The Friday Five

Five Books I Like to Give as Gifts
(in no particular order)

1. Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie
2. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
3. The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
4. The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
5. Olivia by Ian Falconer

What books do you like to give others?

The Friday Five

Five Awesome Opening Lines (in no particular order):

• There was once, in the country of Alifbay, a sad city, the saddest of cities, a city so ruinously sad that it had forgotten its name. -Salman Rushdie, Haroun and the Sea of Stories
• When Josey woke up and saw the feathery frost on her windowpane, she smiled. Finally, it was cold enough to wear long coats and tights. It was cold enough for scarves and shirts worn in layers, like camouflage. It was cold enough for her lucky red cardigan, which she swore had a power of its own. She loved this time of year. -Sarah Addison Allen, The Sugar Queen
• It is a day of yellow fog, and the Folk are hungry. -Franny Billingsley, The Folk Keeper
• A surging, seething, murmuring crowd of beings that are human only in name, for to they eye and ear they seem naught but savage creatures, animated by vile passions and by the lust of vengeance and hate. -Baroness Orczy, The Scarlet Pimpernel
• I have been afraid of putting air in a tire ever since I saw a tractor tire blow up and throw Newt Hardbine's father over the top of the Standard Oil sign. -Barbara Kingsolver, The Bean Trees

Thank You to Baroness Orczy

Dear Baroness Orczy,

When I was a junior in high school my English teacher, Mrs. Brandt, showed us the A&E movie version of The Scarlet Pimpernel. I was smitten immediately. I went immediately to the small library in Manti, Utah and checked out a very battered paperback version of your book. I don't remember much about that first reading experience, just that I was so caught up in what was going on in the book I can't even remember where I was sitting as I read it. It didn't take me long to finish it.

I would not be overstating it to say that book changed my life.

I've re-read it at least once every year since then. I recommend it to anyone who will listen. When I'm blocked in my own writing I will pull out my beautiful library bound copy and let it fall open to the most-read part of the book. The chapter entitled Richmond. I read it again and get so caught up in your beautiful words that it helps inspire my own.

I want to thank you for turning a small, quickly-produced play into one of my favorite books of all time. My life would not be the same without Marguerite and Percy in it.

Best wishes,
Pam