Even more snow fell this weekend, so we had a cozy weekend in. (Come to think of it, I pretty much could have written that for every weekend this winter.)
Last week I finished:
I'd known about current poet laureate Tracy K. Smith for awhile, but only recently have I begun to explore her poetry. After enjoying Wade in the Water last month, I moved her memoir, National Book Award Finalist Ordinary Light, up my TBR. It was a wonderful book. This one won't be for everyone, because the "plot" is very...ordinary. That's the point. Smith writes about moments of her life that are less stories than slim memories. But it's those memories that make up a life, that form a path that, when looked back upon, show us how we became who we are. Smith is the youngest of five children, her siblings quite a bit older than she. Her parents are educated Southern Baptist blacks, her father has a military career, her mother stayed home to raise the children. Faith informs their lives, and Smith spends a great deal of time examining the mother/daughter relationship and their Baptist beliefs. Her mother is a strong, moral, principled woman, whom Smith admires. (I adored her, too.) The family is close-knit and values church and education. As Smith grows older, she grapples with her blackness, with her faith, and with her desire to do what she pleases though she'd always been told certain things were sins. In short, it's a memoir of identity. I was disappointed that Smith didn't talk more about her path to becoming one of the premier poets of the modern era, but this book stops at the death of her mother (not a spoiler--the book opens with the death), when Smith is just out of college. Her literary career is yet to unfold. If you're interested in memoirs about identity, especially African-American female identity, this is a must read. It's gentle and slow, but it's well-written, honest, and respectful. I loved it, and I only wish it would have been around in my post-college years. My rating: 4 stars. 
Always on the lookout for modern classics to read, I was excited to tackle Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns. It was published in 1984 and takes place in 1906 in Cold Sassy, Georgia. It's narrated by the teenage Will Tweedy whose grandfather E. Rucker Blakeslee, a widower of only three weeks, announces in the opening pages that he plans to marry Miss Love Simpson, the milliner in his dry goods store--and he does so the next day. Naturally, this turn of events angers Will Tweedy's mother and his Aunt Loma, Rucker's daughters, who are worried about propriety as well as their inheritances. It also sets the townsfolks' tongues a-wagging. It is true that Grandpa wanted a free housekeeper, or does he really have feelings for Miss Love? Along with the main story, there are other happenings, like the automobile coming to Cold Sassy, Will's narrowly escaped railroad accident, and a suicide in the family. While it's an overall light book--which I appreciated, though it took awhile to--it does have some high-drama parts that seemed a little jarring with the overall tone and time period. But more and more I found myself falling for the book's charm, and I ended up enjoying it a great deal. The rather rushed ending sets up the book's sequel, Leaving Cold Sassy. I listened to this one on audio, and the audio was very good. There's a lot of Southern speak, and I still hear it in my head at all hours even days later. Try this one, I think you might like it. My rating: 4 stars.
I'm currently reading:
I've just begun this first book in the new Dust Bowl Mystery series.
My Kindle read:
I'm finally making good headway on this re-read. I've passed the halfway point.
My night reads:
I'm enjoying all of my evening reads. It's a lighter load than the last few months, and that feels good.
My audiobook:
It's kind of a slow story, but it's good so far.
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