Caribousmom, You Are My Only, and two very special citations

Readers of this blog may know this story:  A few years ago, I read and loved a book called The Elegance of the Hedgehog.  I said as much here.  Not long afterward that post became a particularly popular post of mine, and when I tried to discover just what had brought my few thoughts this blessed attention I discovered a blog called Caribousmom.  The creator of this blog had shared my passion for this story; she had also—thoughtfully—shared my own post with her enthusiastic readers.

What else did this blogger like to read, I wondered?  What else did she have to say?  It didn't take me long to understand that Caribousmom is a sacred book haven—an intelligent blog by a most discerning reader.  We tend to love the same books.  We look forward to the same releases.  Many of the volumes I own are directly related to reflections that Caribousmom has shared.  Her reviews are long and detailed.  They provide hints of the authors' own styles, own ways of speaking.  They are independently produced, in no way tied to any fiscal reward, which is to say that Caribousmom writes about books because she loves them.  Caribousmom is often one of the very first to speak out on behalf of books that will go on to win the year's big prizes.  Consider, for example, Salvage the Bones. 

Over the course of this year, if I am not mistaken, Caribousmom read nearly 100 books.  Yesterday she unveiled her favorite reads of 2011—long lists, short lists, winners, books that elevated the form, that stayed with her.  I am enormously blessed to discover You Are My Only on the short fiction list—the only young adult novel in that grouping.  You Are My Only also appears on her list of Buzz Books Which Did Not Disappoint, an honor equal to the first. 

Today is the first day of a new year.  My son is on a train at this early hour, returning from an evening in New York City.  I have printed out the first 30 pages of the new novel that I'm writing and will curl up beneath a quilt on the couch reading through and writing forward, while I await the sound of his footsteps at the door.  I plan to spend this day peacefully, in other words.  Caribousmom, thank you so very much for your generosity, intelligence, and heart on this new day.  You make the world a better place.