A Challenge

Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?

Last night I finished reading Fahrenheit 451, and really loved it. There are tons more books in the utopia/dystopia theme: 1984, Brave New World, Animal Farm (Amazon.com's review says, " Since its publication in 1946, George Orwell's fable of a workers' revolution gone wrong has rivaled Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea as the Shortest Serious Novel It's OK to Write a Book Report About. (The latter is three pages longer and less fun to read."), The Giver, The Handmaid's Tale, and even possibly Cormac McCarthy's The Road (recently chosen as the next Oprah pick.) I've decided that this would make an excellent reading challenge for myself, so I took the time to make up some "rules" for myself (and anyone else I can convince to play along).

1. Any 5 (for me, you can read more or less) books that fall into the "Scary New World" category. Interpret this as you like, but be prepared to defend questionable choices.
2. They do not have to be books you've never read, but they should be books you haven't read in a long time. For example, I read Brave New World in 10th grade (1989), but will likely choose it again for this.
3. The challenge begins now and ends November 6th.(I thought Nov. 4, 2008 would be appropriate, but decided that a year and a half might be a little long for this.) You may join at any point in the challenge.

So easy! You can read one book or 12. You have 6 months to do it. Come on, play with me. It'll be fun!

I will choose my books this weekend and post my choices. Also, I need a name for this, any suggestions? If I actually convince anyone to sign up for it with me I'll start a Yahoo! group thing. If it's just me talking to myself I probably won't.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Wow. Just wow. Fahrenheit 451 is one of those books that I've always meant to read and never done (until now.) It's a short little book, only 150 pages or so. In terms of reading time, it was a fast little book, but it took me over a week to read it. I knew before I read it that it would be powerful, I mean, how could it NOT be??

Here's the part of the summary from Amazon.com:

"In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's classic, frightening vision of the future, firemen don't put out fires--they start them in order to burn books. Bradbury's vividly painted society holds up the appearance of happiness as the highest goal--a place where trivial information is good, and knowledge and ideas are bad. Fire Captain Beatty explains it this way, "Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs.... Don't give them slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy."

So much of this book is scarily like today. People don't want to think or read challenging things. *I* don't want to read challenging things. I like my life to be easy and happy. Bradbury takes it to an extreme. Decades of life without books, without philosophy, poetry, fiction. No one just talks. Families aren't in love, parents don't care about kids, school is only about the sciences. Politics are boiled down to soundbytes. Happy ones. There is a war, but it's vague, and no one knows the details because it's not about them. Sound familiar?

Fahrenheit 451 is fast. The action is non-stop. One event leads to the next with no pause for breath. The entire book is a buildup to the climax. I really enjoyed this. I can't believe I never read it before. If you haven't read it, go read it now. (Hmmm. A challenge? Shall we? Let me ponder this...)

Pick me! Pick me!

Wanna win a Dyson Slim vacuum? Go sign for for the contest over at 5 Minutes for Mom! The drawing will be held on April 4th. It's as easy as that!

Some links, some blogs, some aimless chatter.

• I just read that Melissa Gilbert and Patrick Swayze are signed up to do the Broadway musical of Little House on the Prairie. She's like the Wind seems so appropriate now! (The title, anyway. PS. If you've never been to South Dakota- it's WINDY.)
• If you have small children you should go check out Kid Scientist. It's a great little blog about (duh) Science.
• Two-thirds of the loan department at work are out sick today. Since the department only consists of 3 people to start with, that leaves... ME! And I'm posting on my blog. Shhhh.
• If somehow you're blind and missed it, the new Harry Potter cover art has been released. You can see it here.
• I have read at least 2 chapters in 4 different books this week. I suppose this is better than NOT reading, but geez. Focus already. (Fahrenheit 451, A Fistful of Charms, Devil in the Details, and Shadowland.)

Thursday Thirteen #9

Ok, so this is a totally wimpy post, sorry. Next week I'll do better, I promise.

