MONDAY FROM THE INTERIOR: MAILBOX MONDAY & WHAT ARE YOU READING? — MAY 7

Welcome to another Monday from the Interior, in which we share about the books we received in the mail (or bought), and talk about our bookish week, past and future.

For May, Mailbox Monday is hosted by Martha’s Bookshelf.

Sheila, at Book Journey, brings us What Are You Reading?

 

MAILBOX MONDAY:

 

This week, I received only ONE book…a purchase from Amazon.

1.  My Extraordinary Ordinary Life (memoir), by Sissy Spacek with Maryanne Vollers

In her delightful and moving memoir, Sissy Spacek writes about her idyllic, barefoot childhood in a small East Texas town, with the clarity and wisdom that comes from never losing sight of her roots. Descended from industrious Czech immigrants and threadbare southern gentility, she grew up a tomboy, tagging along with two older brothers and absorbing grace and grit from her remarkable parents, who taught her that she could do anything. She also learned fearlessness in the wake of a family tragedy, the grief propelling her “like rocket fuel” to follow her dreams of becoming a performer.

With a keen sense of humor and a big-hearted voice, she describes how she arrived in New York City one star-struck summer as a seventeen-year-old carrying a suitcase and two guitars; and how she built a career that has spanned four decades with films such as Carrie, Coal Miner’s Daughter, 3 Women, and The Help. She details working with some of the great directors of our time, including Terrence Malick, Robert Altman, David Lynch, and Brian De Palma—who thought of her as a no-talent set decorator until he cast her as the lead in Carrie. She also reveals why, at the height of her fame, she and her family moved away from Los Angeles to a farm in rural Virginia.

Whether she’s describing the terrors and joys of raising two talented, independent daughters, taking readers behind the scenes on Oscar night, or meditating on the thrill of watching a pair of otters frolicking in her pond, Sissy Spacek’s memoir is poignant and laugh-out-loud funny, plainspoken and utterly honest. My Extraordinary Ordinary Life is about what matters most: the exquisite worth of ordinary things, the simple pleasures of home and family, and the honest job of being right with the world. “If I get hit by a truck tomorrow,” she writes, “I want to know I’ve returned my neighbor’s cake pan.”

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WHAT ARE YOU READING?

Welcome to our weekly event that helps us examine our reading, past and present.  It’s a unique way to share our choices and to visit other blogs to find more books for the weeks ahead!  Our stacks will be huge, but that’s okay.  Bookish people find ways to deal with those!

This was a week of bookish adventures, some better than others.  I finally finished the last book of the week this afternoon.   And as for my blogging, in addition to memes, it was all over the map, from Monday Potpourri:  Featuring a Unique Village and my April Reading Wrap-Up to a few others.

I also wrote about Showcasing Favorite Books, Blogoversary Winners, and Reflections on This Blog’s Life.  Or how about Design Details:  Spiffing Up the Blog & Excerpting, or Searching for Clues in the Past.

Review:    Big City Eyes, by Nora Ephron (Another one off the TBR stacks!)

Review:    HRH, by Danielle Steel (off the stacks!)

Review:    Dead Witness (e-book), by Joylene Nowell Butler (a brisk, suspenseful thriller!)

Review:    The Guy Not Taken (short story collection), by Jennifer Weiner (another one from the stacks!)

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WHAT’S UP NEXT? (Click Titles/Covers for More Info):

1.  The World Without You, by Joshua Henkin (Amazon Vine)

2.  Reel Life, by Jackie Townsend (Review-Author)

3.  The Tender Bar, by J. R. Moehringer (From the TBR Stacks)

4.  The Good Father (e-book), by Diane Chamberlain

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And that’s my week!  I hope you all can come on by and chat a bit about what you’ve been reading, and what’s coming up next.