The Royal Court of the Polish Ghetto Queen

Happy (Belated) New Year and the first book of 2011!

2011-01-10T08:51:00.001-05:00

Happy Belated New Year to everyone! I was going to make the lofty goal of 200 books for 2011 but after it took me forever to finish my last few books I decided to reel that goal in a bit.

So my goal for 2011 is to read 111 books. That's 11 more than last year for those who have trouble with math like me.

The first book I finished in 2011 ... "Matched" by Ally Condie.

Cassia Reyes is a model student, daughter, and citizen. How could she not be when the Society has everything planned and functioning perfectly? All of her needs are met: food, shelter, education, career training, and even her future husband are selected by officials who know what is best for each individual by studying statistical data and probable odds. She even knows when she will die, on her 80th birthday, just as the Society dictates. At her Match Banquet she is paired with Xander, her best friend and certainly her soul mate. But when a computer error shows her the face of Ky, an Aberration, instead of Xander, cracks begin to appear in the Society's facade of perfection. A series of events also shakes her dedication to Xander and puts her future in jeopardy.

Most of the reviews I have read talk about how Condie basically ripped off the plot of "The Giver" by Lois Lowry. I haven't read Lowry's book (though I have since purchased it and will read it) so I can't speak to the plagiarism claims. With that in mind, I really enjoyed the book. Its very reminiscent of "The Hunger Games" and other dystopian teen novels.

The puppy doesn't want me to finish this post so I will have to try again later. Apparently, she's not much of a reader. Or panda lover.

Up next is "The Secret Daughter" by Shilpi Somaya Gowda which I have actually almost finished. So look for the review soon.

2010-12-15T13:43:00.001-05:00

This pretty much sums up Molly's personality ...

Token cute puppy picture ...

And last but not least ... Babysitting Bement style! Call if you are interested, I think we can squeeze a few more into the cage.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care ...

2010-12-10T08:54:00.001-05:00

Even the puppies have stockings for Santa to fill. The humans have stockings made by a friend of ours - Jake's was the first one which is is why his is slightly different. He just realized that this year. I told him his is just that much more special.

Alli was jealous

2010-12-09T13:06:00.002-05:00

Alli, our 12-year-old dog, heard I posted pictures of Olive and got mad. Alli (pronounced "alley") wants everyone to know she is just as cute and cuddly as any whippersnapper. Of course, we agree.

I can't even begin to explain what a perfect dog she has been since the moment we got her at eight weeks old. She has never shown an ounce of aggression, never snapped at any person (or any animal) and tolerates a lot of crap from kids (and adults). She is in stage 4 kidney failure (which basically means her kidneys are functioning at 25 percent) so she requires thrice-weekly (is that a word?) subcutaneous fluids and daily medicines. She's also showing some seizure activity which we hope to stop with a tweak in her medicines (specifically her phosphorus binder). Now it sounds like she is decrepit but you'd never know she's sick 99 percent of the time. In fact, people at PetSmart were asking if she was up for adoption. She still loves her walks and her treats and saying "Hi" to everyone she meets (with the occasional lick).

So here is our sweet girl Alli (aka Kelsey's Midnight Alibi) lying on my stomach on a rare occasion when she actually slept in bed with us.

She also loves the snow. While it looks like she is dangerously close to eating some yellow snow, its actually just the bottom of my bird bath that is yellow. Only freshly fallen snow was used in the making of this picture.

Alli knows she is the true Queen of our house.

I can't resist another picture!

2010-12-07T22:22:00.000-05:00

Or maybe two picture ...

Merry Christmas to me!

2010-12-07T14:53:00.000-05:00

Introducing Olive Bement ...

She's an eight-week old Beagle/Lab/?? mix that we adopted from Lake Haven Animal Rescue out of Newaygo, Michigan. Isn't she adorable? The kids are pretty smitten with her too!

BOOK #100!

2010-12-02T13:29:00.000-05:00

I met my goal for the year! I finished 100 books in 2010. This last one has taken me a lot longer than normal but I finished it last night.

"Haunting Bombay" by Shilpa Agarwal.

Thirteen-year-old Pinky Mittal lives with her obese, matriarchal grandmother, Maji; her alcoholic uncle, Jaginder; bitter aunt Savita; and three teenage male cousins. Taken in as an infant by her grandmother after her mother died, Pinky knows she's Maji's favorite, even if her aunt despises her. Driven by adolescent curiosity, Pinky unlocks a door in her family bungalow that has been bolted her entire life and unleashes the ghost of an infant girl and her midwife, sending her whole family into a tailspin. Surrounded by superstitions and spirituality, Pinky tries to unravel a past rife with pain and deceit as three generations of her formerly stalwart family crumble around her.

The fact that it took me longer to read is not a critique of this book. It is a well- written and engrossing tale of a family in 1960s India who are haunted by a tiny - but revengeful - ghost. But maybe worse than the ghost is the lies, lost love and other secrets inside their bungalow. The author subtly and expertly weaves in information that will be needed further along in the story. The ending was very satisfying while not completely shocking.

Up next is "The Doctor's Wife" by Elizabeth Brundage.

Rejected

2010-12-01T00:18:00.002-05:00

I am not sure how to take our local library system KDL's (continual) rejection of my application(s) to be a book shelver at various branches. Their form letter answer is always the same: because someone has more credentials than I.

To stack books.

Really?

I love books. One might even say I am obsessed with books. I can alphabetize. I can lift my arms in an upward shelving motion. I even have a college degree with the intent to get my masters in library science.

So what gives? Do I need to perfect my snarly, disinterested library worker attitude prior to employment? Or perhaps there is a special group out there - the Alphabet Elitists - who know the alphabet better than average citizens. They can easily say it forward and backwards without missing a "p"or missplacing a "q".

Perhaps one day my book shelving dreams will come true. Until then I will just keep organizing my own books.

Why haven't I been reading?

2010-11-22T09:55:00.001-05:00

Because I have been sucked into the world of "Glee".I know I am late to the bus on this TV phenomenon so instead of reading before bed I am renting episodes on iTunes trying to catch up.

Happy Veterans Day

2010-11-11T08:29:00.000-05:00

To all who have served and will serve ... especially my brother Staff Sergeant Derek Golec ... thank you!

This picture was taken at the send-off for my brother's unit before an 18-month tour of duty in Iraq. Jacob and my niece Grace were two-years-old.

Katy Perry - Firework

2010-11-10T10:39:00.000-05:00

I love the message in this song especially in light of all the recent teen suicides.

Book #99 ... FINALLY!

2010-11-10T09:28:00.001-05:00

It only took me two weeks to finish a book that should have taken a day.

Book #99 of 2010 was ... "Mini Shopaholic" by Sophie Kinsella.

Becky Brandon thought motherhood would be a breeze and that having a daughter was a dream come true: a shopping friend for life! But it’s trickier than she thought. Two-year-old Minnie has a quite different approach to shopping. Minnie creates havoc everywhere she goes, from Harrods to her own christening. Her favorite word is “Mine!” and she’s even trying to get into eBay! On top of everything else, Becky and Luke are still living with her parents (the deal on house #4 has fallen through), when suddenly there’s a huge financial crisis. With people having to “cut back,” Becky decides to throw a surprise party for Luke to cheer everyone up. But when costs start to spiral out of control, she must decide whether to accept help from an unexpected source—and therefore run the risk of hurting the person she loves. Will Becky be able to pull off the celebration of the year? Will she and Luke ever find a home of their own? Will Minnie ever learn to behave? And ... most important ... will Becky’s secret wishes ever come true?

If you like the other books in the series you will like this one as well. This book features typical Becky behavior - she has the best intentions but they always lead to near disaster. This time she has a partner in crime - her three-year-old daughter Minnie who might be just as addicted to shopping as Becky. This is light-hearted chick literature at its best.

Up next is "Haunted Bombay" by Shilpa Agarwal.

Another diversion for you to make up for my lack of reading ...

2010-11-08T10:04:00.000-05:00

John Mayer is a tool but I love this song ...

I miss reading ...

2010-11-08T09:16:00.000-05:00

You know I am sick when it takes me forever to finish a book ... No new books to update because I just haven't felt like reading. So instead her is a picture of Molly to placate you in the meantime.

On a brighter note ... Happy Birthday to Miss Molly!

2010-11-01T13:16:00.001-04:00

Six years ago today at around 10:46 a.m., I gave birth to a four pound, six ounce little girl named Molly Elizabeth.

If you didn't guess based on her size, Miss Moo was a tad early (eight weeks to be exact - she was due on Christmas Eve). I spent two weeks in the hospital before I had her and then she spent two weeks in the hospital after she was born.

The first year was a little rough but now she is healthy and happy. She is just as stubborn and impatient as the day she was born and I wouldn't change a thing about her. Love ya, sweet Molly Moo!

My health or lack thereof ...

2010-11-01T12:23:00.000-04:00

I found out today I have a very rare form of psoriasis called von Zumbusch Pustular psoriasis. It's a red rash-like mess covering my entire torso. While most forms are not serious (I have had the non-serious type for 20 years) this is the one that can be life threatening if not treated. I am going on a weekly dose of methotrexate (6 pills on one day) and folic acid on the other days. I will have to go in for weekly blood tests and weekly visits to my doctor. The drug can reek havoc on your kidneys and liver and cause anemia and all other sorts of fun stuff (hence the weekly blood tests). I absolutely cannot get pregnant unless I want a three-headed armless baby.

This is in addition to having strep. Which may or may not have caused the issue. And it's Molly's birthday today.

Needless to say, I am overwhelmed and scared and tired. Prayers or good thoughts are appreciated. I'd say alcohol but I can't drink while on this medicine.

Jen - the itchy one

Book #98 of 2010

2010-10-27T13:37:00.000-04:00

Book #98 of 2010 was one I snuck in because I had to return it to the library (no more renewals). The book was "Wife Goes On" by Leslie Lehr.

After years of plodding through a not-terrible-terribly humdrum marriage, all the while feeling that life - real, exciting, satisfying - was out there somewhere, Diane is finally free to explore what's next, even if it means starting over with a mountain of debt, tw kids, and an inexplicable sense of optimism...

Beautiful Lana came to Hollywood to make it as an actress. Instead, she found a role as arm candy for a movie star husband - until his very public affair made her fodder for every gossip rag in town. Playing the humiliated spouse isn't Lana's idea of a career, and there's no place like Hollywood for staging a dramatic comeback...

Back in High School, homecoming queen Bonnie and football star Buck were the golden couple everyone envied. Now, as Buck walks out the door leaving Bonnie with two young children, her storybook marriage is in tatters, and she's not at all certain of the next chapter.

Hard-edged divorce lawyer Annette knew the odds going in, but once she fell for Jackson, she closed her eyes and took the leap. She always hoped they'd make it, but some secrets can't be ignored, no matter how much Annette wants to try.

A raunchy twist on the "First Wives Club" with a dash of "Sex in the City" set in California. The plot was often scattered and unbelievable. Plus the ending was saccharine sweet and Hollywood perfect.

So back to "Adam & Eve" which is proving to be a more involved read.

Book #97 of 2010

2010-10-24T13:28:00.000-04:00

Book #97 of 2010 was "The Quickening" by Michelle Hoover.

From the time Enidina Current and her husband, Frank, move into the hardscrabble farmhouse a day's wagon ride away from Enidina's family, their closest neighbors, Jack and Mary Morrow, perplex them, though their proximity and shared farm work often bring the two couples together. Sharing the narrative, stoic Enidina struggles through several miscarriages before finally bearing twins, while the more delicate Mary reels from disappointment, most of all in her volatile husband. Moving through the Depression, the families are driven farther apart from each other, even while Mary's youngest spends most of his time in the Current household, until an accident and a betrayal drive the final wedge into their lives.

This is a very gritty and raw novel about the ugliness of being human - the jealousy, the anger and all of the darkness. Hoover does a great job of contrasting her characters against the harsh Depression of the 1930s. The decisions made in this novel will linger in your mind long after you finish it.

Up next is "Adam & Eve" by Sena Jeter Naslund.

Book #96 of 2010

2010-10-20T09:25:00.000-04:00

Book #96 of 2010 was "The Other Family" by Joanna Trollope.

When Richie Rossiter, once a famous pianist, dies unexpectedly, Chrissie knows that she must now tell the truth to their three daughters: their parents were never married. Yet there is one more shock to come when Richie’s will is read. It seems he never forgot the wife and son he left behind years ago—Margaret, who lives a quiet life of routine and work, and Scott, who never knew his famous father. Now two families are left to confront their losses and each other, and none of them will ever be the same.

I don't know that I have ever read a book so chock full of unlikeable characters. I found myself aghast at the behavior of Chrissie and her daughters (save for Amy who seemed to have some heart). I will give Trollope credit for leaving the book open-ended so the reader can make their own assumptions. Unfortunately, I don't have much hope for any of them.

Up next is "The Quickening" by Michelle Hoover.