I give you: The last 13 books I got from Paperbackswap.

1. Cracks in My Foundation by Marian Keyes
2. Carved in Bone: A Body Farm Novel by Jefferson Bass
3. Shadowland (The Mediator, Book 1) by Meg Cabot
4. The Guy Not Taken: Stories by Jennifer Weiner
5. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
6. Over the Moon by various
7. The Organized Home: Design Solutions for Clutter-Free Living by Koll & Ellis
8. The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult
9. Mike, Mike and Me by Wendy Markham
10. Nearlyweds by Beth Kendrick
11. Too Much of a Good Thing: Raising Children of Character in an Indulgent Age by Daniel Kindlon
12. Veil of Roses by Laura Fitzgerald
13. Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Childhood by Jennifer Traig

Go sign up! It's free!

You can find more interesting Thursday Thirteen lists here.

Bookish Ramblings

A couple of things happened today that seem interesting enough (to me, at least) to post about. First, I had someone in my office today for a small vacation loan. We talked a bit about various places she had been, and the subject of books and bookstores came up. Now, I admit to some stereotyped ideas about her based on age, occupation, and manner of speech, but honestly, I was suprised. In the conversation that followed I learned that she is possibly more obsessive about books than I am. I admit to being a little shocked, but definately learned my lesson.

I was off at noon today (don't get too excited, I have to work Saturday to make up for it) and had the entire afternoon to myself. What to do??? I started with a trip to Hobby Lobby to fondle the yarn. I was strong, and did not buy any. Then I drove through the parking lot at Borders- BUT RESISTED! I had a quick lunch then came home to read a bit (more on that later). I decided to go to the library (haven't been in months due to PBS books) and pay my fine and get a couple of crochet books. The selection was pitiful. I did find one with some incredibly cute afghans, so brought that one home. At the last minute I checked the catalog for The Book Thief, and amazingly, it was on the shelf, so I brought that home too. That is not a small book! I need to finish my current book, and probably at least start The Inheritance of Loss first.

Several weeks ago I posted in a Thursday Thirteen that I had problems with conflict in books. I can't just read through conflict. I have to stop, regroup, then continue reading. No speeding through to see what happens for me, nope nope. I'm sure this says something about my need to always be in control. Anyway, the book I'm reading now is Fahrenheit 451. I've never read this before (yeah, I know) and when I had to stop reading during lunch I had to laugh at myself. It's not fight scenes that get me, it's almost always scenes where some secret (good or bad) is about to come out. So 50 pages into a 150 page book, and I had to stop. Sigh.

Incidently, the copy I have was published in 1967. It was priced at $.50 and advertises The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in the back. $1.00 each! including shipping!

Monday's Math

Another week of backsliding! I'm at 40 books in (only three new ones this week!), 16 books read, for a total of 24 books behind.

Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes

Finally! I finished a book. And what a great book it was!

Rachel Walsh is Irish by birth but has lived in New York for the past several years. Rachel wants to be trendy, fashionable. She wants to be with the popular people and be the life of the party. She loves a good time, and a little (ok a lot of) cocaine. Everyone does, right? When she ends up in the hospital from an overdose, her family snaps to and sends her to the Cloisters, a rehab center in Ireland. Rachel expects a glamorous holiday, surrounded by celebrities and mud baths. She doesn't need rehab, because she doesn't have a problem, but to appease her family she checks in.

This book is so well written. The plot swaps back and forth between her experience in rehab and her life in New York, with each of them building to the inevitable conclusion. You feel the urgency with which Rachel craves her drugs and the denial and anger when she finally sees the truth. It's not always easy (for Rachel) but the writing makes it very clear what she's going through, and what it's like to face an addiction and recover. Rachel grows up a lot, she learns how she came to be an addict, and how live with it. She makes mistakes and moves on. She learns to apologize and to forgive.

The secondary characters in the book are excellent. Luke is wonderful, Brigit is perfectly flawed, the sisters have distinct personalities. The conflict with her mother is heartbreaking.

