Tag: reading

This Week – Calm

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These past two weeks have been just what I needed. No travelling, no huge projects. Just my usual happenings. April is a nightmare month for me time wise, so I am trying to soak in every quiet moment. I did have a parent-teacher conference that went very well, and Gage, Jason, and I toured a school together and loved it for Gage. Now I need to schedule testing to see if we can get him in. I did spend an excessive number of hours volunteering at the library, but that’s just fun. I told the library manager this week that sorting and selling donations was my form of therapy.

Posts

February Favorites

Oath and Honor by Liz Cheney

The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom

Books Finished

I’ve read 30 books so far this year.

Judgement Prey by John Sandford, #33 in the Lucas Davenport series, thriller/mystery, 400 pages, 2023

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.

Too far From Home by Naomi Shmuel, tweens, 4.5 stars, 96 pages, 2020

Set in Israel, it’s a great fiction book that touches on so many issues that kids are going through, moving from home, trying to make friends, racial bias, embarrassment, defiance…. I’d recommend reading it with your preteen.

Meskerem was born and grew up with her parents, sisters, and grandmother in Golan Heights, but the family had to move to Herzelia for her mother’s new job. Mezkerem was sad to leave her friends and grandmother behind.

On the first day of school kids started ridiculing her by calling her, ‘an Ethiopian’. Mezkerem’s mom had been born in Ethiopia and her dad was American. Meskerem became embarrassed by her heritage.

This story is only 89 pages but packs a lot of discussion into those pages.

Walking in Ava’s Shoes by Kathi Howard-Primes, picture book, 22 pages, 2022

Ava has ADHD. The first line of the book…”Just because I act and learn differently-doesn’t mean something is wrong with me.” It goes through her days showing some of her struggles, like trouble listening and the constant need to move, and ways to help, like eating well and getting enough sleep.

The author based this on her now grown daughter and it’s one I’d recommend for elementary classroom read alouds. And school libraries too! The illustrations are cute and it even has an ADHD checklist in the back.

Mariana by Susanna Kearsley, 5 stars, historical romance, 364 pages, 1994

This was a re-read for me.

Here were my first thoughts on Goodreads when I finished this one, “My love affair with Susanna Kearsley continues. This was one of her first books and it may be my favorite so far. I didn’t want it to end. I was worried that the ending would be all wrong. But it wasn’t. It was perfect.”  There is something so magical and romantic about her stories.  There is history, romance, and a perfect sense of place in all of her books.  This one also felt a little like a ghost story.

Julia was sure she’d found her house and she packed up and moved from London to a small English village without a second thought.  She was a children’s book illustrator and was able to make a few friends right away just as she was being transported back in time at unpredictable times.

It’s tricky when you are going back and forth between time periods and characters.  Inevitably, you are drawn more to one story than the other.  This one did a great job of tying the two together so I was invested in both.  Was this book, the first time she tried the time travel travel romance, perfect? No.  Was it perfect enough to have me rereading the last few chapters again and again because I wasn’t quite ready for it to end?  A resounding YES!

Oath and Honor by Liz Cheney, 4+ stars, current events, 372 pages, 2023

I posted my thoughts this week here.

The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom with Elizabeth & John Sherrill, 5 stars, memoir, 272 pages, 1971

This was a re-read. I posted my thoughts this week here.

Coco Chanel: The Illustrated World of a Fashion Icon by Megan Hess, 4 stars, graphic novel/biography, 218 pages, 2015

The illustrations by Megan Hess in this 200+ pages book are whimsical and fun.

Coco spent much of her childhood in an orphanage in France after her mother died and her father wanted nothing to do with her. She created for herself the life she wanted. “My life didn’t please me so I created my life.” She never married but the love of her life helped her get her start in 1908. She opened her own millinery boutique in Paris.

Everything she touched turned to gold until 1939 when she shut down her 3000 staff salon. She stayed in Paris at the Hotel Ritz with her lover, a German officer, to ride out the war. She fled the country for a number of years after the war before making her comeback.

It’s a beautiful graphic novel for fashion lovers. It wasn’t until after I read this that a friend showed me that Coco had actually been a spy for the Nazis.

Frindle by Andrew Clements, 4.5 stars, kids fiction, 128 pages, 1996

5th grader Nick Allen gets into a war of words with his language arts teacher and it goes further that he could have ever have imagined. Gage and I read it together and had a few laughs and talks about unintended consequences.

