Book Blogger Hop

Book Blogger Hop is hosted each week by

Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.

This week's question is:

When you set a yearly reading goal, do you set it high to force yourself to meet that goal or do you keep it low and normally go over that goal any way?

My answer?

This is a hard one for me.

I always think I set it  'just about right' and then I go way over  OR don't come anywhere close.  But to be fair, the couple of years I didn't come anywhere close, there was lots of upheaval in our lives.

(does upheaval mean only bad?   Because in those years there was both good and bad stuff, but just really busy kind of stuff that kept me from reading.

  I'm getting off track, aren't I?)

Anyway....

I'm not as fast a reader as some, but I am a fairly fast reader.  I sent my goal last year at 52, but read 98.

This year I set it at 60 and today I'm at 58 read.

I do like to meet my goal, but I guess I do need to up my game and set a more realistic number.

What about you?  Do you set reading goals?

The Regional Office is Under Attack

From Goodreads:

In a world beset by amassing forces of darkness, one organization—the Regional Office—and its coterie of super-powered female assassins protects the globe from annihilation. At its helm, the mysterious Oyemi and her oracles seek out new recruits and root out evil plots. Then a prophecy suggests that someone from inside might bring about its downfall. And now, the Regional Office is under attack.

Recruited by a defector from within, Rose is a young assassin leading the attack, eager to stretch into her powers and prove herself on her first mission. Defending the Regional Office is Sarah—who may or may not have a mechanical arm—fiercely devoted to the organization that took her in as a young woman in the wake of her mother’s sudden disappearance. On the day that the Regional Office is attacked, Rose’s and Sarah’s stories will overlap, their lives will collide, and the world as they know it just might end

From Me:

Hmmmm.  It was fun.  But maybe not for me.

I got very caught up in the 'attack' but then didn't completely understand why and what they were attacking.

It's told from different POV and I like that as I feel it gives a better understanding, helps me to understand the different characters.

I listened to this on audio, and maybe that's why it lost me---I couldn't turn back to figure things out.  Great narrators tho!

Like I said---it was fun and I did enjoy it---just didn't love it.

What Should I Read Next

 

 

A monthly meme hosted by Michelle at  Because Reading is Better than Real Life.

Michelle says:

We sit for hours looking through our TBR lists wondering when we will ever get to that one book we were dying to read when we added it 3 months ago or maybe even a year. As our piles get bigger we realize there is just not enough time in a day to read all the books that we wanted to read. So I had a great idea, pick 3 books from my TBR Pile and have you all pick which one I should read next. This is a monthly MEME and you are more than welcome to join me.

There are of course some rules, but if you want to join in go here to check them all out.

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

 

You know, I've tried this before a few times and had such fun with it, but then in May, I asked, you voted and I didn't follow up!  Then in the summer, my life got crazy  (crazy good, with grandkids and vacations, but crazy all the same), and I haven't participated since.

So...here I am again.

But this time you don't have a week to vote... you have 2 days, that's right, two days.

I'm slow getting back into things since summer has ended--sorry, but what can I say?

 

Help me out here!  I need a book to read and I need your help in choosing which one.

Below are three I want to read, but..... my decision making skills when I'm not at work are nil.

All you have to do is  just make a comment  on which one you choose for me and I'll let you know on Saturday what I'm reading next....the majority wins!

 

Here are 3 that have been in my TBR pile for awhile now:

 

 

The story of your life never starts at the beginning. Don't they teach you anything at school?

So says 104-year-old Ona to the 11-year-old boy who's been sent to help her out every Saturday morning. As he refills the bird feeders and tidies the garden shed, Ona tells him about her long life, from first love to second chances. Soon she's confessing secrets she has kept hidden for decades.

One Saturday, he doesn't show up. Ona starts to think he's not so special after all, but then his father Quinn arrives on her doorstep, determined to finish his son's good deed. The boy's mother is not so far behind. Ona is set to discover that even at her age the world can surprise you, and that sometimes sharing a loss is the only way to find yourself again.

 

 

or

 

 

 

In this funny, frank, tender memoir and New York Times bestseller, the author of A Homemade Life and the blog Orangette recounts how opening a restaurant sparked the first crisis of her young marriage.

When Molly Wizenberg married Brandon Pettit, he was a trained composer with a handful of offbeat interests: espresso machines, wooden boats, violin-building, and ice cream–making. So when Brandon decided to open a pizza restaurant, Molly was supportive—not because she wanted him to do it, but because the idea was so far-fetched that she didn’t think he would. Before she knew it, he’d signed a lease on a space. The restaurant, Delancey, was going to be a reality, and all of Molly’s assumptions about her marriage were about to change.

Together they built Delancey: gutting and renovating the space on a cobbled-together budget, developing a menu, hiring staff, and passing inspections. Delancey became a success, and Molly tried to convince herself that she was happy in their new life until—in the heat and pressure of the restaurant kitchen—she realized that she hadn’t been honest with herself or Brandon.

