Good morning! Yes I was MIA yesterday. And yes I Mean MIA – as there was ACTION. I have had a busy evening every night since Sunday. Something to know about me… I don’t function well without *”crash breaks.”
*crash break: A day when I do nothing more than laundry, reading, dusting, reading, and maybe dishes. Maybe. Thus re-energizing to go again on another day!
So here is what happens when I do blog and I am not focused (an hopefully this makes sense because it s a little “who’s on firsty” (YES…. firsty is a word. MY WORD.) 😛
Ok…. so a couple of days ago I posted a book blogger video that was about what book bloggers say…. one of the words that was said in the vlog was “awesome sauce”.
Ryan from My Life In Books left a comment saying he’s never heard someone say “awesome sauce” and maybe he should try it. My sleep deprived mind, thought the comment was from Ryan from Wordsmithonia. I have chatted with Ryan (Wordsmithonia) for years and so seeing the comment and thinking it was from him, I challenged him to use the word “awesome sauce” in a review this week.
THEN (and here is where it gets crazy) I clicked on his name, went on Ryan (My Life In Books) blog and let him know I challenged him, STILL not realizing I was on the wrong blog and the wrong Ryan. 😯
So today Ryan (My Life In Books) leaves me a comment that he has fulfilled the challenge. Now having caught up fully on my sleep I clicked on his name to go see how he used the word in his review. Once on his blog I was surprised by the look of it. I thought, “did Ryan change his blog layout?” and then… because maybe I am not as caught up on my sleep as I thought, “Did Ryan also change the name of his blog?”
Yup… its true… not always the sharpest knife in the drawer…
Then… it hit me. Wrong Ryan. 😯
To sum it up – Thank you Ryan from My Life In Books for responding to a challenge from someone you probably don’t really know and probably thought “ok crazy book blogger girl….” and thank you Ryan from Wordsmithonia who is just getting looped into this craziness this morning. You are both pretty awesome for putting up with me. 😀
Good morning!!! I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines Day! I really did. Al is still out-of-town but he sent me a lovely dozen assorted colored roses to my work yesterday…. “ahhhhhhhh”
Then last night I had dinner over at friends of ours homes which was a lot of fun. I went over early to chat with my friend Amy, I brought a bottle of wine and dessert and she made stuffed shells which were delicious! It was really a nice evening and we ate and talked and it was really kind of nice. Her husband Chad and their older daughter joined us at the table and by the time I pulled out of their driveway I was shocked to see it was going on 10 pm. I never meet to stay that long but apparently the conversation was just what I needed. (Thanks friends!)
In staying with Reagans week of Book Blogger Reader Appreciation this week. her question on the table was what significant moment have we had in out blogging life… I think like a defining moment. For me that has to be BEA.
The Book Expo was a new thing to me. Apparently Brainerd Minnesota is placed directly under a large rock and I had never heard of such a thing. An event for book lover…. publishers, authors, and book bloggers all meet in one amazing week in New York. KNow what else was new to me?
New York.
I don’t have a lot of time to give you the story I would like to this morning as I am currently typing on borrowed time but I have to say that BEA was a defining moment in this bloggers life. People you commented with on-line…. were there in the flesh. AND most impressive to me, they were exactly like they were on-line. REAL PEOPLE. I chalk that up to being readers…. we are real.. 3 dimensional. There was not one person that I thought “wow, they are so different from I thought they would be”.
Meeting people whose blogs you enjoy is wonderful. It strengthened the community for me. It gave me new people to read and follow. We had meals together, we went to book parties together… a dream really… a dream come true.
I wish I could say more and I wish I could add some pictures of the experience but I prepped none of this last night. I came home, I went to bed. 😀
Do you have a defining moment on your blogging life? Share it here… and be sure to check out Reagans week of events and posts she has going on over at Miss Remmers Reviews.
Have you met my dear friend Reagan of Miss Remmers Reviews? She is a teacher, a hockey coach, a book blogger, and a fun to hang with gal. She was also my roommate at BEA the last two years ans to prove it… here we are:
Good times... good times....