Pregnancy and Baby Loss Awareness Day

2010-10-15T23:59:00.000-04:00

Today is Pregnancy and Baby Loss Awareness Day - a day we surround our loved ones and ourselves in love as we remember those babies whose light faded too quickly. I hesitated to post anything about it because I always fear people think I should be over losing my pregnancy last year. And for the most part I have let go of the grief and - admittedly - the jealousy I felt towards other people (the latter being the harder of the two). But you know what? I don't need to justify my feelings to anyone nor does anyone else who has experienced a loss. If I still cry when I think of Myrtle Bean in 5, 10 or 20 years so be it. How do you forget seeing a tiny beating heart - the heart of your child to be?

You don't.

So to all those who have loved and lost and continue to remember ... I send you my prayers, my love and the light of God to shine in your heart.

To Myrtle Bean, my love forever and a day.

Books #90 through #95

2010-10-14T12:55:00.000-04:00

Book #90 was "This is Where I Leave You" by Jonathan Tropper

The death of Judd Foxman's father marks the first time that the entire Foxman family-including Judd's mother, brothers, and sister-have been together in years. Conspicuously absent: Judd's wife, Jen, whose fourteen-month affair with Judd's radio-shock-jock boss has recently become painfully public. Simultaneously mourning the death of his father and the demise of his marriage, Judd joins the rest of the Foxmans as they reluctantly submit to their patriarch's dying request: to spend the seven days following the funeral together. In the same house. Like a family. As the week quickly spins out of control, longstanding grudges resurface, secrets are revealed, and old passions reawakened. For Judd, it's a weeklong attempt to make sense of the mess his life has become while trying in vain not to get sucked into the regressive battles of his madly dysfunctional family. All of which would be hard enough without the bomb Jen dropped the day Judd's father died: She's pregnant.

I agree with those who said this book reads mire like a film script. In fact, I was casting the characters as I was reading it - and this isn't necessarily a positive thing. It struck me as a failed attempt to write a "real" book hence the script feeling. Tropper seems inordinately obsessed with sex almost like a perpetual frat boy (maybe Tropper is more Wade than Judd). His long-winded descriptions of sexual encounters are boring and mostly gratuitous. (I'll give him the scene where h ...more I agree with those who said this book reads mire like a film script. In fact, I was casting the characters as I was reading it - and this isn't necessarily a positive thing. It struck me as a failed attempt to write a "real" book hence the script feeling. Tropper seems inordinately obsessed with sex almost like a perpetual frat boy (maybe Tropper is more Wade than Judd). His long-winded descriptions of sexual encounters are boring and mostly gratuitous. (I'll give him the scene where he catches his wife though I could do without the fingernail part.) There are worse books you could read but there are certainly better.

Book #91 was "Nightmare" by Robin Parrish.

Ghost Town is the hottest amusement park in the country, offering state-of-the-art chills and thrills involving the paranormal. The park's main ride is a haunted mansion that promises an encounter with a real ghost.

When Maia Peters visits during her senior year of college, she's not expecting to be impressed. Maia grew up as the only child of a pair of world-renowned "ghost hunters," so the paranormal is nothing new. In fact, the ride feels pretty boring until the very end. There, a face appears from the mist. The face of Jordin Cole, a girl who disappeared from campus a few months ago.

Convinced what she saw wasn't a hoax and desperate to find answers to Jordin's disappearance, Maia launches into a quest for answers. Joined by Jordin's boyfriend--a pastor's kid with very different ideas about the spirit realm--Maia finds herself in a struggle against forces she never expected to confront.

If you like "easy read" paranormal books, you will probably like this one. (Meaning a Stephen King fanatic would hate it but the casual ghost story reader would be satisfied.) I like that Parrish put real haunted locations in the book. It was a scary enough book to make me have trouble sleeping when I finished it.

Book #92 was "How to be an American Housewife" by Margaret Dilloway.

A novel about mothers and daughters, and the pull of tradition. It tells the story of Shoko, a Japanese woman who married an American GI, and her grown daughter, Sue, a divorced mother whose life as an American housewife hasn't been what she'd expected. When illness prevents Shoko from traveling to Japan, she asks Sue to go in her place. The trip reveals family secrets that change their lives in dramatic and unforeseen ways. Offering an entertaining glimpse into American and Japanese family lives and their potent aspirations, this is a warm and engaging novel full of unexpected insight.

I liked the different perspectives - mother and daughter - presented in the story. Slightly reminiscent of Amy Tan and her novels about the cultural and generational differences between mothers and daughters (with the focus being on a Japanese family in this case). I was also surprised that, even after WWII war, marrying an American soldier was considered a viable option - better than marrying below your caste.

Book #93 of 2010 was "The Vanishing of Katharina Linden" by Helen Grant.

It isn’t ten-year-old Pia’s fault that her grandmother dies in a freak accident. But tell that to the citizens of Pia’s little German hometown of Bad Münstereifel, or to the classmates who shun her. The only one who still wants to be her friend is Stink Stefan, the most unpopular child in school. But then something else captures the community’s attention: the vanishing of Katharina Linden. Katharina was last seen on a float in a parade, dressed as Snow White. Then, like a character in a Grimm’s fairy tale, she disappears. But, this being real life, she doesn’t return. Pia and Stefan suspect that Katharina has been spirited away by the supernatural. Their investigation is inspired by the instructive—and cautionary—local legends told to them by their elderly friend Herr Schiller, tales such as that of Unshockable Hans, visited by witches in the form of cats, or of the knight whose son is doomed to hunt forever. Then another girl disappears, and Pia is plunged into a new and unnerving place, one far away from fairy tales—and perilously close to adulthood.

An odd book that stretches across several genres and does so in a satisfying way. I love Pia and her quest to make people forget about her Grandma's demise. She's probably one of my favorite book characters from the past several months.

Book #94 was "The Storm Chasers" by Jenna Blum.

As a teenager, Karena Jorge had always been the one to look out for her twin brother Charles, who suffers from bipolar disorder. But as Charles begins to refuse medication and his manic tendencies worsen, Karena finds herself caught between her loyalty to her brother and her fear for his life. Always obsessed with the weather-enraptured by its magical unpredictability that seemed to mirror his own impulses- Charles starts chasing storms, and his behavior grows increasingly erratic . . . until a terrifying storm chase with Karena ends with deadly consequences, tearing the twins apart and changing both of their lives forever.

Two decades later, Karena gets a call from a psychiatric ward in Wichita, Kansas, to come pick up her brother, whom she hasn't seen or spoken to for twenty years. She soon discovers that Charles has lied to the doctors, taken medication that could make him dangerously manic, and disappeared again. Having exhausted every resource to try and track him down, Karena realizes she has only one last chance of finding him: the storms. Wherever the tornadoes are, that's where he'll be. Karena joins a team of professional stormchasers - passionate adventurers who will transform her life and give her a chance at love and redemption- and embarks on an odyssey to find her brother before he reveals the violent secret from their past and does more damage to himself or to someone else.

Nothing phenomenal about this book but nothing horrible either. I liked reading about the stormchasers and their quest for finding the storm. But the ending left me a little disappointed because it was too neat.

Book #95 was "Buzz: A Year of Paying Attention" by Katherine Ellison.

Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and former foreign correspondent Ellison describes life after she learns that her 12-year-old son, Buzz, suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and that she’s got it, too. Looking back, the Stanford graduate sees the signs, even in her choice of profession. Who needs Ritalin when you can cover coups? Ellison expertly weaves together her family’s story (at one point her son grabs a huge butcher’s knife, waves it at her, then holds it against his own throat) with interesting information about impulsive behavior (the ancient Greeks used leeches to treat it because they thought it was caused by too much red blood). She gives her take on treatments they tried, and gives thumbs down to food additives (they appear to increase hyperactivity) and stimulants (at least for Buzz, they cause terrible insomnia), and thumbs up to neurofeedback, meditation, and a new pet dog.

As the parent of a child with ADHD, I was particularly attracted to this book. While our experiences differ (and I don't have ADHD myself ... oh look shiny things! ... what was I saying? ...) there are some definite shared experiences. I wish Ellison had focused more on her relationship with Buzz - she talked a lot about methods tried with him but not as much about him.

Phew, writing all that wore me out. I am only four books away from my goal of 100 for the year. Right now I am reading "The Other Family" by Joanna Trollope.

Book #89 of 2010

2010-10-02T16:05:00.000-04:00

Book #89 of 2010 was "The Girl who Chased the Moon" by Sarah Addison Allen.

Seventeen-year-old Emily Benedict, intent on learning more about her mother, Dulcie, moves in with her grandfather, but is disappointed to find that her grandfather doesn't want to talk much about Dulcie. She soon discovers, though, that many still hold a grudge against Dulcie for the way she treated an old sweetheart before dumping him and disappearing. Luckily, Dulcie's high school adversary, Julia Winterson, back in town to pay down her deceased father's debt, takes a shine to Emily. She's working another quest as well: baking cakes every day with the hope that they'll somehow attract the daughter she gave up for adoption years ago.

While the overall storytelling is good the big family secret is just ridiculous. It's reveal ruined the whole story for me. Its too bad because otherwise I might have given the book four stars.

Up next is "This is Where I Leave You" by Jonathan Tropper. I am actually almost done with it and I so far I can tell you is that Tropper is exceptionally obsessed with sex.

Book #88 of 2010

2010-09-27T12:24:00.000-04:00

Book #88 of 2010 was ... "Bijou Roy" by Ronica Dhar.

When her beloved father dies of multiple sclerosis in Detroit in 1999, medical student Bijou makes the journey with her family back to his homeland in Calcutta to sprinkle his ashes in the Ganges. He had always told her about his political activism in the 1960s, about meeting his wife in Paris and their coming to America. But why did he leave Calcutta and never go back there to his Bengali family?

I loved this tale of one woman's search for her own identity amongst the expectations laid out by her family and culture. Dhar weaved both past and present events - which gives the reader the ability to see the "whole picture". I found the last chapter to be particularly strong - but I won't give it away.

Up next is "The Girl Who Chased the Moon" by Sarah Addison Allen.

Prayers for Crew

2010-09-24T14:40:00.001-04:00

Please help us storm the gates of Heaven with prayer for my friend's two-year-old nephew Crew. Even if you don't believe in praying, send whatever positive thoughts you can to Crew and his family. He was diagnosed with Stage IV Neuroblastoma at the age of 6 months and finished treatment in 11/09. On 9/16/10 an MRI scan revealed a spot on his brain. He is getting an angiogram on the that spot today at Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville.

You can friend Crew on Facebook and follow his progress:
http://www.facebook.com/notes/crew-thayer-bradford-buchanan/crews-scan-results-92110/103861039677668#!/profile.php?id=100001624060713&ref=mf

Book #87 of 2010

2010-09-24T08:33:00.000-04:00

Book #87 of 2010 was "Thin, Rich, Pretty" by Beth Harbidon.

Twenty years ago Holly and Nicola were the awkward outsiders at summer camp, and rich and popular Lexi was their nemesis. As adults, all three women are having trouble finding their place. Holly, a successful gallery owner, is struggling with her weight and a manipulative boyfriend. Nicola tries to revive her slumping acting career with plastic surgery, making her just another pretty face. Lexi is left nearly penniless and with few real-world skills after her father's death. Through a chance meeting, Holly and Nicola find out Lexi was not nearly as charmed as they thought, and they set out to right a wrong they committed as kids.

A light read about what makes us truly happy - Money? Love? A perfect body? The three main characters each had and lost what they thought made them who they are only to get it back in a new way.

Up next is "Bijou Roy" by Ronica Dhar. I am excited to read this book because it received a good review from Abraham Verghese, the author of one of my favorite books "Cutting for Stone".

Book #86 of 2010 ...

2010-09-21T12:32:00.000-04:00

Book #86 of 2010 was ... "Faithful Place" by Tana French.

Back in 1985, Frank Mackey was nineteen, growing up poor in Dublin's inner city, and living crammed into a small flat with his family on Faithful Place. But he had his sights set on a lot more. He and Rosie Daly were all ready to run away to London together, get married, get good jobs, break away from factory work and poverty and their old lives. But on the winter night when they were supposed to leave, Rosie didn't show. Frank took it for granted that she'd dumped him-probably because of his alcoholic father, nutcase mother, and generally dysfunctional family. He never went home again.
Neither did Rosie. Everyone thought she had gone to England on her own and was over there living a shiny new life. Then, twenty-two years later, Rosie's suitcase shows up behind a fireplace in a derelict house on Faithful Place, and Frank is going home whether he likes it or not. Getting sucked in is a lot easier than getting out again. Frank finds himself straight back in the dark tangle of relationships he left behind. The cops working the case want him out of the way, in case loyalty to his family and community makes him a liability. Faithful Place wants him out because he's a detective now, and the Place has never liked cops. Frank just wants to find out what happened to Rosie Daly-and he's willing to do whatever it takes, to himself or anyone else, to get the job done.

I, apparently, am dense because I didn't figure out whodunit until near the very end. I enjoyed this mystery from start to finish.

Up next is "Thin, Rich, Pretty" by Beth Harbison.

And now the books!

