Good Reads Lately

This year one of my 36 in 365 goals was to read 25 books from my goodreads list. I'm happy to say I've blown this one out of the water and am already on my 30th book with two months still left in the year. And only one of them did I have to listen to on double speed in order to finish in time for my book club meeting! Some are newer and some are older but hopefully this list of my favourites will help you find a book that you can't put down, because isn't that just the best? All of the summaries and images are copied from goodreads.com.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle's Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol...

We are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
Meet the Cooke family. Our narrator is Rosemary Cooke. As a child, she never stopped talking; as a young woman, she has wrapped herself in silence: the silence of intentional forgetting, of protective cover. Something happened, something so awful she has buried it in the recesses of her mind...

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
When Kimberly Chang and her mother emigrate from Hong Kong to Brooklyn squalor, she quickly begins a secret double life: exceptional schoolgirl during the day, Chinatown sweatshop worked int he evenings. Disguising the more difficult truths of her life like the staggering degree of her poverty, the weight of her family's future resting on he shoulders, or her secret love for a factory boy who shares none of her talent or ambition. Kimberly learns to constantly translate not just her language but herself back and forth between the worlds she straddles...

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist names Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten...


Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

In nineteenth-century China, in a remote Hunan county, a girl named Lily, at the tender age of seven, is paired with a laotong, "old same," in an emotional match that will last a lifetime. The laotong, Snow Flower, introduces herself by sending Lily a silk fan on which she's painted a poem in nu shu, a unique language that Chinese women created in order to communicate in secret, away from the influence of men. As the years pass, Lily and Snow Flower send messages on fans, compose stories on handkerchiefs, reaching out of isolation to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments...

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

August Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school - until now. He's about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, despite appearances?...

Have you read any of these titles? If not, give one a try and let me know how you like it! 

A Dumping of the Brain

You would not believe how many blog posts I have sitting in my draft folding, with only one or two sentences written. Some ideas are from a year ago and others more recent. Some could warrant a post of their own while others do not. All of these drafts somehow give me the feeling of being weighed down so here is my attempt to dump them all into one extremely random post:

(source)

1) NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children. I read this book ages ago. I loved it. I wanted to recap it on my blog because I found it so very interesting, but of course, never got around to doing so. I actually took notes while reading (nerd alert) and probably bored my old boss, Katie, about it because I talked about it so much after I was finished.

Anyway, while reading another blog called hellobee, I discovered that one of the bloggers wrote their own recap about it. If you're interested in how children acquire language, learn about race, why they lie, or the inverse power of praise, read the book (or just the summaries). Really good stuff, in my opinion.



2) Limber Tail Syndrome. We brought Bama to the family cottage and after many hours of swimming his tail looked like this:

instead of the usual, this: 

I felt so bad for the poor boy and thought for sure he broke his tail while jumping off the boat into the water. It turns out that he had limber tail syndrome, which is caused by excessive activity, especially swimming. Certain breeds of dogs are more susceptible to this, including Labs. He seemed to be in pain and would whimper when he got excited because ya know, he wanted to wag his tail. He also had trouble sitting down. I'm glad I used my google-fu to learn about this syndrome rather than bringing him to the vet and spending hundreds of dollars. There's really nothing you can do and it went away in about a week.

3) My Love/Hate Relationship with Cloth Diapering, UPDATE.
Holy smokes, life is so much better when you don't have to share a broken washing machine with a bunch of other tenants, including one crazy lady, and one sorry excuse of a man. We went for months and months with a broken washer which involved me running up and down many many flights of stairs to wash Little m's diapers. Looking back, it was a huge source of stress for me and from start to finish, washing and drying the diapers took me all day. Now we have our own washer and dryer and yeah, it's amazing.


I also made my life a lot easier by deciding to dress Little m in a disposable diaper overnight. For the life of me, I could not figure out how to get the stink out of the cloth diapers that were on the baby for 12+ hours. By using one disposable a day, the stink is gone, and I am a happy camper.

4) We Moved! I love my house. I love my house. I love my house. Um, attached garages are WONDERFUL.

That is all for now. I feel lighter.

Summer So Far...

I've been off work for a month and a half and I'm loving every minute of it! I feel like the last few months have been busier than ever and just this week, I'm feeling a bit more relaxed and that I actually have time to sit down to chill for a few minutes. What have I been up to, you ask?

Baby Related Things

Getting ready for a baby takes a lot of work! Organizing the nursery took up a lot of time, as did washing everything baby related - clothing, cloth diapers, sheets, etc.

