Dear Reader Column 11-14-11

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 was born on a Tuesday morning. It was a difficult birth, because I was thirty-four years old."

After reading the first line from this week's bonus book, Me Again, by Keith Cronin, I was torn between spending a sunny Florida Saturday afternoon reading Keith's book, or "playing" in my flower gardens. Read a little, plant a few flowers, then read a little more, by late afternoon the book won my attention and I sent an email to Keith. "I am loving your book. The first line of the book grabs you, then the story takes over and never lets go. You should feel so proud of your debut novel."

Keith's resume is as engaging as his book. He's a former librarian who went on to become a corporate speechwriter and a professional rock drummer. Keith's performed and recorded with artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Clarence Clemons and Pat Travers and now he's released his debut novel Me Again.

I invited Keith to write a guest column (below) and you can start reading his book at: http://www.supportlibrary.com/bc/v.cfm?L=bryantestqqxqN1FE32125A3E&c=SUZ&future

Introducing author Keith Cronin....

First I'd like to thank Suzanne for the opportunity to share a moment with you today. It's rare that you meet somebody with the kind of contagious positive energy Suzanne has--she absolutely glows with it, both when you speak with her, and in her writing.

We are just days away from Thanksgiving here in the U.S., which means my family will soon be organizing its grocery lists, pulling out the cookware and getting ready to prepare the traditional Thanksgiving lobster.

No, that's not some auto-correct spelling anomaly: I said lobster, not turkey. Let me explain.

When my daughter was around ten years old, she came home from school one November day and announced that lobster had been one of the main courses for the Pilgrims' original Thanksgiving meal. This made sense, she observed, when you took into account the nearby North Atlantic waters. So she proposed that this year we try something different, yet still in keeping with Pilgrim tradition.

We all liked lobster, and her plan made sense, so we cheerfully agreed to celebrate the holiday that year with "the traditional Thanksgiving lobster." We had guests coming, so we made sure to set their expectations for a turkeyless meal. Our proposed menu raised some eyebrows, but nobody objected, and Project Lobster was soon underway.

The meal got off to a great start, and the lobster was delicious. The conversation around the dinner table frequently came back to what a great idea this was, and to wondering why we had never explored this tradition before. But midway through the meal we began to notice my daughter smirking enigmatically.

Finally she made a confession. She had made up the entire thing, fabricating a plausible but undocumented "tradition," hoping to convince us to cook lobster instead of turkey. Her rationale? "I just really don't like turkey," she said with a guilty smile.

We couldn't even get angry. After all, we had been enjoying the meal immensely. And darn it, it really was pretty likely that there was a lobster or two on the original Thanksgiving dinner table, so it was hard to impugn her logic. We all had a good laugh, although I did make a mental note to rev up the horsepower on my internal lie detector if ever my daughter offered me a questionable excuse for getting home late.

That was some fifteen years ago. But in testament to the lasting merit of my daughter's ingenuity, we still serve "the traditional Thanksgiving lobster" every year, sometimes accompanied by a token turkey for any dinner guests whose sense of "tradition" might be more restrictive than our own.

I don't know about you, but after writing this, I'm suddenly very hungry. But I'm always glad to reply to emails, so I hope I hear from you. My email address is: [email protected] and I'm giving away 10 copies of my books to readers. Drop me a line.
--Keith Cronin

Please give Keith a warm book club welcome. Send an email and say hello, and here's the link to start reading his book:
http://www.supportlibrary.com/bc/v.cfm?L=bryantestqqxqN1FE32125A3E&c=SUZ&future

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 PATHS OF GLORY by Humphrey Cobb. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin totebag. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/November11Classics

AUTHORBUZZ: Meet author Christine W. Hartmann...

My mother valued control above all else, yet one event appeared beyond her command: the timing of her own death. Not to be denied there either, two decades in advance she chose the date on which to end her life. And her next step was to tell me all about it. For twenty years, she maintained an unwavering goal, to commit suicide at age seventy, while I fought desperately against the decision.

I invite you to take a look at my nonfiction book: SO FAR AWAY: A DAUGHTER'S MEMOIR OF LIFE, LOSS, AND LOVE.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader Click on my book to read more and please send an email. I'd love to hear from you.--Author Christine W. Hartmann

 

Comments

[Susan Henderson]

I LOVE this story, and your book is fantastic--both funny and tender and makes you think about what's most important in life. I hope you get a huge audience for it!

[DA Kentner]

Fully enjoyed this post.
Keith's wit and sincerity shine through in "Me Again," and I hope everyone takes the time to read this wonderful story.