Dear Reader

Dear Reader Column - April 22, 2022

Dear Reader,

(A note from Suzanne... I finally was able to have my gallbladder surgery, so I'm on the mend this week.  I'm sharing some of my favorite funny columns. Laughter is the best medicine!)

I was in the tub the other day, my cell phone rang, and the next thing I knew my husband was handing the phone to me. "Who is it?" I whispered.

My husband shook his head and mouthed, "I don't know." My dear husband is very uncomfortable lying to people, so he gets flustered when the phone rings and the caller asks for me. What's he to say? "Suzanne can't come to the phone, she's in the tub," or "Suzanne told me to tell anyone who calls that she's not here." The phone becomes a game of Hot Potato, my husband quickly handing it off and hoping it doesn't circle back around to him.

The woman on the other end of the line said, "Hello this is Christine and I'm calling from the church. I'd like to know if you want to get your picture taken for the directory." 

"No. Thank you very kindly, but I'll pass," I told her.

"Well, are you still a member?" she asked.

"Yes, I am."

"It doesn't cost anything to get your picture taken."

"I appreciate that, but I would really rather not. My life is kind of complicated right now."

"Well, okay, thanks anyway. Goodbye."

After I hung up the phone my first thought was, 'What have things come to? Why did I say that? I wonder what that woman is thinking now.' If I asked someone to do something and they told me, "No thank you, my life is kind of complicated right now," I would assume something awful--somebody died, someone was ill, or they were in the early stages of a nervous breakdown. But everything's A-okay in my life, so what's up? But before I could further analyze my mysterious reply, another thought popped into my head, one that was even more disturbing.

I started thinking about my old high school yearbook, and now I'm worried about what they'll print in the church directory. I can't remember exactly what the yearbook staff said the year Danny Coohn's picture was missing, but it went something like: "Danny's picture isn't here because he was expelled from school for two weeks, so he couldn't come on school grounds to get his picture taken."

Oh no! I can see it now, "Suzanne Beecher is not listed in this year's church directory because she was taking a bath when we called, and she told us her life was too complicated. We're all praying that her bath is successful and that her life uncomplicates very soon."

* I'm home recovering from my surgery and I'm ready to bake, so I'm looking for three volunteers to sample my chocolate chip cookies. Every month I bake for readers and today's the day to enter the drawing. Three lucky book club readers will receive a box of my chocolate chip cookies, delivered via FedEx, right to your front door.

To enter and see photos of last month’s winners, click here.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

Dear Reader Column - April 1, 2022

Dear Reader,

We're celebrating National Library Week at the book club next week. This year's theme is "Connect with Your Library." Send me an email about your local library or if you're a librarian, how has the library changed in your community? Everyone has a feel-good story about their library or a special librarian, share it with readers and librarians who read at the book club.

Every day, during National Library Week, I'll be giving away fun prizes to folks who work at libraries. But who wants to wait? Let's get the party started early. Enter my first drawing, today, and you might win a "Bookmarks are for Quitters," 15 ounce enamel mug. To enter, click here.

"Hello Suzanne, I want to share with you why I love the library. As a child and teenager, I loved to read all the time. I had an aunt who didn't drive, but loved to read. She didn't want to ask anyone to bring her to the library, so she made arrangements for the bookmobile to visit her. As a result, during the summer we would all run next door to get books. As a parent with young children, I took my children to the library for programs often. It was a great way to keep them entertained and not have to spend lots of money. Now for the last 12 years, I've worked at our local library. I am not a librarian. I am a circulation assistant, and I plan programs for adults (I started out in children's, which was fun, too).

I am so glad I applied for this job. It has been the most fulfilling and rewarding job. I love to connect with our patrons, share book recommendations, and help them find just what they need. And, I am around books all the time. The only drawback is that my 'Must Read' list is so long, I will have to live to be 1000 years old to read them all. I love reading your column every day. Thanks for letting me share." – Brenda G., East Regional Library, Destrehan, LA

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

Dear Reader Column - March 31, 2022

Dear Reader,

"Dear Suzanne, I enjoy your emails, and I love your writings. How would I prepare for your annual, Write a DearReader Contest? Do you have certain themes, topics and word limits? I'm very interested, as I am a newly retired educator who is enjoying writing."

