Tag: Books

Just spent 4 hours with Godmother

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dreamstime_readathongI just finished Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story by Carolyn Turgeon.  I wanted to love it, lots of bloggers did, but it wasn’t quite for me.  More on that another time.    My husband did read to me from the book we are reading to together How Successful People Think, but I don’t think we’ll finish it during the read-a-thon since the Michigan State football game just started.

Next up The Funny Thing is…by Ellen Degeneres.

Books Finished- 3

Pages Read – 653

Fun Quote from Godmother

I couldn’t believe that it was all right there, for anyone to see.  In the old days, no one spoke what they felt, and what we tapped into was buried deep.  Now here was a modern girl, with all the secret desires right up there on the screen.  It was the modern way.

page 92

It’s 8 and I’ve Got a Date!

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dreamstime_readathongI’m up (barely) and ready to read.  First up is Murder on Nob Hill by Tallman.  I’m halfway through this one and really enjoying it.  Next update when I’ve finished it.

Books finished – 0

Pages Read – 0

Coffee consumed – 1

Food eaten- Everything Bagel with Cream Cheese

Hour One Challenge

Where are you reading from today? near Cleveland, Ohio

3 facts about me … I love cream cheese and everything bagels, I’d rather stay up til 8am than get up by 8 am, I woke up many times during the night because I was excited about a whole aday of reading 🙂

How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours? Lots

Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)? My only goal is to read for the whole 24 hours.

If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, Any advice for people doing this for the first time? first-timer

9 in ’09 with Hallie Ephron

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A few weeks  ago I reviewed 1001 Books for Every Mood by Hallie Ephron and really enjoyed it.  Hallie took the time to email me after seeing the review and offered to send me a copy of her newest book The Bibliophiles Devotional: 365 Days of Literary Classics.  I mean how can a list lover like me resist a book from a great list maker?  I couldn’t resist and I’ve been reading about a new book every day and loving it.  Thanks, Hallie! 

Anyway, Hallie is the author of 4 books and you can visit her website here. 

And now the nine questions…

1. My first question has to be about growing up in a house full of writers.  What was your childhood like with parents who were writers and three other sisters (Nora, Delia,Amy) who are writers too? It must have been wonderful to grow up in such a creative home.

Our house overflowed with books – wall to wall bookcases, bedside tables stacked with books to be read and re-read (cookbooks and children’s books on my mother’s; history and economics on my father’s), and as kids we were read to early and often (the Oz books, Little Women, The Little Princess…).  My mother recited poetry after dinner, and we grew up cherishing words.

2. I loved your book 1001 Books For Every Mood, probably because I love books and lists.  How long did it take for you to decide what books to include and did you have to cut any favorites?

Thank you!  I love books and lists, too.  It took me months to decide which books to include.  I started, of course, with my favorites, and then talked to booksellers and librarians and readers and anyone who had the temerity to cross my path holding a book.  I also cherry-picked from many great lists out there, like Sports Illustrated list of best sports books, Business Week’s list of best business books, TIME’s list of great books, and of course the ones that Oprah has recommended.  If someone mentioned a book I hadn’t heard of I found it to decide if I thought it was gem worthy including.

3. Your new book The Bibliophile’s Devotional is 365 Days of Literary Classics.  Can you tell us what defines a classic for you?

Hmmm…I’d say one that’s stood the test of time.  One that influenced the way we think, like books that were the first of their kind (did you know Oliver Twist was the first book in English with a child protagonist?).

4. You write book reviews for the Boston Globe.  Do you think  blogs and websites devoted to books have changed newspaper reviews or do you think they serve two different purposes?

I think blogs and web sites can give books visibility that is so very hard to garner right now since there are so many books out there and so little is spent on advertising.  They can build buzz and community.  Book reviews serve more of a critical purpose, I thin, to select and highlight quality (good and bad).

5. Have you discovered a favorite new author in the last year or two?

Oh, gosh yes.  Where to begin?  Leonie Swan (“Three Bags Full”); Carolyn Wall (“Sweeping Up Galss”); Josh Bazell (“Beat the Reaper”); Alan Bradley (“The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie”); Spencer Quinn (“Dog On It”)…I could go on.

