Dear Reader

Dear Reader Column 07-17-08

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

I'm still in the process of finishing my first book, but after reading today's mail I think I may have come up with the title for my second book, Things That Remind Me of My Mother.

The emails I've been receiving from readers are as humorous as the column I wrote about my mother and her Styrofoam collection. If you missed it, go to: http://tinyurl.com/67p2qg

From my Email Bag:

"Suzanne, My parents also visit the Senior Center in our small town for lunch three days a week. And like your Mother, my parents are the proud recipients of the leftovers. When you open their refrigerator, there must be 50 little cartons of milk, apple juice, orange juice, and prune juice all squeezed between stacks of those dreaded styrofoam containers filled with baked beans, cooked spinach, canned peas, and sliced beets. Once a week, Dad will scrape all the food from their resting spots in those containers into his compost pit. Then Mom washes them up and stores them away with all their 'Styro buddies'. 'You never know when you will need to feed your neighbors.'

So if anyone needs enough environmentally unfriendly containers to feed a small army, I know where they can get them!" --Anne Schneider

"Dear Suzanne, When I read your letter in this morning's email, I had a lump in my throat and a smile on my face at the same time. I had one of those mothers too. Only my mother would put that dab of five green beans into a little bowl (that had to be washed, not thrown away!) with a little square of Saran Wrap on top. Then when she ate that bit of leftover, she would wash the dish AND the Saran Wrap, laying the Saran Wrap over a glass on the counter to dry. It was so dependable, there was always Saran Wrap drying in her kitchen somewhere. And did it stop her that it lost its "cling" after the washing? No way! She would just dig into the endless supply of rubber bands to affix it to the bowl the next time." --Mary Lynne McLintock

"Suzanne, Your article about your mom's styrofoam container collection struck a chord with our family. My parents also came from the 'waste nothing' generation (and a lot of it rubbed off on me, I'm afraid!) like your mom, my mom had a styrofoam container collection as well. She and my father lived in a very nice stepped care facility in New Jersey and would eat at least one meal a day in a common dining room with their friends, where they were allowed to carry extras back to their apartments. My father died about seven years ago, and then my mother died about one year ago. In the weeks after her death we had to clean out her closets in order to vacate her apartment. We found a treasure trove of neatly stacked and bagged styrofoam containers in her main hallway closet. The deeper we dug, the more bags of styrofoam containers we found. We finally thought we had them all, but as we moved on to other rooms, each closet yielded up more and more bags of stacked styrofoam, some even with stacked lids. They were so neatly preserved that at first we thought they were brand new, but upon closer inspection we noticed that here and there, a few revealed persistent coffee and food stains. So in the interest of public health and practicality we jettisoned the entire styrofoam collection, gradually, over the course of several days. And to think that it wasn't just my mother who had a penchant for hanging on to that perfectly good, only-used-once styrofoam! Thanks for resurrecting a funny memory!" Best regards, your friend --David

Thanks for sharing your stories and thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
http://www.DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: Win free copies of books you'll read and never forget from these terrific authors: Jennifer Cody Epstein, The Painter from Shanghai; Douglas Carlton Abrams, The Lost Diary of Don Juan; Catherine Delors, Mistress of the Revolution; and Lisa Daily, Fifteen Minutes of Shame. Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

READ THE CLASSICS: My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/6r5hjz

Dear Reader Column 07-16-08

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

Book club reader Nerissa Hardwick sent me an email the other day that was 350 words long. It was one gigantic paragraph, but that wasn't the interesting thing about her email, the most interesting thing was the last line, "Well, I have to go get ready for my long drive to work now and my thumbs are getting tired from typing this on my phone!"

Nerissa's email got me to thinking. There are probably a lot of readers who read the daily book club email on something other than their computer and since I'm working on redesigning our daily book club email, I'd like to find out how you read at the book club. Nerissa reads on her phone. Me, I'm a 10 finger kind of girl who's never tried typing with two thumbs and I read my daily book club email on my computer.

To enter this month's Chocolate Chip Cookie Giveaway, please tell me how you read the daily book club email. If you're not interested in the possibility of winning cookies, please send an email anyway and tell me about your reading habits. I sure would appreciate it.

See some of last month's satisfied cookie winners, including the young man who requested cookies for his mother, and to enter the drawing, go to: http://tinyurl.com/5tnegr

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
http://www.DearReader.com

P.S. Congratulations to the winners of the Fun Zone Giveaway: Mary Beth Smith, Tammy Blackburn, Sarah Bradford, Fran Sammis, Kellye Bradley, Michelle Munzer, Trudy Ball, Nelda Delano, Karen Gladwin, Diane Davis and Nancy Black.

