Dear Reader

Dear Reader Column 05-31-11

Subscribe to one of Suzanne's online bookclubs and receive her daily
column at: DearReader.com


Sample Suzanne's book at:
Muffins and Mayhem, Recipes for a Happy (if disorderly) Life

AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader,

My grandchildren and I created another memory this past weekend. The nice thing about being born a couple days before Memorial Day weekend, is that your birthday surprises continue over the long holiday weekend. There was a party on my birthday, and then our family rented a boat, planted flowers, and my grandson helped me mulch the flower beds. (Gardening is a party to me.)

Instead of my grandsons giving me a birthday card from the store, my daughter-in-law created a unique "What I Know About Grandma" card. She asked my two grandsons, Paul (age 4) and James (age 2), questions, and their answers were my birthday card (below).

WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GRANDMA

What is your Grandma's name?
Paul: Suzanne James: Grandma

How old is she?
Paul: I don't know.
James: Three.

What does she do?
Paul: Grandma plays with me. And Grandma likes to do the sprinkler with me.
James: She goes like this...(and then he dances).

What's her favorite food?
Paul: Soup James: Candy

What's her favorite color?
Paul: Pink James: Purple

What's her favorite movie?
Paul: "Dinosaur Train"
James: "Dora the Explorer"

What does she like to sing?
Paul: Classical James: ABCs

Where does she take you for fun?
Paul: Dr. Al. He pushes on Grandma back.
James: The circus.

What is the best thing about Grandma?
Paul: Grandma loves me and she bakes with me.
James: I love Grandma.

Happy Birthday, Grandma! We love you!
Paul and James, May 26, 2011

If you'd like to see birthday photos, including the masterpiece cake my husband and Paul made for me, go to: http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/party052611.html

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
http://www.muffinsandmayhem.com/

* This month's Penguin Classics book is IOLA LEROY by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin totebag. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/May11Classics

AUTHORBUZZ: Lisa Tawn Bergren, today's featured author, writes...

Gabi Bentarrini is trapped in fourteenth-century Italy--but does she really want to leave? Italian hotties on horses and brandishing swords.... A romantic historical suspense novel for young adults.

To read more about WATERFALL: Book 1 in the River of Time series goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

 

 

Dear Reader Column 05-30-11

Subscribe to one of Suzanne's online bookclubs and receive her daily
column at: DearReader.com



Sample Suzanne's book at:
Muffins and Mayhem, Recipes for a Happy (if disorderly) Life

AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader,

I am enjoying the Memorial Day holiday with my family. My column will return on Tuesday.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.MuffinsandMayhem.com

* This month's Penguin Classics book is IOLA LEROY by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin totebag. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/May11Classics

AUTHORBUZZ: Marie Bostwick, today's featured author, writes...

What would you do if your spouse were convicted of running a Ponzi scheme and you lost everything? Penniless, Madelyn has no choice but to return to New Bern, Connecticut. There, in a quilting class, she reconnects with an estranged childhood friend. The two women restore their friendship and learn it's possible to start over, one stitch at a time.

To read more about THREADING THE NEEDLE goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

 

Dear Reader Column 05-27-11

Subscribe to one of Suzanne's online bookclubs and receive her daily
column at: DearReader.com



Sample Suzanne's book at:
Muffins and Mayhem, Recipes for a Happy (if disorderly) Life

AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader,

Looking for a new recipe to make over the holiday weekend? You'll find favorite recipes that readers have sent in, along with tried-and-true favorites from my own recipe box at: http://tinyurl.com/SuzanneRecipes

And now for some book club winners...

The winners of the May Chocolate Chip Cookie Contest are Michelle B. Ogletree, Patti Paonessa, and Pat Harmer.

The winner of the yellow, smiley spatula is: Diane Hiddleson. Trish Loucks was the winner of the Bowl of Balls Giveaway.

And finally, congratulations to our bubble machine winner, Carolyn Weatherly, branch manager at the Clute Library in Texas.

If you're in the US, have a wonderful holiday weekend.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.MuffinsandMayhem.com

* This month's Penguin Classics book is IOLA LEROY by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin totebag. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/May11Classics

AUTHORBUZZ: Galen Stoller and Kenneth Stoller, today's featured authors, write...

From tragedy to transcendence, MY LIFE AFTER LIFE is the posthumous account of a talented teen, Galen Stoller, killed in a train accident. In Galen's new dimension, Galen establishes communication with his father to describe his experience, for both those he left behind and for all who need to understand there is no death.

