One Day by David Nicholls

After finishing the book, One Day by David Nicholls, I was happy to see that it was going to be made into a movie. The story is about a couple who hook up on the last day of college and each chapter of the book is the same day, the following year. It's interesting to see how they change, but how much their friendship still means to each other, even as they don't leave college as a couple. The secondary characters are just as colorful as the main characters. The book did get predictable near the end, I won't go further than that, but if you read it, please send me your thoughts on it. I really enjoyed the book and recommend it as I wanted to keep reading to see what the years would bring as I moved through the chapters. Anne Hathaway is playing the main character, great casting!

Amazon.com: One Day (Vintage Contemporaries Original) (9780307474711): David Nicholls: Books

Summer Reading- The Postmistress and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I have said it before and it bears repeating, my town library is the best thing about this small town. Seriously, it's called the Baker Free Library, the librarians are all nice book lovers who share their favorite books with patrons and there are no library fines. (Hence the free in the name) Besides the fact that there is always parking, it's a great place to hang out, since the building was remodeled about 10 years ago and it's homey and comfortable, plus, I can get any book I want due to intra-library loan in New Hampshire.  This summer, I have been going to the library about once a week due to the list of "you should read this, but it's on reserve" books that the librarians put together for me at the beginning of the summer. As the books get to my name, I get the call and the next day, I am at the library. The top two books on the list this summer, were, The Postmistress by Sarah Blake and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the first was recommended they the librarians and the second was due to me seeing the book everywhere during my travels and wondering what it was about.

Click on book to see it on Amazon.com

I just finished The Postmistress today, as I was given "strict" instructions to read it first this past Thursday when I went in to pick it up along with another recommended chick lit book. Seems there is quite a list for this book. Did I enjoy the book? Yes, I did, though after glancing through the reviews in at Amazon, I agree that I don't know why the author had to come up with a fictitious name for a town on Cape Cod, it wasn't needed. The story is about three women just prior to the United State's involvement in World War II, two live on the Cape and one is a radio correspondent in London, reporting on the air raids. The book's inside cover will tell you it's about news, two that have news and need to share it and one that doesn't want to hear it. I thought it was more about the power of truth, what you see and hear, that needs to be shown and told to people who won't listen until it's right there in front of them. It's about the horrors of war that remain unspoken because people don't have the context to understand that sometimes there is no beginning, middle and end. Just an end, with no other story. I recommend the book, not as a beach book, but just a good story.

Click on book to see it on Amazon

The next book is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson,  a very good thriller and definitely not a feel good book. Of course in the end, everyone gets what they deserve, and it's graphic. A friend told me that she couldn't get into the story, because she felt it was moving too slowly. I can see her point, however, I felt the writing was all leading me into the main event by slowly setting up the main characters' development and how they end up together solving a 30 year old crime. The book is well written and it's shame that the Larsson died young and was unable to experience the success of his books. I look forward to reading the next two books in the series.

On my shelf, I have an older,  Chris Bohjalian book to read, The Law of Similars and a couple of chick lit books. On the floor of my bedroom, I have a book that I need to return after reading only 3 chapters, I will add the title later to the post when I bring it downstairs. I am not going to finish it....why? It is a depressing book already with a whack job mother, life is too short for bad books, give me good reads like the books above and a few chicklit fluff's and I am a content reader.
Any good books from any lurking blog readers out there? My list is getting short again at the library.

179 Books in 2 years

Today, I updated my Librarything.com account with the two books that I read since yesterday (Jennymcb there also if you want to check out my list). One was a quick romance by Kristan Higgins and the other was a contemporary novel by Louise Shaffer called Serendipity. ( One Gal- I think you would like the last one, good book about mothers/daughters and show business). As I was adding the books, I thought I would see how many books I had on the list and was surprised to see that I had started listing the books on June 26, two years ago today.

In the past, I used to be very good about highlighting some of the books that I have read, but with that many, I guess I got lazy quickly. Most were chicklit books. What can I say? I like to be entertained! If I enjoy an author, I try to read as many as I can, thank you Luanne Rice, Kristin Higgins, Meg Cabot, Chris Bohjalian and Richard Russo for keeping me so entertained. I even have a bomb or two in the list, like Eat, Pray, Love- a book which women either love or hate. Me? I hated it, wanted to slap the author and give her a reality check, but hey, she's the one raking in the dough for her whiny angst.