READ THE CLASSICS: My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/6r5hjz

Dear Reader Column 07-15-08

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

Every invention comes from necessity and whoever invented the garbage disposal must have been inspired by a mother and 125 miniature white styrofoam containers from a senior meal site.

When my mother died three years ago it was very difficult to pack up her things and find a home for them. However, it was not difficult to haul 125 styrofoam containers out to the curb for Tuesday's trash pickup.

Mom didn't enjoy cooking, so after Dad passed away she started having lunch at the senior meal site in the small town where she lived. It was the perfect cooking solution. Not only did Mom get a hot lunch every day, but because she started volunteering, she got to take home leftovers--food that would have been thrown out anyway. In theory, this all sounded wonderful. The problem was when I'd visit Mom she'd never let me take her out to dinner.

"Why waste food?" Mom would reply when I'd extend an invitation. "There's roast beef, turkey pot pie, scalloped potatoes, cole slaw, corn, fruit salad and cherry cobbler in the refrigerator for dinner."

I admit it sounded like a smorgasbord, she must have been cooking like crazy anticipating my visit. So I started setting the dining room table for a fancy feast, but my mother started lining up 15 little miniature styrofoam containers on the kitchen counter. Taking the lids off of the containers, one-by-one Mom took my order for the evening's fare, "What would you like? How about a little of everything?"

Yea, boy, that's what it was going to have to be. Because there was one bite of roast beef in one container, maybe three bites of turkey pie in another, six kernels of corn in yet another and five miniature containers with dabs of cherry cobbler--enough to actually make one dessert. But whose dinners were all of these miniature containers left over from? (I hoped my mother's.)

Bon Appetit!

My mother grew up in the "waste nothing" era, so I knew the only way to get rid of the styrofoam leftovers was either to eat them or get up early before Mom, switch on the radio to drown out the sound and then turn on the garbage disposal. "Mom, I ate the rest of the leftovers for breakfast, I'll take us out to dinner tonight."

I used to feel a bit guilty about tossing out Mom's styrofoam collection after she passed away, but I was pretty certain there was no use for styrofoam in heaven. It's true you can't take it with you--but for folks like my mother--you can drag it along as far as the front door of the pearly gates, and then you have to lay your bag of styrofoam containers down.

And when you lay it down, I like to think that it's people like my mother who are now in charge of finding a good home for it. One never knows when you'll need a pint size styrofoam container that used to have a single serving of baked beans in it.

(This one's for you Mom--love you!)

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
http://www.DearReader.com

SEARCHING FOR YOUR NEXT BIG THRILL? Read an exclusive interview with Brad Thor. Win copies and read about this month's new thrillers from: Gary Braver, Simon Wood, James Scott Bell, Lisa Gardner, Kelli Stanley, Ridley Pearson, James Rollins, Heather Terrell, Julie Kramer and Sean Michael Bailey. Visit the July issue of the Big Thrill now! http://www.thrillerwriters.org

READ THE CLASSICS: My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/6r5hjz

Dear Reader Column 07-14-08

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

Sometimes I feel the need to retell a story over and over again, and in the back of my mind I'm wondering why? It's such an old story, yet each time I revisit it, it's as if I'm right in the moment. It hasn't become old or unfeeling to me. Every detail is there, I never miss a beat and the emotion in my voice is the same as it was the first time I told it.

I don't need to force any feelings, or prepare like an actor getting into "character". I've been in character since the day it happened and I think I keep retelling the story because I realize how deeply it's affected my life. But I haven't quite figured out the ending to the story or the lesson that I'm supposed to take with me. So I keep retelling the story over and over again, hoping that this time around the message will become clear.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
http://www.DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: Win free copies of books you'll read and never forget from these terrific authors: Jennifer Cody Epstein, The Painter from Shanghai; Douglas Carlton Abrams, The Lost Diary of Don Juan; Catherine Delors, Mistress of the Revolution; and Lisa Daily, Fifteen Minutes of Shame. Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

READ THE CLASSICS: My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/6r5hjz

Dear Reader Column 07-11-08

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

Today I have some inspiring notes from readers and a chance for you to win some fun stuff. Enjoy the notes below and to enter the Fun Zone Giveaway, go to: http://tinyurl.com/6c8cwc