2010-09-17T14:39:00.000-04:00

Book #85 of 2010 was ... "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly

As the only girl in an uppercrust Texas family of seven children, Calpurnia, 11, is expected to enter young womanhood with all its trappings of tight corsets, cookery, and handiwork. Unlike other girls her age, Callie is most content when observing and collecting scientific specimens with her grandfather. Bemoaning her lack of formal knowledge, he surreptitiously gives her a copy of "The Origin of Species" and Callie begins her exploration of the scientific method and evolution, eventually happening upon the possible discovery of a new plant species. Callie's mother, believing that a diet of Darwin, Dickens, and her grandfather's influence will make Callie dissatisfied with life, sets her on a path of cooking lessons, handiwork improvement, and an eventual debut into society.

Callie is a sweet, lively character - sort of a Texas Laura Ingalls with more spunk. She feels restricted by the role expected of her at that time and longs for something more.

Book #86 of 2010 was ... "City of Night"(Frankenstein #2)" by Dean Koontz.

They are stronger, heal better, and think faster than any humans ever created–and they must be destroyed. Not even Victor Helios–once Frankenstein–can stop the engineered killers he’s set loose on a reign of terror through modern-day New Orleans. Only the one-time “monster” Deucalion and his all-too-human partners, Detectives Carson O’Connor and Michael Maddison, stand in their way. But as the three race to uncover the true dimensions of an age-old conspiracy, they will discover that Victor’s new, improved models have infiltrated every level of the city’s society . . . and far beyond.

I am still deciding if I like this series of books. Its not particularly well written and the characters are one dimensional. Helios is an egomaniac of such great proportions as to be almost absurd. I think if you like Koontz, you will probably like this series. If not, there are better monster books out there. Of course, I will still continue to read them because I have to know how it ends.

Book #87 of 2010 was ... "The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives" by Lola Shoneyin.

When Baba Segi awoke with a bellyache for the sixth day in a row, he knew it was time to do something drastic about his fourth wife's childlessness. Meet Baba Segi ... A plump, vain, and prosperous middle-aged man of robust appetites, Baba Segi is the patriarch of a large household that includes a quartet of wives and seven children. But his desire to possess more just might be his undoing. And his wives ... Iya Segi — the bride of Baba Segi's youth, a powerful, vindictive woman who will stop at nothing to protect her favored position as ruler of her husband's home. Iya Tope — Baba Segi's second wife, a shy, timid woman whose decency and lust for life are overshadowed by fear. Iya Femi — the third wife, a scheming woman with crimson lips and expensive tastes who is determined to attain all that she desires, no matter what the cost. Bolanle—Babi Segi's fourth and youngest wife, an educated woman wise to life's misfortunes who inspires jealousy in her fellow wives ... and who harbors a secret that will expose shocking truths about them all.

There's no doubt Shoneyin is a gifted writer. However, the coarse language and situations in this book can be a real distraction at times. I think the book is still worth reading but be warned that it can be a little "risque" at times in its harshness.

Up next is "Faithful Place" by Tara French.

And the angels rejoiced ...

2010-09-17T14:22:00.000-04:00

My laptop is finally back home with me and *knock on wood* appears to be fixed. Can I get an "AMEN"?

I don't know where to start with my posting because some of you care about the books and some of you care about my personal updates (Hi Katie!). I guess I will go with pictures of the kids from their first day of school.

This, my friends, is classic Jake face.

So happy for the first day of school!

The second day dawned with a little more enthusiasm ... or at least they got better at faking it.

We are two weeks in and so far all is well. Jake started third grade and he is in the gifted program and advanced math class. No surprise the kid is smarter than me, now we just need to work on the social skills. Molly is in kindergarten and she seems to like school. She is playing soccer for the first time and she is also taking a gymnastics class.

She was mad that her uniform was too big.

So that should pretty much bring you up to speed on the kids. The dog, well she's just happy to still be alive.

As for me, I have been reading of course! Stay tuned for the next post with the list of books I have read most recently.

Computer woes and 9 new books

2010-09-06T19:44:00.000-04:00

Something is wrong with my laptop monitor. Its giving me a moment's reprieve to do some work on it but it could crash at any time. So instead of reviews, I am just going to list the last several books I have read. Hopefully I can get this fixed and be back in the saddle.

So here is what I have read since I last blogged:

#76 Some Things That Stay by Sarah Willis

#77 Prodigal Son (Dean Koontz's Frankenstein, #1) by Dean Koontz

#78 Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage by Elizabeth Gilbert

#79 Who Do I Lean On? (A Yada Yada House of Hope Novel) by Neta Jackson

#80 The Last Will of Moira Leahy by Therese Walsh

#81I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali

#82 Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

#83 The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home by George Howe Colt

#84 The Blessings of the Animals by Katrina Kittle

So there ya go ... I am now reading The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly.

Book #75 of 2010

2010-08-14T18:36:00.000-04:00

Book #75 of 2010 was ... "Look Again" by Lisa Scottoline.

Ellen Gleeson was balancing life as a single mother and a feature reporter as well as could be expected. She had taken on single parenthood voluntarily, having fallen in love with her adopted son, Will, now three, when he was a very sick infant. A have-you-seen-this-child postcard featuring a child who could be Will’s twin catches Ellen’s attention, and while she should be pursuing her assigned story about the emotional effect of Philadelphia’s high teenage murder rate, she instead becomes obsessed with the missing child and with pursuing more details about Will’s background. Her questions multiply when she learns that, just three weeks after she adopted Will, the attorney who handled the proceedings killed herself. Where is the birth mother, and why doesn’t her family seem to know that she was pregnant? The answer only leads to danger, but Ellen, her reporter’s instincts on high alert, is hell-bent on finding the truth, no matter the cost.

This was the first book by the author I have read. While it was a quick read it was not a satisfying one. The events don't seem plausible and the ending was just ridiculous. I would have preferred the author not force such a " happy ending".

Up next is "Prodigal Son" by Dean Koontz. It is a series based on his take of the Frankenstein story -- but set in modern times.

Book #74 of 2010

2010-08-12T15:36:00.000-04:00

Book #74 of 2010 was "Crow Lake" by Mary Lawson.

Here is a gorgeous, slow-burning story set in the rural badlands of northern Ontario, where heartbreak and hardship are mirrored in the landscape. For the farming Pye family, life is a Greek tragedy where the sins of the fathers are visited on the sons, and terrible events occur offstage.

Centerstage are the Morrisons, whose tragedy looks more immediate if less brutal, but is, in reality, insidious and divisive. Orphaned young, Kate Morrison was her older brother Matt's protegee, her fascination for pond life fed by his passionate interest in the natural world. Now a zoologist, she can identify organisms under a microscope but seems blind to the state of her own emotional life. And she thinks she's outgrown her siblings Luke, Matt, and Bo who were once her entire world.

Lawson is one of the best writers out there right now. She does not write cheerful tales about hardworking farm folk but instead her writing is rather gritty - and often harsh. If you enjoy character studies, you will enjoy Lawson's writing.

Up next is "Look Again" by Lisa Scottoline.

Book #73 of 2010

2010-08-11T11:00:00.000-04:00

Book #73 of 2010 was ... "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett.

hree ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

The one thing I didn't like about this book is that it had to end. An excellent first novel from a truly gifted writer.

Up next is "Crow Lake" by Mary Lawson.

Long time no blog ... Books #71 and #72

2010-08-09T16:48:00.000-04:00

I've been slacking in my book updates, forgive me. I've got some weird medical issues that have been consuming a lot of my time and my mind. Of course nothing short of death would stop me from reading so ...

Book #71 of 2010 was "The Girl Who Played with Fire" by Stieg Larsson.

Mikael Blomkvist, crusading publisher of the magazine Millennium, has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation. On the eve of its publication, the two reporters responsible for the article are murdered, and the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to his friend, the troubled genius hacker Lisbeth Salander. Blomkvist, convinced of Salander’s innocence, plunges into an investigation. Meanwhile, Salander herself is drawn into a murderous game of cat and mouse, which forces her to face her dark past.

These books are not for everyone - the violence portrayed is extremely brutal. Typically this is a not a genre I would even consider but something keeps drawing me back to the books.

Book #72 was "The Other Side of the Bridge" by Mary Lawson.

Two brothers, Arthur and Jake Dunn, are the sons of a farmer in the mid-1930s, when life is tough and another world war is looming. Arthur is reticent, solid, dutiful and set to inherit the farm and his father’s character; Jake is younger, attractive, mercurial and dangerous to know – the family misfit. When a beautiful young woman comes into the community, the fragile balance of sibling rivalry tips over the edge.

Then there is Ian, the family’s next generation, and far too sure he knows the difference between right and wrong. By now it is the fifties, and the world has changed – a little, but not enough.

These two generations in the small town of Struan, Ontario, are tragically interlocked, linked by fate and community but separated by a war which devours its young men – its unimaginable horror reaching right into the heart of this remote corner of an empire.

This is definitely one of my top 10 favorite reads of this summer. This is not a fast-paced novel which was nice after "The Girl Who Played with Fire" but it was a satisfying read.

Up next is "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. I am probably the last person on earth to have read it.

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil ...

2010-07-30T13:43:00.000-04:00

Or something like that.

Books #69 and #70 of 2010

2010-07-30T13:34:00.000-04:00

Book #69 of 2010 was a teen novel "Shiver" by Maggie Stiefvater.

Grace, 17, loves the peace and tranquility of the woods behind her home. It is here during the cold winter months that she gets to see her wolf—the one with the yellow eyes. Grace is sure that he saved her from an attack by other wolves when she was nine. Over the ensuing years he has returned each season, watching her with those haunting eyes as if longing for something to happen. When a teen is killed by wolves, a hunting party decides to retaliate. Grace races through the woods and discovers a wounded boy shivering on her back porch. One look at his yellow eyes and she knows that this is her wolf in human form. Fate has finally brought Sam and Grace together, and as their love grows and intensifies, so does the reality of what awaits them. It is only a matter of time before the winter cold changes him back into a wolf, and this time he might stay that way forever.

If you like the teen angst of Twilight, you will probably like this book. I have read that Stiefvater wrote this book before Twilight was a twinkle in Meyer's eye so you could say she started the supernatural trend. "Shiver" is certainly not an earth shattering read but it was entertainment.

Book #70 of 2010 was "Mudbound" by Hillary Jordan.

It is 1946 in the Mississippi Delta, where Memphis-bred Laura McAllan is struggling to adjust to farm life, rear her daughters with a modicum of manners and gentility, and be the wife her land-loving husband, Henry, wants her to be. It is an uphill battle every day. Things started badly when Henry's trusting nature resulted in the family being done out of a nice house in town, thus relegating them to a shack on their property. In addition, Henry's father, Pappy, a sour, mean-spirited devil of a man, moves in with them.

The real heart of the story, however, is the friendship between Jamie, Henry's too-charming brother, and Ronsel Jackson, son of sharecroppers who live on the McAllan farm. They have both returned from the war changed men: Jamie has developed a deep love for alcohol and has recurring nightmares; Ronsel, after fighting valiantly for his country and being seen as a man by the world outside the South, is now back to being just another black "boy."

Told in alternating chapters by Laura, Henry, Jamie, Ronsel, and his parents, Florence and Hap, the story unfolds with a chilling inevitability.

This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. I knew from the first paragraph that I'd be drawn in. Jordan has a gift for writing and I look forward to her future novels.

Up next is "The Girl who Played with Fire" by Stieg Larsson.

Books #66, #67 and #68 of 2010

2010-07-26T16:04:00.000-04:00

I finished three books since I last blogged and not one of them was the one I said I was going to read.

First, #66 was the non-fiction book "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot.

From a single, abbreviated life grew a seemingly immortal line of cells that made some of the most crucial innovations in modern science possible. And from that same life, and those cells, Rebecca Skloot has fashioned in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks a fascinating and moving story of medicine and family, of how life is sustained in laboratories and in memory. Henrietta Lacks was a mother of five in Baltimore, a poor African American migrant from the tobacco farms of Virginia, who died from a cruelly aggressive cancer at the age of 30 in 1951. A sample of her cancerous tissue, taken without her knowledge or consent, as was the custom then, turned out to provide one of the holy grails of mid-century biology: human cells that could survive--even thrive--in the lab. Known as HeLa cells, their stunning potency gave scientists a building block for countless breakthroughs, beginning with the cure for polio. Meanwhile, Henrietta's family continued to live in poverty and frequently poor health, and their discovery decades later of her unknowing contribution--and her cells' strange survival--left them full of pride, anger, and suspicion. For a decade, Skloot doggedly but compassionately gathered the threads of these stories, slowly gaining the trust of the family while helping them learn the truth about Henrietta, and with their aid she tells a rich and haunting story that asks the questions, Who owns our bodies? And who carries our memories?

I picked this book up on a whim at the library and I am so glad I did. I was -- and still am -- amazed by this story. I think you can enjoy this book even if scientific books about genetics and medicine isn't your usual genre. There is plenty of science in this book but it was never too far above my head The narrative of Lacks' life (and her descendants) is a worthy read on its own. I really can't properly express my feelings about this book. If you like non-fiction, go read it.

