Tag Archives: books

#FridayReads -The Grapes of Wrath + It’s almost time!

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Courtesy campfirechicblog

This Friday Reads finds me at the tail end of a great book, The Grapes of Wrath. Yes, I did just call this a great book. I was thinking this morning, as I was driving through the pre-dawn morning traffic, that this story is so wasted on the youth. I have no idea why teenagers are made to read it. I never had to, but I can’t say I would have enjoyed it or understood it better than I understand it now. It’s eerie how it’s so relevant to today – families being forced out of their own homes due to the economy with no choice but to pack up and go where the work is. Only when they get to what is supposed to be the promised land, they find they’ve been sold the same dream as so many others, and there’s only so many pieces of the dream to go around. So much work and sacrifice, sometimes for nothing—and all you can do is keep going.

Yes, I’ve really enjoyed this book. It’s been slow going though, since I’m reading via audiobook. At night I follow along with my e-copy. I’ll probably read more Steinbeck. Continue reading →

#FridayReads, the OMG YOU READ A LOT edition

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A few weeks ago, I met some friends at our local Bahama Breeze for drinks and a rousing game of “keep the toddler from climbing over the tops of the benches and pulling the hair of the patron behind us.” It was some unexpected cardio and a really good time, because I’ve missed this particular family since they moved to Florida.

“So,” my friend S says to me. “I have questions. You read a lot. What’s that about?”

I laughed, because I can only imagine what it looks like to people who follow me on twitter or Facebook. I don’t party, I rarely eat out, I don’t drink. I don’t wax on about the latest vampire show or singing competition (except for Criminal Minds or Golden Girls. I stan for both of those shows!). What I do is read. I read incessantly. I’m kind of addicted to getting lost in a fictional world, fictional characters for 300-500 pages at a time. I am a member at Goodreads, and when I stop for the moment or the day, I record my progress. If I don’t tweet anything else, it looks like I haven’t been doing anything but reading all day. And on the weekends, you’re probably right, on that one.

Over time I have developed the skill of reading quickly (okay and sometimes if there’s 7 pages of description, I skim. SHHHHHH don’t tell anyone!). So yes, I read a lot. A few books at a time, especially if one is particularly heavy. I need something light to detract from that.
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Book #60 and the last book of 2011…

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Yeah I am kind of morbid, but I’d wanted to read this one for awhile. I guess when you work in the funeral/cremation business, you have to keep a sense of humor. This book was surprisingly funny and an intriguiging look into an icredibly depressing business. What is always so impressive and compelling, when I read books and watch shows on the funeral business, is how much respect there is for the deceased. Always very reverent– whatever the family wants, the family gets.

A bit dry, but also very educating about past, present and history of death care– from clock urns to green cremation. Very interesting.

This brings my reading year to a close, though I do have a couple of books I’ve started. Tomorrow brings a brand new challenge…. I don’t know what to set my goal for, for 2012. Maybe I’ll push myself past 60 and go for 80?

2011- All of the Books!

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You might have heard (snigglesnicker) that I completed the GoodReads challenge that I set for myself this year. I usually consider myself a voracious reader, when in actuality I probably read about 5-10 books a year. Well, I bought an eReader and changed all that! I set my goal at 50 and am right now reading books 52 and 53. It’s been a great year, and since everyone is talking about the books they enjoyed this year, I thought I’d go through my list and mention the ones I truly enjoyed.

