for one more day

mitch albom (my very favorite sports reporter on espn's sports reporters) is coming to broad street books in november to sign his new book, for one more day and i've just finished it. it's short and perfect, just as you would expect from albom (previous books are tuesdays with morrie and the five people you meet in heaven).

for one more day is about chick bennetto, a child of divorce and the relationships that he has with his mother and father both as a child and as an adult. chick's father has left, and his mother refuses to ever tell anyone why so it is easy enough for chick to blame her. he longs for the attention from his father, the acknowledgement that he is alive and never quite gets it.

when he is older, on a day when he should be celebrating his mother's life with her he decides to agree to do as his father wants and instead realizes that it's not worth it at the same time that his mother is dying without him there. the guilt eats him up for eight years until he finally decides to take his own life.

on that day, he gets to visit his mother again and finally gets to see her for who she really is and see the struggles she went through raising him and his sister. she shows him the love she has for him and she helps in the time he needs it the most.

i was worried about this book being a downer (death, attempted suicide, guilt) but in typical mitch albom fashion, he has taken a heartbreaking story and taught us life lessons with it. lessons that are enlightening and in some strange way uplifting. he's telling us through this book to live life to the fullest, and not in a pushy way. i loved it. i can't wait to discuss it with him.

november 6th at bsb!

susie

The Fourth Bear

Eleanor here-
I just finished Jasper Fforde's latest in the Jack Spratt Investigates series The Fourth Bear.
I loved the Eyre Affair and the rest of the Thursday Next series, but I love these crime tales from the Nursery Crime Division of Reading, Berkshire. It makes me want to go back and read all about these rhymes. I looked up the Jack Sprat rhyme and here is what I found on http://www.rhymes.org.uk/jack_sprat.htm

The Jack Sprat alluded to in this English poem is reputed to be King Charles I (1625-1649) and Henrietta Maria, his Queen (1609-1669). Apparently, when King Charles (Jack Sprat) declared war on Spain, parliament refused to finance him (leaving him lean!) So his wife imposed an illegal war tax (to get some fat!) after the angered King (Jack Sprat) dissolved Parliament.

The poem is a lot better than that little bit of a history lesson.

You should also look at Fables by Bill Willingham. A different Jack Sprat is featured in those comics, but his wife isn't really seen. She is just that fat; she probably cannot fit out of their home.

It's Superman!

You Be the Hero! Superman, Lex Luthor and Lois Lane Look-A-Like contest at Broad Street Books. Meet bestselling author of It's Superman!, Tom DeHaven from 6-8 pm on Friday, September 1st. We'll be celebrating by awarding prizes to those that look the closest to America's favorite superhero, villan, and reporter. Contest will be judged at 7 pm prior to a reading by Tom DeHaven. Prizes will be awarded. Broad Street Books, 517 W. 21st Street, Norfolk. 622-2468 www.broadstreetbooks.com