Saturday Snapshot – Gage before and after

March 9, 2013March 9, 201338 Comments

To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online. Visit At Home iwth Books to participate.

Yes, it was only 30 degrees outside but the sun made me think we could finally come out of hibernation. Gage was excited to swing, but shivered the whole time so it was a short trip. As you can tell from the second photo he thought we cut it too short. Bring on spring already!

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

March 7, 2013March 7, 201320 Comments

Sense of an Ending. Finished audio 3-6-13, rating 3.5/5, published 2011

Unabridged audio 4 hours 38 minutes. Read by Richard Morant.

Tony Webster and his clique first met Adrian Finn at school. Sex-hungry and book-hungry, they would navigate the girl-less sixth form together, trading in affectations, in-jokes, rumour and wit. Maybe Adrian was a little more serious than the others, certainly more intelligent, but they all swore to stay friends for life.

Now Tony is in middle age. He’s had a career and a single marriage, a calm divorce. He’s certainly never tried to hurt anybody. Memory, though, is imperfect. It can always throw up surprises, as a lawyer’s letter is about to prove.

-from Goodreads

It took me a while to get caught up in the story but once I did I really was invested in the whys and the whats of what happened to Adrian and Tony and their friendship. Tony represents what happens to so many people. Life becomes a series of compromises and comfortable choices rather than the fiery ideas of our youth. Tony had a good life, a quiet life and one that he recognizes by the end as a bit empty. His memories and the truth were sometimes very different things and this was the most poetic part of the novel, reconciling what happens to what we remember. I appreciate this sentiment more now in my 40’s than I would have even 10 years ago.

This won the 2011 Booker Prize and I was expecting a solid and quiet book based on some of the reviews I’d read. It was solid and in many ways it was quiet. I thought it was nice, but nothing earth shattering and I did think the end was somewhat of a disappointment. There was the vague sense of what but not much of the why. Tony wasn’t all that sympathetic of a character, but Veronica (an ex-girlfriend) was frustrating and by the end I was happy to be done with the both of them.

I thought the narrator did a great job and totally captured Tony, but I wish I’d read this one and was able to appreciate the language a bit more. The writing was beautiful and I might have liked it more if I had been able to take my time with it. Or maybe not, who knows.

I checked this one out of the library.

Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood by Jim Fay & Charles Fay, PhD

March 6, 201316 Comments

Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood. Finished 3-5-2013, rating 4.25, 165 pages, pub. 2000

Parenting little ones can be exhausting until you discover Love and Logic. Take the exhaustion out and put the fun into parenting your little one. If you want help with: . Potty training. Temper tantrums. Bedtime. Whining. Time-out. Hassle-free mornings. and many other everyday challenges then this book is for you! This book is the tool parents of little ones have been waiting for. America’s Parenting Experts Jim Fay and Charles Fay, Ph.D., help you start your child off on the right foot. The tools in Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood will give you the building blocks you need to create children who grow up to be responsible, successful teens and adults. And as a bonus you will enjoy every stage of your child’s life and look forward to sharing a lifetime of joy with them

from Goodreads

I don’t read many how-to parenting books, but Gage has some behavioral issues and another mother recommended this to me.

Here’s what I liked

This really will help make dealing with misbehavior easier. You let go of the anger by feigning sincere empathy for your toddler/hellion. After only a few days of trying some of these techniques my blood pressure hasn’t spiked once 🙂

I like the philosophy behind it. All that love and empathy has to be good, right?

Concrete examples of what to do in a (limited) number of situations/meltdowns.

Very fast and easy read.

Here’s what I didn’t like

The tone was a little patronizing and some of the examples seemed a bit too good to be true. Not every kid is going to respond to this style and the authors seem unwilling to believe that.

The subtitle says it for ages birth to 6 years, but in reality there is very little here for the under 3 crowd and really nothing for under 2 (except to love your baby without anger and I’m not sure that really needs to be said. At least it shouldn’t).

The bottom line is that I would recommend this for any mom of a toddler. And I’m not the only one recommending it, I had to wait for it at the library and there are more parents waiting for me to return it!

Women History Month Quiz – guessing closed

March 5, 2013March 10, 201321 Comments

In honor of Women’s History Month this quiz is all about the heroines we find in classic literature. All you need to do is unscramble their names. To help you out I’ve even included the scrambled title of the book, if different from the name, but that’s not part of the answer.

I hope that you’ll try your hand at my (mostly) bookish quizzes every week, but it’s okay if you just want to play when the quiz interests you. If you play you are eligible for a prize at the end of the round (sometime in June). For all of the details, click here. Submit your answers in the comment section – I will stop by and hide them throughout the week but try not to copy off anyone else You have til Sunday to guess.

1. EJNA EERY Jane Eyre

2. OHSJEEPNI HCRAM (ILLETT MWENO) Josephine March (Little Women)

3. NNAA ENNAKIAR Anna Karenina

4. HTZBLEIAE TETENBN (DEPRI NDA RDPEUCEJI) Elizabeth Bennett (Pride and Prejudice)

5. NNEA HIRSYEL (ENNA FO ENGRE ABLGES) Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables)

6. LETRCTAS H’RAOA (NOEG TIHW ETH NDIW) Scarlett O’Hara (Gone with the Wind)

7. GRTEMARA HEAL (THRON NAD UOSTH) Margaret Hale (North and South)

8. LMOL ALFSREDN Moll Flanders

9. ETSERH NNEYRP (ETH TLSCARE TERLET) Hester Prynne (The Scarlet Letter)

10. TUOSC NFICH (OT LIKL A KCIMOGNDRBI) Scout Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird)

Answers to last week’s Bookish Oscar Quiz here. Leaderboard here.

February’s 5 word movie reviews – with money for charity

March 1, 2013April 8, 201724 Comments

I saw some pretty decent movies this month. You know the drill, add your 5 words to mine and earn $1 for charity. Once we get to $100 the person with the most reviews will choose the charity. Click here to see the past winners, the charities they chose and to see the other reviews you can add to. You guys really got off to a good start last month with $17 🙂

Silver Linings Playbook, 2012 (Cast- Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Di Nero, Jacki Weaver, Chris Tucker Grade B+

Love conquers all, with therapy.

Great acting; enchanted by story. (Kathy)

Jennifer dances and Bradley romances. (Jill)

Touching story. Humanity rises above. (Heather)

Outstanding; performances, story and romance. (Michelle)

Jennifer Lawrence is crazy, right? (Tony)

Les Miserables, 2012 (Cast-Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried) Grade B

Hugh’s Master of the House.

Anne cries and Hugh dies. (Jill)

Despite tragedy, good people exist. (Heather)

Astounding and breathtaking; wrenches heart. (Michelle)

Damn, Anne Hathaway can sing! (Tony)

Contagion, 2011 (Cast-Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Ehle) Grade B-

Wash your hands or die!

It was all Gwyneth’s fault. (Jenny)

We are 24-48 hours from dying…. (Heather)

So creepy! Bad germs, bad! (Debbie)

Scariest horror film I’ve seen. (Michelle)

A germophobe’s nightmare come true. (Teddyree)

The Five Year Engagement, 2012 (Cast-Jason Segel, Emily Blunt) Grade C

Bumpy road to romantic end.

Laughter, tears, finally get there. (Teddyree)

The Big Year, 2011 (Cast-Steve Martin, Jack Black, Owen Wilson) Grade C

Lotsa birds, not much else.

Quite silly, yet delightfully entertaining. (Michelle)

Cute, crazy fun chasing birds. (Leslie)

Stacy's Books

books, movies, and boy

Month: March 2013