the jacket says...

"marcia willett captured the hearts of rosamunde pilcher and maeve binchy fans..." any other thought and/or opinions out there about marcia willett?

i was shelving today and grabbed the way we were... actually just based on the title--oh, hubble gardner, you make me swoon!

but knowing it's author has been compared to the great ladies of the genre, i'm a little excited to see what is in store for me here...

* * * * *

a prayer for owen meany took me forever to listen to, but what an amazing book... this maybe one of my new favorite books... maybe.

what happens when your best friend thinks he's God's instrument... from the time he was 11... and after he accidentally killed your mom... your mom, whom he declared had the "best bosom" of all of the moms...

or how do you continue to be friends with him when he knows that as God's instrument, his life has a point and a mission and that all of it leads up to the day he dies? everything in his life has a reason behind it, and he knows it...

the thing i think most struck me about this book is the fact that john and owen stayed friends thru thick and thin... there was a trust there that is rare in friendships, i fear. they worked as a team, not one better than the other. they accepted (loved?) one another as the brothers they didn't have...

i highly recommend this book. i haven't read anything else by john irving, but have loved the world according to garp before i even was old enough to understand all of the humor. this one will get you hooked on john irving and you'll want to read them all! (and he's got a new one just out--last night in twisted river)

happy reading

a conscious is worth a thousand witnesses...

i love the way beth gutcheon writes. it’s clean and simple, and subtly knocks your sox right off... but in a wholly satisfying way.

i grabbed more than you know off of a display because of the cover, checked it out because of it being set in maine, and loved it so much that i went to half.com and bought all of her books that i could get my hands on. she is gem that has maybe yet to be noticed and appreciated! now, if i could get my hands on the one i lent out…

saying grace is centered around a private day school in california. it’s a progressive school, as you might have guessed, and the head of the school is rue. she’s open-minded, she’s fair, and she’s kind to those around her—and she expects the same from those she leads, works for, and teaches. and of course, few people often play by those rules. one memoriable passage is where rue is trying to teach a class about the golden rule and the meaning of the maxim: a conscious is worth a thousand witnesses...

how many people actually live by that rule? or how many rather live by: it’s only bad if you get caught! the real punishment comes from failing to squeak under the radar, not from the crime. it's an interesting thought, because how do you teach your kids to be decent people when the people--the world--around them doesn’t play by the same rules as you’re teaching?

well, you hope there are people like rue in the world. her ways may not be the popular way, but when rue is pushed into a corner, and everything starts to crumble—her school, her marriage and her family—she scrambles and claws for the “top,” hoping to rise above and keep everyone afloat with her. and then her buoy, her closest confidante, her love walks away—to his new confidante, a new love? she gracefully bows out. but in doing so, she doesn't then turn her back on her beliefs because it feels better, nor does she throw barbs to hurt those who hurt her.

this a nice reminder to be good people. because try as we might we don’t always treat each other as we would like to be treated. we get caught up in what makes us feel good at the moment, not considering other people in the process. i don’t know if that makes us bad, misguided mayhaps. at some point, we all turn to the wrong person, put faith in the wrong people and eventually get hurt... and then wish things could change back to how they used to be. and yet, saying grace shows us that things do turn around with enough patience. i’m not sure in real life that’s the case… but maybe.

happy reading!

life imitating art...

is the truth stranger than fiction, really?!

*does fiction dictate our realities?

*does fiction come from the realities of life?

*interesting stuff to contemplate...

happy reading!

not a reader?! what?!

on fridays, i have a ritual.

i take the boys to school, walk around the river, go to weight watchers and then go to great harvest for my cinnamon-chip scone and tea. yes, i do see the irony.

but more importantly; as i was enjoying my scone, i was reading madhur jaffery’s climbing the mango trees. this is a beautiful memoir about this woman growing up in india, and the food memories she has. it’s a universal theme—this idea of food invoking memories. everyone has these memories from their childhood or travels…

{ring ring}

and i’m pulled out the of the heat and sepia images of picnics in india, to the wet, dreary morning in idaho falls by the guy next to me. he’s sitting alone, making calls and answering them in the effort (i surmise) to not be alone. and so i go back to india and the picnics.

