To say the morning got away from me would not be exactly true…. I was present in the morning…. but I did something I rarely do. I got up at 5:30, checked the stove, came in and went back to bed. Woke at 7:30…. and…
remained in bed.
I was tired.
When I did get up – eventually… at about 9:30 (I kid you not!) I prepared for my day, and went grocery shopping. I picked Chance up from his friend’s house, came home, and put everything away. I started a load of laundry and seriously was just going to skip this mornings meandering.
BUT…
somehow that just felt…
incomplete.
SO…
I read a few blogs…. and the ideas started to flow… I need to:
Find the Word Shaker book and get it posted…. sooner rather than later
write my review for if I stay and for the LOST encyclopedia
spend at least a couple of hours writing today
Finish reading The Kitchen Boy and This Book Is Overdue
Take an hour this afternoon and work out…. I don’t care how or where…. dance in the kitchen if I need to but DO IT.
finish the laundry
make supper
complete my book study for tomorrow night
organize the reading room… if not today – tomorrow.
Coffee Cup in hand – I am ready to go. Whats on your Sunday “to do”?
From Breakfast with ANITA DIAMANT to dessert with JAMES PATTERSON. Book lovers you will not want to miss out on this treasure of a book!
Fair warning: I am going to GUSH about this book
I think most book lovers really enjoy books about books, about book clubs, about readers….. AND I also love books that are rich with food details… so vibrantly described that I swear I can smell their mouthwatering aroma right off the pages! So how about this…. what if I told you there was a book about authors – probably some of your favs…. that not only share some of the frequently asked questions, what readers should know, but also …
a recipe.
It’s true – and it is all in this book.
Table Of Contents barely made it into my home before I was leafing through this books reading fun facts on some of my go to authors… for instance, Laura Lippman (I’d Know You Anywhere)says
I’m a lifelong reader, and much has influenced me, But I particularity like Maud hart Lovelace’s “Betsy-Tacy” books. Which, not incidentally, all filled with delicious sounding food.
I wrote half of Water For Elephants in a walk-in-closet. I had stalled about half way through writing the book and realized I was employing all my favorite writing avoidance techniques. I painted the walls of our family room five times and spent way too much time on Ebay. We didn’t have wireless connection at the time so I asked my husband to move my desk into our unwired closet and I went in each morning with my laptop, the dog, and a cup of tea.
And not only fun little clips like the ones above, but also the recipes – oh the recipes! Interested in knowing Philippa Gregory’s recipe for Medieval Gingerbread? Henry Ford’s Cantonese Barbeque Pork Buns? Barbara Delinsky’s Crab and Corn Chowder? Chris Cleave’s Post-Colonial Pie?
50 different authors in all share pages of information about their writing, their inspiration, their favorite authors, and a recipe worth trying. I am in total book crush over this read.
I will leave you with this one recipe from an author who holds a special place in my heart, Adriana Trigiani:
Pia’s Crabbies
During the Christmas dinner scene in my novel Rococo, Bartolomeo’s Aunt Edith barely makes it through the front door before she demands a serving of these crab delights!
Credit for these savory snacks goes to my sister Pia, the ultimate party hostess. Through the years she collects, invents, and reinvents recipes to please the crowds. We can’t make enough crabbies when we have a party. They are delish! Enjoy!
1/2 cup butter (1 stick) softened
1 cup (4 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup soft pimento cheese spread (recipe for this is in the book if you do not want to use store bought)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 garlic clove, minced
8 oz. lump crab meat
4 English muffins, split
ground paprika, for sprinkling
salt to taste
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
1. Use a fork to mash together the butter, mozzarella, and pimento cheese spread in a large bowl. Add the mayonnaise, garlic, and crab meat and mix well.
2. Toast the English muffin halves, if desired. Spread mixture on the muffin halves and sprinkle with paprika. Salt to taste. Sprinkle the cheddar cheese on top. Place the muffins on a cookie sheet and broil until tops are golden brown – about one minute. Cut each crabbie into quarters and serve.