I was a good wife and watched M install the car seat, which the inspector said he did perfectly!

I've also been reading a few books on natural birthing, taking childbirth classes, and researching doulas.

Tutoring

In the spring I took on a job with a tutoring company. I'm currently working with only one student until the baby comes, but it is nice to have a bit of extra income coming in.

Volunteering

One of my 36 in 365 goals is to volunteer once a month. Since I've had the free time, I've been volunteering a couple mornings a week at a local soup kitchen. I think it's time to slow this down a bit because standing for 2 1/2 hours is getting a tiring.

Exercising

I've been taking two or three prenatal yoga classes a week, which I absolutely love. I also try to walk at least an hour a day and have taken over dog-walking duties, which seriously, becomes such a chore in this heat and humidity. I feel so sorry for black dogs in the summer.

Nesting

I'm not sure if I'm nesting but I have been very busy cleaning the house and completing random things that have been on my to-do list for ages. Right now my list still has 15 things to finish up, but considering it probably started with 40, I'm not doing too badly!

Cooking

M and I have been trying to eat more "real" foods, so instead of buying things like granola bars (have you ever looked at the ingredients in those?), I've been making my own. We absolutely love Annie P's recipe for 5 minute granola bars. This recipe is so easy, although saying it takes 5 minutes is a bit misleading... I would say 15 minutes from start to finish is more like it!

Having Fun!

I know my life is about to change drastically, so I'm trying to enjoy the freedom while I still can! For example, last week after getting a prenatal massage I went to the Lunchbreak Music Series in Millenium Park and enjoyed a picnic lunch while watching a jazz band perform. This is something I've wanted to do for over a year now!

M's birthday was last weekend, so we went out with friends to celebrate and this pregnant lady stayed up till 5am! Wheeee!

For his birthday dessert, I made my peanut butter lovin' husband this pb pie with oreo crust and real whipped cream to top it. It was too sweet for my liking and I happily left it at our friend's apartment for others to finish off!

Chicago in the summer is all about weekend festivals. On any given weekend from June to September you can find a neighbourhood festival (or 5) going on. Last weekend near our 'hood was the Sheffield Garden Walk and the weekend before that was the Lincoln Park Arts & Music Fest. It's nice to stroll around on a Sunday afternoon and I must say Chicago is a pretty amazing place to be in the summertime.

As I mentioned before, things have finally slowed down this past week and I've had time to read! I've been knocking books off my reading list like crazy. I love finding books I can fly through and finish in a day or two. My recent faves have been Night Road by Kristin Hannah and The Murderer's Daughters by Randy Susan Meyers.

I've also been putting my Groupon addiction to good use and, while using up my vouchers, have become a frozen yogurt connoisseur. Forever Yogurt is the best I've found in the city so far - self serve with 14 flavours and 40 toppings to choose from is simply genius.

So there you have it.. I've been doing a lot of monotonous chores mixed in with a lot of fun activities, which means I've been having a great summer so far! What's up for next month? I think I shall have a baby!

What have you been doing lately?

Good Reads

I've been impressed with a few books I've read lately and thought I'd share! Finding a book you can get lost in is one of life's great pleasures, isn't it? All of these books have been recommended personally or on someone's blog and I copied the book summaries and images from goodreads.com.

Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall

Summary: Meet Denver, a man raised under plantation-style slavery in Louisiana in the 1960s; a man who escaped, hopping a train to wander, homeless, for eighteen years on the streets of Dallas, Texas. No longer a slave, Denver's life was still hopeless-until God moved. First came a godly woman who prayed, listened, and obeyed. And then came her husband, Ron, an international arts dealer at home in a world of Armani-suited millionaires. And then they all came together...

Pictures of You by Caroline Leavitt

Summary: Two women running away from their marriages collide on a foggy highway, killing one of them. The survivor is left to pick up the pieces, not only of her own life, but also must go back and deal with the devastated husband and fragile, asthmatic son the other woman left behind. Together, they try to solve the mystery of where April was running to, and why...

Her Mother's Hope by Francine Rivers

Summary: This sweeping story explores the complicated relationships between mothers and daughters over several generations. Near the turn of the 20th century, fiery Marta leaves Switzerland determined to find life on her own terms. Her journey takes her through Europe and finally lands her with children and husband in tow in the central valley of California. Marta’s experiences convince her that only the strong survive...

Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda.

M's mom recommended this book and indeed it was a good one!

