Kathy Manos Penn's Blog, page 3

Books, Bookshops, & Cats, Oh my!

I finally got around to a few books on my To Be Read list and one was The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend. A bookshop is a central feature, almost a character, in this delightful book set in Broken Wheel, Iowa. The back cover blurb captures it well: “A heartwarming reminder of why we are booklovers, this is a sweet, smart story about how books find us, change us, and connect us.”

Booklovers will get a kick out of the references to books and authors and be thankful for the lists in the back of the book. I was reading about one of the characters being taken with Idgie and was tickled that I finally recalled that Idgie was a character in Fried Green Tomatoes.

That book prompted me to think, “Gee, I think there are other books I’ve read that take place in bookshops,” and I was right. There were a few whose titles I couldn’t recall, but I’ve come up with most of them.

Years ago, I read the Carolyn Hart mysteries that take place in and around the Death on Demand bookshop on Broward’s Rock, a South Carolina island. I likely read the first five or six and enjoyed all the references to books and authors. I wasn’t surprised to learn there are 26 in the series, and I may have to get back to them.

You don’t have to be a Jane Austen fan to enjoy Charlie Lovett’s First Impressions, a tale of a previously unknown Austen manuscript. The heroine is recently graduated from Oxford and works in an antiquarian bookshop in London. Because I visited Oxford on a 2018 trip to England, I especially enjoyed recognizing the Oxford references.

I discovered John Dunning’s series of books featuring bookshop owner and former Denver police officer Cliff Janeway when my sister passed along Booked to Die, the first in the series.

Another favorite read was Nina George’s book, The Little Paris Bookshop, a whimsical story of a bookshop housed on a boat. Wouldn’t you love to visit a floating bookshop?

And then there’s The Storied Life of A.J.Fikry about the owner of Island Books on the imaginary Alice Island located somewhere near Boston.

I stayed up late two nights in a row to finish The Diary of a Bookseller, a Christmas gift from a friend who knows me oh-so-well. This one is nonfiction, written by Shaun Bythell, who owns The Bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland. Described as “a wry and hilarious account of life at a bookshop in a remote Scottish village,” it was a behind the scenes look at the life of a bookseller.

As for cats, as I recalled these books, I couldn’t help but think about Books Unlimited, the cozy, inviting bookshop in Franklin, North Carolina, where Nancy the cat roams from the chair to the window to the counter, perfectly at home. If you’re lucky when you visit, she may even curl up in your lap. And, if the books I’ve mentioned end up on your reading list, Nancy and her owner will happily find them for you.

LIVE | LOVE | WRITE

I penned these words in 2016 as I was pulling together my first book—a collection of my columns. Now that I write for two newspapers and have published several books, these words ring truer than ever.

Simply put, I live to write–whether it’s a newspaper column, a blog, or a book. My day is not complete unless I’ve spent at least a little time writing something fresh or editing words from another day.

Said another way, “Writing completes me.” I find that putting pen to paper–or fingers to keyboard–enables me to:

Reflect more fully on what I’ve read or experienced
Crystalize my thoughts
Remember stories or experiences I might otherwise have forgotten
See the humor, or as I like to say, the magic in life

Looking back, I realize how perfectly this description captures my writing and the joy it brings me. How funny I’d forgotten what I’d written and was subsequently struck by quotes from authors Curtis Sittenfeld and Flannery O’Connor where they said the same thing:

“Frequently the way I crystallize what I think—about a course of action or another person—is by writing.” Curtis Sittenfeld

“I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.” Flannery O’Connor

Now, I’ve started a new chapter in my writing life and have penned two cozy animal mysteries with a third in the works. Do I still live to write? Is there any doubt?

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Greek Salad Recipe

My sisters and I learned to make this salad by watching our father. We never measure the ingredients, but these approximations will do the trick.

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

Salad

2 heads of Romaine lettuce rinsed, dried, and torn into bite-size pieces
1 large farm fresh tomato cut in bite-size pieces or grape or cherry tomatoes halved
1 bunch of green onions (scallions) thinly sliced, mostly the white part
1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives
4 oz. crumbled Feta cheese, preferably goat or sheep’s milk Feta (Note: Pre-crumbled is not as tasty but will do in a pinch.)

Dressing

Approximately ¼ cup of extra-virgin olive oil
Approximately 2 TBs red wine vinegar
Garlic salt, oregano, salt, pepper to taste
Optional: Juice of ½ lemon for a citrus kick

Directions

In a large salad bowl, toss all the salad ingredients together.

Gradually add the dressing ingredients directly to the salad and toss to taste as you go.

Tips

Start small. Add more oil, vinegar, and herbs to taste.
Three heads of romaine lettuce will easily feed ten.