To read more about MY LIFE AFTER LIFE goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

 

 

Dear Reader Column 05-26-11

Subscribe to one of Suzanne's online bookclubs and receive her daily
column at: DearReader.com



Sample Suzanne's book at:
Muffins and Mayhem, Recipes for a Happy (if disorderly) Life

AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader,

Apparently I don't know my friend, the ant (in Tuesday's column), as well as I thought I did. Because numerous readers--those pesky ones who breezed through Algebra and Calculus--emailed, informing me that I miscounted. "Ants have 6 legs, Suzanne, spiders have 8. Are you sure you weren't friends with a spider?"

My friend, the ant, does indeed have 6 legs. Why he didn't tell me this himself? I don't know. Especially, since for the past 30 years, I've been sending him four pairs of new tennies every year on his birthday, but all he really needed were six tennis shoes. (That's 3 pair, for any other inept mathematical "geniuses" like myself.)

To read about my friend, the ant (Tuesday's column), you'll find it at: http://tinyurl.com/3oml439

Seriously, thank you for bringing the 6 legs to my attention. I really do love to hear from readers. I smiled, even laughed, reading each and every email about my mistake.

But not being able to keep track of numbers has its advantages, especially on your birthday. Today is mine. Using math ant, today I'm 55, plus those two extra legs!

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

Warmest regards,
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.MuffinsandMayhem.com

AUTHORBUZZ: Notepads, luggage tags and of course, free books from these great authors:

A TURN IN THE ROAD and HANNAH'S LIST by Debbie Macomber

STILL MISSING by Chevy Stevens

THE GIFT by Bryan Litfin

MY LIFE AFTER LIFE by Galen Stoller, Edited by K Paul Stoller, MD; Foreword by Bernie Siegel, MD

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

* This month's Penguin Classics book is IOLA LEROY by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin totebag. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/May11Classics

 

 

 

Dear Reader Column 05-25-11

Subscribe to one of Suzanne's online bookclubs and receive her daily
column at: DearReader.com


Sample Suzanne's book at:
Muffins and Mayhem, Recipes for a Happy (if disorderly) Life

AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader,

Yesterday my house smelled like homemade spaghetti sauce and berry loaves. The good smells in my kitchen gave me the illusion I was playing house. All was right with the world. All was right with me.

When I was a little girl my Grandpa Hale made a kitchen counter and cupboard for me. It was a beautiful piece; drawers, cupboards and the counter top was covered with material you'd find on any fancy kitchen counter. In one of my favorite childhood photos, I'm standing in front of the cupboard Grandpa made for me, with a wooden spoon in my hand, and I'm stirring an imaginary chocolate cake in a bowl. An apron's tied around my waist and Moochie, my dog, is sitting on the floor by my feet.

Cooking up wonderful things in my kitchen makes me feel safe and secure. When I'm cooking, I stop thinking about the problems in life; only concentrating on the recipe and looking for opportunities to add my own special touches. If I stray from the recipe and it doesn't turn out; maybe it tastes strange, or collapses in the middle--that's okay. If it can't be salvaged, I simply toss it out and start over again. I'm easy on myself.

But when I step out of the kitchen and take off my apron, I'm much less forgiving of my mistakes. Hopefully some day I'll learn how to play house in the real world, too.

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

*If you'd like to try my spaghetti sauce, berry loaves and other recipes, go to: http://tinyurl.com/67x8fq

Warmest regards,
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
http://www.muffinsandmayhem.com/

* This month's Penguin Classics book is IOLA LEROY by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin totebag. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/May11Classics

AUTHORBUZZ: Chevy Stevens, today's featured author, writes...

On the day she was abducted, Annie O'Sullivan, a thirty-two-year-old Realtor, had three goals--sell a house, forget about a recent argument with her mother, and be on time for dinner with her ever-patient boyfriend. The open house is slow, but when her last visitor pulls up in a van as she's about to leave, Annie thinks it just might be her lucky day after all.

To read more about STILL MISSING goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

 

Dear Reader Column 05-24-11

Subscribe to one of Suzanne's online bookclubs and receive her daily
column at: DearReader.com



Sample Suzanne's book at:
Muffins and Mayhem, Recipes for a Happy (if disorderly) Life

I'd love to meet you in person. I'll be blowing bubbles, sharing some of my homemade chocolate chip cookies and reading from my book, Muffins and Mayhem at Bookstore 1 Sarasota. Can you make it? I hope it's a date...See you at 6 p.m., on May 24th.