I really really liked this book. At nearly 600 pages this was not a quick book, but I am glad that I read it. I have known a few addicts and this book gives me insight into why they behave the way they do. I trust the author knows her stuff, as she wrote a great essay in Under the Duvet about her own experience with addiction and recovery. I will definitely be looking for more of her books!

This book was part of the TBR challenge.

Thursday Thirteen #8

Thirteen books I read in 2006, perhaps you see a theme?

1. To the Nines by Janet Evanovich
2. Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich
3. Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich
4. Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich
5. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
6. Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
7. Club Dead by Charlaine Harris
8. Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris
9. The Good, the Bad and the Undead by Kim Harrison
10. Every Which Way but Dead by Kim Harrison
11. Shakespeare's Landlord by Charlaine Harris
12. Shakespeare's Trollop by Charlaine Harris
13. Memory in Death by JD Robb (ok, there's only one of these, sorry.)

For more Thursday Thirteens, click here.

Splat Designs

One of my favorite websites is having a contest! Go look! Don'tcha just love her stuff ? I'm creative in a bunch of ways, but blog design is decidedly NOT one of them. If I made templates it would look like an 8th grader's My Space page. These do not.

Monday Math and What I Did This Weekend

First, the Ugly. I got 6 new books this week from PBS. One of them I will not be counting in this total as it is a decor book and not something I would sit down to read. So, 5 new books added to the 32 for the year and I'm at 37 books in. I did not finish even ONE book. I'm still at 15 books read, bringing me to 22 books behind. This is the 12th week of the year though, so I'm a little ahead on the goal of 52 books this year.

This might lead you to ask: So what have you been doing with all your free time?



It was a very full weekend at our house. The Man of the House and I spent some quality time tearing down sections of fence and putting them back up. We had dinner out- TWICE! I picked up and put down a half-dozen books before settling on Rachel's Holidy and getting some reading done. His Monkeyness and I went to the park. I updated his blog.



Mostly, I crocheted in my free time. See, I joined The No-End-In-Sight Ripple-Along. I've always been a bit of a crochet-snob. My grandmother knits and I always thought of knitting as the superior craft. I haven't got a lot of knitting done lately though, as the monkey likes to grab what I'm working on and run. I am not very skilled at ripping out knitting and starting over, so I only knit when he is asleep or otherwise absent. I've had it in my head that crochet might be a good alternative, as it's only one hook and one loop to keep track of, instead of two needles and all those stitches. The Ripple- Along caught my attention and I was off. As it turns out, crochet is MUCH more forgiving when handled by toddlers. I started a little afghan and have been working on it whenever I have a minute. This will put a serious damper on my reading time. I'm slow, but hey, I just learned. Here's what I've got so far:

Not so exciting to you maybe, but I'm having a lot of fun with it.

Slumped

I'm in a bit of a reading slump. I've started half a dozen things and nothing is compelling me to get back to it. In every room of the house I have a book. In the bedroom is Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood. It's interesting, probably the one I most want to go back to. In the bathroom is Rachel's Holiday, also good- enjoyable, but when I'm away from it, eh. In my purse is A Fistful of Charms. It seems like I've been reading this for months. More about it later. By my computer is Over the Moon, an anthology of paranormal stories. I've barely started this one, but the format isn't appealling. I want something comfortable and easy, but I don't want to re-read anything either. I keep thinking I'll just start Book X and surely that will get me going. Then Book X isn't what I want either, so I do a little crocheting instead.




The one book I've read recently that I've truely enjoyed is Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney. The monkey got it in the mail yesterday and sat through the entire first reading without wiggling. Then he went back and looked for specific pictures "Baby crying?" Ok, so it's a llama, not a baby, cut him some slack! The rhyme is fun and the urgency of the story made both myself and my husband read faster and faster until the conclusion.


