Ford's Independence Day

"I gotta do holidays. They offer me so much. In particular, for me and the reader, a whole set of associations. If you write about Easter, if you write about the Fourth of July, something as important, almost invisibly important, as the temporal setting of a book...if the reader can say, 'Gee, that's a time I know. I have a whole set of memories and associations to bring to bear on whatever's happening then,' you've got a lot going for you. "

Richard Ford's Independence Day was the first novel to win both a Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner. Holidays are evocative. What does today bring to your mind? From fireworks and grilling to where America is headed with a new president at the helm - July 4th covers a lot of ground. Perhaps fitting for our multi-cultural nation, I'm cooking chili chicken with roasted tomatillo salsa this afternoon. Happy Independence Day!

Metolius River

"Upstream the canyon is silent.
Water innocent and steady as window glass
slides over speckled stones.
Brook trout and kokanee, rose and silver,
cast moving shadows on the bottom,
announce themselves to eagles, to flies.
Hard to be either predator or prey
in such transparency."

A poem by Sharon Fain I found in a guide book to my favorite place: Some Common Birds and Flowers of Central Oregon's Metolius Basin. The river is spring fed, about the same level and temperature all year around, and is clear as glass as the poet writes. I fly-fished the river BC (before children), and today hike along the river banks lush with lupine, paintbrush and corn lily. When she was four, my daughter said, "I love the nature" and I hope today finds you out in it.

Dillard's Tinker Creek

"You take huge steps, trying to feel the planet's roundness arc between your feet."

I took an early morning walk but couldn't feel that arc... the thought in this sentence struck me and I know I'll continue trying to feel the impossible when walking through our forest again. I was surprised to realize Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek has sat on my shelf unread. Published in 1974, Dillard won a Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction for this book which is part nature, part meditative writing. Dillard herself referred to it as a theological treatise. Her appreciation of Thoreau is supposed to be evident in the pages. I'll see - I've only just begun walking through it.

Summer's Heat

"Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language."

British author Henry James would enjoy today since it should be in the 80's. I was thinking how the weather can almost be a character in a novel. Remember the heat in the courtroom in To Kill a Mockingbird? Those emotional scenes of the trial wouldn't have been the same if snow had been falling. Last weekend, we had a thunder, lighting and hail storm. We stayed outside in our shorts in the warm air amazed at the drama of nature. The storm made our pine and juniper forest feel tropical -- think The Year of Living Dangerously when you can smell a summer rain. What summer reads are truly about the heat of summer?

Henkes Rythmic Words

"It was an absolutely wonderful, positively perfect, especially terrific idea."

Keven Henkes sentence almost sings with fun sounds. Henkes isn't afraid to use big words, then he strings them together in a musical way. Here the first word in each pair has four syllables which lends a poetic touch. I've blogged about this prolific children's writer before because he understands words and kids so well. In this book titled Owen, a little boy has trouble giving up his blanket when it's time to start school.

Grown-up writers can learn from good kids' books. I dare you to read one aloud today... whether there's a kid present or not!

Weekend Words: Great Book Blogs

Thank goodness there are so many great blogs for book lovers! In this age when reading actual books is down, it warms the cockles of my heart.

If you're wondering what your next summer read should be, visit The Elegant Variation. Mark Sarvas posts insightful book reviews and talks about his own new novel Harry, Revisited. This enthusiastic and very busy reader will inspire you to add to your stack of must-reads.

As a mom, I appreciate reviews of kids books and Books For Kids by a retired librarian is a helpful resource. Book-a-Rama is fun to check out from a blogger and bookaholic in Canada who is taking a Read-a-Thon challenge today. I've found several books to add to my list at A Life in Books. And Danzig U.S.A. is an eclectic mix of culture, insight and beautiful photographs from three contributors in Louisville.

Just a few of my favorite things - please add yours!

Monday Note: I noticed on Google Analytics several international readers of my weekend blog. Fun to know people in Malaysia, France and Columbia are visiting! What's on the bestseller lists in Israel and Portugal?

Galileo's Thoughts on Wine

"Wine is sunlight held together by water."

This morning the sun is streaming through our windows and, preparing for the hot day ahead, we just went out to water our strawberries and hanging plants. I was reminded of this quote by the Italian scientist and philosopher who was born in Pisa in 1564. Perhaps with Galileo's knowledge of astronomy and with the improvements he made to the telescope, he was apt to link wine with the solar system. A toast to the weekend!

Barrie & Your Life's Story

"The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story and writes another. And his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it."

Here are thoughtful sentences from Scottish novelist and dramatist James M. Barrie who is remembered for creating Peter Pan. There's something about old-fashioned English that makes his sentences grander than if I tried to communicate the same sentiment today.

I found this quote in a book I am just beginning titled Dough - A Memoir by Mort Zachter. The author's immigrant family struggled to make ends meet in their bread shop in New York. Or so everyone thought. In his 30's Zachter learns his uncles have secretly amassed millions. I have an advance copy; Dough will be available this August. I'll let you know what I think of this true story of parallel lives.

Monet's Waterlilies

"It took me time to understand my waterlilies. I had planted them for the pleasure of it; I grew them without ever thinking of painting them."

At a London auction at Christie's this week, one of Claude Monet's waterlilies series titled Le Bassin aux Nymphéas sold for $80.4 million. Funny that Monet was thinking more like a gardener than a painter when he planted his now famous waterlilies. Thank goodness this French impressionist followed his early creative yearnings rather than going into the family grocery business as his father wished.

"Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love."

McCullers' Light

"The soft gray of the dawn had lightened and the sky was the wet pale blue of a watercolor sky just painted and not yet dried."

"It was the time of afternoon when the bars of sunlight crossed the back yard like the bars of a bright strange jail."

"In the gray of the kitchen on summer afternoons the tone of her voice was golden and quiet, and you could listen to the color and the singing of her voice and not follow the words."

I blogged about Carson McCullers last Friday, and now as I continue reading The Member of the Wedding, I am struck by her descriptions of the summer days experienced by 12-year old Frankie. That watercolor sky would not be so memorable if McCullers had not told us it was still wet. And when she talks about the bars of sunlight, I can see them slanting into Frankie's yard. She is a master of writing the atmosphere in this story which McCullers once referred to as a fugue.