Dear Reader,

There's an ant crawling on my computer screen at this very moment. At first I thought he was a period, or an animated exclamation point, slightly moving side-to-side, from the excitement of reading what I'd just finished typing. (The things they can do with computer software these days--for a minute I was a believer.)

Years ago, I became friends with an ant when I published a business magazine in Madison, Wisconsin. Back-in-the-day, before computers, I did most of my work on a drafting table, cutting and pasting typeset copy to produce the magazine. I enjoyed my work, even though the hours were long especially when I was on deadline--but at least I had company.

He looked like an ordinary ant. The kind I'd simply brush off the table with my hand, but for some reason I didn't. Peacefully sitting on the edge of my drafting table, he wasn't hurting anything, and since I was the only one left in the office, I appreciated his company. Guarded at first, even after I said, "Hello" and invited him to make himself at home, he continued to sit in one spot, only moving slightly to the side when my exacto knife was headed in his direction. But after a while, I think he sensed I meant him no harm, and he freely walked around my table.

My new friend was a good listener. When you're working alone in the wee hours of the morning, sometimes the worries in your life take center stage, and my friend seemed to empathize as he listened to my troubles. It was such a "real" and meaningful friendship, that I expected him to reply. But of course I never did find out where he bedded down for the night, whether he preferred eggs or cereal for breakfast, and I had no idea what his "real" job was--the one that paid the light bill and house payment. But I do know that his volunteer job was being a good friend and keeping me company. Every evening when I was working late, around seven o'clock, there he was sitting on the corner of my drawing table waving hello.

I'm not sure how long ants live, but I don't think the little fellow on my computer screen this morning is the friend I met over 30 years ago. But maybe he's a relative? When my husband and I first moved to Florida, suddenly everyone was our friend. "Do you have a spare room? We have a 'sudden urge' to visit Florida this year." And maybe it's the same for ants?

Because now that I take a second look, this eight-legged guy, whose antennae seems to be waving hello, is toting 3-pieces of luggage. Maybe he heard from a relative, or a friend-of-a-friend, that the woman who's kind to ants, moved to sunny Florida.

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

* Today's the day! I'll be at Bookstore 1 Sarasota blowing bubbles, sharing some of my homemade chocolate chip cookies and reading from my book, Muffins and Mayhem. Hope to see you tonight at 6 p.m.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
http://www.muffinsandmayhem.com/

* This month's Penguin Classics book is IOLA LEROY by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin totebag. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/May11Classics

AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

 

Dear Reader Column 05-23-11

Subscribe to one of Suzanne's online bookclubs and receive her daily
column at: DearReader.com



Sample Suzanne's book at:
Muffins and Mayhem, Recipes for a Happy (if disorderly) Life

I'd love to meet you in person. I'll be blowing bubbles, sharing some of my homemade chocolate chip cookies and reading from my book, Muffins and Mayhem at Bookstore 1 Sarasota. Can you make it? I hope it's a date...See you at
6 p.m., on May 24th.

Dear Reader,

Brian Lee, a book club reader writes...

"Dear Suzanne, I got your book for my wife as a Mother's Day gift, but I started reading it out of curiosity, and I've been reading it off and on since. I actually look forward to the rare moments of free time where I can finish where I left off on your book. Fortunately my wife hasn't asked me about it yet. She has a really good Mango Bread recipe which sounds a lot like your Banana Bread recipe. We live in Hawaii, so Mango season is from June to August. Maybe when she finally gets to read your book she can send you the recipe. Can you get Mangoes in Florida? There are always some coming from Mexico and South America which are ok, but nothing compared to a Hayden or Piery Mango fresh off the tree."--Warmest Regards, Brian Lee

Thanks Brian. My "Whoops! Banana Bread" recipe is printed on the back of the new bookmark for my book "Muffins and Mayhem," and it's also on page 84 of the book, along with the story behind the "whoops!" part of the recipe. Recipes I frequently use and recipes book club readers have submitted can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/SuzanneRecipes

Mango bread sounds great. Does anyone have a good recipe? Or how about recipes for avocados? I can already see that my avocado tree is going to produce a bumper crop this year.