Now, about A Fistful of Charms. This is the fourth book in a series I really enjoy. I like the characters, I like the world, I like the details. However, in this one Rachel has left her home turf to rescue an old boyfriend. I didn't particularly like the boyfriend, but this is not the problem. I don't like it when a series takes me outside the familiar. I want it to be set in the same place. My least favorite Anita Blake installments took her to Tennessee (Blue Moon) and New Mexico (Obsidian Butterfly). (Actually, I only read one more after that one. I have the rest but have heard that the series takes a big detour about here and don't want to ruin my Anita experience.) I love the development of the characters, that's why I read a series. I want what I expect! Boring, probably, but true. What do you want in a series? Any suggestions on how to get over the slump?

Thursday Thirteen #7

Thirteen Movies I've Never Seen

1. Pride & Prejudice
2. The Exorcist
   
3. Pirates of the Caribbean 2
4. Braveheart
   
5. Sixteen Candles
   
6. Heathers
7. Say Anything
8. The Sound of Music
9. Schindler's List
10. Napoleon Dynamite
    
11. Rocky (any of them, actually)
12. Scream
    
13. Animal House

No, really, I haven't.

Monday's Math

The books from Paperbackswap have started pouring in this week. I got 7 new (to me) books this week, bringing my total to 32. I read 3, bringing books read to 15. I am behind by 17 books and have several more still on the way. I don't see myself catching up. Like ever. The good news is that I've had several requests for old books on my PBS shelf, so am able to keep up with credits to feed my habit.

Weekend Reading

I got some reading done this weekend, yay! I spent a lot less time online than usual and had time to read. We also did a lot of little family things, which was fun. So what did I read?

Last week I read Under the Duvet by Marian Keyes. This is a little collection of essays about just about everything. Some of them are pretty light (shoes!) and some are pretty heavy (there is a really good one on being an alcoholic.) It was a really quick little book, with lots of humor. She reminds me a little of Meg Cabot, but I can't put my finger on why. A lot of the essays were previously published, mostly in 1998 or 1999, so it is a little dated. It got me geared up to start Rachel's Holiday, also by Keyes, for my TBR challenge. So far, Rachel's Holiday is very good. I will use this one for my M author. 3/5

Yesterday after sorting my books for the Themed Lists post, I moved a couple of the shorter books to the top. I figured I have to get some reading going or I'll just have more and more staring at me. I started Statements: True Tales of Life, Love, and Credit Card Bills by Amy Borkowsky during naptime and managed to read almost all of it before the Monkey woke up. The premise is great, the author uses her American Express bills to recreate her life and we get to read all about it. In practice, it's not so great. The chapters are anywhere from 2 to 6 pages long, and sometimes it's quite a stretch to make the purchase into a story. About 15 pages in (so soon!) I almost gave up, but decided that since it was so easy to read I'd keep going. About 80 pages in I wasn't any more impressed, but I'd already read nearly half so I kept going. By the end I knew I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. It just wasn't interesting. I give this one a 2/5.

Today I picked up Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris. This is the fifth book in a series by a tried and true author. While I think the previous book was better, this one had some great moments. Lots of the secondary characters are fleshed out and Sookie is (of course) tested more. I'm a bit nervous about the amount of sexual tension (no actual sex, sorry) between Sookie and the various guys. Until this book I thought Harris did a great job of making me love all the potential suitors, in this one a couple of the guys dropped out for me. I LOVE Sam, and Eric. Oh, and Quinn. 4/5

Hopefully I can keep up the pace this week and finish up a few more!

Themed Reading

On Tuesday I found a lovely post at Pages Turned about themed reading. Then there was one on Bookgirl's Nightstand, and this morning I saw one at Book Haven. So, being the follower that I am, I decided to do one too! I started with the stacks of books in the living room, and drew just a few from the stacks in the bedroom. I did not look at the books in the spare room. I made a few little lists, and then suddenly I was overwhelmed by all the excellent reading choices IN MY HOUSE. So I'm going to make this post and then turn off my computer until tonight. That's right. I'm gonna turn it off ALL DAY. I will not turn it back on until it is dark outside. (Good thing it's not tomorrow yet, when it's daylight LONGER.) Hopefully I won't get too distracted by the crocheting project I started last night. ( I am obsessed with this blog, and so taught myself the necessary crochet stitches last night so that I could play along.)

