Wow, I am so tired of winter.....it seems extra long this year. We've had temps in the 30's this weekend and it is supposed to continue thru the week so hopefully we'll start getting rid of the snow, an inch at a time.
So I got thru "The Devil in the White City" and I did like it but gosh that was a tough read. Lots of characters, plus the different stories within the story so I had to pay really close attention. I've been super distracted with life lately so probably not the best time to read this book but we had a good discussion at book group last week and I wanted to finish it. So i did. Now I'm on to next month's book which is "The Hour I First Believed" by Wally Lamb........really dark story but I love how he writes....and have read his other books so know his style. It's a big book and I needed to start it so I'm ready to discuss. Also am reading the new Audrey Niffenegger book and like that as well. I should choose one or the other but it's kind of fun to go back and forth. Still need to read " The Cellist from Sarajevo" which I've been talking about the last couple posts and that is again "on deck". :)
I just have too many options for reading lately.
Anyway, here's to March and the possiblities that spring brings!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Happy Valentine's Day!
Hello everyone.........Happy Love Day!
I haven't meant to stay away so long but gosh life happens! What happened to January anyway? Now it's already the middle of February and I haven't been blogging. Well here i am to tell you about a couple of books.
First of all, in one of my book groups we read "Olive Kitteridge" by Kathleen Strout. I loved this book. It's basically 13 short stories with Olive involved in varying roles...some of them are all about her and some of them she's barely mentioned..but in all of them she's touched someones life or it's a story about her and another significant person in her life. This book wasn't warmly embraced by our club, although there were a couple others like me that really liked it. I just thought it was a really neat way to write a story (or stories) and the author describes things beautifully.....some of her descriptions made me feel like I was there in the room with the ones she was talking about. Anyway, I give Olive Kitteridege an A!
The other book I read was one I started on Caitlin's Kindle while I was on vacation in Captiva, Florida. I was a little skeptical about the Kindle by the way but after traveling with it and being able to use it on the beach I loved it! The font and print size were wonderful for my ever declining eyes and it was just a neat way to read a book. Perfect on the plane. Anyway, this book is called "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein. Loved this book...the voice that tells the story is Enzo, a lab terrior mix that the owner Denny gets as a pet. He tells his and Denny's story perfectly bringing in Denny's wife Eve and their daughter Zoey as years go by. Denny drives on the race car circuit and is trying to make a living at it when Eve becomes ill and there is a custody battle between Eve's parents and Denny as Eve gets sicker and passes away. There's alot of other things that happen in between but Enzo tells the story so well and you almost believe he's human! I think everyone should try to read this book, especially if you have a pet because it really makes you wonder if they can think and wonder like Enzo does. Definetly enjoyed this one and another A! Iv'e been lucky with the two I've read in the last few weeks. I need to kick it up a notch this month and get going though.....On deck is still "The Cellist of Sarajevo" by Steven Galloway and then I've started "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson (we're reading this one for book group next month) and then I'm also reading "Her Fearful Symmetry" by Audrey Niffenegger. She wrote "The Time Travelers Wife" which is a favorite book of mine. Anyway, i have alot of reading to do in the next week so I'll keep you posted! Have a great V Day!
Anyway, have a good week
I haven't meant to stay away so long but gosh life happens! What happened to January anyway? Now it's already the middle of February and I haven't been blogging. Well here i am to tell you about a couple of books.
First of all, in one of my book groups we read "Olive Kitteridge" by Kathleen Strout. I loved this book. It's basically 13 short stories with Olive involved in varying roles...some of them are all about her and some of them she's barely mentioned..but in all of them she's touched someones life or it's a story about her and another significant person in her life. This book wasn't warmly embraced by our club, although there were a couple others like me that really liked it. I just thought it was a really neat way to write a story (or stories) and the author describes things beautifully.....some of her descriptions made me feel like I was there in the room with the ones she was talking about. Anyway, I give Olive Kitteridege an A!
The other book I read was one I started on Caitlin's Kindle while I was on vacation in Captiva, Florida. I was a little skeptical about the Kindle by the way but after traveling with it and being able to use it on the beach I loved it! The font and print size were wonderful for my ever declining eyes and it was just a neat way to read a book. Perfect on the plane. Anyway, this book is called "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein. Loved this book...the voice that tells the story is Enzo, a lab terrior mix that the owner Denny gets as a pet. He tells his and Denny's story perfectly bringing in Denny's wife Eve and their daughter Zoey as years go by. Denny drives on the race car circuit and is trying to make a living at it when Eve becomes ill and there is a custody battle between Eve's parents and Denny as Eve gets sicker and passes away. There's alot of other things that happen in between but Enzo tells the story so well and you almost believe he's human! I think everyone should try to read this book, especially if you have a pet because it really makes you wonder if they can think and wonder like Enzo does. Definetly enjoyed this one and another A! Iv'e been lucky with the two I've read in the last few weeks. I need to kick it up a notch this month and get going though.....On deck is still "The Cellist of Sarajevo" by Steven Galloway and then I've started "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson (we're reading this one for book group next month) and then I'm also reading "Her Fearful Symmetry" by Audrey Niffenegger. She wrote "The Time Travelers Wife" which is a favorite book of mine. Anyway, i have alot of reading to do in the next week so I'll keep you posted! Have a great V Day!