"you in school?"

my eyes slide across the page to the guy, who then again asks me, “are you in school?”

“um… yeah… kinda…”

“is that why you’re reading that book?”

“um… no…”

“you’re reading for fun?”

“yes”

“that’s crazy. i can’t imagine reading for fun…”

“hmmm…” and then i though that was the saddest thing. if you’re reading this silly little blog, you read for fun… and you can understand what i’m talking about. can you imagine your life devoid of the joy you have from reading? so as the librarian i am, i say, “you haven’t met the right book.”

“what?!” now he’s startled.

“people need to meet the right book to help them enjoy reading… and i don’t think you’ve read the right book.”

“i never liked reading…”

“maybe you didn’t have anyone to show you that reading can be fun"

“i’ve never been married, either… you think i haven’t met the right woman either?”

“that’s not my area of expertise, but maybe…” and in light of other weirdness in my life, i stuck my nose back into my book, deeply.

and i was again transported back to new dehli, to family-joint homes full of aunts and uncles and cousins, the smells of cardamom, cumin, and cinnamon, the lush gardens blowing cooling breezes thru the house… and then came thoughts of what if no one had ever given me the gift of reading.

where would i be today?

i’d be sitting alone in great harvest on a dreary, wet october morning. luckily for me, i was in india this morning...

happy reading

when I was in college getting my minor in creative writing—yes, i fancied myself as a writer—i began to write this murder mystery set in denver, more specifically in the area of cherry creek. i plugged in all kinds of things i loved about the area and tried to give it a feeling of the times with clothes and music and pop-culture references… and then this girl, (yes, petty me remembers her name—jenny ashby) critiqued my progress with, “no one cares about what brand name of clothes the characters are wearing, or what restaurants they went to. using these references will date your book.”

date my book? did she think i was writing silas marner? um… have i read silas marner? i was doing what the professor asked us to do: write about what you know. i know about girls, purses, shoes, music and local denver restaurants. but i was easily detoured, and kinda let that fiction writer in me die… except when every now and then, when i read a book full of pop-culture, and that snarky little writer in me comes hissing back to life to mutter not-so-nice things about miss ashby’s comments—which is probably why i can remember her name—on a story that i started to write in 1993!

so that leads me to robert rave’s book SPIN, which i just read… and lauren weisberger’s everyone worth knowing (EWK) that i read about 3 years ago. the two books are about the “beautiful” life of being seen, about two fairly nice people who fall into the world of PR firms and get caught up in the glamour, the parties, the celebs, the gossip and the complete loss of morals to get ahead of the rest of the pack… and these books are chock full of references to current celebrities, haute-est fashion, cutting edge music and pop-culture.

SPIN is told from a man’s point of view, and is more about taylor regaining the balance of power with a “nasty” boss… when she {pretty much} neuters him. EWK is told from with a feminine protagonist. bette’s story is softer in they way that she just wants her life (and privacy) back after the tables are turned. EWK is not too far from the devil wears prada nor chasing harry winston--look! the references are right there in the title. weisenberger gives us a taste of the life that looks so much better on the surface, and then a smack of reality to put all of the bling back into proportion…

and to my fellow-student’s credit, my college efforts may not have been anywhere good enough to carry a string of pop-culture references, so i don't fault her for those comments. and these other books probably aren’t high literature now and probably never will be. but then again, look at the valley of the dolls or sidney sheldon’s novels—pure pleasure reading and saturated in references from the time they were written, but does that make them any less fun to read? no, and SPIN and EWK were just that—fun reads. i was sucked in and enjoyed being there.

by the way, both books mentioned bungalow 8. i thought it was part of weisberger’s creative license for her book, but it appears it’s to be a real nyc place, a real place to be seen. and it seems it’s as hot of a spot in 2009 as it was in 2006—maybe some cultural references are a good thing… although, i don’t think i could still get in!

happy reading!

ps: jenny ashby, a very sincere thank you for giving me something to write about!

some peoples' mothers...

you may have read my previous posting about not being able to see a certain author in denver when she was visiting the tattered cover bookstore. i was disappointed, to say the least.

so, a few weeks after that post, i'm chatting my mom up on a saturday morning...

