“Avoid clichés like the plague.” I don’t remember when I first heard this writing advice, which you might notice is also a cliché. It goes so far back in my memory, I’m guessing it was from a high school English teacher. I had a couple of really good ones. Either Mrs. Bounds or Mrs. Olsen might have been the ones who impressed me with the saying early on.

The memoir, Pulling the Chariot of the Sun, by Shane McCrae, takes a journey through the life of a child who was kidnapped by his grandparents when he was three years old. His mother was white, his father was black, and his grandparents were steeped in prejudice. They took him to Texas in an effort to hide his blackness from him.

Anna gave a semi-apology for West with Giraffes, my Mother’s Day gift book, saying she hadn’t read it yet, but it had been recommended by readers she trusted. I had to smile a bit, remembering the days when I pre-read the books I passed along or gifted to her. We have come to know each other’s tastes and seldom miss the mark any more.

I borrow a phrase from Robert Frost today to issue an invitation. The invitation is for a celebration at 10:30 on August 28th at the Peck House on the western edge of the University of Southern Mississippi campus.

If you love a cozy mystery housed in a historical fiction tale set in England, I have a recommendation for you. Murder at a London Finishing School by Jessica Elliott takes her readers back to the end of World War I with the hovering threat of another war.

A recent news item I saw made sense, and I think will not call for a lot of disagreement – certainly not from me.  Baguettes are now cultural heritage!

Sometimes suspension of disbelief is as important in a realistic novel as in fantasy. One Summer in Savannah by Terah Shelton Harris is such a recently released book. The first line in the book sets the scene, “It’s difficult to pinpoint the moment I started loving my daughter.”

I have mentioned on this blog before that when our oldest son married we got a bonus of twin granddaughters that came with the package. Our first adventure with them presaged personalities that are definitely not identical.

In his newest novel, Be Mine, Richard Ford writes what sounds like a memoir as Frank Bascombe recounts a car trip with his son Paul. At 47, Paul has been diagnosed with ALS, called “Al’s” in their surprisingly light conversation. Seventy-four-year-old Frank has become the caretaker, though he is frequently interrupted with advice by phone from Paul’s sister Clarice who differs with her father’s decisions.

The first road trip for Peter, as he publicized Becoming Ezra Jack Keats with me, held both glitches and connections. My sister Beth arranged for events near her new home in Atlanta and invited our other two sisters, Gwyn and Ruth, to join us. There would be a signing at Read It Again Book Store, a visit with residents in her new digs, and a meeting with her book club that had chosen my book for their June read.

To be honest, I have never been homeless – just hometown-less. I grew up the daughter of a country preacher and then married a guy who spent a career in the military. When someone asks about where I come from, my first reaction is usually to stutter. A decision we made more than two decades ago has changed that.

The seasoning of magical realism begins in the first chapter of Wishing Season by Anica Mrose Rissi as Lily gets off the school bus ten minutes past the usual time. Her body language when she waves at no friends and braces herself as she heads to her front door is observed and commented on by two watchful birds. One says she’ll be all right; the second one wonders.

Got my bag, got my reservation
Spent each dime I could afford
Like a child in wild anticipation
Long to hear that, “All aboard!"

To be honest, though I am borrowing some lyrics from the old Doris Day song, “Sentimental Journey,” the idea is only a partial fit. I’ll start with that part.

Mississippi’s favorite editorial cartoonist, Marshall Ramsey, gave advice for graduates this year. “Never chase trophies or honors. Fall in love with the work instead. Life is work. . . Stop saying you ‘have to do something.’ Start saying ‘I get to do something’.”

Hattiesburg Mayor Toby Barker got my attention with his request on the news. In a bit of background, in case you are not from here, the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) Golden Eagles are hosting the Super Regional baseball games as they play Tennessee this weekend after winning the Auburn Regional last week.

The Museum of Lost and Found by Leila Sales begins with a lost friendship that drifted away without fanfare and a found abandoned museum that has signs saying POSTED: NO TRESPASSING and DEMOLITION PENDING.

When Owen asked me the question, I immediately thought of the old saying, “What goes around, comes around.” Coming around has taken a little while, but I think it was inevitable.

The reader knows immediately that Penelope Keeling has a mind of her own when The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher begins with her ignoring her doctor’s advice and checking herself out of the hospital against doctor’s orders. Her life story is told from her beginnings with unconventional parents to the wrangling now with three adult children, each with a mind and personality of their own.

I remember Mama with a bit of a twinkle in her eye when I was growing up as she listened to old folks who talk about “young folks today” and “when I was growing up.” She would tell us later that there was a saying she got from her grandmother that fit the occasion.

Sometimes a typical picture book may mean even more to the grandparent who is reading the story than to its projected audience. Love in the Library by Maggie Takuda-Hall does exactly that.