On to the next book

Yesterday I finished The Casual Vacancy and A Brew to A Kill. Well I think I may have grown tired of Claire Cosi and company. I just wasn't driven to read this book and found it too similar to the Goldy Schultz series by Diane Mott Davidson. Not a bad story but just not great. My book club met last night to discuss Salvage The Bones. Well I was definitely in the minority - I didn't love the book, found it depressing in spite of being beautifully written and while glad I read it, since it has gotten awards and lots of hype, I was particularly grateful it was a short read. We did spend some time planning our 15th anniversary dinner party. I have been following the blog Small Kitchen, Big Taste and the blogger lives in the next town. So I contacted her and we have created a fabulous (sounding) menu for our celebration in May. Sorta exciting. Well why not? Food, drinks, good friends. Should be fun. And we don't have to cook or clean up! I started Sonia Sotomayer's book last night. So far so good.....

Moving on

This morning I finished listening to The Casual Vacancy. I had borrowed this audiobook from the library and could only renew it once so I was anxious to finish it before the due date. I learned a couple of things about myself and books on tape/CD. One, I really have to just listen to the story-not multi task as I tend to forget or not process what I am hearing. Two, car rides, long car rides, are best for me to listen to an audiobook. Captive audience. So I was able to listen to several CDs on Saturday when my husband and I drove to Boston to have dinner with our daughter, her roommate and her roommate's parents who were visiting from Charleston. I was advised to listen to The Casual Vacancy instead of reading it and I think I agree with this advice. It was okay- maybe JK Rowling was trying a little too hard to make a novel really different from Harry Potter and to make sure it was adult in content. Lots of adult themes- sex, substance abuse, angst, infidelity, teen issues (bullying, acting out,growing up,cutting, drinking, smoking, etc). The story takes place in a small English town and tells what happens when a member of the town council suddenly dies leaving his seat vacant. A real domino affect on the lives of several families. Things escalate and spiral out of control until the rather sad and dramatic end. I think I would have had a difficult time staying focused and interested in the print version but when listening (and it was well done) it was more captivating. Dinner was nice at The Melting Pot. The restaurant is fondue themed- so we started with a cheddar cheese fondue, followed by a house salad, beef fondu (coq au vin style to cook the beef) with vegetables and ended with a flaming chocolate turtle fondue (marshmallows, fruit, rice krispy treats etc to dunk). Very good. We always have a great time with our daughter and enjoyed meeting her roomie's parents. Now to finish my Cleo Coyle book so I can then move on to My Beloved World the next book club selection. Oh and book club meets tonight to discuss Salvage The Bones. I did watch Beasts of the Southern Wild which is a similar story. Just not my cup of tea.

18 and counting...

Finished The Storyteller last night. Another JP book that I couldn't put down once I opened it. I started A Brew to A Kill, a Coffeehouse mystery book by Cleo Coyle. This is a series my daughter introduced me too a few years back. Cleo Coyle is the pen name for Alice Afonsi who writes with her husband Marc Cerasini. A fun series set in a NYC coffeehouse. Now after finishing My Sister's Keeper I counted the number of books read so far this year. Remember my challenge of reading 52 books, 52 weeks? Well I have read 18 books in 11 weeks!! Off to a great start.

Finishing The Storyteller and Pi Day

Finished The Storyteller last night. Excellent. Really enjoyed it. Can't believe I had not read any of Jodi Picoult's books until this one. I did question the ending and the motive of Josef. Not to give anything away but I had to wonder why he assumed the identity of his brother? Hmmm. I immediately started My Sister's Keeper which most people consider one of her best. Totally hooked from the very beginning. And of course now that I started that the library called with a book I requested that needs to be picked up within three days. And today is Pi Day. 3.14. And tomorrow I will be a Pi Judge at the high school. My good friend is a math teacher and is the teacher in charge of the math honor society. Every year there is a pie contest on Pi Day (or the day closest to March 14th). Kids and parents can bake a pie, and there are 4-5 judges with a rubric (appearance, taste, slice appearance etc). I don't eat peanut butter so I don't taste any pie using that. One year my daughter won. The best part- well one of the best parts- is you get to taste all the pies.

Sunny Sunday

Today I woke up early - like 2AM OLD time, 3 AM new time...finally got up later than planned a sunny day. Most of the snow has melted. I read most of today's papers and then I had a burst of energy and vacuumed, dusted and in general picked up. I am not the best at keeping up with any kind of housekeeping as there is always something else I would rather do- read, sew, organize my sewing area, go through books. I have been listening to The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling as I work in my sewing room. I am enjoying it. 15 discs!! And I only have it for 2 weeks.

More snow

Today was a free day. It snowed last night and when I woke up there was about six inches and it was still snowing. Everything was cancelled- classes at the gym, meetings. Big soft flakes coming down. This is a picture of my street early this morning. Since I was away for The Blizzard I am not tired of the snow. Especially when it is this pretty. I put out more bird seed for the birds. And I just hunkered down. I did a little bit of organizing in my sewing area. And I continued to read The Storyteller. I am enjoying it. Why have I not read Jodi Picoult before this? The other night I baked gluten free banana bread using a recipe that my son had found on Yammie's Noshery. Very good. It passed the husband and son taste test.

Mark Vonnegut and Fellowship Place

Last night I went to a fund raiser for Fellowship Place, a facility where people with mental health issues, are provided with a wide range of support services. The price of a ticket included dinner from the Big Green Pizza Truck and a lecture by Dr. Mark Vonnegut, son of author Kurt Vonnegut. Dr. Vonnegut had originally been diagnosed with schizophrenia but later it was changed to bipolar disorder. He spoke candidly of his treatments, hospitalizations and education and work in the Boston area. He was dynamic, open and quite funny. He has written two books - memoirs actually.

Book change

A major change in our book selection for May- we have decided against reading the biography of Steve Jobs (the friend who suggested it won't be able to lead the discussion and most everyone felt it was too long among other reasons). So someone suggested Sonia Sotomayer's book My Beloved World. Looks like that is our May pick. Tackled the list of books this afternoon. Mostly a complete list. Not surprisingly I wasn't as good as keeping records as I thought I was! But maybe some of the others will fill in the blanks! Impulsively attended an author talk this morning. While perusing Facebook yesterday I saw a notice for a talk by Jodi Picoult. She was very good- energetic, friendly, funny and clearly had the public speaking thing down. She focused on her latest book The Storyteller. The reason I decided to attend was I had been scrolling through the blogs I follow and one caught my eye. The blogger had not made any entries all week because she had started The Storyteller and couldn't put it down. Well that piqued my curiosity so I called the phone number of the book store and made my reservation. Glad I did. I think I might have been the only person in the room that had not read any of her books. Looking forward to reading this one especially as I finished The House on Willow Street last night. A good read. Predictable but good. And a happy ending.