I am not sharing my copy of this book. Nope. It is that good. My only recommendation is that you run to your nearest book store or jump on your favorite online book site and order not only a book for yourself – but for that very bookish friend you have who will jump up for joy and SSSQQQQUUUEEEEE when he/she unwraps this treasure at their next birthday.
This year I started the WHERE Are You Reading Challenge and I have already been having a lot of fun with it. The idea was to just read what you are planning to read anyway – and just see where in the world you are reading. I offered prizes as you got to the end of the year if you were able to read in each of the 50 states, and bonus entries and prizes for those who read outside the states. You can find all details here.
Each month, I would like to recap where we have been and how this challenge is going for us. Here is where I am for the month of January 2011:
I have read 11 books so far in January, and listened to 6 audio. On my Reading Map they have landed:
Georgia
North Carolina
New York
Minnesota (2)
Australia
California
Mississippi
New Jersey
Maine
Illinois
Connecticut
Washington
Missouri
Massachusetts
One unknown (Clementine – friend Of The Week!)
What I have found most exciting is that all of these places I have landed have been unintentional! It is really for to see where they land on the map and how many areas I have already covered!
For those of you participating in the WHERE Are you reading challenge, please feel free to create a monthly wrap-up post and link it here if you would like. I plan to do this each month. For those of you who are not connected to this challenge, it is not too late to start your map and join in! Challenge details here.
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And finally… I have come to really enjoy Alyce’s (At Home With Books) Saturday Snapshot. It’s a fun weekly meme she has created of just random pictures that mean something and anyone can join in. I love seeing what she posts weekly and want to start participating when I can. Saying that, here is my Saturday Snapshot:
My cousin Jarrod, me, and Brian - 150 mile bike ride
This is a picture of a bike ride I was participating in my with my cousin Jarrod and his friend Brian in 2009. The winters in Minnesota are LONG and I anxiously am awaiting when I can bike again this year.
Linger is the sequel to Shiver. **Warning: Parts of this review may be spoilers to those who have not read Shiver.
Sam. Sam is finally the boy he has always dreamed of being. He is also able to now fully be with Grace and that is all he has ever wanted. With spring approaching, the wolves will be changing too – those that can still change back into their human form and as the new leader, Sam is about to find out how much falls on his shoulders, especially with the two newer wolves, Cole and Victor.
Grace. With Sam in her life what else could she wish for? Turns out… plenty. She could wish that her non-existent parents could keep their noses out of her life much as they have always done… but no, now they are all concerned about her relationship with Sam and getting all “parental” on her. Seriously…. eye roll. And there is this gnawing pain within her that seems to be getting worse. Is she getting the flu? Or could it be something much more serious.. something that has lain dormant for a long time?
Not often can I say a second book is even better than the first but in this case I think it needs to be said. When I started Linger (errr…. last night) I was hoping that this great storyline that started with Shiver would be able to continue to hold my interest. I wasn’t getting my hopes up too high, as honestly second books many times do not deliver the punch of the first. I think especially when you are writing fantasy fiction is can be easy to lose the magic along the way… Not so with Linger.
Within a few pages I was transported right back to Mercy Falls Minnesota, right where I left off… there was Sam, still head over heals in love Grace… and Grace still madly in love with Sam…. and this time there is so much more….
action.
More…
to lose than there was before….
it is so…
INTENSE.
Honestly, I started this book last night (after having misplaced it for a little over a week it was found in the book room…. I know.. I know). I read about twenty pages last night and then this morning picked it up… and finished it this afternoon. I could not stop reading it and thank goodness it was my day off and no one is home…. and I read like I used to read on weekends as a teenager when life was all drama, and friends, and books.
Book Bliss people. No lie.
Linger left me with answers to old questions from Shiver, and new questions as the startling and cliffhanger conclusion left me grasping for the third book…..
that is not here.
Forever release date: July 12
Maggie has created a fantasy world within these books that leave me anxious to know what will happen in July when Forever is released. I could not be more excited to get my hands on this book!
