Friday Friends Book blog

a book list

2010-03-22T16:16:00.000-07:00

I am going to use this blog as a "list", to keep track of things I've read in 2010.

It began as a book blog, but I had a cooking blog, a book blog, a garden blog, etc.

So, for now, I'm trying to incorporate the cooking and the reading/book blog into one and using this blog address (you can also just click on the button over there...on the side...the one with the eggs and whisk. It'll take you right there.

Books I've read in 2010

Grandbabies.

2009-05-09T07:53:00.000-07:00

We have grandbabies!
Very small (2 months early), but they are doing good.

Eli and Emerson, a boy and a girl.
Very small.... but so pretty and precious. Eli weighed in at a whooping 3lbs 14oz and Emerson at 3lbs 3oz.
They are in the NICU and will be for a couple of weeks or more...we'll just have to wait and see howl long.

Mom and Dad are doing okay. Mom is sore...it was an emergency c-section, but they got her up walking this morning.

Thanks to everyone who kept them in your thoughts and prayers!

Musing Monday, A book-mark and book club news

2009-05-03T21:32:00.000-07:00

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about your tbr pile…

How many books (roughly) are in your tbr pile? Is this in increasing number or does it stay stable? Do you ever experience tbr anxiety in the face of this pile? (question courtesy of Wendy)

Oh...my.....gosh. My "To be read pile" is HUGE!! And I keep buying more books. And going to the library. I used to think I was a fast reader, and I'm faster than average, but not nearly as fast as you BOOK BLOGGERS!!!

I actually think I have a sickness, when it comes to buying books. Truly, my tbr pile is close to 60-70 books and I just keep buying more and more. But to be fair, I do frequent used book stores, so I have my list and I "stock up". But I do it OFTEN. It would not be unusual for me to leave a used book store with 15 books. And because we live in a rural town in Northern Nevada that doesn't have a bookstore, when we travel to Reno and I go to Barnes and Noble or Borders, I feel I must buy some books, even if I don't need them.
It's a horrible obsession. No one needs a pile of books, 60-70 deep, that they haven't read. IT'S EXPENSIVE for one thing. And it's clutter for another... but, oh what nice clutter, books just waiting to be read!!
***************

Last weeks, Booking Thru Thursday question... ( I know it's Monday, but I've been real busy....food blogging, (sorry, book blogging world) but I still want to put my answer down) :

Which is worse:
Finding a book you love and then hating everything else you try by that author, or
Reading a completely disappointing book by an author that you love?

It's a toss up. I think that finding a book I love and then going and BUYING (see the Monday Musing above) other books by that author, and then being disappointed in them, is a huge let-down.
I love the book "Beach Music" so much, that I'm afraid to try anything else by Pat Conroy. That's a lie. I read and liked "The Prince of Tides" also. But no others.... I'm afraid to.
I guess I would be more forgiving of an author that I already loved, if he/she had a bad one. Loving one book and hating others is a disappointment. It's a hard question to answer.
***********

Bookmarks on Monday

Oregon Coast Bridges. I love Oregon. I love the Oregon Coast, but I have a love/hate relationship with bridges.
I grew up around bridges. I had to cross bridges all my life...to go to work, to go to school, to come home, to visit friends. We grew up in Southeast Washington State, where the Columbia River and the Snake River and the Yakima River all come together.
These are big rivers. Rivers big enough to have barges and also cruise ships come down. Think the Mississippi of the Northwest, when you think of the Mighty Columbia River.

When I cross a bridge tho, for some reason my heart is in my throat. I don't know why. I love the water. I love the rivers. I love the ocean. I guess I've seen that video clip of the suspension bridge coming down. YIKES. That and there is no where to go on a bridge if you needed to pull over. I don't like knowing that... it makes me feel claustrophobic.
I am weird. That's it.

This book-mark has two sides, because the Oregon Coast Highway has so many bridges to cross. It's very beautiful.

Last week, one of my book clubs met to discuss the book "Snow Falling on Cedars".

It was an older book, and I was kind of disappointed in the choice at first, but once I began to read, I fell in love with it.

That's the whole reason I belong to different book-clubs: to be exposed to different genre's of literature. It was a story of love, and small town life and prejudice and war. Set on an island off the coast of Seattle, Washington in the 1950's.

I am not a book reviewer...as I've said many times before, but I can talk about how wonderful our evening was. We had great discussion, which is always good, but one thing that also made the evening special was our host April. She made up a bunch of oriental appetizers. She had a book theme going on.....some of the characters in the book were Japanese and April had lived in Tokyo. She had just the right dishes and decor. Great ambiance.

While we eat, we discuss.

Check out her appetizer table!
Tomorrow I will post April's fried rice recipe on my food blog. (it was so good---just hit my sidebar button for my food blog)

And our next book is.....

Not enough time in the day

2009-04-27T13:34:00.000-07:00

Here is my book mark for Monday.
A little late in the day.
I still want to answer last week's, "Booking Through Thursday", as well as today's "Musing Monday" as well as post about last week's book club, before this week's book club.
Whew!
I better stop doing food posts on my other blog.

My bookmark.

My Monday Bookmark and My Monday Musing

2009-04-20T10:20:00.001-07:00

My Monday Bookmark and my Monday Musing.....

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about 2009 favourites…
Coming towards the end of April, we’re a third of the way through the way through the year. What’s the favourite book you’ve read so far in 2009? What about your least favourite? (question courtesy of MizB)

It was hard to think of what book was my favorite, but I think I have to go with "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" or no, no....maybe one of my old most favorite authors, Margaret Maron's "Hard Row".
It's so hard to pick when you really love a book.
I love Maron's "Deborah Knott" Series, I have never not loved one of her books...and I'm always sorry to see them end.
The Guernsey book was read for one of my bookclubs (see here) and it was loved by everyone there.

The book I liked the least this year, has been "I'm With Stupid". I just couldn't get into it (see it on my sidebar? Well, I stopped in the middle and sent it off to my daughter in law). It just wasn't the book for me.

*****

My bookmark for Monday is a "Lewis and Clark" bookmark.

My husband and I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, where the Lewis and Clark trail is everywhere you turn. It's one of the biggest historical things in the area.
Sacagawea park was one of our favorites.
We grew up knowing all about Lewis and Clark.
Sadly, when I went back to Virginia, my sister and law, were flying from Richmond to Atlanta, and we struck up a conversation with a local man and we were discussing what wonderful history Virginia had.
It was a nice visit, but when we started talking about our history, and Lewis and Clark, he was kind of dumbstruck. He knew nothing.
I live in the west, but I LOVE every regional thing about all of the United States. I would love to travel and experience every state, every town, every people!
But it makes saddens me when my friends on the East Coast act like nothing ever happened in the west.
HOW CAN SOMEONE NOT KNOW WHO LEWIS AND CLARK WERE?

Here are two great websites for you to check out. (actually two aspects of the same website)

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.

"Hat Rock" is a picnic place that I fondly remember from my youth.

Booking Through Thursday--Windfall

2009-04-16T11:01:00.000-07:00

This weeks "Booking Through Thursday question" is:

Yesterday, April 15th, was Tax Day here in the U.S., which means lots of lucky people will get refunds of over-paid taxes.
Whether you’re one of them or not, what would you spend an unexpected windfall on? Say … $50? How about $500?
(And, this is a reading meme, so by rights the answer should be book-related, but hey, feel free to go wild and splurge on anything you like.)

******
Actually, I would spend the money on some bookshelves.

I've read a couple of other blogs and they both said bookshelves, but really...who doesn't need more book space for their books?
How about a whole library for my grandbabies? If I had a windfall, I could stock their bookshelf with books I want them to know, want them to love.

I will do this anyway, but as you all know, it will have to come in increments because of finances, etc (one cannot stock a whole childhood of books cheaply), so in my windfall, I could get a really good jump on that.

I have 3 grandbabies coming this year (and a few older ones), but right now I'm talking about the three this year, and especially the twins who are due July 2nd, but are silly and impatient babies and want to come early....probably to read with their grandma. (so far they are staying put, making their poor mom, tho lie on her back all the time)

My son, their father, says he doesn't remember Nursery Rhymes, so I've been stuck on a Nursery Rhyme book buying binge for the twins. So, far I've gotten them 2 books and one CD (with another two books on their way from Barnes and Noble). Probably 4 Nursery Rhyme books is enough, but the artwork is noteworthy. And I like themes and collections.
so, if I had a windfall.... I could add to their Nursery Rhyme collection and begin them on their way to a very well-stocked library.
Of course, I would stock all of my grandchildren's bookshelves with books I thought of as "treasures".
$500 doesn't go as far as it used to, does it?

Children's Classics Carnival--Bunnicula

2009-04-14T20:11:00.000-07:00

I'm late. Late in the day for this Children's Classic Carnival. But I'm going to make it.... it is only 8:05 PDT, so I have a few more hours of Tuesday.

One of my very favorite children's classics (at least I think it's a classic) is Bunnicula by James Howe.
While technically not a book "about" a dog, it is a book about a rabbit, "written" by a dog. Harold.
Harold the dog, Chester the cat, Howie the puppy and Bunnicula the vampire bunny, live in the Monroe Household, with Mr. and Mrs. Monroe and their two sons, Peter and Toby.

While this is not a "coming of age" book about a boy and his dog, it is a funny, lighthearted spoof of "scary" books.

The Monroe family finds a little bunny rabbit at a movie theater , during a showing of Dracula, so in keeping with the theme, name the bunny "bunnicula".
Harold, the dog, likes the new member of the family and feels sorry for the rabbit, especially when Chester the cat begins to see Bunnicula as a real "vampire" bunny, who sucks the life out of the veggies in the vegetable garden.
Many antics take place as the animals of the Monore household are involved in this mystery.
It's cute and a bit slap-stickish, with enough "scary" thrown in to amuse even the most hardcore young reader.
It's just cute. A fun read. And everyone needs a light, fun read once in a while.

There are 4 sequels to Bunnicula, and the whole series is good and worth a try, if you ask me.
At the beginning of each book, there is an Editor's note (part of the novel) which includes a letter from Harold the dog, to set the scene. I also love Harold's point of view of the Monroe family. It's funny to see things thru a dog's eye (just read the adult books "The Art of Racing in the Rain", or "Dog on it" for other great dog points of view).
Bunnicula is a good choice for a family read. I liked it. My boys liked it, and my grandson likes it.

Have I got cookbooks for you! Weekly Geeks.

2009-04-13T17:28:00.000-07:00

Today is my frist time being a "Weekly Geek".
Here is the question (or assignment, as the case may be..... )

What shall we cook today? It seems that for most of us, a bit of our book obsession would carry over to the cookbook genre, so this week for Weekly Geeks, let's talk cookbooks! Here are some ideas to get you started:--Describe your cookbook collection. How many cookbooks do you own? A lot? Just a few? None at all?--Do you even buy cookbooks? Or do you gather family cookbook compilations and/or recipe files instead?--Do you like to collect certain types of cookbooks? Say, from certain chefs? From places you visit? From a particular food group or style?--When buying cookbooks, what do you look for? Does it need to have pictures? Spiral binding? A specific type of font?--What is your favorite cookbook? Tell us the story behind it.--Tell us about your most well-used cookbook. Is it different from your favorite cookbook? Or are they one and the same?--Take a picture of your collection. How and where do you organize it?--Share a recipe from one of your favorite cookbooks. Include a picture if you can.
**********

I'm sorry if you arrived here expecting a long blog post about my cookbooks. Only sorry, because I'm going make you go here, to my cooking blog.

Please click on the link......Please check it out. I just didn't want to explain all over again about what a cookbook addict I am. You can just hit the link, go over to my post about my cookbooks (over 200 of them) and take a peek inside my strange life.
I collect cookbooks like I collect books.... and then I can't bear to part with them. I can read a cookbook just like a book.
In fact, my standard book bag, when we go on a trip includes this:
the book I'm reading
a book for when I finish the one I'm reading
a cookbook
2 magazines

and that's just for a day trip to Reno. You don't' want to travel on a long car-trip with me. I'm one of those lucky people who can read, write, journal, organize address books, in the car. And I do it too. (what else do you do when you're in a car for 8 hours?) (well, one time I took a picture every 15 miles or so of our 500 mile trip...so I could journal about it. Hmmmm, weird? yes.)

This is my first time to Weekly Geeks, but I know I'll be back.

Let me leave you with this.... go to my cooking blog and read my cookbook post. (It's one of my better posts. LOL )

Musing Mondays and a bookmark

2009-04-12T20:55:00.000-07:00

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about blog comments
How do you respond to the comments on your blog? Do you try to email individually or comment on post yourself answering the comments above? What do you think is the best way to respond to comments and do you respond to all of them? Do you feel slighted if you don't receive a response back from the blog owner? (question courtesy of Jenn)

...oh the guilt...THE GUILT. I don't respond as often, or how I want to.
When I read the comments people leave to me, I think, "oh wow, I know how she feels," or "how kind of her, I need to let her know, " or "that reminds me of..."

But I don't always answer as I should.

When I do, I either comment on a blog post of theirs, or I e-mail.
At first I felt e-mails were intrusive to people, but I don't think they really are.... are they?
I mean, I don't mind getting e-mails at all from bloggers when I comment. In fact, I rather enjoy it.

I don't feel slighted if I don't get a reply when I leave a comment.... I figure that if everyone ALL THE TIME, commented on everything, it would take up their whole day.
I understand there is some unspoken courtesy in the blogging world about trying to reply to or acknowledge as many comments as we can.... and this is why I am feeling the guilt.
There has to be an easy way. What can it be?
A personal assistant?
LOL

Seriously....
blogging
twittering
facebook
myspace
and on and on......

If we are not careful, the quality of our lives will be solely limited to "techo" things. So, no, I don't feel slighted if someone doesn't answer me. I just like to be pleasantly surprised when they do.
We all have lives!!
I have two blogs....this "semi" book blog and a cooking/food blog. Both things take up a lot of time.
They are my hobbies. I love to read, I love to cook, I love to blog and read other blogs, I like to walk/hike, all these things take time. OH...and I have a full time job also, one that includes being present at "events" in the community, and husband, and children/grandchildren, I belong to book clubs, go to church.

WHAT THE HECK? I don't have time for a blog. I don't have time to comment.... I have to go clean my house, that never seems to get done.... LOL LOL

I will try to be better about replying to comments on my blogs. But I'm going to e-mail them from now on. And like I said, if I don't hear from people whom I've commented to.... it's all okay, there are worse things in the world.

I'll end with my bookmark for today....
with a quote from Tallulah Bankhead

Booking Thru Thursday

2009-04-09T13:26:00.000-07:00

Today's booking thru Thursday question.

One of the very first questions ever at Booking Through Thursday.
Back from 2005 when Laura owned the blog but, because it was so new, it didn’t get as many responses as it does now … so, why not revisit?
Here’s the question:

Some people read one book at a time. Some people have a number of them on the go at any given time, perhaps a reading in bed book, a breakfast table book, a bathroom book, and so on, which leads me to…
Are you currently reading more than one book?
If so, how many books are you currently reading?
Is this normal for you?
Where do you keep your current reads?

*********

As of right now, I have two books going. Occasionally I will read more than one at time, but not that often.I always have my current read in my purse when I go out. (what if...what if, I were caught somewhere unexpected and had to wait? )
Sometimes I have a "car" book, which is a book I want to read but am having trouble getting thru. That way, if I forget my current read a home, I will have something available to me. I am one of those people (which I assume most of you are) who can read for 1 -2 -5 -10 minutes here and there all day long.

At home....well, I have books laying all around the place.
Book on one table for my "face to face" bookclubs, books on a bookshelf for my "TBR challenge"

And that is where I keep my current reads.
Have a great day!

Teaser Tuesdays

2009-04-07T16:12:00.000-07:00

TEASER TUESDAYS is a weekly event, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading, where you ‘tease’ others with a little bit from the book you’re currently reading, making them want to read it, too! Feel free to play along! You just…

Here is my teaser, from "I'm With Stupid" by Elaine Szewczyk.

"the bathroom door opens and William comes out wearing the yellow tracksuit. He's a banana. Everyone turns. He hands me my cigarette pack, "you left your cigarettes in the bathroom,' he says, "here you go." I gingerly hold the box between two fingers and glance at my mother. I quickly explain that the cigarettes are not mine. "Are you sure?" asks William, "they look like the ones you were smoking last night. "

My Monday bookmark

2009-04-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

I finished "The Big Love" in one day.
It was a 24 hour piece of Chick-Lit fun. I'm not normally a huge Chick-lit fan, but this book was such a fast and fun read, I thought I'd try my hand at another Chick-Lit that has been city on my bookshelf for months. "I'm with Stupid"

I figured, that maybe I am just in the mood for something lighter right now.
If you don't follow my food blog, you don't know that my daughter in law is expecting twins and she has been put on total bed rest. We need her to hang in there for at least 7 more weeks. 13 more weeks would be full-term.
We are hopeful.

But...I am enjoying these books that I don't have to concentrate very much on.
I've discovered that this is a great "escapism" book (The Big Love). It made me laugh out loud and took my mind off worrying for awhile.
It's about Alison, whose boyfriend goes out to pick up some butter, and never comes back. This during a dinner party. The story is a funny telling (in first person) how she is looking for the real thing, LOVE. And she thinks she had it with Tom (the man who left her). It's about that "back and forth" of breaking up and learning to know what love really is.
But it's funny. It'll give you a good chuckle.

Here is my bookmark for Monday!
In my book-club "Totally Literature", one of our members (my friend Jolina) used to make us bookmarks to use. She cut, pasted,created personal bookmarks. She always left room for us to write down page numbers of things we wanted to remember or bring up from the books when we met to discuss it.

I miss our bookmarks. I wonder if she'll bring them back.

This one was from January 2008, when we read "Chasing Fireflys" by Charles Martin.

(a great book!! )

Birds of a Feather

2009-03-31T20:25:00.000-07:00

Birds of a Feather
by Jacqueline Winspear

Finished! I wish I could cross it off a list, but I just read it for fun. Not a book-club, not a challenge, not for school.
Actually, maybe I'm glad it's not on a list of any kind. There is a point of being too regimented. (I'll never see that point, but..... )

It was a great "classic" mystery novel, with a heroine I fell in love with.
The second in the Maisie Dobbs series, it is set somewhere between the 1st and 2nd world wars. The aftermath of WWI in England, is as central to the story/series as the mystery itself.

Ack!! I tried, but I cannot write a review. I feel too much pressure....like I'm in school.
Now I can write a "column" anytime.... a column where I can meander and talk about random things that mean nothing much, but then they all come together at the end. But, a book review, no.

I liked the book.
The ending left me wanting to know more about what's going to happen in Maisie's life.
If you've read it, leave me a comment and let me know how you liked it.

Teaser Tuesdays

2009-03-31T15:57:00.000-07:00

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current readOpen to a random pageShare two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that pageBE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

from "The Big Love" by Sarah Dunn.
page 55.

I was going to say that he and Kate Pearce deserved each other. I was going to warn him that she was going to leave him again, just like she had the first time, and he'd better not come crawling back to me, because I won't take him back, not in a million years, not for all the tea in China, not if he was the last man on earth.

*****

TBR Challenge

2009-03-30T21:33:00.000-07:00

I'm late....it's the last day of March and I'm signing up for the 2009 TBR challenge.
The challenge is to read 12 books in 12 months...from your TBR pile (to be read pile).
I'll have to play catch up a little bit, because I only have 9 months left.

I belong to 2 book-clubs where we meet monthly and we all read the same book, and also a quarterly book-club where we do the same.
I've made my own decision not to include any books from the book-club lists on this challenge.

Here is my list:

Can you read the titles?

1. Dead Irish by John Lescroart
2. What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman
3. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
4. The Big Love by Sarah Dunn
5. Love Walked In by Marisa De Los Santos
6. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
7. The Expected One by Kathleen McGowan
8. The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman
9. We're Just Like You, Only Prettier by Celia Rivenbark
10. Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos
11. Naked in Death by J.D. Robb
12. Brother Odd by Dean Koontz

If you want to play fast and furious "catch up" reading like me, go here and join the fun.

My husband, just noticed me choosing, stacking and taking a pic of these 12 books. He asked when I had to have the challenge done. I said, by the end of December. He laughed and said "no problem".
I hope so.....

Musing Monday: Lists

2009-03-30T06:11:00.000-07:00

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about recording your reading…Do you keep track of what and/or how many books you read? How long have you been doing this? What's your favorite tracking method, and why?If you don't keep track, why not?

Great Question! If you want to play along go here and join in.

*******
I have been a reader for most of my life. I have been a collector of books for most of my life. I have been a library user for most of my life. But it wasn't until just a few years ago, when I started reading series mysteries and/or suspense novels with returning characters, did I begin to keep track of them.

Interestingly, the mystery novels are the only ones I "list". I started doing it, so that I if I was ever at a yard sale, or used book store, I could pick up the "very next one in line" of the many, many mysteries I want to read. (I only read a mystery novel every 3rd or 4th book mind you, and I have to read them in order, so this could take me forever, as the list is quite long.)

On the Library Thing, I have cataloged over 426 books. I have these in my home along with probably 50 more that I have purchased over the last year.
And this does not include my "children's library closet". (now that the idea of listing all my books, or all my books read has taken seed inside my brain...who knows what I'll be doing with my free time this year. Making lists? )

Because I wanted this list of mystery books with me....it is in a little notebook that I have carried around with me for the past 3-4 years. Needless to say it has gotten pretty beat up. And because I grew up knowing nothing of the techo-revolution, I still keep my notebook/list by hand. Kind of.
I did print off lists of books by author and then stick them in the notebook.

And I have a color-coded system.... yellow highlite means I own them, blue means I've read them.