How to Fail at Flirting by Denise Williams. 4.25 stars, romance, 343 pages, 2020

Naya, a professor who is 3 years out of an abusive relationship, is convinced by her best friends to open herself to new experiences. She meets Jake at a bar and the two make a connection. I loved this story with two very likeable people. It was a very realistic story with a lot of spice! The domestic abuse is a significant part of the story and some may find it triggering.

On the Screen

Jason and I like all of the Batman movies and we finally saw 2022’s The Batman with Robert Pattinson. We liked quite a bit. Are you a Batman fan? Christian Bale is still my favorite.

Jason and I finished Oppenheimer just in time for the Oscars tonight. I don’t know if I preferred it to Killers of the Flower Moon, but I get the hype.

Plans for the Weekend

Watching the Oscars!

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?

Favorite Book- The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

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The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, 5/5 stars, Magical Realism/Historical Fiction, 433 pages, 1982

I first read The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende when I was the manager of a B. Dalton bookstore in the Washington DC area 25ish years ago. Each month the staff would have to choose a recommendation for a display and I would pick one to read. This was one of those recs and it was my first foray into the world of magical realism. For that it will always have a special place in my heart. I’ve long had this on my list of top 100 books, but this was my first reread and I had forgotten much.

I can’t believe that I’d forgotten what a monster Esteban was. Seriously, this is more his story than anyone’s and I remembered the women with the green hair and the seers more that I remembered the rapes. So much to discuss if you have a book group waiting to take it on.

The last third of the book had more of a focus on Chile’s history and was fascinating (based on actual history of the 1970s). Allende provides such a rich picture of the South American country. Still relevant today. The ‘right’ overthrew the ‘socialists’ by a coup, only to empower a dictator who ended democracy for the country. A cautionary tale if anyone is paying attention.

After some thought I think I’ll go ahead and put it on my favorites list for now. We’ll see if anything comes along and beats it as I reread favorites.

Have you read it? What did you think?

“…she did not believe that the world was a vale of tears but rather a joke that God had played and that it was idiotic to take it seriously if He himself never had.”

“Just as when we come into the world, when we die we are afraid of the unknown. But the fear is something from within us that has nothing to do with reality. Dying is like being born: just a change”

“She tried to recall the cold, the silence, and that precious feeling of owning the world, of being twenty years old and having her whole life ahead of her, of making love slowly and calmly, drunk with the scent of the forest and their love, without a past, without suspecting the future, with just the incredible richness of that present moment in which they stared at each other, smelled each other, kissed each other, and explored each other’s bodies, wrapped in the whisper of the wind among the trees and the sound of the nearby waves breaking against the rocks at the foot of the cliff, exploding in a crash of pungent surf, and the two of them embracing underneath a single poncho like Siamese twins, laughing and swearing this night would last forever, that they were the only ones in the whole world who had discovered love.”

“thought about the years I still had left to live and decided that without her it wasn’t worth it, for I would never find another woman with her green hair and underwater beauty. If anyone had told me then that I would live to be more than ninety, I would have put a gun to my head and pulled the trigger.”

This Week – Busy, Busy

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It’s been a busy two weeks. I took a road trip with a friend, celebrated my parent’s 55th anniversary, my dad’s 77th birthday, sat through my son’s IEP meeting and helped with a luncheon at his school, and even did a minimal amount of planning for an upcoming trip and possible high schools for the boy. Gage had a day off of school and I took him with me to sort donations at the library and he worked hard without complaint! 

Posts

January Favorites

Books Finished

The Talk by Darrin Bell. 5/5 stars, Graphic Memoirs, 352 pages, 2023

This graphic memoir is SO good!

Bell has a white mother and black father and it’s his mother who is the one to first tell him that when world will see him as different. She embarrasses him when she causes a scene calling out bias and yet his father remains largely silent when he needs to hear from him the most. This book starts when he is 6 and has a run in with police and they take his water gun and ends after the George Floyd murder when he has to decide if it’s the right time to have the talk about race with his own young son.

Bell was the first Black editorial cartoonist to win the Pulitzer Prize. Highly recommend. Its’s engaging, touching, honest, brave.

Navigating Autism: 9 Mindsets For Helping Kids on the Spectrum by Temple Grandin and Debra Moore. 4/5 stars, Autism, 384 pages, 2021.

This book manages to do many things well. It will benefit parents, teachers, or anyone who knows or works with a kid with an autism diagnosis. In the 9 mindsets it also has something for every stage of the child, from child to older teen. I especially like the section on the medical comorbidities, too often treating the medical issues is completely overlooked.

Then Came You by Lisa Kleypas. 4.5/5 stars, Historical Romance, 371 pages, 1993

I loved this book, but both main characters did some horrific things to each other. I will read and most likely love anything she writes.

