THE READING CORNER....OCTOBER FAVORITES

Whether in an elegant parlor

or

a cozy breakfast nook

or a

sun-dappled garden......

books are quietly absorbed in the written word.

I chose a drama...a bit romantic and yet, a bit dark.

The author of THE STORY SISTERS,

is Alice Hoffman, who resides in Boston and also New York City.

This is the story of three sisters....they each meet their fate...

alone.......

one on a country road, one in the in streets of Paris

and the last in the corridors of her own imagination.

It is the story of a family and how far love can take you.

Excerpt~

Once a year there was a knock at the door.

Two times, then nothing.

No one else heard it...only me.

When I was old enough, I opened the door.

There stood a lady in a gray coat....holding a branch

from a Hawthorne tree. She spoke a strange language.

A big wind blew up and slammed the door shut.

When I opened it again, she was gone.....

but.....I knew what she wanted........

Last month there were several documentaries on

the murder of this sweet six year old child.

I watched them all.

I wanted to know more....

so I selected the book written by Steve Thomas,

a dedicated detective who was there

and remains dedicated to sharing what he knows and 

what the evidence reveals.

It was an extremely frustrating investigation

from this person's viewpoint.

The evidence leads in only one direction.

Most parents would go to the ends of the earth

to uncover the truth of how this horrible tragedy occurred...

the Ramsey's did not.
They already knew.

Lastly, I decided to read about

yet, another Kennedy....

this time, I wanted to know more about 

Ethel Skakel Kennedy.

My library is full of Kennedy biographies and autobiographies.

I am so glad I know much more about Ethel , her childhood, her younger self,

her education, her love for Robert Kennedy and her children.

I am so, so glad I read this book.

I can tell you, Ethel Kennedy and I would not be friends.

Her father was a self-made millionaire.

Ethel and her siblings were very, very indulged as children.

They were shuffled to various wealthy boarding schools

their entire young lives and 

 had no appreciation for education.

Most people quoted in the book were of the opinion

that Ethel was not the "brightest color in the box!"

As a child and young adult, she had no

appreciation for her wealth of material things

or for anyone else's property.

There was no love lost between the Skakel family

and the Kennedy's.

She valued being a Kennedy.

It brought power.

When she and Robert Kennedy were gifted their home,

Hickory Hill, by Joseph P, Kennedy,

it was a free for all.

Alcoholism  and addiction issues ran rampant in her family,

which were inherited by their children.

She and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis

were vastly different in most every way

and

really did not care for each other.

She gathered friends when they served her purpose

and then discarded them freely.

Yet, another Kennedy, who seems to have a sense

of entitlement based on a name.