Dear Reader

Dear Reader Column 05-31-18

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

Dear Reader,

Two years ago I wrote this column and yesterday I went searching for it, because I realized the crowbar was in hand...

Sometimes I need to wait on a thing, but I insist on trying to push through anyway. Even though I know deep down, I shouldn't. Unfortunately, I'm a champion debater. 'This is exciting, Suzanne, you can make it happen. If you don't push things along, the opportunity might disappear.'

And the rebuttal, 'You've been here before, you know you need to wait. Slow down, the timing needs to be right. Red flags are flying.'

One would think after all these years I'd take my own sound advice about letting things happen in their own time. Because if I convince myself when I know better, and push ahead, then I stumble. Then when I'm wondering why things didn't work, I remind myself I didn't pay attention to my litmus test for making decisions.

Years ago I had a little talk with myself, and decided if I had to try too hard to make something happen, I was messing with the natural flow of things. Possibly even standing in the way of something better than I ever could have imagined. So I came up with a litmus test, or as I refer to it, my crowbar test. It's very simple.

If I have to get a crowbar out to "open the door," to make something happen, then it wasn't meant to be. Simple as that.

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

Congratulations to the winners of my Summer Reading Giveaway: Z. G., LueAnn L., Susan S., Dorine D., Cheryl J., Nancy B., Porter S., Willie L., Georgia G., Melinda M., Jill W., Amy A., Lisa W., Kay M., Kristin M., Tim M. and Jan K.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected] 

AUTHORBUZZ: With so many new books out every week, we promise this title deserves your attention:

(Fiction)
HARBOR OF SPIES by Robin Lloyd

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

* ICE, by Anna Kavan, is this month's Penguin Classics book. Enjoy a great Classics book and enter-to-win a Penguin tote bag. Click here to start reading.

Dear Reader Column 05-30-18

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

Dear Reader,

My guests were impressed. They wondered if I ordered dinner from a restaurant and plated it on my dishes, but I didn't. Easy and elegant, tastes amazing, only 10 minutes preparation and then stir fry.

Shrimp with Vegetables
(You can double this recipe and it works just fine.)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil (that's the amount in the original recipe, but I always use a little more.)
1 pound med-large shrimp, shelled and deveined
8 ounces fresh broccoli, cut into small pieces
2 cans (4 ounces each) whole button mushrooms, drained
1 can (8 ounces) bamboo shoots, sliced
1 red pepper sliced thin
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger (or equivalent of dry seasoning)
1/8 teaspoon seasoned pepper

Heat oil in wok or large skillet over high heat. Add shrimp and stir-fry until shrimp turn pink, about 3 minutes.

Add broccoli to wok, stir-fry 1 minute. Add mushrooms and bamboo shoots, stir-fry 1 minute more.

Combine remaining ingredients in small bowl, mix well. Pour over shrimp/vegetable mixture. Cook and stir until sauce boils and thickens, about 2 minutes more.

I serve it over rice and to make it easy, I buy the vegetable rice in the microwavable bags. Enjoy! If you have a stir-fry favorite recipe, please do email me a copy.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected] 

* ICE, by Anna Kavan, is this month's Penguin Classics book. Enjoy a great Classics book and enter-to-win a Penguin tote bag. Click here to start reading.

Dear Reader Column 05-29-18

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

Dear Reader,

I hate it when it happens. I'm in the checkout line, my groceries are bagged, the clerk tells me to insert my credit card into the machine and we wait, and we wait. The line behind me is getting longer, the clerk is tapping her pen waiting for the "approved" response, but instead "DEADBEAT" flashes across the screen. Well, that not really what the message says, but that's what I feel like it says.

"This card is declined, do you have another one I could try?"

"No, really," I tell the clerk, "there is money on my card. Believe me--I pay it off every month. The credit card company has obviously made a mistake. They even sent me letter last week wanting to increase my credit line. There's plenty of money. Really there is."

But I can tell from the look on her face, she's not impressed. Reality sets in and I retreat a bit, "I bet that's what everyone says to you, don't they?" She nods.

