Blizzard is predicted for our area (CT) through Monday morning. Lots of snow and wind. Watching football with my daughter and her boyfriend and my husband. Staying warm and snug. Had a wonderful Christmas with my family. Lots of books. I think the first one I'll read will be The Invisible Bridge.

Merry Christmas! The turkey is in the oven. The house is quiet. Went to church last night for a beautiful service and again was reminded of how fortunate I am with wonderful family, friends and good health. As a friend said to me last night when talking about how fortunate we all were he stated "we started at third base".
Today most of my family will be here for dinner. I will have a range of ages- 5 months old (my great niece) to my parents (my dad turned 92 yrs in October). There will be 18- quite a gathering.
Have a wonderful day.

Last of the Christmas baking finished. My son's favorite cookies- chocolate and vanilla pinwheels and a cardamon bread (braided) which we have after opening presents Christmas morning. The tree is almost all decorated. Just waiting for my daughter to put her ornaments on. Have been getting organized for dinner on the 25th as I have my family for dinner- from 5 mos ( my great niece) to 92 yrs (my dad). Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Met last week for our annual Christmas Potluck and Yankee Swap. No book as everyone felt they were too busy to read and discuss. Lots of good food, great company and fun gifts. Made another change to our calendar- the book of poetry (Drive By Heart) is now the January book and The Women Who Raised Me was moved to February. Still need book selections for the rest of the year. My husband gave me the children's book It's A Book which is absolutely delightful and fun. And not just for children. Have been reading The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. Slow start for me but finally getting into it. Busy with holiday preparations. Have baked 8 doz. cookies for the town Community Services dept. and another 5 doz for my family. Finished the family sugar cookies today. Labor intensive- cinnamon sugar, nonpareils, red and green colored sugars - but yummy and worth the effort.

Last week we met to discuss The Help. Very good discussion regarding the civil rights movement, where we are today, etc. Talked about the movie being made and the casting selections. Would be a fun thing to organize a movie night and then revisit the book and compare the movie. Decided to postpone the December book ( Drive By Heart by Michael Milburn) to February since we meet in two weeks. Drive By Heart is a selection of poems. Poetry is an area we don't often visit. Getting ready for the holidays. Tree is up, lights are on. Candles are in the windows.

Tonight is book club. The book is The Help. Should be a pretty good discussion although it sounds like it might be a small group. Sometimes that is better. Just finished a YA book The Blue Shoe which was pretty good. Villains, thievery, plots, intrigue- not a long book. Typed in blue ink to carry the blue theme through the story.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. So much to be thankful for- my family: wonderful husband, two great children (well not really children anymore), my parents, my brothers and their wives and their families, my husband's sisters and their families. I have wonderful friends including my book club group. Have a roof over my head, food on my table and good health. Grateful and blessed. Happy Thanksgiving.

Recently there have been articles on eliminating picture books. You know the early readers for kids. I can remember reading to my kids and now there seems to be a big push to encourage kids, young kids, to skip right to chapter books and forget the pictures!! Come on, really? Here is a post regarding this trend.... check it out. http://blog.readinggroupguides.com/blog/2010/11/call-action-book-lovers

Last night I had the opportunity to listen to Dorie Greenspan talk about her new cookbook ( #10 and the first one that isn't about baking). Titled Around My French Table it contains recipes from friends from all walks of life. And represents French food that is shared with "elbows on the table". This is not the first time I have heard her speak and, as in the past, she was entertaining, funny, told touching stories and gave the group insight as to how this latest book came to be. While signing books she took the time with each person to talk, listen and smile- and she made sables for everyone! Wonderful evening. Can't wait to try the recipes on the book.

The second week of November is National Children's Book Week. I will be reacquainted with young children's book as my great nephew is having a birthday party this Saturday. He will be 3 years old. I was thinking of getting him a couple of the Spot books since they come in a hard cover version which is pretty indestructible so if his little sister gets her hands on one it won't be easily torn. Plus they are cute and fun and easy for kids to follow. I am sure there are lots of great books available since my kids were young so it will be fun to browse. Tomorrow night I will be attending a speaking engagement by Dorie Greenspan who has a new cook book out. I really enjoy her recipes and have heard her speak before- very entertaining. Can't wait.

Have lots of newspapers to read and get through. Started reading Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot, a YA book, that looked interesting. Waiting to read The Help, the book club book until the end of the month so I can remember the details for out meeting. Real fall day here, lots of leaves.