Let me show you.......

First, the front of my notebook, with sticky note attached. The sticky note has the name of a book I want to look for.

Inside cover

scraps of paper with new authors and books that "might" make it into the notebook, if they are worthy. (the trouble with that, is there are always new books, new authors I hear about. I end up with many scraps of paper)

First page

Notice these are in ALPHABETICAL order.....

Middle

Some of my favorite authors!!! The Bloodhound mysteries....great!

At the end is a list of books that one of my book-clubs has read since the beginning of our group. It began typed and then I just started writing them in.

And that is how I list some of my books. Old-school. LOL

and here we are at the end of my notebook with more scraps of paper slipped in!

Good Books/Good Eats

2009-03-29T21:06:00.000-07:00

Supper and Book-Club

We met and discussed "The Lace Reader" by Brunonia Barry, last Thursday. It was my choice.
I hadn't read it before I made the choice for my book-club.
I know that a lot of people choose a book they have previously read...they want to make sure it's a good book.
But "good" is pretty subjective if you ask me. (see this post)

I used you...the book blogging community to make my choice, and you did me good.
I chose a book that seemed "hot" on all the book blogs a few months ago, and the fact that Barry self-published at first, and used the Internet to promote her book to book groups around the country, intrigued me.

I'll cut to the chase, because while I'm an avid reader, I'm a horrible reviewer. I liked the book. As did everyone at the book-club who read it. There were 8 of us at the book-club and 5 of us had read it. All 5 of us really enjoyed the book...and after the night was over, I think we convinced the other 3 to give it a try.

If I had a footnote that said "if you liked this, you might like this"
I would say, that if you like "The Lace Reader," you might like "The Double Bind" by Chris Bohjalian. There was a common theme, that is not apparent until the very end.
Both of these books are good. I think you will enjoy them.

And my bookmark for Monday....
It was in my Christmas Card, from my friend Ruth.

Eleanor Roosevelt. What an amazing woman. The photo of her on the bookmark is a stamp in "mint" condition. a 20 cent stamp.... they must have issued this quite some time ago.

Book club photos and a link to what the supper was for book-club evening. (my other blog--click on the link--it's food.)

There really were books there! As well as my book-club friends. It was Renee's birthday so we bought her a book...what else?

A girl after my own heart

2009-03-29T07:56:00.000-07:00

A Girl after my own heart.

Last night we went to a potluck/birthday party. A nice excuse to get together with friends, as it's been a while... we all have such busy schedules.

It was a really nice/fun evening, but my favorite part was this... our friend's daughter...in the midst of a family birthday party was reading a book.
She didn't want to miss out on the fun, but her heart belongs to a book!

A Girl after my own heart! I just love her.

Booking Thru Thursday

2009-03-26T15:10:00.000-07:00

This week's Booking Through Thursday question is:

“What’s the best ‘worst’ book you’ve ever read — the one you like despite some negative reviews or features?”

okay...this is the hardest question I've ever had.
Books are totally subjective. What I might consider bad, you might not and visa-versa.

10 minutes have passed since I began to write this, and as much as I try, I can't think of a best worst book that I've read.

Some mysteries are hard to get thru. And I love a good mystery, but for the most part, they do follow a formula. I mean, 95% of the time, the good guy wins. That is why you have to have great character development in series mysteries.
But they're not "bad" books... I love them.
I think formula books in general, are not great pieces of literature.... I am thinking specifically about children's books.... The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, The Babysitters Club, The Goosebumps. All not great, but what a fan base!!

um......
one time, in a hurry at a book store, I accidentally picked up a "gay" book which I ended up really liking. It was a good book. I'm sure some people would think of it as a "bad' book, but that's probably based on a belief system and not on how well it was written or not. It was a really good story. (I cant' even remember the name of it now).

Twilight keeps popping up in a lot of people I survey (my daughter in law my friend, my co-worker).

Hard question this week!
It's subjective.

Totally Lit

2009-03-26T14:14:00.000-07:00

Book club and the reason I'm not a book reviewer or an author.

Because this is how I would describe last night:
It was so much fun!! (and then I wouldn't know what else to say)

I have a hard time with description.

We, the Totally Literature book-club, read "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" and met last night to discuss it.

(to see what we had to eat, go here. It's my food blog.... And you'll see a REAL Potato Peel Pie made by our friend Kathy)

It was a consensus...we all loved the book.
And we all took on a British accent and a jaunty air... okay, so we didn't really, but we all loved Juliet and wanted to be just like her. She was a protagonist that we all admired so much. We just loved her and the rest of the characters on Guernsey.

What else is there to say? I'm not a book reviewer.
But, have you ever read a book, that just made you feel good? That's what the Guernsey book is like. Bad things happen...it takes place shortly after the end of WWII in both London and the Guernsey Islands. England is starving, families have been separated, homes destroyed, but it is the strength of the human spirit that comes out in this book. The comfort of friends, the power of the written word.
That's another thing. It is an epistle...written in a series of letters...book. Sometimes that is really difficult to "get into", but a few pages into the Potato Peel Pie Society, I was hooked.
Before we had e-mail, text messaging and IMing, I was a letter writer. (see pile of letters in photo below). It's a lost art. We talked a bit about that last night...the lost art of letter writing.

I live in Winnemucca, NV. I moved away for 5 years and then we moved back. In that 5 years, my friend (also named Debbie) and I wrote to each other every week. I saved every single one of her letters. And the letters of anyone else who has ever written to me. But because we are taking about book-club and Debbie was there at book-club last night, we will not be mentioning, Theda or Sally or Tomi, whose letters I also have, saved in ribbons in a box...in chronological order. (I'm a bit of a dork. )
I have every letter that Debbie ever sent to me. And you know what? I think we are great writers. Letter writers!! It takes practice is all.
People will say, that they don't write good letters.... but I say, it's time to practice again. That's all it takes.
I got those letters out last night after my friends left and read a few.... it made me cry. Happy tears. We wrote about our struggles raising jr. high kids .....who now have kids of their own.... and aging parents.... and silly neighbors.
We never thought that 15 years later, we would be sitting together in a book-club, talking about a book, that we both loved that had all these great topics:
friends, food, books, and letter writing.

You should read the book! That's my recommendation.

One of the most fun things? Our real "Potato Peel Pie"

Bookclub friends below....

Book Club Tonight

2009-03-25T09:06:00.000-07:00

Tonight we meet for book-club, where we will be discussing "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society."

To see what I'm making for dessert...go here.

It's my cooking blog. I'm incorporating 2 blogs into one this week.
I'm not sure how this happened, but both of my bookclubs meet this week and they are both at my house. Wednesday and Thursday evenings.
Not only are we discussing the books (I can't wait), I have to feed these people!
So, not only will I post about the two bookclub meetings on this blog, I'll also cook for them on my other blog.

What's on your Nightstand?

2009-03-24T14:08:00.000-07:00

What's on Your Nightstand.

I have always been a library user, but I also have a huge book collection with a huge TBR pile sitting around, so usually, I have a book I own on my actual nightstand, but this week, I went to the library and checked out some books, so I decided to showcase these for this blog post.
The titles are pretty much random choosings from the shelves of the library. Last night after dinner, I was trying to get a new picture for my blog header, and just happened to take a picture of some of my library books... (notice I did not use this as my header. I used the birds at my kitchen window birdfeeder instead ).

So, does anyone see any good titles there in my library pile? Anything I should definitely read before returning them to the library? I have a bad habit of doing that...I'll check out 10 books and read one.... and I don't want to let a great read escape me, so if you see something I shouldn't pass up, let me know.

These aren't exactly on my nightstand, but rather, in the closet....of what used to be my son's room (he's married now and expecting twins in June). It's my "children's library". Now it will be my Grandchildren's library. (I'm expecting a 3rd grandbaby this year too, from my oldest son and his wife) Right now it's just a messy closet. ( I was thinking maybe I could get a good picture for a header out of it, but no.... )
I am lucky to have friends and family who have children who like to read, so, while it might be messy, they love to go up there with me looking for a book to borrow and find a whole lot of treasures while browsing.

Those are my nightstands for this month.
You can check out other posts here.

Teaser Tuesdays

2009-03-24T13:38:00.001-07:00

Teaser Tuesdays

I'm joining in on a new (for me) weekly meme, "Teaser Tuesdays".

Here is what you do...
Grab your current read
Let the book fall open to a random page
Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

Be sure not to give a spoiler!! (very important)

The book I'm currently reading is "Birds of a Feather" by Jacqueline Winspear. The sequel to "Maisie Dobbs" and here is my teaser..
page 213

She closed the door behind Maisie and led her to the drawing room, where a teapot and two cups were set on a tray with some biscuits.
Maisie took a seat on the settee and once again removed her gloves. Despite extra clothing she still felt the cold, in her hands as much as in her feet.

If you want to check out all the "teasers" for good suggestions on what to read, check out the blog Should Be Reading.

Musing Mondays

2009-03-23T15:34:00.000-07:00

The question for "Musing Mondays" this week is:

How many bookstores do you frequent? Do you have a favourite? If so, which one and what makes it so?

We live in a very rural community in Northern Nevada. We don't have a bookstore. We have a Wal-mart. And 2 grocery stores.
Having said that, I do have to say we are not an illiterate community... we have a effective and much used library system and I am in 4...COUNT 'EM.....4 bookclubs.

Sadly, I do engage in quite a bit of "on-line" shopping. (not so good for the city tax base, but when I want a book, I want it NOW )

When we go into Reno, I don't leave without visiting Barnes and Noble or Borders.
I love them. I've had to get over my guilt about visiting the "Big Chains" of bookstores. They are big, they have a lot of books, and they are convenient for me. As is Amazon.

But when I go home to visit my mom in Washington state, there is an independent bookstore called "The Bookworm". ( I don't see where they have a website )
I LOVE THAT STORE, it is my absolute favorite. I've been going to the Bookworm (used and new books) since I was first married, 31 years ago. It has grown and changed location a few times....but it can never hide from me, I always find it.
I just love it. I don't know what makes it my favorite. Well, it has a rack of "staff recommended" that I always purchase something from. It used to have a rack like that in every "theme" room of the store. Way back when I was first married I used to read a lot of romance, (have since given it up because how can anyone compare to the man I married. LOL ) and I liked having recommedations for romance. And all ther other genres as my reading tastes grew and changed.

When I go to Portland, Oregon to visit my friend, I have to make a stop at Powell's Bookstore. I'm sure you've heard of Powell's. The Original. I could spend a week in that store.
When we went up last May for a wedding, I spent a whole afternoon there. I had tucked $100 bill inside my wallet for just that purpose. I went over!! Which isn't hard to do, but since they were 95% used books, I got a ton...sacks and sacks of them.

Those are the bookstores I frequent, when I can.

If you want to play along with Musing Mondays, check out Rebecca's blog here.

books and all that jazz

2009-03-17T14:09:00.000-07:00

I can't keep apologizing for being away so long, can I? Must I?

I belong to a book club here in our little town, "The Literary Guild". It's been here forever...I am in the youngest group of ladies who belong. I will be 50 this summer.
It is a luncheon meeting, and we don't all read the same book, but someone signs up to give a "book talk" during the lunch. We all listen attentively, our faces rapt with attention. I am sure way back in the beginning they all wore hats and gloves.
There is no doubt in my mind. I feel guilty when I show up in my jeans. (even with a nice jacket)

One of the things or services we do...actually it's the only one we do....is give a dictionary to every 3rd grader in our county. We all donate money towards that and pass them out in the fall with our name inside "The Literary Guild".
The teaches will have their students write thank you notes and just last week at our literary luncheon we read them.

Ya gotta love 3rd graders.
These are some of the lines...

"Dear Literary Clud..."

"Hello. I live in Nevada. Do you live in Brazil?"

"PS: my favorite part is the L's"

yep, ya gotta love the "L's". hahahaa... they are such cute letters. The ones from the 3rd graders, not the "L's"
**********

Next week, my two other book groups meet...the ones where we do read the same book and discuss. Usually they don't' meet the same week, but this month they do, and for some reason, I am hosting both of them.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society on Wednesday, and
The Lace Reader on Thursday.

I liked both books, but I LOVED Guernsey. Just loved it. I've read it two times. It was that good. Usually I don't reread a book, because I have so many still in my TBR pile.
Exceptions are "Jany Eyre" and "Little Women" and "Seventeenth Summer" (first read in my 8th grade year) and "Mrs. Mike" (also first read in my 8th grad year).
Oh...and "The Godfather" (surprisingly, also in my 8th grade year. My parents had no idea)

Interesting... I went from "Seventeenth Summer" where she kissed a boy on the 3rd date and didn't want us, the readers,to get the wrong impression of her... to "the Godfather" where Sonny Corleone taught me about adultery and oral sex, not that I understood any of that, but funny how the two had the biggest impression on me. I wonder.......

Booking Through Thursday...Storing my books

2009-02-19T06:07:00.000-08:00

Today's Booking Thru Thursday question is:

“How do you arrange your books on your shelves? Is it by author, by genre, or you just put it where it falls on?”

It is 5:00 a.m. I want so badly to go take pictures of all my bookshelves, book baskets, book closets and book hiding places. But...it's 5:00 a.m.
I have a husband asleep in one room and a son asleep in another.
And well, I would probably be embarrassed to actually see in pictures how many books I have.
In the Library Thing, I have cataloged over 400 books. I never finished that project and I have bought more since then. And that didn't include my "children's" book collection (which I would say is close to 200) or my cookbooks collection ( you can check that out here ), which is just over 200.

I must state right here, that my house isn't as unorganized as it sounds. And anyway there is a whole decorating style that tells how and encourages us to decorate with books.
Check out this book: House Beautiful's Decorating with books. In the book .....
Hueston encourages readers to keep books "stacked on an ottoman, piled on the floor, lined up on a bench, or ... draped over a ladder," in addition to keeping books "confined to shelves and tabletops."

Hooray for me!!! Because...um no, my books are not arranged nicely by author or genre on a bookshelf. I try, but for the most part, no.

And just last night, I asked my husband if he could build us some bookshelves. I want one whole wall in our bedroom.....floor to ceiling...as our headboard.
He just rolled his eyes at me.

It is 5:30 a.m. now, and I'm off to Reno and the bookstore. Have a good day everybody!

A fun question

2009-02-18T19:16:00.000-08:00

Jen at Jen's book Thoughts
had a question on her post the other day....Saturday, I think it was,
but it was such a fun question for me to comment on!

You'll need to read her post to get the whole story, but to make it short and sweet, she asked, "If you were wrongly accused of a crime, what fictional sleuth would you hire to clear your name?"

I wrote a hurried comment to her this morning before going off to work. But seriously....I could ponder stuff like this for hours. Sometimes even days. (I am taking the Beatles class...remember? ), so I gave the short answer.

YOU think about it and then comment on it. Over at Jen's blog. Because it was her question.
But leave me an clue as to your answer...okay? A comment letting me know you answered her.

Oh...and my answer?
Here it is as seen on Jen's comment page. :~)

I stopped at "A" for Alibi also, but probably not for the same reasons as you did. (It wasn't my favorite, but I just had so many more in my TBR pile. I might read another one in the future )

This is a fun question!! Although I've discovered that I lean towards the cozy mysteries. (if that's the correct word)
What sleuth would I hire to clear my name?
The trouble with "cozies" is that there is rarely a sleuth for hire...they are mostly homemakers, librarians, bookstore owners who come upon murders. All the time.
Stephanie Plumb? no, she's a bail bondsman.
Deborah Knott? no, she's a judge.

I need to change gears...
Peter Decker? He's a police detective...I can't hire him.
Okay... I would hire Tess Monaghan! She would be my choice.

So now it's your turn! Go to Jen's page and comment. (and let me know what you said)

Musing Mondays

2009-02-16T14:37:00.000-08:00

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about book reviews…
Do you read any non-blogging book reviews? If so, where (newspaper, library etc)? Do you have any favourites sources you'd like to share?

I don't read many, but I do read a few. Most of the non-blogging book reviews I read are to get a feel for what's new and good in Children's literature. I used to be a Children's Librarian in a school library, and have worked in public libraries and I have a deep love for Children's literature.

I try to keep up with the Horn Book

and the School Library Journal

Other than that, I read the Sunday section of our newspaper, which spotlights popular authors and books.

Mostly now, I use blogs to get suggestions for good books and book club choices.

In love

2009-02-16T07:56:00.000-08:00

And this...THIS is why I love Lois Lowry! I've never liked books that "set out" to prove a point. I like when the point or lesson comes serendipitously.

I just want my grandchildren (our family will be welcoming three of them this year) to enjoy books, reading, literature.

My daughter in law works at one of the Yale libraries. She is expecting twins in July. Our first outing, a field trip with the babies ( Lil and Phil--not their real names ) will be to the Yale Library.
Okay, yes, it's "my" field trip, but what a great start to a book filled life!
I'm getting them a collection of Lois Lowry books for Christmas.

Books I've been reading in 2009

2009-02-15T22:38:00.000-08:00

At the end of 2008, I noticed that a log of book bloggers listed a compilation of all the book they had read for the year.
I figure the only way I can remember the books I read would be to list them now and add on as the year continues.
So, that is what I am doing here.

But first I just have to document it: my son really has checked out the book, "Catcher in the Rye".

Interesting to me that he is reading this.

okay...now for my list

The Tale of Desperaux---I wanted to read it before the movie came to our little town. The movie still hasn't come to our little town, but the book was good.

The Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky --I read this for my book club "Totally Lit--erature". It was a good book for the book club, it led to lots of discussion about race and prejudice.

Grace by Richard Paul Evans -- had to read this for the "no-name" book club. It was an easy, one day read. It was okay. I find it hard to get into sentimentality sometimes, and the book was completely trying to build on his previous "sentiment" books.
But it was a quick read, not too bad.

Out of the Deep I Cry -- the 3rd in a mystery series by Julia Spencer-Fleming. It's a Claire Ferguson mystery. I like them, so this one was just for me.

The Madonna's of Leningrad by Debra Dean-- a book club book (Totally Lit) We meet next week to discuss it. I'll let you know what everybody thinks.
I liked it.

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson-- a "no-name" book club choice. I know it won an award, but there were so many people and so many facts!! It was hard for me to keep straight, but I found it very interesting. We discuss this next week too (different day)

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming--by Joshilyn Jackson. I just read this one because I wanted to. It was good. I like her books.

I used to think I read fast and a lot. Until I came up on book bloggers. LOL I am nothing compared to you/them.

Finding a Book

2009-02-12T13:40:00.000-08:00

Apparently, I have neglected my motherly duties. I must have never brought my children into the 21st century when it comes to using libraries.

My middle son, the one who is almost 26 years old went to the library this morning and wanted the book "Catcher in the Rye"....(his friend told him he should read it ) but he couldn't find the card catalog.

This is a child of mine, (he is no longer really a child, but a young man), who grew up in the technological age. He had a computer in the house, he has/had/has a cell phone with e-mail and Internet capabilities, there are camera phones, iPods, blue-tooth, etc etc etc.
He once cheated on a game of Scrabble with us. We thought he was texting (as if that wasn't rude enough while we were playing a game ) and he was actually looking up what words he could make with the letters he had...scrabble.com.

My point is.... when he called me and said he hated the library, I was in shock. WHAT?
(his mother/me, has worked in public and school libraries his whole life. And now sits on the board of our local public library)
What are you talking about? I asked him.
I like the old card catalogs, he answered.
didn't you see the computer there, where you could look up books? I asked.
Yep, he said, but I wanted a card catalog.
Well, I said, it's fiction. J.D. Salinger, so it's easy to find anyway, you don't need a call number. And.... I have a copy upstairs in the bookshelf in my bedroom.
That's what I figured, he said, the library, your books shelves, same thing.

I'm not quite sure what that meant.... I have too many books? He knows I am an accomplished (LOL) reader and I have most of the modern American classics at my fingertips ? He thinks I am a book pack-rat?
What?

But I have a confession to make...when I'm in a library, I, too, miss the old card catalogs.
Do you?

Booking Thru Thursday--author blogs

2009-02-12T11:01:00.000-08:00

The Booking Through Thursday question of the week:

Do you read any author’s blogs? If so, are you looking for information on their next project? On the author personally? Something else?

*******
Well, I read Lois Lowry's blog

and if Madeline L'Engle were alive and had a blog, I'd read that one. Before there were blogs she published a set of her journals, "The Crosswicks Journals" and I read them and loved them.

from Wikipedia:
L'Engle wrote many nonfiction works, including the autobiographical "Crosswick Journals" and other explorations of the subjects of faith and art. For L'Engle, who wrote repeatedly about "story as truth," the distinction between fiction and memoir was sometimes blurred. Real events from her life and family history made their way into some of her novels, while fictional elements, such as assumed names for people and places, can be found in her published journals

I don't know why, but I am obsessed with L'Engle. Obsessed, I tell you. I love everything about her.
My question is this: why does someone get "obsessed" with an author? I don't know why I love her so much. But I do.
I guess I loved her philosophy of life.
AND...her husband was Dr. Charles Tyler on "All my Children". LOL Remember him? Okay...yes, I'm old....half a century this summer.

I got off track...AGAIN.

No, I don't read many author blogs, I only have one that I keep up on and that is Lois Lowry's. She of course is a YA author. I love the "Coming of Age" genre` and while I don't read as much YA as I used to, I keep up on Lowry.

Other than that, the short answer is "no."

(now I feel like I should check out some of the author's blogs, recommended by other BTT bloggers, but I'm afraid. Afraid I'll become addicted. ~sigh~ oh what to do?)

If you want to play along with BTT, click here.