By now everyone in line and within 10 feet of me has taken a shopping respite, quite entertained by my pleas of innocence. I must say I did deliver a stellar performance, ratcheting each line up a notch. (Somehow I think that volume increases believability.)

My purchase is voided and I'm led away to the service desk so I can contact my credit card company. Twenty minutes later--ten minutes of that time on hold--I'm proven innocent. All charges are dropped. But by this time the original "jurors" have all left the store, even the cashier went home for the day, so there are no witnesses to hear my innocent verdict.

It was a bit of let down, because I was really looking forward to making an official announcement to somebody, so maybe that's why I'm writing about it today. Do you mind listening?

"See, I was telling the truth. There was plenty of money available on my card."

Ah, that felt good...thanks for listening.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

* ICE, by Anna Kavan, is this month's Penguin Classics book. Enjoy a great Classics book and enter-to-win a Penguin tote bag. Click here to start reading.

Dear Reader Column 05-28-18

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

Dear Reader,

Take time on this Memorial Day to remember...

...and take some time to gather with family and friends.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected] 

** AUTHORBUZZ **

HARBOR OF SPIES (Fiction) by Robin Lloyd

Enter the exotic but dangerous world of Havana during the American Civil War. Intrigue, blackmail, and a mysterious unsolved murder of an English diplomat entangle a young American ship captain, Everett Townsend. The investigation into the murder leads him into trouble, but also into a fiery romance with a young Cuban-American woman. Together they are soon swept up by the events of the Civil War as they come face to face with the dark forces on the island.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on HARBOR OF SPIES to read more and to email author Robin Lloyd, you'll get a reply.

* ICE, by Anna Kavan, is this month's Penguin Classics book. Enjoy a great Classics book and enter-to-win a Penguin tote bag. Click here to start reading.

Dear Reader Column 05-25-18

Dear Reader,

If you need a dish for a get together this holiday weekend, why not try my skunk beans? You can view my other favorite recipes at my recipe blog.

My Skunk Bean recipe is one of my all-time favorites, but I never knew the story behind the beans until I was looking through some old recipes I'd found in my mother's kitchen cupboard after she passed away. I discovered a folded piece of paper with the heading, "Beans for Skunk Party." Instantly I was smiling, because I realized how the Skunk Beans got their name.

Almost every other Sunday evening the Tindell clan (including my dad, his four sisters, and Grandma and Grandpa Tindell) got together to play some serious Euchre. The kitchen in Grandma Tindell's house was so small that when the table was pulled open to seat everyone, you could barely walk around it. But that didn't matter. Get out the blue and red chips, which represented pennies--it wasn't about the money--it was all about winning the game and could you "skunk" your opponents in the process.

Euchre isn't a complicated game, but until you've played awhile, the table talk can sound like a foreign language. "Fishing out, dead-set legend, the ribbit, farm hand or no ace/no face, follow suit, trump, and skunked--which means that you and your partner lost the game without scoring one single point. Rumor has it that in some Euchre circles a team that gets skunked, also gets a "bum run." (If you and your partner get skunked you must run about a predetermined route--naked!)

I was just a kid, who sat by herself in the living room watching The Wonderful World of Disney alone, because none of my dad's sisters brought their children along, and there was a wall between the kitchen and me, so as far as I know no one ever did a bum run. But I do remember my mother frequently taking Skunk Beans to the Sunday evening Euchre party.

SKUNK BEANS

8 bacon strips - very crisp
1 onion, chopped & sauteed
1/2 cup vinegar
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard Dash garlic salt
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 can kidney beans (drained)
1 can lima beans (drained)
1 #2 can pork and beans (drained) (#2 can = 20 oz can or 2 1/2 cups)

Cover and bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Uncover and bake for another 1/2 hour.

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

Have a wonderful holiday weekend,

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected] 

* ICE, by Anna Kavan, is this month's Penguin Classics book. Enjoy a great Classics book and enter-to-win a Penguin tote bag. Click here to start reading. 