Yesterday, Election Day, I worked as a moderator in my voting district. Very interesting, high turnout, lots of new voters, some problems. We were lucky that we didn't run out of ballots. Not much reading to be done. I tend to bring cooking magazines with me and a crossword puzzle book. So, I read or rather, glanced at a few magazines that I had "saved" in between resolving problems and making sure things were running smoothly at the poll. After several times as moderator I feel a bit more comfortable setting up the tabulator, keeping voters happy and moving along, processing the results. And you certainly don't do it for the money. It's a long day (beginning at 4:45 am until finish which was about 9:30 pm) but I feel it is something I can do to give back to my community.

Finished finally The Lake Shore Limited by Sue Miller. It took me longer to read than I expected, not sure but I really didn't get into the story until I was about halfway through. I didn't really care about the characters at the beginning, guess they didn't feel real to me. And the story, while it was an interesting format, was very slow to get going and to draw me into the lives of the characters. Now reading Elizabeth Berg's The Last Time I Saw You (which has grabbed my attention almost from the first page!).

We met last Monday to discuss Little Bee. After eating chili, cornbread, salad we held the discussion during dessert ( apple cake, peace cookies). Only one member really didn't like the book- not real enough. Most of us found the son to be rather annoying and not realistic. And we learned that our knowledge of Nigeria and it's history was somewhat limited. Overall all ( but one ) liked the book and it generated quite a bit of discussion. We found lots of other topics to talk about too. Our next book is The Help by Kathryn Stockett. While driving today on the public radio I listened to a show discussing the privatization of public libraries ( trying to reduce costs etc) not much in the plus column for doing so. Basically the way the private company would reduce costs is to eliminate the staff, reduce pensions, limit health insurance etc. And there wasn't even a mention about who would get to decide which books to buy for circulation. The other topic was banned books. Interesting how some people feel they should limit not only what they or their children read but what others can....it was a very provoking talk. And there was an author whose book had been banned discussing the reasons (one of which he couldn't understand at all) and how he always tried to support those who wish to keep "banned" books on the shelf available for others to read.

It is a beautiful sunny fall day and I sit inside working on my laptop. Finished The Writing Circle which was well written and had a twist at the end. Might be a good discussion book for a reading group. Have started a young adult book TTYL which is written in text messaging "language". Interesting format but I am getting a bit weary of it. Will start my book club book next. Article in the NYT regarding the demise of picture books for children. Sad comment that parents today are pushing young children into books without pictures in the misguided (my view) belief that their children will learn faster, be able to compete better and eventually get into that great college. Please. Let kids be kids. I think there is a trend to push the first born into things too soon ( I know I did and I have seen friends do it also) and having learned with the first backed off with the second. There is definitely a place for picture books. And kids will learn to read soon enough, hopefully with joy.

Last week was Banned Books Week. I always find it interesting to see, over the course of years, what is considered taboo. And I also find it interesting, or disturbing, how few of the books I have read. That seems to call for (another) list of what to read. And I can add that to the piles of books I have bought or borrowed to be read. Our last book group meeting was lots of fun with a very dynamic and interesting discussion. For once we didn't chit chat about kids, or family stuff or school or politics we just jumped right into the discussion. Really enjoyable. Our next book is Little Bee. Right now I am finishing Susan Witting Albert lastest Holly Blues. Oh while mentioning lists ( I am a list person) Reading Group Guides just announced their 2010 list of Great Group Reads. More books. Never enough time.

I read this morning an editorial regarding the publishing of paperback versus hardcover books and whether or not reviewers are biased against paperbacks. Have tried to post the link here but have run into trouble. However the article was published in the Wall Street Journal, Thursday, September 23rd and is titled The Stigma of Paperback Originals by Joann Kaufman. It was very interesting. Personally I prefer paperback to hardback, not sure why. The only time I would buy hardback would be if it was going to be autographed by the author. I guess I assume it would last longer in hardback form. Usually I am more comfortable reading a paperback and almost always wait until a book (if I am inclined to purchase it) is in paperback form. On the other hand, I am a big believer in using the public libraries so I try to reserve or borrow a book from the town library before buying it.