  • The Girl Who Chased the Moon  by Allen, Sarah Addison - This is the first book I ever read by Sarah Addison Allen. After reading this one, I had to go find ALL of her books and read them. The lightest touch of magic, romance and whimsy wrapped around a delightful piece of southern fiction.
  • Still Alice by Genova, Lisa - A heartbreaking story about a woman who is battling early onset Alzheimer’s.
  • Columbine by Dave Cullen- One of the few books that actually made me shed tears. A very upfront, detailed account of the events at Columbine High School– from both sides.
  • The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Durrow, Heidi- This is probably the most beautifully written, almost poetic story I’ve ever read. I think I imitated Heidi’s style, much to my reader’s irritation, for about a month after I read this book. I also listened to the audiobook and it was beautifully done as well.
  • The Kitchen House by Grissom, Kathleen -This was an audio book that I just could NOT stop listening to! Riveting story, satisfying ending. One of the few books I have ever given five stars to.
  • Don’t Breathe a Word by McMahon, Jennifer- it’s hard to creep me out with words…..but Oh My. I find this book creepier than any Koontz or King! Really well written tale about a magical place and a Faerie King.
  • The Peach Keeper by Allen, Sarah Addison-  I declined to put ALL of her books on this list, but the Peach Keeper was her most recent release and I really enjoyed it.
  • Silver Sparrow by Jones, Tayari -I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Tayari several times, if only to hear her read from the first chapter of this book. It is gripping from page one when the narrator reveals that her father is a Bigamist. This is the story of two girls with the same father…but one is a secret.
  • The Sisterhood of Blackberry Corner by Smith, Andrea – This is not a new book at all. I met Andrea Smith when she was leaving full time work to write this novel. In fact, I replaced her! Years later, I realized I’d never read this book and picked it up. An engrossing read about a couple who cannot conceive and are blessed with what seems like a baby from above– but they can’t keep him, so they surreptitiously find a home for him. Nor can they keep the other babies that show up on their doorstep, hoping for the same good fortune.
  •  Thr3e  by Dekker, Ted – I read this book as research for a story I was writing about Schizophrenia. This story is more about Multiple Personality Disorder, however it is still a DOOZY. I got an inkling early on of what the outcome might be but it just seemed so IMPOSSIBLE. Believe me when I tell you that Ted Dekker is the king of making a way where there seems to be no way.
  • When She Woke  by Jordan, Hillary – There were some parts of this book I didn’t really understand. For example there is an oddly placed lesbian awakening that just seems unnecessary to me. And as others pointed out, the main character falling on her own sword over a man (an adulterous minister, at that) was eye roll inducing. Overall, though this was a great tale of The Scarlet Letter meets Orwell’s 1984. Enjoyed it!
  • 22 Britannia Road: A Novel by Hodgkinson, Amanda – I generally don’t read historical fiction not set in the US, but this book showed up in the GoodReads Book of the year nominations so I picked it up and I’m happy I did. The story bounces between WWII Poland and England– Silvana’s journey to keep herself and her son alive while her husband Aurek fights in the war, their determination to find each other and build a home together once more… but something is wrong. Something is just… off.
  • Honorable Mention: Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Franklin, Tom – I read this at the end of 2010 but enjoyed it so much I wanted to mention it! This story is set in 1970′s Mississippi, around the cold, unsolved disappearance of a young girl. When another girl can’t be found, old suspicions are raised from the dead and two men who were once friends but grew apart must work together to solve the mystery and confront a decades old, buried past.

Bling Blang Blung… DONE! The 2011 GoodReads challenge is in the bag!

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I set a goal this year to read 50 books and since I JUST finished book #50, it’s time to celebrate!

I’ve always called myself a voracious reader but in reality I probably read about ten books a year. Then I started writing in earnest and reading a lot helped my writing. So in an effort to feed this symbiotic relationship, I joined the challenge this year.

Looking over the list of the books I’ve read this year, I’m filled with pride and memories. Some were quick reads, some I had to push through. All of them gave me a sense of accomplishment that I’ve been sorely lacking lately.

Next year, I think I’ll add a few more and go for it again! Join me!

30 Days of Books – Day 21: Favorite book from your childhood

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Day 21 – Favorite book from your childhood

On the Banks of Plum Creek- A Laura Ingalls Wilder Book

I probably read this book four or five times one summer, then went to the library and borrowed them all until I made my way through every Little House book.

30 Days of Books- Day 19: Fave book turned into a movie

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Day 19 – Favorite book turned into a movie

Oddly, I am watching it right now. This movie introduced me to John Grisham. It is his debut novel, The Firm, turned into a major motion picture starring Tom Cruise. Of course, the book is better than the film.

From Goodreads:

Mitchell McDeere, raised in the coal-mining region of rural Kentucky, has worked hard to get where he is: third in his class at Harvard Law. He’s young. He’s bright. He’s ambitious. Mitch could have the pick of the big firms in New York and Chicago, but he’s chosen the Memphis tax firm of Bendini, Lambert & Locke. They’re selective. They pay outrageous salaries. They have a turnover rate of zero. And Mitch is about to find out why.Several events fuel Mitch’s growing suspicions: two of the partners die in a suspicious diving accident off Grand Cayman; the senior partners seem unduly proud of the fact that no one has ever resigned; and security measures at the office are, even for a company with billionaire clients, more than a little extreme. Then Mitch makes an explosive discovery: The firm is owned and operated by the most powerful organized crime family in Chicago. Even as Mitch discovers the truth, he finds himself caught between the FBI, who wants an informant inside the firm, and the firm itself, which will make him a very rich man—or a very dead one.

30 Days of Books – Day 15: Fave Male Character

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Day 15 – Favorite male character

I think this one will be kind of obvious… and tomorrow, too. He’s the first character that comes to mind when I think of one I love dearly.