Dear Reader Column 05-24-18

Dear Reader,

One thing about living in a small town, that I really didn't appreciate until I left, is the neighborly feeling a small town gives you. Growing up in one of those small towns, population 2,000, everybody pretty much knew everybody, and if you needed a ride, or a cup of sugar--just knock on a door. I hope my mind isn't stuck "back in the day," and the reality is that just like big city dwellers, small town folks simply go about their business nowadays, and don't even know who lives next door anymore. (I sure hope not.)

For the past 26 years I've lived in Sarasota, Florida, population 56,000. It offers just the right amount of big city feel, and if you're on the lookout for it, you can experience that small town feeling every day, too.

It was 8:30 in the morning, my phone rang. It was Mark the receptionist at my dentist's office, "Suzanne, I see you're on our cancellation list. If someone canceled their teeth cleaning, you wanted us to call. We're calling. I know it's short notice, but could you be here at 10 a.m.?"

"Unfortunately," I told Mark, "my husband is gone for the day, so I don't have a car."

"No problem, Mark said. "You live close by, we're practically neighbors, how about if I pick you up ten minutes before ten, and I'll take you back home after your cleaning?"

Being chauffeured to the dentist, it was a first for me. When I arrived I told the staff I felt like "Queen for a Day." (Remember that show? Unfortunately the dentist and I were the only ones old enough to remember.) Forty-five minutes later, my teeth were clean, shiny and smooth, with no cavities, and I got a lift home from a "neighbor."

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

* It's my Summer Reading Giveaway! Summer is the perfect time to pull up a lounge chair and settle in with a good book. Every day this week I'm giving away books from my bookshelf and you can enter every day. Click here.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected] 

* ICE, by Anna Kavan, is this month's Penguin Classics book. Enjoy a great Classics book and enter-to-win a Penguin tote bag. Click here to start reading. 

Dear Reader Column 05-23-18

Dear Reader,

From Gail G., a reader at the book club...

"Suzanne, I just wanted to thank you for your daily column and tell you how much I enjoy it! I look forward to reading it every morning and it's the first thing I look at when I open my email every day. I identify with you so much that I feel like I'm getting a letter from a long time friend! Love the recipes and giveaways, but especially the content of your missives--I really relate to your musings, they're so much like my own. The Mother's Day article especially hit home for me. Please keep up your efforts (it can't be easy to write these every day), but also know your column is better than therapy!"

(Suzanne replies:) You're a sweetheart. Thank you so much. Writing every day for the past 19 years (oh my gosh, that's a long time, isn't it?), you are right Gail, sometimes it's not easy. Your email reminded me of a column I wrote years ago, about one of the biggest problems about writing a daily column. Thanks for the trip down memory lane...

I never know what day it is anymore. I'm on deadline every day, but it's not for the day I'm on. See how confusing things can get?

I'm supposed to write my column at least two days before it's published at the book clubs, so it can get all tidied up and loaded into a software program, in time to show up in your email. So on Monday I'm writing Wednesday, on Wednesday I'm writing Friday, on Friday I'm already into next week. Sometimes things get even more confusing if I'm going on a business trip and I have to write further ahead. Then I'm not in this week, or next week, but in the week after that.

And that's probably why I showed up for a doctor's appointment, two weeks early. When the receptionist asked me what day my appointment was supposed to be on, I told her, "Today, Tuesday."

"No, it's Tuesday, a week from now," she pointed out, but I insisted that I'd already traveled through those days....

What day is it? When my husband first saw it in the magazine, a clock that doesn't tell time--it only displays the day of the week, he thought it was a stupid idea. Who in their right mind would need such a thing? (And then he thought of me.)

But I'm an old-fashioned kind of girl and I think I've found an old fashioned solution instead. When I was a kid, everybody wore them, "Day of the Week Underwear." Monday through Sunday, each pair came in a different pastel color and the day of the week was decoratively stitched on the outside left-hand corner.

It's perfect. I'll always know for sure what day of the week it is because my underwear goes everywhere I go.

Want to know what day it is? Hang on a second, let me check my undies.