6. I love quotes.  Do you have a favorite?

Not so much a quote as a paragraph…I LOVE Carl Sandburg’s “Rootabaga Stories” – read it to revel in the words and images.  It’s pure joy.  One of my favorite stories in it is “Three Boys with Jugs of Molasses and Secret Ambitions.”  SO FULL of wonderful lines!  Here’s just a sample: “Eeta Peeca Pie grew up with wishes and wishes working inside him.  And for every wish inside him he had a freckle outside on his face.  Whenever he smiled the smile ran way back into the far side of his face and got lost in the wishing freckles.”  Don’t you love that idea of “wishing freckles?”

7. What are you currently reading?

For myself I just read Sheila Wellers’ “Girls Like Us” – it’s a meaty nonfiction about Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon, and the generation they exemplify.  Loved it.

8. If you were trapped in the life of one fictional character who would you choose?

Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables)

9. And finally, what are you working on now?

I’m finishing a novel – psychological suspense like my last one “Never Tell a Lie.”

Thanks so much for stopping by, Hallie!

The Divorce Party, by Laura Dave

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The Divorce Party by Laura Dave: CD Audiobook CoverFinished audio 10-22-09, rating 4.5/5, fiction, pub. 2008

Narrated by Susan Ericksen

If you knew that your marriage would end in a divorce party 35 years later, would you still go through with it?  What’s the distance between staying and walking away?  Gwyn and Thomas are part of the Hampton elite, rich, beautiful, two kids, grandchild on the way, and they are getting divorced because Thomas has found Buddhism.  Or is this true?

Their son, Nate and his fiancee, Maggie begin the day of the divorce party at home in Brooklyn with secrets of their own that only get more complicated once they arrive in Long Island.  Maggie is about to meet Nate’s parents for the first time at a party she can’t quite come to terms with.  And Nate has kept his immense wealth from her.  Why and is there more he’s not saying?

I love books and movies about marriages.  The happy, the sad, the damaged.  There is something so complicated about this relationship and no two are ever the same.  Gwyn is facing the end of her marriage, but there is still something there, love or hope, or both.  And Maggie is faced with a future husband who is willing to keep the most basic truths about himself a secret from her.  The chapters alternated between the two women and I loved it.  It was thoughtful and thought-provoking, meaningful and sad and I could not stop listening until it was done. 

I have to be in the right mood for a book like this, but if you are I think you will really take something away.  I was totally caught up in the lives of Gwyn and Maggie for 6 hours and I wouldn’t have missed a minute of the Divorce Party. 

I checked this audio book out of the library.

Rough Country, by John Sandford

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Rough Country (Virgil Flowers Series #3) by John Sandford: Book CoverFinished 10-21-09, rating 3.5/5, mystery, pub. 2009

Book #3 in the Virgil Flowers series.

Walking out to the dock, Johnson said, “The old bag kinda climbed my tree.”

“One rule when you’re dealing with people close to a murder victim,” Virgil said.  “Try not to laugh.”

Chapter 2

Virgil Flowers works with Lucas Davenport (the Prey series) in the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, investigating high profile crimes.  When Lucas sends him to solve a crime at a women’s retreat in northern Minnesota, single and always available Virgil, is happily surrounded by women.  But most of them aren’t looking twice at Virgil, they are too busy eyeing each other. 

A successful businesswoman is shot while canoeing and her love life leads him to an all-girl band with a talented singer going places.  The singer, Wendy, has an active love life and a crazy brother and dad, leading Virgil to link another murder to the one of the businesswoman. 

Virgil is a laid back, good looking man who exudes charm and cool and he is also the most successful closer in the Bureau.  The contrast between his humor and sexuality to his quoting Bible verses when the situation fits makes for an interesting character.  I like Virgil and would love to hang out at a bar listening to music with him (and my husband, of course)

This is another solid mystery by Sandford, but I did have an issue with the heavy handed way he dealt with gay women in this one.  I know people use derogatory language for many different groups and it usually doesn’t bother me if it defines the character, but in this case a few too many characters had issues.  And some of the storylines involving gay women seemed stereotypical. 

And for some reason there were numerous breaks in book, the kind that usually tell you the action has ended and you’re going somewhere else.  Except after the break you were back at the same place, with the same people, and still in the middle of conversation.  This didn’t really take enjoyment away from the story, but it did make me wonder what the point was. 

This was a library book.

Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-a-Thon

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dreamstime_readathongI don’t know who came up with this great button for Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-a-Thon, but I’m thinking my husband may be more supportive if he sees it 🙂

This will be my first read-a-thon and I am really looking forward to it.  I have a stack of books (you can see some of them here), mostly less than 300 pages and have even got a few audio books to rest my eyes.  I like challenges and this one is right up my alley.  And because I sometimes can’t stop myself from going too far, I am making it a goal to stay awake and read for the whole 24 hours!  This is only a goal, sometimes a body does what it wants, but I think I can do it.  Of course, sometimes I’m a delusional.