-- Fondly, Jennifer S.

(Suzanne replies:) Congratulations on your retirement! The contest page from last year's Write a DearReader Contest won't be updated until August (launch date August 22nd), but the guidelines will be the same as previous years. The guidelines are below and to read previous winning entries, click here.

1. Maximum word count is 650 words.
2. Submit original entries that have not been previously published.
3. Feel free to submit more than one entry for us to consider.
4. You must be at least 18 years old to enter.
5. Your story will be judged on style and content.
6. Collaborative teams are limited to two people.
7. You must include the name and mailing address of your local library with your original entry in order for them to be eligible to receive the 50% matching, cash prize.

Jennifer, I would encourage you to get in the habit of writing something every day, even if it's only for 15 minutes. Don't worry about thinking ahead of time, 'What topic should I write about?' Instead ask yourself, 'What am I thinking about this very minute?' You could start by typing today's "to-do" list and if you keep your fingers moving on the keys, after that free flowing ideas will appear on the screen.

Your body is a quick study. After a couple of weeks of writing a few minutes every day, when you sit down in front of your computer and put your fingers on the keys, your mind will know exactly what it's supposed to do, because it's been in training every day.

I look forward to reading your entry this year.

Get ready to celebrate National Library Week at the book club, April 3-9. This year's theme is "Connect with Your Library." Send me an email about your local library or if you're a librarian, how has the library changed in your community? Everyone has a feel-good story about their library or a special librarian, share it with readers and librarians who read at the book club.

Every day, during National Library Week, I'll be giving away fun prizes. Celebrate!

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

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

(FICTION)
JUST ONE WISH by Carly Phillips

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

This month's Penguin Classics book is The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway. I have a copy of the book to share with a lucky reader, so start reading and enter for your chance to win.

Dear Reader Column - March 29, 2022

Dear Reader,

Today's the last day you can enter to win the March Chocolate Chip Cookie Giveaway. Three lucky book club readers will receive some of my homemade chocolate chip cookies delivered right to their front doors. I'm ready to bake for you. To see last month's winners and to enter the drawing, click here.

Rabbi Toba Spitzer is today's guest at the book club. A popular teacher of courses on Judaism and economic justice, she has received the honor of being included in Newsweek's Top 50 Rabbis in America list and the 2010 Forward list of 50 Female Rabbis Who Are Making A Difference. Since 1997, she has been the spiritual leader of Congregation Dorshei Tzedek in Newton, MA. Her new book is, God Is Here: Reimagining the Divine.

Email Toba at: [email protected]

In 2007, I received an email at work that I almost deleted. It began, "Dear Rabbi," which sounded sort of anonymous. I thought it might be spam. But I read on, and it turned out the email was from a literary agent at a very large talent agency. He had found some of my sermons online, and thought I should write a book. I was busy being a congregational rabbi and wasn't really thinking about writing a book. We emailed a bit and had a phone conversation, and I told him I'd think about it. He was based in L.A. and I told him, if you're ever in Boston, give me a call. And that was that.

About a year and a half later, I got another email, from another literary agent at a talent agency. She had also found my sermons online, and thought I should write a book. When she mentioned me to her business partner, it turned out that he was the one who had emailed me first.

While I don't believe in a God that micromanages human lives, I had to admit that something mysterious was afoot here. The universe seemed to be telling me I needed to write a book. The duo of literary agents had moved to NYC, and I took the train down one day to have lunch with them. I couldn't quite figure out what kind of book they wanted me to write. "Like your sermons!" they said. But I give sermons on lots of topics, I replied. What exactly is it that you think I have to say in a book? After an hour or so of conversation, I realized: "I think you want me to write a book about God."

