My bookclub *finally* met for the first time in 2009 last night. Our February meeting was snowed out once, then cancelled the second time due to scheduling. Last night we discussed two books, The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich and Time of my Life by Allison Winn Scotch.
Our bookclub had a first last night - we all disliked (stronger words were used) The Plague of Doves. Out of seven members, four finished the book. I was one of three who did not - I mentioned a while ago that I felt completely befuddled by it. The member who suggested it will not be taking further book recommendations from her mother-in-law!
The second book discussed was Time of My Life. Here is my review. Four people really liked the book - the word love was even used! I said essentially what I wrote in my review and one member said "what Tara said", and another had similar feelings about it. The book elicited discussion about life choices and 'what if?' sorts of questions. One member became quite philosophical about the deeper meanings of the book and what the character went through to realize that the grass isn't always greener on the other side. While that didn't change my perception of the book, it's great to hear someone else's perspective.
We will be meeting in May in discuss Jane Austen's Emma - a few members are feeling daunted by its size. I think they will find the reading will go faster than they think.
In other book news, I am close to finishing the second book in Laurie King's Mary Russell series and I can tell you that the review will be Good. I am really enjoying this one.
Finally, I would like to thank Karen from Bookbath (how much do you love her header??) for the Zombie Chicken Award, and Melissa from Shh...I'm reading for the Proximidade Award. Thank you so much! It really moves me to be honored by both of you. I send it right back to both of you and to all the people who read and comment here - I am terrible at giving awards since I hate leaving anyone out.
Reviews soon!
Showing posts with label Awards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Awards. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
You think I'm hearty, right??
Because the only positive thing I can think of when spending January in Minnesota, are the bragging rights. You know, where the temperature is given this time of year as degrees above or below zero? Where this morning it was the coldest it has been since January of 2004 - that would be -18. Where we have to keep the water dripping in our upstairs bathroom or it will freeze. Where if I traveled further north, it'd be -40. This is temperature folks, not windchill. I haven't seen a temperature above 30 in weeks. Man, that would be balmy. Ahhh.
Anyway, on a more positive note, I have received not one, but two Butterfly Awards for having a cool blog!
I don't know how cool my blog is, but I sure live in a 'cool' place. Haha, I couldn't resist! Many thanks to Bonnie from Redlady's Reading Room and Rhapsody in Books. I give this right back to both of you, and to everyone else whom I read and correspond with in this great bloggy world. You're all cool!
I finished my first book of 2009 - Susan Hill's The Pure in Heart which is the second novel in the Simon Serrailler crime series. You might remember that I read the first book in this series, The Various Haunts of Men just last month and really liked it, despite it being not a traditional crime novel. The Pure in Heart is a bit more of a traditional crime novel but it many ways is really a novel with a mystery at its heart. There is much more about Simon in this book and while it was good to get to know him, I missed some of the voices from the first novel. What I liked about this book was learning more about the various characters. What I didn't like or should I say, what I found unsatisfying, is that the main storyline is not really wrapped up. I knew this going in from reading the Amazon reviews, but I didn't expect it to bother me so much. I also didn't expect to be bothered so much by the boy that goes missing in this book. His mother's grief and anguish were quite upsetting. I understand from the reviews that this storyline is wrapped up in the third book in the series. Because of this, and because I'm just drawn to this town and its people, I ordered the next two books in the series from Britain, as they don't seem readily available here. I'll be interested to see how I feel about these. I think I must be pretty drawn to Hill's writing to continue with the series after being a little bit let down with this installment.
P.S. Nuts! It seems in trying to change a few things on my blogroll, I've deleted the entire thing!! I'm really bad at keeping this current, so it's going to take me a while to build it again. So please don't take it personally if you're not there for while!!
Anyway, on a more positive note, I have received not one, but two Butterfly Awards for having a cool blog!
I don't know how cool my blog is, but I sure live in a 'cool' place. Haha, I couldn't resist! Many thanks to Bonnie from Redlady's Reading Room and Rhapsody in Books. I give this right back to both of you, and to everyone else whom I read and correspond with in this great bloggy world. You're all cool!