Book #67 was "The Department of Lost and Found" by Allison Winn Scotch.

Natalie Miller, a driven 30-year-old senior aideto a woman senator from New York, is having a rough time: just days after she's diagnosed with breast cancer, her cheating live-in boyfriend ditches her. She's feeling gloomy, then, when she begins chemo. (Her hunky and sweet gynecologist, Zach, is a mitigating factor.) Though the election is six weeks away, Natalie is ordered to stay home, where she writes in her diary (excerpts appear throughout) and becomes addicted to The Price Is Right while an ambitious junior aide takes over her job. Natalie battles through rounds of chemo and a mastectomy until, out of the blue, an old love, up-and-coming rocker Jake, comes back to take care of her. He seems intent on making things work, but Natalie's long-simmering (and seemingly requited) attraction to Zach only intensifies. Meanwhile, Natalie's journalist friend Sally lands her first big story: an exposé of Natalie's boss. Her loyalties on the line and her cancer on the wane, Natalie makes some tough choices about the post-cancer person she wants to be.

Despite the heavy topic, this was still a quick, enjoyable read. Scotch lost a friend to breast cancer and says that she gave her story a happy ending in contrast.

Book #68 was "When Did I Get Like This" by Amy Wilson.

"When Did I Get Like This?" is the hilarious story of one mother's struggle to shrug off the ridiculous standards of modern parenting, and remember how to enjoy her children.

Super fast read - one woman's take on motherhood and all that's involved with it.

Up next is "Shiver" by Maggie Stiefvater which is a young adult novel involving werewolves (because if its not vampires, its werewolves).

Blueberries and Book #65 of 2010

2010-07-18T18:39:00.000-04:00

We decided the kids around here need to start earning their keep so sent them to a blueberry farm.

Happy hired help!

Jacob decided to go on strike before he even started.

A thank you to the nice people at Blueberry Trails in Conklin, Michigan. The blueberries are YUMMY!

Now on to books ... Book #65 of 2010 was "The Almond Picker" by Simonetta Agnello Hornby.

A family saga, Sicilian style. The tale opens with the death of the woman Mennulara, whose name in Sicilian dialect means the almond picker. And so she was in her youth, trying to support an impoverished and sickly family. Before her death, Mennu, who had been in service to the matriarch of the Alfallipe family since she was 13, leaves cryptic instructions for the squabbling and disagreeable family. Hornby tells her story by spiraling back through Mennu's hard life. In the process, she emerges as a kind of secular saint, not only caring for her own family and the Alfallipes but also learning to read, overseeing the household accounts, managing investments, studying local archaeology and music, and even having secret ties to the Mafia and to the family.

I am not sure how to describe this story - it is not fast paced or full of action but rather a study of one person's impact on an entire family and town. Nonetheless, I did enjoy it.

Up next is "City of Bells" by Elizabeth Goudge.

Book #64 of 2010

2010-07-16T08:44:00.000-04:00

Book #64 of 2010 was "After You" by Julie Buxbaum.

When American ex-pat Lucy Stafford is killed by a mugger, her lifelong best friend Ellie Lerner drops everything to fly to London. Ellie stays on after Lucy's funeral to care for her friend's eight-year-old daughter, Sophie, who witnessed her mom's violent death and has since retreated into silence. Ellie also worries about Lucy's husband, Greg, who confesses that he can barely even look at his daughter; her own divorced parents' on-again, off-again relationship; and her long-suffering husband, waiting for her in the Boston suburbs. Ellie finds London as much a refuge as a place of mourning; she's been unable to move past the birth of a stillborn child and feels the need to borrow Sophie. As she uncovers more of Lucy's life, Ellie finds her own spinning out of control, and soon she's forced to reassess even her deeply held certainties.

Up next is a book I started several weeks ago but didn't finish ... "The Almond Picker" by Simonetta Agnello Hornby.

Book #63 of 2010 ...

2010-07-14T11:18:00.000-04:00

Book #63 of 2010 was ... "The One That I Want" by Allison Winn Scotch.

Tilly Farmer is thirty-two years old and has the perfect life she always dreamed of: married to her high school sweetheart, working as a guidance counselor in her hometown, trying for a baby. Perfect.

In fact, on the surface you might never know how tough things used to be. At seventeen, Tilly lost her mother to cancer, her father drowned his grief in alcohol, and she played parent to her two younger sisters more often than being a kid herself. Still Tilly never let tragedy overtake her belief that hard work and good cheer could solve any problem. Of course she’s also spent a lifetime plastering a smile on her face and putting everyone else’s problems ahead of her own.

But that relentless happiness has served her well—her sisters are grown and content, her dad is ten years sober, and she’s helping her students achieve all their dreams while she and her husband, Tyler, start a family. A perfect life indeed.

Then one sweltering afternoon at the local fair, everything changes. Tilly wanders into the fortune teller’s tent and is greeted by an old childhood friend, now a psychic, who offers her more than just a reading. “I’m giving you the gift of clarity,” her friend says. “It’s what I always thought you needed.” And soon enough, Tilly starts seeing things: her father relapsing, staggering out of a bar with his car keys in hand; Tyler uprooting their happy, stable life, a packed U-Haul in their driveway; and even more disturbing, these visions start coming true. Suddenly Tilly’s perfect life, so meticulously mapped out, seems to be crumbling around her. And she’s not sure what’s more frightening: that she’s begun to see the future or what the future holds . . .

As Tilly furiously races to keep up with—and hopefully change—her destiny, she faces the question: Which is the life she wants? The one she’s carefully nursed for decades, or the one she never considered possible?

Up next is "After You" by Julie Buxbaum.

To make up for a lack of a review, here is a picture of the kids on their first day of camp. Note Jacob's enthusiasm for the event.

Lots of books, vacation and an ear infection

2010-07-12T10:34:00.001-04:00

We just got back from 10 days of vacation in our new (to us) camper. We went from Grand Rapids to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario to North Bay, Ontario to Alfred-Plantagenet, Ontario to our friend's house in Woolwich, ME (then back home through Buffalo, NY after a visit to the in-laws).

Some highlights:

1.) Getting to Canadian border in the U.P. and thinking we didn't have the kid's birth certificates.

2.) Paying $1 for five minutes of showering.

3.) Being the only people not speaking French at a campground. Parlez vous Francais? Non.

4.) Getting an ear infection (me) and having to go to an urgent care clinic in New York.

5.) Seeing a moose pooping warning sign. Still not sure if that was for real.

So the books I read (or listened to) were:

#58 "Ten Minutes From Home" by Beth Greenfield.

#59 "Girl From Foreign" by Sadia Shepard

#60 "The Good Life" by Jay Mcinerney.

#61 "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides

#62 "Didn't I Feed You Yesterday" by Laura

I really liked "Girl From Foreign" and "Middlesex". I hated "The Good Life" but finished it because I was desperate for something to listen to on the drive.

And now I am reading "The One That I Want" by Allison Winn Scotch.

Now that I updated you, I am going to return to my Vicodin haze.

Book #57 of 2010

2010-06-28T14:17:00.000-04:00

Book #57 of 2010 was ... "Eye Contact" by Cammie McGovern.

("Eye Contact") centers on a nine-year-old autistic boy, Adam, who witnesses the murder of a classmate. Disturbed by what he saw, Adam retreats into himself, frustrating the police and worrying his mother, Cara, who has watched Adam's development with a nervous eye since he was diagnosed with autism. Cara is fearful of the effect the murder will have on her son, but she's also surprised to find the investigation dredging up her own past: the officer assigned to the case is the younger brother of her former best friend, whom she hasn't spoken to in almost a decade. And another old friend, who might just be Adam's father, has come back into her life.

McGovern does a good job of presenting an authentic autistic character in her book which makes sense given that her own son is autistic. However, it does not make up for the fact that the rest of the story is confusing with various characters and plot lines that never really seem to make sense.

Up next is "Ten Minutes from Home" by Beth Greenfield.

Book #56 of 2010

2010-06-25T18:17:00.000-04:00

Book #56 of 2010 was "Thinking of You" by Jill Mansell.

Ginny Holland’s daughter Jem has headed off to university, leaving single mum Ginny with a severe case of empty nest syndrome. To make matters worse, the first gorgeous man she's clapped eyes on in years has just accused Ginny of shoplifting. So Ginny decides to advertise for a lodger but what she gets is lovelorn Laurel, who can only talk about her ex-boyfriend. However Laurel has a dangerously charming brother, Perry, and add to that the offer of a great new job, and things are looking up … until Ginny realizes that her potential boss is all too familiar.

Is it too late for Ginny to set right the first impression she made when Finn Penhaligon got quite the wrong end of the stick? And is either Finn or Perry quite what they seem?

Broken record here: light and fun summer read!

Up next is "Eye Contact" by Cammie McGovern.

Books #54 and #55

2010-06-24T07:40:00.000-04:00

Book #54 was "Rumor Has It" by Jill Mansell

Newly single, Tilly Cole impulsively accepts a job offer in a small town as a "Girl Friday." Fun job, country house, fresh start, why not? But soon she finds herself in a hotbed of gossip, intrigue, and rampant rivalry for the town's most desirable bachelor-Jack Lucas.

Rumors of Jack's "love 'em and leave 'em" escapes abound, and Tilly decides to do the mature, sensible thing... avoid Jack at all cost. But the more time Tilly spends with Jack, the more the rumors just don't make sense. Tilly doesn't know what to believe... and Jack's not telling.

Just your classic easy-to-read chick lit from one of my favorite British chick lit authors. Perfect to take to the beach this summer.

And Book #55 was "Three Little Words" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter.

"Sunshine, you're my baby and I'm your only mother. You must mind the one taking care of you, but she's not your mama." Ashley Rhodes-Courter spent nine years of her life in fourteen different foster homes, living by those words. As her mother spirals out of control, Ashley is left clinging to an unpredictable, dissolving relationship, all the while getting pulled deeper and deeper into the foster care system.

Painful memories of being taken away from her home quickly become consumed by real-life horrors, where Ashley is juggled between caseworkers, shuffled from school to school, and forced to endure manipulative,humiliating treatment from a very abusive foster family. In this inspiring, unforgettable memoir, Ashley finds the courage to succeed - and in doing so, discovers the power of her own voice.

This is a memoir written by a teen writer about her time in the extremely flawed foster care system. At times her youth is evident in her writing, but it doesn't detract from the overall impact of the book.

Up next is another perfect-for-summer chick lit book by Jill Mansell, "Thinking of You".

Book #53 of 2010

2010-06-15T15:22:00.000-04:00

Book #53 of 2010 was ... "Kinky Gazpacho" by Lori Tharps.

Magazine writer and editor Lori Tharps was born and raised in the comfortable but mostly White suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she was often the only person of color in her school and neighborhood. At an early age, Lori decided that her destiny would be discovered in Spain. She didn't know anyone from Spain, had never visited the country, and hardly spoke the language. Still, she never faltered in her plans to escape to the Iberian Peninsula.

Arriving in the country as an optimistic college student, however, Lori soon discovers Spain's particular attitude toward Blackness. She is chased down the street by the local schoolchildren and pointed at incessantly in public, and her innocent dreams of a place where race doesn't matter are shattered. The story would end there, except Lori meets and marries a Spaniard, and that's when her true Spanish adventure really begins.

I enjoyed the book. Her writing made my me feel like I could sit down with Tharps and have many laughs over coffee. Having grown up the minority white kid in a majority Black school system, I could relate to her need to fit in and also find her own identity. There were times where her writing seemed a little scattered but I thought of it more as train of thought writing. She had so much to say and reflect on that it couldn't always be contained neatly. I am looking forward to her new book in August.

You might notice I didn't actually read the book I said I was going to read next. It was due and I had no more renewals. That's the hazard of taking out so many books at a time. So now I have to re-check it out and finish it. Until then I am reading "Rumor Has It" by Jill Mansell.

Book #52 of 2010

2010-06-10T22:33:00.000-04:00

Book #52 of 2010 was ... "Expecting Adam" by Martha Beck.

Expecting Adam is an autobiographical tale of an academically oriented Harvard couple who conceive a baby with Down's syndrome and decide to carry him to term. Despite everything Martha Beck and her husband John know about themselves and their belief system, when Martha gets accidentally pregnant and the fetus is discovered to have Down's syndrome, the Becks find they cannot even consider abortion. The presence of the fetus that they each, privately, believe is a familiar being named Adam is too strong. As Martha's terribly difficult pregnancy progresses, odd coincidences and paranormal experiences begin to occur for both Martha and John, though for months they don't share them with each other. Martha's pregnancy and Adam (once born) become the catalyst for tremendous life changes for the Becks.

I don't know if it was my own mind set these days or what but I found this book completely bizarre. Beck goes off on some New Age psycho babble about paranormal experiences during her pregnancy in between talking about how she is so darn smart. Her husband is so darn smart. Their families are smart (but dysfunctional). And Harvard is a emotionless void. I don't know what I expected but it certainly wasn't this verbal diarrhea. (Yes, I did just call it verbal diarrhea. I apologize to my more sensitive readers.)