Anyway, have a good week
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Baby it's Cold Outside.............
Brrrrr..........winter in Wisconsin can sure be brutal and this is one of those days even though you'd never know by looking outside. It looks very peaceful and calm, sunny and bright........but when you step outside. Yikes!
Happy Birthday Katherine! Katherine is one of my oldest friends and I hope she has a wonderful day today.
I've been busy today getting TJ ready to go back to Denver and Stuart's sister Deb, her daughter Kaitlin and their dog Maggie ready to move in. They'll be staying with us for a month or two while they find a place to live. It will be fun having them here. I'm sad that TJ is leaving...it's always hard to say goodbye to the kids when I've gotten used to having them around but he's ready to go back and this is his last semester at The University of Denver....the next time we'll see him he'll be graduting......so hard to believe.
I finished the book "No More Tears Left Behind" today and thought it was a good story. The editing in some parts could have been better...i'm a stickler for spelling and punctuation but all in all a good story about the Holocaust and some of the incredibly sad, horrible things that happened at that time in our history. Why on earth do human beings treat each other like they do? It's such a mystery to me....why can't everyone just get along. Anyway, the couple in the book eventually made it back to the US and lived in Madison for many years. That is a neat part of the story as they talk about State Street and some of the neighborhoods I'm familiar with in Madison. The book ended really abruptly though and that was a little disappointing. I'm sure that the story was supposed to be mainly about their struggles in Berlin during the war but it just seemed to end a bit awkwardly. Anyway, our book group will be discussing this book on Thurs nite so i'll let you know what others thought. I'm on going to start "Olive Kitteridge" tonite. On deck will be a book called "The Cellist of Sarajevo" by Steven Galloway. I am really looking forward to reading this book as I heard about it from someone else that had read it and they said it was very good. I'm off to make a mug of tea and to stay warm today. Happy Reading!
Happy Birthday Katherine! Katherine is one of my oldest friends and I hope she has a wonderful day today.
I've been busy today getting TJ ready to go back to Denver and Stuart's sister Deb, her daughter Kaitlin and their dog Maggie ready to move in. They'll be staying with us for a month or two while they find a place to live. It will be fun having them here. I'm sad that TJ is leaving...it's always hard to say goodbye to the kids when I've gotten used to having them around but he's ready to go back and this is his last semester at The University of Denver....the next time we'll see him he'll be graduting......so hard to believe.
I finished the book "No More Tears Left Behind" today and thought it was a good story. The editing in some parts could have been better...i'm a stickler for spelling and punctuation but all in all a good story about the Holocaust and some of the incredibly sad, horrible things that happened at that time in our history. Why on earth do human beings treat each other like they do? It's such a mystery to me....why can't everyone just get along. Anyway, the couple in the book eventually made it back to the US and lived in Madison for many years. That is a neat part of the story as they talk about State Street and some of the neighborhoods I'm familiar with in Madison. The book ended really abruptly though and that was a little disappointing. I'm sure that the story was supposed to be mainly about their struggles in Berlin during the war but it just seemed to end a bit awkwardly. Anyway, our book group will be discussing this book on Thurs nite so i'll let you know what others thought. I'm on going to start "Olive Kitteridge" tonite. On deck will be a book called "The Cellist of Sarajevo" by Steven Galloway. I am really looking forward to reading this book as I heard about it from someone else that had read it and they said it was very good. I'm off to make a mug of tea and to stay warm today. Happy Reading!
Friday, January 1, 2010
Another Year, Another Resolution
Happy New Year Everyone.......
i had a hard time finding this blog and remembering my password to get in to it at all but finally made it. I realize the last time I wrote was in April so hopefully this year I'll get way past that...I vow to try again and read my book per week to get to my yearly goal. I actually think that I got pretty close last year, just didn't tell you all about it so this time around you will get the facts. Another thing that will help is that my wonderful hubby got me a new laptop for Christmas so I don't have any reason not to tell you about the multitudes of books I've read.
Speaking of books, even though it's the first day of 2010 I finished a book today that I loved and wanted to tell you about. It's called "The Piano Teacher" by Janice Y.K. Lee. It takes place in Hong Kong when the Japanese invaded there during World War II. It has such interesting characters and parts of it are hard to read and that such atrocities could happen but it's a great book.