me: so what are your plans today
she: well, i have to go do somethings at church
me: all day?
she: nooo...
me: well, what else are you doing?
she: daddy's going to a car show
me: and you...
she: i don't know if i want to tell you
me: why? {my eyes narrow in that way that only children can do so well when they are being left out of something...}
she: i'm going to tucson with daddy...
me: but you're not going to the car show
she: no... i'm going to barnes and nobel...
me: {seething silence}
she: i need to be there at two
me: {more seething silence}
she: jen?
me: is she there?
she: {holding back her sardonic giggles} yes!!

needless to say, "she" would be diana gabaldon.

i know there's at least one person out there saying something like, a year ago i couldn't get you to read the books. and now you're a groupie?

no, that's not quite how it is. my new BFF, jamie larue (librarian-extraordinaire) nailed it on the head when he said something like this: when you are in the real-life space of an author, you create a personal connection to the work. because you get a glimpse in their head... and like i've already said--i want to meet/see/ listen to the woman behind these books. i'm facinated with how she spins these tales...

my mom summed it up in the text i received that saturday afternoon:

she is DELIGHTFUL!

as if there were any doubt!

happy reading...

random literary memoirs of d-town

ok, at home i used to buy all, most, of my books at the tattered cover --

its one of those great independent bookstores that you want to support so that they stay around to keep the bookstore tyrants on their toes. i used to go all the way to the cherry creek store because it had at least 4 floors of twists-and-turns, and nooks-and-crannies to find all kinds of literary treasures... not only on the shelves were there treasures to find, but the TC always has the best authors come for readings.

my best-home-town-friend, crystal and i saw amy tan (in the LoDo TC after a very fine meal at the wynkoop brewery) when she was touring with the bonesetter's daughter. it was 2001, and it was remarkably memorable night for some reason... i remember that i had a thai cobb salad (say it out loud, it's funny) and crystal and i talked about her baby that was coming soon. i think it was the last time she and i hung out sans bebes... but anyway, amy talked about being a daughter and watching her mother grow old, and the parallel relationship between the mother and daughter in the book. i don't know how to say this without sounding like a cheeseball, but hearing her talk about drawing on her real life to create a novel, made it so much more personal... so much better!

oh, yeah... so much better... maybe because meeting the author creates a spark between the writer and book-reader, it makes the book come to life in the author's voice. when i met maeve binchy, my mom and i were in the old cherry creek TC store. it was the lent season of 1999, when i was expecting ryan and trying to give up chocolate for 6 weeks... did i mention that the TC had a wonderful coffee bar? it did, and i was able to enjoy maeve talk (with her lovely irish lilt) about her life, writing tara road and then read chapter three (the one where ria and annie are shopping) over delicious hot carmelly cocoa. in itself, it was great... but the best part of being at the TC with maeve was that we were last in line to have our book signed! what?! how is that good?! she took just 30 seconds beyond writing her name in the book said to me (me being 6 months pregnant) and say that mothers are wonderful people in world with very important jobs and SHE RUBBED MY TUMMY!

(i'm sitting here verklempt, just thinking about it!)

over the years, my "status" has offered me many opportunities to meet other authors and hear them speak, but there is nothing like the intimacy between authors and fans that is offered at the tattered cover.

with this said, and again you are asking "what's your point?" well, my point is that diana gabaldon is going to be at the highland's ranch TC tonight!!!!! i want to meet this woman who writes these HUGE and all-absorbing books, i want to hear her speak about her craft and i want to know if she writes these books to continue her (and ours) love affair with jamie fraser!!

i also just finished reading voyager, so visions of jamie and claire are fresh in my mind... so many twists and turns! i know i'm not giving too much away when i say, we are once again led to believe that jamie has died. from dragonfly in amber, claire goes back to her time, has jamie's child, stays married to frank, becomes a doctor... and yet {not unsurprising to me} during those 20 years, she still yearns for jamie. after getting some news on jamie, claire gives up everything for voyages {again} thru the stones, scotland, paris and into jamaica... and setting us up for book four--in the states!

yep, i'd love to hear diana talk about the new (7th in the series) book, an echo in the bone.

here's my question... which author have you heard and loved! the one who really made an impact on you? never met an author... how about the one you'd really like to meet? or how about this, if you could have lunch with one author, who would you invite?!

