Musing Monday, A book-mark and book club news

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about your tbr pile…

How many books (roughly) are in your tbr pile? Is this in increasing number or does it stay stable? Do you ever experience tbr anxiety in the face of this pile? (question courtesy of Wendy)

Oh...my.....gosh. My "To be read pile" is HUGE!! And I keep buying more books. And going to the library. I used to think I was a fast reader, and I'm faster than average, but not nearly as fast as you BOOK BLOGGERS!!!

I actually think I have a sickness, when it comes to buying books. Truly, my tbr pile is close to 60-70 books and I just keep buying more and more. But to be fair, I do frequent used book stores, so I have my list and I "stock up". But I do it OFTEN. It would not be unusual for me to leave a used book store with 15 books. And because we live in a rural town in Northern Nevada that doesn't have a bookstore, when we travel to Reno and I go to Barnes and Noble or Borders, I feel I must buy some books, even if I don't need them.
It's a horrible obsession. No one needs a pile of books, 60-70 deep, that they haven't read. IT'S EXPENSIVE for one thing. And it's clutter for another... but, oh what nice clutter, books just waiting to be read!!
***************



Last weeks, Booking Thru Thursday question... ( I know it's Monday, but I've been real busy....food blogging, (sorry, book blogging world) but I still want to put my answer down) :

Which is worse:
Finding a book you love and then hating everything else you try by that author, or
Reading a completely disappointing book by an author that you love?

It's a toss up. I think that finding a book I love and then going and BUYING (see the Monday Musing above) other books by that author, and then being disappointed in them, is a huge let-down.
I love the book "Beach Music" so much, that I'm afraid to try anything else by Pat Conroy. That's a lie. I read and liked "The Prince of Tides" also. But no others.... I'm afraid to.
I guess I would be more forgiving of an author that I already loved, if he/she had a bad one. Loving one book and hating others is a disappointment. It's a hard question to answer.
***********

Bookmarks on Monday

Oregon Coast Bridges. I love Oregon. I love the Oregon Coast, but I have a love/hate relationship with bridges.
I grew up around bridges. I had to cross bridges all my life...to go to work, to go to school, to come home, to visit friends. We grew up in Southeast Washington State, where the Columbia River and the Snake River and the Yakima River all come together.
These are big rivers. Rivers big enough to have barges and also cruise ships come down. Think the Mississippi of the Northwest, when you think of the Mighty Columbia River.

When I cross a bridge tho, for some reason my heart is in my throat. I don't know why. I love the water. I love the rivers. I love the ocean. I guess I've seen that video clip of the suspension bridge coming down. YIKES. That and there is no where to go on a bridge if you needed to pull over. I don't like knowing that... it makes me feel claustrophobic.
I am weird. That's it.

This book-mark has two sides, because the Oregon Coast Highway has so many bridges to cross. It's very beautiful.

Last week, one of my book clubs met to discuss the book "Snow Falling on Cedars".

It was an older book, and I was kind of disappointed in the choice at first, but once I began to read, I fell in love with it.

That's the whole reason I belong to different book-clubs: to be exposed to different genre's of literature. It was a story of love, and small town life and prejudice and war. Set on an island off the coast of Seattle, Washington in the 1950's.

I am not a book reviewer...as I've said many times before, but I can talk about how wonderful our evening was. We had great discussion, which is always good, but one thing that also made the evening special was our host April. She made up a bunch of oriental appetizers. She had a book theme going on.....some of the characters in the book were Japanese and April had lived in Tokyo. She had just the right dishes and decor. Great ambiance.

While we eat, we discuss.

Check out her appetizer table!
Tomorrow I will post April's fried rice recipe on my food blog. (it was so good---just hit my sidebar button for my food blog)

And our next book is.....

Good Books/Good Eats

Supper and Book-Club

We met and discussed "The Lace Reader" by Brunonia Barry, last Thursday. It was my choice.
I hadn't read it before I made the choice for my book-club.
I know that a lot of people choose a book they have previously read...they want to make sure it's a good book.
But "good" is pretty subjective if you ask me. (see this post)

I used you...the book blogging community to make my choice, and you did me good.
I chose a book that seemed "hot" on all the book blogs a few months ago, and the fact that Barry self-published at first, and used the Internet to promote her book to book groups around the country, intrigued me.

