It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week.  It's a great post to organize yourself. It's an opportunity to visit and comment, and er... add to that ever growing TBR pile!

It's Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date.

Last week I was so excited about the 5 books I had going on, but if you remember, I mentioned that I had no idea how that had happened.

I said this last week:

I'm reading 5 books this week--all at the same time.

I have never read this many at one time before!

I don't even know how this has happened!

Different rooms, different times of the day--that kind of thing, I guess.  

But I hope to finish them all this week.

Well, it so happens that--

I cannot do 5 books at one time!!!

2 yes, but 5 really confused my reading mojo.

All I did was pick up one read a few pages, put it down, pick up another one, read a few pages--you get the picture.

I can't concentrate enough on one to really start to enjoy it.

I'm going to pick one and just stick with it thru to the end!!

So...nothing finished this week.

But last night my son and his kids arrived for spring break, and I sat down with my grandkids and they each chose a book for me to read to them this week.  It's my favorite thing to do!  

My books are a bit dated, but timeless stories.

This week I will be reading AND finishing these two:

They would also like me to read "Little Women" to them.  I love Little Women, and these two 6, almost 7 year olds, are advanced listeners, so I might give it a try.  I'm not sure yet.  Although this is a Penguin Junior Edition, so it's not the full 500 pages, which is a plus for reading aloud novels in a week!

And that's my reading for the week!

What are  you reading?

Eleanor and Park

 

 

 

This is the 2nd time I have I joined in a monthly meme hosted by Michelle at  Because Reading is Better than Real Life, in which we put up 3 books on the first Saturday of the month, and they you readers, vote on which one I should read, I read and then I write a blog post on the last Saturday of the month.

 

It's so much fun!

I always have a hard time choosing what book to read next... this was the winner:

Eleanor and Park

 

 

 

I had been interested in Eleanor and Park for some time, but I didn't own it and I didn't think it was a 'have to' read for me, but  a few months ago, I  started seeing in mentioned (again) in blog posts and mentioned in book podcasts. There were using it as a reference, but it drew my attention again and when I put it up as one of the 3 for  you guys to choose for me,  it won hands down!

 

And it was AWESOME!  I'm so glad I finally got to read it.

Thanks!

 

It's a story that most of us can relate to (not the physical abuse, etc) but of the 'not fitting in' to a crowd in high school.  Being afraid of  what you wear, who you are, what you like, etc.  and then finding that one friend (or love) who makes everything all right.

 

I really loved this book so much!

 

*****************

I just had one little issue---but it wasn't about the book itself. 

 Park is half Korean,  my nephews are half Guamanian.   At one point in the story Park says that "no one sees Asian guys as good looking.  They see Asian girls as hot, but guys? No."

That made me feel horrible!  I don't want that statement to be true.  For ANY Asian boy.  I don't want them to feel so out of place.  It actually broke my heart.

Thank you Rainbow Rowell. 

I was being sarcastic but man, she  is such a good author that she can break your heart!!

 

Good book.   Thanks for choosing this one for me.

 

 

From Goodreads:

Two misfits.
One extraordinary love.

Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor.

Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park.

Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try

 

Book Blogger Hop

 

 

Book Blogger Hop is hosted each week by

Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.

 

This week's question is:

 

How much of your day is devoted to your blog, and how much is devoted to reading?

 

My answer?

Reading Wins!

Here's the thing.  I blog for fun.  I never review books--I just love the book blogging community and all the people.

My blog is not sophisticated, I am not very technologically  inclined,  Twitter still intimidates me (I know this is about my blog and not Twitter, but I just thought I'd throw that in), I don't understand my IPhone, and  I don't take the time I probably should to figure out stuff for my blog, BUT -  I so love  YOU and your blogs!!

I have found my 'blog' place and it's okay.

 

Sometimes I will go a week without a blog post update---my life just gets in the way---but I'd never go a day without reading, BECAUSE, reading IS my life.

Well, books and the Handyman, my kids, grandkids, friends, dog, cat, cabin in the woods, church,  wino bingo, book clubs, lunch, cooking!

Those things are my life, but I'm always able to get some reading in between; morning, noon and night.

 

I am amazed and in awe of how many of you keep up such wonderful blogs AND interact with other bloggers so often.

You are my heroes!

 

Did I answer the question?

More time devoted to reading.

Less to my blog.

 

 

A Day in the Life (of me)

 

Trish from  Love, Laughter, and a Touch of Insanity  is at it again. She's hosting the 2nd annual  "Day in the Life" for bloggers.   She tried, she really tried to get everyone to be organized in their post.  AND early.

Most did, but who would I be, if I wasn't up early on the day it's due,  still writing away trying to post before noon!!

 

The trouble with being on the west coast and being a procrastinator is that most everyone has their "Day in a Life' posted before I get out of bed and I want to read them, not be writing about my boring life. 