What's not on my list? Twilight....even though everyone in the lab has read it and my friendly librarian thinks I would enjoy it. I just don't want to hear about it from my son still living at home. My feeling is that I have already read Anne Rice's vampire books, why muddy that experience with teenage emotions? ( I can only hope that she is benefiting from the vampire craze since her books are well written)

The best way to read books you love is to share your books with others and to hang out at your library. The greatest asset in my whole little town is our library and if I were ever to win the lottery, they would get some of my money. The librarians are knowledgeable and friendly to the point where they will tell me that they read a book and thought of me. Right now reading is an obsession for me and they are feeding the beast. Five books in my bag to read and five books on reserve at the library. Bring it on, life doesn't get much better. Read any good books lately?

Book Review: A Theory of All Things

On Librarything.com, you can sign up to be an Early Reviewer for books that will be sold to the public in a couple of months. It's a great way to get free books, but it also let's me broaden my reading horizons. What's really fun, is that I sign up and then forget about it. It's a total surprise when I get a package in the mail!

I received A Theory of All Things written by Peggy Leon yesterday in the mail and finished it today. The book is about a family that has been splintered by two events in their past, and now they have to deal with a parent who has Alzheimer's. In the beginning, I was put off by the technical, scientific analogies by the genius son, but as I got into the book, it was obvious that this was who Mark was and how he dealt with life, just as his younger siblings used art. The oldest sister is the caretaker for the family, who keeps her brood safe and is the constant in their lives. But as the story progresses, all of them let others into their lives and learn to move forward.
The siblings in the book weren't anyone that I could make a personal connection with since they were so out there artistically with an endless supply of money to fund their art. But I loved the interactions of the characters and the emails that were sent between them. Having been close to a relative with Alzheimer's, I thought that Peggy Leon's writing captured the disease as it is, devastating with moments of heartbreaking clarity and even humor. She even caught the undercurrents that happen in a large family when there is a family member with a disease. I enjoyed the book and wished that I hadn't read it so fast!

Tuesday Thoughts

I am in the middle of My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult and I don't want to do anything except read. How the heck did I miss this one since it was published in 2004 and when I start to talk about it, everyone is like, oh yea, I read that and cried. Oh great, so now I know the ending is going to be a tear jerker. Anyways, it's book with a lot of emotion and characters that you develop feelings for as they live deal with a family member with a terminal illness. The medical side of me is fascinated, the mother in me is repelled by the shafting of other's feelings for the good of one and the reader in me just wants to forget the world and just sit in bed and read.

Did I watch the Inaguration today? Unfortunately no, but as we went to lunch, we got a glimpse of President Obama walking up to the podium and I wished we had a public television in an eating area at the hospital. I mentioned to my co-worker that we should pull a Grey's Anatomy, find a room with an unresponsive patient and eat lunch there while watching the television. She asked how we were supposed to do that since our time on patient floor is non-existent. I thought just going in random rooms and asking how patients were would work. Say hello to those who respond and then when they didn't that would be our televison time. Unfortunately, my friend wasn't that keen on the idea, so it was cafeteria time and no tv.

Can you believe that we lived to see a day such as today? It's amazing to me that enough people voted to make the change in our government. My son is in school in London right now and in his classes he has students from Europe and the United States. There is a girl in one of his classes who is blaming the United States for everything wrong in the world. To which I replied, "If all you knew about the United States was based on the last 8 years....can you really be that upset with how she feels?"

Books, Dishcloths and Weekend update

7 Ridge Dishcloth.JPG
Originally uploaded by jennymcb

A 2 hour car ride is a great time to catch up on reading and this last weekend we drove up north for a nordic ski event. The nordic meet was not the greatest race for my son, picture 140 boys emerging from the woods on Cross country skis and then imagine one of them missing a pole. That would be my unhappy skier. His heart is just not into it this year and he would rather be snowboarding. A passing skier came too close, got wrapped up in the pole and my bub ended up in the woods. Bet his time would have been much better. By the way, the Old Man in Mountain is still missed as we drive through the Notch.
Read another book by Billie Letts, Made in America, kind of a rough book to read since it is a graphic account of a brother and sister trying to exist on their own in Las Vegas. I would recommend it though. Another quick read for me this weekend was Someone Like You by Barbara Breton, a light romance, but a good twist to the story. Sometimes you just have to read to escape and if my son makes fun of the romance sitting on the island as not being literature, I may have to throw it at him.
My oldest is off to London in two days for 4 months to study. He is beyond excited and it will be strange having him so far away. But then there is the power of Apple computers and we will be able to chat occasionally. What a deal he has for a schedule, Fridays off and since he is taking a theater class, he will be able to attend shows. Where can I sign up for that life?
That's okay, I will be home knitting up dishcloths that I have found through the Knit Along group on Ravelry and the charity squares for Pine Ridge. Perhaps the second mitten might get finished along with my middle guy's afghan. So go ahead to London dear, we will be just fine.