happy reading!

i couldn't help myself, part two...

i gobbled up perfect fifths like a person starved! i'm not kidding...

let me tell you about jessica darling and i... she and i met on a trip i was making from nashville back to idaho falls a few years ago. you see, flying into idaho falls isn't very easy because there are just a few flights a day that come into our little airport. so in addition to all of the plane changes from tennessee, i had a 5 hour layover in my least favorite city in the WORLD--salt lake!! luckily, i had thought ahead and packed several books. i saved sloppy firsts for last because i wasn't sure about it. on a last minute whim, i plucked off of the shelving cart as i was walking out of the library the week prior. it had a bright cover, and i thought what the hell... how bad can it be?! all it had to do was distract me from all that is SLC.

um... distract? how about absorb, fascinate, grip, bewitch, captivate, charm, enchant, hypnotize, mesmerize; monopolize... (yes, i can use a thesaurus) whatever, megan mccafferty had me--i was lost in new jersey with jessica. jessica... my kindred literary spirit. i think there are books where people can identify with characters--i'm not an elizabeth bennet, scout finch, or even the female equivalent of holden caulfield. sometimes i feel like anna karenina... and that's another story. jessica is snarky. and we all know that's one of my favorite traits in a person, as long as it's not directed to me!

needless to say, i finished sloppy firsts in the wee hours of that monday morning. i had to. i needed to get to work to get second helpings and charmed thirds... who cares about my real life? i was lost in the teen-angst of jessica as she maneuvered thru high school in new jersey and into college in the city, her family, her friends, her lusts and, whatever it was with marcus. oh, marcus... ever yearn for something that is so so so bad?!

ok, that's marcus!

then i had to WAIT! me, yes, me, wait 6 long months for the release of fourth comings {actually, my least favorite of the series} and maybe because i was let down, i fell off the jessica darling radar! and here i am in the in the local bookstore this summer when i saw this cover taunting me because i had no idea it was coming out! i had to buy it for my very own, then and there--as i actually own the whole of the series.

but you might be asking at this point, so what?!

although, i never, ever want to be in high school again, being with jessica wa kind of like being with me.. we both seemed to feel the pressure of friends, the ridiculous heavy weight of virginity, the want to feel that electrified shock from being in the full rush of first love/lust, of parents and looming future of graduation, college, and then what?! toss in the ins and outs, sometimes silence, cryptic communication of the said object of love/lust... it creates a very confused girl. a very confused girl i think almost any woman can relate to, on some level. and as we "grown ups" have survived our teens, we... i... want to see jessica out of the limbo and at peace, happy with {or without} marcus. in perfect fifths (don't you love these titles?!) jessica has been off marcus for almost 2 years and then she runs into him at the newark airport--literally runs into him as she is about to miss her plane. then in her ever-sharp wit, gut-wrenching reality of the situation and on-top-of-it popular culture ways, mccafferty ends the series...

read this series--you will be disappointed, and then not, and then again and then...

i'm not the only one who thinks this series is a gem:

• “Judy Blume meets Dorothy Parker.”—The Wall Street Journal (this one is my favorite!!)
• “Jessica offers brilliant and cutting insights into the world of the adolescent about-to-be-a-woman.”—Chicago Sun-Times
• “Megan McCafferty’s hilarious coming-of-age novels are getting better as Jess gets older. . . . Acidly funny, imaginatively profane and, above all, a sharp reflection of the what-do-I-do-now, postcollege dilemma.”—Miami Herald

oh, and don't ever forget about the greatest showman of the generation... the soundtrack to the books!

i couldn't help myself!

okay, so i didn't put the castaways aside like i said... i just couldn't!

so here is the thing:

• four sets of couples that are friends.
• one set dies.
• affairs arise.
• infatuations arise.
• hurt and anger arise.
• guilty feelings arise.
• and yet, the six remaining survive... friendships intact.
  

i didn't want to read this book any further than the point where the affair was revealved because we have these 3 couples that we pal around with, and i didn't want to think about what creepiness is lying, laying (whatever) underneath the drunken flirting and innuendos we throw at each other when we're together. there is room for wandering, fighting, jealousy, judgements and hurt because:

• none of our marriages are perfect, there are comparisons among husbands--and wives, if i should/could venture a guess...
• we raise our kids all differently, and we're all critical about each others skill of this to a fault...
• some of us are more secure financially, some are constantly struggling...

but what this book did to me, is show that i'm so blessed with this family of friends that are so entrenched with me, and i with them, that together we can weather any storm that comes our way. it sounds corny, but don't we all want friends like that?!

so thanks, elin, for writing a book that made me uncomfortable, that sucked me in, and showed me that friends are indeed the family we get to choose! oh, and for making nantucket sound even better than i'd ever imagined...