Which is another trait of a procrastinator--being easily distracted. 

And this morning I certainly am, by all the wonderful blog posts out there.

But now...let me take you back in time...to the day before yesterday... to my day in a life.

 

 

4:30am -- I look at my clock and think NO, No! Not yet!  Why can't it be 5:30? That's not too early to get up.  But by this time, I'm afraid to doze because my alarm is not set (I get up every day between 5-6 without an alarm clock),  so up I get.  Go downstairs and make coffee and settle down with a book.

I hear a really kind of creepy noise in the cabinet beside me...and this is what I see:

 

 

What the heck??!!

 

 

 

The cat!  Inside the file cabinet.  She knows how to get these things open. I have no idea how long she's been in there--she could have slept there for all I know, but hearing creepy scratching when you think you are alone in a room is eerie.  Cats are eerie.  I don't know why I like them.

15 minutes later the Handyman is coming down the stairs.  WHA??  Why is he up?  This is MY time.  I'm sure my voice was shrill  "What are you doing?  Why are you up?  It's not even 5!!"

Even tho I'm an early riser, I am not an early talker, so this  crazy statement comes out scratchy and hoarse and.....Loud.  To be fair tho,  it is MY time and he was intruding.

He just gets his coffee and shakes his head at me and....and.....TURNS ON THE TV!

It's amazing that we've made it almost 38 years, as our morning routines just don't mesh.

I stomp off to the other room to read for a while.  (I'm not a great stomper--so I just walk.  He doesn't even notice)

 

6:00am -- I take my coffee and go to my friend Debbie's house for our weekly 6am coffee, where we solve all of the world's problems.  We've been having coffee once a week for the past 14 years.  At 6am.  It's the best!

 

7:15am-- I stay a little bit too long and rush home.  The Handyman has already left by the time I get home. I eat a quick bowl of Raisin Bran and then go jump in the shower.

 

7:30am -- When I say jump, this is what I did.  I lay the bath mat in the tub.  This is not a walk in shower, but one in a tub, so I step over the tub and turn to face the water... I take one step forward and I find myself slipping on the bath mat which wasn't suctioned to the tub.  There is nothing to hang on to in my tub/shower.  We have no "old lady bars' to hang on to yet.  No shower door (it's a shower curtain).  Before I know it, I am lying face down on the bathroom floor. And it hurts, really, really bad.    To make a long story short---I fell, cracked my shin on the bathtub and must have landed on my thigh, both have hurt badly since then and I have huge bruising.  But at least I didn't hit my head on the toilet and die, because then... well, I wouldn't be writing this and you wouldn't be so enthralled by my day!

But as I'm lying there--and I lay there for a while-- no one, not cat, not dog--came to check on me!  On a normal day they are there, looking on as I get ready.  Usually under my feet and in my way, BUT when I need a friend?  They are no where to be seen!  Ingrates!

By the time I got up and called the Handyman, I was crying.  I'm just being honest, yes I cried a bit--it hurt. 

The Handyman came home!  He said to make sure I hadn't broken my hip---because you know what happens then!  You die within a year.

I am being silly, but you do hear of that happening to older people...they break their hip and the rest is history.   But let me just set the record straight--I AM NOT REALLY OLD.  I'm a young mid-fifties, now afraid of the shower, girl!

 

9:00am -- I finally hobble in to work. And hobble and hobble and hobble around all day.  It's lucky I work by myself, all alone, so I feel I can pamper myself by not doing work right away and write a blog post instead--It's Monday! What are you Reading--  okay, the honest truth is I do that a lot at work, but this day I told myself it was okay because I was hurt.  I was ready to play this for all it was worth!

So, I wrote my blog post.  I am in the middle of 5 different books!  I don't know how this happened.  It's never happened before--I don't know how I can do 5 books at one time.  I know I need to pick just one and get on with it.

 

Noon --  I go home for lunch (there are nice things about living in a small town--it's easy to go home a lunchtime) and check the mail.  It is THE BEST MAIL DAY EVER!   I say that any time I get a letter!!  But this time I got 2 letters (from Care in NC and Sally in PA)  and a coffee mug (from Susie in WA).  I tired to do the happy dance, but couldn't because of my injuries.  (told you I was workin' it)

 

 

 

1:30pm -- back to work to get ready for a ribbon cutting of a new business.  The afternoon consists of  the ribbon cutting,  back in the office for some paper work, and... (sigh) because my body still hurts, I took an extra long break and wrote a letter to a friend, then spend time reading blog posts.

 

4:45pm -- Leave work a bit early to make the post office so that my letter goes out this day.  AS a side note:  I LOVE writing and sending letters and in turn, receiving them.

