If hers was the precise angle of cut crystal flashing in the light,
His was the warm glow of a candle through bone china.
If hers was long-stemmed red roses,
His was garden roses, on a trellis, still growing.
Broken Chords, Barbara Snow Gilbert

I consider English to be my largest passion.
I always have a book in my hands.
My favorite series is the Chanters of Tremaris Trilogy by Kate Constable.
Broken Chords by Barbara Snow Gilbert and Sirena by Donna Jo Napoli are the saddest and most tragic.
Beauty: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley is the best fairy tale retelling.
Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Mead Montgomery, is the classic that I can read the most easily and adore the most.
All the King's Men by the ingenius Robert Penn Warren has me in literal tears with every reading. (Yes, a book on politics, of all things.)
I love a good historical fiction or fantasy, rare as they are.

And if you haven't noticed, I am a hopeless romantic at heart.
(I also have a thing for tortured souls.)
My newest addiction may be fashion blogs.
One of my goals is to tour Europe and all its subtle glories.

I will one day be an author.
(I cannot imagine spending the rest of my life doing anything else.)

I look back.
Mama is standing on the front porch watching us.
Beautiful, she mouths.
I feel like I could cry.
For the first time ever, I feel it.
Beautiful, I mean.
Shug, Jenny Han

You soda crackers! I remember
when I arrived here in the rain,
whipped out and alone.
How we shared the aloneness
and the quiet of this house.
And the doubt that held me
from fingers to toes
as I took you out
of your cellophane wrapping
and ate you, meditatively,
at the kitchen table
that first night with cheese,
and mushroom soup. Now,
a month later to the day,
an important part of us
is still here. I'm fine.
And you--I'm proud of you, too.
You're even getting remarked
on in print! Every soda cracker
should be so lucky.
We've done all right for
ourselves. Listen to me.
I never thought
I could go on like this
about soda crackers.
But I tell you
the clear sunshiny
days are here, at last.
"Soda Crackers", Raymond Carver