September 26, 2018 – Felicia Denise, Author

Logo I was invited to participate in this challenge by blogger Abbie Johnson Taylor. Here’s how it works. Think of your ten favorite books and write them down. Then invite three other bloggers to create their own lists of ten favorite book titles and invite three other bloggers and so forth. You can read the guidelines here.

Below is my list of ten books. I must admit this was HARD. At first, a dozen titles popped into my head and they kept coming. Certain books were more important to me during certain periods in my life, so I ended up writing a few down, then the mister randomly selected ten. They’re not in any particular order.

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1. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
2. Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
3. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
4. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
5. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
6. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
7. Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
8. Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley
9. The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah
10. The Bible

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The three bloggers I am inviting are L S Fellows, Taylor Love, and D.E. Haggerty. Of course anyone else is welcome to submit favorite book titles. I look forward to reading about them.

Still thinking about the situation with her eldest son, Lenore Porter absently drove home. Pulling her vehicle into the garage, she exited and went through the garage’s rear entrance to her back door… and found Duncan sitting in the old swing near the Sugar Maple tree. He shook his head slowly without meeting her gaze.

“I’m sorry, mom.”

“I’m glad you’re safe, sweetheart.”

“I shouldn’t have run away like that.”

“You were upset. Looks like you still are.”

“I’m not crazy, mama… I’m not.”

Lennie’s chest tightened. He had not called her that since second grade. Sitting her bag at the back door, Lennie walked over and took the swing next to Duncan. They both rocked in the silence until Lenore spoke.

“Most people who go to counseling aren’t mentally ill, Dunc. Life just has a way of dumping too much on us at once,” she touched his hand, “the drowning feeling you mentioned? You’re overwhelmed. It happens to us all at some point during our lives.”

“Have you ever felt like you were drowning, mom?”

“Not drowning so much as… helpless.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Well, don’t take this as clinical or anything, but I knew the problem and I knew the cause. I just couldn’t fix it.”

“Dad.” It was a statement, not a question.

Lennie’s smile was bittersweet. “Yes.”

~~~