Summary: On the eve of the monsoons, in a remote Indian village, Kavita gives birth to a baby girl. But in a culture that favours sons, the only way for Kavita to save her newborn daughter's life is to give her away. It is a decision that will haunt her and her husband for the rest of their lives, even after the arrival of their cherished son...

Have you read anything good lately?

Faves of 2010 (So Far)

So far in 2010 I have read 43 books. Close to a book a week, with almost two months left! I think I can, I think I can. Let me preface this by saying that a lot of the books I read are admittedly "fluff". Over Christmas vacation when I have two weeks off, I can easily read 5 books. What can I say? I like chick lit and I like quick, easy reads. The best part of reading, for me, is to get away from it all. If this requires too much thinking, it doesn't work.

Looking at my goodreads account, I have ranked 1 of those 43 books as 1 star, 8 as 2 stars, 11 as 3 stars, 17 as 4 stars, and the following 6 as 5 stars.

I guess that means these have been my favourite books this year, in no particular order. In no particular order because I have the worst memory and forget every book I read just as quickly as I've picked it up. I've added a link to the summary of each book if you're interested!

Little Bee by Chris Cleave

Travels by Michael Crichton

(I loved reading about his Kilimanjaro adventure in one of the chapters.)

The Postcard Killers by James Patterson and Liza Marklund

Midwives by Chris Bohjalian

If you forced me to choose my favourite, this would be it.

The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had by Kristin Levine

I have absolutely no recollection of this book, but I guess it was good!

I, Alex Cross by James Patterson

I love you Alex Cross! I love you Sampson!

Can I just say thank goodness James Patterson is writing good books again! He had seriously been going downhill, but as you can see, I have two of his books on my favourites list this year. If you like murder and suspense as much as I do, you've gotta try his Alex Cross series out :)

Also, if you're wondering, I am the library's number one customer (customer because I know how to rack up those late fines). I rarely buy books and only ask for my favourites as gifts. My husband who never reads owns more books than I do.

Do you have any good books to recommend? I currently have only 245 on my to-read list, a few more couldn't hurt!

Finally Done

One of my goals for this year's 36 in 365 was to read Jane Eyre. I finally finished it this weekend. This novel took me a looong time to read (over a month, but that's long for me). I actually had to send it back to the library because I renewed it the maximum number of times, then had to take it out again to finish.

I began this book on a plane ride to Chicago. The man next to me said it must be pretty good because I didn't put it down once the entire flight! And the beginning was so good! But the middle got a bit boring and thankfully the end finished strong.

Jane Eyre, in short, is a woman who stands her moral ground and stays true to her heart. Knowing this book was published in 1847 makes me like it more than I might have because it's so progressive. I don't want to spoil anything for you, just go read it yourself!

Overall, this is not an "easy" book to read but it is a true classic. There are many parts I enjoyed and I'd rate it a 3.5 out of 5. I really wanted to love this book. Perhaps I'm not a classic type of gal?

Outliers: Book Review

I've always been interested in why people turn out the way they do and how some people succeed in this world while others do not.

Outliers is the first book in a long time that's made me rethink what I learned while studying psychology at university and think about the reasons why certain things occur.

Is Bill Gates a success story because he's smart? hardworking? in the right place at the right time? born in a certain time period?

The author tries to minimize rags to riches stories and suggests that successful people are where they are because they had the right opportunities at exactly the right time.

Is it purely a coincidence that two-thirds of Canada's pro hockey players were born in January or February?

Should children born in December be kept back from starting school, as they will have the same expectations as children who are potentially 11-12 months older? Do December babies ever catch up?

These are a few of the topics discussed in the book. Is the author one-sided? Yes. But he got me thinking, and that's the important thing! I'd recommend this book for anyone who's interested in analyzing human behaviour. 4/5 Stars!

I Love Books

Since November 5th last year, I have read (or listened to) approximately 73 books. Not bad, not bad! I read A LOT during the summer, and I also read a lot last year because my job sucked and I had the extra time.

A few of those 73 books have been amazing, can't put them down, love them so much I want to read all day books. I like using goodreads.com because I rate each book and when people ask what I'd recommend I can look at my list and suggest the books that I've given 5 stars.

My favourite book this year has been The Opposite of Love by Julie Buxbaum, which is one of the few books I now own. Thanks to M's family I received it as a gift last Christmas! I've also really enjoyed books by Ruth Reichl, who was a food critic for the New York Times, and an incredible writer, in my humble opinion.

One thing I've noticed through keeping a goodreads list is that I read a ton more nonfiction than I ever realized! My 36 in 365 goal of reading 5 nonfiction books this year was way too easy.