___________________

something else--because i'm feeling extra chatty tonight... as i was over at Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'? today, and she got me thinking too! this just pisses me off: why don't people think the books i read/recommend are as good as i said they were... they didn't love them as much as i did! i mean, come on, i am a book peddler. i think i know my stuff... so to answer her questions:

• Is there a book you don’t understand why others haven’t liked it? yes-- the english patient ... okay, i read this question wrong!! I LOVE THE ENGLISH PATIENT, book and movie... but i can't seem to get into the ever popular harry potters, the lord of the rings trilogy, or the twilight series no matter how people love to tell me i'm wrong!!
• Have you ever tried to convince others about why they should have like a book? no--because i can't begin to understand what's wrong with this person who disagrees... with ME?!
• Has someone ever tried to convince you of a book’s merits? yes-- and i have a few things to say about that. (1) i don't like required reading--don't hound me. (2) i don't like fantasy or sci-fi... sorry, i can't wrap my head around it. maybe i'm not as smart as i thought, but please don't hound me about vampires and house gobblins. (3) diana gabaldon... i'm so sorry i resisted you for so long!

and... i've just cracked into the last in the series of Jessica Darling by megan mccafferty--perfect fifths. and marcus flutie still does it for me : )

happy reading!

ooooky...

i'm sorry...

i have to put the castaways aside for a bit...

elin hilderbrand has cooked up this story about four couples who are the "best" of friends... on the surface. you know, they do a bunch of stuff together: eat, raise their kids, vacation, whatnot... but now that i've read enough to dip bit below the surface, ugly things are coming into light.

so, what's the drama?! the drama for me is i have this same scenario, and all of the sudden, going to have a beer at the {new} idaho brewing company after work with my friend-- who happens to be a guy--makes me feel more than a little oooky. not because there is a reason to feel that way--no guilty feelings, but because ... oh, i don't know... it's weird how these "things" can slowly evolve... eeww...

don't get me wrong--i'm loving the book... but i need to step back and take a refreshing deep breath. have you read this book? am i being as ridiculous as always? most likely...

happy reading!

can you expand on that please...

oh, dear, miss rebecca... i'm afraid that you may have forgotten to add somethings to your new book, the crowing glory of calla lily ponder because altho i finished the book, i'm definitely not finished with this story! i did take liberal "reading breaks" this weekend because i couldn't put this book down--i escaped to "water" a friend's garden for an hour and a half, and locked myself in the tub for two hours. but never-you-mind about that.

now i'm sure you want to know what i think about the book, and of course, i loved it... i loved it so much that i want MORE! i'm going to give you a list of the things i'd like to see more of:

• i'm dying to know the romantic history of calla's parents, and where did m'dear come from rather than mama...
• i want to have a whole, entire book about sweet and calla, from beginning to end and their life in the big N.O... if i had a better glimpse of that, maybe i'd have been more ready to let him, oh, you know...
• i want to know more about sukey and her mom, and what shaped her to be who she was. and i need more information about the whole bunny lifestyle, especially in new orleans...
• i'd also like to get more background about the tuckers, their daughter and and that whole thing...
• what happened to tuck in california...
• and i were to ask for more about calla, sukey and renee (oh, man, i've kinda forgotten the other friend's name) growing up, are we then crossing into ya-ya territory. probably, so i won't ask.
  

now don't for a minute think that i'm going to pull a teddy duchamp {again}, and want to know what happens after the story ends. i'm actually okay with the ending... it's the fact that i had to leave la luna, louisanna when i turned the last page that makes me melancholy. there is something about the south that is so intoxicating to this rocky mountain girl, and the town of la luna has got to have many more stories to sate my selfish reading wants!

