Rita could not help herself.
Music energized her.
Instead of a simple walk
across any room,
she glided and swished,
swayed and twirled.
keeping time with
the rhythm of her life.
“Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but in the living room.”
~ Kurt Vonnegut
Rita could not…..
Every day…..
Argument is never….
Suspicion pushes….
Outsized ideas……
Nerves of steel…..
“Reason is the natural order of truth;
but imagination is the organ of meaning.”
~ C.S.Lewis
Carmen hated her job, her life and how her sister and mother must speak about her. Never good enough. Her sister, Sofia, lived in Edinburgh in a perfect house, with perfect children and a perfect husband. Carmen’s only friend, Idra, worked with her at a failing women’s wear store. Dounstons had been a popular store but was failing. Mrs. March, their overbearing boss, was one more bit of Carmen’s unhappiness. They lost their jobs and while Idra quickly found work, Carmen did not. Much to her parents concern, she had moved back home and had not found work. Her sister, who was pregnant and still working, needed help with one of her clients. Carmen was approached to help, which did not make her happy. Young Mr. McCredie was about to lose his bookshop. He had neglected it badly and had few customers. If it couldn’t turn around by Christmas, it would be sold.
To Carmen’s surprise, she began to like her new situation in Edinburgh. Not everything, but in little steps she improved her attitude and the bookshop. Auntie Carmen had bonded with her nieces and nephew, siding with them against their nanny. A thorn in her side, Skylar, slim, blond, lovely and nanny to the children, insisted upon correctness at all times.
As Christmas approached, Carmen brought life back to the bookshop. Cleaned and decorated for Christmas, the bookshop became a friendly place with a Children’s Hour. She learned more about Mr. McCredie’s past that explained why he had tucked himself away from everyone except for his books. Carmen also meets more than one attractive man, but I’ll not give anything away about that.
An easy and pleasant read, Jenny Colgan, takes you into the streets of Edinburgh, Scotland including the Ormiston Yew, over a 1000 years old, for part of Carmen’s new experience. Perfect with a cup of hot chocolate at Christmas time.
“I think he’s barely left the house he was born in his whole life.
He likes books more than people.”
~ Jenny Colgan, The Christmas Bookshop
Title: The Christmas Bookshop
Author: Jenny Colgan
Copyright: 2021
Publisher: originally published in Great Britain by Sphere
Format: Novel
Type: Fiction
ISBN: 978-0-06-314167-4 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-0-06-314325-8 (hardcover library edition)
It’s 9 o’clock
The night air is cool
Christmas lights gradually wink off,
fading toward the New Year.
Each next day will open
as in all New Years past.
But tomorrow,
the last day of 2024,
will be its own new beginning.
“With the new day comes
new strength and new thoughts.”
~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Once more the page is
blank, random thoughts
drift, falling uselessly
into the dark. Biding
their time, perhaps
never to return or
maybe to blossom.
One never knows
about random thoughts.
“Life is about not knowing, having to change,
taking a moment and making the best of it.”
~ Gilda Radner
