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when NOVEMBER comes
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Hello, friend!
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THAT DECK IS A WRECK, so please notice, instead, the glorious color in the remaining leaves of our late-stage autumn trees; in the green grass that graces our sweeping back yard, newly installed. I so rarely write in this newsletter of our real home in South Carolina, as I most often share the views and vistas of our mountain retreat. (That also happens to be the location from which I most often write.) But this is cause for celebration! After six years in this downtown house, we've finally landscaped our back yard such that there is grass. Real grass, rolled out and properly installed on ground that has been cleared, leveled, and prepped. Real grass we intend to water! Bye-bye knee-high weeds! Hello Zoysia, pine straw, and a smattering of hydrangea that (thank you, Lisa)—fingers crossed—may actually bloom in defiance of all my hydrangea failures. We've also addressed a most unattractive feature (a "berm" Tim calls it; I call it "the ugly hill") that borders our yard and drops to the road and up along our driveway. So much better! I love the Muhly Grass that sweeps and sways, leading to the corner and our mailbox, which is a Very Good Thing and also a relief as our sweet friends Stacy and Paul endured an entire weekend of me obsessing over whether or not that was a strange choice—so much so that as I drove out of town for a sweet baby shower, they spent the morning marking the spot for each and every plant's proper placement. I mean. Friends are the best!!!
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The first afternoon after everything was done, Tim, Stella and I sat outside to marvel at the wonder of it all. We ended up staying way past dark, planning and plotting the ways in which, in every season, we're going to make the most of this time, energy and monetary investment. Not surprisingly, much of this involves our 18-month-old grandbaby, Posey, who can now quite literally have the run of the place.
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My book schedule is slowing down just a tad, just in time for the holidays! Then things ramp back up come January. Here's what's on tap, with lots more in the works:
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I'll be signing books at the Aiken Center for the Arts during this magical holiday celebration! If you live there, or have friends in the area, please let them know!
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304 S. Elm St, Greensboro, NC
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I'll be in conversation with Stacia Pelletier, author of the wonderful historical fiction novel The Deliverance of Barker McRae. Also, Stacia is delightful. This will be FUN!
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I'm delighted to be the featured author at the Winter Words gathering of the Friends of the Queens University Library. This is a ticketed event; as soon as the link is available, details will be on my website under the EVENTS tab.
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I also have a number of Book Club appearances, and I'd love to join yours if you are interested! Just email me at cathy@cathyriggauthor.com!
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Yay, November! How beautiful you are.
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October was busy! And good heavens, look how fun. Book people are the best!
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With author/poet Rita Sims Quillen at the Lonesome Pine Regional Library, in my hometown of Wise, VA
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with Sally Jeter Gregg, at Hub City Bookshop
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These dear friends have had a book club for more than 30 years! What an honor to be invited to join them for a That Which Binds Us conversation.
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My beautiful hostess, Cousin Jean, in Greenwood
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Some of my beloved Greenwood gals!
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the fabulous ladies of the Between the Lines Book Club (& Friends) in Rock Hill, SC
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with the Wise Beyond Book Club at the Wise County Public Library in Wise, VA
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Image: from Bleeker Street
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When When What Happens Later popped up on my Netflix feed, I decided to take the 2023 film out for a spin. I'm so glad I did! Starring Meg Ryan and David Duchovny, and directed by Meg Ryan, I so enjoyed its slow pace, sweet-ish story (there is a content warning) and the fabulous winter/airport setting. Perfect for a date night or a girl's night alone with a big bowl of popcorn. LONG LIVE THE ROM COM!
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This is how I know I'm old. I am incredibly invested in the answer to this question as I'd prefer to live AI-free. And I certainly don't want its "assistance" every single time I click a button on my laptop or phone. I also know I'm old because even with this article I can't figure out how to turn these dang AI tools off. Still, it seemed worth passing along. LOL
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I've read two stunning novels on audio this month, and as it turns out, both were narrated by Marin Ireland. Both were perfection, so I'm going to keep an eye out for all her work.
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Run for the Hills, by Kevin Wilson
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I do love a Kevin Wilson novel, and I have to say this is my favorite so far. The characters were colorful and oh so lovable, and Wilson's set-up and plot were fantastic. I read this from two points of view—as a reader and as a writer—and I found it to be exceptional on both levels. So smart. So imaginative. So engaging. Love, love, love!
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Ever since her dad left them twenty years ago, it’s been just Madeline Hill and her mom on their farm in Coalfield, Tennessee. While it’s a bit lonely, she sometimes admits, and a less exciting life than what she imagined for herself, it’s mostly okay. Mostly.
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Then one day Reuben Hill pulls up in a PT Cruiser and informs Madeline that he believes she’s his half sister. Reuben—left behind by their dad thirty years ago—has hired a detective to track down their father and a string of other half siblings. And he wants Mad to leave her home and join him on a road trip to find them all.
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As Mad and Rube—and eventually the others—share stories of their father, who behaved so differently in each life he created, they begin to question what he was looking for with every new incarnation. Who are they to one another? What kind of man will they find? And how will these new relationships change Mad’s previously solitary life on the farm?
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Infused with deadpan wit and enormous heart, Run for the Hills is a sibling story like no other—a novel about a family forged under the most unlikely circumstances and united by hope in an unknown future.
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My Friends, by Fredrik Backman
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This novel. THIS NOVEL. It's so sad, and so beautiful, and so quiet and still somehow absolutely stunning. Big trigger warnings and do not read this book if you are not in a good place for a sad novel. Still I can't not mention it in this newsletter; I will always think about these characters and this story. Just wow.
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Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise, and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures.
Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier, telling silly jokes, sharing secrets, and committing small acts of rebellion. These lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream, a reason to love.
Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be placed into eighteen-year-old Louisa’s care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn how the painting came to be and to decide what to do with it. The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more nervous she becomes about what she’ll find. Louisa is proof that happy endings don’t always take the form we expect in this stunning testament to the transformative, timeless power of friendship and art.
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Best Black Bean Soup, from NY Times Cooking
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Have I already shared this recipe? I wouldn't be surprised, as it's a total winner. A batch does take a minute to pull together, and I really must insist on the pickled red onion (which takes hardly any effort at all!)—but oh is it worth the effort! Let me know what you think!
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from THE DAILY GRACE archives
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The Acorns (and a Six-Part Epilogue)
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I've become a bit obsessed with acorns this fall. They're interesting; they're adorable; they're worth a bit of study. Little did I know my infatuation would become something for which there became talk of an intervention. Take a look, sweet friends, and I say: You decide!
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Eliza, Cathy and Posey, 11.8.22, 9:45 am
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NOW AVAILABLE
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