What Kind of Reader am I?

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Literate Good Citizen You read to inform or entertain yourself, but you're not nerdy about it. You've read most major classics (in school) and you have a favorite genre or two.
Dedicated Reader
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Given that I read three books this weekend, I like to think that I am even more dedicated. I guess there are two levels of obsession when it comes to reading, one is always reading and having a book handy and two is reading a book till it's finished and ignoring the world around you (aka, staying in bed till late morning to finish a book).
The books I read this weekend are listed in the Ravelry list on in my right column with links to Amazon if you want to read more about the books, but here is my quick and dirty reviews:

1. The Sinner by Tess Gerritsen- Nice quick who done, kind of a minor league Scarpetta book, and I loved the medical part of the book.
   
2. Marley and Me- It's a five hanky book, if you love dogs than you will enjoy it till the last two chapters. It's a dog, they don't live as long as us.....but while this dog was alive, he was pretty bad.
   
3. The Perks of Being a Wallflower- a book for teenagers, written through letters written by a sensitive, geek freshman boy finding a niche among seniors who accept him and include him. Think Catcher in the Rye, but a much nicer character, who people like and of course there is a hidden secret in his life which has deeply affected him. My middle guy is going to read it and I hope we can talk about it. His viewpoint will be interesting.
   

I think I am well on my way to 52 books for the year. Can I just say that I love my library???? We may not have a downtown, supermarket or even a post office, but damn, we have a great library!

And Then Laziness settled in

Was it really just a week ago that I was wigging out about things that I had to do for Christmas? A week later and the couch and I are one. I got two knitting books for Christmas ( One Skein Wonder and Luxury Yarn One-skein wonders) along with a gift certificate to my favorite local yarn shop, yet I haven't picked up a needle yet. There's a pair of mittens begging to be finished and I have ignored them.

So what have I been doing? Read three books, with Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver being the winner. She writes the best books about dysfunctional families and making the most of what you have around you. Her descriptions of Arizona make me want to visit and it was a great way to spend yesterday morning. Then there was the Regency romance of The Ideal Bride, the only thing going for that, was the large print. Today I finished Loop Group by Larry McMurty and his characters are beyond dysfunctional, truly whack jobs and it was just an okay book. That makes about 48 books in Librarything for me since May which makes the 52 books in 52 weeks an easy challenge for me on Ravlery. I just will need to find some books and new authors to read. Any good suggestions out there?

My husband gave me a what the heck gift...a paint brush, gift certificate to Lowes and a beige paint chip. With help from the Interior designer next door, our family room will not be beige and I am leaning to a light gray. The whole picking a color is one of the most painful things I have to do and my house will never be in any magazine spread for design. Unless of course they come up with Surburbia Clutter as a style. Seriously, there's three pairs of boots and slippers kicking around the family room along with two cat baskets, tv on a trunk, snow board, 2 backpacks, one empty snowboard bag, knitting bags and 13 year old plaid furniture which the cats have claimed as scratching post/leaping point/sleeping areas. What is it about Christmas that when stuff (gifts) come in, I just want to get rid of stuff?

Sneaking in an Unofficial Thursday Thirteen

There is just not enough time for me to do the Thursday Thirteens and give it my best effort at responding and visiting other bloggers. Like I said before, even a non-practicing Catholic still has the residual guilt effect which prevents me from "officially" doing a Thursday Thirteen. Blogging has not been at the top of my list of things to do with so many other activities taking up my time.

1. Presidential Race: I had lost that excitement with the upcoming election, but a certain vice- presidential nomination has made me become a political junky again. I can't wait until Tundra Barbie (or Caribou Barbie) is allowed to speak to the press. All information thus gained on the internet indicates that McCain has picked a woman who speaks her mind, and I don't mean that in a positive way. In four days, over 980 knitters/crocheters joined an anti- Sarah Palin group vs. 223 in the for Sarah group. Does this mean that a lot of liberals knit?