 

5:00pm -- Library Board meeting.  I have 3 more meetings on the Board of Directors after this one (my term is over and I can't run again--term limits) so I am feeling  a lame duck feeling. I will miss being on the Library Board.  It's a long meeting.

 

6:45pm-- Leave board meeting and rush to a 'bag' party at my friend Gina's.  Thirty-one bags.  Have you heard of them?  Nice purses, nice bags, nice containers.  

 

 

This one is really a tote, but I'm using it as a purse right now... it has an S on it for Stone!

The one above?  A nice canvas tote which I will load up with my address book, stationary, stamps, etc to haul back and forth to work, JUST IN CASE, I have time to write more letters.

(these bags are ones I already own....at the party, I ordered a small clutch purse and another bag) 

 

 

 I spent  a quick $80.  But more noticeably to me, I was stuffing food (cheese, grapes, crackers) into my mouth at an incredible rate, because I didn't have dinner! No one else was eating as fast as I was. Uh-oh.  I tell them about my falling out of the tub this morning, to take their minds off my mouthful of grapes and cheese-my gluttony.  They showed the proper sympathy---after all, they're my friends.  

 Also, a nice ending to the day-----a lemon/raspberry martini!

 

 

Wait a minute!  That wasn't the end.

 

8:45pm --  got home from the bag party and the Handyman was making popcorn.  He and I settled down in front of the TV  (sigh---I do give in to TV in the evening) and watched something mindless and had a bit of popcorn.

 

9:30pm -- we head upstairs to bed.  Yes, it's 9:30, but we've been up since 4:30.   We get into bed, he rolls over and throws his leg over mine.  Again, me with a loud shrill voice--Ow OW OW!!! My leg my leg!! (still working it) 

 It's a wonder he puts up with me.

 

I put on an audio book and my ear buds and listen to  1.2 minutes of "Skippy Dies" before falling asleep.  (I shouldn't even try, because I always fall asleep the moment my head hits the pillow, but I have high hopes of getting some book time in)

 

Always begin and end  a day with books!!

 

And THAT is a day in my life.  Pretty exciting, huh?

 



It's Monday! What are You Reading -Part 2

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week.  It's a great post to organize yourself. It's an opportunity to visit and comment, and er... add to that ever growing TBR pile!

It's Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date.

Oops!

I forgot a  book!!

Whew....good thing I went home at lunchtime and saw this sitting in my 'take back to the library pile'!  Otherwise, I would have never remembered and it would have been gone forever from my list.   And it was a pretty good book too.

It's Monday! What are you Reading?  

Part 2

From Goodreads:

A fiercely beautiful debut blazing with emotion: a major first novel about friendships made in youth and how these bonds, challenged by loss, illness, parenthood, and distance, either break or sustain. 
Mia and Lorrie Ann are lifelong friends: hard-hearted Mia and untouchably beautiful, kind Lorrie Ann. While Mia struggles with a mother who drinks, a pregnancy at fifteen, and younger brothers she loves but can't quite be good to, Lorrie Ann is luminous, surrounded by her close-knit family, immune to the mistakes that mar her best friend's life. Until a sudden loss catapults Lorrie Ann into tragedy: things fall apart, and then fall apart further-and there is nothing Mia can do to help. And as good, kind, brave Lorrie Ann stops being so good, Mia begins to question just who this woman is and what that question means about them both. A staggeringly arresting, honest novel of love, motherhood, loyalty, and the myth of the perfect friendship that moves us to ask ourselves just how well we know those we love, what we owe our children, and who we are without our friends.

From Me:

It was a good-melancholy story of  friendship and the choices we make.

How well do we really know those we call friends?

It was a good read.

I loved the character of Franklin--he had a small part but a very important part.

It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week.  It's a great post to organize yourself. It's an opportunity to visit and comment, and er... add to that ever growing TBR pile!

It's Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date.

These are the books I finished last week--

2 very different books.

Both are first person point of view, so we don't get inside anyone else's head, except protagonist, which was especially interesting in this first book----YOU.

From Goodreads:

When a beautiful, aspiring writer strides into the East Village bookstore where Joe Goldberg works, he does what anyone would do: he Googles the name on her credit card.

There is only one Guinevere Beck in New York City. She has a public Facebook account and Tweets incessantly, telling Joe everything he needs to know: she is simply Beck to her friends, she went to Brown University, she lives on Bank Street, and she’ll be at a bar in Brooklyn tonight—the perfect place for a “chance” meeting.

As Joe invisibly and obsessively takes control of Beck’s life, he orchestrates a series of events to ensure Beck finds herself in his waiting arms. Moving from stalker to boyfriend, Joe transforms himself into Beck’s perfect man, all while quietly removing the obstacles that stand in their way—even if it means murder.  

From Me:

First, the narrator, Santino Fontana, is AWESOME!

There is a FAN base for this awful, evil, villain, because his voice/narration is so good!