okay, miss rebecca, you now know what i want... but because i eat up everything you write, i guess i'll let you write what you want and be satisfied with that. the crowning glory of calla lily ponder is a great story, mayhaps a skeleton to flesh out with more books? maybe? i will be patient...

warmly- jh

PS: but maybe because i'll be recommending this to everyone at the library, maybe you could help me out and give me a little something more about la luna. thanks!

watch miss rebecca talk about the new book...

walking away...

the richest season has similiarities to anne tyler's ladder of years...

on the spur of the moment, almost as a fleeting thought, these women leave their homes and families because they just can't do it anymore...

um, hello...

who hasn't wanted to run-away for a while every now and then?

it sounds like such a freedom to leave behind everything that wasn't working in your life...

starting your life over as someone entirely different, leaving the past and embarking on a better future...

doing things that you weren't able to try because of limits--self-imposed or otherwise...

is it okay to react to the selfishness with more selfishness?

is it the only way to be heard? is it punishment for those left at home?

i don't know.

i chose this book because it was about pawley's island in south carolina, because i love books about the south. it was about the beach, and i love books about the beach... little did i know it would be an cautionary epistle about what happens when there is a loss of communication breaking down relationships.

it's easy to look back in hindsight and see how it happens... but is it as easy to identify the grind when it's gradually eroding everything important around you? when do the important things that we once held so close drift away? are we really so busy that we don't notice when we get caught up in work, in kids' activities, my friends versus your friends...? it's scary.

but then again, do we escape only to save our loved ones from the pain we will unavoidingly inflict? this is one of those books with two characters running away for two different reasons...

happy reading!

(is unavoidingly a word? i need a proofreader)

(photograph of pawley's island was shamelessly swiped from blue sky gallery)

i love the ocean...

that's why i chose the richest season by maryann mcfadden... am i the only one who chooses books by their covers?

or what about books about the ocean... beach music, body surfing, colony, shell seekers, barefoot, the ocean within, an ocean apart, off-season, comig home, summer sisters. the beach house, the sound of waves...

any other good beach books?

shameless plug...

i have been reading other the book blogs in the world, and seeing that they kinda talk about the books, and what the books are about, and have this really nice review about the book... and then i looked here and saw that you all are privy to my deepest, darkest thoughts about what i'm reading! is it a blessing or a curse?! it could be why no one is sending me free books to review!!well, whatever, i'll let you chew on that... (as well as my obvious addiction to ellipsisesssss...)

anyway, about this shameless plug... do you know about NextReads? this is a very cool tool that libraries offer their patrons to help them decide what they want to... um... read next. it's a newsletter thingy that is sent to you via your email--but wait before you think SPAM... it only sends you lists of new and older books that INTEREST YOU!!! fabulous idea, right?! unfortunately, your library has to subscribe to the service... so get on your librarians and tell them this is a great thing and YOU WANT IT!! if you want to see a trial newsletter, let me know and i'll email you a link.

another very cool thing i just learned in library school (only 9 more semesters to go, in case you were wondering!) is randomhouse.com... yeah, these are the publisher/distributor people, but their website has a lot of great tools, like author alerts, book lists for almost everything you can think of and newsletters too! of course, i have signed up for a bunch of author alerts because i don't want my patrons to know about these before i do, because they get their name on the list and i have to WAIT! wait? no. i don't do that.

so here is my question: rosamunde pilcher is almost 86... do you think we'll see another book? in light of all of these deaths, i'm really hating mortality.

the rush of the "hook-up"

nick and norah's infinite playlist

by rachel cohn and david levithan made me all squishy with the memories of those times with that heady rush of emotion/lust* when you first meet the boy, and when the boy finally kisses you and you feel like you will implode if he stops kissing you...

but then your mind wanders into the mire of uncertainty and self-doubt... does he really like me, he's way too nice--he can't be trusted, what will i do if he doesn't call me tomorrow, or the next day, or the next...

why do we do that?!

or am i being too encompassing in thinking that this is a common thing, and this is just my deal!? i mean, now i do the same thing with grown-up women i meet and want to be friends with. i think things are going great, until i start rethinking all of my words and thoughts...

really? i said THAT?

seriously?!