I finished my first book of 2009 - Susan Hill's The Pure in Heart which is the second novel in the Simon Serrailler crime series. You might remember that I read the first book in this series, The Various Haunts of Men just last month and really liked it, despite it being not a traditional crime novel. The Pure in Heart is a bit more of a traditional crime novel but it many ways is really a novel with a mystery at its heart. There is much more about Simon in this book and while it was good to get to know him, I missed some of the voices from the first novel. What I liked about this book was learning more about the various characters. What I didn't like or should I say, what I found unsatisfying, is that the main storyline is not really wrapped up. I knew this going in from reading the Amazon reviews, but I didn't expect it to bother me so much. I also didn't expect to be bothered so much by the boy that goes missing in this book. His mother's grief and anguish were quite upsetting. I understand from the reviews that this storyline is wrapped up in the third book in the series. Because of this, and because I'm just drawn to this town and its people, I ordered the next two books in the series from Britain, as they don't seem readily available here. I'll be interested to see how I feel about these. I think I must be pretty drawn to Hill's writing to continue with the series after being a little bit let down with this installment.
P.S. Nuts! It seems in trying to change a few things on my blogroll, I've deleted the entire thing!! I'm really bad at keeping this current, so it's going to take me a while to build it again. So please don't take it personally if you're not there for while!!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
A Cool Award
Here's an award I never thought I'd get.
I don't generally think of myself as a creative person so thanks to Iliana for reminding me that I am. In certain ways.
There's a fun meme that goes along with this award. Here goes:
7 things I did before
1. read
2. sleep late
3. go out on the weekends
4. wear short skirts
5. work full time
6. live in Chicago
7. watch tv regularly
7 things I do now
1. read
2. blog
3. eat organically and locally if possible
4. look up old friends on Facebook
5. cannot imagine life without the internet
6. work part time, parent full time
7. volunteer at school
7 things I want to do
1. Travel more
2. Speak French
3. Live overseas for a time
4. Live to see my child as an adult
5. Read all the books in my library (ha!)
6. Learn photography
7. Host holidays at my house
7 things that attract me to the opposite sex
1. Intelligence
2. Sense of humor
3. Height
4. Kindness
5. Stability
6. Parenting ability
7. Ability to put up with me
7 Favorite Foods
1. potato gratin
2. ice cream
3. duck breast
4. butter toffee
5. pasta
6. gin and tonic
7. a big salad full of veggies and some cheese
7 things I Say Most Often
1. Brush your teeth!
2. Pharmacy, may I help you?
3. Let's go, sister.
4. Nuts!
5. She's very active.
6. Thank you.
7. Love.
I am passing this award on to the following people. Remember, this is a no pressure award - participate only if you wish!
1. Carrie K for her cool knitting projects.
2. Simon for his amazing sketches.
3. Bookfool for her photographic artistry.
4. Nan for her photography, cooking and gardening.
5. Bermudaonion for her yummy looking recipes.
6. Elaine for her fantastically hilarious and imaginative writing.
I don't generally think of myself as a creative person so thanks to Iliana for reminding me that I am. In certain ways.
There's a fun meme that goes along with this award. Here goes:
7 things I did before
1. read
2. sleep late
3. go out on the weekends
4. wear short skirts
5. work full time
6. live in Chicago
7. watch tv regularly
7 things I do now
1. read
2. blog
3. eat organically and locally if possible
4. look up old friends on Facebook
5. cannot imagine life without the internet
6. work part time, parent full time
7. volunteer at school
7 things I want to do
1. Travel more
2. Speak French
3. Live overseas for a time
4. Live to see my child as an adult
5. Read all the books in my library (ha!)
6. Learn photography
7. Host holidays at my house
7 things that attract me to the opposite sex
1. Intelligence
2. Sense of humor
3. Height
4. Kindness
5. Stability
6. Parenting ability
7. Ability to put up with me
7 Favorite Foods
1. potato gratin
2. ice cream
3. duck breast
4. butter toffee
5. pasta
6. gin and tonic
7. a big salad full of veggies and some cheese
7 things I Say Most Often
1. Brush your teeth!
2. Pharmacy, may I help you?
3. Let's go, sister.
4. Nuts!
5. She's very active.
6. Thank you.
7. Love.
I am passing this award on to the following people. Remember, this is a no pressure award - participate only if you wish!
1. Carrie K for her cool knitting projects.
2. Simon for his amazing sketches.
3. Bookfool for her photographic artistry.
4. Nan for her photography, cooking and gardening.
5. Bermudaonion for her yummy looking recipes.
6. Elaine for her fantastically hilarious and imaginative writing.
Friday, September 19, 2008
An Award and Some Peppers
Wow! I'm really , really touched by my win in the BBAW Best Cookbook Blog category. Thanks to whomever nominated and voted, it is so very kind of you.