I'll cut to the chase, because while I'm an avid reader, I'm a horrible reviewer. I liked the book. As did everyone at the book-club who read it. There were 8 of us at the book-club and 5 of us had read it. All 5 of us really enjoyed the book...and after the night was over, I think we convinced the other 3 to give it a try.

If I had a footnote that said "if you liked this, you might like this"
I would say, that if you like "The Lace Reader," you might like "The Double Bind" by Chris Bohjalian. There was a common theme, that is not apparent until the very end.
Both of these books are good. I think you will enjoy them.

And my bookmark for Monday....
It was in my Christmas Card, from my friend Ruth.

Eleanor Roosevelt. What an amazing woman. The photo of her on the bookmark is a stamp in "mint" condition. a 20 cent stamp.... they must have issued this quite some time ago.

Book club photos and a link to what the supper was for book-club evening. (my other blog--click on the link--it's food.)

There really were books there! As well as my book-club friends. It was Renee's birthday so we bought her a book...what else?

Totally Lit

Book club and the reason I'm not a book reviewer or an author.

Because this is how I would describe last night:
It was so much fun!! (and then I wouldn't know what else to say)

I have a hard time with description.

We, the Totally Literature book-club, read "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" and met last night to discuss it.


(to see what we had to eat, go here. It's my food blog.... And you'll see a REAL Potato Peel Pie made by our friend Kathy)


It was a consensus...we all loved the book.
And we all took on a British accent and a jaunty air... okay, so we didn't really, but we all loved Juliet and wanted to be just like her. She was a protagonist that we all admired so much. We just loved her and the rest of the characters on Guernsey.

What else is there to say? I'm not a book reviewer.
But, have you ever read a book, that just made you feel good? That's what the Guernsey book is like. Bad things happen...it takes place shortly after the end of WWII in both London and the Guernsey Islands. England is starving, families have been separated, homes destroyed, but it is the strength of the human spirit that comes out in this book. The comfort of friends, the power of the written word.
That's another thing. It is an epistle...written in a series of letters...book. Sometimes that is really difficult to "get into", but a few pages into the Potato Peel Pie Society, I was hooked.
Before we had e-mail, text messaging and IMing, I was a letter writer. (see pile of letters in photo below). It's a lost art. We talked a bit about that last night...the lost art of letter writing.

I live in Winnemucca, NV. I moved away for 5 years and then we moved back. In that 5 years, my friend (also named Debbie) and I wrote to each other every week. I saved every single one of her letters. And the letters of anyone else who has ever written to me. But because we are taking about book-club and Debbie was there at book-club last night, we will not be mentioning, Theda or Sally or Tomi, whose letters I also have, saved in ribbons in a box...in chronological order. (I'm a bit of a dork. )
I have every letter that Debbie ever sent to me. And you know what? I think we are great writers. Letter writers!! It takes practice is all.
People will say, that they don't write good letters.... but I say, it's time to practice again. That's all it takes.
I got those letters out last night after my friends left and read a few.... it made me cry. Happy tears. We wrote about our struggles raising jr. high kids .....who now have kids of their own.... and aging parents.... and silly neighbors.
We never thought that 15 years later, we would be sitting together in a book-club, talking about a book, that we both loved that had all these great topics:
friends, food, books, and letter writing.

You should read the book! That's my recommendation.

One of the most fun things? Our real "Potato Peel Pie"

Bookclub friends below....

Book Club Tonight

Tonight we meet for book-club, where we will be discussing "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society."

To see what I'm making for dessert...go here.

It's my cooking blog. I'm incorporating 2 blogs into one this week.
I'm not sure how this happened, but both of my bookclubs meet this week and they are both at my house. Wednesday and Thursday evenings.
Not only are we discussing the books (I can't wait), I have to feed these people!
So, not only will I post about the two bookclub meetings on this blog, I'll also cook for them on my other blog.

Books I've been reading in 2009

At the end of 2008, I noticed that a log of book bloggers listed a compilation of all the book they had read for the year.
I figure the only way I can remember the books I read would be to list them now and add on as the year continues.
So, that is what I am doing here.

But first I just have to document it: my son really has checked out the book, "Catcher in the Rye".