i didn't see this movie before i read the book, but i wonder if a movie can do the book any justice whatsoever. the book is written with rachel cohn writing norah's thoughts and feelings and david levithan giving us insight to nick and what's going on in his head. i don't know how the movie could explain the rush of emotions driving these two together, apart and together all night in the club scene of manhattan. the feelings are raw, sweet and a little sad, but they are real feelings.

this book won the ALA Best Books for Young Adults 2007 and the ALA Quick Pick for Young Adult Reluctant Readers 2007. it reads super fast and is a full of music references. and if you're looking for a more "mature" yet no-less gut-wrenching book with lots of music in it, try love is a mixed tape by rob scheffield

off to bed with anita shreve's the last time they met...

happy reading!

(*remember what it was like to see jake ryan waiting on his red porche for molly ringwald at the end of sixteen candles... that goosebumpy feeling)

then what?!

ok, this morning, i feel like corey feldman in stand by me when he says. "then what happened" at the end of the barf-o-rama story... and not because i do giggle at the most inane things like a pre-pubescent boy. but because upon finishing swapping lives, i want to know what happened next!

it's not because i can't see the value of an open-ended story, but because jane green wrote this story that you can't help to get meshed into! and so by the end, your emotionally tied to these women and are hoping that they do go on to better people because of the swap.

well, i don't feel that way completely... i didn't like amber. total social climber. i've witnessed the keeping up with the jones' east coast style personally, and those chicks kinda freak me out. but i did feel for her losing herself in mommy/wife-dom. and maybe her whole character was too close to real life for me... and that's why i loved vicki. single. londoner. great job. funny. what's there not to love and covet? and then there's bill-the chicken man with a sexy bum and hugh janas {say it out loud} both wooing for her attentions... oh, to be woo'd again... and by some guy with an english accent... hmm...

now that it's over, i want more...

needs a tweak...

while i was working on the new look, i lost some stuff. i'm working on getting it all back...

while i do that... have you read

English Patient

by Michael Ondaatje

my friend at Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin' just reviewed it, and gave it an 85%... what did you think?

last night...

... i was awake thinking about blogging!!

and if it's keeping me awake at nights, i think it's a sure sign that i better blog... so here i am, blogging rather than working!

i'm almost done with The New Girls by Beth Gutcheon... it's not that i don't like it, but there are so many books that distract my unfocused mind! i think it's really slow going because i'm reading/listening to too many others...

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton ... a true gothic novel with the whole thing unraveling in the last 5 pages of the book... i liked the book, but i wanted more. it made me think of other books that i really liked, but was frustrated at the end because i wasn't DONE even tho the author was. if you like this kind of sadistic insanity, try The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield or The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell... go ahead, drive yourself crazy, don't do laundry or feed your kids because that's what going to happen when you get yourself caught in these webs... good stuff though

i'm also listening to Swapping Lives by Jane Green... last summer i read her Beach House and loved, loved, loved it! so when i was going to montana in april i grabbed Swapping Lives to lisen to, but we of course listened to Away by Amy Bloom (see post for May 1, 2009), so i have finally gotten around to listening to it... and i'm not quite done, but this book is full of twists, turns and completely unexpected twirls. i keep expecting the usual events as this isn't a new idea, but i'm pleasantly surprised! premise is this--an english journalist, who is very much single at 35 (but has the wonderful luxury of the neighborhood shag) who swaps her life with that of a married, east coast, very wealthy SaHM and her "McMansion". neither is especially happy, and when the magazine pushes for this "experiement," they both jump at the chance. but what i find to be so interesting about this book are things i think we all struggle with at one point or another...

*why is it that we're all so eager to hop over the fence to dance on the greener grass?

* why do we all play the "keeping up with the jones'" when we're sick of doing it?

*and why do we search for things to make us happy--when if we slowed down, we'd see that we have everything we need?

it's one of those annoying hazards about reading... you get convicted by these "fictious" characters living these "fictious" lives, and all of the this "fiction" causes you to start specuating about your very real life. but the real rub is what are we doing to our kids? what are we teaching them? ugh...

(jane green is coming out with "dune road" this month... without reading it, i recommend it)

and of course, i have Voyager sitting on the table beckoning me back to scotland and claire... um... jamie!!

happy reading!