In the spirit of cookbooks, I thought I'd mention a recipe I made from this book, Vegetarian Suppers by Deborah Madison. I actually made that cover recipe, Yellow Peppers stuffed with quinoa, corn and feta cheese. I made some deletions and substitutions based on what I had in the house (monteray jack instead of feta, for example) and wound up with this (photo taken before they went into the oven) :
I thought they were very good. My husband liked the filling, not so much the idea of stuffed peppers. When pressed, he said if we were going to eat veg, he'd rather have the filling alongside black beans. I can see that. My daughter, quinoa lover that she is, was not super thrilled with all the additions, but wanted to eat the pepper.
Enjoy the weekend!
In the spirit of cookbooks, I thought I'd mention a recipe I made from this book, Vegetarian Suppers by Deborah Madison. I actually made that cover recipe, Yellow Peppers stuffed with quinoa, corn and feta cheese. I made some deletions and substitutions based on what I had in the house (monteray jack instead of feta, for example) and wound up with this (photo taken before they went into the oven) :
I thought they were very good. My husband liked the filling, not so much the idea of stuffed peppers. When pressed, he said if we were going to eat veg, he'd rather have the filling alongside black beans. I can see that. My daughter, quinoa lover that she is, was not super thrilled with all the additions, but wanted to eat the pepper.
Enjoy the weekend!
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
The bad news.....and the good
Irritating things keep happening to me this week.
-I received a book through paperbackswap that was water damaged, moldy, and had writing throughout.
-I did a gift card swap and received a non-transferable merchandise credit so we are working on rectifying that.
-My credit card may have been compromised due to a 'phishing' email from someone pretending to be paypal.
-Another fitted sheet is worn through - the second sheet in two weeks! Now I have only one set left.
-It seems like there's something else. Perhaps the fact that it was -16 this morning.
But....lovely things have happened as well. For example, Eva and Bybee gave me the You Make My Day Award. That makes my week! Thanks so much ; I needed that. I'm to award this to 10 more people....which is so hard. Every time someone I read posts, that makes my day.
1. Mel from lit*chick
2. Becca from Becca & Bella
3. Lisa at Pfeifferbooknotes
4. LK at The Literate Kitten
5. Geraniumcat at Geranium Cat's Bookshelf
6. Robin from A Fondness for Reading
7. Nan from Letters From a Hill Farm
8. Literary Feline
9. Kay from My Random Acts of Reading
10. Cath from Read-Warbler
And just because I think this post could use a few more links.....
Have you heard of the singer Joshua Radin? He's a singer/songwriter/guitar-playing acoustic folksy guy - check him out here on the Ellen show. I've been to see him twice and I'm crazy about his music. This song will be on his second album. I even got to meet him once - he's nice, too.
Would the person who sent me to The Traveler IQ Challenge please stand up? Try it. I'm hooked, so it my husband and a few of his coworkers.
That's all for now.
P.S. I know I've sworn off challenges....but has there ever been an India challenge? With all the great suggestions from my last post, there would be lots to choose from.
-I received a book through paperbackswap that was water damaged, moldy, and had writing throughout.
-I did a gift card swap and received a non-transferable merchandise credit so we are working on rectifying that.
-My credit card may have been compromised due to a 'phishing' email from someone pretending to be paypal.
-Another fitted sheet is worn through - the second sheet in two weeks! Now I have only one set left.
-It seems like there's something else. Perhaps the fact that it was -16 this morning.
But....lovely things have happened as well. For example, Eva and Bybee gave me the You Make My Day Award. That makes my week! Thanks so much ; I needed that. I'm to award this to 10 more people....which is so hard. Every time someone I read posts, that makes my day.
1. Mel from lit*chick
2. Becca from Becca & Bella
3. Lisa at Pfeifferbooknotes
4. LK at The Literate Kitten
5. Geraniumcat at Geranium Cat's Bookshelf
6. Robin from A Fondness for Reading
7. Nan from Letters From a Hill Farm
8. Literary Feline
9. Kay from My Random Acts of Reading
10. Cath from Read-Warbler
And just because I think this post could use a few more links.....
Have you heard of the singer Joshua Radin? He's a singer/songwriter/guitar-playing acoustic folksy guy - check him out here on the Ellen show. I've been to see him twice and I'm crazy about his music. This song will be on his second album. I even got to meet him once - he's nice, too.
Would the person who sent me to The Traveler IQ Challenge please stand up? Try it. I'm hooked, so it my husband and a few of his coworkers.
That's all for now.
P.S. I know I've sworn off challenges....but has there ever been an India challenge? With all the great suggestions from my last post, there would be lots to choose from.
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