If I knew where I was, certainly then I would know where I'm going. There'd be clues in the tall trees and the waving grasses. The wind would blow in an understandable pattern, spilling secrets I decipher with the Rosetta Stone inside my belly.
There is no grass here. No trees.
I take mid-life stock of the to-do list I made up some years ago. It's smudged in spots, and some words have slid from the page, but I can guess which ones they were. Funny, I don't recognize the writing of my youth. Long loops and wide D's that take up twice the space of the other letters. Straight up and down lines, while today I write with a slant; deep right, edging left, right again.
Ah, the list, right. What's on that blasted list. Interrupted ideas. Divorced homesteads. Long strides off the page. Summers of frustrated inaction. Deep winter scars like glaciers retreating. I meant to do none of these things, but I dig in my pockets and there's no other list.
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About Me
- Bonnie Grove
- Broken person, wife, mom, writer. I like to poke things with sticks. Here's a stick for you. Poke something.
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Praise for Talking to the Dead
“It isn’t often that I get so hooked on the characters and story that I forget time and purpose. Talking to the Dead caught hold of my heart from page one. It takes a gifted and intuitive writer like Bonnie to bring humor into the middle of such a serious story. Call her the Jodi Piccoult of Christian fiction! Beautifully done! I can’t wait to read the next story she writes.”
Francine Rivers, bestselling author of Redeeming Love
“Talking to the Dead is a shirk-your-duties kind of book. You’ll read it to the neglect of laundry and cooking and bring it with you to read in the car at stoplights. With a story that unfolds in the most surprising ways and a protagonist so true-to-life you feel like you should be praying for her, Talking to the Dead delves deep into the recesses of grief, anger, and most importantly, redemption. Bonnie Grove has set the bar high with this one. I can’t wait to read her next book.”
Alison Strobel, author of Violette Between and Worlds Collide
“With tightly-woven prose that is achingly real and skillfully rendered, Bonnie Grove has crafted a deeply-moving story of grief, betrayal and redemption. Grove’s engaging, authentic style is resonant and her words linger long after you’ve set the book down.”
Susan Meissner, author of The Shape of Mercy
Bonnie Grove has a remarkable gift not only for can't-put-the-book-down storytelling, but she also takes on big, weighty issues -- betrayal, grief, wrenching regrets -- and handles them with compassion, humor, and ultimately, hope. ----Joy Jordan-Lake, author Blue Hole Back Home, Why Jesus Makes Me Nervous
Francine Rivers, bestselling author of Redeeming Love
“Talking to the Dead is a shirk-your-duties kind of book. You’ll read it to the neglect of laundry and cooking and bring it with you to read in the car at stoplights. With a story that unfolds in the most surprising ways and a protagonist so true-to-life you feel like you should be praying for her, Talking to the Dead delves deep into the recesses of grief, anger, and most importantly, redemption. Bonnie Grove has set the bar high with this one. I can’t wait to read her next book.”
Alison Strobel, author of Violette Between and Worlds Collide
“With tightly-woven prose that is achingly real and skillfully rendered, Bonnie Grove has crafted a deeply-moving story of grief, betrayal and redemption. Grove’s engaging, authentic style is resonant and her words linger long after you’ve set the book down.”
Susan Meissner, author of The Shape of Mercy
Bonnie Grove has a remarkable gift not only for can't-put-the-book-down storytelling, but she also takes on big, weighty issues -- betrayal, grief, wrenching regrets -- and handles them with compassion, humor, and ultimately, hope. ----Joy Jordan-Lake, author Blue Hole Back Home, Why Jesus Makes Me Nervous
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2 comments:
I liked this. It made much sense, particularly over this last week or so.
There's a terrible irony though, and that's this:
One of the reasons I've been pulling my own washed-again-and-refolded list from the depths of my pocket and thinking about all my unfulfilled to-dos (apart from the obvious reason, ie I've just finished a book) is that I've been reading about other people's achievements a bit too much.
Sometimes not a good idea. But you find these things when you delve too deeply into internet archives. And you always find yourself feeling long on failure and short on achievement. Or at least I do.
The irony is this: it was always the same person who'd write (in dribs and drabs mind you...but I'm a fast reader) about something else she'd done or achieved or worked or reworked, to the point where I let myself feel like a failure in comparison. I know...stupid. Don't do that. Got to work hard to fix your perspective on yourself sometimes.
I don't think I'll read any of her stuff again. Some Canadian chick who writes for Novel Matters.
Nah...I'll give her a miss. I'll just read your stuff instead : P
Good idea. Canadian chicks can't be trusted. :D
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