The book I just started is something I'm reading for one of the book clubs I belong to and is called "No More Tears Left Behind"by Arthur and Ursula Rathburn. I'm not that far into it but is about a couple who is Jewish and living "underground" in Berlin during WWII. ( I seem to be reading a lot of war books lately) I'm not that far into it and the writing style is a little different than what I usually go for but I respect this person and how brave she and her husband were during this horrific time in history. They managed to get out alive and to the US and now live in Madison, WI. I will keep you posted as I get more into the book. On deck is the book I need to read for my other book group and it is called "Olive Kitteridge" by Elizabeth Strout. I have heard great things about this book and am excited to start it as soon as I finish the one I'm reading now.
I hope everyone has a great start to a new decade and is looking forward to the coming year. Read as much as you can!
Barb
i had a hard time finding this blog and remembering my password to get in to it at all but finally made it. I realize the last time I wrote was in April so hopefully this year I'll get way past that...I vow to try again and read my book per week to get to my yearly goal. I actually think that I got pretty close last year, just didn't tell you all about it so this time around you will get the facts. Another thing that will help is that my wonderful hubby got me a new laptop for Christmas so I don't have any reason not to tell you about the multitudes of books I've read.
Speaking of books, even though it's the first day of 2010 I finished a book today that I loved and wanted to tell you about. It's called "The Piano Teacher" by Janice Y.K. Lee. It takes place in Hong Kong when the Japanese invaded there during World War II. It has such interesting characters and parts of it are hard to read and that such atrocities could happen but it's a great book.
The book I just started is something I'm reading for one of the book clubs I belong to and is called "No More Tears Left Behind"by Arthur and Ursula Rathburn. I'm not that far into it but is about a couple who is Jewish and living "underground" in Berlin during WWII. ( I seem to be reading a lot of war books lately) I'm not that far into it and the writing style is a little different than what I usually go for but I respect this person and how brave she and her husband were during this horrific time in history. They managed to get out alive and to the US and now live in Madison, WI. I will keep you posted as I get more into the book. On deck is the book I need to read for my other book group and it is called "Olive Kitteridge" by Elizabeth Strout. I have heard great things about this book and am excited to start it as soon as I finish the one I'm reading now.
I hope everyone has a great start to a new decade and is looking forward to the coming year. Read as much as you can!
Barb
Sunday, April 26, 2009
April Showers bring...........
Hello all!
Unfortunately this is turning into a monthly blog rather than a weekly one but my life has been kind of crazy lately so I just need to give myself a break. I haven't stopped reading and have a few titles to add to my list:
Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger which was the book club pick for April. We had a great discussion about this book and not everyone appreciated it but we agreed that the main character Holden was a handful and would be a tough kid to parent!
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. This one is a really sweet story that takes place in Seattle during WWII and is about the Japanese population there that is taken to internement camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It tells a story about an unlikely relationship between two classmates and the bonds they form. I'm going to Seattle on a trip this summer and plan on checking out some of the spots they talk about in the book.
Death in a Prairie House was a nonfiction book I got from Deb after we read the March book, Loving Frank. It tells the story about the murders that took place at Taliesen in Spring Green. A bit more graphic than Loving Frank but a very interesting book.
Girls Night In is a collection of short stories from a bunch of authors I read already, including Jennifer Weiner, Sophie Kinsella and Meg Cabot. Short stories are great to read once in a while when you don't have the time to get into a whole book but you want to finish a story so check this one out! I have liked pretty much everything that I've read this past month and right now I am working out the book group pick for May which is called To Become a Priest- A Love Story by Den Adler. I'm only about 60 pages in so will talk about this one the next time I blog...which hopefully won't be another month!
Unfortunately this is turning into a monthly blog rather than a weekly one but my life has been kind of crazy lately so I just need to give myself a break. I haven't stopped reading and have a few titles to add to my list:
Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger which was the book club pick for April. We had a great discussion about this book and not everyone appreciated it but we agreed that the main character Holden was a handful and would be a tough kid to parent!
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. This one is a really sweet story that takes place in Seattle during WWII and is about the Japanese population there that is taken to internement camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It tells a story about an unlikely relationship between two classmates and the bonds they form. I'm going to Seattle on a trip this summer and plan on checking out some of the spots they talk about in the book.
Death in a Prairie House was a nonfiction book I got from Deb after we read the March book, Loving Frank. It tells the story about the murders that took place at Taliesen in Spring Green. A bit more graphic than Loving Frank but a very interesting book.
