Dear Reader

Dear Reader Column 7-17-17

AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books,
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Dear Reader,

Guest towels, who knew they caused such a dilemma? Should you dry your hands on those delicate, dainty little towels on the vanity (placed there for guests?) when you're at someone's house, or are they part of the ambiance and "Shame on you if you disturb the fingertip towel presentation."

After reading emails from readers, now I know why no one ever used my dainty fingertip towels in the bathroom...but first Margaret comments on my napping column...

"Suzanne, my mother, was also very anxious for her afternoon nap, which could only occur if the youngest kids were taking one at the same time. In Japan (where I lived for 25 years and where your online book club was a lifesaver, as I had no access to an English library), the benefits of the job of stay-at-home mom were described as 'Three square meals and a midday nap.'

But in Japan, your flights of fancy about workplace naps are slowly becoming a reality, as seen in a [Power Napping for Performance] article in the Japan Times. Some junior and senior high schools, when the research came in about the high sleep needs of teens, also introduced a midday nap.

In southern China (where I lived for a year), the noon nap was an art form. Clerks slumped over counters in department stores, pedicab drivers stretched out in the back seat, and road construction workers even managed to make themselves comfortable on piles of rocks on the side of the road.

You just chose to work in the wrong hemisphere."--Margaret O.

Now on to the guest towel dilemma...

"OK--You made me smile this morning, for two reasons:

1. When I host book club, I used to put out guest towels which no one ever used. They'd turn around and use the 'family' hand towels hanging behind them. I don't expect anyone to use them anymore, but I still put them out on occasion, because they're so pretty!

2. When I go to visit one of my friends in another state, she'll show me to 'my' room and show me the pretty bathroom which I'm to use, which looks like something out of 'House Beautiful'--and is complete with guest towels. Then, she'll have me turn around, and she shows me the towels that I am to actually use, hidden behind the bathroom door!

Who'd think we could find such amusement with towels?"--Barbara R.

"If I see a beautiful display of little towels like that in the bathroom, I wouldn't mess with them. They must be for decoration and how nice they look, too! Still wash the hands...but air dry, or if desperate, jeans work well."--Heidi D.

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

***** AUTHORBUZZ *****

RAZR (Fiction) by Larissa Ione

Many books ago, my Demonica world expanded to include Sheoul-gra, a realm presided over by the Grim Reaper and the not-as-grim Hades. Since then, Sheoul-gra has been the setting for much matchmaking and mayhem. But with Razr, I've expanded the world and given readers new territory to explore. So grab a glass of wine, a comfy seat, and see what happens when a sexy fallen angel and a feisty elf go on their own journey of exploration!

Go to AUTHORBUZZ click on RAZR to read more and to email author Larissa Ione, you'll get a reply.

* This month's Penguin Classics book is Devil on the Cross, by Ngugi wa Thiong'o. Click here to start reading, and be sure to enter the drawing for your chance to win a Penguin tote bag.

Dear Reader Column 7-14-17

AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books,
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 Dear Reader,

A reader at the book club always ends emails she sends to me by saying, "God bless you real good." Those words never fail to make me pause and smile.

Years ago I discovered that it's in the "pause," where I experience feelings that soothe my soul, and I think it happens to other people, too.

I first experienced the feeling of the "pause" watching Constable Benton Fraser of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police--the fictional character from the 1994 television show Due South. The Canadian Mountie had some interesting adventures every week, but the thing that wooed me during each episode, was the mountie's manners. A tip of his hat, opening doors for people, stopping to help an elderly woman across the street in the middle of his chase scene, please and thank yous peppered his vocabulary, and not just a simple thank you, mind you--he always replied, "Thank you very kindly." (Followed by a smile and a slight tilt of his head.)

It was in that "Thank you very kindly," that I first felt the soothing feeling of the "pause." And ever since watching the show, instead of a simple "Thank you," now I say "Thank you very kindly," and people always pause and smile. Even if I'm talking on the phone, I can hear their pause and smile through the line.

It's a simple little thing, but when something unexpected is added to a common phrase, it creates a "pause" moment, that just might make a change in someone's day.

You take good care...

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

Do you know a teen who loves to read, enjoys writing or wants to be a writer? We have some openings for teens who would like to write a short column for our Teen Book Club. It's fun, doesn't take a lot of time, and being a 'published' writer looks great on a college resume. Please help spread the word by passing on this email, or if you're a librarian, post a sign in the library.

