Dear Reader

Dear Reader Column - February 25, 2025

Dear Reader,

Today's guest author, Riley Black (she/they) is the award-winning author of The Last Days of the Dinosaurs. Riley's new book, When the Earth Was Green, celebrates the intimate nature of how plants and animals have shaped each other through hundreds of millions of years. Riley has also written about prehistoric life in articles for publications such as National Geographic and Smithsonian, appeared on programs such as NOVA and Science Friday, and has been a science consultant for the Jurassic World franchise. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.

You could win one of three copies of When the Earth Was Green. Send an email with your preferred shipping address (in case you're a winner) to: [email protected]

Please say Hello and welcome back to the book club Riley Black...

Stop to Sniff the Roses

Jet is a very patient dog. He's learned to be during the ten years we've lived together, as aware of the morning routine as I am. The cats wake me up with their hungry meows by 6:30, their call to breakfast as I let Jet out to refresh his claim on the backyard. Everyone sated and relieved, I wash up and pick out my clothes for the day, and as I come up the stairs I pause by the collar and leash on the wall to ask my old German shepherd a question I always know the answer to. "Walk?"

Head low and tail wagging, Jet trots over to be fitted with the necessary equipment. (Sorry, buddy, I don't make leash laws.) He's always quiet in the backseat as we head across town to our favorite spot to stroll, not least of all because of the coffee roaster where we both get treats--a soy raspberry latte for me and a dog cookie for him. Jet knows this. If I say the word "coffee" around him before 9AM, he knows exactly where we're going.

Sometimes my girlfriend Splash joins us. Often, it's just Jet and me. But no matter the company, I'm always looking for something special. I never know what it is until I find it. One warm morning it was a huge leopard slug, its lovely little slime trail glistening in the low angle light. On another occasion it was a wild rose, ' Rosa woodsia,' blooming long after all the others had dropped their petals for the season. Turkey vultures twirling in a thermal, fox squirrels chasing and chattering as they flirt, a bold jumping spider seeming to watch me as curiously as I watch it, every day there is something that makes me stop and wonder about lives I only get to glimpse for a few moments.

I can't say that Jet shares my fascination. He's more fixated on the scent signposts left by other dogs around the sidewalks and trees. But he gets me out the door every day and has kept me moving even on the days when depression seems to sink into my muscles. We need to move. We need to look for something, to get out in the world and find out what perks our ears. If some morning he asked me if I'd like to go for a walk, I'd surely say yes.

-- Riley Black

You could win one of three copies of When the Earth Was Green. Send an email with your preferred shipping address (in case you're a winner) to: [email protected]

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected] 

Dear Reader Column - February 18, 2025

Dear Reader,

Raised on a family farm in Michigan, today's guest author, Charlotte Whitney, is the author of historical fiction set in the rural Midwest in the 1930s. Her most recent work, A Tiny Piece of Blue, follows a homeless girl as she struggles to survive during the Great Depression. It sets the traditions of rural Michigan against a backdrop of thievery, bribery, and child trafficking--weaving a suspenseful yet tender tale winding its way to a heartwarming conclusion.

Charlotte's other two historical novels are The Unveiling of Polly Forrest and Threads A Depression-Era Tale. In addition, she has authored I Dream in White, a contemporary romance, How to Win at Upwords, a nonfiction book about her favorite word game, and a self-help book, Win-Win Negotiations for Couples. Charlotte received a master's degree in English and served as associate director of the Lloyd Scholars for Writing and the Arts at the University of Michigan. She lives in Arizona with her husband and two Labrador retrievers.

You could win a copy of A Tiny Piece of Blue. Charlotte is giving away three copies of her new book. To enter the drawing, drop her a note at: [email protected]

Please welcome to the book club…Charlotte Whitney…

 

The summer between high school and college I participated in a youth program in The Netherlands. I'd lived a sheltered life on a Michigan farm and was excited to expand my wings, but I also carried some high school angst—anxiety about meeting new people and fitting in.

The first few nights we were housed in a youth hostel--a huge room with a hundred bunk beds. It was dark, dank, and noisy. To my chagrin I was assigned to after meal clean-up. Our evening meal was unappetizing bologna sandwiches made with soft, white bread. Clean-up was nothing less than disgusting. Sure, with my farm background, I'd fed slop to pigs and cleaned out the manure from the pen of my 4-H beef steer. But nothing had prepared me for disposing of the remnants of bologna sandwiches with bare hands, no gloves available. The stench left me retching. The next morning brought us back for our first Dutch breakfast. I must have been dreaming cream puffs, hot cinnamon pastries, or apple fritters.

Instead, once again we had white bread, nothing more, and morning clean-up was no less nauseating than the prior evening.

However, life became better in a few days when we met our Dutch hosts and took off in all directions. Thus began a magical summer that included travelling the entire country, going to art museums, exploring castles, studying historical battlegrounds, and delighting in what would become my favorite meal, an Indonesian rijsttafel.