Girls Night In is a collection of short stories from a bunch of authors I read already, including Jennifer Weiner, Sophie Kinsella and Meg Cabot. Short stories are great to read once in a while when you don't have the time to get into a whole book but you want to finish a story so check this one out! I have liked pretty much everything that I've read this past month and right now I am working out the book group pick for May which is called To Become a Priest- A Love Story by Den Adler. I'm only about 60 pages in so will talk about this one the next time I blog...which hopefully won't be another month!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Happy St Patrick's Day!
Ok people, it's going to be 70 degrees today! I have seen about 25 robins in the last couple days so I know spring is around the corner. Yeay!!!! I don't know about the rest of you but winter seemed unusually long this year and I'm ready for warmth and green.
I have been having a tough time keeping up with my blogging but did want you all to know that I am fulfilling my reading quota and hanging in there with my goals. I read a couple of interesting books these past couple weeks. The first one is one called "The Middle Place" by Kelly Corrigan which I absolutely loved and can't imagine anyone not liking it. It's nonfiction and about a young mom who has an amazing relationship with her father (who is really quite a character!) and her being in the "middle place" where she is raising children of her own but also feeling a little in charge of her aging parents. There is some illness involved but really inspirational and I suggest you read it. The other book i finished last week is called "The Shack" by William Paul Young. It's a different genre book than I usually read and to put it really simply it's about a man who has a family, something horrific happens to one of his children and he struggles for a couple years faithwise and one day God sends him a letter telling him to meet him at "the shack" where the crime took place. What happens in that weekend for him is pretty remarkable and it certainly is a story that makes you think and then think some more. If anyone else has read it I would be very interested in hearing what you thought. It may be a book to read for our book group at some point.
I'm trying to finish "Loving Frank" by tomorrow nite as it is book group nite and hopefully will get that in. I'm in kind of a slow part in the book, a little more than half way thru but I do like it and I think it will create some really good conversation. It was a lot different for women living in that period of time don't you think? There seemed to be alot of judgement involved. Anyway, beyond that I am also still pluggging away at Comfort Food" by Kate Jacobs and on deck is "Thank You For All Things" by Sandra Kring who wrote the book we read last year called "The Book of Bright Ideas" Remember that one? We all liked it...............so that's where I'm at with my reading. I hope you're all having a wonderful week and we'll see you tomorrow nite!
I have been having a tough time keeping up with my blogging but did want you all to know that I am fulfilling my reading quota and hanging in there with my goals. I read a couple of interesting books these past couple weeks. The first one is one called "The Middle Place" by Kelly Corrigan which I absolutely loved and can't imagine anyone not liking it. It's nonfiction and about a young mom who has an amazing relationship with her father (who is really quite a character!) and her being in the "middle place" where she is raising children of her own but also feeling a little in charge of her aging parents. There is some illness involved but really inspirational and I suggest you read it. The other book i finished last week is called "The Shack" by William Paul Young. It's a different genre book than I usually read and to put it really simply it's about a man who has a family, something horrific happens to one of his children and he struggles for a couple years faithwise and one day God sends him a letter telling him to meet him at "the shack" where the crime took place. What happens in that weekend for him is pretty remarkable and it certainly is a story that makes you think and then think some more. If anyone else has read it I would be very interested in hearing what you thought. It may be a book to read for our book group at some point.
I'm trying to finish "Loving Frank" by tomorrow nite as it is book group nite and hopefully will get that in. I'm in kind of a slow part in the book, a little more than half way thru but I do like it and I think it will create some really good conversation. It was a lot different for women living in that period of time don't you think? There seemed to be alot of judgement involved. Anyway, beyond that I am also still pluggging away at Comfort Food" by Kate Jacobs and on deck is "Thank You For All Things" by Sandra Kring who wrote the book we read last year called "The Book of Bright Ideas" Remember that one? We all liked it...............so that's where I'm at with my reading. I hope you're all having a wonderful week and we'll see you tomorrow nite!
Friday, February 20, 2009
Book List
I thought I'd keep an ongoing list of what I've read so far and how much I liked them.
Tara Road by Maeve Binchy- C+
The Ha Ha by Dave King- A
The Sun Farmer by Michael McCarthy- B
Hannah's Dream by Diane Hammond- A-
Ten Eternal Questions by Zoe Sallis- B
The Daily Fix, Your Guide to Healthy Habits and Good Nutrition by Alexa Fishback- B
Belong to Me by Marissa de los Santos- A
Tara Road by Maeve Binchy- C+
The Ha Ha by Dave King- A
The Sun Farmer by Michael McCarthy- B
Hannah's Dream by Diane Hammond- A-
Ten Eternal Questions by Zoe Sallis- B
The Daily Fix, Your Guide to Healthy Habits and Good Nutrition by Alexa Fishback- B
Belong to Me by Marissa de los Santos- A
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