* Tomorrow, Tuesday evening I'll be at Bookstore 1 Sarasota (941-365-7900). Hope to see you at 6 p.m.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.MuffinsandMayhem.com

* This month's Penguin Classics book is IOLA LEROY by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin totebag. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/May11Classics

AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

 

Dear Reader Column 05-20-11

 Subscribe to one of Suzanne's online bookclubs and receive her daily
column at: DearReader.com



Sample Suzanne's book at:
Muffins and Mayhem, Recipes for a Happy (if disorderly) Life

I'd love to meet you in person. I'll be blowing bubbles, sharing some of my homemade chocolate chip cookies and reading from my book, Muffins and Mayhem at Bookstore 1 Sarasota. Can you make it? I hope it's a date...See you at
6 p.m., on May 24th.

Dear Reader,

It's giveaway week at the book clubs. Congratulations to Trish Loucks, the winner of Monday's Bowl of Balls Giveaway. There's an interesting story behind the Bowl of Balls that have been sitting on my dining room table. If you missed Monday's column, you'll find it at: http://tinyurl.com/3trc8nx

Congratulations to Tuesday's winner, bubble machine tester, Carolyn Weatherly, branch manager at the Clute Library in Texas, and a personal friend of the man who invented the bubble machine for "The Lawrence Welk Show."

"Dear Suzanne, My experience with bubbles goes back to when I lived in Gardena, California in the late fifties. Our next door neighbor, Mr. Angelotti, was an incredible inventor. His Christmas yard displays were huge, like a huge rocket with a life-size Santa and all the toys. The displays were always animated, and so incredible to a little girl whose nose was usually firmly in a book, reading about amazing things.

Mr. Angelotti's other claim to fame was that he had invented the bubble machine for 'The Lawrence Welk Show'--my mother's favorite show on our black and white console TV.

As a librarian in a small Texas library, I am fortunate to do a little of everything. I love to do our children's programs and my Bubble Storytime is a favorite. I have a secret bubble recipe that I share with all of the families. (Secret ingredient = Glycerin--but, I'm not good at keeping secrets.) I also have an experimental team--my grandsons Sebastian, almost 6, and Enzo age 4.

I would love to try out the bubble machine both at the library, and at home. I would enjoy taking the pictures and would give you a full report of our bubble blowout, bubble bash, and beautiful bubbles as we go bubble berserk. I believe we can breeze through a batch of boundless, bouncing bubbles with the bubble machine."--Carolyn

Did you enter this month's Chocolate Chip Cookie giveaway yet? Wednesday's Dear Reader Column tells you all about it. I'm ready to bake, are you ready to dunk and munch on chocolate chip cookies? If you're a winner, all you need to do is promise to send a photo. It's as simple as that. You can still enter this month's Chocolate Chip Cookie giveaway and see past winner photos, go to: http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/cookies051711.html

And finally today's fun giveaway. A big, yellow, smiley face spatula. Originally I purchased it for the kids cooking classes I'll be teaching this summer. But I think the spatula has an even more important job to do in this life, and my husband and I experienced it first-hand.

It was a gloomy day in Sarasota, Florida. My husband and I were both working hard, but everything was a struggle. It's rare for us to "bark" at each other, but for some unknown reason, tension and grumpy energy filled the room, until I picked up the yellow, smiley spatula. I held it up in front of my face, walked into my husband's office, stood in front of his desk and said, "Hello, I'm happy Suzanne." We both started laughing and instantly our moods changed. A big, yellow smiley faced spatula--one of life's simple little pleasures and today I'm passing it on to a lucky reader. To enter today's drawing and to see a photo, go to: http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/contest-051911.html

* I'd love to meet you in person. I'll be blowing bubbles, sharing some of my homemade chocolate chip cookies and reading from my book, Muffins and Mayhem at Bookstore 1 Sarasota (941-365-7900). Can you make it? I hope it's a date...See you at 6 p.m., on May 24th.

Have a delightful weekend. Talk to you on Monday.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
http://www.muffinsandmayhem.com/

* This month's Penguin Classics book is IOLA LEROY by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin totebag. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/May11Classics

AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

 

Dear Reader Column 05-19-11

Subscribe to one of Suzanne's online bookclubs and receive her daily
column at: DearReader.com



Sample Suzanne's book at:
Muffins and Mayhem, Recipes for a Happy (if disorderly) Life

I'd love to meet you in person. I'll be blowing bubbles, sharing some of my homemade chocolate chip cookies and reading from my book, Muffins and Mayhem at Bookstore 1 Sarasota. Can you make it? I hope it's a date...
See you at 6 p.m., on May 24th.

Dear Reader,

There's a "For Sale" sign in my friend's yard. Obviously the housing market is challenging, but that's not what my friend was frustrated about when we ate lunch together the other day.

