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!).