Interesting to me that he is reading this.

okay...now for my list

The Tale of Desperaux---I wanted to read it before the movie came to our little town. The movie still hasn't come to our little town, but the book was good.

The Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky --I read this for my book club "Totally Lit--erature". It was a good book for the book club, it led to lots of discussion about race and prejudice.

Grace by Richard Paul Evans -- had to read this for the "no-name" book club. It was an easy, one day read. It was okay. I find it hard to get into sentimentality sometimes, and the book was completely trying to build on his previous "sentiment" books.
But it was a quick read, not too bad.

Out of the Deep I Cry -- the 3rd in a mystery series by Julia Spencer-Fleming. It's a Claire Ferguson mystery. I like them, so this one was just for me.

The Madonna's of Leningrad by Debra Dean-- a book club book (Totally Lit) We meet next week to discuss it. I'll let you know what everybody thinks.
I liked it.

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson-- a "no-name" book club choice. I know it won an award, but there were so many people and so many facts!! It was hard for me to keep straight, but I found it very interesting. We discuss this next week too (different day)

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming--by Joshilyn Jackson. I just read this one because I wanted to. It was good. I like her books.

I used to think I read fast and a lot. Until I came up on book bloggers. LOL I am nothing compared to you/them.

Everywhere a sign....and 2 memes

You all know that I am gearing up to do a big walk for breast cancer. A few weeks ago, I was really wondering, "can I?" "can't I", "should I?" "could I?" and then all these signs began to become clear to me.
One of those signs happened at my book club last week. We met to discuss "The Family Tree" by Barbara Delinsky. It was a quick read, a great book for discussion, and enjoyed by all in the club. In reading a short bio printed off the Internet, it says that Delinsky is a 10-year breast cancer survivor.
Stuff like that kept popping out at me.
I just had to walk the walk. Put my money where my mouth was, so to speak.

I've been researching Fundraisers that previous walkers have used and one was to hold a book sale/yard sale..(but primarily books) and promote it as "Books for Boobs".
I love it... and while I appreciate the humor, I'm not sure I could pass out flyer's that said that. Could you? Maybe I can. LOL
I'll have to see... but I certainly have a lot of books that I could sell. I'm kind of running out of room in my house.

Moving on to something more uplifting (ahhaha...uplifting, a pun) than breast cancer, I'm excited to be participating in a meme.
Jo-Jo of "Jo-Jo loves to read!!!" has tagged me for this meme.
I LOVE how she keeps a running list of contests and giveaways on her sidebar. You really should check it out.

Here are the directions:
Here are the rules: Open the closest book to you, not your favorite or something you have to go searching for but whatever is closest to you right now, and go to page 56. Starting with the fifth sentence on the page, transcribe three to six lines directly from the text. Once you've typed those lines, tag five more bloggers to do the same on their blogs.

The book closest to me is one I haven't read yet, "False Prophet" by Faye Kellerman (A Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus Novel). I pick them up whenever I find them at books sales and yard sales, because I have to read them in order. It's a quirk of mine....everything in order. It's the 5th book in the series, the one I'm going to read next.
Hmmmm. Page 56 is the end of a chapter and has 2 sentences on it. LOL
I will go to page 57....

..... if she was good--inquisitive like Kelley had said--she'd probably heard his name paged over the loudspeaker and would wonder what that was all about. Ness knew he could probably pull off playing dumb, but now was not the time to audition for the Oscar. Keep it simple and keep her off guard.

okay, now I'm intrigued myself.
I'm supposed to pass this on to five bloggers. But....can I think about it for a bit? I love to be
"tagged", I just have a hard time feeling as comfortable tagging others.
I will find five deserving bloggers and tag them. As soon as I finish my book and can pick up this one.

*******
2nd meme

I've been tagged!
A few days ago, The Blond Duck was tagged...and now she is passing it on.
Here is her story .....click! It's very funny.

She makes me laugh almost everyday. I have a "grand" chihuahua, and she has 2 chihuahua's that rule! And she posts about them often. I love her blog.

Here are the rules:

1) choose the 4th folder where you store pictures on your computer.