For those who read the meandering yesterday – weigh in was 3 pounds down. WOO HOO!!!
Last night for dinner I met up with girl friends who I used to work with. LOVE these gals! We had all been so busy since late November that we had not connected for our monthly get together in a while and this was our Christmas gathering. We met at yummy El Tequila in town and I had a chicken fajita salad.
We also exchanged gifts. I had bought each of them a photo frame that said “The Girls” and the idea along with it that we plan a fun getaway this fall that will result in great picture memories worthy of these frames. Yes, I bought myself one too. I also bought them yummy smelling candles. I LOVE candles!
From them I received a wonderful $25 gift card to Barnes and Noble!!! (Thank you Cindy you know me so well!). From Heidi and Sara I received a gorgeous book about the Split Rock Light House up by our cabin – SIGNED by the author!!! You have to see this book! It is beautiful – Sara and Heidi know me pretty well too! 😀
Then Sara produced a bag for each of us that had in it aprons for our newly annual baking weekend in November. GAH! They are so cool! And she also had these super cute ornaments made for us!
So all in all – I love that Christmas has been spread out over a 5 week period! Just makes it all so fun!
Today the plan was to peel out-of-town this morning to the cabin to write for the weekend but looks like I am going to have to put a pin in that idea and do what I can to catch up on my writing around here. Maybe I will spend some time in the library this weekend and see if I can not concentrate there. Either way – the plan for the weekend has been to write and that is what I am hoping to do.
For those of you that read me often you are probably SHOCKED.
Me.
NO coffee.
Is that even possible to operate that way?
I am currently back in my training mode for spring and biking and whatever else I can get myself into this year so each Thursday morning is a weigh in. Until weigh in time, I do not eat or drink anything Thursdays mornings.
The current training going on around here is nothing fantastic – Group Power, elliptical, treadmill… I can add more once we have Spring. (OOOHHHHH how I long for spring!)
It is 1961 and 13-year-old Katie Nash lives with dad and step mom in Missouri. Katie lived in Texas, but two years ago her mother passed away and life has not been easy. Katie’s over bearing dad finds her summer jobs of helping to take care of an elderly neighborhood woman and babysitting three very rambunctious young boys. She finds that she is losing connection with her best friend from Texas Cherylanne who has become boy crazy to the point of no return and has nothing in common with Katie anymore.
Then there is her new friend Cynthia who likes to do things that Katie does like eating way too much junk food, choosing clothing, and talking about boys at a more “thirteenish” level. yet when Katie is offered a chance to go to an upscale school, she throws Cynthia under the bus to get in good with the popular rich girls.. only to quickly find out – that this group is not really where she longs to be. Not Katie is left with trying to mend a broken friendship and learn some hard lessons as she does so.
Yes. I am on a Berg kick. This is my second adventure into Elizabeth Berg territory and I am once again glad to have experienced the adventure. While I did not find this storyline as powerful as We Are All Welcome Here, Elizabeth Berg stills comes across in her mild manner of making a point from a young girls perspective.
Katie’s voice is captured so well that I could not help but laugh as she tells this story. There is everything in this thirteen year old mind and actions that I would say many of us had experienced at that age:
snooping around at the house you are babysitting at
Turning the radio up really loud to tune out the parental figures
the stomping of feet and the slamming of doors
The inner thoughts about the teachers, the adults, the homework…
Elizabeth Berg captures Katie’s emotions so well you would think that she was thirteen years old as she wrote the book. I do not know enough about Elizabeth’s Berg’s writing to say if this is her signature style yet, but if it is – I will happily read on.
This book has a smorgasbord of covers and I do love covers! Look at these:
Ok…. as I look at this post title I am thinking that maybe this should be a series….
I believe a big sign of being a book dork is when you get a book in the mail and you actually do SSSQQQQQUUUEEEEE when you see what it is.
It is….
the Iron Queen.
