A good book can make any day better

Rainy days are especially good times to pick up a really well written book and lose yourself in the pages. One method for choosing such a book is to let the eye wander across the local library's well stocked shelves. Once your eyes settle on a book cover, reading the synopsis on the inside cover is usually enough to grab your interest.

Leaving Eden is such a book. Written by Anne D. LeClaire, it focuses on small-town life in a southern town. "It is funny, tender, and poignant." The author's purpose is to tell a story about what it means to be a mother, daughter, best friend, wife, and lover. LeClaire's story does this in a unique way. She included pages from a young girl's personal book.

What a person notices most about this great read are the interspersed pages that advise one how to live life. I believe the advice to be not only useful but sometimes thought-provoking. There's a certain joy in discovering how someone else views life. Here are some quotes from "Tallie's Book," one of the main characters in Leaving Eden. Remember that the setting is a small southern town.

"Don't made Divinity Fudge on rainy days ... Plant spring bulbs in the fall; drop a tablespoon of bonemeal in the hole ... Scald the milk before adding to sponge cake batter ... Take care not to let other people push their dreams on you ... You just have to keep faith ... Forks go on the left ... Everything tastes better with salt ... Always stand tall ... Things don't always require a pattern to make sense ... Use the juice of a lemon to bring out the shine in your hair ... Never marry a man who wears more jewelry than you do ... A woman can be pretty and strong ... Beetles signify change ... Drinking alcohol before noon is a sign of trouble ... You can't trust a man who won't look you in the eye ... It takes life to love life ... A person's as big as his/her dreams ... It's the things we're denied that we want the most ... It's hard to figure out what will kill you and what will cure you and how to know the difference ... People shrink when they get old ... Sour milk is better than sweet for cake batter ... It isn't always necessary to follow directions - for cooking or for life ... The only dumb questions are the ones you don't ask ... Women with fat faces shouldn't wear bangs ... Conceiving of possibilities is as important as attaining them ... Peppermint tea will soothe a sour stomach ... Even if people act like they're mad, underneath they can be really feeling sad ... Not one person alive lives a perfect life ... Keep your eyes open for the unexpected ... Never count on anything ... Never let anyone see the work behind the magic ... Daisies stand for beauty, roses for love ... If you can dream something you can do it ... Even if your heart is broken, you can make yourself not cry ... Thoughts hold power ... It's surprising what people are capable of ... Always say good-bye when you have the chance ... Regret is a pitiful thing ... Being around death makes you hunger for life ... Magical things rise up out of unlikely beginnings ... A boy who looks like a pirate can have a choir singer's soul ... There are two kinds of weakness, one born of evil and one born of good ... Losing your head causes problems to get worse ... It is a mighty and terrible possibility that a person can do great harm without the least intention ... Faith doesn't run steady like a river. It takes working at ... Sometimes forgiveness doesn't have to be earned ... A person's job in life is to find and follow her own dream."

Tawni is a staff writer for the Greene County Daily World. She can be reached by e-mail at tawniprudhomme@gmail.com .