Bookin Thru Thursday

2009-02-05T06:41:00.000-08:00

This week’s Booking Through Thursday question is:
Suggested by Simon Thomas:

Have you ever been put off an author’s books after reading a biography of them? Or the reverse - a biography has made you love an author more?

*******************
I usually don't read more than the blurb about the author on the cover of the book. Once in a while I'll read a biography, but I prefer memoirs above them.

To answer the question tho, I can't think that I would be put off by any information about an author. "Generally" that is-- there are always exceptions to the rule.

There is a book by Jim Trelease, the author of "The Read Aloud Handbook", in which he gives a very short story of various authors...to pique interest of adolescent readers, or non-readers, as the case may be.

I guess you could say that Treleases "bio" made me love him more, although he is not an novelist, but a champion of getting kids to love reading and raising children who read. The book I'm talking about is "Read All About it". I always thought it a good intro into the lives of authors, not only for teens and pre-teens, but for the rest of us who want to know just a little bit more, but not the whole story of an author's life. I've used the book for presentations I've had to give, book clubs and just because it interested me.

I hope that information about an author won't keep people away from a good book. I hope that people are more open-minded than that. But I hear about boycotts all the time, and it makes me mad, when people don't make up their minds by themselves. I don't like being told what to do by a "group". I knew a woman once who would go into the library and take a book she didn't agree with and move it...re-shelve it in another area. She would never steal a book, but she thought that by making it harder for others to find, she was doing a good thing. I'm getting off track here.

I might not like everything I find out about an author, and it might make me look at the book in a different way, but I don't think much could turn me off, if it were a good book.

Everywhere a sign....and 2 memes

2009-02-03T19:56:00.000-08:00

You all know that I am gearing up to do a big walk for breast cancer. A few weeks ago, I was really wondering, "can I?" "can't I", "should I?" "could I?" and then all these signs began to become clear to me.
One of those signs happened at my book club last week. We met to discuss "The Family Tree" by Barbara Delinsky. It was a quick read, a great book for discussion, and enjoyed by all in the club. In reading a short bio printed off the Internet, it says that Delinsky is a 10-year breast cancer survivor.
Stuff like that kept popping out at me.
I just had to walk the walk. Put my money where my mouth was, so to speak.

I've been researching Fundraisers that previous walkers have used and one was to hold a book sale/yard sale..(but primarily books) and promote it as "Books for Boobs".
I love it... and while I appreciate the humor, I'm not sure I could pass out flyer's that said that. Could you? Maybe I can. LOL
I'll have to see... but I certainly have a lot of books that I could sell. I'm kind of running out of room in my house.

Moving on to something more uplifting (ahhaha...uplifting, a pun) than breast cancer, I'm excited to be participating in a meme.
Jo-Jo of "Jo-Jo loves to read!!!" has tagged me for this meme.
I LOVE how she keeps a running list of contests and giveaways on her sidebar. You really should check it out.

Here are the directions:
Here are the rules: Open the closest book to you, not your favorite or something you have to go searching for but whatever is closest to you right now, and go to page 56. Starting with the fifth sentence on the page, transcribe three to six lines directly from the text. Once you've typed those lines, tag five more bloggers to do the same on their blogs.

The book closest to me is one I haven't read yet, "False Prophet" by Faye Kellerman (A Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus Novel). I pick them up whenever I find them at books sales and yard sales, because I have to read them in order. It's a quirk of mine....everything in order. It's the 5th book in the series, the one I'm going to read next.
Hmmmm. Page 56 is the end of a chapter and has 2 sentences on it. LOL
I will go to page 57....

..... if she was good--inquisitive like Kelley had said--she'd probably heard his name paged over the loudspeaker and would wonder what that was all about. Ness knew he could probably pull off playing dumb, but now was not the time to audition for the Oscar. Keep it simple and keep her off guard.

okay, now I'm intrigued myself.
I'm supposed to pass this on to five bloggers. But....can I think about it for a bit? I love to be
"tagged", I just have a hard time feeling as comfortable tagging others.
I will find five deserving bloggers and tag them. As soon as I finish my book and can pick up this one.

*******
2nd meme

I've been tagged!
A few days ago, The Blond Duck was tagged...and now she is passing it on.
Here is her story .....click! It's very funny.

She makes me laugh almost everyday. I have a "grand" chihuahua, and she has 2 chihuahua's that rule! And she posts about them often. I love her blog.

Here are the rules:

1) choose the 4th folder where you store pictures on your computer.

2. Select the 4th picture in the folder.

3. Explain the picture.

4. Tag 4 people to do the same.

5. No cheating (cropping, editing, etc.)

This is funny. My old computer crashed right before Christmas and we got a new one. Well....it didn't really crash. It's a long story...just beware of computer doctors who are unreliable.BUT anyway, my picture files are on my old computer. Waiting to be saved to a disk. I have but a few folders on this new computer.

Here the 4th picture of the 4th folder.

Does it need explanation?

Well, check out this site....kind of self-explanatory. And because I am a food blogger, (as well as a book blogger) all of the sudden most of my files are filled with food pictures. (most of them not very good)I read the rules and it says to choose 4 bloggers to pass this one to.I have to think about that one for a day or two. But I will. I promise.

Feel free to steal the memes if you want too. I understand there is a "stealing Sunday" for stealing meme's out there somewhere.

Completely Random

2009-02-01T11:37:00.000-08:00

Yes....call me crazy. Because that's what I am. Crazy. I'm turning 50 this year, and while the actual number 50 doesn't bother me, I have been feeling as if I need to mark this occasion with something special. And being me, marking it with a fun-filled vacation to Tahiti or a life-time dream of a trip to Europe wasn't going to make the final cut (could be something like I can't afford Tahiti or Europe right now... I have 3 grandbabies due this year)
I decided to do two things: one was to particpate in a 3-day, 60-mile walk for breast cancer, and this is huge for me, because I can't catch my breath going up my own stairs. (that is a slight exaggeration, but only slight. LOL ) So I'm on a training schedule for the next 7 months. Wish me luck.

and just in case any of you felt so inclined to donate to the cause (yes,I realize this is shameless. SHAMELESS! But I have to raise $2300---$5 here and there add up :~)
just click here. ( thank you if you do...and no worries if you don't)

The 2nd thing I decided to do is take a class at our local college. "Beatles Across the Universe". It's an intergrated studies class. I had no idea what that meant. I just like the sound of the class and decided to take it. I had to get instructor permission, because it's an upper level class and I don't have all of the prerequisits. I take classes every once in a while as something fun and interesting to do. Yeah, I know--HUGE DORK.
I haven't taken any of my math requirements...NONE. I don't like math. But this is all besides the point..... the point is: I THOUGHT THIS WOULD BE FUN???!!
Last night was the first class. I think I am in over my head. Plus I am the oldest person in the class.
We live in a very rural Nevada town (every town in Nevada is rural except for Reno and Las Vegas).....so we live out in the middle of nowhere. You Eastern people don't understand what "in the middle of nowhere" means. Take it literally.
Great Basin Community College is our college. It is based in Elko, NV, but we have branch campus here in Winnemucca, as well as in other small towns in a 7-hour...YES, 7 HOUR radius of Elko. (that is driving time).
Sometimes intructors are based in a town that isnt' your town....so they have a video class. There is a more technical name of course, but it bowls down to a big fancy-schmancy video system that broadcasts your class, the teacher and classes in other towns. there are two huge screens, one always shows the insturctor and the other one shows the classroom of someone who is talking or asking a question or particiapting in some way, so that one jumps around.
IF....you are just listening to the instructor lecture, it stays on your classroom.

So....you can see yourself. And I saw myself. It was very uncomfortable for me. I couldn't get over my socks. Seriously. I stared at them all night long. They were white. Like I had soaked them in bleach and just put them on. White was screaming out at me.
Note to self: wear blue socks next time. socks the color of my jeans. Or boots...wear boots.
Because of my age, I am really going to have to get used to this video broadcast thing. Well I feel as if it's my age, as everyone else seemed perfectly comfortable with the video technology.
One third of the grade is on participation....so I'm going to have to get over my fears.....of seeing my white socks.

Yes, I am crazy. But not as crazy as the instructor. I've never seen a more devoted fan of the Beatles. This week we discussed the Beatles up to 1962--PRE Ringo Starr.
Every time the instructor put a record on (he has a great collection of rare records), so that we could listen to their beginning sounds...he, the instructor would ..."Lip sync" to the song. And play the air guitar.
Now remember he is being broadcast to the campus network.... lip syncing. And exaggerated at that.
Kind of like playing charades or guesstures. A bad mime.

He's a nice man, and a good instructor.... ummm, not so good at lip syncing or air guitar. As my friend Jolina said...it's like watching a train wreck, you just can't look away even tho you probaby should.
*********

I have to research and find information related to the Beatles on/about the first canonized Catholic Saint in the United States. (Because....they released a song in Germany in 1960 called Saints. )
This is my assignement for next week... and then I get to present it, over the evil, vile, stinking campus broadcast system.

I really am crazy. And nervous.

I should have taken a cooking class. Or joined another book club. YIKES.

What's on Your Nightstand?

2009-01-27T20:36:00.000-08:00

I'm late....in the evening PST....in posting "What's on My Nightstand", but I wanted to go ahead and get it in.
Jennifer at "5 minutes for books" says this about participating:
it's a dangerous exercise, and I appreciate all of you who take the risk each month of exposing your to-be-read pile

It is dangerous for me, because my TBR pile is usually a MESS! LOL
and this time, it's not on my nightstand, but here in the chair in the family room.

It's a pile of books from which I want to choose one...just one....to recommend to my book club tomorrow night. If you read down, two posts below, you will see just how confused I am about which book to choose.

The Madonnas of Leningrad is also in this pile--which will be read for the February choice.
And Devil in the White City--which is Feb's choice for my 2nd book club.

Right now, I'm finishing up "Out of the Deep I Cry" ( A Claire Fergusson/Russ Van-Alstyne Mystery).
A funny story about looking for a book....a few days ago, I was wandering about the house, saying, "I'm looking for a book...I'm looking for a book", when my husband asked me what I was doing.
He got a confused look on his face, because...we have books/bookshelves in every room of our house. But I was looking for this particular book..."Out of the Deep I Cry". And I found it. Almost done. It's 3rd in a series of mysteries by Julia Spencer-Fleming. I love series mysteries.

I'll read Madonna's this weekend and then start on Devil.

What's on Your Nightstand?

Musing Mondays

2009-01-26T15:17:00.000-08:00

I have to put a warning label on this post. A warning to my friends whom I really do let borrow my books....this wasn't meant for you! :~) Just those friend wanna be's. yep, that's it.
read on.....

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about lending books...
The question is....
A few weeks back we had a question about borrowing books, this week I was wondering what your policy was on lending books. Do you lend books to anyone? Just friends? Only big readers? How long are they allowed to have them?
*****

My answer is....
I had a friend once, whose philosophy on lending books was that if they never came back to her, the other person needed them more than she did.

I say...BULL-ONEY. It's my book. Mine. MINE. All MINE. I love my books. They are like old friends. I "make" myself lend to my friends. How can I be so rude to say NO? I hate it tho.
I have over 400 books catalogued on Library Thing... that is ridiculous. I need to be loaning some books out. I need to be giving some books away.
Every once in a while I will...and then I regret it.
One of my book clubs had a "white elephant book" gift exchange at Christmas time. I was responsible for getting the word out, (since it was my idea) but I fell behind on my duties, so I took a bag of books that I had read and liked in case someone forgot and showed up to bookclub without one.
There were about 4 or 5 people who forgot books, so I let them choose from my bag. It was Christmas and I felt in the spirit and that I really should "share" books I loved.
And now I REGRET IT. I lost 4 or 5 of my much loved books. It's a good thing these book club members are my friends, because I'll ask about my books. And see if I can coax them back when they are done reading them. LOL.

Technically, I am a "Book Crosser". But I've never actually left a book of mine all alone on a park bench or in a coffee shop. It makes me sad to think of them there all alone....abandoned.
I like the idea of Book Crossing. I love it. I am very excited at someday trying it.... but not right now. That poor little book.....forsaken, cast off, dumped like yesterdays garbage.

So there you have my answer. Short but sweet. So, you say you want to borrow a book? NO WAY! Well, okay..way. But I'm thinking of making people fill out a contact sheet and put a check out date on them.

*** I have an update for this blog.

from my friend Shelly...whom I DO LET borrow my books. LOL

from Shelly:

Ok, I read your blog and now will NEVER ask to borrow a book again. You may have a nervous breakdown or something if I do!
I had been really good about not ordering from B & N but broke down Friday night...those bargain books got me!

She's joking of course. I've even loaned her books to take out of the country. My books took a trip to Paris.

A choice to make#2

2009-01-23T11:39:00.000-08:00

I have great news. Check it out here, at my other blog.

Yesterday, I wrote to my book club.... And as you can tell by the tone and informality of my letter, these are good friends who know "me" well, but... I'm not so sure if I can count on them to help me choose a book to read for the book club. so...I'm leaving it up to some of you fellow bloggers.
I have two different book clubs that meet once a month.
I get to chose the books to read in March and April for the two clubs. I'm stuck!
I want to make them get out of their box a bit, but don't' want the choices to be too "out there" that they won't enjoy them. They tend to go with the more safe choices, and I feel it's time for a change.

Please help.

here are my notes to my bookclub friends...

1st note:
Dear Bookclub friends,

as you know, I get to choose April's book. (not April our bookclub friend, but the month of April. I get to choose what we read for the month of April)
How far out on a limb are you willing to go?
I mean "out of your box?" for a book?

I've narrowed it down to a few....
you can vote

The Time Travelers Wife
Shadow of the Wind
The Thirteenth Tale
The Handmaid's Tale

I have read only one of these....I won't tell you which one.
They are all.... books not based on (or in?) "realism". Not to say that they are all fantasy or (dare I say it) Science-Fiction, but there is a common thread of "magical, futuristic, satire, and just some stuff that isn't your everyday book" in these choices.

Don't google them.... just tell me....by the title, what sounds good to you?

And we'll meet at my house next Wednesday, 7:00 p.m.

Book discussion for Wed: The Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky

Feb book: The Madonnas of Leningrad

March book: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie society

April: YOUR ANSWER COULD GO HERE!!

Today I sent them another note and wrote this:

Hello Book Club girls!

I've added two more books to my list to pick from, and I've spent all morning searching YouTube for video clips to link to for book reviews.
I don't know what order these clips are in, but you should watch them and then let me know what interests you.
Because... if it were left to me, I would pick them all. ( I'm going to pick one of them--one that we don't choose now-- for my other book club).
I own all of these books except "The Eyre Affair", which I don't think any of you will choose anyway.... (open ended sentence. I'm not sure why.... do you have anything to add?)

Two of the books are movies now. I will get these from Netflix when/if we read them for MOVIE NIGHT which will take place AFTER our April bookclub meeting, same night but after book discussion. And of course I'll have popcorn and Milk Duds for the movie.... a chaser after our more healthy book club fare. (fair? faire?)
The books that have been made into movies are:
The Time Travelers Wife
The Handmaid's Tale

As I've mentioned, the only book that is "normal" is American Wife (one that wasn't on the list yesterday), it is a "current event" book based loosely and fictionally on Laura Bush.
I promise that I will not add anymore books to the list. I know this is quite unheard of, the chooser asking the readers their opinion but please please, just please give me your opinion. I like to take them into consideration (and then do what I want. LOL )
Sway me, if you will. I'm open for bribes too!!

Lisa has said that she's always wanted to read "The Time Traveler's Wife"
see...

from Lisa:
I always wanted to read the Time Travelers Wife..........I know that is the one you have read too!? right?

and

from Jean:
Wow, I love the sound of them all. But if I absolutely had to choose, it would be (drum roll, please) Shadow of the Wind.

and

from Shelly:
I’ve read “The Time Traveler’s Wife” and liked it but don’t remember much about it…I’m thinking maybe that’s the one you’ve read too. I REALLY wanted to look the other books up, but didn’t. So, for April I will say “The Handmaid’s Tale”.

I had a drum roll going in my head..did you? And yes, I've read TTW, and really loved it.
You guys can google now if you want just to see what the critics say. AFTER, you watch these clips.... (get a coke/cookie/or coffee first)

The Eyre Affair

The American Wife

The Shadow of the Wind

The Time Traveler's Wife

The Thirteenth Tale

The Handmaid's Tale

So, if you bloggers have any good ideas what a good book for a group would be....that might be a little out of the norm for book clubs, please comment and let me know.
Thanks.

Booking Thru Thursday--Songs

2009-01-15T16:04:00.000-08:00

Today's "Booking Through Thursday" Question is interesting...Good, but interesting. Because I love songs and this is about songs/music...

So, today’s question?
What songs … either specific songs, or songs in general by a specific group or writer … have words that you love?
Why?
And … do the tunes that go with the fantastic lyrics live up to them?

I spent all day yesterday wrestling with idea of taking a class at our local college. The class is an upper-level humanities class. "The Beatles Across the Universe"
You can check out the syllabus here.

I love songs. I love music. I do admire the depth, meaning and playfulness of a song. And I enjoy a wide variety of music, from, well, the Beatles, to Jazz to the old crooners, to Nickelback, to the BareNaked Ladies, to Alan Jackson and Rascal Flatts.

Although, if someone asked me to recite the words to a certain song, I'm not so sure I could do it. BUT, in conversation, if someone begins, unaware, a lyric to a song, I will finish it.
For instance, my friends mother's name is Lola and she once said, "My mothers name is Lola." And I said "Was she a showgirl?" (from the Barry Manilow song...). I can't help it, I do it all the time. It annoys my husband to no end, but at least he knows what I am talking about, because believe me, there are times when no one has heard of the song/lyric I finish, and then I have to explain it to them. They look at me like I've lost my mind. I prefer to think they are thinking WOW, she is so smart! (kidding).

I guess I've meandered away from the question... a song with words that I love? I grew up in the 70's, my husband in the 60's. Those were eras of symbolism in rocks songs... everything was about sex and drugs. Which I didn't know or understand until I was way into adulthood, because I didn't "get" symbolism at the time.
I still have a real love for that music. It's a nostalgia thing. But it's hard to put into words why you like The Partridge Family's "I think I love you" or "Papa was a Rollin' Stone" by the Temptations. The Eagles, The Bee Gee's, Fleetwood Mac, Led Zepplin, Bad Company, The Beach Boys oh...and Meatloaf!!!!

I do think the lyrics and tune lived up to one another, in the good old days ..... I have a whole box full of 45's. One hit wonders. And a disco-ball and a lava lamp. Just waiting to have a party in my garage this summer.

I have TOTALLY not answered your question. Sorry. But I had fun reminiscing. Thanks. And I've made up my mind to go-ahead and take the Beatles class at the college.

Musing Mondays

2009-01-12T15:12:00.000-08:00

I'm joining in. I'm not much of a book reviewer, ( I can never keep up with all these great bok bloggers) but a big book muser.
This is the first time I've joined "Musing Mondays", it is hosted by Rebecca at "Just One More Page". You should check it out, her blog is very nice.
The question this week is..
How did you react to assigned reading when you were in school/university/college/etc? How do you think on these books now? What book were you 'forced' to read when you where in school that you've since reread and loved?

Don't hate me because I liked to read....but....
I actually liked to read assigned reading. I was always excited for it.
Read: nerd.
That was what I was, I guess.

I enjoyed the reading assignments in high school very much and also in the small community college I've attended. But my daughter in law is in graduate school at YALE and every third week, they don't attend class, instead they have "reading week" because their assigned reading is so monumental along with all other class work, that the school has made time for them to do that hard core reading schedule that they have.
I don't think that kind of assigned reading would be much fun. (neither does she, I'm sure)

My mind was opened up to whole new worlds thru the assigned reading we did in jr. High and high school. I liked Romeo and Juliet. I liked the Diary of Anne Frank. The Lord of the Flies, Animal Kingdom, A Wrinkle in Time!

I loved it.
And that might be why I enjoy bookclubs. I don't mind the assigned reading at all. It's fun to see what other people like and discover new authors, new ideas and new books.

I'm back. Kind of.

2008-12-31T14:13:00.000-08:00

Hello friends! I do have a new computer. Yay! What a great Christmas gift from Mr. Husband! He was good to me.
I got a really cool recipe program, where I can make my own family cookbook, a new food processor and some other really nice "foodie" gifts.

I also got my dream present this year, which completely overrides any recipe program or new computer, or any present ever.
It was one I had been imagining for quite some time, but I didn't think it would come true this year. I imagined it many times in my mind. But it's so much better when it really happens.
This is how it went.....my son Mark and his wife Sadie handed us small package on Christmas Eve. They had made a poem....and adaptation of "Twas the Night Before Christmas". One line was.... "in October Sadie felt a little fatter, they ran to the doctor to see what was the matter."Yes my blogging friends... A BABY! And to what to my wandering eyes did appear, but a picture of TWINS!! Two babies!!!
I was crying and laughing and shaking all at the same time. They have been wanting this for a while and I am soooo happy for them. I got my Christmas dream.... in doubles. 2x! But the best part was that they got their Christmas wish.
(sigh) I'm happy.

And now in my hands I'm holding "The Tale of Despereaux". I want to read it before going to see the movie. I'm pretty safe in this, as we live in a small town and our movie theater... is slow, (to be kind).
I will get back to reading and bloggig about it....as soon as I fnish Despereaux.