That conversation happened back in 2011. In the years since, I began and completed a journey that resulted in my book, God Is Here: Reimagining the Divine. I wrote the book because, after discovering metaphor theory and cognitive linguistics, I realized that helping spiritually-inclined people who aren't so sure about God delve into ancient, non-human metaphors for the divine could literally change lives. With my congregants, I explored how we might bring metaphors like Water and Place and Rock off of the pages of ancient texts and into daily life. The results of our exploration were powerful, but there were only so many people I could teach in person. A book, I hoped, would help me share with many more people of all backgrounds the texts and practices that I had found to be so transformative. Writing this book has been its own spiritual journey, and my sincere hope is that it brings some measure of insight and healing to our broken, beautiful world.

-- Toba Spitzer

Email Toba at, [email protected]

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

This month's Penguin Classics book is The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway. I have a copy of the book to share with a lucky reader, so start reading and enter for your chance to win.

Dear Reader Column - March 22, 2022

Dear Reader,

Today's guest author, Priscilla Masters, was born in Halifax and adopted into a multi-racial family of seven. Brought up in South Wales she moved to Birmingham in the 1970's and trained as a registered nurse at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in Birmingham.

She has produced more than thirty crime novels and one children's book. In addition to the series featuring Coroner Martha Gunn and a forensic psychologist Dr Claire Roget, Priscilla has written the DI Joanna Piercy series since 1995. The latest title in that series is the newly released, Almost a Whisper.

Priscilla has two sons, two grandsons and lives in a Victorian ex-laundry cottage on the Staffordshire/Shropshire border.

Please do contact Priscilla via her website and say "Hello." 

To enter Priscilla's book drawing (you could win one of three copies of Almost a Whisper), send an email with your mailing address to: [email protected]

Priscilla Masters on a First Date

As a first date it could have ended a lot better but not much worse, to be truthful.

I was a first-year student nurse in Birmingham 1970 when I was invited to a party by one of the medical students. So far so good. Except...

My date for the night had heard that the famous clock tower, Old Joe, was undergoing some restoration. A little earlier in the evening he'd recced the tower which was normally padlocked and found a small opening in one of the doors where a panel had been removed. He reckoned that I was just small enough to squeeze through and open the door from the inside.

Old Joe aka The Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Tower, is a clock tower and campanile, or bell tower, located in Chancellor's court at the University of Birmingham. According to Wikipedia it is the tallest free-standing clock tower in the world, although I didn't know that at the time. The university lists it as 361 feet tall. The clock dial measures 17 feet in diameter; the length of the clock's hands are 10 and 6 ft, and the bell weighs in at 5 tons.

A prominent landmark in Birmingham, the grade II listed tower can be seen for miles around the campus as well as from the surrounding roads, and has become synonymous with the University itself.

And my new boyfriend thought it would be a nice start to the evening to pop up to the top, ring the bells and maybe tinker with the hands before heading to the party.

I wasn't exactly dressed for the occasion in lime green hotpants, wedge heels and false eyelashes and I'm not over fond of heights. But luckily the heights thing wasn't a problem as we couldn't look down as we climbed and climbed and climbed, finally reaching a platform. A couple of hangers on had joined the pre-party party and had clanged the bells (I don't know if any of you have read Dorothy L Sayers The Nine Tailors?) Another mischief maker had 'played around' with the clock hands causing confusion to the commuters the next morning on their way to work!

It might not surprise you to know that we didn't get to the party. We were "arrested" by the University Police but released by the Selly Oak Force who between incredulity and guffaws cautioned us and let us go.

What might surprise you more is that I actually married the guy!

-- Priscilla Masters
Enter a drawing to win one of three copies of Almost a Whisper. Send an email with your mailing address to: [email protected]

You may contact Priscilla via her website: https://www.priscillamasters.co.uk/contact-priscilla-masters/

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

This month's Penguin Classics book is The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway. I have a copy of the book to share with a lucky reader, so start reading and enter for your chance to win.

Dear Reader Column - March 17, 2022

Dear Reader,

Today I'm sharing the final Honorable Mention piece from the 2021 Write a DearReader Contest, written by Alice Sarnowski. It truly was a privilege to read all of the entries, whether they were chosen as winners or not. Keep writing, the 2022 Write a DearReader Contest launches this August.