Anyhoo…. Reagan is hosting a Book BloggerReader Appreciation Week and I love the idea! She is planning a whole week of appreciation posts and I want to participate where I can. Today, (actually yesterday) we were asked to share out book blogger history and how we feel about comments.
I started blogging in early 2009, but did not let my blog go public until June 2009. At the time, I did not even know what book blogging was, I was just writing reviews for my own records and pretty much using wordpress as an online book journal.
My first comment came on June 9, 2009…. the day I refer to as my blogiversary date as that is when book blogging came alive for me. I even remember where that first comment came from, it was Bookin’ With Bingo and it scared me. 😯 I had received an email notification that someone had commented on one of my review posts. Wha? 😯 I checked it out and there was this stranger telling me they liked my thoughts on the book. Wha? 😯 I cautiously clicked their link afraid I was going to be whooshed to some dirty site that would eat my computers brain….. but no… what did I find…..
(cue the music)
Yup… a whole new world. I was shocked. There was someone out there like me! Someone else that talked books! Two of us! Together we could conquer the book world!!! (I truly had no idea ….)
And so it began… from that book site, I found others, and found publishers and authors, and people willing to send you a book to review (WHAT????)
Now fast forward to current time… 2 3/4 years in. Yes, the books are awesome – but I buy my own books all the time as well as use my library to read books I wish too, but really… the heart of book blogging for me – is sharing my thoughts with you and hearing your thoughts on what I say. Yes, I am talking comments. I LOVE to sit down with a cup of coffee and my laptop and carry on conversations with you through my posts. And by doing this, I get to know my frequent commenters, and I love that!
I like knowing that Kathy and her hubby like to go visit their son Vance, and that in the 1990’s they lived in France (and no, that wasn’t suppose to rhyme….. 😉 )
Esme constantly makes me jealous with her worldy travels and fantastic food experiences. She still teases me that I used to visit her blog in 2009 and tell her that I could not stop at her blog any more because I always left hungry! Who knew in 2010 I would be sharing a room with her in New York for BEA?
Laurel would be a book blogger I would introduce myself to on a book site (how sad I can not recall the name) in June 2009 and then all this time later she is still one of my top commenters!
Care not only would become another roommate at BEA 2010 (we really had the rotating roommates that year LOL) but she would go on to remember my birthday every year AND send me a birthday card in the mail!
Alison has very similar book tastes to mine and when I read a review on her site, I know I will probably like the book as well. We have run into each other the last two years at BEA and went to the same author events. I look forward to seeing her again this year and hanging out!
Kim would turn me to non fiction books more than I ever was and I would never look back. She also was not only a BEA roommate of 2010, but got together with me and a handful of other bloggers for a Twin Cities book event in the fall of 2010.
Ryan is this amazing single dad who loves his son, and loves to talk books, favorite characters, and movies.
Lori and I email back and forth about books and occasionally life.
Reagan of course would not only be my roommate twice for BEA but also my roommate at the Twin Cities Book event and calls me to talk books and blogging and life!
(and of course there are so many more I could go on and on….)
My point of saying this is that to me, there is a person behind the comment and I love that! I love being able to welcome someone back from a vacation, or telling them to get well soon because I know they are sick. And I know each of these people because they commented and I did back and by reading each others posts, you learn a little something. 😀
Someone once said that comments are the bread and butter of a book blogger and I would tend to agree with that. I love to unwind from my day with all of you.
My goal is 2012 is to get back into a rhythm of commenting. I used to be a great commenter, and commented on every comment and visited their blog if they had one as well and commented their. Well of course life happens, but I do still get around as I can and try to stop in and say hi (bug me if I havent done that lately…. 😀 )
To wrap up this LONG post I want to do a giveaway today in honor of Reagan’s BBRAW. Leave a comment (yup that’s it!) here today sharing with me your thoughts on comments and I will enter you into a drawing for a $10 gift card to Amazon. Winner drawn using random.org on Friday the 17th.
Oh! And its not too late to sign up for BBRAW! Go here!
