A new crush

The last week has been one of those near perfect weeks.  My husband is still at home using up the last of his vacation days but instead of trying to cram as many activities into the day as possible to take advantage of the extra set of hands (and highway driving skills) I am taking more time to relax and read. 

Plus, spring has finally arrived in Toronto.  The last remnants of snow have almost completely disappeared from our backyard.  It has been relatively warm outside.  And sunny.  My winter headaches have lifted and I feel a sort of happiness that I always feel in the spring. 

And I just finished reading a wonderful wonderful book.  When I was only a few pages into Jennifer Lauck's Show Me the Way, I thought "I need to tell people about this book."  I also thought "I really wish I could write like this." 

I actually had ordered the book some time ago.  Jennifer Lauck (who heard about MUBAR from Andi Buchanan) had sent me a nice email and I ordered her book from Amazon that day.  But I did not read it right away.  I think that the Publisher's Weekly blurb on Amazon.ca intimidated me a little as I was expecting something much more "harrowing" like Fall on Your Knees.  And since I have always read books with feverish intensity and was feeling kind of gloomy, I did not feel I was up to reading such a thing.

But this book is not about darkness.  It is bathed in images of light and joy.  And while Lauck is honest about the trials of motherhood (especially as, left motherless at a young age, she is in uncharted territory), she is also so very hopeful and can see the light (and humour) among the shadows.

I read a lot of things and I write about some of them in my blog.  Many of them are good fun reads - great for the beach or to kill time on the subway.  This book is different - it's one I will continue to think about long after I have finished reading it. 

I'm sure I will be sending little mash notes to Jennifer Lauck now, as I did with Andi Buchanan after I finished reading Mother Shock.