2. Select the 4th picture in the folder.

3. Explain the picture.

4. Tag 4 people to do the same.

5. No cheating (cropping, editing, etc.)


This is funny. My old computer crashed right before Christmas and we got a new one. Well....it didn't really crash. It's a long story...just beware of computer doctors who are unreliable.BUT anyway, my picture files are on my old computer. Waiting to be saved to a disk. I have but a few folders on this new computer.

Here the 4th picture of the 4th folder.

Does it need explanation?

Well, check out this site....kind of self-explanatory. And because I am a food blogger, (as well as a book blogger) all of the sudden most of my files are filled with food pictures. (most of them not very good)I read the rules and it says to choose 4 bloggers to pass this one to.I have to think about that one for a day or two. But I will. I promise.

Feel free to steal the memes if you want too. I understand there is a "stealing Sunday" for stealing meme's out there somewhere.

A choice to make#2

I have great news. Check it out here, at my other blog.

Yesterday, I wrote to my book club.... And as you can tell by the tone and informality of my letter, these are good friends who know "me" well, but... I'm not so sure if I can count on them to help me choose a book to read for the book club. so...I'm leaving it up to some of you fellow bloggers.
I have two different book clubs that meet once a month.
I get to chose the books to read in March and April for the two clubs. I'm stuck!
I want to make them get out of their box a bit, but don't' want the choices to be too "out there" that they won't enjoy them. They tend to go with the more safe choices, and I feel it's time for a change.

Please help.



here are my notes to my bookclub friends...

1st note:
Dear Bookclub friends,

as you know, I get to choose April's book. (not April our bookclub friend, but the month of April. I get to choose what we read for the month of April)
How far out on a limb are you willing to go?
I mean "out of your box?" for a book?

I've narrowed it down to a few....
you can vote

The Time Travelers Wife
Shadow of the Wind
The Thirteenth Tale
The Handmaid's Tale

I have read only one of these....I won't tell you which one.
They are all.... books not based on (or in?) "realism". Not to say that they are all fantasy or (dare I say it) Science-Fiction, but there is a common thread of "magical, futuristic, satire, and just some stuff that isn't your everyday book" in these choices.

Don't google them.... just tell me....by the title, what sounds good to you?

And we'll meet at my house next Wednesday, 7:00 p.m.

Book discussion for Wed: The Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky

Feb book: The Madonnas of Leningrad

March book: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie society

April: YOUR ANSWER COULD GO HERE!!







Today I sent them another note and wrote this:




Hello Book Club girls!

I've added two more books to my list to pick from, and I've spent all morning searching YouTube for video clips to link to for book reviews.
I don't know what order these clips are in, but you should watch them and then let me know what interests you.
Because... if it were left to me, I would pick them all. ( I'm going to pick one of them--one that we don't choose now-- for my other book club).
I own all of these books except "The Eyre Affair", which I don't think any of you will choose anyway.... (open ended sentence. I'm not sure why.... do you have anything to add?)

Two of the books are movies now. I will get these from Netflix when/if we read them for MOVIE NIGHT which will take place AFTER our April bookclub meeting, same night but after book discussion. And of course I'll have popcorn and Milk Duds for the movie.... a chaser after our more healthy book club fare. (fair? faire?)
The books that have been made into movies are:
The Time Travelers Wife
The Handmaid's Tale

As I've mentioned, the only book that is "normal" is American Wife (one that wasn't on the list yesterday), it is a "current event" book based loosely and fictionally on Laura Bush.
I promise that I will not add anymore books to the list. I know this is quite unheard of, the chooser asking the readers their opinion but please please, just please give me your opinion. I like to take them into consideration (and then do what I want. LOL )
Sway me, if you will. I'm open for bribes too!!

Lisa has said that she's always wanted to read "The Time Traveler's Wife"
see...

from Lisa:
I always wanted to read the Time Travelers Wife..........I know that is the one you have read too!? right?

and

from Jean:
Wow, I love the sound of them all. But if I absolutely had to choose, it would be (drum roll, please) Shadow of the Wind.

and

from Shelly:
I’ve read “The Time Traveler’s Wife” and liked it but don’t remember much about it…I’m thinking maybe that’s the one you’ve read too. I REALLY wanted to look the other books up, but didn’t. So, for April I will say “The Handmaid’s Tale”.

