These is My Words

Part of the thirteenth Article of Faith states "...if there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy, we seek after these things." Before I fell asleep asleep last night, I pondered these words and how they relate to our book club. The Society of Literary Queens held its second meeting last evening at Mommom's house. This book club brings joy to my heart. Nikki and I were unsure if we had enough friends who would be interested in discussing good literature, so it delights us that we have so many committed to the society.

Our friend, Katherine, even said, "I feel like I have a new hobby now."

These is My Words is a work of fiction, written in the form of a journal, that documents the life of Sarah Agnes Prine from the years of 1881-1901. This is a beloved book. Even though it is an account of one family's challenges of settling and making a life in the Arizona Territory, we all agreed that it relates to us today. Sarah was a strong woman who had to overcome many physical and emotional trials.

And we do too.


Captain Jack was a favorite part of our discussion. I enjoyed hearing all of the opinions and insights about his love for Sarah. We loved Sarah's comment that, "marriage is a good reason for taking up cursing." There are two sequels to this book, but I have not allowed myself to read them. I just can't imagine her life without Captain Jack. My favorite part was Sarah discovering the unfinished letter written to her that he kept in his side saddle. We understand events only from Sarah's perspective, so it was a gift to learn in Captain Jack's words that he loved her from the moment she gave "that rifle back to the blowhard."

I was saddened that it took Sarah so long to understand the true nature of love.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to know how Savannah's felt about Sara?  

Some of our favorite quotes from the book:

"We drank our tears for food."

"A good girl should never go anywhere without a loaded gun and a big knife."

"I wonder if other folks feel included, yet alone."

"Children just cannot be sad too long, it is not in them, as children mourn in little bits here and there like patchwork in their lives."

" Mama said it's probably because of Suzanne, and that you are never the same after a child dies. That made me wonder what she was like before Clover died, because I don't think I really knew my own mother until I had children, and if she was different before, I don't remember."


"...being forsaken is worse than being killed."


"I dream of  land, cut only where streams glistened with birdsong wander through quiet hills burnt hard by the scrape of wind and of a porch from which a single road leads only homeward."


" I have named the star Jack's star. It is beautiful and bright and gives me joy when it is here and pain when it is not...They will have to ask the star itself where it goes and why it is not content to stay."

  Photo courtesy of Queen Nikki.

Next month: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.


It's bitter and it's sweet.