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

* It's my Summer Reading Giveaway! Summer is the perfect time to pull up a lounge chair and settle in with a good book. Every day this week I'm giving away books from my bookshelf and you can enter every day. Click here.

* And congratulations to the winners of The Read-Aloud Family by Guest Author Sarah Mackenzie: Ann S., Linda H., Janet V., Mary A., Emily C., Heather W., Kathleen M., Beverly C., Carol M. and Chris D.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected] 

* ICE, by Anna Kavan, is this month's Penguin Classics book. Enjoy a great Classics book and enter-to-win a Penguin tote bag. Click here to start reading. 

Dear Reader Column 05-22-18

Dear Reader,

Please welcome today's New York Times bestselling author, Michelle Gable. Her latest novel The Summer I Met Jack, is based on true events from the life of American socialite Alicia Corning Clark. "The story offers an alternate Kennedy family history that will leave readers wondering whether America knew the real JFK at all. A riveting tale about America's most romanticized family" (Kirkus Reviews).

After a twenty-year career in finance, Michelle now writes full time. She lives in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California, with her husband, two daughters, and a lazy cat, a feisty bunny, and a newly adopted dog.

Michelle loves to hear from readers so please say hello. Email Michelle at: [email protected]

And Michelle is giving away copies of her latest release, The Summer I Met Jack. Send an email to: [email protected]

Welcome to the book club Michelle...

Sibling Rivalry

We have two daughters in middle school, ages twelve and fourteen. People always want to know, "do they get along?"

Yes, and very much so. There is no jealousy between them, even though they've played the same sports, on the same team. They've had their coach--'their Dad'--pull one from the pitching mound in favor of the other. He's ranked them as hitters too, and none of it has affected their friendship at all.

Our problem is that they get along a little too well sometimes. They plot and scheme. They get kicked out of Dad's car.

"He made us walk home," Paige explained once when I found them on the freeway overpass. "We were having too much fun."

"He called us 'jackbutts,'" Georgia wanted me to know.

Sibling rivalry hadn't been a factor in our house and I assumed not much would change. Then, we adopted a sinewy, fretful Thai street dog named Winnie, and jealousy reared its ugly head.

Winnie is a four-year-old Lab/Jindo mix, rescued from the dog meat trade. Though it took a while for her to warm up, to stop eyeing us sideways and with that skeptical Kermit-the-Frog smirk, she eventually picked me as her person, no doubt thanks to my generosity with walks and treats.

Jindos are notoriously loyal and I loved seeing her snout perpetually at my feet. We all fell fast and hard for the girl, or so I thought, until I noticed my youngest acting surly toward our new pet.

I've always said that Georgia would make a tough middle child, and it turned out I was right. She confessed to being jealous of the dog.

Winnie was getting all the attention, she complained, not to mention gobs of treats. I'd rolled my eyes at helicopter parents before, but now I was helicoptering nonstop. Worst of all, I went on and on about how cute she was.

I assured Georgia of her rank, but she tried to assert her position nonetheless. She'd run past the dog to greet me in the morning and whisper indignities into her floppy ears. Sometimes, I'd walk into the house to find a five-foot-eight sixth grader looming menacingly in the door.

"Look at me first," she'd say, Winnie wagging confusedly behind her.

Thankfully, Georgia recovered from this bout of sibling rivalry, not long after I started adding "for a dog" to every compliment paid. But, I'll be on book tour soon, and I'm a tad concerned about how she'll react to me wanting to FaceTime with the dog.

--Michelle Gable

Email Michelle at [email protected]

To enter to win a copy of The Summer I Met Jack send an email to: [email protected]

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

* It's my Summer Reading Giveaway! Summer is the perfect time to pull up a lounge chair and settle in with a good book. In addition to the weekly book drawing, every day this week I'm giving away books from my bookshelf, and you can enter every day. Enter here.

* ICE, by Anna Kavan, is this month's Penguin Classics book. Enjoy a great Classics book and enter-to-win a Penguin tote bag. Click here to start reading. 