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!! This calls for coffee! *runs and trips over dog trying to get to the coffee pot*
Any way – good morning! Life is – BUSY. I only made it around to the first 31 IMWAYR posts yesterday, but I did find something pretty cool at Cindy’s Love Of Books. The awesome Parajunkee organized a few bloggers together to make a fun vlog that makes me smile every time I watch it…. and oh yeah, I have watched it a few times now:
For my valentine’s day nothing big here… hubby is out-of-town and I work and then I hope to work out. Friends have invited me over for dinner and if I am doing that I am bringing along a fun desert that I seen on someones blog recently… (I think it was a blog…. it may have been Facebook…. gah… I don’t recall)…
I have two giveaway winners to announce from my birthday giveaways last week. From my Judie Fein, Life Is A Trip review I offered a $10 Amazon gift card. That winner (using random.org) is:
Any plans for you this February 14? Any themed books you are reading this week because you are just that cool? (I am reading Bravo Valentine by Adrianna Trigiani).
Welcome to It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!
I love being a part of this and I hope you do too! As part of this weekly meme I love to encourage you all to go and visit the others participating in this meme. I offer a weekly contest for those who visit 10 or more of the Monday Meme participants and leave a comment telling me how many you visited. **You do not have to have a blog to participate! You receive one entry for every 10 comments, just come back here and tell me how many in the comment area.
Mid February already, can you believe it? My week was busy, but I think they always are…. yet I did get in some book time! Here is what happened this week:
It was a pretty good week, I did not turn the tv on at all and spent my evenings reading until I went to bed. Probably pretty “Little House On The Prairieish” , but it works for me. I have another book I will have finished soon and 11-22-63 on audio is going to end this week as well.
So this week here is what I am planning:
When fifteen-year-old Jake Bergamot receives—and then forwards to a friend—a sexually explicit video that an eighth-grade admirer sent to him, the video goes viral within hours. The scandal that ensues threatens to shatter his family’s sense of security and identity—and, ultimately, their happiness. This Beautiful Life is a devastating, clear-eyed portrait of modern life that will have readers debating their assumptions about family, morality, and the choices we make in the name of love.
Wow right?
The Angelini Shoe Company, one of the last family-owned businesses in Greenwich Village, has been making exquisite wedding shoes since 1903 but now teeters on the brink of financial collapse. To save their business from ruin, thirty-three-year-old Valentine Roncalli—apprentice to and granddaughter of master artisan Teodora Angelini—must bring the family’s old-world craftsmanship into the twenty-first century. Juggling her budding romance with dashing chef Roman Falconi, her duty to her family, and a design challenge presented by a prestigious department store, Valentine returns to Italy with her grandmother in a quest to build a pair of glorious shoes to beat their rivals. And in the course of discovering her true artistic voice and so much more in la bella Italia, Valentine will be turning her life and the business upside down in ways she never expected.
This is my book club read for February. I read this a few years back but am excited to read and review again. After all… its Adriana! 😀
This moving, coming-of-age story follows a young white girl who overcomes family prejudice and cultural differences when she befriends a black girl in a small working-class town. Twelve-year-old Cassie narrates the dramatic events that unfold when Jemmie, an African-American girl, and her family move in next door. Despite their parents’ deeply held prejudice against each other’s family-exemplified by the fence Cassie’s father builds between their two houses-the girls find they share more similarities than differences. Mutual interests in reading and running draw them together, and their wariness of each other disappears. But when their parents find out about the burgeoning friendship, each girl is forbidden to see the other. A family crisis and celebration provide opportunities for the families to reach an understanding.
I cant wait to dig into this one!
The first in a stunning new series, The Cousins War, is set amid the tumult and intrigue of The War of the Roses. Internationally bestselling author Philippa Gregory brings this family drama to colourful life through its women, beginning with the story of Elizabeth Woodville, the White Queen The White Queen tells the story of a common woman who ascends to royalty by virtue of her beauty, a woman who rises to the demands of her position and fights tenaciously for the success of her family, a woman whose two sons become the central figures in a mystery that has confounded historians for centuries: the Princes in the Tower whose fate remains unknown to this day.
I do love Philippa Gregory’s writing and it has been a long time since I indulged in her books!
As a big-time New York sports agent, Myron has a professional interest in Brenda. Then a personal one. But between them isn’t just the difference in their backgrounds or the color of their skin. Between them is a chasm of corruption and lies, a vicious young mafioso on the make, and one secret that some people are dying to keep–and others are killing to protect.
I adore Coben… no secret there!
So that’s the weeks plan. I already started the Coben audio – SO GOOD! And will be looking for more good audio at my library on line later tonight.
– I will try to stop in and have a cup of coffee with you and see what you are reading 😀
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How far would you go to get what you have always wanted?
Kate is a 30-year-old party girl. She loves to go out with her friends and celebrate… well, anything! When Kate lands an interview to write reviews for her favorite music magazine, The Line, that is something really worth celebrating! And celebrate she does, perhaps a little too much the night before the big interview and showing up still intoxicated from the night before, she blows it. Literally.
However a few days later the publishers of the magazine call her with an idea. They also run a gossip magazine and the word is out that the current tabloid “it girl” Amber Sheppard has just entered rehab for her extreme partying ways. If Kate is up to the challenge, the publishers would like to send her undercover into the 30 day rehab center to get the inside scoop. If she does well, they will reconsider her for the Music Reporter position.
As Kate considers this opportunity to earn big bucks while tracking a mega star she creates a “to do” list:
Go to rehab
Befriend/spy on “It Girl”
Write killer expose
Land dream job
Piece of cake!
When Kate takes the assignment she is in for a few surprises along the way, one of them being as she goes through the steps wondering if perhaps she did need a little professional help with her partying ways, two being who knew she would meet an incredible hot guy, and three, she never dreamed that Kate Sheppard (her big assignment!) would turn out to be a real friend….
Kate has to decide if what she will gain in the long run will be worth the price she will have to pay.
SPIN was actually a lot of fun to read. You might look at the synopsis and think “oh boy… chick lit YA all the way”, but there is more to SPIN than that.
When I started the book I was annoyed with Kate. Her life style was self-destructive and I have a “low tolerance policy (hence forth known as the LTP) for people who constantly blow up their life and then wonder why things go so poorly for them.
Once Kate enters rehab believing she is only on assignment and does not have a drinking problem is when I see author Catherine McKenzie shine. Kate feels real…. clueless (in the beginning) but certainly real in her actions and even likable as she grows in so many ways during the rehab time.
And it’s not only about Kate. Amber, as well as Henry, are wonderful supporting characters, and there is an assortment of pre- rehab friends that make appearances as well that all felt real. There is a lesson to be found within the pages of SPIN, one on not judging someone based on gossip. People in real life are so much more, and until you have seen where there life has led them to walk… you should not pretend you know what it is like to be in there shoes.
I really enjoyed SPIN. While the ending may be a bit predictable, it was still wonderful and the way it all fits together is handled smartly. By the time I reached the middle of the book there was no putting it down! I am looking forward to reading more from Catherine McKenzie.
Good morning and happy Sunday! It’s the wee hours of the morning here but that’s what happens when you heat your home in the winter with a wood stove that sits out behind your home… when its cold… you have to get up at odd hours to fill it…. AND once dressed and tossing pieces of wood into the mammoth wood stove in frigid air for about ten to fifteen minutes… you kind of come back in the house… AWAKE.
😯
For years now I have seen the Sunday Salon posts pop up around the blogosphere. As of late I have considered doing this, but then wonder if it is not what I already do anyway between the morning meanderings and the Monday What Are You Reading (which recaps my reading week… past and future).
This morning (remember, I have been up a while…. had time 😛 ) I Googled Sunday Salon and found this to be the originator. While the main link explains it is like a mini read a thon… the posts I have read are a mix of books and life and I like that. I do like reading about what others are doing in their piece of the world, so I am going that style.
And so… I begin….
This past week has been a good one. The early part of the week was my typical work days and attempted work outs. Tuesdays are good because there are a couple of classes my friends like to go to and I make it a point to be at the gym with them Tuesday evenings. Unfortunately the gym times have become few and far between so I need some strategic planning there to juggle the additional hours I took on at work for the next couple of months but keep MAKE working out a priority. I had started Team Kickin It this year to support me in these work out goals and have not really loved on that for a while now. I need to get SERIOUS. (I want to look more like my Avatar chick on that blog and lets just say that currently… not so much. 😯
Thursday was my ____ birthday! Yup I am ____ years old! I know, right? 😛 I had a lunch date, and then that evening I went to a wine tasting with a few friends of mine and had a great time unwinding and eating delicious hor duerves!