I had a drum roll going in my head..did you? And yes, I've read TTW, and really loved it.
You guys can google now if you want just to see what the critics say. AFTER, you watch these clips.... (get a coke/cookie/or coffee first)


The Eyre Affair


The American Wife

The Shadow of the Wind

The Time Traveler's Wife


The Thirteenth Tale


The Handmaid's Tale

So, if you bloggers have any good ideas what a good book for a group would be....that might be a little out of the norm for book clubs, please comment and let me know.
Thanks.

book groups and book marks

So....I did end up going to my bookclub meeting last Thursday. It's a great food club. We had a great supper and dessert. And there was much talk and laughter....about everything BUT the book.

There are a lot of nice women, but I have noticed that it's us, older ones who want a bit more discussion and not so much social time.
I do enjoy it tho and it's our own fault ....we're quiet. We don't speak up.

We'll keep going tho, because we really like the group, but it's kind of like a "Supper Club" to us. And it's fun, don't get me wrong, we just have to be in the supper club mode (and we usually are ) and then if anyone talks about the book we've all been reading, that will be a bonus.

Now on this upcoming Wednesday, I have two other book groups.
The first is a noon-time group. It's the oldest club in Winnemucca (that's the name of our town).
There are a group of us in our mid 40's to mid 50's, who are fairly new to the club. We are the youngest. One of the older members has stopped coming because (and I quote) "the younger ones are taking over".
Some of us "younger ones" are grandparents. LOL.
Anyway, it's a nice little luncheon and there is a book report.
It's a nice noon-time meeting. I'm sure in days of old, the ladies wore gloves and hats.

On Wednesday evening, it is the Totally Lit (erature) bookclub.
We ALWAYS discuss the book. And food is not a major part of our book group. We usually have a dessert or cheese and crackers.
Except for this time.... we are having a Congealed salad party.

It all began, because...well, long story, but we don't say congealed in the west. We'll say Jell-o salad. And then it got to be a joke, and well, we decided to hold a congealed salad party. I'll let you know how it goes.
And also write a longer post. I'm just trying to pass the time right now, until the snow plows get out and I can go to work.
I would much rather curl up with a book on this snowy December Monday morning. But then I don't get paid, and if I don't get paid, I won't have money to buy the book to curl up with. (sigh) it's a never ending circle.

I will leave you with my new little bookmark.... a gift from my friend Ruth.

Bookclub mayhem

I am supposed to be reading. I am supposed to be reading "The Gold Coast" by Nelson DeMille. I usually like DeMille's books. But for some reason this isn't holding my attention. Could it be because of the holidays? And the fact that I'm working hard: Christmas Parade, Retail Business window decorating Contest, election of a new board of directors, no gifts purchased yet, no cookies made yet, no cards sent yet?
Or...is it because the book isn't that great?
No. That can't be it. The book is on the best seller list. DeMille just came out with a sequel. They are making a movie based on this book.
The book must be good. It's me. Something's wrong with me!

I'm going to have to appear at my book club meeting on Thursday night and say.... about a book a lot of people have loved..... I will say.....

my dog chewed it up and I didn't get a chance to finish it. (and I'll say it real fast, with maybe a cookie in my mouth, so they won't really care for me to expand on any part of my explanation, like, what did I think of it before my silly old bassett hound ate it. )

And this, dear friends, is why I am not a book reviewer. I cannot fess up to the truth. I cannot hurt someone's feelings. Someone chose this book they LOVED to share with us at bookclub. I know she loved it...because she said she did.
Her parting words last month were: I hope you love this book as much as I did.
Oh my gosh... I can't disapoint her! Her face was so earnest, so open, so sincere, so....in love with the book.
So in comes Monroe, the Bassett Hound. The hungry hound dog.

90% of the time, this is the exact reason why I choose a book for bookclub that I haven't read yet. I don't want them to trash something I love. If I choose a book that no one in the club has read, but is on a "hot for bookclubs" list, then it does not matter to me who likes it or doesn't like it. We can read together and voice our opinions and it's okay with me.
I might really have loved this book that I chose, but it's a "new" love, not an old love, a treasured love, a jealous love.
Those old books we LOVE? Well, we tend to get really territorial about them.
HOW DARE YOU NOT LIKE MY BOOK?

