Monday, July 30, 2012

Teaser Tuesday

"The first day, I sat at the table and watched her show me how to write "A," Small "a" and big "A." I I copied the letter out myself. Even though she said it was upside down and not quite right, my stomach was swollen with pride. Me! Writing!"deliriousaboutbooksteaser-tuesday

Sunday, July 29, 2012

A CLAY JAR MARKED FOR MIRACLES by AWUSHIE SOGAH

"This novel A CLAY JAR MARKED FOR MIRACLES by AWUSHIE SOGAH is fantastic. The cover gave me no idea about what I would read in the novel. The painting on the cover made me think the story would be a very light, very easy and very short novella to read. My thoughts were wrong. As I turned each page of the novel the story deepened. I would say AWUSHIE SOGAH's novel is a Family saga, a coming of age story and the difficulties or ease of  becoming a part of different cultures and the story American, European and African History. Tzipporah and her family live in Prince George County, Baltimore, Maryland. At one point the family  lives in Paris, France. They also visit Ghana, Africa. It is amazing how one world, one earth can differ so much from one place to the next place. With eyes opened there are crafts to admire, people never to be forgotten and the hateful sting of discrimination to adjust to in the most beautiful and well known countries. AWUSHIE SOGAH quotes Albert Einstein. "There are two ways to live your life...One is as though nothing is a miracle, the other is as though everything is a..."

What really made me love the book is Tzipporah's grandmother, Memaw. She knows all of the family's history. She never grows tired of recounting the good times and the hard times. Whenever Tzipporah runs into adult sized problems, the real hot, scorching problems in her life which no woman should ever experience she can talk to Memaw. There is a reason Tzipporah doesn't run to her parents with her problems. Their issues have complicated the way this family connects with one another."Your grandmother has been your saving grace. As for me, Tzipporah, I was wrapped up in myself back then. I thought deeply about problems never picking up and disappearing when not dealt with properly. These painful issues were smothered in the pit of the stomachs of both Eudora and her husband. One day he tells his wife I'm feeling lonely in the skin. Memaw does not allow Tzipporah to disrespect her parents. After all, they gave Tzipporah the greatest gift of all, the gift of life.

Since this is a Family saga about a grandmother who knew the importance of passing down family stories, there are many treasures to read about in the novel. One of the treasures is the clay jar. I felt the treasures were passed from woman to woman leaving me to think at and wonder at the strong ties a generation of women can hold for years and years even beyond the grave. There is Eudora's mother. There is Eudora. There is Memaw. There is Tzipporah. There is Solarah, the daughter of Tizpporah. Reading about their lives is like layers of rock upon another bed of rocks. Pull one woman away from this generational saga and the whole story of their lives would cave in to become bits of rubble.Studying their lives is like a lesson in Geology. The ending of the novel is like beginning their story over again because Solarah finds a very special memoir. The novel is full of untold and told secrets."Suddenly, as on may previous occasions, a forgotten memory suddenly invited itself into..." It's full of romantic love and family love. It's full of injustice and justice. Most of all it's about a place, Africa, the home where most of our lives began before we ever reached Barbados, England or South Carolina and other places on the map. The book is filled with African History that brought tears of sadness and joy to my eyes. A Clay Jar Marked For Miracles is about going home. She made me proud to have come from Africa. "The drum speaks in tongues of many nations. This is an African drum...It was Black Africa that provided humanity with a pulse - a rhythm - a heartbeat. If you kill off all blackness, you will kill off...."Kindleamazon.com/Awushie-Sogah

Saturday, July 28, 2012

A Clay Jar Marked For Miracles by Awushie Sogah

"Fortunately for us, English was the official language in Ghana, and to our great pleasure, Ghanaians were friendly and hospitable to us even though we were strangers. Mum rented a modest bed and breakfast  cottage to serve us as home base.....the yard around it was lush with pineapple bushes, banana trees, and coconut palms."

