True Book Addict...Books, Cats, and More: 2020

Thursday, December 31, 2020

#CatThursday - Happy New Year! #2021

I wrote this last night and posted it on my Christmas blog. Just a message of hope to carry you into 2021.

I was watching that quintessential classic, It's A Wonderful Life tonight while I was decorating more cookies. (As many know, I like to keep my Yuletide celebrations going until Twelfth Night.) I usually watch this movie every year, but this year something was different. The message meant more to me. At the end, I was in tears. I've always been touched by this film, but this year, it really made me reflect.

We've all had a rough year...the entire world. Many have lost loved ones, friends. We've been separated from our families and our social groups. Our way of life is not the same. Will it ever be? These are the questions and these are the struggles we are all having.

As I look ahead to the new year with hope, I keep in my mind the message of It's a Wonderful Life. It IS a wonderful life. Every single one of us matter. Every one of us would be missed if we were gone. Every life we have ever touched would be changed forever if we never existed.

So, think on it. I know it's hard right now, but just being alive is wonderful. Our family and friends knowing we are out there somewhere, and finding comfort in it, is wonderful. Hope is wonderful, and so is love.

It really, truly is a wonderful life.

Wishing you and yours a Happy New Year! Now for some whimsy...

Thursday, December 24, 2020

#CatThursday - Merry, Merry! #Christmas

Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the Feast of Stephen
When the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even
Brightly shone the moon that night
Though the frost was cruel
When a poor man came in sight
Gathering winter fuel

Hither, page, and stand by me,
If thou knowst it, telling
Yonder peasant, who is he?
Where and what his dwelling?
Sire, he lives a good league hence,
Underneath the mountain
Right against the forest fence
By Saint Agnes fountain.

Bring me flesh and bring me wine
Bring me pine logs hither
Thou and I shall see him dine
When we bear them thither.
Page and monarch, forth they went
Forth they went together
Through the rude winds wild lament
And the bitter weather

Sire, the night is darker now
And the wind blows stronger
Fails my heart, I know not how
I can go no longer.
Mark my footsteps, good my page
Tread thou in them boldly
Thou shall find the winters rage
Freeze thy blood less coldly.

In his masters step he trod
Where the snow lay dinted
Heat was in the very sod
Which the Saint had printed
Therefore, Christian men, be sure
Wealth or rank possessing
Ye, who now will bless the poor
Shall yourselves find blessing.

A Merry Yuletide to you and yours. Stay safe and warm!

Thursday, December 17, 2020

#CatThursday - #Christmas Week Three #cats

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
From now on
Our troubles will be out of sight

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the Yule-tide gay
From now on
Our troubles will be miles away

Here we are as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more

Through the years we all will be together
If the fates allow
Hang a shining star upon the highest bough
And have yourself a merry little Christmas now

Tree update from our house. Had the tree up for several days without ornaments. Merida basically made it her new toy/bed. Decorated it Tuesday night. None of the breakable ornaments were hung. Wednesday morning...ornaments all over the floor. She seems to have calmed down a bit and taken to just lying under it, but we shall see. Fingers crossed!

Thursday, December 10, 2020

#CatThursday - #Christmas Week Two #cats

Happy Holiday
Happy Holiday
While the merry bells keep ringing
May your every wish come true

Happy Holiday
Happy Holiday
May the calendar keep bringing
Happy Holidays to you

The last thing an ornament sees before it dies...

I still haven't put up my tree. Frankly, I'm quite alarmed thinking of what Merida is going to do to it. I've never had a kitten this wild! Wish me luck!

Thursday, December 3, 2020

#CatThursday - #Christmas Week One #cats

Thursday, November 26, 2020

#CatThursday - Happy Thanksgiving! #cats

Sunday, November 22, 2020

Classics Club Spin 25 #ccspin

Joining in a bit late...because Deb Nance said I could. lol Thanks, Deb!

Made my list and then randomly sorted it. Here's the list before the sort.

1. The Vein of Gold, Julia Cameron

2. Buddenbrooks, Thomas Mann

3. The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky

4. Murder in the Cathedral, T.S. Eliot

5. Rob Roy, Sir Walter Scott

6. On Becoming a Novelist, John Gardner

7. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens

8. Becoming a Writer, Dorothea Brande

9. The Writing of Fiction, Edith Wharton

10. Roderick Hudson, Henry James

11. In Cold Blood, Truman Capote

12. The Marble Faun, Nathaniel Hawthorne

13. The Writing Life, Annie Dillard

14. Writing Past Dark, Bonnie Friedman

15. Roxana, Daniel Defoe

16. Negotiating with the Dead, Margaret Atwood

17. The Faith of a Writer, Joyce Carol Oates

18. The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton

19. The Mill on the Floss, George Eliot

20. The Legends of Parsifal, Mary Hanford Ford

Sorted the list in a Google Sheet. See below:

Number 14 is On Becoming A Novelist, John Gardner

What did you get?

Thursday, November 19, 2020

#CatThursday - The #holidays are fast approaching! #cats

Thursday, November 12, 2020

#CatThursday - #Authors and #Cats (98) Gabriela Cabezón Camera

Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite lolcat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Share the link to your post with your comment below.

The second Cat Thursday of each month is Authors and Cats Thursday. Each time I will feature an author (with a birthday during the month), pictured with their/a cat(s), or guest posts by cat loving authors who also (sometimes) write about cats.