So, have you signed up and are you aiming for the whole 24 hours?

Teaser Tuesday – Rough Country

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teasertuesdays31Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: Grab your current read. Open to a random page. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page. BE 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!

“George is a drunk,” Sanders said.  “Every day that he works, he stops at the liquor store and picks up a fifth and he takes it home and drinks it.  He’s trying to drink himself to death.  He did that last night.  He was in no shape to ambush anybody.”

“Any particular reason he’s doing that?” Virgil asked.

“Not as far as I know.  I think he’s tired of being here,” Sanders said.

Chapter 3

Cover Image

John Sandford is a favorite of mine and this is his latest.  So, what are you reading today?

What Book Is That? Quiz

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Lat week’s quiz here.  Still time to participate.

Can you identify these books by their censored titles?  Leave a comment with the number, title and author.  If you get the correct answer first you will be entered to win a free book from me   Details here.

I don’t usually do this two weeks in a row, but this doubles as a look at my Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-a-Thon pile and as a way to use the gorgeous leaves in my yeard 🙂

oct 19 blog 1

1. THE DIVING BELL & THE BUTTERFLY by Jean-Dominique Bauby

2. The Housekeeper & the Professor by Yoko Ogawa – Wordlily

3. SAM”S LETTERS TO JENNIFER by James Patterson

4. The Funny Thing Is by Ellen Degeneres – Wordlily

5. TRUE TO FORM by Elizabeth Berg

oct 19 blog 2

6. DAMAGE by Josephine Hart

7. A GRACIOUS PLENTY by Sheri Reynolds

8. The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver – Julie H.

9. Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh – Julie H.

10. The Postman Always Rings Twice by James Cain – Strangelove

The New Earth From Above: 365 Days, by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

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New Earth From Above by Yann Arthus-Bertrand: Book CoverFinished 10-18-09, rating 4.5/5, Natural History, pub. 2007

This outstanding book is part photography and part environmental lesson.  At the beginning of each month there is an essay written about major issues for the planet.  They include: sustainable development, climate change, forests, biodiversity, seas and oceans, freshwater, agroecology, renewable energy, mobility and equity, poverty, humanitarian work, and free trade.  These are long enough to learn something, but not too long that you stop reading and skip to the photos.

The 365 photos are amazing.  They are all shot from above (shocking given the title, I know) and so many look otherworldly.  I cannot say enough how much I loved these photos, some showcasing the natural beauty of our planet and a few showing the harsh pressure our actions place on the Earth.  The photo on the cover is from Montana.

With each photo is a description that usually involves history, statistics, and some reality for those of us in the United States.  For instance, did you know that 40% of felled trees go to the manufacture of paper?  That’s hard to read for a book lover! 

This book is not for the person who wants to live life ignoring his or her place in the world.  It was shocking, beautiful, and easy to appreciate.  I read a month at a time,  it took me a few weeks and I loved it.  There will quite a few friends who will be receiving this for Christmas!  There are several different editions, this was a second version published in 2007 and there was a new one published in 2009.  I plan on getting that one too.

My one and only complaint was that so many of pictures were of France.  The photographer is French, so it is understandable, but of the 365 photos taken of countries all over the world, 32 of them were of France.  I’m okay with the United States not getting extra just because we expect it, and it did not detract from the importance of the book, but maybe the next one will pick another favorite country.

This was a library copy.

Challenge Completed!

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readown3I completed my second challenge with my review of The Appeal yesterday!  It was the 50th book that I read this year that was on my shelves before January 1.  This is the first challenge I signed up for this year and one that fills me with satisfaction now I’ve accomplished it.  I had so many books that had languished on my shelves or boxes for years and now I’ve made a dent. 

Here’s the  link to the books I’ve read for this challenge.  Here are a few of my favorites-

The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom (powerful memoir of the Holocaust)

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (heartwarming coming-of-age story)

Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil by John Berendt (spend a little time in Savannah)

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen (love me some Mr. Darcy)

The Time Machine by HG Wells (original time travel classic)

Watchers by Dean Koontz (if you love dogs, you must read this book)

MizB  hosted this challenge and will be doing it again next year.  I plan to commit to another 50!  You should think about joining us 🙂