Teaser Tuesday: I Know Now by Cinda Stevens Lonsway

Something magical just happened. I feel different, altered, changed.

-- I Know Now: A Woman's Healing: Violence to Victory, Trauma to Truth by Cinda Stevens Lonsway. This memoir is the story of Cinda's survival after a violent attack at age 19, her struggle to heal from that trauma when she became a mother, and the "sacred insight" she finally found.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by The Purple Booker, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Mailbox Labor Day Monday: Transcendental Concord

My friend Kirsten Rian wrote the concluding essay in a new, hauntingly beautiful book of art photography documenting the Transcendentalists of Concord, Massachusetts. She surprised me the other day with a copy of this lovely new book.



Transcendental Concord, photography by Lisa McCarty, texts by Kirsten Rian and Rebecca Norris Webb, published by Radius Books.

PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION: Transcendental Concord documents the spirit of Transcendentalism, the literary and philosophical movement that arose in the mid-19th century. While the circle of Transcendentalists in New England was wide, at its center was a core group that lived in Concord, Massachusetts. Bronson Alcott and daughter Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau lived within a few miles of each other for nearly 20 years, regularly meeting in each other’s homes and on the paths of Walden Woods to discuss their writings and beliefs. In the course of a year and in every season North-Carolina based photographer Lisa McCarty photographed the sites where these Transcendentalists lived and wrote in Concord. McCarty’s parallel reverence for the natural world is evident in her photographs which point to large and small variations in environment, season and light. McCarty uses long exposures and camera movement in order to capture these variations. Transcendental Concord pays homage to Transcendentalism not only in capturing a shared landscape, but in McCarty’s technique: her keen observation of natural phenomena and openness to experimentation and chance.

What books came into your house last week?

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday, a weekly "show & tell" blog event where participants share the books they acquired the week before. Visit the Mailbox Monday website to find links to all the participants' posts and read more about Books that Caught our Eye.

Mailbox Monday is graciously hosted by Leslie of Under My Apple Tree, Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit, and Martha of Reviews by Martha's Bookshelf.

Happy Labor Day!

I wish my Labor Day looked like this! Instead, I'm on a cross country airplane, on my way to a week long conference in Orlando, Florida. There are plenty of nice things about Florida, but its convenience to my home in Portland, Oregon is not one of them.

Book Beginning: The Girl Inside Me: Poems by Javelin Hardy

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

MY BOOK BEGINNING

Being raised in a small Southern town has its positive and negative sides. On the positive side, most Southern people I know are the best cooks and lovers I've met. 

-- From the author's introduction, "Minden," to The Girl Inside Me: Poems by Javelin Hardy. In this beautiful collection of poems, Hardy draws on her training and background as a counselor to tell her own story of recovery from abuse.

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name.

EARLY BIRDS & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Instagram, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I try to follow all Book  Beginnings participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

TIE IN: The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice is a natural tie in with this event and there is a lot of cross over, so many people combine the two. The idea is to post a teaser from page 56 of the book you are reading and share a link to your post. Find details and the Linky for your Friday 56 post on Freda’s Voice.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

Book Notes: Plum Sauce by P.G. Wodehouse - Aunt Dahlia

It’s dahlia time! As soon as the roses fade away, the dahlias step up and take their place. I love the exuberance of these garden show offs.

P.G. Wodehouse named the nicer of Bertie Wooster’s two aunts, Aunt Dahlia. He described her as “a large, genial soul” built along the lines of Mae West, and praised for “her humanity, sporting qualities, and general good-eggishness,” and ability to put on a “grande dame act” if the situation calls for it. Sounds like her floral counterpart!

Aunt Dahlia is the one who lives at Brinkley Court outside Market Snodsbury and owns a weekly newspaper for women called Milady’s Boudoir. Aside from Jeeves and Bertie Wooster, Aunt Dahlia appears in more Jeeves novels and short stories (14 total) than any other character.

I'm reading Plum Sauce: A P. G. Wodehouse Companion by Richard Usborne, Wodehouse's biographer and acknowledged authority. It compiles sketches of Wodehouse characters, themes, book summaries, and all things Plummy.