Book-tasting, Day 1: I have words to spend

"I have words to spend and sometimes spend them foolishly, of course, squandering verbs and nouns, sending metaphors askew, and using similes like fireworks whose sparks often fail to flame. I also have a weakness for absurd alliterations.

"There are certain words I love and use over and over again, words like marvelous and stunning and wonder. I've written before about the ember words -- there's such beauty in words like September and remember. And then there's cellophane. Cellophane, said slowly."

From Cormier, Robert (1991) I Have Words to Spend: Reflections of a small-town editor. New York: Bantam Doubleday books for Young Readers.

And so begins my very own dabbling, hodgepodge home-schooling program: book-tasting. Picking a paragraph or two from one book a day, one shelf-box at a time. A way for me to get to know better the library I was born to, the library I grew up in, and the library we feed.

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Good mother, good academic?

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Now/here no/where woman

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