So onward and upward to the next book on the list "The Almond Picker" by Simonetta Agnello Hornby.

Book #51 of 2010

2010-06-07T21:44:00.000-04:00

Instead of reading with the force of Niagara Falls, I am more dripping like a faucet. I promise to get my reading mojo back soon.

(Like once the pink elephants stop dancing around the room and my head doesn't feel plugged with cotton fluff.)

Book #51 of 2010 was ... "False Mermaid" by Erin Hart.

American pathologist Nora Gavin fled to Ireland three years ago, hoping that distance from home would bring her peace. Though she threw herself into the study of bog bodies and the mysteries of their circumstances, she was ultimately led back to the one mystery she was unable to solve: the murder of her sister, Tríona. Nora can’t move forward until she goes back—back to her home, to the scene of the crime, to the source of her nightmares and her deepest regrets.

Determined to put her sister’s case to rest and anxious about her eleven-year-old niece, Elizabeth, Nora returns to Saint Paul, Minnesota, to find that her brother-in-law, Peter Hallett, is about to remarry and has plans to leave the country with his new bride. Nora has long suspected Hallett in Tríona’s murder, though there has never been any proof of his involvement, and now she believes that his new wife and Elizabeth may both be in danger. Time is short, and as Nora begins reinvestigating her sister’s death, missed clues and ever-more disturbing details come to light. What is the significance of the "false mermaid" seeds found on Tríona’s body? Why was her behavior so erratic in the days before her murder?

Is there a link between Tríona’s death and that of another young woman?

Nora’s search for answers takes her from the banks of the Mississippi to the cliffs of Ireland, where the eerie story of a fisherman’s wife who vanished more than a century ago offers up uncanny parallels. As painful secrets come to light, Nora is drawn deeper into a past that still threatens to engulf her and must determine how much she is prepared to sacrifice to put one tragedy to rest . . . and to make sure that history doesn’t repeat itself.

Interesting how it all played out in the end. I like how Hart weaves historical information into a modern story. I hope there are more in the series with Nora Gavin in the future.

Up next is "Expecting Adam" by Martha Beck.

I'm going quackers! Quack! Quack! Quack!

2010-06-05T17:35:00.000-04:00

It's been a long week that involved urgent care and ER visits for me. Suffice it to say, my reading speed has slowed to a trickle at best.

So in the meantime, enjoy my theme song:

Share Goin' Quackers by Donald Duck

The winner is ...

2010-06-01T09:13:00.000-04:00

The winner of the Amazon gift card is ...

16

Random numbers generated Jun 1 2010 at 9:10:30 by www.psychicscience.org

Rachel! You are the winner! I will contact you regarding your prize.

Thanks to everyone who participated. I will be giving away another gift certificate when I get to Book #100 of 2010.

So here's the dealio on the contest-o!

2010-05-27T15:29:00.002-04:00

In honor of my 50th book of 2010, I am giving away a $20 gift certificate to Amazon. The only hitch is you have to suggest a book for me to read in your comment.

(And here is where I can test how well you read my blog because you can't suggest something I have already reviewed this year.)

I will keep this contest going until Tuesday at 9 a.m. so the three people who read this blog will have plenty of time to post.

Good luck! (And make sure you leave your email address with your comment!)

Book #50 of 2010

2010-05-26T08:51:00.000-04:00

Book #50 of 2010 was "The Spellmans Strike Again" by Lisa Lutz.

At the ripe old age of thirty-two, former wild child Isabel "Izzy" Spellman has finally agreed to take over the family business. And the transition won't be a smooth one. First among her priorities as head of Spellman Investigations is to dig up some dirt on the competition, slippery ex-cop Rick Harkey--a task she may enjoy a little too much. Next, faced with a baffling missing-persons case at the home of an aging millionaire, Izzy hires an actor friend, Len, to infiltrate the mansion as an undercover butler--a role he may enjoy a little much. Meanwhile, Izzy is being blackmailed by her mother (photographic evidence of Prom Night 1994) to commit to regular blind dates with promising professionals--an arrangement that doesn't thrill Connor, an Irish bartender on the brink of becoming Ex-boyfriend #12.

At Spellman headquarters, it's business as unusual. Doorknobs and light fixtures are disappearing every day, Mom's been spotted crying in the pantry, and a series of increasingly demanding Spellman Rules (Rule #27: No Speaking Today) can't quite hold the family together. Izzy also has to decipher weekly "phone calls from the edge" from her octogenarian lawyer, Morty, as well as Detective Henry Stone's mysterious interest in rekindling their relationship ... well, whatever it was. Just when it looks like things can't go more haywire, little sister Rae's internship researching pro bono legal cases leads the youngest Spellman to launch a grassroots campaign that could spring an innocent man from jail - or land Rae in it. The Spellmans Strike Again is hands down the most hilarious, thrilling, and moving book in this bestselling, award-nominated series. And it proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Isabel Spellman, no matter how much she matures, will never be able to follow Rule #1: Act Normal.

This is by far one of my favorite series of all times. I didn't want to finish the book because I knew it was going to be the last one. How will I get my Spellman fix now? I do appreciate that Lutz let the characters go before they become formulaic and stagnant like so many authors do with their series. (I am a little worried that there are plans to make a movie about the book -- I can't seen any current actress doing Izzy justice.)

I know that her writing can be off putting to some readers - the footnotes and constant referring to previous books. But I think if you give the books a real chance you will see that Lutz does a great job with it. Her books are some of the funniest I have ever read. You can't help but love the dysfunctional Spellmans.

So I promised that when I got to Book #50, there would be a contest. And there will be one with a real prize. I will be back with details later. For now, I will tell you the next book that I am reading ... "False Mermaids" by Erin Hart.

Spring is sprung (finally)!

2010-05-20T13:57:00.000-04:00

Book #49 of 2010

2010-05-19T14:02:00.000-04:00

Book #49 of 2010 was ... "Garlic and Sapphires" by Ruth Reichl.

Ruth Reichl, world-renowned food critic and editor in chief of Gourmet magazine, knows a thing or two about food. She also knows that as the most important food critic in the country, you need to be anonymous when reviewing some of the most high-profile establishments in the biggest restaurant town in the world—a charge she took very seriously, taking on the guise of a series of eccentric personalities. In Garlic and Sapphires, Reichl reveals the comic absurdity, artifice, and excellence to be found in the sumptuously appointed stages of the epicurean world and gives us—along with some of her favorite recipes and reviews—her remarkable reflections on how one’s outer appearance can influence one’s inner character, expectations, and appetites, not to mention the quality of service one receives.

I can't give this book a five-star review because there is a bit of disconnect between myself and the author. I don't eat the way she does nor I suspect do most of my friends. Its hard to relate to someone who thinks foie gras is a normal weekly meal. Personal tastes aside, Reichl is a phenomenal writer. I might not want to eat the things she is eating but she makes you feel like you are right there next to her. She has an amazing gift for describing both the flavor and aesthetics of food - it is clear she is a true gourmand.

I did find her "characters" (and the emotions brought up by them) to be a bit contrived - she seemed to be trying to prove personal growth during the process. Clearly, she is not your average American eater and there is no point in pretending otherwise. She still does a spot on job of relating the microcosm that is upscale New York dining.

If you are a foodie or just like a lushly detailed memoir, I think you will enjoy this book.

(And her recipe for Spaghetti Carbonara will definitely be added to my cooking repertoire.)

Book #48 of 2010

2010-05-17T08:51:00.000-04:00

Book #48 of 2010 was ... "Family History" by Dani Shapiro.

Rachel Jensen is perfectly happy: in love with her husband, devoted to their daughter Kate, gratified by her work restoring art. And finally, she's pregnant again. But as Rachel discovers, perfection can unravel in an instant. The summer she is thirteen, Kate returns from camp sullen, angry, and withdrawn. Everyone assures Rachel it's typical adolescent angst. But then Kate has a terrifying accident with her infant brother, and the ensuing guilt brings forth a dreadful lie—one that ruptures their family, perhaps irrevocably.

I enjoyed everything (as much as you can enjoy seeing someone's life shattered) about this book except the ending. It is every parent's worst nightmare in print and I felt Rachel's anguish over her crumbling family. But the ending, ugh. Shapiro seemed to decide the previous pages were too depressing because she made the ending so neat. Yes their daughter is still crazy but suddenly her husband is home and her son (who she had previously worried was delayed) is speaking in full sentences. It did not seem the least bit authentic to the rest of the story. I think she'd been better off ending it with more loose ends. It would have fit better with the tone of her book.

Up next is a food critic's memoir ... "Garlic and Sapphires" by Ruth Reichl.

Book #47 of 2010

2010-05-16T22:08:00.000-04:00

Book #47 of 2010 was ... "Lake of Sorrows" by Erin Hart.

American pathologist Nora Gavin has come to the Irish midlands to examine a body unearthed at a desolate spot known as the Lake of Sorrows. As with all the artifacts culled from its prehistoric depths, the bog has effectively preserved the dead man's remains -- his multiple wounds suggest he was the victim of an ancient pagan sacrifice known as "triple death." But signs of a more recent slaying emerge when a second body, bearing a similar wound pattern, is found -- this one sporting a wristwatch.

Someone has come to this quagmire to sink their dreadful handiwork -- and Nora soon realizes that she is being pulled deeper into the land and all it holds: the secrets to a cache of missing gold, a tumultuous love affair with archaeologist Cormac Maguire, and the dark mysteries and desires of the workers at the site. As they draw closer to the truth, Nora and Cormac must exercise the utmost caution to avoid becoming the next victims of a ruthless killer fixated on the gruesome notion of triple death.

I like Hart's last book (Haunted Ground) and this follow-up was not a disappointment. I love the historical and archeological information that Hart puts into her mysteries. I think because I love historical fiction more than mysteries, I didn't feel like the story was bogged down (no pun intended) into historical information. For me, it enhanced the story.

Looking forward to reading the next one in the series, "False Mermaids".

These Happy Golden Years ...

2010-05-14T10:41:00.000-04:00

For no other reason than I like this quote, I am linking to this essay by Laura Munson in the NY Times.

When life’s knocked us around. And our childhood myths reveal themselves to be just that. The truth feels like the biggest sucker-punch of them all: it’s not a spouse or land or a job or money that brings us happiness. Those achievements, those relationships, can enhance our happiness, yes, but happiness has to start from within. Relying on any other equation can be lethal.

Wow.

Its such a simple truth but one that most of us fail to absorb (including myself). A skinny body, a fancy car, a big house ... or anything we grab onto ... will not bring contentment if we don't first like ourselves.

So grab that mirror, take a long hard look and ask yourself: "What is my happiness rooted in?"

(We will now leave the Oprah show and return you to your regularly scheduled program.)

Book #46 of 2010

2010-05-09T22:56:00.000-04:00

Book #46 of 2010 was ... "Nadia Knows Best" by Jill Mansell.

When Nadia Kinsella meets Jay Tiernan, she's tempted. Of course she is. Stranded together in a remote Cotswold pub, with a snowstorm raging outside—let’s face it, who would ever know? But Nadia’s already met The One. She and Laurie have been together for years—they’re practically childhood sweethearts, and she still gets goosebumps at the sight of him. Okay, maybe she doesn’t see that much of him these days, but that’s not Laurie’s fault. She can’t betray him. Besides, when you belong to a family like the Kinsellas—bewitchingly glamorous grandmother Miriam, feckless mother Leonie, stop-at-nothing sister Clare—well, someone has to exercise a bit of self-control, don’t they? I mean, you wouldn’t want to do something that you might later regret.

I am getting to the end of the Mansell books that are available here in the United States (or more specifically at my library). I always enjoy her books for what they are -- light and fluffy. "Nadia Knows Best" did not disappoint.

Up next (or currently) is ... "Lake of Sorrows" by Erin Hart. Its the second book by Hart featuring pathologist Nora Gavin.

Nashville flooding

2010-05-07T09:04:00.000-04:00

I am sure you have read about and seen pictures of the devastating floods in the Nashville, Tennessee area. Dave, Jacob and I lived in Murfreesboro, Tennessee (just south of Nashville) for about two and half years. In fact, Jake is actually a Southerner by birth. ;) We are still in contact with a number of people who live there including my friend Katie.

Her Granddad and Great Aunt Cha Cha were particularly hard hit by the flooding. Please visit her blog (Shoemacres is the Place for Me) and keep them in your prayers.

(And if you happen to be in the Nashville area maybe you can lend a helping hand.)

R.I.P., Ernie Harwell

2010-05-05T08:50:00.000-04:00

Ernie Harwell, the iconic voice of the Detroit Tigers, passed away last night after a nine month battle with cancer.

I admit to not being a great sports fan of any variety and I probably won't often post about sports. But you couldn't grow up in Detroit and not instantly recognize his voice. He was as much the voice of the entire city as he was the voice of the Detroit Tigers. He transcended sports because he was a class act in a city (and a sport) where there are very few who fit the bill.