Blog Advent Tour

2008-12-23T00:05:00.000-08:00

I have a HUGE problem. At least it is for me. My computer is in the shop. Things are not looking good.
And today I am supposed to be participating in the "Blog Advent Tour 2008", hosted by Marg at Reading Adventures
and Kalina at The Written World

I was so excited to be a part of this. I have pictures of the snow, I have pictures of the nutcracker ballet and I have pictures of our little hometown parade. All on my computer which is in the shop.
I'm so sad. (really sad, because how in the world can I live without my home-computer for a week or so, until we decide what we really want in a new one)

But I do have a solution. I have another blog.... a food blog, where I posted some about the Christmas parade last week.
So, in keeping with the Blog Advent Tour, (and I've so enjoyed reading every one else's posts) I give you this .... a link to the post about our small town Christmas parade. It's thebest that I can do.

Check it out please.

I hope you enjoy it.
Merry Christmas everybody!

book groups and book marks

2008-12-15T08:10:00.000-08:00

So....I did end up going to my bookclub meeting last Thursday. It's a great food club. We had a great supper and dessert. And there was much talk and laughter....about everything BUT the book.

There are a lot of nice women, but I have noticed that it's us, older ones who want a bit more discussion and not so much social time.
I do enjoy it tho and it's our own fault ....we're quiet. We don't speak up.

We'll keep going tho, because we really like the group, but it's kind of like a "Supper Club" to us. And it's fun, don't get me wrong, we just have to be in the supper club mode (and we usually are ) and then if anyone talks about the book we've all been reading, that will be a bonus.

Now on this upcoming Wednesday, I have two other book groups.
The first is a noon-time group. It's the oldest club in Winnemucca (that's the name of our town).
There are a group of us in our mid 40's to mid 50's, who are fairly new to the club. We are the youngest. One of the older members has stopped coming because (and I quote) "the younger ones are taking over".
Some of us "younger ones" are grandparents. LOL.
Anyway, it's a nice little luncheon and there is a book report.
It's a nice noon-time meeting. I'm sure in days of old, the ladies wore gloves and hats.

On Wednesday evening, it is the Totally Lit (erature) bookclub.
We ALWAYS discuss the book. And food is not a major part of our book group. We usually have a dessert or cheese and crackers.
Except for this time.... we are having a Congealed salad party.

It all began, because...well, long story, but we don't say congealed in the west. We'll say Jell-o salad. And then it got to be a joke, and well, we decided to hold a congealed salad party. I'll let you know how it goes.
And also write a longer post. I'm just trying to pass the time right now, until the snow plows get out and I can go to work.
I would much rather curl up with a book on this snowy December Monday morning. But then I don't get paid, and if I don't get paid, I won't have money to buy the book to curl up with. (sigh) it's a never ending circle.

I will leave you with my new little bookmark.... a gift from my friend Ruth.

Bookclub mayhem

2008-12-10T10:00:00.000-08:00

I am supposed to be reading. I am supposed to be reading "The Gold Coast" by Nelson DeMille. I usually like DeMille's books. But for some reason this isn't holding my attention. Could it be because of the holidays? And the fact that I'm working hard: Christmas Parade, Retail Business window decorating Contest, election of a new board of directors, no gifts purchased yet, no cookies made yet, no cards sent yet?
Or...is it because the book isn't that great?
No. That can't be it. The book is on the best seller list. DeMille just came out with a sequel. They are making a movie based on this book.
The book must be good. It's me. Something's wrong with me!

I'm going to have to appear at my book club meeting on Thursday night and say.... about a book a lot of people have loved..... I will say.....

my dog chewed it up and I didn't get a chance to finish it. (and I'll say it real fast, with maybe a cookie in my mouth, so they won't really care for me to expand on any part of my explanation, like, what did I think of it before my silly old bassett hound ate it. )

And this, dear friends, is why I am not a book reviewer. I cannot fess up to the truth. I cannot hurt someone's feelings. Someone chose this book they LOVED to share with us at bookclub. I know she loved it...because she said she did.
Her parting words last month were: I hope you love this book as much as I did.
Oh my gosh... I can't disapoint her! Her face was so earnest, so open, so sincere, so....in love with the book.
So in comes Monroe, the Bassett Hound. The hungry hound dog.

90% of the time, this is the exact reason why I choose a book for bookclub that I haven't read yet. I don't want them to trash something I love. If I choose a book that no one in the club has read, but is on a "hot for bookclubs" list, then it does not matter to me who likes it or doesn't like it. We can read together and voice our opinions and it's okay with me.
I might really have loved this book that I chose, but it's a "new" love, not an old love, a treasured love, a jealous love.
Those old books we LOVE? Well, we tend to get really territorial about them.
HOW DARE YOU NOT LIKE MY BOOK?

I can see it now....book club night... I will be in the corner with a mouthful of cookies and a cup of eggnog, so that I can view, with amusement, the free-for-all that's going to take place. Because I am sure, when someone insults her book choice, DiAnn will be hitting them over the head with said book. Her beloved book. Then perhaps her daughter will feel obligated to help her mom out and another book will fly across the room. Literary insults will be tossed about and then someone will mock a previous book choice, which will cause further put-downs of other beloved books...and it could go on and on.

I have been assigned the month of March to choose a book for this club. I was hoping to get them out of their box .... they tend to read a lot of mass-market best seller, books..... and I was thinking maybe, just maybe "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood. I haven't read it yet.
But now I'm afraid.
I think I'm just going to chose something off one of your blogs. A book you guys reviewed.
And it'll be your fault if I get hit on the head with a leprechaun.

******
and ps, the above mentioned book club is NOT the book club I posted pictures of in a previous post. I belong to a few bookclubs, but this one coming up on Thursday, is turning into more of a eating club. They have served pretty serious food and done too little book talking lately.
Check out this post on "Book Club Girl's blog" about telling us your bookclub breakup story. Who knows, I could be writing about this very thing after Thursday's meeting.

And....the only photo I have of Monroe the book eating dog. He is old. He is much more photogenic than this. He will be mad at me for posting such an unflattering photo...much in the same way I am mad at my husband sometimes for taking those unflattering photos of me!
I have other pictures of him at home, but I am at work.
I'm Taking a break.
Now I have to get back to making sure that Santa fits in his suit for the Christmas parade on Saturday night.

Contests and Giveaways

2008-12-03T14:01:00.000-08:00

The Pioneer Woman has 9,107 comments on her giveaway. http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/
Seriously.

LOL ( I know this is my semi-techincally book-blog and I just gave you a link to a cooking blog, but still...you get the picture)

and I just made it 9,108. As well, as entering 3 other giveaways in the last 5 minutes.
I've never won anything. But it's okay... it's just fun.

Did anyone ever see the movie "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio" by Terry Ryan?
I actually read the book first, and I really enjoyed it. (so much more than the movie, although I did like the movie too)

a blurb about it from a reviewer says:
Erma Bombeck meets Ogden Nash in the inspirational true story of an enterprising mother of ten who kept poverty at bay with wit, poetry, and perfect prose during the "contest era" of the fifties and sixties.

These give-aways remind me of that book. Every time I make a comment on someone's giveaway, I am reminded of those old contests, where you make up poems and rhymes or a jingle about a product in 25 words or less, and hope you win.
And I know they are all chosen randomly, but I still freeze....what if my jingle (comment) is not snazzy (is that still a word?) enough? What if it doesn't make someone smile? (mine rarely do)
How can I be more witty? and enchanting? WHY DON'T I EVER WIN ANYTHING?!

whew...no really, I'm okay now.

LOL

caution--adults only

2008-11-23T12:15:00.000-08:00

Caution! Oh my gosh...

With a title like that.....I wonder, if you're here reading my blog right now, what you are expecting?

It's just my story from book club. Or "after" book club last month.
Books play a supporting role in my short story, (so I'm completely comfortable posting on my bookworm blog ) which is true. Every last word of it.
I'm still searching for my blogging niche.... but for now am sharing my book club story from the day before Halloween.

from October 30th, 2008

Last night, after I got home from Book Club....(where we discussed the book, Tangerine--a great Junior Highish age novel ) I wandered into the family room where my husband Rich was watching TV. We visited for a moment, I am always very excited when I get home from a book club and I need to talk, and then..... (some of you might want to quit reading now---gets a bit x-rated from here on out).... I took my bra off.

Yes, it's true. I just slipped it off under my shirt and laid it on the chair... my intention was to pick it up when we went upstairs to go to bed. It was uncomfortable!!!
The girls needed to be freed. Ahhh....sweet relief!
It's a sad fact of life, but for a large breasted woman in her late 40's, the taking off the bra moment is the best moment of the day! (sigh)

I picked up my book and sat down to read for a bit.... I got sleepy. Rich got sleepy... he began to turn off lights, I followed him up the stairs...off to bed.
but, we had left behind one important piece of evidence behind....THE BRA!!!

Had it slipped my mind that my 25 year old son is now living with us again? Had it slipped my mind that he was not home and would soon be arriving?
His M.O. is to grab a snack and watch a movie or the news or something.... in the very same room where said bra was left.

I have no idea what horror he might have gone thru at the sight of that... b...r...a... just lying there over the arm of the chair. (sigh)
My mind cannot go there....poor child.
Even if he tried to go on with his life.....his routine of turning on the TV, eating a snack..... his eyes must have been drawn to the grotesque sight again and again, like one is drawn to a car accident. With every flash of light from the TV screen in the darkened room, it must have jumped out like a hideous phantom, like the boogy man in a house of horrors. (I can hear horror music soundtracks in the back of my mind).

Hopefully, when he finally went upstairs to take his slumber (and there is no doubt in my mind he went up earlier than usual), he was not bothered by nightmares.

The house was dark this morning as I walked down the stairs.. As I do every morning, I grabbed my book and headed to the coffee pot. I made the brew and then walked slowly out into the family room, turned on the light by the side of my chair and YIKES, YIKES, YIKES!!! There it was---evidence of parents who are gross and disgusting! I grabbed it and ran up the stairs, into the bathroom where Rich was in the shower and began screaming (In a stage whisper), "OMG!!! I forgot my bra!! It was just lying there on the arm of the chair, for the world to see!"
He said "so?"
I said, "Your son!! Dustin was down there!"
He said, "Well Dustin is 25 years old, I can pretty much guarentee you, he's seen a bra before."
I said, "Not his MOHTER'S! Just lying around in the living room, like we'd been.... you know."
He said, "no. I don't know."
I listed all the things I think Dustin might be going thru....disgust, annoyance, horror, fright repulsion, etc.
Rich, as supportive (ahhahaah--a pun. Bra? Supportive?) as he usually is, just laughed at me.
Kind of like the clown in a horror movie..... laugh clown, laugh!! Laugh Rich laugh!

I guess this horror I must have put my son thru is appropriate...after all....tomorrow is... HALLOWEEN!!!

*****

Photos below are:

Totally Lit (erature) Book club friends!! We're missing a few friends. We come and go, we can't all make every meeting. We Average around 8 or 9 at each meeting. I have never missed a disscusion. I think I'm the only one who can say that. We've been meeting every month since January, 2003. And I have a list of all the books we've ever read.

Our book for the month, Tangerine was a great read, if you want to give it a try.

Finding my Niche

2008-11-19T11:21:00.000-08:00

My Thought for the day! and this is not about books!

There is just something odd about the Bare Naked Ladies sing God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.

I was searching for something good to listen to on my Sirius radio and I came upon the Bare Naked Ladies singing... God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. The odd part was just seeing their name in conjunction with a Christmas Carol.
I grew up with Andy Williams, Dean Martin and Perry Como, the old crooners, singing the carols .... it's just now, in more recent years, that I can listen to "country" singers sing carols.....I had to get used to that twang...some have it, don't deny it.
I mean.....country twang versus the Rat pack, smoking non-filtered camel cigarettes, drinking single malt scotch, telling lewd and bawdy on stage in Vegas Baby, singing about the birth of Christ?
How can there be any comparison!?
The Rat Packish people wore suits, so it's a given.
They sang better Christmas Carols.

I digress....again. Bare Naked Ladies singing "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"

I actually liked it very much....the way they did it. What do you call that? Their......rendition? interpretation? arrangement?
It was really good, whatever you call it . A bit different, but the same.
And it's not even new. I googled the Barenaked Ladies holiday album and saw that it came out in 2004.
I'm not even "with it" when I think I'm with it.
Just a tad bit behind the times....

Trying to keep up

2008-11-18T11:23:00.000-08:00

I have my "Booking thru Thursday" questions lined up. I have not been participating in this weekly meme, but I have been asking my original Friday Friend forum what their feelings are about these questions. I'll post them here. Even tho the FF's are not bloggers, they love to see their names on a blog...it's the little kid in them.

I am feeling very unorganized, and that bugs me. Yes, I have been busy, but not more or less so than anyone else. I just haven't been blogging.

I am not a book reviewer, nor a great cook...like most of the blogs I follow, I just like to read. Everything. So, I read. And I like to cook, so I cook. And I like to read blogs from Bloggers who read more than I (who knew?) and cook more than I. They review and recommend and interview and write (very well), and then they post and...well, I read them. I enjoy them.

I'm not sure I have found my blogging niche---yet.
But I will, I'm sure...someday.

Anyway, the FF's (some of them anyway) thoughts on book questions.

On October 16th, the question was:
"What tomes are waiting patiently on your shelves

and some of the answers from my original FF forum were.....

from Sally in PA:
Waiting patiently: A walk in the Woods (Everytime I hike the Appalachian Trail, I come home and a non hiking friend says: Have you read A Walk ... I own it, but no, I have yet to read it. Hillary Rodham Clinton's It Takes a Village, Eat, Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, Last Child in the Woods, Broadsides from the Other Order(a book of bugs) by Sue Hubbell. No fiction. sorry. And I guess I'm spending all my free time outdoors and can't read about the outdoors. I believe Eat, Pray, Love is a book on religion. I found it in a health food store in the yoga section. One of my friends said "I" needed to read. She wasn't partial to it, but I would be!!! Whatever that means.

from Barb B in AZ:
The Mermaid Chair-----Sue Monk Kidd (I actually have many that I keep moving to the bottom of the pile, as I always find something I want to read NOW and figure those can wait when I'm really desperate).

from me/debbie....the October 25th question also came and went..
“Name a favorite literary couple and tell me why they are a favorite. If you cannot choose just one, that is okay too. Name as many as you like–sometimes narrowing down a list can be extremely difficult and painful. Or maybe that’s just me.”

from Barb in Buckeye (AZ) again:
I like two authors who are married and each write books with separate characters------they are Jonathan and Faye Kellerman.

from Sally in PA:
Katz and author Bill Bryson. A couple of schmucks hiking the Appalachian Trail. I'm half way done and I have never laughed out loud so much, or read so many portions of a book to Matt. He hardly has to read it himself. A Walk in the Woods is absolutely the funniest read.

from me/debbie:
Sally was pleasantly surprised that I had read the book.....and that I had heard or known about the Appalachian trail. She didn't know of any west coast equivalent... that would be The Pacific Coast Trail, from Mexico to Canada, the boarders anyway.
I know tons of things. LOL
Sally's right....it was a funny read. I love Bill Bryson.

from Lisa C in NV:
Okay,

I get it now, literary couple. Defined as two fictional or autobiographical couples from a BOOK. I get it.

I panicked, and here lies my true confession that I thought you wanted me to name two together-type people that WROTE books.

I was alarmed, panicked and aghast. I thought I'm gonna really have to ramp it up for this book club. Arrrrrgh. Ha!
How many literary writing couples do you know off the top of your head? I was feeling totally unenlightened, because I certainly wouldn't have to narrow down the list, I can't MAKE a list of literary (writing) couples! You, being so well-read and knowledgeable, may probably name many, but I was stumped. Masters & Johnson?? Whew, the other interpretation sounds much better.

Okay, after that diatribe - I'm too distressed to come up with a favorite literary couple. I agonize over ordering off a menu, I'll have to change my train of thought. I'm laughing at myself now, and if you really are looking for a literary couple, I'm sulking.

Then we jump to October 30th......
Are you a spine breaker? Or a dog-earer? Do you expect to keep your books in pristine condition even after you have read them? Does watching other readers bend the cover all the way round make you flinch or squeal in pain?

from Gina in NV:
Never a spine bender, can't stand that. However, I have been known to dog ear and am actually trying to get myself out of that habit. Mostly I will dog ear a paperback. I try never to de a hard bound book, but have slipped once in a while. I NEVER dog ear a borrowed book, just my own.

from Jolina in NV:
No - only from use - I broke many spines in text books.
Or a dog-earer?
OMG No
Do you expect to keep your books in pristine condition even after you have read them?
Yes!
Does watching other readers bend the cover all the way round make you flinch or squeal in pain?
I don't like it. This is one of the reasons I have to really like you to share my books - can't stand it when someone bends the corner of my books!

However, wear and tear things such as bent covers or pages - or water damage because we are reading by the pool or in the tub just means the book has been used and enjoyed. That is OK.

from me/debbie:
then it jumps to November 13th......
If you usually buy your books, tell me why. Why buy instead of borrow? Why shell out your hard-earned dollars for something you could get for free?

from Shelly in NV:
I never bought too many books until I started work. As you can guess, it was a money thing. Until then I always borrowed books from the library (and from my friends!). Now I buy books. Mostly it's easier to just order them online (it's way too easy with the "you might like this" helpful hint) and I get impatient at the library...just taking the time to look through all those books. I keep quite a few of the books I read but if I don't really like them I give them to the thrift store.

from Cherrie in WA:
Most of the books I buy are non-fiction, and craft type books. these are books I like to take my time with or refer back to. I used the library a lot more when I was going to school, for references I had no desire to keep after the course was complete.

from Gina in NV:
I only buy if its a series I have been reading and collecting, OR and this is the main reason is because most of the time I don't want to wait for my turn so I buy it instead. I'm impatient!

from Sally in PA:
Why do I buy books? Because I can't get them read in the library's allotted time. Because I will forget to read it if it is not my bookshelf, or beside my bed in a basket. (my bedside basket is smaller than yours, and includes my three journals! Because after I read it I can give it to others to read. Most people I know won't go to the trouble to get it themselves. Night and Walk in the Woods are already out of my possession. They were two great books. Night because it is so important and Walk in the Woods because it is so funny. I also buy books for my family, so they can loan them to me to read!! But if they own them, hopefully, they will, too.

from Theresa B in WA:
I have many books that have a permanent home on book shelves in my home. I bought them because I love them. Most of them are non fiction books. Crafts, gardening, sewing, cooking, doll making, entertaining, decorating, nutrition, and other things of interest to me. I worked at the Public Library in The Dalles, Oregon for a couple years. I was turned on to a lot of these books there. I'd check them out, read them, return them, and go to the local book store. I would have them order the book for me, they ordered from Portland and I would have it in 2 days. I don't read fiction books over again once I have read them. But over the years, I have discovered that owning non fiction was great, because no matter how many times you read it, you learn something new that slipped by the first dozen times. I love fiction books and read many of them. but when I read one over it is the same every time. I don't pick up any new knowledge for them. We go to the library every 3 weeks and each check out books, I get all of the fiction that I can for free there. The ones that the Library doesn't have, I order from the book club, or buy at Barns and Noble

from Bev (also my mom ) in WA:
Well, I have a Bible that I bought. Your father and I both buy books instead of going to the library, but sometimes they are used books.

from Jolina in NV:
this is the eternal question at my house. Why buy when you can borrow? Since Mike's mom worked at the library, he never understood why I bought books. He's quit asking! Before book club, I wouldn't have said anything specific, except I love to own books. I like borrowing yours, Debbie, but don't like to borrow much from our library. Seems they never have what I want. Now, I buy because it's the book club pick.

from Diana in NV:
I usually go to the book store and get books from the .20 cent table. Then I pass them on to my parents who pass them on to Battle Mountain.I read the cover of the book and if it looks interesting I buy it.

Booking Thru Thursday on Sunday

2008-11-09T19:44:00.000-08:00

*** I'm going to put this answer on my blog. For my answer for Booking Thru Thursdays. It's a bit late, but......***

I don't think I've ever gotten a book as a gift...that was life-changing. Oh, I guess the question was....was it memorable, or notable?
I don't think so.
I usually buy them before I can get them as a gift.

But let us see what the rest of the Friday Friends have to say....
(not ALL the rest of them, because 3/4 of them didn't answer)

from Barb in Buckeye:
I was seeing a great guy in Seattle and he took me on a very special lunch to a wonderful restaurant and gave me the book "Gone With the Wind", which I had barely mentioned at one time as being my favorite book ever.And I think that's the only time I got a book as a present! Unless you count the Xmas Mike gave me a Fred Meyer gift card so I could go buy a whole bunch of paperbacks. I had such a good time in their book dept.!

from Georgann in San Leandro:
It was either God' Men or The Good Earth by Pearl Buck given to me by a teacher. I then continued to read many of Buck's novels. I may have read all of them. She became one of my favorite authors. Saw her in person in the early sixties.

from Sally in Phoenixville:
Gone With the Wind. When my daughter found out that I had attempted it twice and not finished it, I soon received it as a gift for Christmas. I suppose I forgot to mention my lack of desire to see or read it. When your kid buys you a book, you have to read it. I did manage to read it sometime that year. Loved it, but probably won't do it twice.

from Ashley in Meridian:
My grandparents Mamaw and papaw gave me my first bible for my first communion and I still have it. They even wrote a message and signed my book.
Whenever you give a book as a gift you should always sign and date it so the person always knows who gave them the book I think it makes it special

from me/debbie:
I'm sorry to say, that I have never ever read "Gone with the Wind", and I have no desire to either. I've never watched the movie either.

FOUND IT (whew)

2008-11-01T10:28:00.000-07:00

My plans for this weekend......

Library Time

2008-10-28T20:27:00.000-07:00

Tonight was "Spooky Story Night" at the library. After soccer practice and a hamburger, I grabbed my grandson, Camron and we donned pajamas, grabbed a pillow and a stuffed animal and went to Spooky Story Hour.

It was fun... that's his little blond head at the bottom of the photo, holding onto his pillow. I just want him to love the library. After story time, he asked if he could check out some books...of course I said yes. He ran to NON-FICTION.

