a book by its cover

Today was a nutso crazy day! i had all my sisters and their kids over for a picnic.. What was i thinking?? anyway, my sister was investigating my "library" and she picked up my copy of Iris Murdoch's A severed head. it was an older copy... but she loved the cover.. she said she needed it.. so i let her have it.. but if she finds another copy she has to get it and replace the one she "stole"! I just think its funny that someone could pick out a book just because they like the cover. strange!

ch ch cha changes

i made some changes on the list of books i am going to read this year.. mostly because i barrowed some books and have to give them back.. it works!

google the monkey

HA... is that just about the funniest thing you have ever heard?.. and its not even supposed to be funny.. so you with your sick minds had better think of something else fast!.. The reality is, that I, your fav blogger gets to be clifford the big red dog in the great NY state fair.. woohoo.. and this year i get to have buddies to walk with me.. big bird and courious george are doing the deed with me.. how cool is that??????

snow falling on cedars is still going very slowly...

and after being told i wouldn't have to work tomorrow, guess what? i get to work tomorrow.. so life is looking more down then up today!

book in a day!

I never said i would be good at this blogging stuff.. sorry!

so anyway.. i read the coolest little book today.. it was called "the short and mysterious death of amy zoe mason" by kristine and joyce atkinson. It was a little artsy book, with a bit of a mystery and an overall very cool look. I can think of a handful of people that would just love it.

The other day i finished reading the secret life of bees.. and you know what? i didn't like it much.. there were good parts.. don't get me wrong. I thought it covered several issues pretty well..but there was other elements that just sucked!.. I just could not connect with this book, and if i had not been reading it with a friend, i would not have finished it at all!..

up next is david gutersons book snow falling on cedars. Ive started it, im on chapter 2.. and im not sure really if anything has happened yet... it is very very very slow going. Im hoping for the best. I picked up a second book to read when i just can't do snow falling. my alternative is "the old maid" by edith wharton. this one is going very fast, even though not much is happening in this one either.

oh well, life is good...

The Wednesday sisters

I was a little alarmed when looking at the cover of this book. The book claimed to be better then the yaya sisterhood... and it made me quite a skeptic. It didn't take long to realize that this book was as different from the yaya's as you could get. The one single thing that made them even remotely the same was that they are both about women that greatly care about each other. I read this book in 4 nights... and i loved it to bits.

The Wednesday Sisters takes place in the late 1960's and early 1970's and it is a book about 5 women who are new to the sunny state of CA due to their successful husbands new jobs. The five women, Frankie, Kath, Linda, Ally and Brett are all intelligent and young, with dreams for the future. The women meet at a playground, and talk about books, and writing, and life, and it it here that they learn about real friendship that has no boundaries except honesty, and true love.

This book covers topics like interracial marriage, unsuccessful pregnancies, cancer, infidelity, guilt, civil rights, women's lib, moon walks, .. you name it, its in here.. Even Johnny Carson. I cant think of a reason that I don't like the book, except that perhaps it could have gone on a little longer, but what would be even better would be a sequel... with perhaps the children of the Wednesday sisters?.. sounds good to me.

updated list

8 of 2008 challenge
old dead guys
1. sir walter scott- Ivanhoe
2. john Steinbeck- Cannery Row
3. Bram Stoker-Dracula
4. Ernest Hemmingway- a farewell to arms
5. D. H. Laurence- lady Chatterley’s lover
6. charles dickens- a tale of two cities
7. mark twain- a yankee in king Arthur’s court
8. James Joyce- Ulysses

Crazy dead ladies
1. L. M. Montgomery- Anne of green Gables
2. edith Wharton- the old maid
3. Iris Murdoch- Under the net
4. Jane austen- Mansfield park
5. edna Ferber- giant
6. pearl s. buck- pavilion of woman
7. irène Némirovsky-suite francaise
8. george elliot- Middlemarch

Mystery Mystery
1. Arturo perez reverte the Flanders panel
2. Agatha christie- and then there were none
3. janet evanovich- four to score
4. sue graffton- h is for homicide
5. laura lipman- the last place
6. kate mosse- the labyrinth
7. janet evanovitch-High Five
8. Jasper fforde- Thursday next