2. Football: My son is a senior football player, and I am involved in setting up team dinners. Then there are the games, first game for my son was exciting, he made an interception and ran it in for a 35 yard touchdown.

3. Cross Country meets: My youngest is a runner and we made it to one meet and missed his second. Sometimes you just have to make choices. Keep your fingers crossed and send up a quick prayer for his knee, tonight he came home complaining of pain in his knee after feeling part of his leg go numb while running. Ice and Ibuprofen have been used and he will check in with the trainer tomorrow.

4. Reading- Not enough time in the day to read. But I did finish Chocolat by Joanne Harris, which was a terrific book. The characters were well developed and there was a little magic going on. I liked the good vs. evil and based on what people have told me about the movie, I think the book was different. Good story!

5. Knitting- In the little brown bag next to me, I have a 1/2 finished shawl, one finished sock and an another 1/2 done and little special something knitted for my Autumn swap partner at ravelry. It's sad that I combine playing Canasta online with knitting!

6. Cat grooming- Hello blogging buddies!!! Nobody told me about long haired cats and the need to comb. I took a lot of grief from my friends last week as I missed a morning of golf to take my long haired Stash to the vets to get rid of the matted fur. I read on line not to cut the mats out myself and felt that $28 dollars was worth it. Now I comb him regularly, what a pretty kitty he is.

7. Work- Yuck, back to helping out another department that can't keep it's help. Can't complain too much, it's a nice way to save some extra money for our planned family trip to England next April.

8. The six tomato plants grown in various pots are now providing us with a lot of tomatoes. Ugly set up, but effective. (So what if you could see eggshells in the composted dirt?) Which leads me to the topic of food, do you really know how much a 17 year old football player and a 15 year old Cross country runner is capable of eating? The milk and food consumed is amazing!

9. Back to school, I think I like the routine, but it's still tiring. Let's see how the first progress report looks like for each of them.

10. Senior boy, will he or won't he get college applications to fill out? Repeat after me, not my problem. Last night we got a call from a small private Catholic college offering him a scholarship, and we had never heard of the school! Not sure it would be the right fit for this particular kid. Are some colleges that hard up to call homes based on SAT scores? His scores really aren't that high compared to others.

11. Exercise? Occasionally, how's that for a lame answer?

12. Family conversations- Sad to think that those after dinner conversations with the boys won't be happening in another 3 years...where the heck did the time go.

13. Senior portraits, I am going to say that Prestige/lifetouch is a huge monopoly and I will not be buying any "portraits" from them. I will happily pay a local photographer money to get pictures that I can afford of my child smiling!!

There's my random 13 for the week, a little bit of this and that of my life. Here's a question for you----> Do you really think Charlie Gibson's interview of Sarah Palin will be hard hitting or a fluff piece? ( comments on the internet indicate that we will see her goodby to her son heading to war)

Book Review- Spellman Files

Whenever I walk into the library, I am overwhelmed by all the books and then my mind becomes a blank slate. All the books that have been mentioned and reviewed along with wonderfully recommended authors are gone from my brain, just as I enter the foyer of the library. My poor librarians, I then harass them for recommendations and there is one librarian who can read me like a book. (Please forgive me for the really stupid pun) But she knows my taste oh so well and will even ask if I am in a chick lit mode or thinking mode. (This summer it's been a lot of chick lit)
Chick lit- My definition: Books that are mainly about females looking for love or purpose in their lives, hopefully with lots of funny situations. They aren't written to make you think, they are written for the reader to escape and enjoy.

Last week, my favorite asked me if I liked Evanovich, which I did to a point since after awhile, I thought there was a lot of repetition. She then recommended a new series by Lisa Lutz and the first book was called The Spellman Files. It's about a very dysfunctional family of Private investigators and the main characher is Izzy who is 30 years old and has always worked for her parents. Unfortunately, the whole family has a problem with getting off a job, they even investigate each other with Izzy being the most obsessive/compulsive investigator. I enjoyed the first and second book, The Spellman Curse very much. After reading both books, I thought that it would make a great television series.

Do you ever read something and think that it would make a great movie or tv show? I remember feeling that way about The Horse Whisperer, and then when the movie came on, I never watched it. But I remember thinking that the book was written to be a movie.

Two More Books, Check out My Library

This past weekend we went up to Maine to spend some time with my Aunt. It's a 2.5 ride up there for us through the lake region of New Hampshire. Did I enjoy the sights? Heck no, I went to the library on Saturday for a refill. While there, I got into a debate about Eat, Pray, Love which I hated and the two librarians loved. I actually came up with an analogy for the book, bitchy, rich woman does the modified Siddhartha thing.

