Vacation Reading

I think I've mentioned here before that I really love reading in the summer. And one of the only things better than summer reading is vacation reading.

What books will I be packing?

• August book club pick - "If Life is a Bowl of Cherries, What am I Doing in the Pits?" by Erma Bombeck - actually finished this one this afternoon.
• "Sizzling Sixteen" - Janet Evanovich is pretty much only good for vacation reading.
• "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert - Unfortunately, this one is due back at the library while we're gone. And since it was such a long wait to get it, I'm going to keep it and just pay the 75-cent fine.
• Checked out a few others at the library today...not sure which ones I'll take along.
• Book I should read on vacation "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" - I started this one on our vacation last summer, had to put it down to finish "Gone with the Wind" in time for book club and never picked it back up.

What do you like to read on vacation?

Book Club Recommended Reads

At our June book club meeting, everyone shared a few books they recommend. Here's the list:
The Tunnel series (Erin)
The Sookie Stackhouse series (Erin)
The Hunger Games trilogy (Erin & Jimi)
The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Jimi)
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton (Jimi)
Boundaries by Cloud & Townsend (Sarah)
Raising Great Kids by Cloud & Townsend (Sarah)
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (Emily) - our July pick!
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant (Emily)
Dangerous Beauty by Mark Ross (Emily)
Lime Tree Can't Bear Orange by Amanda Smyth (Emily)
Bringing up Girls by James Dobson (Jade)
Jane Austen (Jade)

Book Club books that have been a hit (for those of you who may not have been around when we read these):
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Kite Runner/A Thousand Splended Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
The Art of Making Money by Jason Kersten
Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

A Book Binge

So, CJ (my 10-year old) has been gone to camp this week. Overnight camp. As you might imagine, his absence opens up some significant time in my schedule, time that should be filled with things like cleaning out the linen closet, organizing the office, catching up on laundry. Or, even more importantly, planning my in-law's 40th anniversary party or preparing freezer meals for my sister-in-law who will be delivering TWINS any day. I had plenty on my list to keep me busy this week.

What did I do? Well, I tackled a few projects here and there. We shopped for curtains and rods for our living room, since one of our cats decided to tear down what we had. And, I did get the invitations sent for the anniversary party. But, each night, after dinner, I pulled out a book and read, read, read. In fact, it's a little embarrassing how much I read this week. Oh well, here's what I finished (so far...I have until 5:30pm tonight though. I may squeeze in a little more reading):

U is for Undertow
Percy Jackson & the Olympians - The Lightning Thief (read this one to see if it was okay for CJ to read)
Beatrice & Virgil (by Yann Martel, author of one of my very favorite books, "Life of Pi"
The Recipe Club

Up Next: I should probably get started on my book club book (we meet next Thursday) "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", but I also just picked up a non-fiction book from the library "The Other Wes Moore" that I need to get started on...14 day loans don't give you much time.

Summer Reading Program

I finished "The Pillars of the Earth" a little over a week ago. I'm making myself hold off for a bit on the sequel, "World without End". I must get to the library books that don't have any renewals left. I did find out that "The Pillars of the Earth" is being made into a mini-series (I guess that's what you would call it) to be shown on Starz (we don't have it, but some friends do). And, it was rather appropos to watch the new "Robin Hood" just after finishing this book. The movie is set in the same time period.

This weekend, I finished "The Housekeeper and the Professor". If you love math, you should read this book. If you don't, you might (like me) be a bit confused at points, but it's still a sweet story set in Japan. The Housekeeper works for a Professor whose memory only lasts 80 minutes. Can you imagine?

I'm still working on and loving "The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop". And, I'm picking up "Unveiled" by Francine Rivers from the library today. And, I need to get started on re-reading "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" for this month's book club.

On my nightstand (it's kind of like the on-deck circle in baseball): "The Book Thief", "World without End", "The Whole Life Adoption Book", and many others.

Hello, Book Club Friends

Well, since I gave out this website at book club last night, I thought it was only appropriate that I welcome you all to my blog. I sure enjoyed our discussion, the delicious food and the good company last night, ladies.

We talked about "Breathing Lessons" by Anne Tyler. While no one loved the book, it still provided good discussion, real characters and some laughs.

This next month we're reading "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". I am very interested to see what others think of it.

Finally, an update on my own reading list:
Currently reading: "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett, "Renovation of the Heart in Daily Practice" by Dallas Willard and Jan Johnson
Books on deck: "The Housekeeper and the Professor", "The Yellow Lighted Bookshop", "The Parent You Want to Be", "The Hole in our Gospel"
Haven't forgotten: "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle", "The Whole Life Adoption Book"

Too many books, too little time.

Reading and Driving Don't Mix

I waited entirely too long to start my book club book for April, "Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell. I was not terribly excited about the book, simply because I was not at the March book club gathering, didn't know much about the book and couldn't get it from the library (the one copy was being held hostage by a fellow book club member).

I finally downloaded it to my Kindle. As you read books on the Kindle, it tells you what percentage of the book you've read. Since you can adjust the font size, page numbers aren't really an option. Perhaps if I had had a paper copy of the book, 500+ pages would have meant a little more to me. I thought I could tear through it in a couple days.

As I started reading, I wasn't particularly drawn in. The vocabulary was advanced. I was using the dictionary tool on my Kindle multiple times on each page. But, I kept reading. And, I am so glad I did.

"Cloud Atlas" is a fantastic story, really a set of six stories, each told in a different way, set in a different time and each fascinating in their own right. Each story is connected but not obviously so at first. (I'll give no more details away, though) I really loved this book, and I highly recommend it. Just give yourself more than 3 days to read it.

(I adjusted my Kindle to the largest font and finished up the book on my way to our book club meeting...and was thoroughly reprimanded for it.)

Overdue

Well, true confessions, I did very little reading in March. It took me the whole month and then some to finish "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families" (a great read by the way). In fact, it was 10 days overdue at the library when I finally returned it. I figured it was cheaper to pay $2.00 in overdue fines than to buy the book...though I might buy it sometime in the future anyway. :)

I'm still working on "Getting Things Done", close to finishing. It's been a great book on organization. Now, if I could just implement all that I've read.

My book club book for April is "Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell. What an intriguing book! I'm only halfway and book club is tomorrow night, so I have some serious reading to do. I think I really like it but will wait for the verdict until finished.

We took our 10-year-old to meet Andrew Clements, one of his favorite authors, last week. Unfortunately, we got there late enough, it was standing room only. Between his talk (1 1/2 hours is a little long for kiddos to listen) and waiting to get our book signed, we were there nearly 2 1/2 hours, on our feet the whole time. That might have taken away a little from the enjoyment of the evening.

I want to jump on the "Spring Reading Thing" bandwagon but am a little late...and need to make a list.