Michelle Obama: Her Essential Wisdom. 4/5 stars. Quotes, 128 pages, 2019

“That is the power of our differences to make us smarter and more creative. And that is how all those infusions of new cultures and ideas, generation after generation, created the matchless alchemy of our melting pot and helped us build the strongest, most vibrant, most prosperous nation on the planet, right here.”

The Menopause Manifesto by Dr. Jen Gunter. 4/5 stars, Menopause, 400 pages, 2021

I’m not in menopause, yet, but I am of a certain age so I wanted to prepare myself. In many ways I wish I hadn’t 🤣. I wish I could say reading this made me feel empowered, but mostly it just depressed me. I’m glad I read it and I’m glad I’m done reading it. I took some useable knowledge and am better off for it. Make sure you’re taking extra calcium ladies!

Currently Reading

Movies

On my weekend road trip we went to the grand old theater in town and finally saw Killers of the Flower Moon. Yes, it was 3 1/2 hours and I had to get up for a 10 minutes break in the middle, but I really liked it. Lily Gladstone was phenomenal. 

We watched Little Italy on Netflix. It had a fun cast and some laughs.

Plans for the Weekend

The SUPERBOWL!

This Week – New Year with good intentions

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Check out my wall of books! These are the 334 books (minus one that I finished after I took this picture) that I read in 2023. I’ve seen a few bookstagrammers do this and I started planning at the beginning of December to get the books from the library that I needed (which was a lot!). You see there were loads of picture books, which came from homeschooling for half a year and from being a panelist for the Cybils Awards.

But, now we’ve turned the page to a new year with new goals and intentions. I’m not an organized person. I tend to get everything done either right away or at the very last minute and most everything else gets lost in the middle. So, I’ve got a list of daily goals, weekly goals, and monthly goals. It’s a lot, but I’m hoping to teach myself some of the skills that I always seem to struggle with. So far I’m 100% on my 9 daily goals and I’m over half done with my 11 monthly goals. I also have a weekly goal of blogging 3 times a week and that has clearly not gone as well. I’ll get there eventually.

Bookish Events

I went with a friend to my first Silent Book Club! This meet up was downtown at the Cleveland Public Library. It was fun, but not exactly silent, lol. The idea is that you take your book to a public place where other bookish people will do the same and you all sit together and read your books. Sort of a social, but not really, book club without the homework. There were 19 of us. It was intriguing enough to try again when they meet at a Barnes & Noble.

Have you heard of this? Have you tried one?

Currently reading

Books I finished this week

I’m off to a very slow start.

Women’s Health: Your Body, Your Hormones, Your Choices by Holly Thacker (a Cleveland Clinic Guide)

As a woman of a certain age, this was a quick book explaining what happens during perimenopause/menopause and some of the things you can do to keep yourself as healthy as possible. It’s an older book and didn’t go into great detail, but it was a nice overview.

Travel to Israel by Matt Doeden.

A very quick introduction for elementary school kids at only 32 pages. Lots of nice photos and just enough information to get started with a study of Israel and what’s going on there now.

Movies

Jason and I actually made it to the theater! We both really liked The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, 2022. I haven’t read any of the Hunger Games books, but love the movies. This is the story of Coriolanus Snow way before we meet Katniss meets him. How does he become the man we know in the trilogy? I thought it was great although I had a question or two in spots. Have you seen it? What did you think?

Plans for the Weekend

When I get my to do list done today I’m hoping to visit you all! I miss checking in with you all. Do you have plans for the day?

Linking up with The Sunday Salon.

2010 Goals and Challenges

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I’ve been blogging for two full years now and loving every minute of it.  2009 was different in that I became more involved with the book blogging community and because of it found the need to figure out how to use a Reader and to keep track of my ever-increasing Reading Wish List.  Last year I made a goal to read 130 books and did it by finishing #130 at 5pm yesterday.  I also wanted to read 30 non-fiction, but only ended the year with 19.  This was the only reading goal or challenge I failed last year 😦

In 2010 I am lowering my reading goal to 105.  I need to have a little less stress at the end of the year and I want to make time for some chunky books I want to read.  I’ll make my non-fiction goal 12.  I let you all choose 50 of the books I’ll read this year and I’m excited to see what you’ve chosen! 

I do have a few other things that will be happening in 2010.  My weekly quiz will move to Tuesday mornings so that I can participate in The Bumbles Monday Movie meme more often.  I will also continue to give away books on the first or second day of each month and give my 5 word movie reviews at the end of each month.  On Fridays (except for today :)) I’ll feature a favorite movie or an author interview.  And as I was looking over old posts I found one that I’d like to continue on a monthly basis, so look out!  And I’ll be posting about 2 reviews a week.  I think that’s enough to keep me busy, don’t you? 