In facing death, he was quoted as saying that death was the next great adventure and a gift handed down by God.

A class act to the end. Rest in peace, Mr. Harwell.

Book #45 of 2010

2010-05-03T08:28:00.000-04:00

Book #45 of 2010 was "Cutting for Stone" by Abraham Verghese.

Sister Mary Joseph Praise, a devout young nun, leaves the south Indian state of Kerala in 1947 for a missionary post in Yemen. During the arduous sea voyage, she saves the life of an English doctor bound for Ethiopia, Thomas Stone, who becomes a key player in her destiny when they meet up again at Missing Hospital in Addis Ababa. Seven years later, Sister Praise dies birthing twin boys: Shiva and Marion, the latter narrating his own and his brothers long, dramatic, biblical story set against the backdrop of political turmoil in Ethiopia, the life of the hospital compound in which they grow up and the love story of their adopted parents, both doctors at Missing.

As another person noted, the size of this book can seem a bit daunting. It is a hefty book and it took me longer than average to get through it. But it is worth the time invested into it. Verghese is a vivid storyteller who kept my attention even when describing intricate (and graphic) details of a surgery.

Up next is more fluff to balance out the seriousness ... "Nadia Knows Best" by Jill Mansell.

Contest alert!

2010-05-01T14:02:00.000-04:00

When I hit Book #50 of 2010, I will be giving away a gift certificate to Amazon. There will rules and regulations and such but for now all you need to know is keep checking back

(Of course, it might take me a year to get to #50 because my current book is taking me forever. If I didn't mention before I am reading "Cutting for Stone" by Abraham Verghese. It is good but definitely not a quick read.)

Book #44 of 2010

2010-04-27T10:21:00.000-04:00

Book #44 of 2010 was "Get Lucky" by Katherine Center.

Sarah Harper is on the New York fast track at a top advertising agency until she grows a conscience overnight and sends out a companywide e-mail debunking her popular bra campaign. Fired, she flies home to Houston, where she crashes with her older sister, Mackie, and Mackie's husband, Clive. Turns out Mackie has problems of her own: after years of trying to have a baby, she announces she's done. In an effort to do something good for a change, Sarah offers herself up as a surrogate. In the nine pregnant months that follow, Sarah juggles unexpected feelings for her brother-in-law and expected feelings for an ex-boyfriend, and instead of the pregnancy bringing her and Mackie closer, it drives them apart.

I was going through this book thinking it wasn't my favorite of Center's novels. I couldn't relate to the main character (Sarah) and I wasn't sure about all of her foreshadowing - if disaster was going to happen just get to it already. Then I got to the end and everything made sense. It wasn't that the book ended neatly and all-too-perfectly. In fact, that might be why I liked the book so much -- Center has an incredible knack for writing about real people who live real lives. The ending helped me look back over the entire book with a different attitude (and I teared up a bit at the end too). Kudos to her and her writing - I expect more great books in the future.

Book #43 of 2010

2010-04-25T10:35:00.000-04:00

Book #43 of 2010 was "Making Up Your Mind" by Jill Mansell.

It's not always you who gets to choose when you're making your mind up|Lottie Carlyle isn't looking for love when she meets her new boss, Tyler Klein. Living in a beautiful cottage with her two adorable - sometimes - kids in an idyllic village in the Cotswolds, on good terms with her ex-husband and with friends all around, she's happy enough with her lot. But Tyler's perfect for Lottie and quickly she falls for him - and he for her. Unfortunately, there's a problem. For reasons that are totally unfair, Lottie's children HATE Tyler. When a rival for Lottie's affections comes on the scene in the shape of charmer Seb, the children adore him, and he's certainly a distraction. But he's not Tyler - and he's not even at all what he seems.

I am a sucker for Mansell's novels. Lovely, light and funny all in one. I am sad to see there are several more available in England that are not available here in the U.S. Anyone going to England soon?

Next up is "Get Lucky" by Katherine Center.

Books #41 and #42 of 2010

2010-04-23T08:39:00.000-04:00

I promise you my children are fed and clothed (mostly).

Book #41 of 2010 was "24 Karat Kids" by Dr. Judy Goldstein and Sebastian Stuart.

When Dr. Shelley Green joins Madison Pediatrics, a medical practice catering to the rich, peculiar parents of the Upper East Side of Manhattan, this self-described "schlumpy girl from Jackson Heights" is unprepared for the self-centered eccentrics who parade through her office. First-time collaborators Goldstein and Stuart have created them all in this chick-out-of-water comedy: a six-year-old with strep devastated to miss her Bergdorf manicure, a show-biz mom who wants a nose job for her eight-month-old son, and ultrapampered busybody Amanda Walker, who takes Shelley under her gilded wing. In the name of developing the "persona" to fit in with the posh parents from her practice, Shelley dives into the world of designer stores, spends weekends in the Hamptons with Amanda and her upscale friends and considers a dalliance with rich, hunky Josh Potter—a man entirely unlike her schoolteacher fiancé, Arthur.

I enjoyed the snapshots of the privileged patients (and their neurotic parents) that visited the office but the ending was ridiculous.

Book #42 of 2010 was "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight" by Alexandra Fuller.

Pining for Africa, Fuller's parents departed England in the early '70s while she was still a toddler. They knew well that their life as white farmers living in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia at the time) would be anything but glamorous. Living a crude, rural life, the author and her older sister contended with "itchy bums and worms and bites up their arms from fleas" and losing three siblings. Mum and Dad were freewheeling, free-drinking, and often careless. Yet they were made of tough stuff and there is little doubt of the affection among family members. On top of attempting to make a living, they faced natives who were trying to free themselves of British rule, and who were understandably not thrilled to see more white bwanas settling in. Fuller portrays bigotry (her own included), segregation, and deprivation.

Fuller has a gift for imagery and a love for Africa that clearly shows in this memoir.

Book #40 of 2010!

2010-04-20T08:36:00.000-04:00

Book #40 of 2010 (aka known as the reason I was up until 1 a.m.) was ... "The Last Child" by John Hart.

A year and a day have passed since the abduction of 12-year-old Alyssa Merrimon, and her twin brother, Johnny, has never felt more alone. His father abandoned the family soon after the disappearance, and his mother has all but vanished into a haze of drinking, drugs and abusive sex. The police detective who investigated the case hovers over the remnants of the family like a watchful angel, but his attentions are unwelcome; he hasn't found the girl. In fact, Johnny's only true friend is his frail young classmate Jack, and even he wavers between supporting Johnny's faith that Alyssa's alive and knowing that she's gone forever. But then a clue falls from the sky -- literally: A biker hit by a car and thrown from a bridge lands almost at Johnny's feet. "I found her," he says in his dying words. "The girl that was taken."

I will have to add a review later because I can't seem to formulate my thoughts on the book. I was bored with it in the beginning but then I got hooked. To be continued ...

Book #39 of 2010

2010-04-18T18:12:00.002-04:00

Book #39 of 2010 was "Anything But Typical" by Nora Raleigh Baskin.

Baskin tells this luminous story entirely from the point of view of Jason, an autistic boy who is a creative-writing whiz and deft explainer of literary devices, but markedly at a loss in social interactions with “neurotypicals” both at school and at home. He is most comfortable in an online writing forum called Storyboard, where his stories kindle an e-mail-based friendship with a girl. His excitement over having a real friend (and maybe even girlfriend) turns to terror when he learns that his parents want to take him on a trip to the Storyboard conference, where he’ll no doubt have to meet her in person.

This is a young adult novel that was recommended to me by someone who, like me, has a child with autism. Baskin writes as authentically as a NT (neurotypical) can about life when you have autism. Her portrayals of both Jason, his parents and those around Jason (and their interactions with him) were very realistic. I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants a little insight into autism or just a well-written young adult novel.

Up next is "The Last Child" by John Hart.

Book #38 of 2010

2010-04-18T12:00:00.002-04:00

Book #38 of 2010 was ... "Bright Side of Disaster" by Katherine Center.

Jenny Harris is nesting in her Houston home with her fiance, Dean, awaiting the birth of their child, to be followed by their wedding. But Dean grows more distant, especially after a coworker dies in a plane crash, and Jenny ends up becoming a single mother. Determined to take good care of her child, she tries to forget about Dean, relegating him to the past. Coping with a baby takes all Jenny's time, so when her perfect single neighbor takes an interest, Jenny is flattered but exhausted. Then, when she finally decides to take a chance and get to know him, Dean comes back into her life.

Center writes realistically about parenting which is why I keep coming back to her books. Her characters are flawed and their stories are never perfect. I happily look forward to reading more of her work in the future.

Next up is "Anything But Typical" by Nora Raleigh Baskin ... a young adult novel told from the perspective of a boy with Autism.

Book #37 of 2010

2010-04-17T13:40:00.002-04:00

Book #37 of 2010 was ... The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.

Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch--and there's always a catch--is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues.

I kept hearing about this book so I decided to read it despite this not being my favorite genre. I am glad I did because it was intriguing and interesting throughout. There were a few minor road bumps -- obviously the sex crimes play heavily into the story and can be very disturbing to read. Also, I found it odd when the author wrote extensive technical details about the computer that Salander purchased. But this didn't detract heavily from the overall book and I will read the follow-up novel.

A picture, a complaint and two books

2010-04-14T09:06:00.000-04:00

First, the picture:

Thankfully it only cost about $110 to have lunch with the princesses and get our official picture. What a deal, huh?

Second (and the above was not the complaint), I am still tired.

And now the two books ...

Book #35 of 2010 was Millie's Fling by Jill Mansell.

Bestselling novelist Orla Hart owes her life to her friend Millie Brady, whose rotten boyfriend has just left her. So Orla invites Millie to Cornwall, where Millie looks forward to a summer without any dating whatsoever. But Orla envisions Millie as the heroine of her next novel and decides to find Millie the man of her dreams. Except the two women have drastically different ideas about what kind of guy that should be.

With Orla and Millie working at cross-purposes, and a dashing but bewildered hero stuck in the middle, the summer will turn out to be unforgettable for all concerned...

I have read several of Mansell's novels and I have to say this was my least favorite. I can usually finish one of her books in a few days but this took almost a week. I didn't find the characters terribly appealing and the plot was a bit sluggish.

Book #36 of 2010 was Blonde Roots by Bernardine Evaristo

British novelist Evaristo delivers an astonishing, uncomfortable and beautiful alternative history that goes back several centuries to flip the slave trade, with Aphrikans enslaving the people of Europa and exporting many of them to Amarika. The plot revolves around Doris, the daughter of a long line of proud cabbage farmers who live in serfdom. After she's kidnapped by slavers, she experiences the horror and inhumanity of slave transport, is sold and works her way back to freedom. The narrative cuts back and forth through time, contrasting the journey to freedom with the journey toward slavery.

I liked the story from Doris' perspective but I didn't find Bwana's perspective as interesting. In fact I skimmed most of it.

Overall, I had a much harder time reading over my vacation than I normally do. I thought I would finish a few more books. Oh well.

Next up is the The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.

Seven days in ...

2010-04-10T23:40:00.000-04:00

and I am ready to be done with vacation. Is that sad? Two more sleeps to go and then we head home ...

(For those who don't know, we have spent the last week touring Southern California. We are finishing up in San Diego before flying out on Monday.)

Things I have learned this week:
1. Going out to eat for three meals a day every day is an idea that is great in concept but not so great in reality.
2. My kids are afraid of Mickey Mouse. And Donald Duck. And Chip and Dale. So basically anyone in a costume ... but not princesses because as Molly says "they are real."
3. There are lots of people in Southern California. Lots of people who all drive on the same road you are on at the same time.
4. (And most importantly) Nine days is way too much time to be spending with your family in a small hotel room.

See you all back in the Eastern Time Zone!

Like having your 90 year old Grandma live with you ...

2010-03-30T15:13:00.000-04:00

How many drugs can one dog take? Apparently lots of them.

Myrtle Bean

2010-03-26T08:19:00.000-04:00

Today would have been your big day on earth but every day in Heaven is bigger and better.

Sleep well, Myrtle Bean.

Book #34 of 2010 ...

2010-03-26T08:04:00.001-04:00

I was (am) already reading a book when I picked up this next book from my stack. The only reason I picked it up is because I was upstairs and I was too lazy to walk down to get the book I was already reading. (That might be a clue as to why I can't lose the last 10 pounds I want to lose.)

Book #33 of 2010 was "Everyone is Beautiful" by Katherine Center

Everything in Lainie Coates’ life is changing. Her husband receives a scholarship to a prestigious music school, so the family moves from her native Houston to Cambridge, Massachusetts. While Peter is involved with his studies, Lainie feels lost and alienated caring for her three young sons until she meets Amanda, an acquaintance from high school, at a local park. Lainie is at her frumpiest—in sweatpants, still carrying the weight from her baby—when a stranger asks when her baby is due. Mortified, she lies. How does one explain her error to gorgeous Amanda with her perfect daughter? This embarrassing incident starts Lainie on the path to her own self-discovery, that is, if she can find the time and the outlet.

