Year 2 Day 10: The Girls in the Stilt House

Chatting Books Online Year 2 Day 10. . Today's recommended book is The Girls in the Stilt House. This brand new debut novel by Kelly Mustian is set in the swamps along the Natchez Trace in the 1920's. The book caught my attention from the very first pages, not just because of the proximity and familiarity of the setting but also because of the strength of the story of relationships it has to tell.

The main characters are Matilda, the daughter of a sharecropper on the Trace and Ada , the daughter of a trapper across the swamp . Though similar in age their stories and lives.are very different. Both girls experience hardships during their teen years and are drawn together in the events surrounding the death of Ada's father. As the girls try to navigate their way through the world we learn about ties that bind them that were not at first readily apparent and a resiliency of spirit that is indefatigable.

Through the setting, the strong young female protagonists , and the mystery that builds throughout the book this book will draw comparisons to Where the Crawdad's Sing though interestingly I recently learned from the author that she has still never read that book (one of the few apparently) . So if you have been looking for a book similar to that one (which I am asked constantly) then this is the pick for you.

This book stirs a lot of conversation and would be a great bookclub pick.

This brand new book is available in paperback for $16.99 a copy.

To purchase a copy come see us at the shop during business hours or you can call or message me to have a copy shipped to you.

Year 2 Day 9 : The Beginner's Guide to Growing Great Vegetables

Chatting Books Online Year 2, Day 9.

I have a confession to make. As much as I love gardening I have never actually grown a vegetable garden. Actually, I have never grown a vegetable - not even one tomato. But all of that is about to change and so I really need today's recommended book: The Beginner's Guide to Growing Great vegetables by Lorene Edwards Forkner.

This book seems to make it all very simple. There are separate instructions for timing etc based on your region and it gives a month by month list of chores & checklists. It also gives tips in each section for small space and container gardening. I recently learned on one of the gardening facebook groups I belong to that an easy start for a container garden is to plant it in a kiddie pool. This provides a manageable small space with no grass or weeds from previous plantings to contend with, so I will be planting my garden soon following the step-by-step instructions in this book. Stay tuned to see my progress, I might even plant it in the bookstore backyard so you can see for yourself! Looking forward to my first kiddie pool to table feast!

This paperback book is 223 pages and currently sells for $19.95 a copy.

To purchase a copy come see us at the shop during business hours or you can call or message me to have a copy shipped to you.

Year 2 Day 8 : Dog Man: Mothering Heights

Chatting Books Online Year 2, day 8. Today's recommended book is a hot off the presses book releasing Today! That book is Dog Man Mothering Heights.

In preparation for today I actually read my first Dog Man book and I have to admit I sang along to the songs (let’s just say I can see why young boys like them) , read parts aloud to my husband (and dogs) , and laughed out loud.

OK, I get it, Dog Man is really funny. Particularly if you happen to be a 4-10 year old boy or someone who enjoys their humor like me .

So as you can see in the pictures: Buster, Lady and I all approve !

Available starting in hardcover for $12.99 a copy.

To purchase a copy come see us at the shop during business hours or you can call or message me to have a copy shipped to you.

Year 2 Day 7 : The Public Art of Robert Dafford

Chatting Books Online Year 2 , Day 7. Here's the truth, sometimes I forget about a great book until I suddenly have several online orders for it come in in one week, or multiple people suddenly pick it up in the store - and then I generally wonder why I haven't recommended this book yet. Today's recommended book : The Public Art of Robert Dafford with photographs and text by Phlip Gould is one of those books.

Robert Dafford is a muralist. You have seen his work before, he is the artist responsible for the great big clarinette on the side of the Holiday Inn near the Superdome in downtown New Orleans, the giant harmonica on the Casino in Baton Rouge, and so many more mjurals throughout the south.

I remember hearing Mr. Dafford and Mr. Gould talk about painting the murals and photographing them at a Writers * Readers Symposium years ago and I was completely fascinated by the intricate detail each took in their craft . I remember Mr. Gould talking about being up on the scaffold in New Orleans and he could not quite get the buttons on the clarinet right and then it hit him. The buttons are slightly domed and so the reflections would be different so he went to the hotel restaurant and asked for a spoon then he again climbed the scaffold and held up the spoon so he could see the somewhat bent reflection behind him and therefore know what the clarinet buttons would be reflecting . Amazing. Equally amazing was Philip Gould's mention of sitting near a mura in Lafayette for hours upon hours waiting to see how the light changed and what light would best show the mural to it's best advantage in photography. These men are dedicated to their craft. The book is full of so much information and of course amazing pictures of wonderful murals.

And we have copies signed by both Robert Dafford and Philip Gould currently in stock! These hardcover coffee table books sell for $49.95 a copy.

