Kit McMurray. Instead of having one author talk about his or her book, the program featured four
It’s the beginning of a new year. Have you made any resolutions? I did. I bought a ‘stretching journal.’ Everyday, I am supposed to do these specific stretches, which are apparently necessary at my age if I want to continue to get in and out of a bath tub or climb stairs or whatever! So, I have gotten as far as opening the journal and
We have almost ended that time of year when book reviewers publish their “best of 2024” books. If I were to list these books from the NYT or the Washington Post or Goodreads, you would notice many of the same books on all of the lists. You could send me your list of the best books of 2024, and many of them will be repeats.