A book about a woman who becomes a mom and then loses her figure and her self identity ... I think I can relate to that! Laine is every woman who is both wife and mom at some point in their lives. Don't we all compare ourselves to peers and find ourselves lacking at times? Or lose ourselves completely in our kids to the detriment of both our marriage and ourselves? It is such a hard balance and I think Center does a great job of describing it. Perhaps the ending is a bit too neat but I am a sucker for a happy ending.

Next up is ... well, I guess I better finish the book I started before I started (and finished this one).

Book #33 of 2010

2010-03-23T09:14:00.000-04:00

"Miranda's Big Mistake" by Jill Mansell

Taking a position as a trainee in a posh London hair salon may not seem the ideal situation for finding Mr. Right, but this breezy, whimsical novel from best-selling British chick-lit author Mansell (An Offer You Can't Refuse) introduces just such a heroine, Miranda, to a wide range of men, from panhandler to racecar driver, on her way to true love (and true retaliation). In a series of escapades too over-the-top even for Bridget Jones, feisty but accident-prone Miranda joins forces with other unlucky-in-love ladies, including a pregnant woman abandoned by her no-good husband and an aging but still-game landlady with a terminally greedy son.

This is not great literature -- its silly, far-fetched romance. And that is exactly why I like it. Mansell's books are the perfect vacation read -- light and easy if not very realistic.

Next up is The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble.

Book #32 of 2010

2010-03-21T17:27:00.001-04:00

"It's a Crime" by Jacqueline Carey

When Frank Foy, a high-living corporate accountant, goes to jail after his company's Enronesque fall, Pat, his landscape-designer wife, is pathologically unwilling to grasp the fraud's implications in this muddled novel from Carey. Pat inexplicably decides to repay a random group of the fraud's victims, first through personal checks and then, even more bizarrely, through a planned investment in wind energy. Along the way, she reunites with her former lover, Lemuel Samuel, and her onetime best friend, Ginny Howley, both mystery writers who suffered in the company's collapse. The penniless Ginny joins Pat's odyssey, while Lemuel's son keeps the Foys' teenage daughter company.

The book had the potential to be good but got caught up in itself. I think the author was trying to make it into something it wasn't.

Humble

2010-03-18T18:28:00.000-04:00

Jacob on why he likes math (as written on his self assessment for school conferences): "because I am the best at it and I am better than every body in my class."

Self esteem is, apparently, not an issue either.

Book #31 of 2010

2010-03-18T18:11:00.000-04:00

"An Offer You Can't Refuse" by Jill Mansell

Lola, 17, is deeply in love with her boyfriend, Doug. Doug’s family is wealthy, and Doug is on his way to university, while Lola is a middle-class girl and works at a fish-and-chip shop. Doug’s mother sees miniskirt-wearing Lola as an obstacle to overcome and offers her 10,000 pounds to never see Doug again. Lola is about to refuse when her father reveals a huge gambling debt. The only way to keep him safe is for Lola to accept the money. Ten years later, she encounters Doug and his mother again, and now Doug knows Lola was bought off by his mother. Lola still has feelings for Doug, but Doug won’t have anything to do with her. Will their relationship be repaired, or is the money too much to handle?

Funny and entertaining. A perfect beach read.

Next up is "Unconfessed" by Yvette Christiansë.

2010-03-16T10:59:00.000-04:00

"Gifted" by Nikita Lalwani

Rumi Vasi, the teen-age daughter of Indian immigrants in Wales, lives a life of double estrangement, marked as an outsider both by her ethnicity and by her precocity. Yet her isolation is generated less by the culture surrounding her than by the pressures of family. Her mother, determined not to allow Western morals to corrupt her daughter, tells her, "Only white people have sex"; her father insists on a punitive schedule of tutoring and test-taking under strict conditions—freezing temperatures, isolation—meant to enhance learning. Sent to Oxford at fifteen to study mathematics, Rumi begins to question the course that has been determined for her, and to seek freedom at any cost.

I really liked this book. You know right from the beginning that her life is a disaster in the making. I actually felt bad for her as if she were a real person as her Dad constrained her more and more. Her end decision surprised me but I think it was authentic to the story.

My first baby

2010-03-14T22:49:00.000-04:00

My first baby, Alli, has months to live.

My girl has been with us since she was 8 weeks old -- and that was almost 12 years ago. I took her in for a check-up this weekend and her kidney function is down to 25 percent. She is in Stage 3 of kidney failure. We've got medicines to give her and we will start subcutaneous fluids. All in an effort to buy us days, weeks, months ... who knows.

I wanted to go up to all the happy people with their cute puppies in the waiting office and yell: "THIS IS WHAT YOU HAVE TO LOOK FORWARD TO!"

This sucks.

It's life and it sucks.

But seriously ... Book #30 of 2010

2010-03-12T13:30:00.000-05:00

What do you think of the statement "I have no time for reading". Me, I just can't wrap my head around that concept. I mean ... don't have time to shave your legs, I get. No time to dust the pictures on the wall, gotcha. But no time to read? I've been known to read while blow drying my hair and brushing my teeth (requires some props to hold the book open but it can be done). I'd forgo a few seconds of breathing if it got me some extra reading time.

So with that I introduce you to Book #30 of 2010 ... Hungry Monkey by Matthew Amster-Burton.

Seattle dad and food critic Amster-Burton wants his daughter to grow up fearlessly savoring a wide range of appealing foods, something beyond untutored childhood’s bland fodder and ubiquitous processed foods persistently marketed to television-watching adolescents. He believes that developing a child’s taste for uncommon produce, meats, fish, herbs, and spices lies in early exposure to their flavors and being sure that baby sees Mom and Dad relishing a spectrum of victuals. One by one, Amster-Burton debunks widely held opinions about feeding toddlers, such as withholding salt, sushi, or spices. And he’s not averse to cooking with wine or allowing his daughter a tiny sip of beer. Recipes include a number of Mexican favorites, even highly seasoned Thai and Chinese dishes, all designed to be simply and quickly prepared. Any parent frustrated by an offspring’s dismissive “Yuck!” will find some usefully novel approaches here to patient cultivation of adventuresome palates.

I did not pick up this book because I was looking for guidance with feeding my kids or even for the recipes (though a few do look enticing). It just seemed like a quick and interesting read about something I love - FOOD! You'd be hard pressed to find a book about food I didn't want to read (excepting perhaps "1001 Uses for Sheep's Brains").

I absolutely agree with several of Amster-Burton's points - picky kids will not die from lack of nutrition, bland is not best for baby (little babies in Bangladesh are born with the same little taste buds as babies in Milwaukee) and for the love of all that is holy ... dessert is not the devil! He backs a few of his opinions up with some research which is nice if you want to throw the information in someone's face ... say a mother-in-law or know-it-all co-worker. I think when it comes to food a good deal of very well intentioned parents create issues that don't need to be created. Food is to be enjoyed -- so if you aren't enjoying your wheat germ flavored organic gruel chances are your kids aren't either. Food -- you gotta love it!

(And there you have the gospel according to Jenifer.)

Next up (to read, not eat) is ... "Gifted" by Nikita Lalwani.

Book #29 of 2010

2010-03-09T18:34:00.000-05:00

The Wet Nurse's Tale by Erica Eisdorfer

Susan Rose isn’t the average protagonist: she’s scheming, promiscuous, plump, and she is also smart, funny, tender, and entirely lovable. Like many lower-class women of Victorian England, she was born into a world that offered very few opportunities for the poor and unlovely. But Susan is the kind of plucky heroine who seeks her fortune, and finds it . . . with some help from, well, her breasts. Susan, you see, is a professional wet nurse; she breast-feeds the children of wealthy women who can’t or won’t nurse their own babies.

But when her own child is sold by her father and sent to a London lady who had recently lost a baby, Susan manages to convince his new foster mother, Mrs. Norbert, to hire her as a wet nurse. Once reunited with her son, Susan discovers the Norbert home to be a much more sinister place than she’d ever expected. Dark and full of secrets, its master is in India, and the first baby who died there did so under very mysterious circumstances. Susan embarks on a terrifying journey to rescue her son before he meets the same fate.

Review to come some time when I feel more like it ... my brain is too numb right now from being subjected to the newest Barbie movie. Oy.

Book #28 0f 2010

2010-03-07T15:16:00.000-05:00

"Forget About It" by Caprice Crane

Jordan Landau is having a bad life. At twenty-five, she is attractive, smart, funny and talented. But all that doesn't keep her mother from calling her fat, her boss from stealing her ideas, and her boyfriend from cheating on her. Day in and day out, she sits back and watches as everyone walks all over her. Then one day while riding her bike home from a particularly awful day, Jordan collides with a car door and is knocked clear off her bicycle. Coming to in the hospital, Jordan realizes she has a perfect excuse for a "do-over"; she vows to fake amnesia and reinvent herself. And it works. Finally, Jordan is able to get the credit she deserves at work, and she stands up to her family and her jerk boyfriend. She's living the life she always dreamed of--until the unthinkable happens. Suddenly Jordan must start over for real, and figure out what really makes her happy--and how to live a truly memorable life.

A funny book and a quick read -- perfect for a lazy weekend. Crane doesn't write Pulitzer winning books but she certainly knows how to entertain.

Next up is The Wet Nurse's Tale by Erica Eisdorfer.

Book #27 of 2010

2010-03-06T14:20:00.000-05:00

Book #27 of 2010 is Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier.

Tart-tongued spinster Elizabeth Philpot meets young Mary Anning after moving from London to the coastal town of Lyme Regis. The two quickly form an unlikely friendship based on their mutual interest in finding fossils, which provides the central narrative as working-class Mary emerges from childhood to become a famous fossil hunter, with her friend and protector Elizabeth to defend her against the men who try to take credit for Mary's finds. Their friendship, however, is tested when Colonel Birch comes to Lyme to ask for Mary's help in hunting fossils and the two spinsters compete for his attention.

I am not sure if the above summary really does the novel real justice. This is a very complex but very slow book -- not in a boring way but in the way a true character novel progresses. There is no rush of action (even with the discovery of rare dinosaur fossils). Admittedly, I wondered in the first few chapters if I would be able to stick through to the end. I soon find myself very intrigued by the character's and their relations with each other. I know their are deeper themes of social constructs and the burgeoning evolution theory of the 19th century. I wish I was a prolific enough writer to comment on them -- but I am not. So all I can tell you is the themes are there.

It should be noted that the characters are based on actual people and actual events that took place during the 19th century in coastal England. Being a bit of a history enthusiast, it was interesting to be able to do a little extra research on the people mentioned.

So what great novel is next on the list ... "Forget About It" by Caprice Crane (I like to alternate heavier books with lighter ones -- both in size and content ;)!)

Book #26 of 2010

2010-03-03T16:24:00.001-05:00

This past weekend, we took the birthday boy (aka Jacob) to Chicago for a fun-filled weekend. On Saturday night, we dined at Rosebuds on Rush which is way fancier than anywhere I went as a kid. Pretty good place if you like Italian though the hubby says their sauce "tastes buttery". Whatever that means. I like their bread but my hips don't lie when it comes to carbs.

Anyhoo, we were seated next to a couple with their two kids and a 20-something woman who appeared to be their nanny. Did they bring her their to treat her? Or can they not handle their own kids on weekends? If she is there to work, do the parents talk to her like she is part of the event?

Perfect segueway for the next book in my list .. "The Nanny Returns" by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

Nan revisits 721 Park, home of the moneyed but morally bankrupt Xs, and the boy she guiltily left behind in their inept care in this smart and sassy sequel to The Nanny Diaries. And though Nan has grown up a bit, married Harvard Hottie Ryan and traveled the world, the plight of the rich and stupid continues, as does Nan's new crusade to save former charge Grayer and his younger brother Stilton, renovate a crumbling East Harlem mansion and stick it out at a soulless Manhattan private school.

The book seemed a bit disjointed in the beginning like the authors couldn't get in sync with each other or the characters. It picked up a little as the story went along but still didn't flow very nicely. There were a lot of subplots that were left to dangle (perhaps to make room for the third installment "The Nanny Returns ... again").

Writing prowess aside, is this REALLY how the upper echelon of NYC lives? Their morals appear so thin and their egos so big They cast aside anyone (including their own kids) who gets in the way of their almost psychotic need to satisfy themselves. Scary. Perhaps I should be a little more content in my middle class life. The alternative isn't that attractive when you get down to it.

Next up is "Remarkable Creatures" by Tracy Chevalier.

This outfit brought to you by our friends on Cass Avenue in Detroit.

2010-03-02T16:48:00.000-05:00

Fierce!

Eight years ago today ...

2010-02-28T16:56:00.000-05:00

I gave birth to this sweet little boy.

Happy 8th Birthday, Jacob!

Need your prayers.