Email Susan at: Teen@DearReader.com and on the subject line write: I WANT TO BE A TEEN COLUMNIST.

* This month's Penguin Classics book is DEVIL ON THE CROSS, by Ngugi wa Thiong'o. Click to start reading, and be sure to enter the drawing for your chance to win a Penguin tote bag.

Dear Reader Column 7-13-17

AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books,
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Dear Reader,

A recent finding found that if people would stop buying new guest towels for their bathrooms, their anxiety levels would drop 45 percent.

Well, okay, I made that up. But from my experience I could read that very "finding" in the newspaper any day now. Two months ago I bought new fingertips towels for my bathroom. The towels are a light, lime green color, with just a hint of a simple, darker green design at the bottom--a wisp of a thing really, but just the right amount of towel for someone to dry their hands. And on top of my stack of three, new fingertip towels sits a delicate, artificial, pink rose bloom. The dainty presentation is ready and waiting for someone to take a towel and dry their hands.

But no one ever seems to use my new luscious, lime green fingertips towels.

The bottom towel did look used once, but I wasn't sure. After inspection, It looked like someone had dried their hands on it, then carefully refolded the towel to its original folds and then slid it underneath the top towel, set the rose on top and left the bathroom. How do I know this?

Because I've started an investigation. It's driving me crazy, stressing me out, wondering why nobody seems to touch my new hand towels. Not to worry, I don't knock on the door when a guest is in the bathroom, "Hey, there are new guest towels on the counter, be sure to use one." And I'm not holding a clipboard and taking a survey as soon as they walk out the bathroom door. "Did you use one of my new hand towels? What did you think of them--or did you forget to wash your hands?" No, I wait until guests have left for the evening, and then I go into the bathroom and investigate. That's how I discovered that possibly, someone used one of the towels--I tossed it in the laundry just to be sure.

I need to do more research, which means I have to invite more people over to my house and I have to make sure they use the bathroom. So with that in mind, I'm going to create a messy menu. Food that a person can't help but get on their hands and fingers, so a dry napkin just won't do, and I'll serve plenty of fluids, too. I need a line of guests waiting outside the bathroom door, after all, if you're going to do a proper study, you need to have a large sampling.

"Drink up there Joe, let me pour you another glass of iced tea."

That recent finding I made up about, "If people would stop buying guest towels for their bathroom, their stress levels would decrease by 45 percent." It may not be a published finding yet, but I'm here to tell you I'm stressed out about guest towels, and I'm throwing in the towel and donating all of mine to charity.

* Do you know a teen who loves to read, enjoys writing or wants to be a writer? We have some openings for teens who would like to write a short column for our Teen Book Club. It's fun, doesn't take a lot of time, and being a 'published' writer looks great on a college resume. Please help spread the word by passing on this email, or if you're a librarian, post a sign in the library.

Email Susan at: Teen@DearReader.com and on the subject line write: I WANT TO BE A TEEN COLUMNIST.

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

 

AUTHORBUZZ: With so many new books out every week, we promise these titles deserve your attention:

(Fiction)
ATLAS OF FORGOTTEN PLACES by Jenny D. Williams

(NonFiction)
A PARIS ALL YOUR OWN: Bestselling Women Writers on  the City of Light by Eleanor Brown

(Fiction)
THE DEVIL'S GIFT by Laura Landon

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

* This month's Penguin Classics book is DEVIL ON THE CROSS, by Ngugi wa Thiong'o. Click the link below to start reading, and be sure to enter the drawing for your chance to win a Penguin tote bag.

Dear Reader Column 7-12-17

AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books,
"meet" the authors and enter to win.  

Dear Reader,

Today's guest author, Frances Maynard, says, "I live in beautiful Dorset in the south of England. We have gentle rolling hills and a dramatic coastline. My work with adults with learning difficulties (including Asperger's and dyslexia) has informed my first novel: The Seven Imperfect Rules of Elvira Carr. The heroine, Elvira, has to suddenly find her own way in life when her elderly mother has a stroke. Volunteering in an animal sanctuary helps her in this. She makes good use of her special bond with animals there and they then help to give her access to a wider World."

Frances said she'd love to hear from readers, so please do email and say hello. Email franmaynardauthor@gmail.com

Welcome to the book club, author Frances Maynard...

Headstones and Tails

There is a place near where I live in the south of England where no animal is turned away. Where the cats have hand-crocheted bed covers and tubby goats come to the fence to be stroked.

