Yesterday’s Movie Meme got me thinking about some memorable parties in fiction.  See if you can tell me what book each party is found in.  Leave the number and book title in the comments.

No copying from other commenters or googling – that’s cheating and no fun!

Here are more details and the current leaderboard.  I welcome first timers, you still have a chance to win a prize

1. As readers we were able to attend 2 wonderful New Year Turkey Curry Buffets.  Goofy sweaters optional. – Bridget Jones’s Diary

2. This tea party had a Hatter, March Hare, Dormouse and a girl who thought it was stupid. –Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

3. Nick watched his neighbor’s parties from afar and was entranced.  Until he was actually invited to one and realized it wasn’t as magical as it seemed from a distance. – The Great Gatsby

4. Gwyn and Thomas are divorcing after 35 years and celebrating with a big bash. –The Divorce Party 

5. This Merryton country dance was the first meeting between one of the best-loved couples of all time. –Pride & Prejudice

6. You did not want to be invited to Prince Prospero’s party in this short story by a horror master. – The Masque of the Red Death

7. Bob Cratchit and his family’s Christmas celebration was a source of enlightenment for a certain miser.  – A Christmas Carol

8. This birthday party planned for an amnesia victim by his maid and her son and was very touching. – The Housekeeper & the Professor

9. Luther & Nora decided to cancel Christmas and take a cruise instead.  Only the Christmas party wouldn’t skip them and neighbors saved the day. – Skipping Christmas

10. A war didn’t stop these socialites from hosting grand parties in Moscow and St. Petersburg. – War & Peace

Fool Me Once. Finished 4-17-16, rating 4.5/5, thriller, 390 pages, pub. 2016

Former special ops pilot Maya, home from the war, sees an unthinkable image captured by her nanny cam while she is at work: her two-year-old daughter playing with Maya’s husband, Joe—who had been brutally murdered two weeks earlier. The provocative question at the heart of the mystery: Can you believe everything you see with your own eyes, even when you desperately want to? To find the answer, Maya must finally come to terms with deep secrets and deceit in her own past before she can face the unbelievable truth about her husband—and herself.       from Goodreads

I’ve long been a Harlan Coben fan and have read all of his books, his Myron Bolitar series being some of my favorites. Coben likes to twist and turn and have smart, quick-witted characters, so it’s easy to be a fan. His standalones are always fast pasted, current, and good, but not always memorable.  This isn’t a bad thing, there are many, many books I don’t remember, but it was nice that this one had that extra something that will make me remember it for years to come.

Maya was a tough cookie. She saw and did unspeakable things in service of her country and she paid dearly for every choice she made.  She was a new mom but didn’t seem all that motherly. She was newly widowed but didn’t seem all that broken. She was facing public shame yet seemed unbowed.  She was an interesting character and I kept wanting to know more about what made her tick.

As the police search for a killer and a whistle-blower threatens more public outrage directed toward her, Maya sees her dead husband on the nanny-cam.  Debilitated by war-time nightmares but with a good friend by her side she tries to figure out what is going on and to stay one step ahead of the police.  Oh, and she needs to keep an eye on her niece and nephew who are living with their heavy drinking father.

I hear it’s been optioned for a film and I think it would be a great one.  Not my favorite Coben, but it’s definitely one of his better ones.

Okay, I think I’ll go ahead and start some movie memes and hope that you can join in.  I offered two options.

Option 1 – Instead of a read-a-long we have a monthly Watch-a-thon.  I’d give everyone a few choices, we’d vote, all watch the movie and post about it during the month.  I have some ideas about how to make it more interactive between the participants.  I’d offer new and older movies to choose from and would like to make it somewhat bookish, but that’s not a requirement.

Option 2 – I’d offer something like the now defunct Monday Movie Meme.  I’d offer up a topic or theme and you’d write a post about it and link up.  You can browse through old ones I participated in here.  We could do this weekly or every other week.

I appreciate everyone’s feedback and I think I am going to try both of them and see what happens. I’ll have movie choices for option 1 posted by the end of the month and we’ll watch in June.

I’ll start  option 2 in the middle of June (when my quizzes are on break and after our vacation).

If any of you would be interested in co-hosting (Heather, Staci?) let me know I’d love to have a partner for either one!

I am very much looking forward this new challenge and hope you are too 🙂

In January I began a Kay inspired Bookish Nostalgia feature that I call A look back. I’m revisiting my 2010 blogging life and see what was going on. So far, this has been a lot of fun!  If you care to revisit your own blog in April 2010 and want to share your favorite post, I’ll add it here.