I was hoping I took a picture of the pretty wine in my glass or of my friends… but no… I took a picture ( or 7) of the ceiling in the restaurant we were at:
I think you can understand why I was distracted… 😛
Friday I had a lunch date with my Wal-Mart peeps…. my core group of co-worker friends from times gone by…. always a blast! Friday night I had a surprise home invasion by a group of friends who came bearing 10 (yes 10!) large balloons, my favorite bottled water and a French Silk Pie. Mmmmmm…….
Saturday was a pampering day. I slept in (ahhhhhh!) until about 8 am. Yes, that is sleeping in for me. 😀 I read a bit and then had an appointment, then tanned (I know I know…) and then went and had a manicure and pedicure done…. I like doing this for many reasons 1. I do a horrible job if I try to do it myself. 2. They shape my nails I am so hard on, nicely. 3. I can read while they do this, always a fan of the multi task. I was reading SPIN by Catherine McKenzie which was pretty good and took up most of my spare time throughout the day. I finished it last night.
I am also reading We’ve Got A Job by Cynthia Levinson, and starting to read (in baby steps) my nemesis book (see yesterdays post) Jane Eyre. I am still listening to 11-22-63 and LOVING it (audio all the way on this one!!!) A trip to the library brought me home with three more audio books and two I have already given up on… Shoe Addicts Anonymous by Beth Harbison (within 30 minutes of listening and a disgusting dialogue I knew this one wasnt for me) and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne which I think is just this audio version that was a negative…. the story bored me (maybe that’s just Hawthorne?) a bit too much thee and thou for me to stay focused. Note to self – do not pick audio from the library shelves – find what you like at home them reserve it on line so the library will have something you actually want to listen to in house. 😀
As for today…. I woke to the sad news about Whitney Houston. I had just noticed yesterday she was on a cover of one of the tabloids while I was in the check out line, it was something about her struggling and I thought what a tough life she has had….
In other Sunday news, this morning I have church, at 12:30 I am going to go work out at the gym (YES I AM!), then I have a couple things to pick up for an awards event tonight, at 4:00 I play floor hockey and then will rush home to change and get ready for the 6:30 event….. I don’t want to say much about this but I have a fun plan for tonight….. here is your only clue….
Ok…. it is time. I am going to tackle Jane Eyre. Well… the book that is…. not really Jane, or at least not yet… it may come to that later, but for now… I want to start the book and hopefully this 4th time of trying to read this book that this time… THIS TIME I will be able to actually finish it.
SO what am I doing differently?
baby steps, I am going to challenge myself to read 10 pages of Jane a day starting today. My book here is 462 pages (UGH….) so my goal is 46 days from today at the latest. I can read more pages per day but not less.
Keep it fun. I will give weekly updates of the progress. I also mean to record my book mood during this read as well. If I am bitter, bored, amused, defiant, annoyed, interested…. you will know.
The goal – is to finish if not as myself and Jane Eyre being friends, then at least we will be acquaintances.
I love days that are wide open and this one is…. well not completely, I do have a couple of commitments this morning but as I get into the afternoon it is a get out of whatever free card! 😀 I will not have to leave my house…unless I want to…. I can read or write or bake, or work out, or watch a movie… or all of the above!
For Saturday Snapshot today (*waves at Alyce*) I thought I would take you inside my book room….its been awhile since I have posted pictures of it and the space has quite a history…
Come on in!
... to the left
... to the right
... center wall
The History:
Originally growing up this was two bedrooms – one was mine, one was my great grandmothers
in 1996, after I inherited the home, the two bedrooms were mine and Al’s and our son Justin’s
After we remodeled and finished the basement off the two bedrooms became our son Brad’s and a spare room
In 2001 we took out the wall between the rooms, remodeled it and became our home office
In 2006 we moved our office down to our business and this room… became my library 😀
The Books:
Personal collections (upper shelf around the ceiling)
Books purchased at book stores
Books from Library sales
Books given to me as gifts
Books picked up at estate sales (hello original Nancy Drew hard covers!)
