Our Quiet Growing Time

A long long time ago in a little Polish village, on the eve of the Nazi invasion, there lived a girl so beautiful that she was called Anielica, because her face was that of an angel's. And there also lived a boy who was called the Pigeon, because his nose was as beaked and ugly as the bird's. The Angel was as kind as she was beautiful and the Pigeon, while not handsome, was smart and resourceful, confident and brave. In order to stand out from the scores of suitors who sought Anielica's hand, the Pigeon told her father that he would renovate their family home for free. Over the next months, the Pigeon became a fixture in Anielica's family, crafting furniture and cabinetry with his hands, befriending her brother, and slowly and sweetly finding a way into Anielica's heart. The love story of the Angel and the Pigeon is juxtaposed with the story of their granddaughter who, decades later, moves from the village to the big city of Krakow. Krakow is bustling with the free...

Phoebe's life has fallen apart. She recently broke off her engagement and her best friend has died tragically young.  Nothing goes right for her until she takes refuge in the new boutique she has just opened that specializes in vintage clothing. It's a place where clothes--and memories--are cherished.  Phoebe can't explain why some dresses were meant for certain women or why a dress might choose its owner. But these things happen in Village Vintage. These clothes empower, heal, and restore. Because of her shop, Phoebe finally begins to repair her own life, ultimately finding peace with her past and embracing the hope of a future filled with love... and vintage clothes.  Admittedly, my style sense runs more along the lines of Old-Na-vy rather than Bal-en-ci-a-ga. (But isn't Balenciaga possibly the funnest word that could ever roll off of your tongue?) I'm not interested in fashion and I think that money is better spent on books and vacations than on high-end cl...

There is so much to love about this book that I don't know where to start.  Thisby is a tiny island somewhere off of the coast of Scotland or Ireland or England. This is where the water horses--the capaill uisce* --live. And every October they emerge from the ocean onto Thisby’s shores and they prowl, carnivorous and hungry. And every November first, the very brave or the very foolish run these savage horses across the beach in a bloody and dangerous race. They are man-eaters. They are magic. Their magic may dim after years spent on land, but every November 1 st , the magic of the sea pulls at them as they race on the beach. The depths call to the monsters within them, and these horses would just as soon dismember and eat their riders than carry them safely across the finish line. Sean Kendrick is the four-time Scorpio Races champion and is something of a water-horse whisperer. He’s a quiet boy, a loner, and he feels most comfortable on the back of Corr, the water-h...

"She was so Southern that she cried tears that came straight from the Mississippi, and she always smelled faintly of cottonwood and peaches." Sarah Addison Allen calls her style of writing "Southern-fried magic realism" and it is as delicious as Southern-fried cookin'. Her use of magical realism appeals to the whimsical in me. She creates such beautiful, vivid worlds that make me think that maybe--just maybe-- magic could happen in my own ordinary world, too.  Have you ever seen a low-hanging cloud that inexplicably clings to a hillside or just one end of a street? In Garden Spells , Claire is so consumed by unconsummated passion that when she showers, a fog shrouds her neighborhood, produced by the cool water hitting her heated skin. Now we know what's happening--or not happening--to explain that clingy fog you see sometimes. (Read this book and you will find explanations for other everyday phenomena.) The Waverley women all possess c...