I have not read any of this series yet but I have been wanting to. Iron King has been on my shelf FOR-E-VER. And then came Iron Daughter and it too waits on me…. then I seen Iron Queen and thought, ooh… if I could get a review copy of that book in my hands I will read all three books back to back and just have an Iron festival….
and the book came!
SSSQQQQQQQUUUUEEEEEEEEEE
(I just seen on Kathy – Bermuda Onion’s blog this morning that she is offering a chance to win the entire set of these books! If you do not have them pop over and enter for a chance to win!)
Oh but I am sure as book lovers I am not the only one whose book dorkiness shows occasionally. Come on.. share with me today – whats a “book dork” moment you have had?
Oh… and FYI: I could have sworn I hit publish on this early this morning…. this post was ready to go at 7:00 am…..
Clementine has been picked friend of the week! This means at school she gets to be line leader, collect milk money, and feed the fish! Even better, she will get a friend of the week booklet on Friday that all the other third graders in her class will fill in with things they like about her.
But when Clementine reads her friend Margaret’s Friend of The Week booklet she got when she was in third grade, Clementine starts to get nervous. Margaret’s book has comments about how neat and organized she is – Clementine is neither of those things! To get a great booklet filled with compliments by the end of the week, Clementine takes Margaret’s advice and starts offering her classmates compliments and gifts, hoping this will be reflected in their comments.
What is supposed to be the best week of her life soon turns into the worst. Since when did friendship become so hard?
Read in one sitting in my dining room
So….
I am not much of a Middle Grade (MG) reader. I thought when I started this blog that I would be more so, but it just never really went that way. While I do enjoy the MG reads, I do not read much in this age group.
Clementine, Friend Of The Week was a book I picked up in New York at BEA this past year. As of that date it sat in a box waiting for me and I finally picked it up this weekend not wanting anything real heavy in the middle of the Bloggiesta.
Turns out Clementine’s story is fantastic. I was thoroughly captivated in Clementine’s dilemma’s and how she interacted with her friends, family, and classmates. I enjoyed how she constantly changes her little brothers name from Pea Pod, to Yam, to Broccoli, Corn, and Onion. I also appreciated how Clementine’s third grade voice rings true throughout the pages.
After reading this book I found out that Clementine has had two previous stories as well by author Sara Pennypacker. This is a fantastic books for grade school children to enjoy a fun and funny read, while learning a bit too about true friendship.
I was not around much yesterday because I went skiing.
Considering I am from Minnesota you probably are thinking this is like fish being able to breathe under water – we are born with skis on our feet and can leap tall snow piles in a single bound.
Well…
If that is true…
I am an impostor and will need to speak to my parents about my true heritage… 😀
Skiing is not something I do. I went once with my family to Lutzen and mastered the bunny hill. You should have seen it…. small children aside, I was the master of this hill. Nothing could stop me! Yet, when I tried a different hill I started down and picked up speed and had visions of Sonny Bono in my head and promptly fell over to avoid such a fate. I took the skis off and walked (and walked and walked as it was really large!) down the hill.
However…. I rarely back down from an opportunity to try something new or learn something new. So when friends of ours asked me if I would be interested in going skiing with them and learning more about it, I said, “WELL YEAH!”
(Of course this was a few weeks ago and I am pretty brave when it is not an on the spot commitment)
And so – yesterday, after work, that “WELL YEAH” came back to collect. I met my friend Wendy (who was also roped into this agreed to join in the fun). And at 2 pm yesterday…. we were on the slopes.
First – kudos to our teacher – Al is a patient patient man. He took us open a little incline and had us “ski” down. And again… and again. AL would have his wife Julie demonstrate. They are quite the team! Then we learned the “snow plow” or “pizza” which I preferred…. and then how to turn. After an hour or so of this… we were able to try a partial slope. Yes, we went half way up a hill… and skied down.
By the end of the day Wendy and I were doing pretty good… we each had one wipe out and are still alive. We went into the chalet to warm up and by the time I felt the warm air, I knew they would have a hard time getting me back out there. I was cold and I was done.
Fun day – and I learned something new so I guess that makes it a good day too.
Book Journey 