Here are the reading challenges I’ve joined for the year.  I am looking forward to them all.  The challenges really help me focus and I need that.

New Author Challenge 2010This is my first year trying this challenge and I’m going to go for 35 new authors.  Go here for more details.

The Colorful Reading Challenge.  This is my first year, but the goal is to read 9 books with 9 different colors in the title.  I have 7 on my shelves already, so this will help me clear some shelf space too.  Click here for more details.

Sign up for the 2010 A to Z Challenge I loved this one last year and look forward to the challenge again this year.  Last year I read a few books that I never would have tried and ended up loving them, so I have high hopes for this year.  Click here for more details.

 This one helped me so much last year.  I am committed to reading 55 of my own books this year.  You all voted to choose 50 of those and I’m excited to see what you’ve chosen for me.  Click here for more details.

I finished Round 1 and am signing up for Round 2.  I need to walk 100 miles by March 31st.  And I need to not leave 8 1/2 miles for the last two days!  Click here for more details.

Looking for the Short Story Challenge?I haven’t read short stories since college, but I do have a few languishing on my shelves so I’m signing up for the Bronze level and will read one short story collection a quarter for a grand total of 4.  Click here for more details.

Read-a-Thon Wrap up

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I just finished The Post man Always Rings Twice by Cain.  It was my 6th book.  950 pages, 7 hours of audio book listening and no sleep.  Here’s what I read…

Murder On Nob Hill by Shirley Tallman: Book CoverThe Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa: Book CoverGodmother by Carolyn Turgeon: Book CoverThe Funny Thing Is... by Ellen DeGeneres: Book CoverManhunting by Jennifer Crusie: Book CoverThe Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain: Book Cover

My favorite was The Housekeeper and the the Professor.  Here are the wrap up questions…

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?  6:30-7:30 AM
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?  The Ellen Degeneres book helped me laugh, so probably any hunor book would work.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? I thought it was great.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?  Everything.  Liked the mini challenges – even if I didn’t win anything.
5. How many books did you read? 6
6. What were the names of the books you read? see above
7. Which book did you enjoy most? The Housekeeper and the the Professor by Ogawa
8. Which did you enjoy least?  Manhunting by Crusie
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?  Too tired to come up with anything right now.
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?  I would love to participate again.  I would probably devote some hours to cheering as well as reading. 

I had a great ime in my first read-a-thon and look forward to posting this and heading to bed.  Even as the sunslight streams into the room.

The Final Few Hours Are Here!

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dreamstime_readathongI just finished listening to the audio book Manhunting by Jennifer Crusie.  It was nice to be mobile for a few hours.  The light, fluffy romance was perfect for this time of the morning, except maybe the end dragged a bit.  Of course, it could be that anything is going to drag a bit when I’m this tired!

Books finished-5

Pages read – 830

Hours spent listening to audio book – 7 hours

I think I have just enough time to read The Postman Always Rings Twice.

Reading, Laughing, and Honoring

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Dewey is a book blogger I’ve heard a lot about in the past year.  She’s the one who began the Read-a-Thon and less than a year ago she passed away.  I think the tremendous outpouring of love from the bloggers who knew her and the continued success of the Read-a-Thon are great tributes to Dewey.

I have finished my 4th book, The Funny Thing Is…by Ellen Degeneres.  Some chapters made me laugh out loud which has pepped me up a bit.  Not sure what I’ll be reading or listening to next.  Still need a few minutes to recover from the last second Michigan State loss.

Books completed-4

Pages read – 830

Mid Event Meme

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Mid-Event Survey:
1. What are you reading right now?  The Funny Thing is…by Ellen Degeneres

2. How many books have you read so far? I’ve finished 3

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?  I have not thought past the books I’m reading now 🙂

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?  Just warned my husband that he would only see me during our 2 football games, reading of course! 

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?  Small ones, took a nice long bath, kids at the door, fixing snacks, football games…I guess there have been a few.

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?  I like the challenges, but wonder what’s going on with everyone else. 

7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?  Nope.  It’s been great so far.

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year?  Maybe schedule a few hours as a cheerleader.

9. Are you getting tired yet?  My eyes are a little tired.  After the book I’m reading, I’ll listen to an audio book.

10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered?  I felt a little tired of reading after finishing Godmother, especially since I didn’t love it, but choosing a humor book that is making me laugh out loud has reenergized me.