The end of August found me remarkably changed. After a summer of interacting with people from different countries, different ages, and from all walks of life, I'd become self-confident, ever-so-curious, my own person. On our last night we ended up in another youth hostel in Brussels. I was surrounded by current and soon-to-be friends, happy beyond belief. I volunteered for breakfast clean-up and joked around with other guests, a perfect ending to the summer.

Yes, it turns out that it was the same youth hostel, but I didn't realize it until the following day. Those few months that separated my two hostel stays gave me an important life lesson about perspective. Simply put, we have a choice on how we view and interact in our environment. Decades later, after a lifetime of work and family responsibilities, I still reflect on that life-changing summer. I now understand I have agency; I can react to situations through a positive or negative lens. I can revert to that eighteen-year-old's wonder and joy. It's right there for the taking.

-- Charlotte Whitney

You could win a copy of A Tiny Piece of Blue. Charlotte is giving away three copies of her new book. To enter the drawing, drop her a note at: [email protected]

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected] 

Dear Reader Column - February 12, 2025

Dear Reader,

Today's guest author, Jayna Breigh is an award-winning author of romantic legal dramas. With over a decade of experience practicing "big city law" in Los Angeles, Jayna brings authenticity to her stories, which feature lawyers, courtroom intrigue, senior citizens, and characters overcoming life's toughest challenges. Beyond writing, Jayna has shared her insights as a speaker at women's retreats and a leader of Bible studies. She's drawn to humor, inspiration, and painfully cute social media. The only personal drama she indulges in? British period pieces and competitive games of Wordfeud.

Jayna's debut novel, The Hunted Heir, follows the story of Nona Taylor, a reclusive private investigator, and DeMarcus Johnson, an ambitious attorney, whose lives collide when a pastor's mysterious inheritance uncovers a dangerous secret. Bound by a fake engagement, the two must join forces to unravel the mystery and protect everything they hold dear.

Enter the drawing to win one of three copies of The Hunted Heir. Email [email protected] and include your mailing address in case you're a winner.

Libraries—Neighborhood Hidden Jewels

I knew I had a problem when I took my kids to three different libraries in one day. We drove miles chasing down a book, not content to wait to have what we wanted transferred to our local branch. Would I drive thirty miles to a library to see a puppet show? Yes. Multiple times. When we traveled to Arizona to visit in-laws, we hit up three libraries and saw a father/son viola duo, a reptile exhibit harassed by the fire department for exceeding the library capacity, and a horse on stage in the auditorium. Eventually, I had to confiscate my kids' library cards because I could not keep track of the 50 books each they had checked out, plus my 50.

To many, libraries are relics of a bygone era, but setting aside the thousands of books which open up worlds of enchantment, libraries offer so much more. Our local library offers help from lawyers to expunge misdemeanors like traffic tickets, seminars educating first-time home buyers, and technology classes. You can check out passes for the puppet theater and the local zoo. And, of course, you can take classes to learn how to write everything from novels to memoirs. I explained to my children that libraries are not free, but that as citizens of a city or town, we choose to pay for them with our tax dollars. I told them that, as a family, we considered that use of our tax dollars a worthwhile investment. Then, a library plot twist arose.

My sister-in-law noticed Little Free Libraries sprouting up out West and she told my husband. He loved the idea and built one for our house here in the Southeast. Gawking neighbors flocked to the neighborhood's first LFL, overwhelming my husband with requests for custom-built libraries. He ended up building six Little Free Libraries for a neighborhood just under one square mile in size.

We've been LFL stewards for over a decade, and it is sheer delight watching families, senior citizens, and young people stroll up to our LFL to take a book, leave a book, or both.

In this digital age, libraries may seem like relics from the past. But the truth is, libraries aren't just about books--they're gateways to connection, curiosity, and kindness. They remind us that shared spaces and stories can still shape our neighborhoods--and our lives.

-- Jayna Breigh

JaynaBreigh.com

Enter the drawing to win one of three copies of The Hunted Heir. Email [email protected] and include your mailing address in case you're a winner.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected] 

Dear Reader Column - February 11, 2025

Dear Reader,

It’s time for a Penguin Classic! Be sure to enter to win a copy of today’s Classic for yourself

This month's Penguin Classic is, The Portable Feminist Reader edited by Roxane Gay.

(Notes from the publisher)  

For Roxane Gay, a feminist canon is subjective and always evolving. A feminist canon represents a long history of feminist scholarship, embraces skepticism, and invites robust discussion and debate. Selected writings by ancient, historic, and more recent feminist voices include Henricus Cornelius Agrippa, Anna Julia Cooper, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Dorothy Allison, Leslie Feinberg, Eileen Myles, Mona Eltahawy, bell hooks, Sara Ahmed, Cherríe Moraga, Audre Lorde, The Guerrilla Girls, and many more. With an introduction, headnotes, and an inspired list of multimedia recommendations, Roxane Gay presents multicultural perspectives, ecofeminism, feminism and disability, feminist labor, gender perspectives, and Black feminism. Through the 'Portable Feminist Reader,' readers explore the state of American feminism, its successes and failures, and what feminism looks like in practice, as a complex, contradictory, personal and political, and ever-growing legacy of feminist thought.