"Dear Suzanne, After reading today's Dear Reader column on having fun and laughing, I went out and bought 60 pieces of colored chalk for $1.00 (we don't want to go too overboard first time around). They're sitting right here next to my computer. After work today, I'm going home to draw all over our driveway and try and re-create what fun it was when I did it as a little girl. I'm now older (65+), but I think it will be grand! I'm really looking forward to it. My husband will be appalled, and will shake his head and ask when the drawings will disappear. Probably never...Thanks so much for sharing and caring. It's so good to read with friends!" --Betty Ramsland

"Suzanne, last week I was in for my annual mammogram. After the press and click procedure I was asked to stay a couple minutes in the waiting room. I noticed this late 40ish lady with long whitish-blond hair. She was recopying notes from a journal onto pages with photos, possibly a travel journal. My thoughts recalculated: 'tall, long blond hair, 40ish, journaling a trip, probably New York recently, really looks like the Internet Library Gal, Suzanne. Should I ask?'

The nurse popped her head in to say I could go. 'Okay, well should I ask?' I walked past her, slowly, then turned back around and bent over her shoulder, "Excuse me...are you Suzanne that makes chocolate chip cookies on the internet library?" (Geez, that didn't make much sense! But she'd know if she were you). The woman looked up, smiled but with an expression of pure 'Huh?'

Then I explained as briefly as I could about the library online book club, and how she looks like the gal whose hobby is to make and mail chocolate chip cookies. The blond woman turned in her chair, with interest now and said "Ohoo, I make chocolate chip cookies," (I just knew it was you!) "But no, I'm not Suzanne".

Couple chairs down, a lady overhearing the conversation raised her finger, "Oh, yeah, I know about Suzanne." That day, three strangers in a mammography waiting room shared the topic of your chocolate chip cookies over a journal, smiled and went their separate ways. I went on to my office, inspired to make a batch later, sometime.

Truly enjoy your inspirational anecdotes." --Susann Weita

(Suzanne replies:)

Sorry to have missed you in the waiting room Susann. I make that trip to the doctor every September. Sounds like it might be a good spot to have a book club session. Get a mammogram and talk about books while you're waiting for the results. And of course I'd bring the chocolate chip cookies.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Have a great weekend,

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
http://www.DearReader.com

READ THE CLASSICS: My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/6r5hjz

Dear Reader Column 07-10-08

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

Every Monday and Thursday I feature a link to AuthorBuzz, right after my column. Today I'll make it even handier for you, go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

This week's authors and featured books are: Jon Land, The Seven Sins: The Tyrant Ascending; Sue Scheff, Wit's End: Advice and Resources for Saving Your Out-of-Control Teen; Michelle Gagnon, Boneyard; Stephen J. Cannell, At First Sight; and Helen Tse, Sweet Mandarin. If you're a regular visitor to AuthorBuzz, I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
http://www.DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: With so many new books out every week, we promise these are five that deserve your attention: Jon Land, The Seven Sins: The Tyrant Ascending; Sue Scheff, Wit's End: Advice and Resources for Saving Your Out-of-Control Teen; Michelle Gagnon, Boneyard; Stephen J. Cannell, At First Sight; and Helen Tse, Sweet Mandarin. Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

READ THE CLASSICS: My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/6r5hjz

Dear Reader Column 07-09-08

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

Thanks for writing. Answering your mail is the best part of my day.

From my Email Bag:

"Dear Suzanne, Wow! Today's column really struck a note with me. I am 66 years old and I still do not know how to laugh at my mistakes. I take everything to heart, always want to please and to do my best. I've been told time and again by people older than me that by the age of 65 most people don't really care what others think about them and they feel they've earned the right to do whatever makes them happy. I haven't found that self esteem or self confidence yet. I still seem to be trying to get it, even though intellectually I know I have been successful in my life in so many ways.

You were so very sincere in today's column. I really believe you've found the balance between being confident and humble. Most importantly you have found the ability to laugh at yourself, which I think is the key to both. I think that's why I so enjoy your columns. Thanks, Suzanne! It's so good to laugh as well as read with friends."--Mary Lou

(Suzanne responds:)

Dear Mary Lou,

Thanks for your email. I always appreciate hearing from readers.

When I read your statement, "...I still do not know how to laugh at my mistakes," it made me think of a friend of mine who's very talented and successful, but recently she realized that she didn't know how to have fun. I'm not kidding. When she made a list of things she enjoyed doing for fun, there were only two items on her list, because she believed that everything she did needed to have a worthwhile purpose. It never occurred to her to do something simply because she might enjoy it. Having fun came naturally to her when she was a kid, but now she's all grown up. What would people think if she sat on the corner and blew bubbles, or hula-hooped on her lunch break? (My answer was that people would probably think she was simply having fun and they might even ask if they could play, too.)

