It Doesn't Get Better Than This...A Bookstore AND a Rock Shop in One: Ocotillo Books, Rocks, and Beads in Alpine, Texas

For more wordless photos, go to Wordless Wednesday.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken and then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky at West Metro Mommy Reads.

Ten of My Favorite Books Set in the American West

Lonesome Dove

This is a must-read. I've yet to meet a person who hasn't loved this book.

One Thousand White Women

This one is a book I read a long, long time ago.

A woman gets a chance to start over out west.

Sarah, Plain and Tall

It's a very short chapter book that will touch your heart.

The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey

Two brothers attempt to travel the Oregon Trail. It's nonfiction.

These is My Words

It's fiction, but I would have sworn it was nonfiction.

Death Comes for the Archbishop

I just read this one this summer. It's full of the beauty and charm of New Mexico.

By the Great Horn Spoon!

I read this book as a child. 

It was so good that it sent me back to the F shelf in the library 

for every Sid Fleischman book the library had.

True Grit

You've seen the movie, and you aren't interested in this book? 

I said the same thing, but others finally talked me into reading it. 

One of the best books I've ever read.

Little House on the Prairie

Still a great read aloud for your children or your students.

Horseman, Pass By

A very different story than McMurtry's Lonesome Dove.

A powerful book, nevertheless.

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

Children's Picture Books This Summer With...a Giveaway!

Picture Books This Summer I've had a lot of picture books arrive in my mailbox this summer. I love picture books more than any other kind of book, I think, so I wanted to save them for as long as I can before reading them....I had a delicious day yesterday, reading and reviewing all of these wonderful picture books.... The Dragon's Hoard A Tiger Tail The Gingerbread Man Loose at the Zoo      With Any Luck, I'll Drive a Truck And...   Journey                                Quest Return So you can also enjoy some great children's picture books,  how about a giveaway?!  Book Trailer for Quest Candlewick's Five Questions (Plus One) for Aaron Becker GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY! Giveaway details 1 prize pack includes: 1 hardcover copy of Journey by Aaron Becker 1 hardcover copy of Quest by Aaron Becker I will choose 1 winner from the US or Canada to win the prize pack. The publisher will mail out the prize. The giveaway will run from now until the end of August. How do you win? Leave a comment and tell me you'd like to win. I'd love it if you'd follow me, too, but that isn't required. The Mailbox Continues to Be Full....      I don't remember another summer when I've received so many books...not that I'm complaining! Here's what arrived last week:

What are you reading today? 

What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them,and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake....That's what happens at the Sunday Salon, except it's all virtual. Every Sunday the bloggers participating in that week's Salon get together--at their separate desks, in their own particular time zones--and read. And blog about their reading. And comment on one another's blogs. Think of it as an informal, weekly, mini read-a-thon, an excuse to put aside one's earthly responsibilities and fall into a good book. Click here to join the Salon.

The Sunday Post is a meme hosted by Kimba at Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It's a chance to share news and recap the past week.

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at The Printed Page. We share books that we found in our mailboxes last week. 

 It is now being hosted here.

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews in which you can share the books you've acquired.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from! I love being a part of this and I hope you do too! It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is now being hosted at The Book Date.

Murals in Alpine, Texas

Alpine has lots of murals, we noticed on our recent trip there.


This one was on the side of a lumber company. Thus, the We Put "Pine" in Alpine.

We met the artist who did this huge "Greetings from Alpine, Texas" mural. It took six months, he told us.

Does someone repaint the calendar each month?

Iconic Alpine.

For more wordless photos, go to Wordless Wednesday.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken and then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky at West Metro Mommy Reads.

Armchair Foodie Travel Books

Could anything be better than armchair travel books?

Well, how about armchair foodie travel books?!

Here's a list of some of my favorites from that genre:

On Rue Tatin: Living and Cooking in a French Town

Spain: A Culinary Road Trip

The Perfect Meal: In Search of the Lost Tastes of France

American Pie: 

Slices of Life (and Pie) from America's Back Roads

Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: 

A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China

Fried Eggs with Chopsticks

McCarthy's Bar: 

A Journey of Discovery in Ireland

Untangling Chopsticks: 

A Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto

Stolen Figs and Other Adventures in Calabria

Two for the Road: 

Our Love Affair with American Food

The Spice Necklace: 

A Food Lover's Caribbean Adventure

Have you read any of these? Can you think of others I should add to this list?

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

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