While I was at it, I neatened up the stacks on the endtable. Here's how it looks today. Yes, there are more books behind the front stack.
Isn't that a cute little boy? (Sorry, got sidetracked.)

So, here's my themed lists:

Books Everyone Else is Reading (or so it seems):
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Wicked by Gregory Macquire

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

Italy:
Desiring Italy by Susan Cahill
Pasquales's Nose by Michael Rips
Ciao America by Beppe Severgnini
Brunelleschi's Dome by Ross King
Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel

Memoirs:
Candy Girl by Diablo Cody
Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
The Year of Yes by Maria Headley
Statements by Amy Borkowsky
Devil in the Details by Jennifer Taig
A Round Heeled Woman by Jane Juska

Paranormal:
Heat Stroke by Rachel Caine
Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris
A Fistful of Charms by Kim Harrison
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs

Ok, gotta run go see some dinosaurs. No time to finish the links, but ya'll know how to work Amazon.com. Have a good day without me!

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday

1. Do you lend your books to other people? If so, any restrictions? I do lend my books to other people, and mostly with no restrictions on the book I lend. There are potentially people who I wouldn't trust with them but so far none of those people want to borrow. I just hope that the people who do borrow take good care of them, and so far, they do.
   


2. Do you borrow books from other people? (Friends or family—I'm not talking about the public library) Not often, no. I have too many books of my own.
   


3. And, most importantly—do the books you lend/borrow get returned to their rightful owners?? Usually.
   

Thursday Thirteen #6

Thirteen Television Shows I Enjoy

1. House
   
2. Bones (does anyone really like Cam?)
   
3. American Idol (this is only the second season we've watched)
   
4. Miami Ink
5. Grease: You're the One That I Want
6. What Not to Wear
7. Deadwood (I can't believe this one is over)
   
8. Buffy (though I really only watched this after it was over)
9. Friends
   
10. It Takes A Thief (you know Jon is hot)
    
11. Mythbusters (don't try this at home)
    
12. Heroes (ok, that's really someone else's addiction, but I share the living room)
13. Sesame Street ("Oh Yeah Baby, BY A MILE!" - Bonus points if you can name that scene..)

We really don't watch tv 24/7. Thankfully, we have a DVR and watch when time is available. Baseball season is about to get underway, and all this other stuff will have to fit in around it. You can get more Thursday Thirteens over here. Sorry for such a lame list this week, a small little monkey was anti-sleep last night and my brain isn't working at full power.

Oprah's Bad Idea

Have you heard about The Secret? Oprah did two shows about it last week (or maybe it was the week before?) Anyway, The Secret is the idea that if you visualize what you want and think about it hard enough, you'll get it. Your thoughts can actually change the physical properties of things to give you what you want. Want money? Buy a lottery ticket and think hard! Want to be thin? Visualize it, don't think about being fat, only about being thin. Don't even look at a fat person. What a great secret!

I'm all for the power of positive thinking. Faking that I know what I'm talking about is a huge part of my work life (and, for that matter, my blog life.) Of course, the opposite of this is true as well, so all those fat people were thinking too much about their weight. And all those people with cancer? Must not have been so mentally healthy. And now that they have cancer, can they cure it with happy thoughts? "You cannot 'catch' anything unless you think you can, and thinking you can is inviting it to you with your thought." Uh huh. Oprah is generally pretty hit or miss for me, but this one really misses. I wonder if she actually read the book and thought this through?

