The Bridges of Madison County

“When a book gives you a reason to cry, it must be a good one.”  I remember a friend of mine telling me this a few years ago. We have always exchanged ideas about the books we read.

The Bridges of Madison County is a reread actually for me  but I was not yet a member of Goodreads then so it was just marked as read without any date. I started reading it again last night and finished it about an hour ago.  This book does not deserve just a line or two as previously mentioned in my other post called Holá.

I loved both book and the movie adaptation. If only my sense of hearing isn’t garbled, I would like to see it again. It’s a passionate four-day affair between an Italian- American farm wife and a National Gegraphic photographer and writer. Set in the 60’s in Madison County, Iowa, it explores the themes of love, longing, family, duty and missed opportunities. Though it is fictional, you get the feeling that it is a true story. Really, Robert James Waller is a good writer, discovered some of his other books when I left Bank of PI. Gosh, I cried towards the end of the books, can’t help it.

I’ve written some quotable quotes which I would like to share with you here.

I love you profoundly and completely and I always will.

There are old winds I still do not understand, though I have been riding, forever it seems, along the curl of their spines.

The heart never forgets, never gives up, the territory marked off for those who came before.

Complex things are easy to do, simplicity the real challenge.

I sometimes have the feeling you’ve been here a long time,more than one lifetime, and that you’ve dwelt in private places none of the rest of us ever dreamed about.

There is a sequel to this book called A Thousand Country Roads and I will start it tonight. One good thing about weekends? You can read beyond your usual time of sleep.

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Thank You Mich!

This is it, a book from my author/poet friend Mich. It arrived last night. A beautiful trade paperback book with glossy pages and bookmark too. She signed the book aside from the card on the second photo. It’s all of 268 pages, second edition. I asked her  to just send one because I am just excited to see samples of her poems. I started reading It Ain’t Winning If  Without You last night. So inspiring. She is truly a gifted poet. I even saw a poem she included written by Ivor Stevens,  another friend here.

Here’s an introductory note from the book cover. “Michelle is a renowned international bestselling author whose books consistently reach the #1 spot on Amazon within 24 hours of their release. She has five consecutive #1 bestselling titles to her name”. And that includes this lovely book. And I love her sweet message.❤️❤️❤️

This is also available in Lazada, cannot afford to buy it though. My good friend Mich is a generous soul. Imagine we only met at WordPress through our blogs. A friend here at WordPress Randall Collis  wants to buy one of her books.

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The Outlaw Noble Salt: A Novel

Are you familiar with author Amy Harmon? Out of the twenty four books she has written, I’ve read eleven of them mostly rated four and five stars. The very first book I read of her was From Sand And Ash back in February 2019.  I’ve rated it five stars and even wrote a review here on WordPress.

Now, here’s another book that caught me again though it took me almost a week to finish it. It is all of 364 pages. Back in the early years, I’ve heard of Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid but it was about the movie, a real-life character brought to the movie screen. I never had the chance to watch it though.  The Outlaw Noble Salt: A Novel, is Amy Harmon’s version giving it a twist. She brings Cassidy to life, with vivid imagination along with The Sundance Kid. In Amy Harmon’s version, she gave Butch a romance, a captivating one.

Butch Cassidy was a real-life gang leader. He was like Robin Hood stealing from the rich and being kind to the poor.  Although Harmon created a novel veering away from the real story by  introducing romance, it was still a lovely read. There are uploaded versions of the movie on YouTube starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford.

When a book makes me cry, I give it five ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

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Choose To Live

I just finished reading The Memory Keeper of Kiev. I gave it five ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Erin Littleken is a new author on my list. Although it is a work of fiction but  based on a true story, the book touched me in so many ways.

I wrote this quote on my notebook: Looking to the future doesn’t  mean you have to forget the past. You can have both.

The author extensively wrote about the Holodomor Famine. It means death by hunger. Between 1932 and 1933, one in every eight Ukrainians died in this man-made famine.A devastatingly brutal Joseph Stalin’s assault against the Ukrainian people. Stalin wanted to subjugate the Ukrainian nationalism and culture which he saw as a treat to Soviet ideology. He introduced collectivism  where the produce of the Ukrainian people were turned over to the Soviets. Stalin set an unrealistically high grain procurement quotas.

This horrific event  is part of the historic backdrop  shaping Ukrainians response to the Russian War. Putin is on the same path as Stalin was but the Ukrainian people are fighting back.  There is another of Littleken book entitled  The Lost Daughters of Ukraine, a sequel to her first book and it happened during WWII. I intend to find a copy and read it too.

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The Early Bird Catches The Worm But The Second Mouse Gets The Cheese (from a 2009 post)

I was reading some quotes by a Filipino author Francis Kong on FB and suddenly remembered my post about his book when I was starting to blog back in 2009. Reposting it here, it earned several comments from those who have read the book.

Last week, I wrote to Francis J. Kong and asked permission to link his site to my blogs.  Oh boy, he answered my email. I blogged about him a few days ago, Meet Francis J. Kong, My Idol.

I just have to buy his book, The Early Bird Catches the Worm But the Second Mouse Gets the Cheese. And so this afternoon, we all went to Power Books.  A slim volume at 131 pages but packed with words of wisdom and lovely anecdotes that you can’t simply put  down.  It’s a bit pricey though at P410.00. It’s a Mother’s Day gift to myself, haha, so the price is justified.  He has published several other books like Only the Real Matters, Life’s Work, 3 Little Words, Just When You think You Can’t Do It…Do It, Why Don’t You Grow Up Dad?, and the four-volume, One Day At A Time. I took a glimpse of them all, after all, reading is free at Power Books, you can even finish one without buying it.  How cool is that?  And to give you a glimpse of what is on the cover, I am quoting them here.

Remember this:

“If you can start the day without caffeine or pep pills,
If you can be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,
if you can eat the same food everyday and be grateful for it,
If you can understand when loved ones are too busy to give you time,
If you can overlook when people take things out on you
When through no fault of yours, something goes wrong,
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment
if you can face the world without lies and deceit,
If you can conquer tension without medical help
if you can relax without liquor,
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,
Then, you are almost as good as your dog!

P.S. Yes, there certainly are a lot of things a dog can do without. And so can you!”

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