What is it about little boys and non-fiction? Spiders and magic tricks and a dinosaur book.

And I was trying to get a good picture of this from across the room. It looks a bit shakey, which looks a bit spooky, so I put it in anyway.

And last but not least, a bookmark! A Halloween bookmark for my collection.

I want to win

2008-10-28T13:42:00.000-07:00

If you know me at all, you will know that I'm just not the winning type.
I went with my friends to a "Taste of Home" Cooking show, where they gave away, 2 complete sets of kitchen appliances, and some custom cupboards, not to mention numerous other things all the way down to a pot holder.
http://thefridayfriends.blogspot.com/2008/10/taste-of-home-cooking-school.html

I did not win...even the lowly little pot holder. It's sad really. Sad, when you think that I live in Nevada and I should be shouting from the rooftops... IT'S GLORIOUS HERE, WE HAVE WINNERS ALL THE TIME . (I do work indirectly with the tourism industry), but.... it's just not true. I never win.
It could be, because I rarely "play".... but still

So, I think that I deserve to win! LOL
Seaside Bookworm Blogger is hosting her first give-a-way. She is giving away a few copies of "Who by Fire" by Diana Spechler. Check out her blog post, which includes a video clip of Spechler talking about her book.
It sounds great!
And then....enter if you must.

( I used this same line for another give-a-way I entered. The whole, poor me, I live in Nevada but never win anything line. It didn't work then either. Wish me luck)

Check out the give-a-way at:
http://38thavedivareaders.blogspot.com/2008/10/my-first-book-giveaway.html

Monday Memory--The Changeling

2008-10-28T10:23:00.001-07:00

Well, today isn't Monday, it's Tuesday....would you accept a "late" Monday Memory?

Just a (Reading) Fool at http://justareadingfool.wordpress.com/
has been having fun reliving his childhood thru reminiscing about books he read in his youth. Or not. Some of them ring a bell, but when he re-reads them as an adult, some leave him cold. But that's what is so fun about reminiscing.

At first, I was just making comments on his posts about the books he read as a youth... I have read most of them. But yesterday's book, "The Incredible Journey", I have never read. Shame on me. I do love the movie tho...the one with Michael J. Fox as a voice of one of the dogs (part of the reason I love it, is because a lot of it was filmed in Oregon, around where my family homesteaded a century ago... it was fun to think I recognized some scenery, but I digress once again ).

Since I've never read this "Monday Memory", I decided to do one of my own: The Changeling by Zilpha Keatly Snyder.

A blurb from the inside cover:
Ivy Carson belonged to the notorious Carson family, which lived in a run-down house in suburban Rosewood. But Ivy was not a typical Carson. There was something wonderful about her. Ivy explained it by saying that she was a changeling, a child of supernatural parents who had been exchanged for the real Ivy Carson at birth. This classic book was first published in 1970. It was awarded a Christopher Medal and named an outstanding book for young people by the Junior Library Guild.

I must have read this book when I was around 10 or 11. It became my favorite book of all time...that summer. I remember my friend Kathy and I, riding our bikes to the library once a week and taking turns checking out "The Changeling" back and forth, all summer long.
The Changeling was about a friendship between Ivy and Martha. Martha came from a home, that was very structured and upper-middle class, while Ivy came from a poorer part of town with an obvious dysfunctional family. The two became friends and invented a wonderful, magical, make-believe world in which they would play together. They never met often at each other's homes, but would play in the wooded area, which was perfect for their make-believe world.
Their friendship lasted years and went thru rough times...the rough times of growing up, peer pressure and--yes--a class system. Even tho we don't want to admit it, in the United States, there are cliques and class system situations that children have to learn to deal with all the time.

These are the things that stuck with me about the book.
Ivy and Martha played for hours in a wooded area. They knew to be home for dinner, but other than that, no one came looking for them.

This is true. I mean, that's how it was in 1970. We could leave our parents home, and ride our bikes or walk anywhere and no one thought anything of it. We just knew that we, too, like Ivy and Martha, had to be home in time for dinner. There was such freedom at that time. During the summer, my friends and I would ride our bikes to orchards on the outskirts of town and read our books or play hide and seek or truth or dare. Or we would ride downtown and get an ice cream at Henry's. Or, we would go to the "canyon", which of course had a swamp monster and we would run and hide and get lost in it. (when I go back home now, the canyon is a park with walking and biking trails, only a few blocks long... but we really thought we were lost.)
So, I identified with the freedom that Ivy and Martha had.

And the class system? In our town, there was a neighborhood called "Sunny Slope Homes". A lot of migrant workers lived there with their families. My mother had reservations about me befriending Esther Gonzales, who lived in Sunny Slope, because it was a poorer part of town. To be honest, Esther was also Mexican... I was so in love with her brother Henry in the 5th grade...which gave my mother pause: fast forward 38 years and her great-grandchildren are Mexican and Guamanian, as well as Norwegian and Italian. My how times change. In my family, for the better.
There I go, digressing again.
Esther's house, even tho she was a poor Mexican and she lived in Sunny Slope, was clean and inviting and nice. And it had Henry, the love of my 5th grade life.
My other friend, Cheryl Miller, lived not in Sunny Slope homes, but in a neighborhood down the street. My mom felt more comfortable about my friendship with her, but in that household, there were dirty dishes, unmade beds, laundry overflowing...things that were not so in our home. It intrigued me... that families could live in such disarray and be happy. In my home, you cleaned and your things were picked up and put away, and a dish was never undone.
Both of these friendships intrigued me, because their home lives were so different from my own.
Just as Ivy and Martha in "The Changeling" came from different backgrounds and were such close friends.

I also always had an imaginary world going on inside my head (and then I read "You never promised me a Rose Garden" and found out that voices in our heads isn't such a good thing...LOL ).
I just felt a kinship with the book... The Changeling. I loved it. I read it for years every summer. I haven't read it in over 30 years and I wonder how it would read to me today? I think I might have to find it and learn if my memory holds true.
A magical, wonderful, intriguing book about what it means to be an outsider and to find friendship.

A choice to make

2008-10-27T16:32:00.000-07:00

Last night I finished "Tangerine" by Edward Bloor, for my Wednesday night book club. It was good. It'll be a good book to discuss.

But now.... I want a good mystery. Any ideas? I grabbed "Fearless Fourteen" this morning, and I know I'll finish it tomorrow. Fast read, and although I love Stephanie Plumb, I want something a little more "intense" right now.

My TBR piles at home are separated into two piles:
mysteries and others
so...I do have some mysteries at home to chose from. hmmmmm, or perhaps a good horror story. It is almost Halloween after-all.

I have "The Spellman Files" at home. Should I read that? Or Faye Kellerman's "False Prophet?", or even Laura Lippman's "In Big Trouble?"
I even have:
Dying for Chocolate
The Murder at the Murder at the Mimosa Inn
Deja Dead

okay, so I haven't read any Kathy Reich's, but I own about 4 of them...
so, should I read that one? Her fist one?
I want one that is really good.

The correct link....

2008-10-22T14:22:00.000-07:00

And if I didn't read so fast, I would have understood him (Just a reading fool) to ask that I leave the link to this Memory Monday...which is this link:
http://justareadingfool.wordpress.com/tag/mondays-memory/

and now...I have to hurry up and read "Tangerine" before my book club next week. Just starting it now.

Monday Memory on Wed

2008-10-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows me, knows I like to reminisce. I like to talk about things I used to do, love, listen to...and read.
So, I was very excited when I read "Just a Reading Fool's blog" and found out he had asked a question on his "Monday" blog, about a book I loved as a child.

As far as I can tell, he began his "Monday Memory Blog" about a month ago.
And I am going to comment on all of the books he is "remembering", because---well, I love them.

A link to his beginning post for Monday Memory
http://justareadingfool.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/mondays-memory-in-the-night-kitchen/

This past Monday, October 20th, Reading Fool talked about "The Boxcar Children". He didn't care for it.
http://justareadingfool.wordpress.com/2008/10/20/the-boxcar-children/

BLASPHEMY!! (of course, he read it as an adult and granted.....there are a lot of unanswered questions, such as, why and how did the children, Henry, Benny, Jessie and Violet end up in a bakery at night alone after their parents funerals? Where in the world was Social Services? And too many exclamation points...of which I have a bad habit of using also! See? It must be a subconscious thing from my love of the Boxcar Children. LOL ), but it holds a special place in my heart, as does the rest of the series that was originally written by Gertrude Chandler Warner.
As with a lot of children and YA series, they became "formula books" once they got to be so popular. And some say this isn't true, but, I swear I can tell when the original author quit writing and the 'formula" authors began. Not that they still aren't good and hey, if kids like them and get them reading...good for them, but I prefer the "old" originals.

We own the Boxcar Children books and I've read them to my children and my grandchildren. I think the world must be divided into groups: Boxcar and nonbox lovers.
We fall into the first half.

This is the comment I left for "Reading Fool"....on his post about The Boxcar Children and his Memory Monday:
ooooh. I’m sorry you didn’t like it. It is, of course, all those things you said. But, ah, when you are 8 years old, in 1966 and your 3rd grade teacher reads it aloud to you after lunch….it becomes YOUR FAVORITE BOOK OF ALL TIME (until the next one your teacher reads to you).I just wanted to live in a boxcar!! LOL
but you are right…. I can’t go intellectual there (forgive spelling errors please), because “why…why did the nice grandfather hate their mother? Perhaps the mother was a lunatic and just brainwashed the children into thinking that? Or the nice grandfather was…not-so-nice after all!! (exclamation point!!! I’m doubling up on mine to make a “boxcar” point. )And how did they end up alone in a bakery after their parents funerals?There are a lot of unanswered questions. It lends itself to a Prequel….of a scandalous nature.

and now...I have to comment on his past posts for Memory Monday.
Have a good day.

Tuesday Thingers have a great question/meme

2008-10-22T10:12:00.000-07:00

I am not a "Tuesday Thinger" (but perhaps I should be---I am a Library Thinger, which is where Tuesday Thingers originated I believe), but I stole/borrowed their question to ask my original Friday Friends.
The original Friday Friends, my friends from all over the United States. (heavy on the West Coast)...there are 50 of them, and.....3 or 4 take the time out to answer my questions.
LOL
I ask questions every day, (in an e-mail forum) and every day 3-10 of them answer...always a few the same and a few different who respond, so we do get around to hearing from everyone, eventually.

so....here was yesterdays question.....

Now...in addition to Booking Thru Thursdays...there is a new "meme" I found. It's called "Tuesday Thingers" (and officially I think you are supposed to belong to "Library Thingers"...which I do, so)....... this is your question:
Today’s questions: Series. Do you collect any series? Do you read series books? Fantasy? Mystery? Science fiction? Religious? Other genre? Do you use the series feature in LT to help you find new books or figure out what you might be missing from a series?

and here are the Friday Friends answers

first me!
I do read series. I love them. And I have to read them in order. I have a little notebook where I list my favorite authors and their series books in order, so that I can cross them out once I've read them.
I'm that anal about reading them in order. And I love the characters so much. They are like old friends.
It began long ago with the Boxcar Children, and it has never ended. I just keep finding new authors and new series to enjoy.
It's like a drug to me.
Most of them are mysteries, but I do love "the Mitford" Books and the "Harry Dresden" books. The Narnia books.... I could go on, but lets see what the other Friday Friends have to say...

from Lisa in Nevada:
I have the Mitford series! I love, love, love them! Thank you Debbie and Gina for turning me on to them several years ago....
Also, I do not collect these but I love the alphabet murders with Kinzie Milhon, The Rabbi series, Goldie the caterer series, Mrs. Pollifax series, Kay Scarpeta series and I just recently started the Elizabeth Peter's Amelia Peabody series and the wacky sister series that I cannot remember their names but one of the title's is "Murder on a Girl's Night Out"......wow, I did not realize how many series' I was reading/listening to!

from Peggy, somewhere in the United States, full time RV'er:
Hi deb it seems I only read series. fantasy, science fiction, paranormal, you name it. examples Harry Dresden, by Jim butcher, sookie stackhouse by charlaine harris, (now a series on hbo called true blood, twilight series, (don't miss the movie in November), the dragon series by Anne mccaffrey, too many to name. I am interested in library thingers will you send me a link? hope everyone is fine. sorry I missed you on our last trip. We're in lake havasu now the weather is wonderful, between 80 and 90 degrees. hope to see you soon.

from Barbara in Arizona:
Most of the books/authors I read have an on-going character that MUST be read in sequence to follow their lives and the plots, etc.I use fantasticfiction.com to find which books to read in order written, as well as new authors. They have a "star" system that rates the better ones.

from Shelly:
No series. I tend to get tired of them so haven't even tried to read a series for several years. The last one I read (and never finished) was the Father Tim series. I can't even remember their proper title. For me, I would rather read a book with reoccurring characters. The book can stand alone but there are familiar references to previous stories.

Booking Thru Thursday--a few days late

2008-10-14T22:11:00.000-07:00

I've been missing in action. Because of a number of things; none that are that important to any one but me....but I did ask one of my book clubs to answer last week's "Booking Through Thursday" question/meme.
I thought I would share it here and then hopefully get back into the swing of things very soon:

the question....
What was the last book you bought?
Name a book you have read MORE than once

Has a book ever fundamentally changed the way you see life? If yes, what was it?
How do you choose a book? eg. by cover design and summary, recommendations or reviews
Do you prefer Fiction or Non-Fiction?
What’s more important in a novel - beautiful writing or a gripping plot?
Most loved/memorable character (character/book)

Which book or books can be found on your nightstand at the moment?
What was the last book you’ve read, and when was it?
Have you ever given up on a book half way in?

the answers.
from Lisa Campbell:

What was the last book you bought?
Tangerine.... Surprise :)
Name a book you have read MORE than once
Glass Castle, but I just don't enjoy reading anything twice. Same thing with travel, my view is that there are so many new and wonderful books, places to visit and so little time.
Has a book ever fundamentally changed the way you see life? If yes, what was it?
I used to be a collector of self-help/women's awareness books when I was going through my counseling grad school program and in my 20's... and ugh as I sit and type I can't recall the author and title of one that I recall to be memorable - but it was one of the last one that I'd picked up and read.The gist of it was to savor the moment, live in the now. Often I think as women, we're planning ahead, living two steps ahead of where we are precisely now. If you forget to live in the present, you miss the full experience of this moment, seeking the next before you've fully given time to the present. So, maybe I should go back and drum it out and re-read that one instead!
How do you choose a book? eg. by cover design and summary, recommendations or reviews
Yes, yes, and yes. Cover design, book summaries and reviews are all great for me. I like the look of the cover and title and that becomes a first draw, more often when I am physically in a bookstore. On the Internet it becomes more of a glance and then the review and excerpts that draw me in. But of course, the most important selection now, is what is up next for book club and friend reviews. And that is probably best. A deadline and scheduled opportunity to do something enjoyable.
Do you prefer Fiction or Non-Fiction?
(answer here) Fiction, let's get lost in someone else's world for distraction and entertainment.
Whats more important in a novel - beautiful writing or a gripping plot?
Gripping plot to keeping me through to the end. Beautiful writing I can appreciate, but a plot holds me there.
Most loved/memorable character (character/book)
Um.... so now I'm Sarah Palin and I can't recall anything I've read. Argh. the pressure.

Which book or books can be found on your nightstand at the moment?
See I'm a literary lazyheart, reading only bookclub titles right now- Those who save us, glass castles....
What was the last book youve read, and when was it?
Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry, last month
Have you ever given up on a book half way in?
Yes, unfortunately. When I read a book, if I'm drawn to it the world almost has to stop as I tear through pages trying to read to the end. Dishes wait, dinner becomes extremely unhealthy, stay up to late. Most often I can't abandon one, but if it doesn't draw me in I'm out.

from Gina Jones:
Iʼve seen this series of questions floating around the ʽnet the last few days, and thought it looked like a good one for us!
What was the last book you bought?
Angel's Everywhere by Debbie Macomber
Name a book you have read MORE than once
The Stand by Stephen King

Has a book ever fundamentally changed the way you see life? If yes, what was it?
Left Behind series
How do you choose a book? eg. by cover design and summary, recommendations or reviews
Cover design and summary
Do you prefer Fiction or Non-Fiction?
Fiction
Whatʼs more important in a novel - beautiful writing or a gripping plot?
Gripping plot
Most loved/memorable character (character/book)
Odd Thomas

Which book or books can be found on your nightstand at the moment?
Birds and Blooms and Wild Bird
What was the last book youʼve read, and when was it?
Angels Everywhere - currently reading
Have you ever given up on a book half way in?
East of Eden

from Jolina Adams:
What was the last book you bought?
The Guernsey Literature and Potato Pie Society, Ask Again Later, Friday, Girls Poker Night, The Art of Racing in the Rain. I never order just one book.
Name a book you have read MORE than once
Never read books more than once.

Has a book ever fundamentally changed the way you see life? If yes, what was it?
No
How do you choose a book? eg. by cover design and summary, recommendations or reviews
Reviews and book club picks.
Do you prefer Fiction or Non-Fiction?
fiction
Whats more important in a novel - beautiful writing or a gripping plot?
Can't I have both?
Most loved/memorable character (character/book)
I tend to love my characters as I read the book.

Which book or books can be found on your nightstand at the moment?
Girls Poker Night, The Lace Reader, 1000 Dresses
What was the last book youve read, and when was it?
Ask Again Later
Have you ever given up on a book half way in?
Yes

from Mitzi Storm:
Iʼve seen this series of questions floating around the ʽnet the last few days, and thought it looked like a good one for us!
What was the last book you bought?
Tuesdays With Morrie (for my office), Why Don't You Listen?, and Mindset, The New Psychology of Success
Name a book you have read MORE than once
All Things Bright and Beautiful, All Creatures Great and Small, All Things Wise and Wonderful, all by James Herriot

Has a book ever fundamentally changed the way you see life? If yes, what was it?
Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust by Immaculee Ilibagiza / She was one of the few that lived through the Holocaust and lost most of her family members. She was able to forgive her persecutors anyway. A book about forgiving and moving on. Also, Tuesdays With Morrie, Mitch Albom
How do you choose a book? eg. by cover design and summary, recommendations or reviews
The cover lures me in, and then I look at the summary on the flap. Sometimes I go by a friend's recommendation.
Do you prefer Fiction or Non-Fiction?
Usually fiction, but it depends on what type of non-fiction.
Whatʼs more important in a novel - beautiful writing or a gripping plot?
I like it when the plot is good and makes me keep turning the pages.
Most loved/memorable character (character/book)
Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, and the Raggedy Ann & Andy books my mother used to read to us.

Which book or books can be found on your nightstand at the moment?
Chicken soup for the parents soul, 10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace, Flags of Our Fathers, Reader's Digest
What was the last book youʼve read, and when was it?
Finished last week, The Are of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein. It was soooo dang cute! And frustrating, but a good ending.
Have you ever given up on a book half way in?
You bet, my motto is "so many books, so little time" so if I don't like it, why bother?

from Sadie Stone:
What was the last book you bought?The Trinity by Karl rahner (not very exciting just some theology stuff) Name a book you have read MORE than onceAll of John Grisham's books Has a book ever fundamentally changed the way you see life? If yes, what was it?Yes, Malcolm X was the first book I read that related to the broader issues of race in our country. It opened my eyes to how bad things were and how much work still needs to be done. I've spent a great deal of my time and energy reading other individuals active during this time period. How do you choose a book? eg. by cover design and summary, recommendations or reviewsRecommendations and reviews Do you prefer Fiction or Non-Fiction?I like both. I love non-fiction books with inspiring or amazing people but a little fiction is good to. What’s more important in a novel - beautiful writing or a gripping plot?gripping plotMost loved/memorable character (character/book)to many to choose from Which book or books can be found on your nightstand at the moment?Middlesex (I read it a long time ago but it's still there)What was the last book you’ve read, and when was it?Pauli Murray the autobiography if a Black activist, feminist, lawyer, priest and poet. I finished it yesterday Have you ever given up on a book half way in?Yes I gave up on 100 years of Solitude maybe I'll try again someday.

from Traci Marques:
Iʼve seen this series of questions floating around the ʽnet the last few days, and thought it looked like a good one for us!
What was the last book you bought?
??? Right now I don't remember, it was a couple of weeks ago.
Name a book you have read MORE than once

Has a book ever fundamentally changed the way you see life? If yes, what was it?
Not that I can think of, tho I do learn a lot from reading.
How do you choose a book? eg. by cover design and summary, recommendations or reviews
summary and friends
Do you prefer Fiction or Non-Fiction?
Fiction
Whatʼs more important in a novel - beautiful writing or a gripping plot?
Plot
Most loved/memorable character (character/book)
?

Which book or books can be found on your nightstand at the moment?
Jodi Picoult books
What was the last book youʼve read, and when was it?
The Host by Stephanie Meyer - this weekend
Have you ever given up on a book half way in?
Yes

Stolen Idea

2008-09-26T16:56:00.000-07:00

Somewhere, somehow in the land of blogging, I came across a link to Martha's show...the one she did about bloggers..and her whole audience was full of bloggers, you know the one.
And in the 9-minute clip I watched, she introduced me and her audience to two bloggers, from the Portlands. Portland Maine and Portland Oregon.
To make a long story short, every day for one year they took a morning picture and just sent it to each other. This has become a book!!
I, of course, will buy the book (or put it on my Christmas list) because besides being a huge bookworm, I also love a good coffee table book! (who could not?)
To make another long story short, I was telling this to my "Friday Friend" Forum and some of us 3 or 4 out of 40, thought it would be a fun thing to do with each other.
Some of us (me) find it hard to sustain something like this....(so I say Hurrah for the authors of "A Year of Mornings" ), but it'll be fun while it lasts.
For the Friday friends anyway.
And even tho, not all 40 participate, they LOVE TO LOOK. So, even tho we are strewn across the United States, the picture project might be skewd to look like we are from Nevada and Connecticut only. We'll wait to see who else participates as time goes on.
So...since Wednesday night (which was book club night by the way...) here is what we have.
(and yes, some of us [me] are a bit obsessive and started out by a goodnight picture too)

but first I have to tell you what Lisa said....Lisa my so-called friend. ( LOL Love her!) she said "I don't thinkyou could do this! You would have to talk.....:) "

(the authors/bloggers/photographers didnt' discuss what they took pictures of ), so...what is Lisa saying about me?

and Sadie and Jolina are all for playing along... Jolina said:

cute, cute
I'm going to do this all weekend.