I can see it now....book club night... I will be in the corner with a mouthful of cookies and a cup of eggnog, so that I can view, with amusement, the free-for-all that's going to take place. Because I am sure, when someone insults her book choice, DiAnn will be hitting them over the head with said book. Her beloved book. Then perhaps her daughter will feel obligated to help her mom out and another book will fly across the room. Literary insults will be tossed about and then someone will mock a previous book choice, which will cause further put-downs of other beloved books...and it could go on and on.

I have been assigned the month of March to choose a book for this club. I was hoping to get them out of their box .... they tend to read a lot of mass-market best seller, books..... and I was thinking maybe, just maybe "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood. I haven't read it yet.
But now I'm afraid.
I think I'm just going to chose something off one of your blogs. A book you guys reviewed.
And it'll be your fault if I get hit on the head with a leprechaun.

******
and ps, the above mentioned book club is NOT the book club I posted pictures of in a previous post. I belong to a few bookclubs, but this one coming up on Thursday, is turning into more of a eating club. They have served pretty serious food and done too little book talking lately.
Check out this post on "Book Club Girl's blog" about telling us your bookclub breakup story. Who knows, I could be writing about this very thing after Thursday's meeting.


And....the only photo I have of Monroe the book eating dog. He is old. He is much more photogenic than this. He will be mad at me for posting such an unflattering photo...much in the same way I am mad at my husband sometimes for taking those unflattering photos of me!
I have other pictures of him at home, but I am at work.
I'm Taking a break.
Now I have to get back to making sure that Santa fits in his suit for the Christmas parade on Saturday night.

caution--adults only

Caution! Oh my gosh...

With a title like that.....I wonder, if you're here reading my blog right now, what you are expecting?

It's just my story from book club. Or "after" book club last month.
Books play a supporting role in my short story, (so I'm completely comfortable posting on my bookworm blog ) which is true. Every last word of it.
I'm still searching for my blogging niche.... but for now am sharing my book club story from the day before Halloween.

from October 30th, 2008

Last night, after I got home from Book Club....(where we discussed the book, Tangerine--a great Junior Highish age novel ) I wandered into the family room where my husband Rich was watching TV. We visited for a moment, I am always very excited when I get home from a book club and I need to talk, and then..... (some of you might want to quit reading now---gets a bit x-rated from here on out).... I took my bra off.

Yes, it's true. I just slipped it off under my shirt and laid it on the chair... my intention was to pick it up when we went upstairs to go to bed. It was uncomfortable!!!
The girls needed to be freed. Ahhh....sweet relief!
It's a sad fact of life, but for a large breasted woman in her late 40's, the taking off the bra moment is the best moment of the day! (sigh)

I picked up my book and sat down to read for a bit.... I got sleepy. Rich got sleepy... he began to turn off lights, I followed him up the stairs...off to bed.
but, we had left behind one important piece of evidence behind....THE BRA!!!

Had it slipped my mind that my 25 year old son is now living with us again? Had it slipped my mind that he was not home and would soon be arriving?
His M.O. is to grab a snack and watch a movie or the news or something.... in the very same room where said bra was left.

I have no idea what horror he might have gone thru at the sight of that... b...r...a... just lying there over the arm of the chair. (sigh)
My mind cannot go there....poor child.
Even if he tried to go on with his life.....his routine of turning on the TV, eating a snack..... his eyes must have been drawn to the grotesque sight again and again, like one is drawn to a car accident. With every flash of light from the TV screen in the darkened room, it must have jumped out like a hideous phantom, like the boogy man in a house of horrors. (I can hear horror music soundtracks in the back of my mind).

Hopefully, when he finally went upstairs to take his slumber (and there is no doubt in my mind he went up earlier than usual), he was not bothered by nightmares.