Anyway, got my chick lit books and a couple of heavier books. Of course I brought the two chick lit books along for the weekend since they both turned out to be light reading. The first was Lost and Found by Jacqueline Sheehan and it made me miss my Black Lab. The story was based on an island in the harbor of Portland Maine, and it wasn't really a romance, but more of a story of recovery after a loss. Definitely meets the Beach book criteria for a good light summer read. If you love dogs, you may just enjoy this book even more!

The second book was pure chick lit, Hot Flash Club Strikes again by Nancy Thayer, and it was an enjoyable read of four different women with family issues and how they team up to overcome the issues. Did it make me think? Of course not, but I enjoyed it.

A few weeks ago, someone recommended www. librarything.com to me, I think it was Janeywan. It's a pretty cool site and my plan is to keep track of all the books that I have read this year. I have the past two months listed and there is box on the right of my blog with random covers. If you click on the covers, they are linked to the books at Amazon. I am going to try to get the list of books that I have read from my friendly librarian. My memory is worthless when it comes to remembering books and authors, I work well with visuals. It's tough to get old.

Yesterday was the culmination of a dream for Share a Square for Shelly over This Eclectic Life. Afghans were given out to campers at Camp Sanguinity. It gives me goosebumps to think of all those squares made by so many made into cozy afghans for the kids!

Any good books out there that I need to put on my list???

Quiet Girl- Mixed Book Review

Today I finished The Quiet Girl by Peter Hoeg while enjoying the sun in my backyard. It was a dark book, a cross between Rosemary's Baby and Davinci code played out by circus performers in Copenhagen, Denmark. I chose the book based on having the experience of visiting Denmark over two years ago. The character descriptions were dead on about the Danish people and the hustle, bustle of Copenhagen.

The story is of a clown with extrasensory abilities to hear, and he is able to use his talents to find a kidnapped, young girl with powers of her own. There is intrigue with a religious order, government and big business interferences. There are characters that Kasper Krone the clown has to interact with to achieve finding the girl, some he can trust, others that he reads into through the sounds around them to figure out that they are evil. Throughout the book these characters return and that is my only complaint, it's all too convenient how some appear again.

Did I love the book? No, but I couldn't put it down. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it, but not as a beach read. I had to have time to read the book without interruption to keep up with the story. It was different from what I normally read and it was good for my brain. I am still trying to figure out the connections and how it really ended.

Another Winner by Chris Bohjalian

Last summer, I read Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian and it is a book that I absolutely enjoyed. It's been a treat to have people at work read it and tell me about the book, since I know that when they get to the end, it's a shocker. You sit there and ask, what did I miss?

This past week, I read Bohjalian's newest book, Skeletons at the Feast. I wanted to read it, because of how much I admire his storytelling skills. The book takes place in Nazi Germany during the last year of the war. I have read so many books about the same time period, that I thought what more could I learn.? Yet once into the book, with the weaving of the lives of different classes of people of different religious backgrounds, I did get involved.

Reading is all about making connections and in this story, each character's development made me think about how I would feel or react in similar situations. Of course there were some sad moments in the book, after all it's about war, Nazis and the treatment of the Jewish people. Deeper into the story, character's initial beliefs are changed by those around them.

This is not a chick lit beach book, but a book that I would recommend for a thoughtful summer read. Chris Bohjalian remains one of my favorite novelists who really knows how to write a great ending. Isn't it always the endings that we remember? (Even when you finish the book at 2 am on a Wednesday night, sssh, don't tell my husband!)

Looking for a Summer read? Love, Baseball and Musicals

Last night after piecing together squares for an afghan for Shelly, I picked up a book to just help me get to sleep. Such a difference from the dreadful tome of last week! My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger was just a fun read. Check out this excerpt from the author's website. The story is about three ninth graders and is written from their viewpoints in the form of assignments, emails, text messages and diary entries. 

As a Boston native, I enjoyed the references to Boston and one of the character's obsession with the Red Sox. As a former chorus member, the other character's obsession with musicals is fun to read. It's nice story of three friends, their families, coming out as a teenager, baseball, politics and musicals. 

There you have it, a book that I loved enough to recommend as a good summer read. 

Cryptic Writing, Please Explain, Someone, Anyone?