Here's a link from Salon.com going into more detail. And another from Newsweek. Here's a quote from the Newsweek article:

Its explicit claim is that you can manipulate objective physical reality—the
numbers in a lottery drawing, the actions of other people who may not even know
you exist—through your thoughts and feelings. In the words of "author and
personal empowerment advocate" Lisa Nichols: "When you think of the things you
want, and you focus on them with all of your intention, then the law of
attraction will give you exactly what you want, every time."

People seriously believe that? What about AIDS? Africa? World Peace? Crack babies? The Secret is the number one selling book on Amazon.com right now, there are a lot of people who are gonna be awfully disappointed soon.

Odds and Ends

I've been collecting little odds and ends of links and stuff that I want to post. None of it is really enough to merit a post on it's own, but I've collected quite a list of things. I'm just going to put them all together here for your amusement.

First, have you seen Rare Bird Finds? It's a fun little blogging of interesting shopping things. I added it to my reader a few days (a week?) ago, and already my wish list has grown. First I found these cool penguin lamps and want one very badly. No, I don't have anywhere to put one, but I want one. Then, on that same site, this fun clock that I want for the monkey's room. I don't think he'd be able to tell time on it any time soon, but I love it anyway. And speaking of monkeys, these are cute.

Next, were you aware that Saturday, March 24 is Shut Down Day? I don't know if I can do it...

Sufficient Grace by Darnell Arnoult

After talking about it for months, I have finally read Sufficient Grace. Here's what it says on the back of the book:

"Set against the backdrop of two neighboring Southern towns, Sufficient Grace is the powerful, affecting story of two families over the course of a year, from one Easter season to the next." "One quiet spring day, Gracie Hollaman hears voices in her head that tell her to get in her car and leave her entire life behind - her home, her husband, her daughter, her very identity. Gracie's subsequent journey releases her genius for painting and effects profound changes in the lives of everyone around her. Ultimately, her quest leads her into the home of Mama Toot and Mattie, two strong, accomplished women going through life changes of their own. As the bonds between these women grow stronger, and the family Gracie left behind come to terms with their own loss, both worlds slowly and inevitably collide, revealing a long-buried secret that they share." Sufficient Grace explores the power of personal transformation and redemption, and the many ordinary and extraordinary ways they come to pass through faith, love, motherhood, art, even food. Even though we sometimes have to leave behind an old identity in order to discover our soul, this poignant, poetic study of the human condition affirms the enduring importance of relationships and the strength we derive from them.

I found this to be a slow book. Slowly paced, nothing urgent about it, just laying out the events in a nice easy way. I didn't feel the need to return to it to see what happened next. This isn't really a bad thing, but does explain why it took me so long to read it. The book takes place over the course of a year, and follows into two storylines- Gracie's and Ed's (her husband). The book description would have you think that something dramatic happens "both worlds slowly and inevitably collide" but I think the important word there is "slowly." The "long-buried secret" wasn't so shocking, I didn't think.

That said, I enjoyed the book. I wanted to know what happened to Gracie, I thought she was well-written, and I loved Toots. Some of the characters seemed pretty one-dimensional (Ginger, Wally, the new doctor at the end). There are a few really moving scenes, my favorite being a scene involving Mattie and her late husband's shoes. Another scene is about Ed and an overabundance of windchimes, and I really liked the symbolism there.

There are some aspects that I need to think about a bit more, and might come back to later for another shot at a review. For example, how did the title come about? I'm sure it's because of the Bible verse in 2 Corinthians 12:

7To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

but does this refer to Grace? Ed? Ginger (their daughter?) I can't see how it's about Toots and Mattie. They aren't troubled at all by the appearance of a crazy white woman. I don't think it can refer to Grace, she's not the least upset by her new life, though God does talk to her. So Ed? He's handling it fine. The only character who needs a little strength seems to be Ginger, but the book isn't really about her.

I need to think more about the history of Gracie and Toots, and the little bits of backstory given by Toots. I'm wondering if I'm missing anything there, or if it's really just a way to explain Gracie's mental illness. It's all written very dramatically, hinting that there is more to the story than what is revealed.