The house was dark this morning as I walked down the stairs.. As I do every morning, I grabbed my book and headed to the coffee pot. I made the brew and then walked slowly out into the family room, turned on the light by the side of my chair and YIKES, YIKES, YIKES!!! There it was---evidence of parents who are gross and disgusting! I grabbed it and ran up the stairs, into the bathroom where Rich was in the shower and began screaming (In a stage whisper), "OMG!!! I forgot my bra!! It was just lying there on the arm of the chair, for the world to see!"
He said "so?"
I said, "Your son!! Dustin was down there!"
He said, "Well Dustin is 25 years old, I can pretty much guarentee you, he's seen a bra before."
I said, "Not his MOHTER'S! Just lying around in the living room, like we'd been.... you know."
He said, "no. I don't know."
I listed all the things I think Dustin might be going thru....disgust, annoyance, horror, fright repulsion, etc.
Rich, as supportive (ahhahaah--a pun. Bra? Supportive?) as he usually is, just laughed at me.
Kind of like the clown in a horror movie..... laugh clown, laugh!! Laugh Rich laugh!

I guess this horror I must have put my son thru is appropriate...after all....tomorrow is... HALLOWEEN!!!

*****

Photos below are:

Totally Lit (erature) Book club friends!! We're missing a few friends. We come and go, we can't all make every meeting. We Average around 8 or 9 at each meeting. I have never missed a disscusion. I think I'm the only one who can say that. We've been meeting every month since January, 2003. And I have a list of all the books we've ever read.

Our book for the month, Tangerine was a great read, if you want to give it a try.

Book Clubs

I'm just posting the books to be read over the next few months for "one" of my bookclubs.
the Totally Literature bookclub.

I figure that I can send a link to the bookclub group, even tho they are not bloggers, they can read and see the list (chosen by different members of the group), or see the book, as the case may be.

This club is a very eclectic group, with eclectic choices.
As most of my bookgroups are.
Here are the choices for the next few months for the Totally Lit bookclub:

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein--September 24th

Tangerine by Edward Bloor-- October 29th

Up Pops the Devil by Angels Benson--November 19th

And as an extra bonus, here are September choices for--they don't have a name, so I will call them:
New Book Club
RED, Passion and Patience in the Desert by Terry Tempest Williams--September 25th

Library Book Club
The Basque Hotel by Robert Laxalt--September 16th

My 4th bookclub is "The Literary Guild" and it is the oldest social club in our little town of Winnemucca, NV. I am 49 years old and I am one of the "young ones" who are kind of upsetting some of the older ladies, with our wild thoughts and crazy ways.
We don't all read the same book, but have "book talks" at a local restaurant once a month.
Then in this blogworld, I have signed up for 3 or 4 reading challenges....crazy me! I know how those old ladies feel about me now. ~grins~
As you can tell, different people like different books and that is the point of letting others chose. It isn't always easy to give up that control of what you read, but it's really rewarding in some ways to get outside of your box. Some of them are regional, some local authors, some mass-market media, some literature, a little bit of everything. It should be fun!

I'll be giving my short little reviews on here after each bookclub meeting.

I also have no idea why my pictures got smaller and smaller as the blog went on. This in no way my opinion of the books. :~) I haven't even read most of them.

The Guernsey Literary

I am reading "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pkie Society".
I am almost done.... and I don't want it to end.
I am enjoying it very much. In fact, I love it.
Tonight is my (one of 4) bookclub meeting and we are supposed to be discussing "The Double Bind" which I also enjoyed, but this, this book: I LOVE.
I have 40 pages left...and I don't know what to do. I really don't want it to end.

Okay.....here I go, off to finish it.
Will send pictures and a summary of book club tomorrow.

Bookmark Monday...(for me)

Sometime during the last week, my friend April confided in me that she knew EXACTLY what hell is. She said it would be being locked in the largest library in the world forever and when you open a book, there is nothing but blank pages.

This actually gave me nightmares. LOL

Last Thursday was yet another book club meeting. We discussed "The Girls" by Lori Lansens. (has anyone read it?)

I am a lay-critic, or an amateur (how do you spell it??) reveiwer, but I will try...in a very short blog.

"The Girls" is about conjoined twins who are linked at the head. They are not able to operate to seperate the girls, so their lives will be tragically spent as oddities to the outside world. But over the course of the book, written in alternating chapters by each twin, we come to see them, not as "freaks" but as people, girls with hopes and dreams of their own.

So.... I told you it was going to be short.

I liked the book.... I think it helped me to see how differences in people are .... I don't know what the word is, but I guess it helped me to see what the world sees as "freaks" as people, with feelings. I use the word freaks, because that is what the outside world used to call them. And sometimes their only hope to live on their own was to join the circus or carnival's freak show. It' sad when you think about it.