I just painfully finished The Gathering by Anne Enright. Why painfully? The writing was so vague and cryptic. I can't be like the reviewer at Amazon: "This book is written in a meaty, organic style, rare to find (e.g., "There was something about the smell of us growing up that drove (our parents) completely insane." and "The ground is boiling with corpses, the ground is knit out of their tangled bones.")" In my mind, the author must have taken a lifetime to write the story of the effect of a pedophile on a brother's life in such a round about way.

It's not that I consider myself a stupid reader, I don't have to have everything laid out for me in a predictable style. However, I do like to be able to make connections to the story or to a character. I guess the author was trying to write a book like Angela's Ashes by creating even worse parents for an Irish family.

Why did I spend the time to read this book? Damned if I know, usually I go by my own rule that by being as close to fifty that I am, that I can now read books that I enjoy. My life is to short to waste on the pretentious books. Maybe I read it to try to figure out what the critics saw in it for others to enjoy. In the category of beach books, summer reads, pass this one over.

Back to Blogging

Did you all miss me? Thank you for the notes. Nothing drastic kept me from blogging except life and it's complexities. We got through it, but I just wasn't in the mood to blog about my musings when my thoughts were occupied. We are all healthy, not any wealthier and hell of a lot wiser. Except for maybe the kittens, they still are a little dumb and no, we aren't ready to set them on fire!

Before getting back into the swing of blogging, I decided to put up a banner of some of my favorite things. Yea, I know, kind of hokey, but I really wanted to play with Appleworks which is now on my computer now that I have a brand new spanking big ole hard drive. I just don't get the idea behind a 60g hard drive when you are suppose to have at least 20g free to do any thing fun like an imovie or idvd on an apple. There was a slight scare and a road trip to the nearest Apple Genius bar ( 40 miles.....could be worse!) where they had to show me how to get my Iphoto library back up and running. But as you can see, there are a few glitches in the blog template and I guess I may have to ask for help.

Snow? Yep, our yards are covered. The snowman on our front step survived, but just barely. His hat is more like a derby than a top hat. Sunburnt? Yep, weatherman lied and the sun came out full blast today at a track meet. Ready for summer? You betcha, I hear Florida beckoning me.

What's new in my boring life? Got my hair highlighted- b/c winter has just been too damn long and I needed something bright in my life.
Nordic skiing is over and now it's track- two sons started, one son has since quit and that's okay.
It's been an interesting budget time with our school budget and I have become a little activist. There is no way that I will even mention what it is about, since our townpeople are google happy and that's all we need....
Got another afghan almost completed for Shelly.
Have read a bunch of books and am now dragging myself through Eat, Pray, Love which is not going to win any rave reviews from me. I guess others have loved it, but the author is just sharing way too much angst. On the other hand, I just read Richard Russo's Bridge of Sighs which I enjoyed very much.
Work- is crazy busy, I have picked up a ton of hours.
Weight Watchers- bit the bullet and headed back to meetings, the 12 pounds I regained have got to go. ( but of course I joined after getting two lindt bars for my birthday....)
Heading down to Florida with a road trip up to Savannah to check out Savannah College of Art and Design and then another road trip to Orlando to check out Full Sail with my son and his friends. So I am not out solving the problems of the world, but just living a hectic life.

Obsessive Reading Binge: Double Bind and The Friday Night Reading Club

For my regular blog readers, you all know how obsessive I can be about reading. I'll go to the library, first peruse the cart of books that others have read to save myself some browsing time, chat with the librarians and come home with about five books. This past week I happened to see a new book by Chris Bohjalian ( Midwives, Buffalo Soldier, Water Witches...) an author with books about Vermont sitting in the return pile. The librarian caught me looking and told me that it was a great book. I had read Buffalo Soldier and Water Witches, two books that I had really enjoyed. ( Have I read his Oprah Book, Midwives, of course not...) So in a time frame of two days, I have read two books and boy, they couldn't have been anymore different!

When I read, I make a lot of self predictions, based on past books, I can usually predict the endings. In The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs, this book was very predictable in it's ending. I enjoyed the story because of the knitting aspect and having been part of a knitting group many years ago. However, I didn't find the book believable due to the characters' lives in New York City, I kept thinking that there was no way these women could afford to live in the City. The author tries to mislead the reader as to which character ends up in crisis, but you just know what's going to happen based on the predictability of the book.

