Plans Change

So I was all set to have Memoir Week here on Books and Cooks, thanks to the memoir reading binge I've been on. But as I was writing my first post on Tuesday announcing memoir week I was called in early to work. Which was a good thing! And then I spent most of, okay all of my kid-free time on Wednesday trying to get into Harry Potter after the first show I showed up for was sold out. I finally did see it after buying a ticket online, retrieving it, standing in line for a half hour, then sitting in the theater for another half hour. Was it worth it? I'm going to say Yes. I'm not sure how close it was to the book, I read that back in 2005 after all. I did love that there was a bit of humor in this installment and enjoyed the romantic tension between the characters. Alan Rickman is fabulous.


So, here I am on Thursday. I think that it is too late to begin memoir week and I will hold that thought for next week. I will instead tell you about another book I read recently, The Lace Makers of Glenmara by Heather Barbieri.




Reading this book was like putting on an old comfortable sweater. The plot is familiar: a young woman has been facing tough times in life and love and decides to travel. In this case, the young woman whose name is Kate travels to the homeland of her mother's family, Ireland, and finds herself in a small village. She is immediately taken in by a lovely but lonely woman and instead of moving on like she expected, Kate stays on for a bit. She soon begins learning how to make lace with the village women and because pretty things are hard to find in small villages in Ireland, they begin to create beautiful lingerie out of the lace. We get to know the lace makers, the challenges and struggles that they have faced. We get to know the village priest who thinks lacy lingerie is Evil, a storyline that seemed a little far-fetched. I guess I just don't see what fancy underwear has to do with religion. But I let that go, since there was so much to enjoy about this book, including a little romance. Except for the priest, this is a warm and gentle book, one to curl up with. For some reason, I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did, perhaps because it seemed formulaic. But it brought me pleasure and I am happy to recommend it.