Now for the Friday Friend pictures from across the country!

My table after book club. Nevada

my cake...I made if from scratch! Nevada (sigh. Okay Lisa, I guess I do have to 'talk' )

my morning begins...early 5:00 a.m. Nevada

Good morning from New Haven, CT. Yale University

Jolina's Morning desk...waiting for the bank to open in Winnemucca, NV

just out of bed...Nevada

Raining in Connecticut today.

It's Booking Through Thursday

2008-09-25T09:44:00.000-07:00

Our booking thru Thursday question....

What was the most unusual (for you) book you ever read? Either because the book itself was completely from out in left field somewhere, or was a genre you never read, or was the only book available on a long flight. whatever? What (not counting school textbooks, though literature read for classes counts) was furthest outside your usual comfort zone/familiar territory? And, did you like it? Did it stretch your boundaries? Did you shut it with a shudder the instant you were done? Did it make you think? Have nightmares? Kick off a new obsession?

*************

When we first moved back to Winnemucca, eleven years ago, I didn't have a job right away, so I decided to take some classes, for fun, at our local community college. One was a Science Fiction class....Sci-Fi literary themes or something like that.
As an adult, I had never cared for Science Fiction, but I thought I'd get out of my box and see what it was all about. One of the first books we had to read was H.G. Wells, "The Time Machine". When the class discussion began, I was all ready to say that was the strangest book I had ever read....but then people started talking about politics and society and human rights and it just started going in a whole different direction than I had "seen" when I read the book.
That night and throughout the rest of the semester, I began to gain a new respect for Science Fiction books. Most of them, are very sophisticated and address social and political issues in a non-threatening way, but they make you THINK about things.
The Science-Fiction genre is still not my favorite, but I do have an appreciation for it now. Once in a great-great while I will pick up a sci-fi book.....which is completely different from a fantasy(I think).....and read it, but I haven't become obsessed with Sci-fi books.

By the way, did anyone see or read (I did both) "The Jane Austen Bookclub"? the character Grigg, kept wanting one of the female characters to read some Ursula Le Guin, who is notable for her Science Fiction. The female character resisted, because she LOVED AUSTEN, but at the end, of course, she did and really loved the new genre.
I've never read any of Le Guin's novels (short stories, yes in an anthology from the class), but I buy them once in awhile.

They sit in my "to be read" pile.

What is on MY nightstand?

2008-09-23T16:29:00.000-07:00

What's on my Nightstand.

well....what's in the basket beside my bed?

The Twilight books.
And yes, that is a Harlequin romance you see there. ONLY BECAUSE a local author wrote it, Jeannie Watt. She has written three and I have every single one. Although I've only read one. The two in my basket are "A Difficult Woman" and "The Horseman Returns". To tell the truth it's kind of embarrassing to have a Harlequin there. What does that say of me? I do find it honorable, tho, that I am telling the truth and you get what you see.... LOL I mean, I could have stacked some very philosophical and literary books there... a photo op. But then, when you read my blogs, you'll be thinking--WHAT? By the look of her books, you'd have thought she would write more smart.....hmmm, nope "more smart" is not good English. (would have been a better writer :~)

So, this leads us back to the Harlequins by the bed.
This just doesn't sound good.... I am getting in deeper and deeper. LOL

Actually, It's kind of fun to recognize names and places in a book you read. Watt uses local places and has asked permission to use local names also. We're a small community in Northern Nevada, so it really has been fun to read.
Jeannie Watt has also spoken at "my" book club. I know authors! I got connections.

I think tonight I'll pickup "The Horseman's Secret"..... a good cowboy, love-story, before going to bed. Just the ticket, don't ya think?
(seriously tho....there has to be a literary masterpiece hidden under all that fluff, I'm sure of it)

Oh...and if you look closely on the floor (no one said I was a great housekeeper ), you will see two tapes....subliminal weight loss tapes. (sigh), I KNOW they don't work.

You can help too.

2008-09-21T11:37:00.000-07:00

And anyone who reads this blog, can vote on which book I should read too.
It is always a struggle for me. You know that old saying "Too many books, too little time"? Well, I own too many books that I haven't read. I need to quit my job and just concentrte on reading all my books.

Too make it intersting (for me anyway) I'll let you choose, not from the book title, but from the first line in the book. (and yes, I did add a 5th book... "What's a girl gotta do" )

1. On the last day of the year, I got this weird phone call. It's not every day a dame like me gets a call from a mysterious stranger.

2. A sign hangs next to the cradle of Texas liberty, reminding visitors that concealed firearms are not permitted on the grouds.

3. The yahoos came just after the dinner party broke up.

4. My name is Towner Whitney. No, that's not exactly true. My real name is Sophya. Never believe me, I lie all the time.

5. Embraced by stone, steeped in silence, I sat at the high window as the thrid day of the week surrendered to the fouth.

Pick now! for my sake!

How to choose a book

2008-09-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in quite some time....
so I'm throwing this in there. LOL
From my little "friend forum"
I was looking for a book to read...narrowing it down and I needed help.

this is what I sent out:
I get to read something "for fun" (no book club or challenge)I have narrowed it down to three....or four, but Rich won't pick for me. He thinks it's stupid. :~) (that I can't just chose a book by myself)

so...what should I read?

1. A Fountain Filled with Blood

2. In Big Trouble

3. The Lace Reader

4. Brother Odd
*****************************

and they replied:

from Barbara Brown:
WooHoo!! I'm back!!And number one does NOT sound like fun. So at least I helped you narrow it down to 3...................

from me/debbie:
she "woo-hooed" herself. What if I didn't want to woo hoo that she is back.
Very presumptuous! LOL
(I'm glad she's back) but......she did not pick a book for me to read.

from Meghan Stone:
I don't recognize any of those...except Brother Odd might be a Dean Koontz?? who I don't like...I used to ...now he bugs. I am reading The Kitchen Gods Wife by Amy Tan right now...
QUICK...dinner ideas?? I want to do something delicious and yummy and different... I am headed to the Market and always end up with random ingredients that are boring...

me/debbie:
chicken caccaitore. mmmmm....that sound really good!!!
Now, I've helped you....you help me.
(some of Dean Koontz are a bit out there, but I LOVE the "odd" books....Odd Thomas, etc. )

from Darleen Evans:
4. Brother odd - is it by dean koontz? If it is you have to read it. I love him. Also I just finished SAIL by James Patterson..OMG..talk about good!! I never heard of the other books on your list. I read murder mysteries mostly, James Patterson, John Sandford, Patricia Cornwell, Sue Grafton, etc. Don't read romance novels at all, haven't for over 20 years. I got hooked on Dean Koontz when I read WATCHERS, back in the early 1980's, on Guam. I have NEVER read one of his books I haven't loved. Sometimes they tend to be a little gory (OK, a LOT GORY) but he is such an excellent novelist.
Enjoy!!

from me/debbie:
THANK YOU...the only one who helped me!
And.... this is what happens in book-club. We don't always agree on what we like.
i.e.: meghan and darleen, who are semi-related, but not really, and have never met, but know each other well.
Books are like.... well, food, I guess. WE all don't like what each other likes, but we know we need to eat.
or something like that. LOL
I loved the old Dean Koontz. And then I quit reading him. And then I began (because Gina told me to) his "Odd Thomas" Books and I love them.

I used to read romance all the time, but I haven't in years and years. And then I'll try one and it just doesn't cut it for me.
Case in Point: Nights in Rodanthe. a Nicholas Sparks book. It was painful for me to finish.
It was love, love, ooooo you made me what I was meant to be love.
I know that many, many people love Nicholas Sparks...I loved "the Notebook", but anyway, he is just too...too....predictable for me. (which isn't fair of me, since I love murder mysteries, which are sometimes very predictable...???)
BUT, I so love Richard Gere's hair, that I will go out on a limb here and watch the movie. This could be one case where the movie is better than the book.
I like the two actors.

I digress, (as usual)
Rich just walked up behind me and asked me what I was up to.... "getting people to help you pick a book?" and he rolled his eyes.

Tag, your it!

2008-09-17T21:51:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, my daughter in law, Sadie and Smiling Sal sent me a "meme" or a "survey" or a "tag".
Both of them.... at two different times, but within a few days of each other.
I meant to do it right away... I meant to answer
I was supposed to write 6 unique things about myself...and then pass it on to 6 different bloggers.

here are the rules from both of them:
from Smilin' Sal:
Here are the rules:1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Mention the rules on your blog.
3. List 6 unspectacular quirks.
4. Tag 6 bloggers by linking to them on your post and then commenting them to let them know that they are "it!"

from Sadie:
Here are the tag rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Write 6 random things about yourself
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them
5. Let each person you have tagged know by leaving a comment on their blog
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is posted.

I have fallen behind. Time got away from me. I'm a huge procrastinator.... ? (is that unique)
Forgive me?
Quirky or random. I can't think.
hmmmm.....

1. Okay, I collect clocks. My friend Jolina says it's apparent I have an obsession with clocks in my front room. I like clocks. But clocks also...when you think about it...can be quite sad. (the passing of time and all that) But clocks are just so.... I mean, Hickory Dickory Dock-ish...and Grandfather Clock-ish (from Captain Kangaroo) and they have hands, and faces. And they are the keepers of time.
I like the sound of a quiet house and a tic-toc of a clock.
But...I don't wear a watch. So that's kind of quirky.

2. I'm an obsessive note taker. I take notes all the time. I have been known to get out of bed and write something down so i wont' forget it. I have notes in my purse, notes on my desk, and notes in a folder in the desk to use. I have spiral notebooks of notes like Anne Frank had a diary.
I want to write about things in letters to friends or blogs and so I make notes for myself. But, I do not have enough time in the world to write about everything I want to write about.

3. I can crack an egg with one hand. And I can eat with chopsticks. My little grandson, when he saw me crack an egg with one hand ( and I was showing off) told me that I was doing it wrong.

4. I have been to the NYC Marathon. I didn't run, but was support for my friend who did run. I have "walked" in the Bay to Breakers 12k in San Francisco a few times, I have walked in many 5k's, 10k's and mile walk/runs. I do not run tho... I walk. I love them. I love walking for a cause or just walking.
(one would think I was in great shape, but that's not the case. )

5. I have never had a brain freeze from eating ice-cream fast. I can eat, drink ice, ice-cream, slushies...you name it. And I've never had a brain freeze.

6. I love to cook for people. I love to have parties. I love to entertain. I am probably a better party giver than I am a cook.

And then this part is weird.... I am supposed to "tag" how many bloggers? I don't really have that many blogger friends... I mean, I do, but I don't. I don't review or critique books... I just like to write about them, or book related issues and themes. I love to cook, but I don't see this "meme" going around the cooking blogs...at all.
So.... if this is kind of like a chain letter, I'm sorry.....dont' feel you have to do this. :~), but the rules are that I have to "tag" some others...(I don't think I can find six)
I found five!! And remember, if you don't want to play---don't. I just love your blogs and always go to them.

okay...I tag

Meghan at Mstone
she's my sister in law....the best cook EVER, but not a blogger. She has a blog, but it is blank. Maybe if I tag her she'll blog. :~)

Jo at the Adventues of Kitchen Girl http://kitchengirljo.blogspot.com/
she gave me an award, and I repay her how? LOL
and really...I've not seen these "memes" in foodie bloggers, so if she does answer, this will be fun.

Honey Bunch at The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch http://shellymaelawstories.blogspot.com/
Honey is funny. And I know that Grumpy really adores her.

Bermuda Onion at Bermuda Onion's Weblog http://bermudaonion.wordpress.com/
We have switched to book blogs... and her's is great. And she said I was funny once. I love anyone who says I'm funny.

Jenn at Jen's Book Thoughts http://jensbookthoughts.blogspot.com/
I look at her blog every day...and sometimes wish I lived her life. :~) she gets to meet her favorite authors!!

Booking Thru Thursday--villany

2008-09-11T09:51:00.000-07:00

Today is the 7th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. I know that not all of you who read are in the U.S., but still, it’s vital that none of us who are decent people forget the scope of disaster that a few, evil people can cause–anywhere in the world. It’s not about religion, it’s not about politics, it’s about the acknowledgment that humans should try to work together, not tear each other apart, even when they disagree.
So, feeling my way to a question here … Terrorists aren’t just movie villains any more. Do real-world catastrophes such as 9/11 (and the bombs in Madrid, and the ones in London, and the war in Darfur, and … really, all the human-driven, mass loss-of-life events) affect what you choose to read? Personally, I used to enjoy reading Tom Clancy, but haven’t been able to stomach his fight-terrorist kinds of books since.
And, does the reality of that kind of heartless, vicious attack–which happen on smaller scales ALL the time–change the way you feel about villains in the books you read? Are they scarier? Or more two-dimensional and cookie-cutter in the face of the things you see on the news?
*******

Before answering the Booking Through Thursday question, I have to share an excerpt from an e-mail from my sister in law Meghan (the one with the exceptional children...and me, being their Aunt, must say I agree. LOL )
This just struck me as relevant to today's question...

"from Meghan:
I was trying to tell the kids this morning that this is the anniversary of the terrorists attacks... and of course, it is impossible to explain to them or for them to understand without being scared. They ask nonsensical questions and offer alternative outcomes.
'the people should have jumped from one building to another'...'the plane should have flown AROUND'...'I would have punched them in the face and thrown them off the plane' and lastly Devin's question about the many who died that day ' was one of them named Bill?' which made me smile...thank God for her!"

So while we "lived" that history and it could color what we choose to read, children will only see it as something that happened in the past and they can never fully understand what we all felt that day and for days to come. It will never impact the books they read, or their view of the villain in literature.

I mean no-disrespect, but my answer is no. 9-11 hasn't changed my view of the villain or the type of books I read. I like a wide variety and can read anything.
9-11, changed the way I watch movies tho. Seeing the violence is much harder for me than reading about it. I think it's a whole different way of processing that information. Books give me the time, or at least the chance to put the book down if I need to, and process it before continuing.
I do think, tho, that it's better to have a balance in the books I read. A total diet of suspense and thrillers, terrorist thrillers, would be too much of a downer, so it's good to keep that in perspective and balance my type of books.
Life is full of laughter and sadness, happiness and tragedy, wonder and disappointment and I think the books I choose have a good balance of all those things and more.

Book Banning, II

2008-09-10T16:09:00.000-07:00

I guess I should have clarified yesterday....I don't agree with book banning, but age appropriateness is okay. So is parental "censorship". (even tho I hate that word...but I preface it with "parental" ) I just don't want you telling me what "I" can read. And I won't be telling you what "you" should read.
It gets a bit complicated I guess.
Here are three comments/opinions from Friday Friends (of the originals), one is my sister in law, Meghan. She is the mother of two elementary school children. And Traci, my friend who works in a school district Media Center. And my friend Kevin, who worked beside me as the computer teacher in the computer lab when I was the librarian at the Grammar School.

from Meghan:
Funny you mention book banning... I have been kinda worried about the books my kids are reading! Not worried...but ... well, Devin is into the Junie B Jones books..... these are IMMENSELY popular with the kids and ALL the 1st grade TEACHERS read them to the kids and they even go see the LIVE show at the Chabot theater... but we were reading it last night and I kept having to say 'you know that's not ok to do or say' when Junie would call someone stupid or be rude to her teacher... and correcting Junie's grammar as it is terrible... so I AM CENSORING!! I don't know, I guess Ramona books were kinda like that as she was a sassy spitfire... but this seems like it could be a bad influence in a kid susceptible to bad behavior, ya know? And Nate, who is a struggling reader.... his teacher does not believe in giving homework just for the sake of doing another worksheet at home (LOVE her) so asks that the kids read for 30-40 minutes a night...we bought a ton of books to help him get interested... then were recommended Diary of A Wimpy Kid.... which he loves!!! but there are cartoons depicting things that aren't 'appropriate'...calling people morons and such. We sometimes swear in front of our kids, and say silly things but we KNOW our kids .... there is no way they would say anything like that in school... but most 6 or 8 year olds (who are not as exceptional as my kids, lol) would tend to repeat this stuff! what do you think?
I too used to sneak books from my moms closet and read what I was forbidden to... Wifey by Judy Blume (I HAD read all her others! why not this??) and Erica Jung come to mind!

from Traci: I agree with the banning, but I do have question for you?
How do you feel about books that give misinformation (outdated or just morally wrong)to young people. Do you still put the book on the shelf or pull it???

from Kevin:
My first banned book was Tom Jones by Henry Fielding. It was also a banned movie, but the book was one of several the Montrose librarian caught me with in the stacks. I can also remember a big push to ban "Catcher in the Rye" and burning of writing was very popular.
When I was a senior, at the second new high school I attended, I was in the journalism class. I wrote a column about freedom, of expression, and got the whole school newspaper burned.
Lois Lowry is one of the many dynamic writers Debbie introduced me to, when she was the Grammar School librarian in the last century. Just the other night, I watched a movie with the same theme: "Freedom Writers".

So... (me again) what is the answer?
I cant' even remember why Catcher in the Rye was banned. Times have changed, haven't they?

"morals" are subjective, so what I might find offensive, you might not, and so forth. And that's what I don't like about any person or group of people deciding what "I" can read. I want to decide for myself what I can read. And hopefully the "age appropriateness" can kind of weed out the unlawful and "wrong" books for the kids. I don't have a "pat" answer for that question. I don't want any political, religious, or social group telling me what is right or wrong to read, or what is right or wrong for my children or grandchildren read. I don't want educators or community leaders telling me so either.
And, I, in turn will not censor their books. Or their children's books.
It's really a lot more complicated than just a blanket statement. But I would still say I am against the banning of books...any books.

"outdated" ....but it's so much fun to find old books that say things like "Mommy stays home and cleans the house while Daddy goes to work" LOL...too funny. Outdated in non-fiction, of course, but in fiction? How can you be outdated?

And Holy Cow, I've never read the Junie B. Jones books (now you know I'll have to), but I was never a huge fan of serial books until a few years ago and now I'm into mysteries with returning characters.
That too is a complicated situation.
Why is it that some very popular authors have to use means like that? I don't like that, but I wouldn't "ban" it. It's hard sometimes to not cross the line from spunky to obnoxious when writing about a character, I guess.
As a parent I think the way you live your life and let your views be known, your children will pick up on. It's really hard when all the teachers love the books and use them. And in conversation if you voiced your concerns about them, you could be labeled as a CENSURER!! OMG!! Who knew Meghan was a censor. LOL

BUT ... you are still reading them to your kids and having "conversations" over them and about them. YAY!! You didn't ban them or go picket against them. You have a concern as a parent.

I did appreciate those concerns...having to address or look at things from a different view point.... they are things to think about.

List of a few: (from the Forbidden Library dot com)
http://title.forbiddenlibrary.com/

The Call of the Wild. Jack London. Ace; Bantam; Grosset; Macmillan; NAL; Penguin; Pocket Bks.; Raintree; Tempo. Banned in Italy (1929), Yugoslavia (1929), and burned in Nazi bonfires (1932). Who knew Nazis didn't like sled dogs?

Catcher in the Rye. J.D. Salinger. Published in 1951, this immediate best seller almost simultaneously became a popular target of censorship. A 1991-92 study by the People for the American Way found that the novel was among those most likely to be censored based on the fact that it is "anti-Christian." Challenged by Concerned Citizens of Florida who wanted the book removed from a high school library (1991) in Leesburg, Florida due to "profanity, reference to suicide, vulgarity, disrespect, and anti-Christian sentiments." They were unsucessful: a review committee voted unanimously to retain the book.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Roald Dahl. Bantam; Knopf; Penguin. Removed from a locked reference collection at the Boulder, Colo. Public Library (1988), where it had been placed because the librarian thought the book espoused a poor philosophy of life.

A Doll's House. Henrik Ibsen. Penguin. Four members of the Alabama State Textbook Committee (1983)--presumably the same who objected to The Diary of Anne Frank --called for the rejection of this work because it propagates feminist views.

The Egypt Game. Zilpha Keatley Snyder. Dell; Macmillan. This award-winning novel was challenged in the Richardson, Tex. schools (1995) because it shows children in dangerous situations, condones trespassing and lying to parents and ostensibly teaches about the occult. The school board declined to ban this book, but did decide that parents should be notified when it is used in class.

The Happy Prince and Other Stories. Oscar Wilde. Penguin. Challenged at the Springfield, Oreg. Public Library (1988) because the stories were "distressing and morbid."

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Dee Brown. Holt. Removed in Wild Rose, Wis. (1974) by a district administrator for being "slanted." The administrator also said "if there's a possibility that something might be controversial, then why not eliminate it."

The Lorax. Dr. Seuss. Random. Challenged in the Laytonville, Calif. Unified School District (1989) because it "criminalizes the foresting industry." Isn't that the de-foresting industry?