Gabriela Cabezón Cámara was born in Buenos Aires in 1968 (November 4). She has published the novel Slum Virgin (known in Spanish as La Virgen Cabeza, 2009), the nouvelle Le viste la cara a Dios (You've Seen God's Face, 2011), and La Isla de la Luna (Island of the Moon, 2012). She has also published the comic Beya, le viste la cara a Dios (Biutiful, You've Seen God's Face), based on the former text and illustrated by Iñaki Echeverría (2013). In 2014 she published the novel Romance de la Negra Rubia (Romance of the Black Blonde) and the following year she produced Sacrificios (Sacrifices), edited by the Argentinian National Library for the Bicentenary Collection. Also in 2015 her book of stories, Y su despojo fue una mobchedumbre (And Her Waste Was a Crowd) came out, illustrated once again by Iñaki Echeverría. In 2013 she was writer in residence at UC Berkeley, where she also taught. She was one of the founders of the NiUnaMenos (“Not One Less”) movement against femicides and gender violence. (Goodreads)

Monday, November 9, 2020

Rojé Augustin's "Out of No Way" - #Poetry #Review #MadamCJWalker

I only learned of Madam C.J. Walker when I read about the Netflix series, Self Made, which starred the incomparable Octavia Spencer as the lady herself (it's on my list of many shows to watch). So, I was very interested to read Ms. Augustin's book of poetry surrounding this successful and influential historical figure. As she said in her afterword, "Why hadn't her story been told in schools..." I thought the same.

Madame C.J. Walker (left) and her daughter, A’Lelia Walker

She explores Walker, and the mother-daughter relationship of Walker and her daughter, A'Lelia, in various poetic forms. The poetry makes for an interesting exploration of this relationship, but also goes further, exploring a black woman who, as successful and wealthy as she was, still did not have the rights and protections afforded by the Constitution. Learning of her humble beginnings as a maid and laundress (back breaking work) and later having to travel to expand her business, keeping her away from her daughter for long periods. This against a backdrop of lynchings and the Jim Crow era. Also, hearing the horrific story of the lynching of Mary Turner. The images in my head upon reading that will be burned in my memory forever.

The whites must hate themselves so savagely
To act with such barbarity.

Amid the Black Lives Matter movement, there have been lists recommending books to read to explore racism, prejudice, discrimination, and inequity. I suggest adding this book to those lists. For sure, add it to yours. This is my recommendation...and with that, I leave you with my favorite poem from the book.

Fear is the Devil We Must Transcend

Fear is the devil we must transcend.
Transcend is what Madam Walker taught.
May our deeds point bravely to that end.

Those ravaged by fear can not ascend.
The heights of self that can't be bought.
Fear is the devil we must transcend.

To not transcend is the truth to bend.
Transcend by truth is what she taught.
May our deeds point bravely to that end.

And what is truth but a selfless friend?
A selfless friend that is never fraught.
Fear is the devil we must transcend.

The noble thing is to transcend.
What fearful ones so cruelly raught.
May our deeds point bravely to that end.

Be brave, said Madam, and thus transcend!
Let all our demons come to naught.
Fear is the devil we must transcend.
May all our deeds point to that end!

About the book
Author, producer, and emerging poet Rojé Augustin has written a groundbreaking debut collection of dramatic poems about hair care entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker and her daughter, A'Lelia. Rojé's singular and accomplished work is presented through the intimate lens of the mother-daughter relationship via different poetic forms — from lyric to haiku, blackout to narrative. (One poem takes its inspiration from Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven.) Written in tribute to Walker, Out of No Way deftly and beautifully explores themes of race, motherhood, sacrifice, beauty, and the meaning of success in Jim Crow America.

Born Sarah Breedlove to former Louisiana slaves in 1867, Madam C.J. Walker was orphaned at seven, married at 14, became a mother at 17, and was widowed at 20. After the death of her first husband, Sarah moved to St. Louis with her daughter where she earned $1.50 a day as a washerwoman. When her hair started falling out she developed a remedy and sold her formula across the country. In the process, she became the wealthiest Negro woman in America.

About the Poet
Rojé Augustin is a native New Yorker who grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Her first novel, The Unraveling of Bebe Jones, won the 2013 National Indie Excellence Award in African American fiction. She wrote the novel while living in London and Sydney as a stay-at-home-mom. Rojé continues to work as a producer while also writing in her spare time. She currently lives in Sydney with her husband and two daughters.

#TuesBookTalk - Join us on Goodreads & we now chat on Slack!

TuesBookTalk Read-a-Longs's currently-reading b...

76 members
A group for the TuesBookTalk Readalongs on Twitter. We meet every Tuesday night at 9:30pm ET/8:3...

Books we're currently reading

Les Misérables: Volume One
by Victor Hugo
Start date: January 1, 2013

Les Misérables: Volume Two
by Victor Hugo
Start date: January 1, 2013

View this group on Goodreads »

Which literary heroine are you?

You are Josephine March from "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott. Opinionated and outspoken, your bold nature can sometimes get you into trouble. You must constantly make a conscious decision to seem gentler to people when you first meet them -- those who do not know you well can sometimes find your passion abrasive or overly aggressive. The happiness of others is your greatest source for happiness of your own -- you want nothing more than to provide for your family and friends, to make them happy.