Thinking about all this lead me to search for the BBC's top 100 books. I found about 10 different lists and don't know which one is proper, so I closed my eyes and just chose one. How many of these have you read? I've put a star beside the ones I can remember reading.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling *
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell *
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger *
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott *
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling *
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling *
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling *
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl * (Currently reading to my class!)
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery *
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell *
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett *
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding *
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl *
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding *
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl *
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley *
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

My total is 16. That's it! Some of these I've never heard of and some I'd like to read eventually in my lifetime!

Books, my second true love. I think I'll go read.

The Time Traveler's Wife

I am reading this book right now and absolutely loving it. I loved it from the first page of the prologue.

I have 150 pages left to read and hope I still love it at the end. I was very, very confused for the first chapter because well.. it's about time travel and I couldn't figure out what was happening.

The movie is coming out on August 14 and if you're like me, I can't see the movie if I haven't read the book! You can watch the trailer to wet your whistle, but be forewarned there are spoilers.



If I had to rate this book now I'd give it 5 out of 5 stars. It's just so good. Thanks to M's friend at work who lent it to me. Go find a copy, pronto!

Ohhhh, Harry..

I am a huge Harry Potter fan. A few years ago when M and I were traveling in Germany, we couldn't resist, bought book six, and I'm sad to admit, spent a lot of time laying in bed reading! In Germany! What's wrong with us! Granted, it was cold and rainy the entire time we were there, but still...

Anyway, one of my 36 in 365 goals was to read all of the books again before the next movie comes out on July 15th. I have to do this to refresh my memory or else I won't know what the heck is going on. It's like a new adventure every time I read one!

I have been wondering if it's possible to read all seven books in one month, and I think it's not. That won't stop me from trying though! I have returned all of my library books so I can FOCUS. I've also been thinking of ways to speed up the process, and thought I could possibly read one of the books to my class. Is that selfish?! I think they'd like it!

In the past, I have used Harry quite a bit in teaching, and the kids love it. For Media Lit, we once discussed how a book may have many different covers, created for different audiences and reasons. Below are just a few covers for the first book, and there are so many more!

It's all very interesting, isn't it, or am I just a nerd?

My Productive Weekend

I was busy, busy over the long weekend and got so many things done, it was great! I completed ALMOST everything on my to-do list. Here are a few things I did that I took pictures of:

Lots of reading! I really like the author, Ruth Reichl - this is the third book of hers that I've read. She is or was a food critic for the New York Times and it's very funny to read about her experiences there.

I also tried a new green tea latte from Second Cup, which tasted exactly like hot green tea ice cream! Yum!

M and I decided on a few pictures to get printed off and put them into frames (one of my 36 in 365 goals). Now I just need to find a place to display them. The first picture is from last summer in Thailand, the second was from our Europe trip in 2005, and the last is one of my favourite pictures from our wedding. Everyone is au natural in it- the best man is sorta doing the splits, a groomsman is checking his cell phone, my sister-in-law is fixing her hair, etc.

I decided to go to High Park to see if any cherry blossoms were left, but they were long gone. I did find this tiny waterfall. That place is so huge I see something new every time I go.

M bought a bunch of steaks from someone's fundraiser at work, so we made a nice dinner with roasted veggies, mushrooms, onions, and of course some wine!

We also went out for drinks a couple of times (yay for having a friend who lives nearby now) and found a restaurant that has 50 flavours of wings! We tried butter chicken, sweet and sour, satay, and mesquite. Oh yes.

M and I also saw a couple of movies, and if you haven't seen I Love You Man yet, go see it! There were only 6 of us in the theatre so I didn't want to laugh too loud, but oh man it was funny.

Only 28 more school days... I think I might just make it!

Read-a-holic

Today I started and finished this book.

I am awesome! Or I just have no life?

source

What can I say, I love Jon and Kate. It wasn't half bad, either! A solid 3/5. This is my fourth non-fiction book this year. I've almost reached my 36 in 365 goal. Only one more to go, and it's going to be a good one. I'm so excited!

source

You Have a Nice Chagrin?

I am currently reading The Host by Stephenie Meyer (author of the Twilight series). I started it at the beginning of April and am still only 100 pages into it. That's unheard of for me! It's just not that spectacular. I find myself daydreaming through a lot of it, actually.