Dear Reader Column 05-21-18

Dear Reader,

Pull up a lounge chair and settle in with a good book this summer. Today is the start of my Summer Reading Giveaway. Every day this week be sure to enter my book giveaway. The books are on my bookshelf and ready to travel to your front door. Enter here.

Days gone by, out with the old technology, in with the new. But I want my paper, pencil, and magnet back. I want to be able to write myself a note and stick it to the front of my refrigerator door. Easy-peasey, write it and plop it on the front of the door with a magnet and that's it. But my shiny, silver refrigerator door refuses to do its job.

I've got to tell you, I find it amazing that my refrigerator door serves up ice: cubed or crushed, filtered water and even lights my way if I'm trying to fill my glass in the dark, but it's non-magnetic so it can't accommodate my grandchildren's drawings, a grocery list, and a "note-to-self" about where I have to be and what time I should be there.

Yes, I realize if I wanted my refrigerator door to remind me of things, and display artwork, the latest and (supposedly greatest) $4000 iceboxes are advertised as "Smart Refrigerators with InstaView Door-in-Door and are WiFi Enabled," and I can "Knock twice to illuminate and see what's inside..." And, if I "...live in a Smart Home open your refrigerator remotely and troubleshoot." Wow! Now that's amazing. So if I'm heading toward the kitchen from the my bedroom, the refrigerator door will be open, waiting and welcoming me.

The latest and greatest new technology, it might be an offer some girls can't refuse, but I'd much rather see my grandchildren's drawings, and the note that reminds me the dentist is expecting me at 9 a.m.--even if it means I have to open the door myself.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected] 

* ICE, by Anna Kavan, is this month's Penguin Classics book. Enjoy a great Classics book and enter-to-win a Penguin tote bag. Click here to start reading.

Dear Reader Column 05-18-18

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

Dear Reader,

When the main character in the movie I was watching announced, "I was born to surf," the line intrigued me. Based on a true story, clearly the woman got it right, because even after losing her arm in a shark attack, she worked her way back to being an award-winning surfer.

So how would I finish that sentence? What was I born to do? One of the traits I like and dislike about myself, is I'm very good at doing many things, but not really, really talented at anything in particular. Seems to me if "I was born to" do something--if it were my assignment here on earth, so to speak--there wouldn't be any question about it. It would be easy to recognize, right?

My first-try attempt at filling in the blank, (when I didn't edit my thoughts) was that "I was born to be happy." But apparently I have a hard time believing it, because most of the time I feel I need to earn happiness. 'I worked hard,' I tell myself when I reach a goal, so now I deserve to feel happy. And it's true, I did work hard, but happiness doesn't need to be earned.

I've strayed from finishing the sentence, "What was I born to do?" But maybe a more important question is, "What makes me happy?" Now that's an easy one to answer. Making people feel at home when they come to my house for dinner, hoping they feel as loved and cared for as when I went to my grandmother's house. Baking cookies and giving them away for no special reason. Really listening to what people say when someone says their mom or dad is ill, I don't gloss over and change the subject, I ask about it, I give them a chance to talk and I listen. Happiness is owning a bubble machine and turning it on in front of my house--and it makes other people happy too--because if bubbles aren't wafting out from my driveway on a Saturday when folks walk by, I hear them calling, "Bubbles, bubbles, where are the bubbles?" Attending to details makes me happy. Adding that little extra something special when I'm wrapping a package, fixing a sandwich with a fancy umbrella toothpick stuck in it for the man repairing our pump (he took the paper umbrella home to show his kids).

Sewing quilts and waiting for my "assignment" about who I'm supposed to give the quilt to. Having fun with my grandchildren and creating memories for them to take along on their own life's journey, waking up every morning and asking myself "What's something special I can do for my husband today?' spoiling our five cats, and writing words that touch people's hearts.

"What was I born to do?" You know, I think I had it right the first time. "I was born to be happy and to inspire others to be happy, too."

What were you born to do?

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected] 

* ICE, by Anna Kavan, is this month's Penguin Classics book. Enjoy a great Classics book and enter-to-win a Penguin tote bag. Click here to start reading.