With evocative photos by Molly and twenty new recipes for the kind of simple, delicious food that chefs eat at home, Delancey is a moving and honest account of two young people learning to give in and let go in order to grow together.  

 

 

or

 

 

 

Kera Watson never expected to face death behind a Los Angeles coffee shop. Not after surviving two tours lugging an M16 around the Middle East. If it wasn’t for her hot Viking customer showing up too late to help, nobody would even see her die.

In uncountable years of service to the Allfather Odin, Ludvig “Vig” Rundstöm has never seen anyone kick ass with quite as much style as Kera. He knows one way to save her life—but she might not like it. Signing up with the Crows will get Kera a new set of battle buddies: cackling, gossiping, squabbling, party-hearty women. With wings. So not the Marines.

But Vig can’t give up on someone as special as Kera. With a storm of oh-crap magic speeding straight for L.A., survival will depend on combining their strengths: Kera’s discipline, Vig’s loyalty… and the Crows’ sheer love of battle. Boy, are they in trouble

 

 

Thanks!

I'll be back on Saturday.

 

 

Cooking Club Cookout--Slow cooking

For the first time ever---cooking club members PLUS our sub were all together!

We were joking about how our optimistic parents would say:

Let's take a picture, we're all together!

And our more pessimistic parents would say:

We better take a picture, we'll probably never all be together again.

So, we decided to take one.

First we had to figure out how to set the timer on the camera, and get it to the right height.

I have put a lot  (A LOT) of photos in this blog post, but, I could have put a lot more--20  or so of  the guys running back and forth, trying to make it into the photo on time. 
Needless to say--I didn't include them.

So, there you have it.

Our cooking club friends!

You remember all our rules right?  There is a theme, and you are assigned a dish?  Well we are going to switch it up a bit in the coming months.

Just you watch and see.

Cooking Club is one of my favorite get-togethers ever.  Love the food and love the people.

Oh...and Dogs.  We had cooking club dogs at our outdoor cookout.

I guess we are kind of dog people.

Here is Tom.  Tom is a Pomski.  Half Pomeranian and half husky.

He didn't get much pom.  He's a wolf.  But a very nice, short wolf. I call him Wolf---he has the softest fur ever.

Tom is a puppy.

Tom just wanted to play.

Here is Sierra.  A Golden Retriever.

Sierra is old.

Sierra did not want to play.

(I told you I have a ton of photos)

And while I feel rather naked here in this photo, I though it important to show my little Bailey Dog and these are the only photos I have of her. 

I was surrounded by dogs because I had food on my plate!



As was Mark! 

They were watching his every move!

FOOD!!



Where was I?

Oh...COOKING CLUB!!

It is the BEST.

We laugh, we eat, we visit, we eat more, we talk about food, we taste some more, solve world problems, eat again!

Talk more about what we made, why we made it and if this blog post had audio, we sound like this:  Ohhh..ooooo......mmmmmm....oh man, that's good.
  oh yes! 
 MY oh MY. MMM-MMM!

Our food talk is kind of on the steamy side!

Our hosts below, Debbie and Charlie.
The theme was slow cooking so they decided to slow roast some pork and have a picnic.
It's hard to find a tree in the Northern Nevada desert, but we do have a little canyon with trees and a stream.
So here are some pics of our
Water Canyon, slow-cooking, cooking club outing.

She's a little overachiever--- she made the homemade sauces.

And the biscuits

and the pickles

and the coleslaw

and the crispy fried onions to put on top

Yum!!

This  picture below is not necessary at all.  It doesn't move the story along--I just think the Handyman is cute.

As I should, right?

(our youngest son went to Southern Connecticut University)

Sally and Paul made 2x smoked potatoes.  They were good---very smoky---they were cooked long and slow with hickory chips. Begun at home and finished at the picnic.  They get the award for truly embodying what the cooking club is all about.

Gina and Mark had dessert and she made a wonderful berry crisp in a crock pot.  Good slow cookin'.

She also rocked last year's Halloween paper plates!  (out with the old, in with the new, right?)

Shelly (shown here below with the Handyman and not Lorin) and Lorin  had bread.  She found a crock pot bread recipe!  And it was really good!

The bread.....and the hot German potato salad.

made by April and Doug.

(April shown here with Paul--tasting his slowly made homemade beer. She's wondering if it's any good.)

Was it Paul? Was it good?

And me?  I had appetizers.  Easy Peasy in a slow cooker.

Chicken wings and enchilada dip.

We have so much fun together!

Cooking Club # 8 was one of the best ones yet!

And these cooking club meals were all good too... Just click on the link to see.

Cooking Club #1   Meals your mom used to make

Cooking Club #2  Cajun Cooking

Cooking Club #3 -Let's all go to Hawaii

Cooking club #4  American Regional Cooking--Great Lakes Region, featuring SUPPER CLUBS.

Cooking Club #5  Famous Chefs

Cooking Club #6  Meatball madness--or something round

Cooking Club #7  Breakfast for dinner

Cooking Club  #8  Slow cooking  

Cooking Club #9  Mexican Street Food  (coming soon)

Happy Eating!