The books that take up shelf room
1. J. D salenger- Fanney and Zooey
2. Zadie smith- The autograph man
3. John Barth- The Floating Opera
4 Kristine and joyce Atkinson- The short life and mysterious death of amy zoe mason
5. sue monk kidd- the secret life of bees
6 mark Helprin- Freddy and Fredericka
7. Kent haruf- eventide
8. Tim o’brien- The things they carried

Books I waited all of 2007 to read
1. John Kennedy o’toole Confederacy of dunces
2. banana Yoshimoto- kitchen
3. Mark Helprin- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
4. CArlos Ruiz Zafón- Shadow of the wind
5. Rohinton Mistry- A fine balance
6. rebecca wells- the ya-yas in bloom
7. joanne harris-coastliners
8. Geraldine brooks- March

Sci fi/ Fantasy
1. Gregory Maguire- son of a witch
2. Robert A. Heinlein- Stranger in a strange land
3. J. k. Rowling- Harry Potter
4. J.rr Tolkien- lord of the rings(the fellowship)
5. ray Bradbury- Fahrenheit 451
6. Audrey Niffinegger- the time travelers wife
7. phillp Pullman- the golden compass
8 gregory Maguire- wicked

Books to movies
1. Anne prolux- The Shipping News
2. Boris Pasternak- Dr. Zhivago,
3. David Guterson-Snow Falling on cedars
4. Toni Morison- Beloved
5. Charles Frazer- cold Mountain
6. Richard Russo- Empire Falls
7. Sebastien Japrisot- A very long engagement
8. Tom Perrotta-Little Children

ARC and book club
1Stephen King- Duma Key
2 Nicole krauss- history of love
3 l.j. sellers- the sex club
4 Candice bushnell- lipstick jungle
5 Elizabeth Noble- Things I want my daughters to know
6 Meg Waite Clayton-The Wednesday sisters
7 Lori Handeland -Any given Doomsday
8, Katherine Neville- The Fire

king of horror

ok.. so im almost 30 years old.. and im just now reading my very first stephen king book.. and its not even one of his "classics".. its the new one Duma Key.. and i like it(Haha). What did i think when my friend picked it as one of our "together faraway" books?.. i thought"groan groan groan.. because my other option was the kite runner and i have no interest in that what so ever.

back to duma key... im 442 pages into it.. never felt like throwing it away, putting it down never to pick up again, or afraid to keep going.... the plot is fun, its full of symbolism, its very modern.. perhaps it may even have a bit of king's personal anguish after he had his own accident back in "99". Anyway, there is a lot of freaky stuff in there.

People have told me that kings older stuff is better.. better how? they can't say,... but they say i should try it. Someone told me that the Stand was his all time best but can't give me a reason why. perhaps next year ill give it a try.

Other stuff im reading... i finished Flanders Panel. i was disappointed because i thought it was going to be more enlightening,.. but it kind of ended up being an average murder mystery... a sort of easy one at that, because i was half right about the who donnit... i was only wrong about the accomplice.

I finished reading Kitchen. For me it was a major bomb... good thing it was short or i may have given up on it and never gone back.. the only thing that was even remotely redeeming was the last part, it was a separate entity... and it was lovely.

I have also picked up the 4th stephanie plum mystery.. FUNNY! I think that is ok that the mysteries in these books are not so thought provoking and worthy of so much contemplation because lets be serious for a moment, how many books do you have an armature getting into all kinds of scrapes.. and having a cross dresser and a no games ex prostitute as sidekicks.. and lets not forget grandma here.. haha.. love it

that's about it.. what next?.. not sure yet. lets play it one at a time.

Bad blogger!!!!!!

ok.. so im not so good at this blogging thing.. i have a hard time keeping up.. finding time ,.. and thinking of things to say...i still think its a fun way to carry on about all the good and bad things i read .. and so i will continue.

for starters, this year i have decided that im not going to do a weird personal challenge like reading only books that were written by women.. i spent some time before the new year started and i found a really good, and hard challenge.. its 8 of 08.. ie, 8 books in each of 8 category's, in the year 2008.. very cool... i found it here on this site

http://triple8challenge.blogspot.com/

here is what i picked, to read.. the pink ones are done...and im having a blast doing it!!!

