Snowy update

The snow finally slowed down late last evening. I would guess we have about 12-13 inches. Never made it to church. Our driveway didn't get plowed until 6:30 am and then we had to clear the snow off my son's car (which was in front of the garage) and remove the snow from the front of the car. Oh well. It is pretty- at least for a few days. I spent the better part of the morning sewing and finishing projects for the church holiday bazaar. I know it isn't until November but I wanted to get a jump start as I don't really sew during the summer. Then we watched the Patriots play the Broncos and lose. Always next year. Pats just didn't play well. I think I will head upstairs and read Brooklyn. Recording Downton Abbey, Madam Secretary and Mercy Street.

Guess I was wrong

Well it looks like I underestimated the amount of snow. It has been snowing since 8:30 am and it is not letting up. I would guess we are over 8 inches so far. My son's dog Nellie loves the snow. I will try to figure out how to post the video of her chasing her stick in the snow.

Happy girl.

Posted by Dave Schlesinger on Saturday, January 23, 2016

Wow it worked!!! I did get to the library budget workshop this morning. Nothing spectacular to report. The director asked for more money for books, a page or two, another librarian, money to paint the inside of the building and money for shelves. It is a fair budget proposal and within the recommended percent increase that the Finance Board suggested. Hopefully nothing will be cut. Right. Saw The Big Short last night. I still can't get my head around the shenanigans in the banking industry. And the lying and cheating and basically taking advantage of people. Ugh. Scary. And depressing. But the movie was quite good and entertaining. I should put that book on my to-read list. Stay warm and be careful with removing the snow.

Snow coming... maybe

Not to be cynical but with all the hype about the upcoming snowstorm I am doubtful about the amount of snow that is predicted. Sometimes the forecast is correct and sometimes not. We shall see. I am prepared for it. Went to the grocery story Weds and it was bedlam. Crazy. And the storm wasn't going to start until Friday night or Saturday morning (at that time). Also picked up not one but three books from my library that I had requested. Our library is in a new network for loaning and it is amazing how quickly you can receive books. Two of the books had over 5 "holds" (other people requesting) so I figured they would dribble in. But in this new system there are so many copies it takes little time to get a book. Well all three books came in a week. Surprise! So I am ready to for snow. I finished The Dressmaker. Can't decide about this one. It was slow at first and I really didn't like the characters. There seemed to be a stereotypical character of every kind- the bully, the crossdresser, the nasty mother, the snobby woman, the boy next door... Then the story took a somewhat unexpected twist and that caught my attention. But then it wallowed back into a dark, mean, sort of contrived ending. And in the end it was a bit depressing- nothing wrong with that but I was hoping for something a bit more upbeat after all the nastiness and depressing events that had occurred. At this point I am not sure I want to see the movie which was one of the reasons I had wanted to read the book. I started Brooklyn last night after coming home from my library board meeting.

My husband and I saw the movie and really enjoyed it. I really want to see how the book was adapted for the movie. Already (in the first 55 pages) there have been four changes- one the elimination of Eilis' three brothers. Two, Eilis is already studying accounting and book keeping before moving to the USA. Third, she met the priest who arranged her move while in Ireland not in the US. And fourth when she meets Anthony he is described in the book as "blond haired". Not to quibble but I am guessing the producers thought Anthony would look more "Italian" with dark hair. Not sure if these changes will significantly change the story but we shall see. But I really like the way it is written. My reading challenge for Goodreads if moving along nicely. Four books so far.

Sunday update

Last week my book club met to discuss The Nightingale. Great discussion, lots of interest in the book and it was well received. Our next book is Same Kind of Different As Me which will be interesting I think. I have read 4 books so far in 2016 which I think is pretty good- keeping on track for my goal of 75. I just started The Dressmaker which was made into a film.

Will try to get together the books for the PopSugar reading challenge today. Had work done on my foot Friday and really need to keep it up for two days and then limit my activity for about a week. A bit frustrating but getting caught up on computer stuff etc. Trying to get my sewing/craft area organized and getting together all the projects that need completing. HA! Always a challenge. Keep reading!

Wrap up of 2015 finally

Well I figured it was time to wrap up my reading challenge for 2015. My goal was 75 books and I read 72. Not bad. According to Goodreads my total pages read was 24,415. The shortest book was The Ocean At the End of the Lane - 181 pages.

All the Light We Cannot See was the longest book with 530 pages.

The book that was most popular was Gone Girl.

The least popular book I read was The Chalk Circle.

. So for 2016 I set my goal to 75 books again with the hope that I can accomplish that. So far I have read two, and working on a third by Jane Austen.

2016 A new reading challenge

2016 got off to a rough start for me. December 31st I developed a migraine which put me to bed early in the afternoon. I spent all day January 1st sleeping. Really missed Friday. Saturday I felt marginally better but still not great but I did manage to read The Nightingale and I actually finished it Saturday night. I really enjoyed it. Historical WWII fiction. One of my favorite genres. I spent today Sunday (my birthday) taking it easy.

. My husband and I walked the Tower trail at our local state park- Sleeping Giant. It was beautiful. A little football ( not so beautiful- The Patriots lost). Then I spent some time trying to upload the 2015 Goodreads Reading Challenge to the blog without success. However I did manage to get the 2016 "widget" installed to the blog. Hope this works.