Dollar Tree Book of the Week: Alas, Babylon

This is my third Dollar Tree Book of the Week (see my first post for details). I discovered a sci-fi classic that's been around since 1959. 

It's Pat Frank's Alas Babylon in a Harper Perennial Olive Edition that is priced at $9.74 right now on Amazon.com.  There are cheaper alternatives both in paperback and digital, but this is the edition that I found at Dollar Tree this week.

Read about it on Goodreads. 

And yes, I got an American classic, in pristine condition with great quality white pages, for a buck.  Finding great books at Dollar Tree never gets old!

Thanksgiving Day Toasts

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and most likely you already have a tradition on how the meal begins.  Perhaps it's a prayer.  Maybe your family likes to start off with everyone going around the table sharing something they are grateful for this year. 

Could be there's a toast or two.  Am I right? 

Toasts are great -- and they can start the festivities off with a flair or add something more to the meal.  But what to say, besides "Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!" or "Okay, Let's Eat!"

Thanksgiving Toasts

Here's are a few from the collections at Thanksgiving.com and CountryLiving.com that you might enjoy reciting tomorrow (check out the sites for their full lists):

• “For each new morning with its light. For rest and shelter of the night. For health and food, for love and friends. For everything Thy goodness sends.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “Remember God’s bounty in the year. String the pearls of His favor. Hide the dark parts, except so far as they are breaking out in light! Give this one day to thanks, to joy, to gratitude!” – Henry Ward Beecher
• "Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings." - William Arthur Ward
• "We can only be said to be alive in those moment when our hearts are conscious of our treasures." -- Thorton Wilder 

... and please have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday, Dear Reader!

Dollar Tree Book of the Week: The Great Santini

This is my second Dollar Tree Book of the Week (see my earlier post for details).  I'm still reeling that I found something written by Pat Conroy at the DT.  What a find!  Pat Conroy is one of my favorite writers. 

Here's what I brought home -- The Great Santini by Pat Conroy, in paperback:

Maybe you recognize it from the movie version.  This 1976 novel was made into a movie with Robert Duvall in the title role, 1979's "The Great Santini."  It also starred Michael O'Keefe and Blythe Danner -- but Duvall really made that film IMHO. 

It was a good movie.  Critics loved it (94% at Rotten Tomatoes), but for me the book was so much better.  Maybe it was because I knew before I started reading it long ago that it was based on Pat Conroy's difficult childhood and that Santini, in many ways, was his abusive dad. 

And I got this paperback, crisp and clean, for a buck at the Dollar Tree.  What a treasure!!!!!