Category: Book Stuff

I was up extremely early…. I even beat Coffee Cup today... the automatic brew didn’t kick in until an hour after I was awake.  So caffeine free this morning (How unusual!) I found a great read at Virginie Says called The Sidewalk Artist by Gina Buonaguro and Janice Kirk.

I quote Virginie,

I think, at one time or another, every girl has wished they could be in Tulia Rose’s shoes and travel to Paris and Italy alone, meet a handsome artist and fall in love (and if the truth be told, I fell in love with Raffaello, too).

This blog site gives a sense of peace to it.  it was a great place to wonder into early this morning….  Take a moment and stop on over to Virginie Says and see this beautiful book and review.

Have a wonderful day!  If you were not here yesterday, be sure to see yesterday’s Morning Meaderings as I posted a wonderful giveaway and a few great reads as well!

It is a rainy day here.  I wish all I had to do today is curl up with a blanket in a big comfy chair with a book.  That is not the case though…. I am due in the office in about 22 minutes but I have to get this find out of my head and onto the page…

Coffee Cup and I were strolling through the blogs this morning…. looking for that one book or review that would make me stop in mid space (literally).  And….

It happened.

It started at Boarding in my Forties when I found the review on Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton.  I read this book and reviewed it recently and loved it!  (My review here) and my book club, The Bookies, are currently reading it for our August review.  What I found at Boarding in my Forties, was within the review she mentions another book, The Girls From Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow.  What is this?  It sounds wonderful!!!  Off I go in another direction, careful not to spill my coffee…

From The New York Times, I found an article called The Power of Friendship, about this book and a quote from the author,

“I’ll drive carpool with my 13-year-old, and I’ll listen to the kids in the back seat,” Mr. Zaslow says. “They’re arguing and laughing and talking and gossiping. It feels like all those interviews with the Ames girls, and I know where they’re going and how they’re going to get there. I know a few secrets now. When I see my daughters struggling with friends, I can reassure them that the conflicts can be resolved. If you find friends you can hold onto forever, that’s a great gift.”

My final travels took me to a blog called Every Day I Write The Book, where they are talking about this book.

So that’s it.  Decided.  I am on a mission.  Today I am picking up Pope Joan as well as this book, Girls From Ames at our local book store.

Has anyone read Girls From Ames and reviewed it?

Update to this post:  I had first hear about this from Natasha at Maw Books Blog and earlier today Mike from A Few Minutes with Michael sent the link to the amazing Pope Joan contest going on!  Mail your receipt of this book by August 9, to the address provided and you can win tickets for two to walk the red carpet and go to the premiere of this movie with the author, Donna Woolfork Cross!

Click on the logo above to go to the website and check it out for yourself!

How exciting is that???

Lazy Saturday morning….  I have read a little and I have cleaned a little.  I have laundry going, letters to mail, book reviews to write and an exciting authors interview with a good friend!  Watch for that later today! Tonight my hubby and I will go out to celebrate our wedding anniversary.  We married young, and I still cant believe it has been 22 years.

The coffee cup and I have been cruising through some great blogs this morning…. as I keep reading more and more, I just cant imagine all there are to choose from for BBAW.  I am going to have to print out the category list and spend some time on that.

Of course, I come to you with a review.  I found a great review and read over at Luxury Reading this morning.  Vera has a post up for Annie’s Ghost: A Journey into a Family Secret by Steve Luxenberg.  It must be the chilly weather happening here in central Minnesota that makes me want to get a copy of this book and curl up in a warm blanket in my reading room and let the afternoon drift by…

Stop over to Luxury Reading and see this as well as other great reviews she has posted.  (I have my eye on a more recent post of hers as well, The Kidnapping of Kenzie Thorn…)

I have been in a kind of funk most of the week.  I haven’t worked out since Sundays bike ride which is not like me at all… but I just am….

tired.

And really for no reason, I have had plenty of down time this week, in fact took an extra day of it after the midnight showing of the new Harry Potter movie.  Yet, I just cant seem to shake this tiredness.  My plan today is to help out in our office, go to my gym class (oh yes – I am going!) and this late afternoon spend some time just reading.  Nothing big on the agenda for this weekend so maybe that will help.

Enough rambling…  I am excited to say that traveling with the coffee cup through blogs this morning, I found a great looking blog and a great looking book!  At Book Fanatic I found The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton.   The book looks perfect for a day like today!  Central Minnesota has been a bit dreary lately, low 60’s for a temperature, cloudy days… no wonder I am in a funk!  Maybe this book is just what the doctor ordered!

First I am so incredibly excited to debut my new Journey Through Books meme thanks to the brilliance of Michael over at A Few Minutes With Michael.  It is fantastic and he really captured me as I am about 91% books and 9% coffee…..  Thank you Mike!  I bow to you!

I am a little late this morning.  The coffee cup and I are just not quite functioning fully yet.  Last night I took our Kinship partner Chance (he is 14) to the midnight showing of Harry Potter.

Seemed like a good idea at the time…

I didn’t take into the fact that we would get there at 10:30 and wait in line for an hour and a half so as not to wind up in the way front seats.  OR that by the time we rolled out of the parking lot it would be 2:40 a.m.

Oh…. but it was worth it.  ; )

That being said…. I did meander over to Alyce’s At Home With Books yesterday and seen a book and a review that has me adding to the wish list.  Alyce’s shares about the book Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen.  The cover is gorgeous… the review is… well, stop by At Home With Books and be sure to tell Alyce hi and look around her beautiful blog site.