2010-02-26T12:25:00.000-05:00

A little buddy of mine, Gavin, is in the hospital with pneumonia. He has been through a lot in his life -- and he is not even two years old yet. His case is especially difficult because he has a tracheotomy. The doctors discovered he has a bacterial infection as well that requires a certain antibiotic -- but he is allergic to that antibiotic. Now they need to come up with a new plan. Please pray that the doctors will come up with the right treatment that will bring healing to Gavin.

Also, pray for his family to have strength and peace during this time.

Greek style ... YOGURT

2010-02-25T17:44:00.001-05:00

Someone tell me why I am supposed to like greek-style yogurt. I have heard good things about it but frankly it tastes like something I would normally throw away for being spoiled. Ick.

Book #25 of 2010

2010-02-24T10:45:00.001-05:00

If only there were an Olympic event for speed reading - it might be the only time in my life I might actually win an award.

Book #25 of 2010 was "Living Oprah" by Robyn Okrant.

Yoga instructor and performer Okrant, 35, spent the year 2008 living by Oprah's advice as dispensed via her show, magazine and Web site. The author was fascinated with the way Oprah evokes equal parts admiration and disdain, and curious about whether it's even possible to follow someone else's advice to discover one's authentic self. Despite skepticism about the validity —or possibility —of finding happiness through Oprah, she embarked on 12 months of Oprah-prescribed activities and expenditures, plus blog updates. Monthly tallies detail activities, expenditures and the author's thoughtful observations. The author is honest about her own experiment-inspired conflicts: as a result of her endeavors, she has a book and has lost weight, but is almost always a stressed-out, insecure, exhausted mess. Okrant posits that, in many ways, pursuing a best life detracts from a real life.

Just reading about everything that Okrant tried to do within a year stressed me out. Its no wonder she ended the experiment feeling burned out. That her husband didn't divorce her or at least take a year-long vacation is amazing. I am not a follower or hater of Oprah but I do recognize the cultural phenomenon that she has become. And the political motivator, just ask Obama. Okrant quotes Oprah from her appearance on Larry King saying that basically her endorsement is worth more to him than a $1 million check. Okrant is both humorous and serious about her attempts to follow the often scizophrenic advice given by Oprah (consume less but you MUST have this $30 panini maker).

I am still trying to decide what to read next - either The Nanny Returns or Storm Glass.

Book #24 of 2010 ....

2010-02-22T11:50:00.000-05:00

Book # 24 of 2010 is ... Potluck Club by Linda Shepherd and Eva Everson.

Meet the Potluck Club--six women who gather each month to share their insatiable appetite for good friends, great food, and a pinch of prayer. Their seemingly unlikely friendship brings a little spice to life in Summit View, Colorado. But when they send up enough misinformed prayers to bring down a church, things get interesting . . . Evie's niece arrives with a broken heart and a big surprise. Lisa Leann tries to take over. Goldie's marriage turns sour. Donna stews over a strange encounter. Lizzie's librarian eyes are on the lookout for trouble. Vonnie must come to terms with a secret she's kept hidden from her best friends. But who knows what life will serve as The Potluck Club discovers that friendship is no piece of cake and a little dash of grace, like salt, goes a long way.

Christian fiction writers always seem to go out of their way to prove their Christian characters are just as human as anyone. Unfortunately, I think sometimes they go too far and present absurd characters instead of real people. I found myself laughing at a few of the characters in this book -- and I don't think they were meant to be funny. The character of Clay and his subplot were completely unnecessary and I still don't understand his purpose in the overall book. I ended up skipping the short chapters that involved him. Perhaps his role in the books is fleshed out more in the next one.

As far as Christian fiction goes this is not one of my favorites. I hope the second one in the series is better and the writers just needed to get their groove going.

Up next is Living Oprah by Robyn Okrant.

Book #23 of 2010

2010-02-19T14:29:00.000-05:00

I don't really a goal for how many books I will read this year but I think I am on pace to finish between 100-120. Wow!

Look for a contest when I get to Book #50 of 2010 - seems like a good place to reward those of you who are following along.

Anyway ... Book #23 of 2010 was "Breaking out of Bedlam" by Leslie Larson

In her delightful second novel (after Slipstream), Larson injects a jolt of liveliness into the bleak setting of an assisted living home, thanks to the obstinate and crass narrator, 82-year-old Cora Sledge. The overweight, pill-popping Cora is placed in the Palisades by her children after they deem her unfit to care for herself. Once there, she begins writing in the journal her granddaughter gave her, her entries eventually revolving around a big secret from her past. Meanwhile, around the Palisades, Cora is often in the midst of—if not at the center of—resident feuds, both the victim and suspect of a spree of robberies and the recipient of a suave new resident's amorous attention. Perhaps not surprisingly, Cora decides to take control of her life, and as she questions the loyalty of those closest to her, she reveals intimate feelings and personal heartaches that have always been obscured by her rough exterior.

Cora can be a bit over-the-top at times and a few scenes made me squirm a little (geriatric sex, anyone?). The overall tone is humorous but the "secret" that Cora writes about has a sad ending. I am not having an easy time reviewing the book today so I will just leave it there.

Up next ... well, I don't know ... I started three books but I can't decide which one I want to read yet.

Book #22 of 2010

2010-02-16T10:30:00.000-05:00

"Beautiful Creatures" by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever. Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them. In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

A little long-winded at 600 pages, Garcia and Stohl look to capitalize on the current YA supernatural trend. Fortunately there are no vampires (okay, there is one blood sucking incubus but he is minor). Overall, I think they did a good job of presenting an interesting plot that moves fairly smoothly to the end. Based on the ending, I will assume a second book is in the works.

Next up: "Breaking out of Bedlam" by Leslie Larson. It is due back to the library in two days so I better speed it up.

Happy Paczki Day!

2010-02-16T09:54:00.000-05:00

Hope you get to partake in one!

Domestic Dork: The Valentine's Day Blog Exchange

2010-02-13T15:13:00.000-05:00

I signed up to participate in Domestic Dork's Valentine's Day Exchange for bloggers -- something I have never done before. (A blog exchange ... well not literally a blog exchange ... but where bloggers send other bloggers gifts ... anyway!)

Holly paired me up with a lovely lady from nearby -- Julie of DutchBeingMe -- which was especially cool. Its nice to get to "know" someone who shares the same area code.

So today when I peeked out the front window I noticed there was a package waiting for me. I was excited to see it was my present from Julie!

She sent me some cool dish scrubbies, a chocolate strawberry spoonrest, a (Spartan green) change purse, pink measuring cups for Moo and I to use when baking, a WW three-month journal (so needed to get me back on track after a really bad week), a "Think Big" stamp, the cutest windmill figurine (for my love of tchotchkes) and a $10 gift card to Barnes and Noble. Can you say WOW!?

But I have to say that while the gifts were all truly great my very FAVORITE part was the note she included to explain each one of them. I have to say that I certainly got the best gift in the entire exchange but perhaps I am biased because it was all for me.

Thanks so much, Julie! You made my day!

Wash your mouth out with soap!

2010-02-12T15:37:00.001-05:00

Molly (while I was putting together some Polly Pockets monstrosity for HER): "You know, you shouldn't swear in front of your kids."

Yes, dear. I know. And Mattel shouldn't make "easy to snap together" pieces that aren't easy to snap together. So when you bust out with a "&*#@" in kindergarten, we're blaming evil toy manufacturers.

Book #21 of 2010

2010-02-11T08:38:00.000-05:00

"Love, Rosie" by Cecelia Ahrens

Cecelia Ahern's Rosie Dunne is the amusing story of Alex and Rosie, best friends who grow up together in Ireland and stay close throughout cross-continental moves, marriages, parenthood, family dramas. and professional triumphs. Friends for close to 50 years, the potential for romance between the pair is always under the surface, yet never seems to find the right time or place to become a reality.

A series of emails, letters, and other correspondences make up the narrative of this book. Its not an entirely novel idea (no pun intended) but one that works even in this case. However, I think the book could have been shortened quite a bit (the whole divorced chat room scenario seemed irrelevant to the overall plot). About 3/4ths through it, I found myself skipping large chunks just to get to the end.

Rosie and Alex seemed destined to make mistake after mistake when it comes to love and life -- though it bothered me that Alex is considerably more financially successful.

When I did finally finish it, I felt a bit melancholy. I think the ending was supposed to be happy and make people believe in the power of love. But the proceeding chapters were so full of sadness, bad choices and even death that it left me feeling letdown.

Overall, its a meandering and depressing love story.

Next up is a young adult novel "Beautiful Creatures" by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.

Book #20 of 2010

2010-02-09T08:41:00.000-05:00

"The Last Days of Dogtown" by Anita Diamant

Inspired by the settlement of Dogtown, MA, Diamant reimagines the community of castoffs—widows, prostitutes, orphans, African-Americans and ne'er-do-wells—all eking out a harsh living in the barren terrain of Cape Ann. Black Ruth, the African woman who dresses like a man and works as a stonemason; Mrs. Stanley, who runs the local brothel, and Judy Rhines, an unmarried white woman whose lover Cornelius is a freed slave, are among Dogtown's inhabitants who are considered suspect—even witches—by outsiders. Shifting perspectives among the various residents (including the settlement's dogs, who provide comfort to the lonely), Diamant brings the period alive with domestic details and movingly evokes the surprising bonds the outcasts form in their dying days. This chronicle of a dwindling community strikes a consistently melancholy tone—readers in search of happy endings won't find any here—but Diamant renders these forgotten lives with imagination and sensitivity.

This book was a bit of a roadblock in my reading progress. It is not the type of book that you can tear through -- either because of ease of writing or edge of your seat action. It is a slow-placed book with lots of characters but little action. None of the characters are ever completely revealed and you are left with lots of unanswered questions. If you enjoy character studies and historical fiction, you will enjoy this book. If you don't ... well don't read this one!

Next up "Love, Rosie" by Cecelia Ahrens. It is a habit of mine to try balancing a heavier book with a lighter book (by content, not size).

Oh my stars!!

2010-02-05T16:57:00.001-05:00

I just had the best chocolate cake ever.

Sheila at Strawberry Cake posted how she made the cake from The Pioneer Woman's cookbook. (For those of you who don't know, Sheila is going through all the recipes in the cookbook and posting about it on her blog.) I commented that the Texas sheet cake my MIL made was not good and my hubby teased me about my dislike of it. I suggested possibly maybe I might need an intervention and could she drop off a piece.

And she did!

Molly and I quickly gobbled a few bites and her reaction: "I want the taste of this in my mouth FOREVER!"

Thank you Sheila, from the bottom of Molly and my bellies. (Totally worth the extra Weight Watcher points!)

Book #19 of 2010 or "Look Katie, I am showing off now!"

2010-02-04T13:38:00.000-05:00

"Stupid and Contagious" by Caprice Crane

The story is told in alternating chapters by 29-year-old indie record producer Brady, who could have stepped right out of a Nick Hornby novel, and 26-year-old PR maven turned surly waitress Heaven, a veritable modern-day Lucille Ball. The two meet when they become neighbors, and Heaven keeps receiving Brady's mail, which she promptly opens and reads. But irritation soon turns into attraction as the two eventually take a wacky road trip to Seattle, where Brady waxes enthusiastic about signing a young band and attempts to land a meeting with the founder of Starbucks about his idea for a new drink.

At first, I found Heather to be annoyingly daft and Brady to be self-absorbed - which usually means I will disinterested in the fate of the characters by chapter five (like "Family Affair" also written by Crane). But I have to admit she created them in a way that you grow to like them in spite on their flaws. I found myself thinking I'd like to meet them for drinks one night. The humor was perfect throughout the book - touching the boundary of silliness that can turn a good book into a bad piece of fluff but never going past it.

On a side note, Crane is the daughter of Tina Louise who played Ginger on Gilligan's Island. Some how that just made the book all the more interesting even though it has nothing to do with it.

Next up: "The Last Days of Dogtown" by Anita Diamant. (Thanks for the recommendation, Demetria!)

Book #18 of 2010

2010-02-02T18:32:00.000-05:00

"Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins

Every year in Panem, the dystopic nation that exists where the U.S. used to be, the Capitol holds a televised tournament in which two teen "tributes" from each of the surrounding districts fight a gruesome battle to the death. In The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, the tributes from impoverished District Twelve, thwarted the Gamemakers, forcing them to let both teens survive. In this rabidly anticipated sequel, Katniss, again the narrator, returns home to find herself more the center of attention than ever. The sinister President Snow surprises her with a visit, and Katniss’s fear when Snow meets with her alone is both palpable and justified. Catching Fire is divided into three parts: Katniss and Peeta’s mandatory Victory Tour through the districts, preparations for the 75th Annual Hunger Games, and a truncated version of the Games themselves.

An excellent sequel to the first book. While it did not have the same amount of suspense, I still found myself caught up in the story. I look forward to the next in the series coming out this summer Lame review, I know, but I am not feeling like writing tonight. Perhaps tomorrow will inspire me to be more loquacious.

Next up Stupid and Contagious by Caprice Crane.

The groundhog hath spoken ...

2010-02-02T08:50:00.000-05:00

Six more weeks of winter! That is, of course, assuming you believe in the predicting powers of a fat marmot.