Thank you so much Alice for sharing your story with us.

THE WITCH, THE NUN AND THE AUNT

I grew up in a wonderland of forest and farm animals, but I dreamed of great adventures and travels. I incorporated into my life scenes from Bewitched with "Samantha," jetting around the world with The Flying Nun and being side-by-side with my glamorous Aunt Helen. I made my family sit through numerous plays as I acted out wild tales. All three characters had top billing, but my aunt's scenes were based on word of mouth stories I had heard and witnessed over many years.

My aunt grew up during the depression and those stories seem surreal in this time frame. Shoes were only worn in the snow, to school and church. There was always a race in the summer as to who could toughen up the bottom of their feet the fastest for the numerous softball games and hiking trips. Swimming was in the salt quarry and everyone in the family was picked up in the dark at 4 a.m. by the local farmer to pick onions in the early morning hours before the heat became oppressive.

Mattresses were made of straw, running water from the outdoor pump had to be carried inside and all food was grown and preserved. There was only a phone at the general store and the highlight of the day would be when the iceman delivered shaved ice to the neighborhood children and the wagon would be followed by a group of animated kids as I acted out the Pied Piper and his followers.

Another play I acted out was with the prop of the flying nun. My beautiful aunt caught the eye of a dashing race car driver. I would act out a scene of hanging onto the cape of the nun and we would soar over the race car drivers giving a current of air so my uncle would win all the races. My aunt and uncle became friends of another racer by the name of Paul Newman. When my uncle quit the racing circuit to raise his children, he kept a P.O. Box number so his correspondence with Paul would be confidential from the prying eyes and ears of the town. He never breathed a word of what was in the letters and destroyed them so he would not betray his famous friend.

My aunt and uncle were fans of camping and traversed over all of the United States, Mexico and many Caribbean islands. From postcards and stories I would act out their adventures of scuba diving, deep sea fishing and hot air balloon excursions. I would always do research about where they went so my props would be appropriate to the area they visited for my plays. I would employ the tricks of my beloved Samantha and with her help and the twinkle of her nose she would transport me to their campsite so I was a first hand witness. My poor puppy Roscoe had to wear extra whiskers to play the bewitched Samantha who sent me on my adventures.

Every once in a while I would be asked to accompany this exciting band of travelers as a guest. I kept pinching myself that this wasn't make believe. Once on a camping trip to Door County Wisconsin we witnessed the Northern lights. The ground got a shower of my enchanted tears as I could not believe this magic happened in real life, more than I could have imagined.

My aunt in her 90's is as spry and adventuresome as ever and always has a toothbrush and bag packed for the next adventure. Helen still jets around the world and always has a smile and her illuminating personality draws others into her sphere of excitement. I still have dreams of adventures with my three leading ladies--the witch, the aunt and the nun.

-- Alice Sarnowski
Honorable Mention, 2021 Write a DearReader Contest

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

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

(FICTION)
LISTENING STILL by Anne Griffin

(FICTION)
THE WAR OF TWO QUEENS by Jennifer L. Armentrout

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

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

This month's Penguin Classics book is The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway. I have a copy of the book to share with a lucky reader, so start reading and enter for your chance to win.

Dear Reader Column - March 15, 2022

Dear Reader,

Shelley Shepard Gray is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of numerous romantic fiction series and mystery novels, including the Seasons of Sugarcreek series, the Sisters of the Heart series, the Families of Honor series, and others. She is the recipient of the RT Book Reviews Reviewers' Choice Award. She has written more than eighty novels, translated into multiple languages. Her new book Edgewater Road, is book one in her new series, Rumors in Ross County. You'll find more info at: shelleyshepardgray.com.

Enter the drawing for one of five copies Shelley is giving away to book club readers. Email: [email protected]

Someone asked me the other day if I had a random talent that I was especially proud about. Don't you hate questions like that? I always get a deer-in-the-headlights look when someone asks me something off topic, especially when I'm just planning to talk about work or kids
or the weather.

