Diving Right In!

I finally was able to dive into “The Deep End of the Ocean”. It was so fitting that the second time I opened the book my 1.5 year old daughter had scribbled in orange crayon all over the inside front cover. It completely compliments the chaos that the main character, Beth Cappadora, experiences with her 3 small children. I could completely relate to the moment she was trying to get everyone in the car to head to her reunion. Her 3 year old son, Ben, pulled all of the medicine and makeup bottles out of her luggage and lined them up on the floor like toy soldiers. Just keeping the folded laundry folded and in the laundry basket is a battle at my house. My daughter wants to help and only really helps in undoing all of the work I have already done! Oh the patience it takes to be a mother!

Then Beth experiences the most devastating thing that can happen to a parent. Ben disappears while checking in at the hotel. Admittedly my 3 year old son has run off on me TWICE while shopping on two separate occasions. Thankfully both times I was with another adult and we were able to locate him in a few minutes… but let me tell you those few minutes were excruciating. You can’t imagine the fear that runs through you. Every possible bad scenario enters your head and you have no one to blame but yourself. I was holding my breath while reading about Beth searching for her son.

One little side note: This book has been made into a major motion picture which I have not seen. But while visiting Oprah.com there were images of the movie in the side line. I did catch that Michelle Pfeiffer plays Beth in the movie. Despite all of the author’s descriptions of Beth I have been unable to get her face out of my head while reading. That is one bad thing about seeing a movie before reading the book.

First book just arrived!

There is nothing I like more that walking into my favorite book store! I could spend endless hours reading the book jackets and smelling the scent of fresh unread pages. Unfortunately time does not permit me to do that very often so I resort to buying books online.I think in order to save some money (you know, in these hard economic times) I will be renting most of the books from my local library. It should have the same satisfying “book store” feeling. 

There are currently 68 books that have been selected for the Oprah Book Club. (you can find the full list here) The first book selected back in 1996 was “The Deep End of the Ocean”, by JacQuelyn Mitchard, which arrived at my front door this morning! I am so anxious to begin reading but I must first finish the book I am currently reading. Many people are able to read multiple books at a time. Not me. I have to devote my whole attention to a single story. Happy reading!

My name is Emily. I am 28 years old, married to a great man and have 2 small children; 3 ½ year old son and a 19 month old daughter. Thanks to my mother, I grew up learning and laughing with Oprah. Fifteen years ago this month, Oprah launched her Book Club. At the time I was 13 years old and obviously not ready to tackle the content of the books selected for the club reading. In the last 3 years I have become more of a book worm and always relied on the suggestions of my friends and family for reading material. While watching the 2^nd episode of “Oprah’s Farewell Season” (with my mother…), Oprah announced the addition of the book “Freedom” by Jonathan Franzen, and it dawned on me all of the great reading suggestions I have missed out on in the past 15 years. So my goal is to read all of the books on the Oprah Book Club list, starting with the first added in 1996. I won’t give myself a time limit (after all I am busy mother, wife and worker) and although I don’t anticipate it, I will stop reading any of these books if I am not enjoying it… because for me reading is all about pleasure and learning. So here it goes…