So a few months ago my friend started planning FUN into her day. Being silly and laughing at herself, now those things come naturally, and my friend never has to worry if someone else is laughing at her, because she's always laughing first.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
http://www.DearReader.com

READ THE CLASSICS: My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/6r5hjz

Dear Reader Column 07-08-08

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

Summertime just begs me to read the Classics. Stretch out in a lounge chair with a glass of lemonade and a book that has stood the test of time. Today you can sample the Penguin Classic My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin.

Miles Franklin began writing the candid, passionate, and contrary My Brilliant Career when she was only sixteen, intending it to be the Australian answer to Jane Eyre. But the book she produced--a thinly veiled autobiographical novel about a young girl hungering for life and love in the outback--so scandalized her country upon its appearance in 1901 that she insisted it not be published again until ten years after her death.

Sample today's Classic, enter the giveaway for a free book and please do send me a note and let me know what you thought of the read. If you enjoy the Classics please let me know and I'll share it with the folks at Penguin. To start reading the sample, go to: http://tinyurl.com/6r5hjz

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
http://www.DearReader.com

READ THE CLASSICS: My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/6r5hjz

Dear Reader Column 07-07-08

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

They say money can't buy happiness, but one single dollar bill brought a big smile to my face last Friday morning, and it changed the course of my day.

Every four weeks my husband and I drive from Sarasota to Tampa and we always take the route that includes the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay. We love the scenery. There's usually a huge ship passing underneath the bridge and pelicans (my favorite bird) look like prehistoric creatures flying alongside our car window as we drive over the bridge.

It costs a buck to drive over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, but Friday morning when my husband handed the toll-man one dollar he handed it back, "Your toll has already been paid."

My husband and I looked at each other in shock. Sure, I'd heard of people paying the toll for the car behind them, but I'd never experienced it and let me tell you, it felt pretty good! Instantly I was smiling and that good feeling stayed with me the rest of the day. I'm pretty sure the van in front of us was the car that paid our toll, because they took extra time at the toll booth and there seemed to be a conversation going on. (Thank heavens I wasn't complaining to myself about the extra wait, wouldn't I have felt like a real schmuck?)

They say money can't buy happiness and I'm inclined to agree. One dollar bill did indeed make me smile and feel pretty good--but really it was the kindness of a stranger that made my day. (And of course we couldn't resist paying for the car behind us when we went back over the bridge on our way home.)

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
http://www.DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: With so many new books out every week, we promise these are five that deserve your attention: Lon Land, The Seven Sins: The Tyrant Ascending; Sue Scheff, Wit's End: Advice and Resources for Saving Your Out-of-Control Teen; Michelle Gagnon, Boneyard; Stephen J. Cannell, At First Sight; and Helen Tse, Sweet Mandarin. Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

READ THE CLASSICS: My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/6r5hjz

Dear Reader Column 07-04-08

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

I'm on holiday today. I rarely eat a brat, but I'm originally from Wisconsin and once a year I indulge in a Wisconsin Brat--today's the day! I'll be firing up the grill. Hopefully I have better luck than the last time I tried.

If you missed my latest Grilling Column, enjoy this rerun...you'll get a good laugh.

My husband usually does all of the barbequing at our house, but today I thought I'd surprise him and grill a couple of burgers for us. I'd never fired up the grill so I had to resort to actually reading the directions. I don't like manuals, but since I was dealing with gas and a flame it seemed like the wise choice--just in case. Ka-boom!

Took the cover off of the gas grill, opened the lid, turned on the gas, flicked the ignite button several times, just like the directions said, and poof! Like magic, the flames appeared and I didn't even have to light a match. Feeling pretty impressed with myself, I picked up my two hamburger patties and was just about ready to place them on the grill, but instead I started screaming.

Roaches, spiders and some other crusty-looking bug I'd never seen before (maybe it's a gas-grill roach)--bugs and more bugs were running for their lives, in every direction, to get away from the just-lit flame. It was all I could do to hang on to my plate of burgers. I was running, the bugs were running, I was screaming, I could swear I heard bugs screeching--why didn't the manual tell me about this? I'm not a fan of spiders, and heaven knows I can't stand roaches, but the thought of turning them into crispy critters, I did feel some remorse for turning up the heat on them.

So there I stood holding a plate with two uncooked burgers, desperately trying to regain my composure so I could approach the gas grill and finish making lunch, and I was a bit teary-eyed and trying my best to apologize to the roaches and spiders who were now hiding out in the bushes behind the grill.

I'm leaving the barbequing to my husband.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Happy 4th!!

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
http://www.DearReader.com