I'm not to sure the rest of the book club liked the book. They were a little hesitant to say they liked it. But they didn't dislike it either.

It was a Scheindler's List kind of book.

And I will leave you with this.... my bookmark, chosen at random in the dark, out of my flowerpot on the book shelf in my bedroom where my bookmark collection lives, before stumbling down the stairs to make coffee at 5:00 a.m. this morning.

Dorothy from the Wizard of OZ.

Book Club BBQ

The Great Gatsby.....and the Totally Lit Bookclub

We met last night, at my house, for our book club Totally Literature...(or Lit for short), and it's funny because while I took a few pictures, I didn't see a book in any of them.
I saw food...and I saw wine. And I saw friends having a nice time. But we really, really did talk about the book. Quite a lot.

The Great Gatsby.
Check out the potato salad, (made by Cindy) in honor of "Daisy".

That was the only theme of the night....except for perhaps, the decadent (not), extravagant (not), indulgent (not), profuse (not), BBQ.

Many thanks to fellow book clubbers, Kathy and April, for coming early to help me put the ka-bobs on the skewers.
It isn't the ka-bobs themselves that are hard to do (a little meat, a little marinade), it's the skewering of them.
(I think I'm making up words as I go along here...skewering?)
I would have still been "ka-bobbing" this morning, if not for their help.

Ah, my point? Book Club.
As always, it is fun to hear everyone's opinion of the book. Sometimes they vary slightly and sometimes there is a huge difference, but we always enjoy the points of view.
It's early...6:00 a.m.
my brilliant blogging ability is "still asleep". My words are not flowing from my mind to my fingertips this morning. sorry. :~)

We ate and talked and then we kept talking and talking and talking---about the book of course.
I think towards the end of our discussion, we came to the conclusion... because some of us had a hard time understanding why "Gatsby" was one of the "Great American Novels".... that for it's time, it was a very controversial book. Something new, a shocking social commentary of the very rich. And F. Scott Fitzgerald was one of the first post ( oh what was it? I've taken literature classes for heaven's sake... I just can't think this morning) Postmodernism... no, maybe that's not right....
But he is considered one of the "Lost Generation" those American Authors, or rather "literary notables" to quote Ernest Hemingway, who lived abroad, in Paris, after WWI, and wrote very, very depressing novels. But very, very worth reading.
In some ironic way.....looking back now.... I think Fitzgerald's novel of Gatsby is a bit autobiographical. Only a bit. (and its' sad, when you think about it), the partying, the drinking, the wastefulness, the flaunting of money, the women.... and then at the end of his life, (Fitzgerald's) the obituaries were condescending and very few people attended his funeral...he was 44 years old.

It was a nice evening. A nice book talk.... it got darker and while you can't tell in the pictures, I had to get a flashlight to be able to see my notes on the book...and then we'd pass it around...just like a campfire group!
There is nothing nicer than talking about books with friends. And eating with friends. And laughing with friends.
We did it all last night.....at the Totally Lit Book Club meeting.

Classics Bookclub

I just signed up --- well, not really signed up, but committed to --- the Classics Bookclub. I'm in. I'm all about it.
I'm wondering where in the world I put my "Pride and Predj..." (where is spell check when I need it?). It's probably under the bed. Honestly, it was on my nightstand for well over a year.
I've never read it, but have watched the PBS version with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy.
I'm excited and so glad that I don't have to read it by "next" Tuesday.... the 6th.

BTW.... for those of you who have seen more than one version of it on TV, at the movies, on DVD...
Who is your favorite Mr. Darcy?

Booking thru Thursdays

What are your favourite first sentences from books? Is there a book that you liked specially because of its first sentence? Or a book, perhaps that you didn’t like but still remember simply because of the first line?



I have a secret... I can't think of any!! Normally, I would rush to my bookshelf and pull out a couple of great books, and make like I knew these great beginning lines all along, but (second secret) I'm at work (no worries about getting caught, I'm the boss), and there is no bookshelf full of books waiting for me here.
Just off the top of my head, it would have to be the classic "It was a dark and stormy night..."

Hey...what can I say? This is all new to me...forgive me.
I'll catch on... I'm usually a fast learner.