To purchase a copy come see us at the shop during business hours or you can call or message me to have a copy shipped to you.

Year 2 Day 6 : The Week in Review Match 15 - 21. 2021.

Chatting Books Online Year 2, Day 6. The Week in Review March 15 - 21. 2021.

Thanks for joining us again this week as we sent out new book recommendations into the electronic void.

This week was a bit different in that it started out on Monday with instead of a recommended book a word of thanks as we hit the one year mark for the Chatting Books Online program. Then Tuesday came and it was time to get started again with new recommendations for this new year,

This week my recommendations included the classic children's book The Tale of Peter Rabbit and a new regional children's storybook with The Crawfish Family Band.

We got a little spooky with Louisiana's haunted Plantations then we visited World War II era Paris and 1980's Montana in the new historical fiction book The Paris Library. Finally, we wrapped up the week with a stroll through Eudora Welty's Jackson , Mississippi Garden in the lovely book One Writer's Garden.

If you missed any of these reviews and want to read what I had to say about them you can see all of our Chatting Books Online picks by visiting our website at: http://www.conundrumbooks.com/chatting-books-online .

We still (and always will going forward) offer shipping if you cannot make it to the store. Or just stop by the shop during or normal hours . See you soon !

Year 2 Day 5 : One Writer's Garden

Chatting Books Online Year 2 , Day 5. Today's recommended book is : One Writer's Garden: Eudora Welty's Home Place with text by Susan Halton and Jane Roy Brown and photographs by Langdon Clay.

This beautiful book tells the story of Southern writer Eudora Welty and her relationship with her garden. The garden was started by her mother Chestina as a way to soften the borders around their Jackson Mississippi home and has provided the backdrop for much of Eudora Welty's life and writing. With both historical photos of the family in the garden, pages from Chestina's garden journal and current day photographs you get a real sense of this garden as a living thing and develop a deeper appreciation and understanding for the writer as well.

This lovely hardcover book is 272 pages and sells for $ 35v a copy

To purchase a copy come see us at the shop during business hours or you can call or message me to have a copy shipped to you.

Year 2 Day 4: The Crawfish Family Band

Chatting Books Online Year 2, Day 4. Today's recommended book is a new addition to our regional storybook collection. The Crawfish Family Band is the newest storybook by the writing and illustrating team of Todd-Michael St Pierre and Lee Brandt Randall. This is the same team that did Chicory and Roux , The Creole Mouse and the Cajun Mouse ; and Thibodaux Turtle and Boudreaux Bunny.

In this book you will meet Cayenne who plays in a band with his family of crawfish. They play all the big festivals in the state from Jazz fest in New Orleans to Mamou, White Castle, Gramercy and even New Roads - they are always on the geaux!

This fun bouncy rhyming book even gives you the complete lyrics of several songs the band plays in their gigs! Tunes like The Gumbo Song and The Crawdaddy Crawl so feel free to sing along!

This hardcover storybook sells for $22.95 a copy.

To purchase a copy come see us at the shop during business hours or you can call or message me to have a copy shipped to you.

Year 2 Day 3: Louisiana's Haunted Plantations

Chatting Books Online Year 2, Day 3. Today's recommended book is Louisiana's haunted Plantations by Jill Pascoe.

This book was originally published in 2004 and while a bit of the information is outdated (they suggest for instance that you eat at The Carriage House Restaurant while visiting The Myrtles) the information on the ghosts and house descriptions remain largely unchanged - they have after all been in these places for the better part of 200 years in many instances.

The book gives a description of a dozen or so pages for each of 12 Louisiana plantation homes as well as brief histories on a few haunted houses that have since burned down. The first two entries are familiar us here in St Francisville being The Myrtles and Rosedown. I have attended the mystery tour at The Myrtles so I had heard most of those stories but found the description of the house restorations over the years interesting and there is a listing of what kind of haunting you might experience in each room at The Myrtles - hadn't heard all of this so found it pretty interesting as well.

I had never heard any stories of a haunting at Rosedown so i found this section intriguing but again also found the history of the additions and alterations to the house particularly interesting here as well. I mean how many houses add an entire wing in order to house a new bedroom set originally built for a failed Presidential candidate? And if that wasn't enough they then also have to build another wing to "balance" the house now that that was added . Can someone tell my husband my additions and renovations are not so unreasonable after all ! ?

The book goes on to describe more "haunted" houses throughout the state. Overall an interesting read and I felt I learned a little something architecturally as well.

This paper back book is 157 pages and currently sells for $16.00 a copy.

To purchase a copy come see us at the shop during business hours or you can call or message me to have a copy shipped to you.