This magical spot is an animal sanctuary in an ancient Dorset village, Church Knowle, nestled at the bottom of a hill. Here wild birds sing, a pig with an allergic skin condition suns itself and elderly horses 'chat' to each other in the shade of a tree.

But the most peaceful part of this tranquil place is the Pet Garden of Remembrance. It is here that you may find a lump in your throat. There are stone tablets on the ground, trees with dedications, small headstones, tiny animal statues and a whole wall of postcard-sized memorial plaques. And all of them are to pets.

A donkey, Widow Murphy, aged 55, is: much missed. Sweetie Pie (a wild rabbit) is remembered with love: Goodnight sweetheart. A cat, Gizmo, was: loved by anyone who had the privilege to meet him. He was a cat with dignity and charm. Another cat, Puss-puss, was: The most gentle cat we ever had. Dogs, Bruce, Nipper, CindyLou, are remembered as: Good Companions. Another, Max: made many friends and still he walks with me. Other dogs, Bryndy, Jason, Bundles, Fifi, were: The sunshine of our lives, Special friends, A gift from God, One of the family, Asked so little but gave so much. Another dog, My faithful, gentle, handsome collie, Monty, is told to: Sleep peacefully, my lovely boy. Even a guinea pig, Wilhelmina, died aged 7, is remembered with love.

These small memorials may make you reach for your hankie because they display the unquestioning and non-judgemental devotion of animals. They remind us of how pets trust us to do our best by them. They illustrate the deep, but easy and uncomplicated, relationship humans have with animals. And, most of all, they show that human grief at the loss of a smaller, simpler being reveals, not mawkishness, or sentimentality, but the very best side of human nature.

--Frances Maynard

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

P. S. Do you know a teen who loves to read, enjoys writing or wants to be a writer? We have some openings for teens who would like to write a short column for our Teen Book Club. It's fun, doesn't take a lot of time, and being a published' writer looks great on a college resume. Please help spread the word by passing on this email, or if you're a librarian, post a sign in the library. Email Susan at: Teen@DearReader.com and on the subject line write: I WANT TO BE A TEEN COLUMNIST.

***** AUTHORBUZZ *****

THE DEVIL'S GIFT (Fiction) by Laura Landon

Everyone knows a proper English lady would never respond to the flirtations of a household servant. But sometimes magnetism overpowers. Laura Landon masterfully crafts characters that will draw you in on page one and keep you guessing.

Go to AUTHORBUZZ click on The Devil's Gift to read more and to email author Laura Landon, you'll get a reply.

* This month's Penguin Classics book is DEVIL ON THE CROSS, by Ngugi wa Thiong'o. Click the link below to start reading, and be sure to enter the drawing for your chance to win a Penguin tote bag.

Dear Reader Column 7-11-17

AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books,
"meet" the authors and enter to win.  

Dear Reader,

Do you know a teen who loves to read, enjoys writing or wants to be a writer?

Every week a teen writes the daily Dear Reader column in the Teen Book Club. We have some openings for teens who would like to write for the Teen Club. It's fun, doesn't take a lot of time, and being a 'published' writer looks great on a college resume.

Please help spread the word by passing on this email, or if you're a librarian, post a sign in the library. Not only do teens get the opportunity to be published, if they email this week they might win a gift card to Starbucks, Target or their favorite book seller.

Have fun, get published at the Teen Book Club, and win gift cards. Interested? Email Susan at: Teen@DearReader.com and on the subject line write: I WANT TO BE A TEEN COLUMNIST.

* Be sure to check out this month's Penguin Classic, Devil on the Cross, by Ngugi wa Thiong'o. Click here to start reading, and be sure to enter the drawing for your chance to win a Penguin tote bag.

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

***** AUTHORBUZZ *****

A PARIS ALL YOUR OWN: Bestselling Women Writers on the City of Light (NonFiction) by Eleanor Brown

What is it about Paris, anyway? After writing my novel The Light of Paris, I wondered what had drawn other writers to it. So I gathered together 18 bestselling women authors who had also written books about Paris and asked them for their behind-the-scenes stories of the City of Light.

Go to AUTHORBUZZ click on A PARIS ALL YOUR OWN to read more and to email author Eleanor Brown, you'll get a reply.

Dear Reader Column 7-10-17

AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books,
"meet" the authors and enter to win. 

Dear Reader,

Today I'm wishing it was nap time. My mother was always excited about nap time when I was a kid. In fact, the words, "It's nap time," made her giddy. But every afternoon about 2:30, it sealed my fate for at least 40 minutes.