When your house is on the market you have to keep it neat and tidy 24/7, just in case the realtor calls, breathlessly announcing a showing in 30 minutes. And it's that neat and tidy part of selling a home, that's driving my friend crazy.

"Suzanne, it's killing me. I've been getting up every morning at 4 a.m., before I go to work, to clean my house--just in case the realtor calls."

Getting up at 4 a.m. every morning? Why wasn't my friend rallying the troops and getting the other members of her family to help her clean?

"It's my own fault my son won't lift a finger to clean," she confessed, "and my husband--well, he just never has."

I thought she was kidding, but when I realized she wasn't, I suggested maybe she should lie. Tell her husband and son the realtor called and there's a showing scheduled later in the day. So the troops would be forced to pick up a dust cloth and turn on the vacuum.

"That's not a bad idea, Suzanne, but it would be even better if you actually called the realtor and scheduled a time to see the house. Then after my husband and son helped clean, and my house was sparkling again, you could call the realtor back and cancel."

Two women, figuring out a way to get two lazy guys to help clean. We were lovin' this idea, so we took it a step farther.

"Sounds good to me--and when I call to cancel the appointment, I'll simply tell the realtor I've developed a hang nail, and it looks like it could develop into something serious, so I'll call back to reschedule."

A hang nail, I fell off the porch and sprained my ankle, out-of-town guests suddenly showed up, a hurricane is on the way so I'm boarding up the windows--if we played this right we could keep this going for months.

"And how about this idea?" my friend suggested. "It takes three weeks for my house to get messy enough to qualify for one of those reality TV shows to send a team in to declutter and clean, so if you called the realtor every three weeks, with a different name and back story, 'My husband and I did a drive-by and we think this house would be a winner.' Then my house would always stay clean."

I was laughing at the idea, but then my friend pulled out her Daytimer, "Tuesdays work best for me, because my husband and son would both be home to clean house, while I was at work."

"So how long do you think we can keep this ruse going?"

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

* I'd love to meet you in person. I'll be blowing bubbles, sharing some of my homemade chocolate chip cookies and reading from my book, Muffins and Mayhem at Bookstore 1 Sarasota (941-365-7900). Can you make it? I hope it's a date...See you at 6 p.m., on May 24th.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.MuffinsandMayhem.com

AUTHORBUZZ: WIN free books or a phone reading from a Medium. Click on the link to learn more about these great authors:

A GREAT CATCH by Lorna Seilstad

THE NEW PRESCRIPTION: How to Get the Best Health Care in a Broken System by Cynthia Haines, M.D. with Eric Metcalf, M.P.H.

THE MEDIUM NEXT DOOR: Adventures of a Real-Life Ghost Whisperer by Maureen Hancock

JESUSVILLE by Philip Cioffari

HULL CREEK, A Novel of the Maine Coast by Jim Nichols

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

* This month's Penguin Classics book is IOLA LEROY by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin totebag. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/May11Classics

 

 

Dear Reader Column 05-18-11

Subscribe to one of Suzanne's online bookclubs and receive her daily
column at: DearReader.com



Sample Suzanne's book at:
Muffins and Mayhem, Recipes for a Happy (if disorderly) Life

I'd love to meet you in person. I'll be blowing bubbles, sharing some of my homemade chocolate chip cookies and reading from my book, Muffins and Mayhem at Bookstore 1 Sarasota. Can you make it? I hope it's a date...See you at
6 p.m., on May 24th.

Dear Reader,

I'm ready to bake, are you ready to eat homemade Chocolate Chip cookies?

If you've never entered my Chocolate Chip drawing, because you're concerned about the calories, let me assure you that you'll be eating cookies for a good cause. Consider every "dunk-and-munch" of my tasty chocolate chip cookies your contribution to better mental health. Baking is one of the things I do to relieve stress and things have been pretty stressful lately. So please, won't you help me out and enter the cookie drawing today?

My homemade chocolate chip cookies taste divine, but don't take my word for it. To see photos and read cookie testimonials from satisfied cookie winners, and to enter this month's drawing, go to: http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/cookies051711.html

Munch and dunk some of my chocolate chip cookies in person, mark your calendar. I'll be at Bookstore 1 Sarasota on May 24th 6 p.m. I'd love to meet you.

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

Warmest regards,
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.MuffinsandMayhem.com

* This month's Penguin Classics book is IOLA LEROY by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin totebag. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/May11Classics

AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader