Rabbit, Rabbit! and A New Favorite Place to Shop

 

Rabbit, Rabbit!

From Amazon.com

Why People Start Each Month by Saying "Rabbit, Rabbit"

Plus, what to do if you forget.  -  From Southern Living Magazine

* * *

I've mentioned many times how much I love The Bitter Southener, a magazine containing some of the best, most timely, news articles, music and book news, interviews, poetry, AND shopping.

   

  

I recently discovered another place offering goods with a message, Mahogany Mommies,

and bought myself a new shirt.

I luvs it.

Note :  My only connection with The Bitter Southerner and Mahogany Mommies is an appreciation of their philosophies and occasionally making a purchase through their webpages.

Latest Recommendation - Those We Thought We Knew by David Joy

 

If you know me you know I read.

A lot.

I keep a record of the books I read in the sidebar of Meanderings and Muses.  See it?  Over there to your right - 👉       scroll down . . .

I do this for several reasons.

One, I love lists.

Two, I'd never be able to join in on the Favorite 10 (20, however some many) Lists at the end of the year.

Three, To remind me of the books I've read so I won't buy them again.  Re-read, sure, but re-buy - no.  Unless it's to give to a friend.

So.

Even though I keep a running list of what I'm reading, it's pretty rare for me to dedicate a post to a single book.

If I do that, you can be sure it's because I found it to be pretty special.  Either the subject, or the characters, or the setting spoke to me.  Usually though, it's the writing.   The voice.  Sometimes, like in this case, it's the whole package.  Even the cover.

There are writers, and then there are writers.

David Joy, wow.

The man can write.

Being completely transparent - all of David Joy's books are not for me.  That doesn't mean I don't get his brilliance.  

THOSE WE THOUGHT WE KNEW is a book I might not have tried right away except for the simple fact that it was suggested to me via NetGalley via a little widget assuring me I'd receive it, and I would enjoy it.

Boy Howdy, did I enjoy it.

Omg this book.  I would give it a parade if I could.  

The subject matter is timely.  And it's important.

The characters are jump-off-the-page honestly, sometimes brutally, written.

The setting rich in description and atmosphere, with spot-on rich, stylish dialogue.

The writing is brilliant.  Lyrical and raw and mesmerizing.  Hopeful and heartbreaking.

Asking tough, necessary, questions.

S. A. Cosby says "Those We Thought We Knew is a beautifully fearless contemplation. The best novels ask the hard questions and task us to come up with answers. Joy is asking the hardest question and daring us to answer truthfully.”

Description from NetGalley

“From award-winning writer David Joy comes a searing new novel about the cracks that form in a small North Carolina community and the evils that unfurl from its center.

Toya Gardner, a young Black artist from Atlanta, has returned to her ancestral home in the North Carolina mountains to trace her family history and complete her graduate thesis. But when she encounters a still-standing Confederate monument in the heart of town, she sets her sights on something bigger.

Meanwhile, local deputies find a man sleeping in the back of a station wagon and believe him to be nothing more than some slack-jawed drifter. Yet a search of the man’s vehicle reveals that he is a high-ranking member of the Klan, and th uncovering of a notebook filled with local names threatens to turn the mountain on end.

After two horrific crimes split the county apart, every soul must wrestle with deep and unspoken secrets that stretch back for generations. Those We Thought We Knew is an urgent unraveling of the dark underbelly of a community. Richly drawn and bracingly honest, it asks what happens when the people you’ve always known turn out to be monsters, what do you do when everything you ever believed crumbles away?”

I can thank NetGalley.com for helping me discover a wealth of books and authors I might not have discovered without their generosity.  And I am thankful.

I try to repay that generosity by spreading the word and by backing up what I say by spending some money.

I've reserved a copy of THOSE WE THOUGHT WE KNEW at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva, NC, and I'll be taking a drive to Sylva to be front and center in line to have my book signed on August 1 for Mr. Joy's book launch.  And to thank him for sharing his gift with us.

I hope to see some of you there.

In the meantime, here's a story he wrote for The Bitter Southener.  You should read it.

https://bittersoutherner.com/digging-in-the-trash-david-joy/

Life is good when there are writers like David Joy writing.

Let's hold on to our writers and not allow ignorant people opportunities to ban books that entertain us, educate us and open our minds.  

Speaking of The Bitter Southener; check out their general store - https://bsgeneralstore.com/   (you're welcome! 😊 )

Note: FTC Disclosure Notice: Dear FTC - I received a digital copy of Those We Thought We Knew from NetGalley.com. No other compensation was offered or accepted beyond the possibility of a review of the book.

Also, i have no connection to The Bitter Southener other than as a reader and a fan.

Finding the right books at the right time

There's a quote I love from "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society" (another book I keep recommending!)  You probably know it;  “Perhaps there is some secret sort of homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.”

It's happened to all of us, hasn't it? 

It popped into mind as I was deep into my first Randall Silvis novel. A new to me author I discovered through NetGalley.com.  

An author with a protagonist, Ryan DeMarco, who is both darkness and light.  

A protag who has seen and lived the worst the world could give him, and yet never gives in.  He comes close sometimes, but then . . . he's back.

He's able to find hope in beauty - poetry, literature, music and nature.  

He's philosophical by nature and Randall Silvis gives Ryan DeMarco a voice that resonates with intelligence, feeling, empathy and great depth. 

I think a comparison of Ryan DeMarco and James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux would be a fair comparison.  

You can read a terrific interview Judith Collins did with Mr. Silvis here.  They go into some interesting parallels between the author, his life and his characters.  Along with Mr. Silvis' own philosophy about his life and his writing.

The book I found through NetGalley was the fourth in the Ryan DeMarco series.  "No Woods So Dark as These."  

The minute I finished it I downloaded books 1, 2 and 3 in the series onto my Kindle.

There are passages I have read and re-read over and over, and there's one passage that has lodged itself deeply in my mind.  And damn if I can find it now!  I always re-read books that affect me as deeply as these have, so I know I will find it again, but not now when I'd very much like to share it with all of you.

It has to do with looking back.

Remembering where you came from and who you would be if you had stayed there.

Possibly/Probably not the same person you are if you've moved on.

Would you have gone the places you've gone?  Done the things you've done?  Accomplished the things you're proud of?

Regardless, you'll always be, to those people back home, the person they knew then.

To them, you haven't changed.  

This struck me as so truthful that it's hurtful.

For a long time after leaving home I wondered about moving back.  And seriously considered it more than once.  The opportunities came, but I never made the move.

And now, at age 72, the desire to test those waters has long since passed.

I've never feared or disliked change - IF there was a reason for it.

And because of this, I've moved around, I've tried some things, and done some things that I don't think I would have if I had stayed where I was raised.

I still love The Eastern Shore of Maryland.

It's beautiful and I have wonderful memories.

But memories are, and should be, just that.

Memories.

I don't want to be, as the person I am now, that person my friends remember me as.  

Not any more.

It was great then.

But it's done.

I wouldn't change a thing, but . . . 

Like Ryan DeMarco, I moved on.

And now - Serendipity.

Don't you love serendipity?

And, here again, it has to do with reading choices.

I'm a huge fan of the on-line magazine The Bitter Southerner.

I read it religiously, and know I'm reading some of the best writing that's being written today.

If you're not familiar with it, I suggest you read the story behind the magazine.  The how and way it came to be.  They have created a pretty amazing thing.  (And there's some fun shopping there too!)  

So.

After reading and contemplating Ryan DeMarco's philosophy about leaving home, I happened across A Conversation with Stephanie Soileau in The Bitter Southerner.

She talks about her stories in her new book, "Last One Out Shut Off the Lights."  

And one of the topics covered in her stories is the subject of leaving home.  "When you leave, you also sacrifice a piece of yourself, or else find a new identity in ways that alienate you from your homeplace."

Yes.

That.

So.

During this time of social distancing, I'd really enjoy, I think, sitting down with Ryan DeMarco via Randall Silvis and Stephanie Soileau for a drink and chat.

But, since that is not likely to happen, I plan on looking into some of the non-series books Mr. Silvis has written. And, Ms. Soileau's book is on its way.

Maybe getting through this whole pandemic thing (and November 3rd) without losing my mind completely has a lot to do with finding the right book at just the right time. Or it finding me.

“That's what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you to another book, and another bit there will lead you onto a third book. It's geometrically progressive - all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment.”
 ― The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The Bitter Southerner

Are you familiar with The Bitter Southerner?  

An on-line source for some pretty great writing -  check it out - https://bittersoutherner.com/we-are-bitter

And some more than decent shopping . . . 

Available Here:  https://bsgeneralstore.com/