See you next time.

The Sugar Queen

From Goodreads:

Twenty-seven-year-old Josey Cirrini is sure of three things: winter in her North Carolina hometown is her favorite season, she’s a sorry excuse for a Southern belle, and sweets are best eaten in the privacy of her hidden closet. For while Josey has settled into an uneventful life in her mother’s house, her one consolation is the stockpile of sugary treats and paperback romances she escapes to each night…. Until she finds it harboring none other than local waitress Della Lee Baker, a tough-talking, tenderhearted woman who is one part nemesis—and two parts fairy godmother…

Fleeing a life of bad luck and big mistakes, Della Lee has decided Josey’s clandestine closet is the safest place to crash. In return she’s going to change Josey’s life—because, clearly, it is not the closet of a happy woman. With Della Lee’s tough love, Josey is soon forgoing pecan rolls and caramels, tapping into her startlingly keen feminine instincts, and finding her narrow existence quickly expanding.

Before long, Josey bonds with Chloe Finley, a young woman who makes the best sandwiches in town, is hounded by books that inexplicably appear whenever she needs them, and—most amazing of all—has a close connection to Josey’s longtime crush.

As little by little Josey dares to step outside herself, she discovers a world where the color red has astonishing power, passion can make eggs fry in their cartons, and romance can blossom at any time—even for her. It seems that Della Lee’s work is done, and it’s time for her to move on. But the truth about where she’s going, why she showed up in the first place—and what Chloe has to do with it all—is about to add one more unexpected chapter to Josey’ s fast-changing life.

Brimming with warmth, wit, and a sprinkling of magic, here is a spellbinding tale of friendship, love—and the enchanting possibilities of every new day.

From Me:

A little bit of magical realism?  Yes, but---just enough.

Heartwarming?  Yes.

Sad?  Yes.

Did it put a smile on my face?  Yes it did!

It was a very fun and fast read, and it made me smile.

   I liked it very much and would recommend it if you like Women's Fiction, quirky characters and ---there just might be a twist somewhere in the book that will blow you away. (or just make you smile, like it did me)

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

From Goodreads:

A razor-sharp satire set in Texas during America's war in Iraq, it explores the gaping national disconnect between the war at home and the war abroad.

Ben Fountain’s remarkable debut novel follows the surviving members of the heroic Bravo Squad through one exhausting stop in their media-intensive "Victory Tour" at Texas Stadium, football mecca of the Dallas Cowboys, their fans, promoters, and cheerleaders

From Me:

Quote from the book: It's sorta weird being honored for the worst day of your life.

I think this about sums it up---the American public have no idea what our soldiers go thru in war.

This book is satire, but you get to go inside Billy Lynn's mind for one day and see what he (or any soldier returning from Iraq or Afghanistan) might be feeling and thinking. Especially when being honored during halftime at an NFL football game. That in itself is just crazy showmanship---and perhaps not honoring at all--just displaying (for some crazy reason that most people think of as patriotic---don't get me wrong, I love NFL football and I love the production of a halftime show, but is that what returning 'war heroes' need?  Or want?  It's debatable.  And discussable.)

Billy's squad, Bravo Squad, is filled with a crazy group of young men who I liked right off the bat--that band of brothers thing is real, as no one knows what they are feeling and/or thinking except 'brothers and sisters' who have walked in their shoes.

I guess the fist sentence of the review above covers it-- it explores the gaping national disconnect between the war at home and the war abroad.

I listened to this on audio and the narrator, Oliver Wyman, did an excellent job with all the voices.  I would recommend the audio version.

The movie will be released this November.

The Girls by Emma Cline

From Goodreads:

Northern California, during the violent end of the 1960s. At the start of summer, a lonely and thoughtful teenager, Evie Boyd, sees a group of girls in the park, and is immediately caught by their freedom, their careless dress, their dangerous aura of abandon. Soon, Evie is in thrall to Suzanne, a mesmerizing older girl, and is drawn into the circle of a soon-to-be infamous cult and the man who is its charismatic leader. Hidden in the hills, their sprawling ranch is eerie and run down, but to Evie, it is exotic, thrilling, charged—a place where she feels desperate to be accepted. As she spends more time away from her mother and the rhythms of her daily life, and as her obsession with Suzanne intensifies, Evie does not realize she is coming closer and closer to unthinkable violence, and to that moment in a girl’s life when everything can go horribly wrong. 

From Me:

This book is based loosely on the Manson Family.

When I purchased this book (at a lovely little book store in San Francisco) the seller told me it was good, but dark.   Dark does not usually bother me--and I've always been intrigued by the Manson Family.  The Girls follows the same time-line and I found it interesting to compare.

If you don't know anything about the Charles Manson and his 'family',  the book is still an interesting read--and maybe 'darker' since you have no expectations of what is to come.  Very interesting to see what might make a young girl turn towards that kind of life---drugs, obsession, cult/gang/crowd mentality?

It was a good read.