You probably remember the routine:

"I don't want to go to sleep. I'm not tired."

"I don't care if you're not tired, Suzanne, get your blanket and lie down anyway."

Oh, don't I wish I still had my blanket, and that I could snooze for even 20 minutes, guilt-free, in the middle of the afternoon. But what would people say? "Suzanne, can't come to the phone right now. She's napping."

When our own kids were little I had a built-in excuse for taking a nap in the afternoon. "Oh, I was lying down with the kids to get them to sleep and I must have dozed off." But nap time for me now--I guess I'd need some kind of permission to make it okay.

I don't eat lunch, so I'd gladly exchange my lunch time for nap time. Sure, this could work. I can see it now--nappies for adults. Every afternoon at 2 p.m. employees would grab their rolled up blankets off the shelf and corporate presidents, managers, marketing directors, assembly workers--all levels of employees--would soon be lined up side-by-side on the floor, resting quietly on their blankees.

Postal workers would curl up on your front porch; Home Depot employees would all head for the lawn and garden department; the massage therapist would tell you to move over, it's nap time. Well, maybe I better rethink this napping thing one more time.

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

***** AUTHORBUZZ *****

ATLAS OF FORGOTTEN PLACES (Fiction) by Jenny D. Williams

A missing girl. A rebel army. Ivory smugglers. And the secrets that connect them all...

Part political thriller, part love story--and loosely inspired by my time as an aid worker in Uganda and South Sudan--this book follows two women from different worlds who become bound in a quest to save their loved ones.

Go to AUTHORBUZZ click on Atlas of Forgotten Places to read more and to email author Jenny D. Williams, you'll get a reply.

Dear Reader Column 7-07-17

KIDSBUZZ: Click here to discover new books,
"meet" the authors and enter to win.

 Dear Reader,

Sometimes when I'm writing my daily column I edit myself before I get the words down in front of me. But when the thought, 'What will people think?' enters my mind, I'm headed for trouble.

'What will people think?' means I'm afraid to be honest about my feelings. So I start watering down what I want to say so it will sound acceptable, or not so serious, or not so insane. But the things I write that keep me up at night, the words that are so difficult to type as I'm imagining other people reading them, when I take a chance and say what I'm really feeling, those are the columns readers identify with the most. Those are the columns that inspire readers to write back and say, "I thought I was the only one."

I'm taking one of those chances today and being honest about how I've been feeling the past few weeks. I haven't been a very pleasant person. Negative thoughts have been the first place my mind goes. Instead of looking for the good things around me, as I normally do, I seemed to relish the opportunity to get upset and angry. Instead of acknowledging that sometimes things are in the "It is what it is," category and I need to let them go, I was dragging anger and confusion along with me every day. It gets pretty heavy carrying all that crap around, and worst of all it changes who you are, but I couldn't seem to help myself.

I couldn't find my way back to the Suzanne who "feels" her smile, whose words can soothe not only others, but herself. I tried, but I wasn't able to figure out how...until finally yesterday...my body feeling broken, my spirit giving up, I put on my headphones, turned on the music, and sat in a chair and cried. Tears streaming down my face, I didn't know why. But suddenly I realized that behind the anger, it was really sadness that was dragging me down. So I cried, and I cried some more, and I still don't know why, but it doesn't matter, because soon a smile and the joy reappeared.

'What will people think?'

Hopefully they'll know they aren't the only one. 

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

KIDS BUZZ: When a storm of sinister forces splits Serafina away from everyone she has come to love, can she harness her powers to conquer it before it's too late? Find out for yourself! Serafina, the #1 bestselling and daring heroine, is back in Robert Beatty's SERAFINA AND THE SPLINTERED HEART. For a chance to win free copies, say hello to authors and more, see http://www.authorbuzz.com/kidsbuzz.

Dear Reader Column 7-06-17

KIDSBUZZ: Click here to discover new books,
"meet" the authors and enter to win.

 

Dear Reader,

Last year it was on a Monday, this year the 4th of July fell on Tuesday, which meant that mentally Monday was really a holiday, too. So the 4th of July was a four day holiday this year, five if you count Wednesday. After all, everyone knows it takes one day to get back in the groove, after such a long vacation from usual routines.

In 2018, the 4th will be on a Wednesday, which means Thursday acts as the get back in the groove day, so what the heck, next year I think we should celebrate the 4th of July for an entire week. (You can tell I'm having trouble getting back into a work frame of mind.)

