Tag: fantasy

This Week- Day of Stacy

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On September 11 I participated in one of the Day of Service events. The Cleveland State University arena was packed with volunteers who packed meals to be distributed by the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. I was part of the clean up crew and by the time I got there at 11am they had already packed 290,000 meals! It was amazingly organized and I hope to participate again.

I also had tickets to see The Notebook musical at Playhouse Square that night at 7:30, so I decided to spend the time in between just exploring downtown Cleveland. I found an outdoor music performance while I ate and went to the library to charge my phone. I read in a church park and did some list making. I mostly walked. I met Jason for drinks and dinner before the show. It was a great day.

Posts

I posted a review of the first book I read for my Reading the World challenge. My Israel nonfiction book encompassed the world but had a clear Arab from Israel voice.

What I finished this week

I listened to Lethal Prey by John Sandford This is #35 in the Lucas Davenport series (I’ve read them all) and #19 of the Virgil Flowers series (I’ve not read all of these). I like both of these detectives separately, but together they are perfection if you like police/FBI procedurals. The bad guy in this one was a cold, cold woman who made me look around and wonder what seemingly normal people I know are just offing people who get in their way.

I also listened to Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas. This is the first in the Throne of Glass series and I will probably continue with the series. It’s about an assassin forced to compete in a series of tests against the worst of the worst where there will be only one winner and many will die. She’s the only female, and a teen at that. This fantasy series is addicting like the author’s A Court of Thorns and Roses series, but so far there’s been no hot fairy sex. And I okay with that!

What I’m currently reading

Waking Lions by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen is my fiction pick for Israel and I really like it, but it’s not something I’m racing through. An Isreali doctor hits man with his car and watches him die. The wife of the man tracks him down a has a proposal for her to keep quiet about it.

I’ve read 92 books this year so far.

What we watched

For family movie night we watched I Am Legend. I’d seen this post apocalyptic movie before but had blocked out most of it. There were tears, hiding behind pillows and stress. That was all from me. My two guys loved it.

What I made

A cousin sent me a recipe for Stuffed Pepper Soup and I made it for the first time. I loved it and it was so easy to make. Don’t know what’s taken me so long.

Plans for the weekend

I’ve got an online reading club meet up at 1:30 and may have to go in to the library to facilitate a donation, but other that that it’s laundry! What about you?

This Week – New

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It’s that time of year that I’ve made some goals, including being more mindful with reviewing book and being more active with my blogger friends.

As a family we made vison boards together yesterday, a first. This morning Jason was in his first pickleball tournament at the new club in town and he WON! Gage and I checked out a new church based on the recommendation of a friend. It was decidedly different, but not in a bad way. The jury is still out. We recorded the results of Gage’s science fair project which involved him counting and trying to sprout various fruit seeds. So no we have a lot of sprouts and he wants to grow them all, lol. That’s a project for later.

On the blog

My 2024 favorite books

My 2024 favorite movies and shows

My first book of the year

Books

I finished my first book of the year yesterday, First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

and my second one this morning, Secrets of a Summer Night by Lisa Kleypas.

Movies

We had a fairly chill New Year’s, all of us had covid over Christmas so we’re just getting back on track, and we watched JAWS with Gage. After we were a bit into the movie, he said he wasn’t a fan because they were gaslighting everyone about sharks, lol. He made it to the end, but described it as mid.

Shows

Jason and I started season 3 of The Diplomat this week. That marriage is a train wreck I can’t look away from.

Plans for the weekend

I hope we don’t don’t do much of anything else today, but Gage’s last day of winter break and we’re meeting friends for the movies.

What are your plans for the rest of the day?

This Week – A week late!

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We took a lovely road trip the Lake Norman in North Carolina last week, our third February in a row. Jason has clients in the Charlotte area so he always works a few of the days leaving Gage and I to our own devices. This week we were able to be away for 6 days, even though that meant Gage missed 2 days of school. On our way home we stopped in Wytheville, Virginia and toured the Edith Bolling Wilson First Lady Birthplace Museum, even staying in the hotel dedicated to her history in the town. I considered this a 2 day field trip. Once a homeschooler…

Posts

I posted about one of my favorite books, The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende.

Books Finished

You can read my thoughts here.

Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, 4.5 stars, historical fiction, 359 pages, 2022

We had a great book club discussion this month. Take My Hand is historical fiction that drew its inspiration from a real 1973 court case. It found that government family centers were sterilizing girls of color as well as those in poor neighborhoods reliant on government help.

Well written and a shocking part of this country’s not so long ago history. I really liked this one. Highly recommend.

Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas, 4.5 stars, historical romance, 373 pages, 1994

This is the sequel to Then Came You that I finished a few weeks ago. An innocent author comes to London to research her next book, only to shoot a man and fall in love with the owner of a gambling club. Loved it.

The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times by Pema Chodron, 5 stars, Buddhism/Spirituality, 176 pages, 2001

I’ve read a few other books by Pema Chodron and I always finish feeling inspired and content. She is an American Buddhist nun and writes about Buddhism in such a welcoming and relatable way. I take a lot from Buddhist teachers, Thich Nhat Hanh being my introduction. I’m a Christian, but I’ve really grown personally from books like these. Maybe you will too if you give one a try. This one deals especially with some life strategies that all can benefit from.

“The most straightforward advice on awakening bodhichitta is this: practice not causing harm to anyone- yourself or others- and every day, do what you can to be helpful.”

“Buddha was pointing out that the fixed idea that we have about ourselves as solid and separate from each other is painfully limiting.”

“Our personal attempts to live humanely in this world are never wasted. Choosing to cultivate love rather than anger just might be what it takes to save the planet from extinction.”

Masked Prey by John Sandford, Lucas Davenport series #30, 4 stars, Mystery/thriller, 406 pages, 2020

I started this series with book one and haven’t looked back. I realized I was a few behind so I’m making quick work of the last few. If you like police procedurals you should definitely give this series a look. He started as a Minneapolis police detective, but is currently a US Marshal still based in Minneapolis. He has a recurring partner, Lucas Flowers, and an adopted daughter, Letty, who each have their own spin offs.

Who Is Malala Yousafzai? by Dinah Brown, Andrew Thompson, illustrator, 4 stars, kids biography, 112 pages, 2015

Most people are familiar with Malala by now. The girl was shot in the face by the Taliban on her way to school in Afghanistan. But there is a backstory if that’s all you know. I already knew everything in this book, but it’s an easy one hour listen on a road trip with your kid!

*I’ve read 22 books so far this year.*

Currently reading

Watching

Jason and I watched Season 1 of White Lotus. What a crazy, beautiful trip. Any other fans out there?

Plans for the Weekend

There are a few hours left that will be spent on Friends of the Solon Library duties. I need to connect with a few members about Facebook stuff and I need to start finding volunteers for our next big book sale. Anyone want to help out in April?

Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story, by Carolyn Turgeon

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Cover ImageFinished 10-24-09, rating 3/5, Fantasy, pub. 2009

I loved the scribbles in the margins, the notes in the front of the books that told their stories, the ways they passed from one person to another.  “To Jennifer, Christmas 1921.  May these words stay with you.” The stray phrases and numbers jotted on the side of a page – “Indian Taj, 74th Street” emerging from the margins of Utopia, “BUY PUMPKINS” blaring up at me from the back cover of To the Lighthouse.  As I sat behind the register, carefull erasing the penciled marks, I felt as if each book had a secret to tell, only to me.

 Chapter 1

Lil is a fallen fairy, one who broke the ultimate sin by falling in love with a human.  And not just any human, but the fantasy of many a young girl, Prince Charming.  Lil was the fairy godmother to Cinderella and in charge of getting her and the Prince to meet and marry, but she made the mistake of taking a peek at the Prince in advance and her heart’s fate was sealed.

Now, Lil is living as an old woman in New York City working as small used bookstore.  The owner of the store is a friend who finally recovered from his divorce and when  a beautiful young woman walks in to the store, Lil thinks getting them together will be her way back home.  There is a charity ball coming up and the couple agrees to attend together and Lil can feel the fairy world coming for her.

This is not your average fairy tale retelling.  It is dark and offbeat, which I liked, but Lil was not a character I fell in love with, even though I wanted to.  I mean who wouldn’t love a fairy godmother?  I liked the way the story was told, alternating between New York and her past life as a fairy.  I really wanted to like it more, but it did keep me interested the whole way through.

I recommend this if you like fairy tale retellings or fairies. 

This was a library copy.