ARCS
Books I have won
They are about 50% read.
Stop over to Alyce’s At Home With Books and see others posting for Saturday Snapshot.
I would love to hear where you keep your books! I think it is fascinating how we collect them and how we store them! 😀
Frances world in one filled with strict tradition (and not the fun Fiddler on the Roof kind….). Although she is 17 and her and her mother live in a one bedroom apartment in San Francisco, you would swear that they still live in China. Frances’s mother has had a hard life… after moving to the States, Frances’s father soon left the family. The easier thing to do would have been to return to China, but Frances’s mother instead works two jobs to maintain her household. She also holds her daughter to some pretty strict rules:
No extra curricular activities or socializing …. free time is to be used for studying
Frances WILL get better grades than her cousin and Frances WILL be a doctor and support her mother
Frances owns nothing… everything is her mothers
No boys.
On top of the rules, Frances is constantly being told that her size 8 body is fat, her face chunky, no boy will ever give her a second look, she is lazy and unhelpful to her mom, and her straight A’s in school are still not as good as her cousins GPA, so apparently she is a little stupid too. She is also constantly reminded how much time and money has been put into her schooling.
When Francis mistakenly shows up in a Speech class instead of her assigned calculus, she is amazed at her knack for speaking, and so is the teacher. When Frances tries to correct the class mishap, the teacher encourages her to continue with speech and enter competitions, where Frances soon discovers she has a gift she was unaware of.
Of course to Frances’ mom, this is a huge waste of time until she thinks Frances may be able to be famous and on tv… then once again, Frances is told what to eat to lose weight, and what she needs to do to become who her mother expects her to become.
As the pressure continues to build and a boy starts to pay attention to her Frances is about to put tradition to a rest… but at what cost?
Cara Chow signing books
Ok…. first off. If you have this book in book format that is wonderful. Now…. put it down. Keep it, you want it… you really do, but if you have a chance to pick this one up on audio, I encourage you to go that route.
Why audio?
Nancy Wu is a narrator to be savored. She masterfully and distinctly manages to narrate through the different voices of Frances, her mother, Theresa, her aunt, the teacher and even the boy interest so well I always knew who was talking. With Nancy’s own heritage, the book reads authentic and I adored it when Chinese words were used and explained. This book was an absolute joy to listen to.
So why hang on to the book then?
My only grumble about audio is I can not flip a page back to look at a word I am unfamiliar with, practice it, look up the definition, and then let it roll off my own tongue. In this case, when a Chinese phrase was used it was beautifully said and while driving I would repeat it to myself, but as the audio went on and I had no way to write down what I had just heard, it gets lost. (With the book, which I have, I was able to go back and try those words again…. )
Bitter Melon is a book that will rock you emotionally. In the synopsis you can see that Frances’ mom is not an easy-going mother who has a plate of cookies on the table when you come home and flips excitedly through college brochures with you. Nope. Instead, this woman is strict beyond strict. (Have you ever seen the movie Mommy Dearest?) And while I wanted to take this woman aside and give her a taste of her own medicine… as the book goes on you will see that as much as Frances hates the way her mother controls her, Frances does the same thing to her cousin…. and then…. I am frustrated with her too.
Imagine having all your choices made for you… where you will attend college…. what you will be when you grow up, where you will live, how you will act, and who you will marry. Imagine that this is normal in your culture. Family comes above all else and you always obey and never come up with your own opinions.
This audio really is incredible. It is hard to put into words how this one made me feel. The story line was enjoyable and I wanted to know what was going to happen next. In the end… I was pleased… and then saddened… and in the end… I think Frances was too.
Looking for a book/audio that is a cultural experience? I would recommend this one. I finished this audio and zipped to Amazon to see if there was another book centered around these characters…. sadly there is not and no sign that there will be…. but the way it ends… I can see where there could be.
Book Journey 