As you can tell, I listened to an audio version of this book.

You (as in you, yourself, not the title of the book) get into the head of this serial psychopath killer, who comes off as reasonable in  his own mind.

It's creepy --because he can and does justify every thing he does for this girl he has fallen for.

It's suspenseful and there is lots of tension.

And it's creepy good.

But the voice---I speak for a wider fan base-- we are kind of in love with evil Joe. 

Well, Santino Fontana makes us be!!

4 stars.

The second book  I read was this:

From Goodreads:

There are many rules a priest can't break.

A priest cannot marry. A priest cannot abandon his flock. A priest cannot forsake his God.

From Me:

Let me just say---it's a really, really updated different version of an age old story of a priest falling for one of his parishioners. 

the THORNBIRDS was the first one I ever read.

This might be the last.   I mean I'm not against a forbidden love story, but this one was more than just a romance--it was very graphic, and seriously?  1/2 way thru the book all that talk was boring.

I got carried away by listening to a Podcast about how good it was, so I caved and read it.

YES, women should not be ashamed of what they read, blah blah blah... this was just probably not the book for me.

I mean it was fine---a likable main character (I mean he WAS torn between church and a woman. This  did not come easy for him.)  Just too explicit and not enough story.  

YOU might love it tho.

(I did read it to the end tho, so what does that say?)

******

I'm reading 5 books this week--all at the same time.

I have never read this many at one time before!

I don't even know how this has happened!

Different rooms, different times of the day--that kind of thing, I guess.  

But I hope to finish them all this week.

Little Book Store of Big Stone Gap

 

From Goodreads:

A book about losing your place, finding your purpose, and immersing yourself in what holds community, and humanity, together—books

Wendy Welch and her husband had always dreamed of owning a bookstore. When the opportunity to escape a toxic work environment and run to a struggling Virginia coal mining town presented itself, they took it. And took the plunge into starting their dream as well. They chose to ignore the “death of the book,” the closing of bookstores across the nation, and the difficult economic environment, and six years later they have carved a bookstore—and a life—out of an Appalachian mountain community.

A story of beating bad odds with grace, ingenuity, good books, and single malt, this memoir chronicles two bibliophiles discovering unlikely ways in which daily living and literature intertwine. Their customers—"Bob the Mad Irishman," "Wee Willie," and "The Lady Who Liked Romances," to name a few—come to the shop looking for the kind of interactive wisdom Kindles don't spark, and they find friendship, community, and the uncommon pleasure of a good book in good company.

The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap will make you want to run to the local bookstore, and curl up in an arm chair with a treasure in bound pages.

 

From Me:

An adorable book.  But aren't most books about a bookstore?

They talk books all the time....thru out the whole book.

They have wacky characters/customers.

It DID make me want to open a bookstore.   I have all the inventory!

 

So.....the Handyman came home from work and I said,  I want to open a bookstore.  I have all the inventory--I'm willing to give up all my books to start it.

And do you know what he said?

He said "okay, right up a financial plan"

WTH?

Why does he have to ruin my fun with logic?

 

It's a good thing that Wendy Welch and her husband did not think of all that stuff before they opened the Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap!

Cute book.

And the Winner is....

 

Last Saturday I joined in a monthly meme hosted by Michelle at  Because Reading is Better than Real Life.

I choose 3 books from my TBR list and YOU voted!

 

  I asked you to help me pick a book to read from these three:

 

 

And the winner is....

 

Eleanor and Park!

 

By a landslide.

 

I'll be back on March 26th to tell you what I thought about it.

Happy Reading!

 

Saturday Snapshot

 

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by

West Metro Mommy Reads!

 

To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post to West Metro Mommy Reads!   Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

 

 

I am kind of doing a BIG CHEAT today.  Well, not a cheat exactly, but catching up with something I should have done long ago. 

In December my Lit Wits book club had a fun gift exchange and I was going  to write about it ---way back in December.   Then I thought maybe January.

And now here  it is the middle of March.

I owe an apology to the Lit Wits for not getting these up in a timely manner.

So...  close your eyes and think back to the holidays to get yourself in the Christmas gift exchange mood...  well, I guess you can't keep them closed or you can't see these fun pics!

 

We had a great time at book club!!

After eating (this is a dinner book club) and discussing the book--The Rosie Project, we exchanged gifts.

We did a sock exchange and our gifts had to be put in the socks.

 

 

 

 

You know I LOVE these ladies  (girls, women---I'm not sure what I'm supposed to call them?  FRIENDS!) 

I find that a  lot of book bloggers have book club friends whom they love too!

So, enough about book club love...and just get on with my Saturday Snapshots.

 

 

 

 

I wasn't going to write any more words, BUT LOOK at Renee's cocktail bucket?  Holy Cow!!  She made them in bulk!!!

 

Cheers!

And Happy Reading!