8 of 2008 challenge

old dead guys
1. sir walter scott- Ivanhoe
2. john Steinbeck- Cannery Row
3. F. Scott Fitzgerald- Tender is the night
4. Ernest Hemmingway- a farewell to arms
5. D. H. Laurence- lady Chatterley’s lover
6. charles dickens- a tale of two cities
7. mark twain- a yankee in king Arthur’s court
8. James Joyce- Ulysses

Crazy dead ladies
1. Virginia Wolffe- Mrs Dollaway
2. edith Wharton- the old maid
3. Iris Murdoch- Under the net
4. Jane austen- Mansfield park
5. edna Ferber- giant
6. pearl s. buck- pavilion of woman
7. irène Némirovsky-suite francaise
8. george elliot- Middlemarch

Mystery Mystery
1. Sir Arthur conan Doyle- Sherlock Holmes
2. Agatha christie- and then there were none
3. janet evanovich- four to score
4. sue graffton- h is for homicide
5. laura lipman- the last place
6. kate mosse- the labyrinth
. kate atkenson- one good turn
8. l.j. sellers- the sex club

The books that take up shelf room
1. J. D salenger- Fanney and Zooey
2. Zadie smith- The autograph man
3. John Barth- The Floating Opera
4 wally lamb- shes come undone
5. sue monk kidd- the secret life of bees
6 Rohinton Mistry- A fine balance
7. Kent haruf- eventide
8. Tim o’brien- The things they carried

Something new
1. Elizabeth Noble- Things I want my daughters to know
2. Jasper fforde- Thursday next
3. mark Helprin- Freddy and Fredericka
4. rebecca wells- the ya-yas in bloom
5. Mark Helprin- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
6. Gregory Maguire- son of a witch
7. Geraldine brooks- March
8. CArlos Ruiz Zafón- Shadow of the wind

Books I waited all of 2006 to read
1. John Kennedy o’toole Confederacy of dunces
2. banana Yoshimoto- kitchen
3. umberto echo- the name of the rose
4. jonathan saffron foer- everything is illuminated
5. Nicole krauss- history of love
6. Christopher moore- the stupidest angel
7. joanne harris-coastliners
8. Arturo perez reverte the Flanders panel

Sci fi/ Fantasy
1. Stephen King- Duma Key
2. Robert A. Heinlein- Stranger in a strange land
3. J. k. Rowling- Harry Potter
4. J.rr Tolkien- lord of the rings(the fellowship)
5. ray Bradbury- Fahrenheit 451
6. Audrey Niffinegger- the time travelers wife
7. phillp Pullman- the golden compass
8 gregory Maguire- wicked

Books to movies
1. Anne prolux- The Shipping News
2. Boris Pasternak- Dr. Zhivago,
3. mona simpson- anywhere but here
4. Toni Morison- Beloved
5. Charles Frazer- cold Mountain
6. Richard Russo- Empire Falls
7. Candice bushnell- lipstick jungle
8. chuck Palahniuk-fight club

vamps live, and jim crow must die!!!!!

ok,.. i know im late at writing.. but i have good reasons!

1. I turned old!!!! i celebrated turning 29 on 10/23... and thanks to my very good friend kelly... it wasn't as awful as i thought it would be.. but darn it i just keep thinking that i would so much like to be 24 again!

2. I lost and then started a new job! Never thought id be back in full retail again but here i am .. slaving away in a huge clothing store(i won't name names).

3. we began stage 2 of our house demolish/rebuild project.. not fun at all.. we hope to be done and everything pretty again by xmas.. my fingers are crossed!!!

4. i was too busy to write because i received 2 really awesome ARC's from algonquin publishing!!!

Book 1 was called Every last cukoo! and it was by a very nice lady named Kate maloy.. I know she has to be nice because not only did my contact with algonquin say she was.. but mrs. maloy took the time out of her busy life to send me a card thanking me for enjoying and reviewing her book... it was a blast for me.. so i think i got the better part of it all around. Her book was a lot about family vailues, and accepting change.. because it happens no matter what.. you can't always expect it.. but you do have to deal with it!