The reader's guide at the author's website has the two following questions, which interest me:

-Sister Reba and Gracie both feel "called" to make some of the same decisions.
They both leave their families for a different, nontraditional life, a life with
a focus they believe is defined by something beyond their own desires, even by
God. They both retreat to the woods at times. Can you think of other common
ground shared by Reba and Gracie? Why are these similarities viewed differently
from one character to the other?
-On a larger scale, how do you interpret the issues of faith and fate in the novel? Of miracles and coincidence? Of the
thin gray line between a passionate, inspired calling and bona fide illness?

I definately need to think more about that last question. I didn't make the connection between Sister Reba and Gracie while I was reading the book. During the book, they were clearly different to me, but now, thinking about it, not so much. (Sister Reba is a traveling woman preacher. She left her family and daughter behind to follow God, like Gracie. Reba is not portrayed as crazy at all, just a very religious person.)

Overall, it was a good book, and it certainly has me thinking about it longer than I usually do when I finish a book. I have a feeling that it won't be leaving my head any time soon.

While thinking about this review, I found a blog post that contains some recipes from the book. Here's a link to it.

Official Website for Darnell Arnoult

Monday's Math

I had a good weekend of reading. I read all of Ephron's book, finished Sufficient Grace (review to follow), and most of Under the Duvet. I even got a teeny bit of knitting in!

Ok, last week I was at 21 books in, 9 read, leaving a surplus of 12. Over the last week I got three more from paperbackswap and purchased one (The Inheritance of Loss.) So I'm up to 25 books in. I finished three books, bring books read to 12, so I only slid 1 position to 13 extra books. Pretty good! I still have a ton from PBS coming to me this week (the mailbox was curiously empty of EVERYTHING on Friday and Saturday, and no, we weren't blocking it) so expect to fall behind more before the week is out.

Not Another Challenge?

So 3M (who must have found a way to have 36 hour days, I've gotta find her secret), has proposed yet another challenge. She's calling it the 15 Books in 15 Decades challenge, and the rules are a little flexible (thank goodness, otherwise there's just no way I could consider it.) It's pretty self explanatory, pick some books in consecutive decades to read by the end of 2007. There is a prize! I'm going to check my TBR and see what I've got hanging out before committing.

Now, I've already signed on for the TBR challenge, the A-Z author challenge, and I'm part of a Yahoo! group reading prize winning novels. For that group, our first book is for April, The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai, winner of the Booker Prize. I'm planning to try and talk Shawna into signing up for this one as well, I know she wanted to read this book at the least.

Last night after finishing I Feel Bad About My Neck, I picked up Marion Keyes' Under the Duvet to read a few more personal essay type things. It's pretty humorous, reminds me strongly of Meg Cabot. Keyes is younger than Ephron, and I think easier for me to relate to. Under the Duvet looks to have been originally published in the UK in 2001, but in 2004 in the US. So it's a little dated. This will make it easy to move Rachel's Holiday up the list, which is good, as it's one of my TBR challenge books and I am behind! I have to get two of those read by the end of the month.

Other books I desperately want to read this month:
Gotta finish Sufficient Grace (almost done).
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
The next Sookie Stackhouse, which is on it's way to me in the mail.
Some other book from the TBR challenge, in addition to the already mentioned Rachel's Holiday.

This is a lot of reading in one month for me, better get on it!

I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron

Nora Ephron, creator of When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle is the author of I Feel Bad About My Neck and Other Thoughts on Being a Woman. This is a short little book of essays on various topics including purses (she doesn't love them), manicures (ditto), New York (loves it), and aging (hates it.) For the most part the essays are funny, and they are light and easy (yes, even the one on death.) I suspect this book is aimed at women a generation older than me, and perhaps would be a bit more meaningful to them. I had similar thoughts about Joan Didion's Year of Magical Thinking, which I read last summer. It was good, but it wasn't all it was made out to be. Get it from the library, not the bookstore.

This was my 7th book for the New Author Challenge.