My Friend Flicka. Mary O'Hara. Harper; Lippincott. Removed from fifth and sixth grade optional reading lists in Clay County, Fla. schools (1990) because the book uses the word "bitch" to refer to a female dog, as well as the word "damn."

Where's Waldo? Martin Handford. Little. Challenged at the Public Libraries of Saginaw, Mich. (1989), Removed from the Springs Public School library in East Hampton, N.Y. (1993) because there is a tiny drawing of a woman lying on the beach wearing a bikini bottom but no top. Yes, but did they find Waldo?

A Wrinkle In Time. Madeleine L'Engle. Dell. Challenged at the Polk City, Fla. Elementary School (1985) by a parent who believed that the story promotes witchcraft, crystal balls, and demons. Challenged in the Anniston Ala. schools (1990). The complainant objected to the book's listing the name of Jesus Christ together with the names of great artists, philosophers, scientists, and religious leaders when referring to those who defend earth against evil. Got it. Let's cross Jesus off that list, shall we?

I could go on, but I won't. I will say "AARGHGH!" before I leave tho. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Madeleine L'Engle, who was the writer in residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC, until she died last year.

Okay, that's it. That's my blog for today. :~)

PS I think my niece and nephew are exceptional too!!

Children's Classic picture books

2008-09-09T16:18:00.000-07:00

ooohh.... I think I'm old.
My favorite pictures books are....much older than the other posts I've read. I've kept up on Children's books tho, so I know all the books/illustrators that were mentioned, and enjoyed each of those books too.
but I LOVE..Love....LOVE the illustrations of Robert McCloskey. I don't know why. there is something so, simple but yet not in his illustrations. Maybe that simpler life. But they are so, so detailed. I think I like the illustrators that add those little, small, teeny detail that could pass you by... kind of Like Norman Rockwell, but he isn't a children's book illustrator. But the detail...like a gum wrapper on the floor. I love that kind of detail in a children's book. And I guess I love the older books better.

Blueberries for Sal

Make Way for Ducklings

My husbands favorite was "The Biggest Bear" by Lynn Ward.

I own all these books...so that I can share them with my grandchildren, (who are babies!! Babies... we are not really THAT OLD.)
When I was younger, working in a school library, (the last of my children had just entered elementary school ) I came across this book "Rain" by Peter Speir. I LOVE that book. It's a wordless picture book, about an rainy afternoon, and what the children do to pass the time. But the pictures were mirror images of MY LIFE! What my children did, what my children ate, what my children watched. It was "my life". And I love that book. The illustrations, down to the last minute detail are amazing. (sigh)

I could go on and on and on... even the Dr. Seuss illustrations are kind of cool. In a wacky kind of way. He had a lot of detail... wacky detail, but detail just the same.

Book Banning, an opinion

2008-09-09T14:49:00.000-07:00

I find myself in this interesting blogger world... and kind of in between. I've always been kind of an "in between" person. Friends with everyone. Respecting everyone's viewpoints, enjoying their likes, applauding their causes.
But then sometimes that leaves me feeling, "unknown" to some of even my closest friends.

Why am I writing this? Because I just sent an e-mail to my "Friday Friends Forum" (that's what the "FF" stands for in my blog name ) about book Banning Week.
I STATED AN OPINION. I actually got off the fence!! And then I get nervous. What if not all of my friends agree with me? What'll I do? I'm a dork.
In my own little way, I'm a political wife. My husband is on the city-council of our little town. I've attended functions, shook hands with our governor, ate dinner with our U.S. Senator, organized a candidates night... but I don't like to be "too" political. I just want to appreciate you for who you are!! And I want you to appreciate me for who I am.

Let me back track a bit here.... I find myself, in this blogger world, reading and following blogs from stay-at-home, homeschool mom's all the way to very "intellectual, in-depth, book reviewers. Not to say that we MOMS aren't intellectual, I'm just trying to find a way to show/state the broadness of the blogs I follow.
I go back and forth, back and forth, jumping around reading everyone's opinions and following their stories. And I like them all.

And right now, before I post about my favorite Children's Picture Book, I'm going to post my little rant on Banned Books...hoping it gets lost in the middle.

**I'm not as dumb as I made myself out to be in the 2nd paragraph. I do have opinions, and I think that MOST people can pretty much tell my stance on things by the life I lead. I'm really not afraid to stand up for what I believe. I just don't like to "force" my opinions and beliefs on people. That's it...force. I am not a forceful person. As in: forcing my opinions down your throat. (but you better darn well agree with me here...)

Here is my rant to the FF Forum:
(and a couple of comments from Friday Friends at the bottom. It's a forum, not a blog, so they just e-mail me back. LOL )

My Platform.
Yes, I do have one.
The only thing I am not a fence-walker on.
The only thing I cannot "see the other side" on.
The only thing I feel so strongly about, that I am willing to go out on a limb and walk naked down the street for!! (okay, not naked, but it kind of seems like I am naked when I have to take a stance in front of everyone, because that is not my usual "m.o."
I like to say "oh really? Imagine that.", In lieu of being committal... but...I can't do it on this )
SO HERE IS MY STANCE--naked or not!

BOOK BANNING.
I'm against it.

oh wow! I feel free....free....free.....
I've stepped off the edge.

oh, what's that you say? You already KNEW I didn't believe in book banning?
OH.

Well, anyway.... here is a bit of a blog from author Lois Lowry, (Number the Stars, The Giver, etc)

Banned Books Week
Celebrating the Freedom to Read
September 27–October 4, 2008
Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, this annual ALA event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted. This year, 2008, marks BBW's 27th anniversary (September 27 through October 4).
BBW celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met.

If you want to read all of Lois's Blog, go to...
http://loislowry.typepad.com/lowry_updates/2008/09/from-someone-whose-books-have-been-banned.html

and yes, she does mention Sarah Palin. Once again, I am not stating my political choices, but I cannot agree with book banning. FOR ANY REASON. I can, however, understand and endorse "parental rules and discretion" when it comes to what our children read. It's a parent's obligation to teach their children well (or was that a song by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young?...no that was "teach. your parents well" ) (I'm REALLY sorry I get off on tangents like that)

And on the flip side, I can, understand children disobeying (OMG....did I just say that?) those same rules and sneak reading books in the night (me, Mario Puzo and the Godfather, 1972) (me, William Peter Blatty and The Exorcist, 1973).

My parents had no idea what I was reading. They thought I was still on "Betsy and Tacy" books---which are very good by the way--- my point? I have none, EXCEPT be aware of books that have been banned and GO READ THEM!!!! (and call all the book banner wanna be's HITLER)
See? I really do have an opinion on something. (other than the no ketchup with hot dogs, which is also very important)

I just might make myself a sandwich board and walk up and down main street!!!

comments from
Shelly in Nevada:
I double-dog dare you to!

and Carolyn in Idaho:
I am also against book banning, but I won't walk naked with you----even wearing a sandwich board.....you can still see in the sides!

Booking Through Thursday

2008-09-04T06:08:00.000-07:00

Our BTT question this week.....

Have you ever felt pressured to read something because ‘everyone else’ was reading it? Have you ever given in and read the book(s) in question or do you resist? If you are a reviewer, etc., do you feel it’s your duty to keep up on current trends?

Interesting question.
I've never felt it was "pressure" but, yes, I do get carried away by books that "are in style" (for lack of better terminology). I've read "Twilight" but not the sequels. (I own them though). I wanted to see what the buzz was about and I wanted to read it before I saw the movie. You never know about movies, they can be a spur of the moment thing, and then where would I be? Stuck seeing before reading--and you know how that is.
I am not a reviewer, but I like to keep up on trends...book trends... I want to know what my children are reading and excited about and my 6 year old grandson too. I guess I want to be able to "talk books" with people.

I've always felt "excitement" when a new book or series is all the rage. A lot of times, I'm disappointed in it and wish I had used the library instead of wasting my money, (now that is something I need to work on). My impulsiveness is usually buying the book in question instead of getting it from the library. (like the Twilight Series I bought--in hardback ) I need to stop that practice...but reading the book because of peer pressure, I don't think that's such a bad thing. There are lots worse.

Give Aways! (not for you, but for me, hopefully)

2008-09-03T16:56:00.001-07:00

I live in Nevada. The land of slot machines and 21 tables... not to mention neon and flashing lights. It's everywhere we go. Okay, not EVERYWHERE, it's only in the tourist sections of towns, but I was leading up to a great opening sentence of how I never win ANYTHING, even living here in the gambling state.
So...having said that, I have entered a "give away" for the book "Tomato Girl" by Jayne Pupek.
To increase my odds (Nevada talk) I am blogging about it here on this post with a link back to Bermudaonion's page with the give away info...

http://bermudaonion.wordpress.com/2008/08/31/my-first-book-giveaway-tomato-girl/

you should really check out her give away page and her blog.
But don't...please...please don't enter! You'll ruin my chances of winning.
(sigh) okay, enter if you must.

Lit Flicks Challenge

2008-09-03T16:11:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I signed up for the Lit Flicks challenge. It started on the 1st and I haven't turned in my list of books to movies that I'm going to do yet.
So, here it is... my blog post with my list.

As of September 1st, I've read Pride and Prejudice...on the 1st. In a car. On the ride back from Washington state. I had to do this for the "Classic Book Club Challenge" and it could fit in this challegn too ... if I need it near the end.
And now I get to re-watch the PBS series staring Colin Firth. YAY!

So, one down 4 to go. For the challenge anyway.
On August 29th on the ride up there, I read "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" because I've never read it and I want to see the movie before seeing the 2nd movie which is out right now, and because I want to see the 1st movie I want to read the book first. (whew...long sentence)
And then a week or so ago, I read "Nights in Rodanthe" by Nicolas Sparks. I will still see the movie when it comes out, but...really...the book was painful for me. (don't tell ..I'm sure Nicolas Sparks is a fine man, and hey, he can write. People love his books---just not me, I've discovered)
It was just such a predictable love story, and I'm just not into that. The Movie Trailer looks different than the book, so I'm hoping for better. Richard Gere's hair for one thing!
But those two came before September 1st, before the challenge started.

Here is my list for the challenge

1. Gone with the Wind. (I'm probably the only person ever who hasn't read this)
2. 1984 (I own it, but have never read it)
3. Watership Down (I own this one too, but also haven't read it)
4. Jurassic Park
5. Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Colladi

now for the questions

1. Are you more likely to see a movie if it’s based on a book?
I watch a lot of movies, so "more likely" doesn't really fit for me, although it is fun to see movies of your favorite books, but sometimes very disappointing.

2. Do you prefer to read the book first or see the movie first?
I like to read the book first. Sometimes I find it hard to understand how someone who didn't read the book can "get" the movie. The movies leave so much out, but I guess you just "get it" on a different level.
And after re-reading what I wrote above about "The Traveling Pants", I see I'm a sucker for reading the book first if I possibly can.

3. List one movie that was better than the book it’s based on, and one book that is better than the movie.
Too difficult!!

4. In your opinion, what film is the most accurate representation of the book?
All 3 Godfathers put together? Does that count? LOL
Probably PBS's mini-series of Pride and Prejudice.

Book Clubs

2008-09-02T16:11:00.000-07:00

I'm just posting the books to be read over the next few months for "one" of my bookclubs.
the Totally Literature bookclub.

I figure that I can send a link to the bookclub group, even tho they are not bloggers, they can read and see the list (chosen by different members of the group), or see the book, as the case may be.

This club is a very eclectic group, with eclectic choices.
As most of my bookgroups are.
Here are the choices for the next few months for the Totally Lit bookclub:

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein--September 24th

Tangerine by Edward Bloor-- October 29th

Up Pops the Devil by Angels Benson--November 19th

And as an extra bonus, here are September choices for--they don't have a name, so I will call them:
New Book Club
RED, Passion and Patience in the Desert by Terry Tempest Williams--September 25th

Library Book Club
The Basque Hotel by Robert Laxalt--September 16th

My 4th bookclub is "The Literary Guild" and it is the oldest social club in our little town of Winnemucca, NV. I am 49 years old and I am one of the "young ones" who are kind of upsetting some of the older ladies, with our wild thoughts and crazy ways.
We don't all read the same book, but have "book talks" at a local restaurant once a month.
Then in this blogworld, I have signed up for 3 or 4 reading challenges....crazy me! I know how those old ladies feel about me now. ~grins~
As you can tell, different people like different books and that is the point of letting others chose. It isn't always easy to give up that control of what you read, but it's really rewarding in some ways to get outside of your box. Some of them are regional, some local authors, some mass-market media, some literature, a little bit of everything. It should be fun!

I'll be giving my short little reviews on here after each bookclub meeting.

I also have no idea why my pictures got smaller and smaller as the blog went on. This in no way my opinion of the books. :~) I haven't even read most of them.

Pride and Prejudice, a challenge

2008-09-02T14:41:00.000-07:00

To be honest, I put off reading this book. I was daunted by the language. Or so I thought.
So, this past week, we loaded up the car to head north to a wedding. "North" being an 8 hour trip to Washington state.
I took 2 books.... The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (no, I had never read it) and Pride and Prejudice. I had 8 hours up and 8 hours back. I finished the Sisterhood in a few hours.
I put off Pride.
We arrived, we had a nice weekend. My step son got married, we saw family, we ate out A LOT. We went to a bookstore, got some really neat local/Washington State books, went to a gigantic produce stand, ate, visited and had an all around nice time.
Monday morning, we got back in the car, I took a nap. 2 hours into the trip, I grudgingly pulled out the book....
Ahh... I was pleasantly surprised! I really enjoyed it. And kick myself for not starting it sooner. I had no trouble getting into it. That famous first line.... that was the one I began with, and I read all kinds of great lines out loud to my husband through-out the day. He was a captive audience, just sitting in the car beside me.
As someone else mentioned, I am by no means a great book reviewer, well, they didn't mention that I WAS NO GREAT BOOK REVIEWER, they said they weren't and I'm agreeing with their opinion of themselves, in regards to myself.
But you knew that, didn't you?
Anyway, descriptive words escape me now...as they always do when I have something important to write, but I liked it. I'm glad I read it. I don't think without this challenge I would have. I have owned the book for quite sometime, but it's one of those things way, way down at the bottom of a "to be read" pile. (what is the blogger acronym for that, TBR? What is ARC, someone help please. LOL ).
I have a horrible habit of digressing, sorry. I fell in love with the way Austen was able to get the personalities of her characters to come across in her writing. I love Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bennett the best and that Lydia was such a twit! Austen just has a way of making you either love them or hate them... and it's interesting because while reading, we never really know that Mr. Darcy will "melt" (if I can use that word), but we come to hope and pray that he will, we come to be his champion, because Austen somehow makes us know what's really inside his heart and mind.
I only wish I would have read it earlier. I think it would have been (and still could be) a great summertime "hammock" book. Maybe I'll do that next year.
I have seen the PBS series (many times) with Colin Firth and think he is the very best Mr. Darcy EVER. I've seen the Keira Knightly movie and it was--good. Just recently I watched "the Jane Austen Bookclub", which has nothing to do with Jane Austen, but it was cute.
This is short, but I' am short on time.

It's Monday and I have a bookmark.

2008-09-01T20:49:00.000-07:00

It's Monday, and I have a bookmark! But it's also late and I'm tired....just got back from a wedding in Washington. (more on that later).

My favorite "used" and "independant" book store was closed for the holiday weekend (in my hometown in WA), so we ended up going to Barnes and Noble (we live in a small town with NO bookstores, so they are all special to me). Anyway, I picked up this bookmark while I was there. Spanish sayings. I need to learn them, so......

Booking Thru stories

2008-08-28T05:56:00.001-07:00

If you’re anything like me, one of your favorite reasons to read is for the story. Not for the character development and interaction. Not because of the descriptive, emotive powers of the writer. Not because of deep, literary meaning hidden beneath layers of metaphor. (Even though those are all good things.) No … it’s because you want to know what happens next?
Or, um, is it just me?

This was our question for "Booking Through Thursdays".

I am finding it hard to answer. Can I say "it depends?" I think it's the story MOST of the time, but I am also addicted to series mystery novels where the same characters are in every book. I love the characters, the settings--I don't know why I fell in love with the settings of the mysteries (it's a mystery to me. LOL...okay that was bad ), but I have. I love Tess Monaghan's Baltimore, and Stephanie Plumb's Trenton, NJ, and Temperance Brennan's Quebec. I could go on and on, but you get the picture. These characters are my friends and their homes places I want to visit.

But a good story is a good story, and it is very.... emotional, for lack of a better word. When you are reading a good book and get caught up in the story-line and are feeling the happiness, despair, loneliness, amazement, fright that takes place because of the "story", well, there is no better fun, relaxation, escape (insert your adverb here) than that. Wanting to know what happens next, but also feeling sad because you know you're nearing the end of the book, and you don't want that either.

There is nothing better than a good story! I still think my answer would have to be "it depends"
I think sometimes it's hard to separate the two, the story just for itself and the characters ... because don't you come to love the characters, or at least have some connection with them, because of the story? If the story is no good, then you really have no bond to the characters. The two go hand in hand, but it's a good story that first grabs you and holds you. If I look at it that way, then story has to be first, or else why would you keep on reading?

Thank you for the introspection today, now I know, it's the story that gets you. Or me, as the case may be. No more depends for me... I have stepped off the fence.

oops

2008-08-27T16:23:00.001-07:00

Having trouble today....with spelling. (check out my other blog.... http://thefridayfriends.blogspot.com/ )

I'm sure it's some hidious disease. I will let you know as soon as I find out and you'll all feel appropriately sorry for me instead of making fun of me and my spelling.

That is supposed to be (in my last post) "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel PIE Society." Not pkie....whatever that is.

The Guernsey Literary

2008-08-27T16:18:00.000-07:00

I am reading "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pkie Society".
I am almost done.... and I don't want it to end.
I am enjoying it very much. In fact, I love it.
Tonight is my (one of 4) bookclub meeting and we are supposed to be discussing "The Double Bind" which I also enjoyed, but this, this book: I LOVE.
I have 40 pages left...and I don't know what to do. I really don't want it to end.

Okay.....here I go, off to finish it.
Will send pictures and a summary of book club tomorrow.

Bookmark Monday...(for me)

2008-08-25T05:50:00.000-07:00

Sometime during the last week, my friend April confided in me that she knew EXACTLY what hell is. She said it would be being locked in the largest library in the world forever and when you open a book, there is nothing but blank pages.

This actually gave me nightmares. LOL

Last Thursday was yet another book club meeting. We discussed "The Girls" by Lori Lansens. (has anyone read it?)

I am a lay-critic, or an amateur (how do you spell it??) reveiwer, but I will try...in a very short blog.

"The Girls" is about conjoined twins who are linked at the head. They are not able to operate to seperate the girls, so their lives will be tragically spent as oddities to the outside world. But over the course of the book, written in alternating chapters by each twin, we come to see them, not as "freaks" but as people, girls with hopes and dreams of their own.

So.... I told you it was going to be short.

I liked the book.... I think it helped me to see how differences in people are .... I don't know what the word is, but I guess it helped me to see what the world sees as "freaks" as people, with feelings. I use the word freaks, because that is what the outside world used to call them. And sometimes their only hope to live on their own was to join the circus or carnival's freak show. It' sad when you think about it.

I'm not to sure the rest of the book club liked the book. They were a little hesitant to say they liked it. But they didn't dislike it either.

It was a Scheindler's List kind of book.

And I will leave you with this.... my bookmark, chosen at random in the dark, out of my flowerpot on the book shelf in my bedroom where my bookmark collection lives, before stumbling down the stairs to make coffee at 5:00 a.m. this morning.

Dorothy from the Wizard of OZ.

Thursday...let's book thru it!

2008-08-21T10:31:00.000-07:00

Today's Booking Through Thursday question is:

Whether you usually read off of your own book pile or from the library shelves NOW, chances are you started off with trips to the library. (There’s no way my parents could otherwise have kept up with my book habit when I was 10.) So … What is your earliest memory of a library? Who took you? Do you have you any funny/odd memories of the library?

I loved the library when I was young... it was a magical place. I first remember it at the elementary school I went to, Westgate Elementary. I can't remember the librarian's name, but I can still see her face. She was beautiful to me, a 3rd grader... her hair in a bun, cat eye glasses with jewels and a chain, and black sensible shoes. (this was quite some time ago, if you haven't picked up on that. LOL ).
The school library was probably no bigger than a regular classroom at the time, but it was huge in my mind, filled with shelves of books just for me. The Boxcar Children, Baby Island, The Cay, The Mouse and the Motorcycle! And it smelled so good....that wonderful musty booky smell.
And old Mrs. hair in bun, cat eye glasses, sensible shoe Librarian would read to us. We'd file in, having just heard that Callie's, (the girl who sits across from us in class,) brother had been killed in Viet Nam. We'd sit on the floor, sad and scared....and Mrs. hair in bun, cat eye glasses, sensible shoes, would then take us away!!
She'd take us to completely different worlds, where the "children" were in control (Boxcar Children, Baby Island, Gone-Away Lake) and we would lose our sorrow and fright in a different world. And then the recess bell would ring and we would all scramble to get our books checked out in time to go outside, except for me, who would like to linger as long as I could and just breath in that wonderful smell of the library and Mrs. Hair in Bun, cat eye glasses, Sensible shoes. (I think she wore White Shoulders perfume).

Fast Forward to my 2nd library memory....the summer between my 6th grade year and 7th grade years...1972. The public library and summer reading programs. My friend Kathy and I would ride our bikes down to the library and agonize over which 6 books (this was back when we had baskets on our bikes ) we were allowed to take home for a check out period of 2-weeks. (We, of course were always back the next week, so what did it matter that we could only take home 6 each?) But agonize we did... there was always a 7th or 8th one we wanted. And we passed back and forth a book by Zilpha Keatly Snyder, called "The Changeling".
We LOVED that book. I don't think anyone else got to check it out all summer long.