There are lots of other books I'd like to start, but I know if I put The Host down it'll be a long time before I pick it back up. Then I'd have to re-read what I've already read, etc, etc. How long do you wait to give a book a chance? I am definitely not afraid of stopping a book mid-way through, because what's the point, if you're not enjoying it?

Anyway, back to the real point of this post. As I was reading last night before bed, I came to this sentence: "The chagrin in her tone was not because I was upset, but because she did not like being wrong."

Oh no she didn't!

Stephanie Meyer LOVES the work chagrin. In her Twilight books, she uses it all the time. It was especially bad when I was reading the book aloud to M - you're much more conscious of words when you have to read each one out loud. Every time I came to that word, it was so funny, because really, who says that on a regular basis? I didn't even really know what it meant until I looked it up! Thank you dictionary.com!

And thank you, Stephenie Meyer, for increasing my vocabulary, but please, stop using that word so much! Thanks.

The Saga Continues!

Here's the floor of our living room tonight!

If you look closer, you will see the guilty pleasures that I'm so excited to continue while on vacation! The Twilight series! Oh yeah. I started New Moon earlier this week, so that'll go in my carry on, and the rest of the series in my suitcase. That's about 10 pounds of books! I hope to finish all of them, but that is a whole lot of reading in a short period of time. What can I say, I have great expectations!

When M. got his wisdom teeth out back in November, I started reading him Twilight, and have been waiting patiently for a good time to start the next books... so much to read, so little time. Well the time has come... wheeeeeeeeeeeee!

The Film Club

My 36 in 360 goals are coming along nicely! I have officially completed 5 of my goals, with many more in the works.

One of my goals is to read five non-fiction books this year, mainly just to broaden my knowledge and force myself to read books that I normally wouldn't pick up.

My brother G. suggested checking out "The Film Club" by David Gilmour because it has been shortlisted for the Charles Taylor Prize this year (winner to be picked on March 3rd).

I liked this book quite a bit! I gave it 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. The story is about how David allows his 16 year old son to drop out of school, with the agreement that they will watch 3 movies a week together. It was a quick, light, humourous read. And I now have a list of 16 movies that I want to watch! It might have been better if I was an old movie buff and could relate to what they were saying about the movies, but I still really enjoyed it!

Many people on Goodreads gave this book terrible reviews, saying it was "a self-serving craptastic piece of writing" or "God awful" or "pompous". I passed this book on to M. to read, so we'll see what he thinks when he's done! Go see for yourself!

A Case of the Thursdays

1) Thursdays make me tired. It's my favourite school day (2 preps!) and so close to the weekend, but by Thursdays I am dead tired.

Okay, enough complaining. Today I stepped out of my comfort zone and went to a book club meeting I found on meetup.com. I've been looking for a book club to join and none of my friends here seem like big readers, so I figured I'd give meetup a try. I'm glad I did! It was fun!

We went out for dinner at a Thai restaurant, had a really good discussion, and I met some nice girls. It's different for me to actually "think" about a book I read. I mean, I think about the story a little bit, then move on. I rarely, if ever, think about the themes, underlying messages, and reasons why I liked the book or not. I usually just think, yeah, that was good.. okay, next! So this was a nice change and I'll definitely go again!

The book, by the way, was called Mudbound, by Hillary Jordan. I thought it started off a little slow, but really picked up. The average rating given was 8/10, so if you're looking for an interesting book, read this one! (1940's, war, poverty, racism).

2) I am excited about this:
I need Jillian Michaels to whip me into shape! I'm going to start this weekend and do the video for 30 days straight. That is how it is recommended to be used. So... that is my new goal. Wish me luck!

Let's Be Friends!

Here is my pile of books. I'm stressed! So many books, so little time! I love the public library, I really do, but sometimes the timing of my holds is less than perfect. Only three weeks to get through all of these? Impossible! And where do I start?

I'm actually quite excited to read a few of these books, especially:
-The Hour I First Believed, the newest Wally Lamb book
-My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult, which my mom bought me
-Paris to the Moon, by Adam Gopnik, which was part of my birthday present from M.
-and Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon, just because I want to know what the hype is all about

I am also attending my first Book Club meeting this week about the book Mudbound, by Hillary Jordan, and I'm only on page 50 of 300! Eek! I gotta go read!

Okay, but the real reason for this post was to tell you about the Goodreads website. This is a website to track the books you've read, get recommendations from friends (pretty hard when you don't have any), read reviews, rate books, etc. I always wanted a way to keep track of the books I read, and this is perfect! It's really easy to sign up. Come on, let's be friends. Please? Don't let my mother be my only friend!