Our Quiet Growing Time

Poppy almost has it all: she loves her job, she's about to marry a semi-famous scholar, and she's wearing the family heirloom mega-emerald engagement ring he gave her. In one afternoon, Poppy's life is nearly derailed: at a luncheon at a hotel, she loses the mega ring! The ring is officially missing and Poppy is officially in deep trouble. It only gets worse when she dashes outside to search for cell service (oh sorry, she's a Brit. I mean mobile (moe-bile) service) and she's mugged. Her attacker makes off with her phone, leaving her ring-less and mobile-less and despondent. But her luck quickly shifts when she discovers a high-tech discarded mobile in a wastebasket (British: a bin) in the hotel lobby. She scoops it out and claims it as hers... after all, disposed articles are public property, right? Turns out that the phone she's swiped is the phone of businessman Sam Roxton's former personal assistant. Confronted by the handsome Sam to return the phone,...

Ancilla Trent is a governess and a spinster at the ripe old age of 26. Miss Trent has successfully suppressed any youthful romantic dreams she may have had and has instead made the education of her young ward her life's purpose. Never has she felt even the faintest stirring in her heart for any man... until she meets the Nonesuch. The Nonesuch, as he is called, is Sir Waldo Hawkridge, a confirmed bachelor, who is touted for his athletic achievements, wit, handsomeness, and his overall masculine perfection . Indeed, that is the very definition of a nonesuch : unrivaled, an ideal, a paragon. Despite her attempts at remaining aloof, and much to his own surprise, Miss Trent and the Nonesuch find themselves perfectly matched in intellect and humor, and find themselves in love. But in true Regency romance fashion, the road to happy-ever-after is hampered by social gaffes, trivial misunderstandings, and a tangled web of snooty meddling characters and their affairs. I've made an...

There's something comforting about the cadence of fairy tales... the rhythm and repetition give you advanced warning of the story's direction and remind me of the beloved stories of my childhood. The Robber Bridgegroom is a modern American interpretation of the Grimm Brothers tale. Before I read Welty's version, I printed out a copy of the original (well, not original, because I don't read German, but you know) and it was extremely grotesque, as one can only expect from the grim Brothers Grimm. The story featured cannibalism and the mutilation of young maidens, but luckily Welty left out most of the blood and guts in her telling. Set along the Old Natchez Trace trail in Mississippi, TRB is a cross between a fairy tale and an American tall-tale. Many of the old staples we come to expect from a fairy tale were included, but some with a twist: a beautiful lonely blonde maiden who sits by her window at night and sings about finding her true love (but...

I've always gotten a kick out of Mark Twain. His dry sense of humor really works for me. These are some classic Twain quotations that have always tickled my funny bone: C lothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society. Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow. I defy anyone to read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and not laugh out loud, or at the very least, grin stupidly. If you can, I don't want to be your friend. I've always thought I'd be a good mom to a passel of (no scratch that... I mean one or two ) mischievous little boys. And with a few tiny tweaks, Tom Sawyer is pretty much the epitome of perfect American boyhood. I laughed out loud so much reading this that I had to read passages out loud for Nathan to appreciate, too. But then we were both laughing so hard that I couldn't keep reading. This is my favorite funny passage. Tom is trying to win Becky Thatcher's affection and has succeeded in meeting her ...