Anyway, caught off guard, I answered with the first thing that came to mind. I said that I can make really good buttermilk biscuits. My answer went over as well as one of those proverbial lead balloons.

I don't blame the gal for looking confused. We recently moved to a little town outside of Cleveland. Buttermilk biscuits aren't exactly a 'thing' here--and neither is buttermilk. If the conversation ever does veer towards breakfast foods, more than likely most people describe their hunts for really good New York style bagels.

However, after that second's delay, the gal smiled and asked me how my biscuit talent came to be.

Next thing I knew, I was telling her about Sunday mornings in Texas and watching my father use the top of a juice glass to make perfect circles in dough. I remembered him never using a rolling pin and how his hands would always become a floury mess. How he created something really special with just a bunch of self-rising flour, Crisco, and a jug of whole milk.

I also shared that while the biscuits were baking, Dad would make sausage gravy. Within minutes, the whole house would smell like sausage and grease and flour and goodness. It smelled like home.

He passed away when I was still in my twenties--years before I convinced my Clevelander husband that biscuits were really a whole lot better than bagels for breakfast. Eventually, I decided I needed to figure out how to make perfect biscuits, too.

In case you're curious, my latest 'go to' recipe is on the back of a baking powder can. It's written really small--you'll likely need to find a pair of readers to see those tiny numbers. My hint is to go out and get a pint of buttermilk for them (it's worth the effort), don't use a rolling pin, and keep the dough thick. When it's time to cut them out, the top of any glass will do.

All things told, my special talent really isn't all that special, but the memories of how it came to be are. In the end, that's what really matters the most, don't you think?

--Shelley Shepard Gray

Enter the drawing for one of five copies Shelley is giving away to book club readers. Email: [email protected]

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

THE WAR OF TWO QUEENS (FICTION) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

I cannot believe my new title is finally here. I had this book in my head long before I even finished book one. It was definitely an amazing feeling finally seeing some of what I'd always planned come together. Poppy was the Maiden--the Chosen. A bargaining tool. A friend and then a lover. A wife. The Queen. A god. And now, you will see her become something very, very different.

Enter to win one of five copies, click on Authorbuzz and the book jacket to enter.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on THE WAR OF TWO QUEENS to read more and to email author Jennifer L. Armentrout, you'll get a reply.

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

This month's Penguin Classics book is The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway. I have a copy of the book to share with a lucky reader, so start reading and enter for your chance to win.

Dear Reader Column - March 10, 2022

Dear Reader,

Today our guest writer is Frances Lawson, one of the 2021 Honorable Mentions from my Write a DearReader Contest. Thank you so much Frances for sharing your story with us.

Mom's Rural Caseload Memories

My mother was a Social Worker in what she called the "Golden Era of Social Work" in the late 40s--early 60s. She worked in Children Services during part of her career and, while she had many cases--some memories great and some not--she did enjoy passing on a few that made her smile when reflecting on them.

She had a rural case load during her time with Children Services so she would drive to homes where foster children were placed with families and there are memories from two cases that she enjoys sharing.

The first case was a large family where three children had been placed and the family had children of their own. Because Mom would make house visits and this household was busy, she would use her car to speak with the three children placed individually. On one occasion, the mother met Mom on the front porch with a serious look on her face. "We have a situation." My mother asked, "What?"

"Well" the mother replied, "I have been approached by several of our children stating that they think it's only fair that if they have to share their parents with the three foster children, then the three foster children should have to share their caseworker."

"Oh!" Mom said, and the two of them made a deal. Each time she came, she would also see one or two of their children along with the three. She would tell how one of the family's own children would jump into the car and be so enthusiastic--just wanting to know what went on in the car sessions. Every time she remembered this family, she smiled.

The Second case involved a family that she would visit, and it seemed like every time she visited, it would rain. Didn't seem to matter what day of the week or what week of the month--it always seemed to rain. One day while in the office, Mom received a phone call from the mother of the family who stated that her daughter wanted to speak with Mom. When she got on the phone, the daughter asked if Mom could hold off a week for her next visit; this girl's field day was Mom's scheduled day to visit. With a loud chuckle, Mom agreed and went the next week instead. When she arrived at the house, she was met by the mother and both ladies started laughing because the day of the field day had absolutely beautiful weather and yep, you guessed it--this day, sure enough, it was raining.