I met Zilpha Keatly Snyder years later...

LOL, I've always wanted to write a line like that....ahhahaaa...
okay, so I attended a conference where Zilpha Keatly Snyder was giving a class and I bought a book and had her autograph it and at that time I told her that I LOVED "The Changeling" when I was an adolescent and she smiled and said...."oh, so you're one of the Changeling Crowd."
Like we were special!! We were "one of them" The Changelings.
I will be a Changeling forever!!
You know...I think I'm going to go buy that book right now.

So those are my first memories of libraries.

I Love libraries....thanks for the question AND the memories. .. and I know that none of you know me, but I was just appointed to our little town's Library Board. I was sworn in and everything. Hooray!

I get it

2008-08-18T15:21:00.000-07:00

I get it!! There is a list of acceptable books for the Lit-Flick challange! I can do this! LOL
FORGET RICHARD GERE'S HAIR..... I'll still read that book and watch that movie.

But, I noticed "Watership Down" is on the list. I've owned the book for years and have never read it.... so perhaps it will be my first one.

Lit-flicks

2008-08-18T14:31:00.000-07:00

I have a food blog in addition to this blog. To be honest, the food blog is hard for me. You have to take pictures of everything you make, sometimes step by step.

Like this:
set out veggies--snap photo
chop veggies--snap photo
put veggies in soup pot--snap photo

You get the picture. I have a food blog. And I love it....or I love other foodblogs. :~) I have only signed up for one food challenge, because of the time consuming photographing my cooking!!

This brings me to TODAY, and today I found this challenge. A book challenge. YAY. The "Lit-Flicks" challenge!!! I'm excited.

Yes, I know I have a couple of other "book" or "reading" challenges out there.... BUT, the difference between a "food challenge" and a "book/reading challenge" is night and day.

Read, write, read, write, read, write...... ah, the simple pleasures of life.

I have chosen my first novel/film!!!

ARGH!!!! I can't think of the name. LOL It's a Nicholas Sparks book and the movie has Richard Gere and it will be released in September. I have the book, but haven't read it yet. It was actually next on my list...

AHA....."Nights in Rodanthe"... that's the book. And movie. #1. I have to read five novles, that have been made into movies in.... 6 months: September 1st, 2008 to Feb 28, 2009.

I also have to watch at least 2 of the movies, but I will watch all 5, BECAUSE what's the fun in not doing that? (also am a tad bit obsessive about certain things)

Bookmark Monday

2008-08-18T12:06:00.001-07:00

I told myself I was going to do this.... I'm going to do this. Even tho I am running on empty. :~)

I am feeling very unorganized.

I know that with most people, they would want to get a hold of that organization, but me? I need to finish my book first. LOL

Seriously....when I'm feeling anxious about anything and am in the middle of a book, I NEED to finish that book, and not pick up another one until I'm more in control of what needs to be done. And also writing a list will help me. When I can see my stuff on paper, that alone will stop the anxiety. It's being able to cross stuff off... total prozac moment for me. (sigh....ah, crossing stuff off the list )

Anyway...... I grabbed a bookmark from my flowerpot this morning (that's where I keep them) and it was this one!!!

The "Catch the Reading Bug" promotion for the Summer reading programs at public libraries.

We did it...we caught the reading bug, my grandson and I!

Yay!!!

Bookin Thru this Thursday ( when i should be doing other things)

2008-08-14T10:05:00.001-07:00

Today's "Booking Through Thursdays" question is:
First:
Do you or have you ever read books about the Olympics? About sports in general?
Fictional ones? Or non-fiction? Or both?
And, Second:
Do you consider yourself a sports fan?
Because, of course, if you’re a rabid fan and read about sports constantly, there’s a logic there; if you hate sports and never read anything sports-related, that, too … but you don’t have to love sports to enjoy a good sports story.
(Or a good sports movie, for that matter. Feel free to expand this into a discussion about “Friday Night Lights” or “The Natural” or whatever…)

I can't recall actually having read a book specifically about the Olympics. But sports in general, yes.

I am a fan of the "idea" of sports. And how do I explain that one? I like the idea of the sense of "team" and "community pride" that sports brings to people.
I can cry just hearing "Casey at the Bat". I can tear up watching Michael Phelps win his medals. But as far as being a die-hard, forever fan... that's not me. I mean, for a specific team or sport... in general, yes, I love sports.
But as far as book about sports, I do love them. I raised 4 boys... who weren't always in the "mainstream" sports, but did swimming and cross country. My youngest did football, and they all tried baseball, but the sports that stuck with them were water sports and track and field.
So, we loved to read about the underdog, the kids who came from behind to win the game... or at least have a "coming of age" experience thru sports in the story.
I think it was that "coming of age" experience in sports stories that made me love the "idea" of sports.

I am not a rabid fan, nor a sports hater, but I do love a good sports story.... particularly as you can tell from my comments above, a Young Adult or Juvenile sports story. (and I guess you can tell I have a soft spot in my heart for Children's literature).
It's good to have an appreciation of sports even if they're not "your thing".... and that is where good sports books come in. You can live vicariously through a story and have empathy for the characters, suffering with them in their "agony of defeat" and celebrating with them in the "glory of victory" and perhaps learning something about yourself in the process.

Ninety-Nine percent of the sports books I read will be fiction, but I also love to read non-fiction about the Brooklyn Dodgers.
"the Boys of Summer" and Doris Kearns Goodwin's memoir "Wait till Next Year", are two great ones.

And I love, love, love sports movies too. (Field of Dreams, the Sandlot, Bull Durham) There is still that "coming of age" theme running throughout, even if it is aimed at adults.
Don't you think?

oops....My Father's Dragon

2008-08-13T16:12:00.000-07:00

I was so busy yesterday that I forgot to blog about my favorite "Classic" children's book.

Okay... I cannot tell a lie. I forgot. It wasn't because I was "too" busy. I just plain forgot.
I was busy at work.... but when I went home, my grandson was there and we had a nice relaxing enjoyable few hours before he went back home. I made his favorite meal: chicken nuggets and fries. Yum.
(I'm his grandmother, so I don't have to do healthy food choices all the time do I? )

Anyway, after we ate dinner on the patio and he watered my plants and squirted the dog (he is 6) he got interested in an old Royal Typewriter of my dad's that I have.
So, while he was busy putting in paper and typing, I began to read to him.
(this isn't something new)
We were in the middle of "My Father's Dragon" by Ruth Stiles Gannett.

THERE YOU HAVE IT! My children's classic. It will be "My Father's Dragon"

At first, because my grandson was very interested in the typewriter, he said, "You don't have to read to me grandma."
But I said I wanted to, and I began where we had left off. I finished one chapter and thought we would be done, but he turned to me, by this time he had actually stopped typing, and said..."Gramma, you can read more if you want to."

Which tells me a few things:
It's a great Read-A-Loud. It really is. Camron, my grandson, is always drawn into it, as I knew he would be last night.
It's a Newberry Honor book, it's short enough for children with short attention spans. It keeps their attention.
(or maybe it's just my grand read-aloud voice. LOL ).

To give a quick review of the book, it was published in 1945, I believe, it is a quick imaginative story about Elmer Elevator, a boy who runs away to Wild Island to rescue a baby dragon. It is narrated by Elmer's son, many years later.
It is an adventure story in the most simple terms.
And who can resist a good adventure story?
Certainly not my 6 year old grandson!
It's also a fantasy, with each chapter, revealing personality traits of different characters, all who happen to be animals.
Elmer must use his wits and his "McGyver" type of resourcefulness to outwit the animals on the Island to get to the dragon.

I say it's a Classic!!
Anything that can get my grandson to stop fiddling and curl up next to me and tell me I can keep reading.... THAT is a classic.

so....that's my excuse for not particiapting yesterday.
sorry... but I was off finding a dragon......

PS yes, I would recommend it to anyone. It really is a great little book.

Book Awards Reading Challenge II

2008-08-12T10:44:00.000-07:00

I think I'm going to do this... NO... I AM going to do this. The Book Award Challenge II.

This are the rules:

Read 10 award winners from August 1, 2008 through June 1, 2009.
You must have at least FIVE different awards in your ten titles.
Overlaps with other challenges are permitted.
You don't have to post your choices right away, and your list can change at any time.
'Award winners' is loosely defined; make the challenge fit your needs.

I care not about winning.... it is the reading.
And I'm a terrible blogger... well, actually, I'm a great "blogger", (random thoughts) but blogging a review of a book, I might officially suck at. :~)
While I read all the time, and while I read a variety of books from all genres, my vocabulary still remains in my teenage youth of the 1970's, and I tend to describe everything as "cool".

So, if you bear with me... I'm in for the challenge!

Waffles and Bookmarks

2008-08-10T21:43:00.000-07:00

Yes, seriously....

My favorite waffle recipe comes from a Newberry Honor book....

"Everything on a Waffle" by Polly Horvath

Would could have known? My two favorite things in one!!!

It's a cute, cute story about a young girl who looses both her parents.... well, gee, with a beginning like that, it might seem that this book is not neccisarily "cute", but it's done in that imaginative, playful way. Like all the emotion is out of it and it's just a young orphan girl who is passed from relative to relative. It's good natured and not dark. How's that for description?

But today is Sunday and we had the waffles!!!

Hooray for waffles... and hooray for author Polly Horvath for putting her recipe in the book!

Today is Sunday, but by the time anyone looks at this blog...it might be Monday.

BOOK MARK MONDAY!!!

From my personal bookmark collection...

book mark #2

Other Worlds

2008-08-07T07:18:00.000-07:00

This week's "Booking Through Thursday" Questions are:

Are there any particular worlds in books where you’d like to live?
Or where you certainly would NOT want to live?
What about authors? If you were a character, who would you trust to write your life?

I would want to live in the world of Janet Evanovich's "Stephanie Plumb"!
She eats whatever she wants (mostly junk food) and never gains weight, men fall in love with her (hmmmm...but they also die around her), she has adventure, a funny grandma, a family who still sits around the dinner/supper table, but mostly she's hot and she has Joe Morelli.
Of course this falls in the FANTASY category. :~)

Or I would want to be in Gillian Roberts "Amanda Pepper" mystery world. Amanda is a prep-school English teacher in Pennsylvania, but her boy "friend" is CK Mackenzie from Alabama. His best line ever? (when letting Amanda know that being Southern didn't mean being stupid---sadly a misconception that northerners sometimes have. I am a westerner, so I am not included in those misconceptions....)
"I might talk slow... but I don't think slow", he said in his slow southern drawl, while running his deep blue eyes over her body. (I made that part up....running his deep blue eyes, etc)
Okay...I was hooked. In love!!

And no....I'm not a boy crazy 14 year old. LOL, I've just been reading a lot of series mysteries lately.
I also just finished "The Great Gatsby", a world I would not want to live in!! The partying, the drinking (not that I don't enjoy a nice glass of wine with dinner , the womanizing. The lives of the idle rich...not a world for me.

How about the world of "Anne of Green Gables"? Now there's a world that I could live in! I do talk a lot....although I don't have red hair, but I just loved Anne and her world with Marilla and Matthew, and later with Gilbert on Prince Edward Island.
I so wanted a Kindred Spirit!

And the author I would want to write my life would probably be Jan Karon. She does a good job of not making things "too" Pollyanna-ish, I think. But at the same time, she makes her characters lives so --- I can't think of the word I want ---so, envied maybe? Humorous and likable anyway.

When I was a boy crazy 14 year old, I would have wanted Mario Puzo to write my life. I had just read "The Godfather" (my parents had no idea!!!) and the Mafia life was very intriguing to me.
Thank goodness we grow up!

Book Lover

2008-08-06T23:01:00.000-07:00

It just seemed like the thing to do.....

now, you can see me. Coming or Going.

Book Mark Monday

2008-08-05T09:34:00.000-07:00

Okay....2 things.

It's not Monday, it's actually Tuesday, but it's my birthday and I want to show off my bookmarks. Bookmark "Monday" Sounds better. :~)

and 2nd...I don't know how to start a "carnival" or a "show-me-your-bookmark" contest, or whatever you call them....

(and I very seriously doubt that anyone but my friends and family check out my blogs)

but every week...hopefully on Mondays, I will showcase a bookmark of mine. LOL

I have many. Many, many.... this showcase will go on for years. And years. Probably won't even have "blogs" by the time I run out of bookmarks.

This is my newest bookmark --I'll start with that one.

Coffee book mark. Coffee and books...they seem to go together.

It is currently holding my place in "Pride and Prejudice" which I am reading for the "Classic Bookclub".

It's on page 1. (because Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plump is holding all my attention for the time being )

Coffee Bookmark.

Come on friends...what have you got? Bring 'em on.

(that sounds great, but sadly, Mitzi is the only one I know who also has a bookmark collection. :~)

That man of mine

2008-08-03T14:04:00.000-07:00

You know that "man o mine?"

The one who never used to read?

well....I came home from work on Friday at 5:00 and this is where I found him.

(living with me for 30 years has had its influence!! LOL)

(and so YES, I did go downtown to the old car show with him on Friday night. AND again for a bit on Sunday afternoon. He had to judge a car. And we got roped into judging the costume contest for 50's Fever )

forgotten

2008-08-01T07:01:00.000-07:00

I forgot "Booking Through Thursdays"!
Well....I actually didn't forget, but it was a crazy day. I worried about it all day
Well....I thought about it a few times during the day, wondering if I would have time to blog.
And I didn't.
I went to work at 8:00 a.m.
I got home at 10:30 p.m.
I didn't even open a book yesterday! OH MY!!
I'll book thru next Thursday tho. :~)

Book Club BBQ

2008-07-31T06:50:00.000-07:00

The Great Gatsby.....and the Totally Lit Bookclub

We met last night, at my house, for our book club Totally Literature...(or Lit for short), and it's funny because while I took a few pictures, I didn't see a book in any of them.
I saw food...and I saw wine. And I saw friends having a nice time. But we really, really did talk about the book. Quite a lot.

The Great Gatsby.
Check out the potato salad, (made by Cindy) in honor of "Daisy".

That was the only theme of the night....except for perhaps, the decadent (not), extravagant (not), indulgent (not), profuse (not), BBQ.

Many thanks to fellow book clubbers, Kathy and April, for coming early to help me put the ka-bobs on the skewers.
It isn't the ka-bobs themselves that are hard to do (a little meat, a little marinade), it's the skewering of them.
(I think I'm making up words as I go along here...skewering?)
I would have still been "ka-bobbing" this morning, if not for their help.

Ah, my point? Book Club.
As always, it is fun to hear everyone's opinion of the book. Sometimes they vary slightly and sometimes there is a huge difference, but we always enjoy the points of view.
It's early...6:00 a.m.
my brilliant blogging ability is "still asleep". My words are not flowing from my mind to my fingertips this morning. sorry. :~)

We ate and talked and then we kept talking and talking and talking---about the book of course.
I think towards the end of our discussion, we came to the conclusion... because some of us had a hard time understanding why "Gatsby" was one of the "Great American Novels".... that for it's time, it was a very controversial book. Something new, a shocking social commentary of the very rich. And F. Scott Fitzgerald was one of the first post ( oh what was it? I've taken literature classes for heaven's sake... I just can't think this morning) Postmodernism... no, maybe that's not right....
But he is considered one of the "Lost Generation" those American Authors, or rather "literary notables" to quote Ernest Hemingway, who lived abroad, in Paris, after WWI, and wrote very, very depressing novels. But very, very worth reading.
In some ironic way.....looking back now.... I think Fitzgerald's novel of Gatsby is a bit autobiographical. Only a bit. (and its' sad, when you think about it), the partying, the drinking, the wastefulness, the flaunting of money, the women.... and then at the end of his life, (Fitzgerald's) the obituaries were condescending and very few people attended his funeral...he was 44 years old.

It was a nice evening. A nice book talk.... it got darker and while you can't tell in the pictures, I had to get a flashlight to be able to see my notes on the book...and then we'd pass it around...just like a campfire group!
There is nothing nicer than talking about books with friends. And eating with friends. And laughing with friends.
We did it all last night.....at the Totally Lit Book Club meeting.

Classics Bookclub

2008-07-29T15:08:00.000-07:00

I just signed up --- well, not really signed up, but committed to --- the Classics Bookclub. I'm in. I'm all about it.
I'm wondering where in the world I put my "Pride and Predj..." (where is spell check when I need it?). It's probably under the bed. Honestly, it was on my nightstand for well over a year.
I've never read it, but have watched the PBS version with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy.
I'm excited and so glad that I don't have to read it by "next" Tuesday.... the 6th.

BTW.... for those of you who have seen more than one version of it on TV, at the movies, on DVD...
Who is your favorite Mr. Darcy?

What's on your Nightstand?

2008-07-29T10:41:00.000-07:00

I'm new at blogging... not so new at reading and/or cooking and/or wondering about the meaning of life. LOL
so, quite by accident, I came across this site "5 minutes for books" and there was this question/logo/whatever you call it...( I did say I was new to all this didn't I? I really should check into all this stuff before I dive right in. I hate being the newkid on the block who doesn't know what she is doing. )
What's on my nightstand?

It's a challenge! Or an invitation... to join in and blog about what's on your nightstand. So, I did. Or I am. (check it out, it's really fun!)

So...what's on my Nightstand?

well..... literally this:

After seeing the movie "Prince Caspian" last month, I went home and got all my "Narnia" books out of the closet and set them on my nightstand.
I lovingly glanced thru each one before setting it aside. (on top of "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, which I've been meaning to read, but haven't yet.).
My husband sat in bed beside me with a bemused look on his face. He couldn't figure me out. He is not a "real" reader (only having taken it up in the past few years, as he said I've been pushing books on him--what else was he to do), so he has no love of books from his childhood. No sense of wonder and awe, about a book that "took him away". It makes me sad to think about.
But anyway, he thought it funny, that I treated them as old friends. He doesn't understand how much I loved them!!

But I see now that I'm missing #3. Which means I'll have to go open the book closet door and try to find it. I wouldn't want it to be lost. And really....in my book closet (one of many, but this being the "saved" for my grandchildren book closet) it would be easy to get lost.

I have just finished "The Great Gatsby" (it was on my nightstand yesterday) which we will be discussing at our bookclub tomorrow night. I'm really glad I read it, as I am one of the few who wasn't required to read it in highshool lit class.
When you read a classic, or I should say, when I read a classic, it takes me a chapter or two to really get into the rhythm of the language and how they wrote. But once I'm there, I really enjoy it.
It was an interesting book.... we read it as a preface to our August book "The Double Bind" by Christopher Bohjalian, as we've heard he alludes to the Great Gatsby in his book. It's also funny, that when you read a book, a classic, that then you are so aware of all the references to that book in your everyday life. Things you've probably never noticed before.
The other book I've just finished is "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak. A GREAT READ. If you haven't read it, you must. It wasn't something I would have picked up, but it was for another book club (I only belong to four)

and then my list of read books this summer is:
Death on Demand by Carolyn Hart
In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer Fleming
Sleep Towards Heaven
The Book of Joe
My Sister's Keeper
The Girls
Blind Spot
The Art of Racing in the Rain

But summer is only half over..... there is more waiting to be read.....

I can't wait till next month.

Genre Challenge

2008-07-28T14:52:00.000-07:00

I am going to take up the "Genre Challenge" ...... anyone else?
check it out at

http://bookwormsandtea.blogspot.com/

I am new at this blogging, but I read a lot and I like to discuss it and write about it.
I will do ALL of the Challenge. I will a book from every genre.
It should be fun!

Not Thursday but worth mentioning

2008-07-27T06:30:00.000-07:00

I know it's not "Thursday", it's Sunday, but I've been away for a wedding. My daugther in law sent these "first lines" ....and I'm going to post them here because not everyone will read the comments.
It's interesting how the "Booking Thru Thursday" question, continues on in book clubs and discussions outside of the blog.

Loved these books....

I like,
"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth."
From the Catcher in the Rye.

and

"I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice-- not because if his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother's death, but because he is the reason I believe in God: I am Christian because of Owen Meany.
-A Prayer for Owen Meany.

Booking thru Thursdays

2008-07-24T15:11:00.000-07:00

What are your favourite first sentences from books? Is there a book that you liked specially because of its first sentence? Or a book, perhaps that you didn’t like but still remember simply because of the first line?

I have a secret... I can't think of any!! Normally, I would rush to my bookshelf and pull out a couple of great books, and make like I knew these great beginning lines all along, but (second secret) I'm at work (no worries about getting caught, I'm the boss), and there is no bookshelf full of books waiting for me here.
Just off the top of my head, it would have to be the classic "It was a dark and stormy night..."

Hey...what can I say? This is all new to me...forgive me.
I'll catch on... I'm usually a fast learner.

Day 2

2008-07-24T14:32:00.000-07:00

Day two of the FF book blogging adventure.
Just finished "The Book Thief" in time for tonight's book club meeting. (we're having Indian food... ??? ... but it will be good) And so fun to get together with other bookies. Bookies? no, that doesn't sound right.
I am switching between 2 blogs. One, a food blog, where we do call each other "foodies".
So, here in my BRAND NEW book blog.... we are.... Lovers of books?

Just a little big about me, in case anyone's paying attention...
I just got appointed to our local Library Board. yay!
I "used" to be a children's librarian---not accredited (and not a great speller LOL), we live in a very small town, but I loved and was good at it, nonetheless.

Okay...that's it for now. My blog just looked so....empty.

I'm still checking out things....book sites, blogs and groups I need to belong to.
Any suggestions?

Hello

2008-07-23T15:23:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess I can't have it all. In one spot that is... one "blogspot". So, here is the launching of the Friday Friends Book Blog.