Dear J and L:
This is a serious post. I've mentioned before that I love to read. You know that I love to write. What I may have neglected to mention -- at least prominently -- is that I've been rather obsessed with collecting books over the years. I love finding a good used book bargain. I have books upon books on our many shelves that I have read, haven't read, intend to read someday, and a few that just don't need to be here any longer. As a follow up to my post late last week, I am on a mission to clear stuff out of this house, to purge the old and make new for all of your many things.
This seems like a great time to start a series of posts I have been planning for months, but haven't gotten around to tackling. In honor of Tackle it Tuesday, I will start today.
As I wrote Saturday, if anything in this house doesn't have a purpose, it must go. My theory on purging books goes like this: If it is something I want to read to you, want you to read or want you to have someday, it must stay. Everything else must go. Every Tuesday, I will tell you about one book you have to read and why and then I'll list one more that will be immediately listed for sale on Half.com.
This week, my book review of sorts, will be a copy of "White Oleander: A Novel," by Janet Fitch. Above all, this book must stay. I will read it again someday. I want you to read it for its pure poetry, it's heart-renching details and it's shower of girldome. Of course, you will not suffer like the main character in this book. But, this book is also about the love between a mother and a daughter. That love you will know, immensely. I have many books, but this one I cherish just as much as many of the classics. Please take the time to read this some day, just for reading's sake.
And, so, this means one book has to say buh-bye. That book is "Big Stone Gap," by Adriana Trigiani. A good book, but not good enough for me to recommend to my baby girls some day.