A Clay Jar Marked For Miracles by Awushie Sogah



"...Unless she wants to become another sweetheart singer and dancer here in Paris, like Josephine Baker and Florence Mills...."florencemillsdancer

A Clay Jar Marked For Miracles by Awushie Sogah

"Two weeks later, the house  was sold, and Tzipporah moved into Taraja's former home to secure it before leaving for Paris. She was filled with a sense of urgency mixed with excitement as she thought constantly of her need to reach Paris."

 

Friday, July 27, 2012

Quote It Sat


One benefit of summer was that each day we had more light to read by. ~Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle

Theme Thursday

Theme Time


"It's nine thirty-five," she said. 
"Tzipporah, can you believe so much time has passed? We have been working on this quilt for one solid hour. I have to run."

Book Beginnings


A Clay Jar marked For Miracles

"Tzipporah Imara Simms-Stone massaged her hot temples with a nervous, circular motion of her fingertips, and then clutched the grayish red clay jar that she was holding in her arms. She fastened the bedroom door firmly behind her and had a quick look about the tiny, immaculate chamber." Photo of book below

Friday 56

"Maenod stepped off the front porch of the cottage and walked away quickly, blindly, crying like a baby and wearing only his pajamas, robe, and slippers. He had intened to turn right and take a swift walk around the block, to get his bearings and clear the air. He would discuss the whole matter with Eudora again, as soon as she chilled out. Had to guess the page because Kindle pages are in percentages.fredasvoice

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for my new grandson, Jeremiah.
I am also thankful for his parents. They are very attentive parents.
I am thankful Jeremiah's parents are so willing to send me photos.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

A Clay Jars Marked For Miracles by Awushie Sogah

"Tzipporah inserted two short gold hoops into her tiny pierced ears. The earrings bobbed and glistened against her greatest elegance--her long and graceful neck, like that of Queen Nefertiti."

Home by Toni Morrison


This novel, Home,is mainly about Frank Money and his sister, Cee and their family. The brother and sister love one another deeply. However, the love between a brother and sister can’t protect neither one from the sharpness of emotional pain. While Frank fights on the war front in Korea, Cee is home in Lotus, Georgia fighting poverty and discrimination during 1938. Toni Morrison’s novel helped me see better the underside of war. Still, there is no way, I believe, to fully understand a veteran’s battle without fighting in a war like these men and in our time women.  It hurts to lose one friend to death. How must it feel to lose three close friends? I think the pain would be unimaginable. War brings out the worse in the best of men. This is one of the secrets from the war so disturbing to Frank’s mind.
Then, there is the pain only truly understood by another woman. When a woman wants a child and finds out this is not possible for whatever reason life becomes deeply painful like a deep scratch without a scab. Children are all around her. Where can she hide from what her heart so desires? Cee fights with the fact daily that she can’t bare a baby. Cee begins to see the faces of children wherever she goes or while she is looking at whatever she looked at around her.
You know that toothless smile babies have?” she said. “I keep seeing it. I saw it in a green pepper once. Another time a cloud curled in such a way it looked like….”
Ultimately, the novel confirms that life is possible after the worst of circumstances comes my way. The spirit is indomitable it seems.
The sun, having sucked away the blue from the sky, loitered there in a white heaven, menacing Lotus, torturing its landscape, but failing, failing, constantly failing to silence it: children still laughed, ran, shouted…”

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Quote It Sat



In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.  ~Albert Camusfredasvoice

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful to find your blog and the other thankful themed blogs this Thursday.
I am also thankful that God gave me the strength to move forward after losing my whole blog last week.
I am thankful to have talked to one of my son's on the phone this week.
I also had time to make a short visit to see one of my son's who lives nearby.

HOME by TONI MORRISON

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 "The waiter pursed his lips. "To eat go to Booker's diner," he said. "It's close to the station. For sleeping the YMCA is always a good idea. It's on Wabash."