My next book was absolutely amazing.. called mudbound... and it was by a young lady named Hillary Jordan.. and boy did this book make me feel a million things all at once!!! it made me feel dirty, it made me feel so much anger, it made me feel pride, it made me blush, itmade me sad.. but most of all it made me cry.. this book is being championed by barbara kingsolver.. and for many good reasons too. this book will be out next march(2008) make sure you look for it.. it will amaze you too!!!!

ok.. so back to historian.. it was a pretty good book. i don't know how or why it got bashed like it did.. so there were a few parts that were a bit confusing.. but it was a hell of a tail.. and i couldn't wait to get to the end. some cool facts: the narator dosn't have a name, history repeats its self.. and boy is it good to get scared sometimes!! The last 100 pages or so was the best part of the story.. i would read the sequal if there was ever one to be wretten!!!

ok.. so thats that,.. time to head off to bed. ive got a pile of books im trying to trudge though.. but house stuff comes first!ick!

good night

Afraid of vamps

umm its never a good thing to read freaky books before bed! I have known that for years, but what i didn't know was that its not good to read books about vampires, eat cheesecake brownies and be stressed out before going to bed... Very bad combo!!!

so far im liking The Historian. We have been having lots of rainy dreary weather around here so it definately helps with the mood. im at page 90 and while there have been bits and pieces of action, there really dosn't seem to have been much going on. its not as bad as the whitney otto book though... ehh we will see

pink dosn't stink....

OK. .. i finished the secret history of the pink carnation last night. It didn't stink. it had a lot of good things in it. it kept my attention.. and so what if there was a bit too much romance thrown in.. that's what makes a good book a good book for some people.. not me though. I liked the little twist at the end. I'm not going to give anything away if that's what you are reading this blog to find out. you are just going to have to read the book for yourself.

OK. so its October now. its supposed to be a scary month full of ghouls and bumps in the night so i figure why not read a scary book too. I've already read the typical Dracula and Frankenstein.. so I'm getting a bit crazy this year. This year I'm taking on Elizabeth Kosteva's The historian. I didn't think i would ever crack this book.. mostly because of all the negative things i heard about it.. mostly that it was slow going and a bit boring.. but i am willing to at least try it. My friend Jen is going to read it along with me. we figure if we don't like it by page 100 then it will be time to give up on it. so far at page 18 it doesn't feel so bad yet.

pink pink you stink

Ha!

im reading the secret history of the pink carnation. I have mixed feelings on it. Im about half way done, still don't know the secret of the pink carnation.. which is what is keeping me reading. The stinky part of this book is that its got way too much romance in it. I could care less if the good guy spy is feeling up the hero chick or whatever.. i don't want to read about a kiss for three stinking pages.. it just doesn't do it for me. im sure that when i get to the end of the book ill have lots to say. but for now im just happy that i know that romance like this does not happen in real life, and for those who think it does and are expecting it.... well its not ever going to be that way so stop waiting!!!

rain day

... today is almost over.. and to that i say "Yea". As inventory at work grows closer and closer the more i feel as if i want to stay home and in bed. I'm trying to grin and bare it.. but i think its getting to be a real pain.

I guess i should mention that i did finish reading Crow Lake. It was good.. very good. not great though. The thing i liked the best about it was that it alluded to something big and important right from the getgo. so not to spoil it for anyone i won't say what the incedent was, but i will say it was not what i was expecting. one other thing i really liked was that this book could have been "timeless"! there was no mention of what decade the book was to take place in... also you don't know how old the narrator Kate, is. Id recomend the book to just about anyone.

Right now im reading "the secret history of the pink carnation." I really like this one. its half mystery half romance-chick lit. can't wait to get to the end!!!

sunday sunday

so, its sunday again. not too much to report.

Im over halfway done with Crow lake. im finding it to be quite good. back when they were making a big to do about it i thought to myself that this was something id never read... glad i changed my mind. its one of those books that you keep finding yourself wondering "what would i do?"

there is still one week left of summer, but it feels so much like fall. we went apple and pumpkin picking today. it was quite fun.

almost feeling like fall.....

wow.. weather is really going nuts out there! leaves havefallen everywhere, and we have already made it to the apple orchard.

not reading as much as id like. I have been snacking on the thrid of stephanie plums adventures..very fun. Um in the car i have To kill a mockingbird. i have not gotten so far with that , but boy does it feel like i know this book!! I fianly cracked the book Crow Lake open. it's for a discousion i promised to have with a good friend of mine so i have to have the book done by the last day of this month or i think she will be kind of upset.

work is for the birds.. there are just days when i wish i was home and could lay around by myself and do nothing.. way off dream don't you think??

ahh... im boring tonight. i guess ill be going.

