Tiffany Painter

If you don’t like castles, do not go to Edinburgh. There is a large one sitting on a hill in the center of everything. If you drive around the rest of the country, you will bump into a few more as well. And that doesn’t even include all the partial ruins of castles dotting the landscape. I think it’s part of being in a place with way more history than my little country over here getting ready to celebrate 250 years of existence. What I learned from these castles is humans have always wanted more. More land, more rights, more wealth, more of everything that isn’t theirs. Walking around Edinburgh Castle with all of its displays recognizing past wars and battles when kings and queens wanted to conquer lands and people, it really made it clear the problems we see today are not new. There is history of rulers plotting ways to increase their power and control over others. Yes, there have been some less domineering leaders, but they are not the norm. My little baby country has its own records of greed and corruption. With social media and on-line news available at every moment, we don’t have to wait for historians to report on the missteps. This constant reporting makes everything more intense and worrisome because we get information as it’s happening without the comfort of knowing the end results. East sides of our “castles” are being reduced to ruin for the nightly news by leaders living out their destiny of corruption. Historical landmarks are bing changed in ways that do not reflect the stories being preserved. Seeing history up close in a much older country did bring me hope. The world has seen greed played out for centuries by leaders across the globe, and yet somehow beauty and wonder still survive. There are people who will still reach out to save a stranger from a speeding tour bus coming from the wrong direction (for a silly American), gardens created across an ocean to cultivate nature from other regions, bookstores opened on cobblestone paths filled with the words of local authors, and warm pastries and tea waiting for me. Leaders may alter things for their own good, but the people will always work towards peace with each other.

Reading News: I managed to visit five bookstores in Edinburgh: Toppings & Co, Ginger & Pickles Children’s Bookshop, Golden Hare Books, Rare Birds Book Shop, and Waterstones. It was very difficult to keep my purchases down to just five bookstores. Since I had no room to carry any of them home, I had to be happy with what my husband was willing to pack in his bag for me.

I’m still working towards my yearly reading goals. I will need to up my middle grade reading this month because I have fallen a couple of days behind schedule.

Kid Lit:

The Girls of Skylark Lane by Robin Benway: This was a cute story about twin sisters who have to figure out how to be themselves in a new city. Middle school is hard enough when you don’t have to deal with starting a new school and navigating the path to figuring out who you are separate from your twin.

Confessions of a Mango by Kate Lumsden and Nate Pieplow: A book is always so much sweeter when you get to hear the local authors share their journey of creating it. Ruby will stay with me for a while. This is another twin story (I’m doing research for a manuscript) but this time about a brother and sister starting a new school. This story is told from the sister’s point of view.

The Children of Castle Rock by Natasha Farrant (a Scotland find): Alice is sent off to boarding school after her aunt sells their family home because she wants Alice to start living the adventures she always writes about. Lots of fun across the Scottish landscape.

Adult Lit:

Judy Blume: A Life by Mark Oppenheimer: Listened to the audio read my Molly Ringwald. Blume had an interesting life that resulted in some wonderful books for children and adults. This book did not try to hide any potential flaws with the woman and lets us love every part of her.

Yesteryear by Carl Claire Burke: This was not what I was expecting and I still can’t decide how I feel about it. There are many layers to the story and how they connect at the end is somewhat unexpected.

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi: It was easy to get lost in the melody of the story. I wish Theo was real and I could know him.

The Art of Starting Over by Heidi McLaughlin: This was one of those free Kindle books I picked up and found for a long flight over an ocean. The story was fine, but it was too similar to the movie Hope Floats. A woman gets scandalized by her cheating husband and best friend and flees to her small town home with her daughter where she must mend fences with her parent and learn this safe haven may be the best place for her after all.

You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson: This book of poetry should be read slowly and savored. In a collection of poems, not all of them will speak to you, but the ones that do will grab hold of your soul.

6/6

thousands of miles
to places filled with castles
this cat caught my eye

6/7

is it wrong that my
favorite part of garden
looks a lot like home