Last week my book group met to discuss My Stroke of Insight. Usually we spend the first half hour discussing kids, families, school, work but not this time. We just jumped right into a really great discussion about the book. Lots of input and comments. And we had almost everyone show for the meeting. That usually only happens when we host a pot-luck dinner! Not everyone was convinced that the author truly remembered her journey while having a stroke but there were some very relevant and interesting insights in her recovery. I found it to be a little too much "new age-y" for me at the end. While the author thought it was cool that she knew she was having a stroke and could learn from it (in her capacity as a neuro-anatomist) I am pretty sure I wouldn't have thought it was cool to be going through a stroke!!
Next book is LIttle Bee which I am looking forward to reading. Should be a good book for discussion.

http://www.recyclart.org/2010/09/library-information-desk/information-desk1/
follow the link to see a library information desk made of books- great idea for book lovers who hate to give up their books!

Finished reading The Syringa Tree which is set in South Africa prior to the Soweto riots and after. It is the story of a young girl and her family's help during this difficult time. It took me awhile to get into the book but about halfway through I couldn't really put it down. Very strong story. Now onto the September book club book My Stroke of Insight. Read all of the Hunger Games trilogy. Loved it although I thought the ending came a little bit too quickly as if the author decided she had to just finish it.....still a good read.

Just finished My Name is Mary Sutter, historical fiction set in the Civil War era. Very good read, strong female character with the other characters just as believable as Mary. Well researched. The war scenes were very detailed and gave me a very good vision of the horror of the field hospitals that were constructed during the battles. Hospital is too strong a word but the conditions that are described in which the surgeons and nurses dealt with during the fighting stayed with me even after I finished the book.
Back to more YA fiction - The Boy Book by E. Lockhart. Very entertaining. Funny, on target observations of teenage boys.

Well we finally met to discuss The Lace Reader. Unfortunately too much time had passed to really discuss it however it seemed that none of us really liked it and two people actually figured out the mystery well before the end of the book. The rest of us clearly just read to enjoy the story! Despite having poor memories for that book we did discuss lots of other books we were reading, had read or were planning on reading. The Invisible Bridge, Stephen King, some YA books ( my latest thing is reading YA fiction). I suggested The Hunger Games series- can't wait until the third book comes out August 24th. Our September book is My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor.

Just finished a great fun YA read My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison. Witty and humorous based on several fairy tales. I thoroughly enjoyed it and couldn't put it down. Looking forward to reading more by Janette Rallison. I checked out her blog which is fun to peruse ( www. janette-rallison.blogspot.com). Really enjoy the YA selections I have read this summer.

Okay, it looks as if everyone has finally finished The Lace Reader. Contrary to the usual summer mode we will actually meet in August to discuss TLR ( since we didn't discuss it at our "last" meeting in June). Hope it is a good discussion. I already know that one person really didn't like it so that will definitely spice the discussion.

Ahh the end of the year busyness- graduations, final exams, getting ready for summer etc. Our group met last week but only one person had finished The Lace Reader. So we had no discussion because none of us wanted to have the ending revealed. We selected a time to finish the book and discuss it. We agreed to meet the third week of August for w(h) ine and cheese and to discuss the book. We did manage to select a few books for the upcoming fall which I will post later. We never seem to lack for suggested summer reads. It's funny how almost everyone manages to show up when we have a potluck dinner affair! On another note I just finished the latest Jacqueline Winspear "Maisie Dobbs" novel which I thoroughly enjoyed. Love the writing style and the heroine Maisie Dobbs a strong, independent young woman making her way in post WWI England as a not so traditional private investigator.

Tomorrow night is our last meeting until September. We have a potluck dinner which is always interesting and delicious, and then talk about summer reads- suggestions, what sounds good, what we hope to read, and then try to find a book for September so we can read that during the slow days of July and August. For the first time in awhile we have read a book for June- The Lace Reader. I sent out questions this afternoon in the hopes of generating a good discussion tomorrow. I am struggling getting through this book although it is interesting and I have been to Salem a couple of times. Once with my family so my daughter could visit and learn more about the area during the witch hunt and another time with my daughter and 3 of her friends for a Harry Potter (4 days) conference! That was an amazing experience.

Well not our usual discussion last night. Four of the group had graduates ( 3 college, 1 high school) so we were a little distracted. Most weren't that excited about the main character Olive in the beginning of the book however she did grow on us by the end of the book. As I am not a fan of short stories I was pleasantly surprised to enjoy the format of this book. It is set up as a series of short stories with Olive the thread throughout. I enjoyed the writing style of Elizabeth Strout.
Our next book for the last meeting before our summer break is The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry.

Tonight we meet to discuss Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. I also read Amy and Isabelle by ES and enjoyed that story as well as OK. Will be interesting to hear others thoughts regarding OK.