-- Frances Lawson
Honorable Mention, 2021 Write a DearReader Contest

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

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

(FICTION)
THE DARKEST DESTINY by Gena Showalter

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

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

This month's Penguin Classics book is The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway. I have a copy of the book to share with a lucky reader, so start reading and enter for your chance to win.

Dear Reader Column - March 8, 2022

Dear Reader,

Every other month I feature a Penguin Classics title for you to sample. The Classics are timeless books. Many people feel they each depict such powerful life situations and lessons, that they deserve a special place on the bookshelf and in our hearts.

This month's Penguin Classics is Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises.

Read this short sample and enter (below) to win a copy for yourself:

BOOK I

CHAPTER 1

Robert Cohn was once middleweight boxing champion of Princeton. Do not think that I am very much impressed by that as a boxing title, but it meant a lot to Cohn. He cared nothing for boxing, in fact he disliked it, but he learned it painfully and thoroughly to counteract the feeling of inferiority and shyness he had felt on being treated as a Jew at Princeton. There was a certain inner comfort in knowing he could knock down anybody who was snooty to him, although, being very shy and a thoroughly nice boy, he never fought except in the gym. He was Spider Kelly's star pupil. Spider Kelly taught all his young gentlemen to box like featherweights, no matter whether they weighed one hundred and five or two hundred and five pounds. But it seemed to fit Cohn. He was really very fast. He was so good that Spider promptly overmatched him and got his nose permanently flattened. This increased Cohn's distaste for boxing, but it gave him a certain satisfaction of some strange sort, and it certainly improved his nose. In his last year at Princeton he read too much and took to wearing spectacles. I never met any one of his class who remembered him. They did not even remember that he was middleweight boxing champion.

I mistrust all frank and simple people, especially when their stories hold together, and I always had a suspicion that perhaps Robert Cohn had never been middleweight boxing champion, and that perhaps a horse had stepped on his face, or that maybe his mother had been frightened or seen something, or that he had, maybe, bumped into something as a young child, but I finally had somebody verify the story from Spider Kelly. Spider Kelly not only remembered Cohn. He had often wondered what had become of him.

To continue reading the sample excerpt and enter the drawing to win a copy of the Penguin Classics, The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway, click here.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

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

Dear Reader Column - March 4, 2022

Dear Reader,

Book club reader Nancy G. sent an email that brought me to tears.. "Suzanne, my mom passed away four years ago today, at 92. She was known as the cookie lady--she gave cookies to everyone, just as you do. Waitresses, parking lot attendants, neighbors, handymen…. At her funeral, I asked for a show of hands from everyone who had eaten one of Mom's cookies, and virtually all of the hundred or so people in attendance raised a hand. In lieu of flowers, we asked people to take or send cookies to someone in her memory.

Thanks for sweetening my thoughts of her today with your cookie stories. Keep up the good work!" – Nancy G., Marysville Public Library

(Suzanne replies:) Nancy, reading your email made me think about what happened at my mother's funeral. We had a very distant relationship. I never really got to know much about my mother's past, or what her day-to-day life was like in the small town where I grew up. So I was shocked when I stood in the receiving line at her funeral and almost everyone who walked by told me, "Oh, your mom used to bake cookies and she was always giving them away." ‘Baking cookies and giving them away?' It must be in the genes. All these years of a distant mother/daughter relationship and we could have been talking about cookies.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

* Congratulations to the winners of the February Chocolate Chip Cookie Giveaway. I'll be sending out cookies to these lucky readers, real soon: Gwen S., Portsmouth Public Library, Elissa I., and Donna S., Public Library of Steubenville and Jefferson City.

And Congratulations to the winners of The Little Women Devotional by Guest Author Rachel Dodge: Ann B., Sheri R., Erika S. and Darien M.