* Start reading this month’s Penguin Classic and enter to win your own copy: 

http://www.supportlibrary.com/bc/v.cfm?L=drclassqqxqB1AFE3FFA392&c=CLASSICS

 

Instead of making a dinner reservation this year or exchanging cards and gifts, my husband and I are going to cook together on Valentine's Day--a romantic dinner at home for two.

We've been married for 47 years, so we dug through my recipe files for dishes that "used-to-be" our favorites, but for some reason we stopped making them. We found two of our (used-to-be) favorites, so we'll be cooking Pasta Verde with Broccoli, broiling a Marinated Flank Steak, and adding a tossed salad.

For our Valentine dessert we're going to each buy two pieces of exquisite handmade chocolates from the chocolate store on St. Armands Circle. The chocolates are pricey little things, dark chocolate for me and milk chocolate for my husband, but they taste divine!

Broiled Marinated Flank Steak 

1 flank steak about 1 1/2 pounds, tenderized with garlic-seasoned meat tenderizer

4 to 6 tablespoons mustard (honey mustard, regular mustard, whatever kind you like)

2 to 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Put steak on cutting board and with sharp knife, score surface of steak in diagonal crisscross pattern. Don't cut too deeply. Turn and score the other side in the same way.

Sprinkle both sides of steak with meat tenderizer, mix together the mustard and Worcestershire sauce, then spread mixture lightly on both sides of the steak. Cover with plastic wrap and leave for several hours, or overnight in refrigerator.

Broil 4 inches from heat for four to five minutes on each side, depending on thickness and desired doneness. (Should be pink in the middle) Slice very thinly and serve.

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

Dear Reader Column - February 4, 2025

Dear Reader,

Today's guest author, Erin Crosby Eckstine is an author of speculative historical fiction, personal essays, and anything else she's in the mood for. Born in Montgomery, Alabama, Eckstine grew up between the South and Los Angeles before moving to New York City to attend Barnard College. She earned a master's in secondary English education from Stanford University and taught high school English for six years. She lives in Brooklyn with her partner and their cats.

Junie, Erin's debut novel, follows a young girl facing a life-altering decision after awakening her sister's ghost, navigating truths about love, friendship, and power as the Civil War looms. 

You can touch base with Erin via her website: https://erincrosbyeckstine.com/

Welcome to the book club Erin...

 

Collard greens are essential to Black Southern food. Enslaved Africans, forced to make do with plantation scraps and their own gardens, adapted West African recipes to suit their needs. Black families relied on this dish during Jim Crow and post-slavery poverty. My grandparents grew up on neighboring farms in rural Alabama with at least eight people in their households, so it's no surprise their families relied on greens for sustenance. Now, they're my winter comfort food.

One of my relatives in Alabama is always growing collard, mustard, and turnip greens. When I was growing up, my family would harvest from a patch before the holidays, storing the bounty in the garage. 'The Bear' had nothing on my grandmother's kitchen rules, one of them being her specific cutting method for collard greens: rip the stem off the folded leaf, place the largest leaves at the base, form cigar-shaped rolls from these greens, and most crucially, slice them to pencil width. Wide-cut greens are harder to eat; partially why pre-cut greens are such a disaster. To this day, one of my proudest moments is when my grandmother told me I was the only one in the family who knew how to properly cut greens.

Southern greens use leftover pork, a legacy of slavery. Slow cooking made the meat palatable, providing protein otherwise unavailable to slaves. I use smoked turkey instead of pork since I don't eat red meat, and miso (my secret ingredient) and umami mushroom powder make a delicious meat substitute for vegans. If you like pork, the ham hocks are great. Non-vegetarian greens require homemade stock. Pour store-bought stock (chicken, pork, or turkey) over the smoked meat, and simmer until tender.

Slow cooking makes greens digestible and nutritious. Greens are not spinach; they take their time. I've found my Instant Pot's pressure cooker setting does a great job of speeding things up without sacrificing the flavor and texture. The stock and greens, once cooked together, better inform your seasoning choices. You will need salt, sugar, hot sauce, cayenne, miso, and garlic and/or onion powder. Season to taste; you'll know it's right when the umami taste activates those salivary glands. Sugar is key to authentic Southern greens. The key: balance the greens' bitterness without overly sweetening the broth.

After serving greens, you'll have a bunch of leftover liquid. This is the pot likker and is liquid gold in Southern culture. Drink it straight if you like, or freeze it for the next time you make greens. It's a great remedy for colds!

-- Erin Crosby Eckstine

https://erincrosbyeckstine.com/

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]