There was absolutely no predicting the ending of Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian, I was put off by the references to The Great Gatsby throughout the book and the ending totally blind sided me. Bohjalian is such an good writer that there is no way I would ever have predicted to this book. His characters are real and if you have read The Great Gatsby, then the story is even better. I couldn't put the book down and was ticked last night when I went to bed, started the book and had to stop because my eyes were tired. ( It's a drag getting old) But then when the change of life hormones woke me up sweating and I was wide awake, I turned on the fan and a light and read from 3 am till 5 am till I was finally able to get back to sleep. Once I was up again at 9:30 am, I picked up the book again, grabbed a cup of coffee and finished it. What an ending, what a book! Wow! This is a book that I would highly recommend, just read it carefully...I went back through it after finishing it.

It's tough being an obsessive reader when you aren't reading a large print book. Only a few years ago, I would have been able to read until a book was finished. What books have you read this summer that have kept you up reading?

What is in the Air?

All these blogs about romance...is it the bees in our flowers that got all you bloggers in a romantic mood? Or is it guilt from the amount time we spend blogging?

I was just over reading Mommy of Three and Karen has a contest going involving a romantic book, Gone With the Groom by Janice Thompson. She has interviewed the author and now has a contest to win the book, if you have a funny story about a wedding. The only funny thing I can think of, is the limo driver reaching up under my skirt to "help" me adjust my hoops. Our wedding went off without a hitch, everyone got along, everyone enjoyed the ice sundae dessert buffet and the day flew by.

Tea had a nice contest going for a True Romantic post which Boho Rap won. I should have submitted a post, but there is so much that my husband does for me that I would have a hard time coming up with one really good romantic story. Let me just say that he has given me some great thoughtful gifts through the years, including plane tickets to visit a friend in Minnesota and golf clubs. Then there was the digital camera that he surprised me with one Christmas. Gee, I really should be spending more time with him, then on this computer.

I have a contest beginning soon, right now it's in the planning stages and for a teaser, let's just say you gotta please her.

Still Reading

Still reading, it's a terrible malady and includes reading Victorian romances if you couldn't tell already. The weeds are overtaking the gardens, my golf game is sad, housework? Don't look! Two more books read in two days.

The quickest read, was The River Knows by Amanda Quick. This was a Victorian romance involving a sexually naive female character engaged in a "fact finding" mission linking a noble to a brothel. But of course she hooks up with a dashing, handsome, smart, engaging, slightly roguish rich lord who helps her solve the mystery while also wooing her and getting some. (Such delicate matters shan't be mentioned on a ladylike blog like this.)

The second book that I read, Skylight Confessions was by Alice Hoffman. I love her books! As weird as they are when they include the supernatural, she just gets into the messiness of daily lives and creates a story that is believable. When I read her books, I feel that I am on a journey and each page is another turn in the road, I just want to see what's around the corner. This particular book is about a family that is family in name only, Dad creates the mess by being physically absent and uninvolved. Fairytales become reality for the son and daughter with a last ditch by Dad to make it all okay.

Tonight, my family went to the Red Sox game and I am toying with the idea of going to the driving range to work on my golf. However, I just came back from the library with a big bag of books and I hear them beckoning me. Before you think I have become a reading recluse, I did go to a Wedding party for friends on Sunday and golfed in a tournament yesterday. (I read in the car both times!!)

Missing in Action from Blogging

Where have I been? Compulsively reading, it's a bad habit of mine. I get caught up in a book and nothing else gets done. I may throw a token load of laundry in the washer, but that's about it when I get going on a good book.

On Thursday night, I started Natural Born Charmer by Susan Michelle Phillips. I love her books, and this particular series of romances are about various members of a fictitious Chicago football team. Are the plots ridiculous? Sure they are, but Phillip's writing is fun. Her main characters are witty and sarcastic, along with secondary characters that have their own issues which add to the story. Finished that book last night and started a second book last night.

The second book was by Fern Michaels, The Marriage Game and I finished it an hour ago. (This book was smaller print and took me longer) On a gorgeous May day, I was sitting on my porch reading all morning. Was this book worth it? Umm, not really. The plot was absolutely dumb, I liked the characters and would rate this as a good beach read.

Both books were romances and fun reads. If I had really been thinking ahead, I would have made a tee time to go golfing this morning, but I was so tired this week, that I just wanted to sleep in. So that's what I did today, slept in, read a book, made pasta salad and now it's time to join the real world. What do you call a lazy day?