Really good discussion of A Widow's War. Lively and spirited. Our next book is Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout set in Maine. The Lace Reader was suggested for our June book. It is set in Salem Massachusetts which will continue our unplanned theme of books set in New England.

I really enjoyed A Widow's War. While I found it to be a slow start I thought that Sally Gunning captured the era quite well, even down to the speech patterns of the characters. It was interesting to find how connected her family was to the area. At the end of the book she explained her research, her reasons for writing this particular story and how the past is connected to the current especially the geographic layout of the towns. Can't wait to meet tonight with the other members to get their feedback.

This week is National Library Week. Head off to your library and select some books!! I have always loved being in a library and if I could do it over again would major in library science. I spent hours in the library as a child. Later, as a parent, I volunteered in the children' s department when my kids were young. When looking at colleges both my kids always checked out the college library before taking the campus tour. Both went to schools with beautiful libraries. Currently I am serving on the town library board. Very interesting. Support your local library, one of the best uses of your tax dollars.

Tonight we met to discuss The Secret Scripture. Great discussion. Several different interpretations of events in the book. Everyone seemed to like the book. Very interesting. People liked Sebastian Barry's writing style and phrasing. Very lyrical in many instances. The questions really helped with the discussion. Next book is The Widow's War by Sally Gunning.

Finished The Elephant Keeper. While I am glad I read it I was not driven to read it and sometimes I found other things to do instead of reading which is unlike me. Not sure what I'll read next. Very intrigued by a newly published book-The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot which is the story of a black woman whose cancer cells were harvested without her knowledge back in the 50s.

Continue my reading of young adult fiction. The latest book was Into The Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern. Really captured the angst, over analyzation, confusion of a high school sophomore "nerd" and her development into her own person. Very enjoyable.
Have started The Elephant Keeper. Not sure about this.

Recently read two young adults books- Dairy Queen and Off Season by Catherine Murdock. Really enjoyed both though sometimes I go into reading a sequel with some trepidation. I liked the writing style, I liked the characters and their development and I liked how the main character (DJ) sounded so real. Hope that Ms Murdock will write another.

The other night our book club met to discuss People of the Book. While most seemed to like the book, although not necessarily Hanna the main character (or her mother) it was difficult to generate much discussion. I enjoyed the way the book was set up- and how it went backwards in time to explain each artifact that was uncovered in the restoration. I did not feel it was necessary to have the ending include the question of authenticity. That took away something for me in the story. Next book is The Pick Up by Nadine Gordimer,

Today is Chocolate Cake Day!!

Back in January 2007 our group read Banker To The Poor: Micro-lending and the Battle Against World Poverty by Muhammad Yunus which is basically a story of the birth of micro credit. Even for those who struggle with economics this book easily explained the principle of loaning small amounts to small, start up businesses usually individuals. In catching up with the newspapers I came across a couple of articles which relate directly to this simple and fairly successful practice.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/26/your-money/26money.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB126055117322287513-lMyQjAxMTIwNjEwNTUxNTUxWj.html

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB123214794600191819-lMyQjAxMTIwMzIyMTEyNDE3Wj.html

"The Triumph of Readers" article in the Wall Street Journal (January 2009) I read while catching up on all the old newspapers. Thought it was quite interesting. Have always been a believer in the philosophy that it is better to read (almost) anything than not to read at all.

Holiday celebrating the life of Dr. Martin Luther King.
Still a long way to go.

The twelve days of Christmas are over. The lights are off the tree. decorations are put away. Light snow all day. Perfect ending to the season.

I am really enjoying People of the Book. And I have several books that I received from my husband and kids for Christmas that I can't wait to read.
The Given Day (Dennis Lehane)
Olive Kitteridge (Elizabeth Strout)
The Piano Teacher (Janice Y. K. Lee)
The Tipping Point ( Malcolm Gladwell)
The Wednesday Sisters (Meg Waite Clayton)
Stones into School (Greg Mortenson)
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much (Allison Hoover Bartlett)
A Short History of Women (Kate Walbert)
So many books, so little time!

Happy New Year! Catching up on newspapers and read an article in the NY Times (Thursday Dec. 31,2009) on a revival of The Babysitters' Club books. I can remember when my daughter read these, and I read with her and to her, and how much she loved the series. We have lots of the books stored in the attic, well read, worn, torn covers, dog eared pages. Interesting to learn that many readers requested a reprinting so the books can be read by another generation. Also, it seems that Ann Martin will be writing a prequel to the series.