Therapy

 Our retreat weekend has been cancelled.  I'm still processing that.  Our group is down to six.  One chose a different activity for the weekend, and two have injuries that are severe enough they couldn't even think of going. We are all at the age where a sneeze could make us fall out of our chairs and break a hip and that's too close to the truth!  We are all devastated to miss this very anticipated time together.

Now, I fully realize there are far worse things happening in the world and within our blogging community right now so having to cancel a retreat seems like small potatoes.  And it is.  But that doesn't mean it isn't disappointing.  

So this morning I went out for some book therapy. 

Have you read the Thursday Murder Club books?  You haven't???  Oh, my. Do.  This is Richard Osmun's newest, it just came out last week and is NOT a TMC book but I don't care.  I'm hooked.

Yes, I still buy picture books.  At my age. But since I am reading to first graders now, I choose even more carefully than ever.  I have to love the art, love the story, love the concept, love the telling, and especially love the author's work.  This one is new to me but it ticked all the boxes so it came home with me. 

I am an author follower.  When I go to used book sales I look for authors hoping to find some of their earlier work because if I really like them I already own their recent work. 

I just finished this a night ago.  It was really quite good, and I say that like I'm surprised, but I bought it because it's been getting good reviews from everywhere - that's important.  It came recommended by a small bookstore owner - that's important.  And when I am in an independent bookstore I ALWAYS buy something but I didn't know this author, so I was taking a chance. This is a mystery set in the Adirondack mountains at a summer camp for rich kids, owned by rich people.  One day the camp owner's daughter disappears from camp. But the thing is, 14 years earlier her brother also disappeared from the same camp.   And so it begins.  

Now, this one was on my library list.  I took it with me when we were on our trip to the Upper Peninsula thinking it would be a good light read.  And it is.  But underneath there was more to it than the occasional giggle. 

   Lauren returns home from a hen party to find her husband Michael waiting for her.  But she isn't married.  She hasn't got a clue who this Michael is but clearly, he is her husband.  The apartment is decorated with their wedding photos, decorated in a style she doesn't recognize, the refrigerator filled with food she isn't familiar with. She discreetly asks her sister and her neighbors about him and finds out he is indeed her husband and is she feeling alright?   He goes up into the attic to change a lightbulb and down comes a completely different husband.  Behind her the apartment decor, photos, food, clothes....it's all changed in this marriage.  She is, of course, trying to figure this new one out.  Her family all recognizes these husbands.

    As an experiment, she sends him back up into the attic and down comes the third different husband. And there are more.  Many, many more.

    What's fun and funny is the description of these guys. Their weirdness can be taken care of with a trip to the attic so the attic becomes convenient for dealing with large and small weirdness.  And so it goes.  I kept wondering how there could be so many weird guys out there and ARE they all strange and what's normal and to whom? And I kept side glancing at PH and telling him he really was quite normal - to me.  And then I started staring at the people on the street and wondering how weird THOSE guys might be. I was hooked.  And I kept wondering how she was going to get herself out of this mess.  

    Yes, it was funny sometimes, but the underlying theme was far different.  

This is usually the first book I read to the first graders every year.  It sets the tone.  It's funny, shocking and they can see themselves in trying to deal with patience. There is nothing wrong with this one!

Betty Bunny doesn't even know what chocolate cake is till she tastes it and then is obsessed with it. 

    We question:  patience, what it is to 'be a handful', which Betty certainly is, the No Thank You Bite (you have to at least take one bite before you can say 'no thank you.') 

There are a few Betty Bunny books and they all deal with something any child or adult can relate to. This one is self control.  Betty fills the shopping cart at the toy store with everything, even though her mother said she can have ONE new toy.  But she wants it all.  And of course, when they leave the store with nothing there is the temper tantrum.  The kids always relate to Betty Bunny, and again, there are many talking points. 

OK, that's my book therapy, my salve for missing our quilt weekend.  Sigh.