hot saturday

today was hot.. not just hot.. it was very hot.. for a late august day... it rained a little and that just made it hotter.. and i got cranky..

i have not had any time to read in the past 2 days. Looking at a calender i see that there are only 4 more months to this year.. this year has gone way toooooo fast!!! I had a goal of 36 books this year.. i think im about up to 18.. its not so good.. and i don't think I'm going to make 36.. but perhaps if i try .. and try hard, ill make it to 30.. that's like4.5 books a month.. perhaps..

here's what i have going on

still reading bridget jones.. kind of weird. I wasn't fond of the movie.. not too sure i like the book any better.

crow lake.. its up for next month. one of my "far away" friends are going to read it together .. and then have a chat about it at the end of sept

megan mccafferty's book.. the new Jessica darling book. I have just begun it. and its got one hell of a slow start. I'm hoping that it gets a hell of a lot better..

also snagged To kill a mockingbird from the library.. funny thing about this book is ive never cracked the covers of this book before, but as i began to read the first chapter i could have sworn that Ive heard this story before.. just don't know how, when or why.

some fun news ahead. i may get the chance to be Clifford the big red dog in a parade this coming week. its going to be in the state fair.. and I'm afraid with all this heat it won't be too fun.. but the concept is awesome.

that's about it for now

calling in life!

Ok.. so today i realized what i should have years ago!... that my true calling in life is to pick out books for other people. I think i may have some weird connection when it comes to this. As soon as im done with a book i sit and really maul that book over. I then start thinking of my friends, my sisters and other people that i think my just get a kick over what i have just read. The hard part is trying to get people to take my advice.

When i worked at Waldenbooks many years ago i had a manager who did not believe that The amazing adventures of Kavalier and clay was as good of a book as i claimed. she agreed that she would read the book if i would read this goofy Chuck Norris book that was titled something like the power within or something like that. So I took her up on her deal.. i sat and read all about the ching of chow.. or whatever. It was a very boring book.. and probably the only non fiction book i have ever read that i have not been forced to ...ever!!!! can you believe it?? she tricked me.. she didn't even pick up a copy of k and c. .. i was so sad.....

but anyway.. i think i should take my gift more seriously... i think i could really help people with finding great books...

need some book time

ahhh... my new(est) job keeps me way too busy! no time to read. well, i did read a little... I'm doing the murder mystery thing at the moment. 2 for the dough. Stephanie plum mystery.. i could be her.. except i hate rodents!!!

I did get away for a few days. went up to Alex bay and got through Kate Atkinson's case histories... another mystery of sorts.. not bad at all. it had me thinking about it for a few days.. it was more fun thining of CH then it was thinking about sorting stuff at work.

ummm i guess crow lake is up next.. im reading it with my long distance friend. i also want to read to kill a mocking bird. why?.. not sure.. but i guess i should just the same.....

happy wends!!!

its exactly one week since 4th of july... and what a fun 4th it was. it rained and rained... oh, did i mention it rained that day?.. ick!

to get off that icky subject i will proudly anounce the fact that i finaly finished that stupid whitney otto book.... it was dumb... thats the nicest thing i can think of to say about it. onward and upward is how i will now look at things... it can only get better right??

Happy Fathers Day.......

me im in for the long term. its really cute. ...not much of an opinion yet.
Again, i havn't posted in a bit. I was busy finding a new job... one that i like better.. better hours, better co workers, best of all better pay!!! and its a whopping 4 miles from my house. Love it.. even if i do come home sore every day!!!

So today is fathers day.. i considered sending a card to my dad.. but then thought better of it.. so im not. ill call my mom for chat fest instead!! sounds fair to me!!!

what have i been reading???? ooohhh i read Dodie smith's 101 dalmations. What a fantastic cute little book. it had a disney illustration on the cover but the inside had beautiful doggie drawings that were not in the least cartoony. There were a few changes made when the book was turned into the cartoon.. the mother dogs name, the whole idea of the other mother dog.. and some of the names.. but darn it.. the book was really cute. its on my top ten list.

im still plodding through whitney otto's "Now you see her"... and i am positive that there is a point to it all.. really i do. but its hard to stay foccused. can i tell you how sad and disapointed i feel?? i just loved her other books.

also started Bridget jones's diary.. started it once before.. this ti