Dorie, a reader at the book club writes:

"Suzanne, I gave my talk yesterday, 'Saving the World, One Person, One Good Deed or One Bubble at a Time.' I talked about you and how your good deed of cheering people up each morning with your bubbles helps your corner of the world. I had my bubble machine on and our music director sang 'I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles' and he danced through all the bubbles during the entire song. It was hilarious!

And I took your advice and gave out a bubble vial to each person, and told them their assignment was to go home and blow bubbles at someone. Then report back to me next week about all the smiles they get. Thank you for your good advice and your bubbles! --Dorie

Another reader email...

'I just wanted to thank you. A little while back, you shared a book I never, ever would have picked up on my own, but I always at least 'try' the books which you feature. At first I wasn't sure but as I continued reading, I absolutely fell head over heels. All this enthusiasm is thanks to you, Suzanne, not only for your wonderful daily columns but the wide variety of books you introduce me to. Not only to me either; I have recommended this wonderful book to my co-workers here at the library in which I work. Again, thank you so much for all your hard work."--Carol M.

Congratulations to Leasa, from New Ulm Public Library, the winner of a free coupon for a box of Dove Chocolate Ice Cream bars. My favorite indulgence! The coupon is in the mail.

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

Dear Reader Column 7-05-17

KIDSBUZZ: Click here to discover new books,
"meet" the authors and enter to win.

Dear Reader,

Jo Bannister, today's guest author, has written more than thirty novels, published on both sides of the Atlantic. Other Countries, part of the Gabriel Ash Mystery series, is her latest Book. Jo has been a professional writer since the age of 17, first as a provincial journalist and editor, then as a novelist. Jo lives in Northern Ireland, on a spit of land between the Irish Sea and Strangford Lough.

Say hello to Jo, email her here. 

Today's guest author, Jo Bannister...

Excepting those which have killed someone, Grace was possibly the worst dog in the world.

She didn't look it. She had a notably sweet and innocent expression--which should have set alarm bells ringing. As should the fact that she'd had four different homes in two years. But as an old hand at dogs, I reckoned I could sort her out.

Grace was an old hand at people, and reckoned that if there was any sorting to be done, she'd be the one doing it.

It wasn't exactly that she was disobedient, more that she didn't acknowledge any authority higher than her own. When I gave commands, her amber eyes widened in surprise and disappointment that I still didn't understand our respective roles.

Grace was a lurcher, a cross between a hunting hound and a greyhound. A dog that could run like the wind, and keep running all day, and never come back when she was called because the call of the scent was always stronger. Keeping her safe meant walking her on the lead--or on fifty feet of washing-line, which gave her scope to run but caused considerable mirth at our local beach.

She chewed. Anything. Everything. Books. Duvets. In particular, no sock was safe. She demolished three indoor kennels.

Then there were the allergies. She was allergic to dog food. She was allergic to anti-allergenic dog food. She was allergic to most human food. She was violently allergic to those special titbits that dogs find lying in gutters. She would flush pink under her fine white coat, her gentle amber eyes would go darkly wild, and her feet would itch fiercely and demand rigorous chewing. Keeping her well meant restricting her to a diet of boiled rice with fish or chicken.

One winter we had a dusting of snow and she got frost-bite. I bought her some little boots because, in spite of everything, I was immensely fond of her.

The allergies got her in the end. When they developed into a full-blown auto-immune disease, the treatment was steroids. By now you won't be surprised to learn that Grace was allergic to steroids.

She moved on to a higher, or more probably a hotter, place some years ago. But she's memorialised in my recent books as a talking dog named Patience. That bit is fiction: Grace couldn't talk. I know this for a fact. If she had mastered language, the first thing she'd have said was: "Can't you cook anything apart from boiled rice?"

--Jo Bannister
Email Jo here.

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

KIDS BUZZ: When a storm of sinister forces splits Serafina away from everyone she has come to love, can she harness her powers to conquer it before it's too late? Find out for yourself! Serafina, the #1 bestselling and daring heroine, is back in Robert Beatty's SERAFINA AND THE SPLINTERED HEART. For a chance to win free copies, say hello to authors and more, see http://www.authorbuzz.com/kidsbuzz.

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Dear Reader Column 7-04-17

KIDSBUZZ: Click here to discover new books,
"meet" the authors and enter to win.

Dear Reader,

Happy 4th of July! I'm celebrating with my family. Have a bang-up day!

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com