Fitzwilliam Darcy is the male protagonist in Jane Austen’s classic “Pride and Prejudice”.  I saw the BBC Mini Series before I ever read the novel, so Darcy will forever and always be Colin Firth. Speak nothing of that horrific remake with the most uncharismatic Darcy ever. It’s BBC all the way, baby.

I believe what I love about Darcy is that he is the quintessential strong silent type. He is the ultimate gentleman, no matter how rude, terse and tactless. He’s one of those men who may be disliked in public, but in private, treats his lady like a queen.  He often sticks his foot in his mouth because he has no concept of what he should/should not say. However he managed to win over such a strong character like Elizabeth by acting on his feelings and showing her how much he cared for her– by taking care of her family.

I don’t think another male character has ever been more gruff and aloof but endearing to me. Maybe he is the epitome of wanting what you cannot have.

From Goodreads:

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

So begins Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen’s witty comedy of manners–one of the most popular novels of all time–that features splendidly civilized sparring between the proud Mr. Darcy and the prejudiced Elizabeth Bennet as they play out their spirited courtship in a series of eighteenth-century drawing-room intrigues. Renowned literary critic and historian George Saintsbury in 1894 declared it the “most perfect, the most characteristic, the most eminently quintessential of its author’s works,” and Eudora Welty in the twentieth century described it as “irresistible and as nearly flawless as any fiction could be.”

30 Days of Books- Day 14: Fave book by fave author

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GAH  I AM HAVING THE SHAKES. Asking me to pick a favorite is something like cruel and unusual punishment. I swear, I don’t have a favorite! SIGH.

Well. I’ll go with an author that I’ve read A LOT of, and that would be Mr John Grisham. My favorite book from his repertoire would have to be The Broker.

From GoodReads:

In his final hours in the Oval Office, the outgoing President grants a controversial last-minute pardon to Joel Backman, a notorious Washington power broker who has spent the last six years hidden away in a federal prison. What no one knows is that the President issues the pardon only after receiving enormous pressure from the CIA. It seems Backman, in his power broker heyday, may have obtained secrets that compromise the world’s most sophisticated satellite surveillance system.

Backman is quietly smuggled out of the country in a military cargo plane, given a new name, a new identity, and a new home in Italy. Eventually, after he has settled into his new life, the CIA will leak his whereabouts to the Israelis, the Russians, the Chinese, and the Saudis. Then the CIA will do what it does best: sit back and watch. The question is not whether Backman will survive—there is no chance of that. The question the CIA needs answered is, who will kill him?

I had felt like Grisham’s writing was ‘off’ for awhile, but when The Broker came out, I was hooked from page one. It was truly a page turner, deeply suspenseful and entertaining. A 4 star book and  rarely give 4 or 5 stars!  The other book that I almost picked was The Partner, another very suspenseful read.

 

30 Days of Books – Day 13: Favorite Writer

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Day 13 – Your favorite writer

I don’t know. Is that a copout? I could be pretentious here and say Jane Austen, but she’s not really my favorite, LOL.

There are a few authors out there that I love and I read nearly everything they publish: John Grisham, Jon Lescroart, Gillian Flynn, and back in the day, I loved LaVyrle Spencer. A favorite writer, though? I’m not really sure I have one. I’ve certainly put down a Grisham if I didn’t like it, skipped a Lescroart if the synopsis doesn’t look like something I want to dive into. I’m more turned on by a story, and even if the author is an unknown, if the story is good, I’ll read it. And then read everything else they’ve written.

30 Days of Books – Day 12: A Book I used to love

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Day 12: A Book you used to love but don’t anymore.

Today’s topic was HARD! Mostly because my answer isn’t so much a book as it is an author. I know Jodi Picoult has a legion of fans, and it’s not that I  think she’s a terrible writer. It’s just that I don’t read her books anymore.

I blew through three of her novels lightning fast. I’m a quick read when I want to be, but I devoured these  and loved them like a fat kid loves cake (TM 50Cent). After awhile though, I started to realize that a child dies in every book. And lately her books take a sociological/political stance… and that’s not reallywhy I read or topics I want to read about.

I read My Sister’s Keeper after the death of my brother and absolutely bawled through the second half of it. I reread books often. I’ll never read this one again.

From Goodreads:

Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate — a life and a role that she has never challenged…until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister — and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves.

I opted, as well, not to read the rest of Picoult’s novels, simply because they weren’t the kinds of books I wanted to read. And honestly as much as I roll my eyes at “sensitive soul” readers, I just can’t take much of reading about kids dying. It just tears me apart.