I was a stellar book blogger, posting 23 days and reviewing 7 books.  I watched 9 movies (wow!) and gave a rare F (Stepbrothers) and also posted about one of my Top 100, Romancing the Stone.  Molly and I finished up War & Peace with the last three reviews, the recap is here if you are thinking about giving it a try. I posted a challenges update and that was fun to see – I used to sign up and complete so many.  I am definitely not in a place to do that now! I’m happy when I read a book a week 🙂  I gave away 4 books and participated in 3 movie memes.  I also posted 4 quizzes.  I used to be so disciplined!

I did a fun interview with author Maria Semple after her first book, This One is Mine, but her second novel, Where’d You Go Bernadette?, might be the one you remember her for now.

But the big news this month was the big baby reveal.

 My Favorite Post – After 14 years a pregnant pause. I had such fun rereading the well wishing comments and baby name suggestions. I can’t believe no one suggested Gage!

Jason and I have been together for over 14 years and we decided that we were finally secure enough in our relationship to move forward.  And the reason why I have been so absent from visiting you all regularly is that this step forward has made me sick for the past month, hence the pause in the title.  Obviously, I’m talking about the little one I’m cooking up right now.  Jason and I are just into our second trimester and couldn’t be happier!  Well, okay, once the morning sickness completely goes away I might be a little happier.  By the time this baby comes I will be 39.  I find that so hard to believe.  Where have the years gone?  We do not plan on finding out if it’s a boy or a girl, but we are always open to name suggestions

My favorite book (s) – A tie between Harlan Coben’s, Caught…

I know when I start reading I’m not going to want to stop til I’m done and this was no exception, I finished it in a day.  He’s a master at twists and turns and even when you get to the end there always seems to be something there to surprise you. 

and Greg Iles’s Blood Memory…

The prevailing theme of this thriller is incest and molestation.  If this had been on the back of the book I don’t know if I would have picked it up, but I’m glad I did because it was excellent.  It doesn’t dwell so much on the act, but on the effect on the lives of those harmed and what happens to them after the they’ve escaped the abuse. 

My favorite movie – Ratatouille, 2007. I ranked three movies with the same grade, B, but of the three this is the only one I’d be interested in seeing again.

So, there you have it.  I love revisiting my past blogging life every month, you should give it a try!

Over the weekend I built my annual Mt. TBR (to be read) and I have some exciting news! For the first time since I started documenting this in 2008the number of books actually decreased!! I did some culling in January so that helped.  Here’s my new Mt. TBR

This was a major undertaking and I did it all, construction and deconstruction, in about 9 hours time. It was quite a workout.  Because of that I decided to do another major weeding and that took another day, but well worth it since I pulled another 94 books to donate.  I’ll do more by the numbers stuff next week after the quiz.

Part One – Guess how many books are in Mt. TBR.  I’ll base points on how close you come on relation to others guessing.  If you come within 20 I’ll give you a 50 point bonus!

Part Two – These are books I pulled from the pile to give away and  they are all brand new.  Nothing wrong with them just trying to be realistic about my reading.

Tell me what the titles are and tell me if you’d like any of them to added to YOUR Mt. TBR. I love to share books so I hope you’ll find at least one you’d like to read.  10 points for every title and I don’t even really care if you want to do some googling to figure out what they are. I do want them in your hands after all!

Good luck!

The Readathon waits for no reader and I missed reading from 12-2:30 (playdate) and 4-7:15 (birthday party), so my 24 hours, if I make it that long will be minus almost 6 hours.

Mid-Event Survey:

1. What are you reading right now? Listening to The Perks of Being a Wallflower, but after I post this I’m going to start a graphic novel.

2. How many books have you read so far? I’ve finished none, just listened to two, which is why I’m taking a couch break with a graphic novel.  I need to feel some sense of accomplishment 🙂

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?I’m looking forwardto finishing the two I’ve started, a few graphic novels and then we’ll see.  If my eyes are up to it, a Kristan Higgins romance, if not, a Harlan Coben audio.

4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? As I noted above, I had a few social obligations today, but ready to get my reading on for the next 12 hours!

5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?  I miss being in my jammies all day stuck on my couch.  Next time I’ll plan better.

It’s been slow going here, but I’ve managed to listen to 2 different books. I’m on disc 3 of The 9th Girl by Tami Hoag and maybe an hour in to The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.  Both are very good.  I’ve done lots of cleaning and am now ready to take a break and hang out with some friends 🙂

Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon