Semi-Sunday Salon

I'm still working my way through Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. I'm actually really enjoying it, although I can see why it was one of those prescribed books in high school English classes. And maybe history classes. It's kind of making me want to become a vegetarian. And it is SO DEPRESSING. But I can't stop reading, perhaps for the same reason people stop to look at car accidents...I want to see what awful fate will befall Jurgis and Ona next.

I got a new Bookmarks magazine a couple of days ago, so I'm looking forward to getting into that. And I got a little bit of birthday cash from my husband's aunt, uncle and cousins, that I will probably spend on a new book or two.

Ricky is still not doing as well as I would hope. Our lives have changed in so many previously unfathomable ways since January. We're still waiting for the doctor to start him on a preventive medication and, while we were waiting, he had another relapse. He seems to be coming out of that now, but he's not working or driving or even walking very well. And our insurance company, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida, is trying to deny coverage of his hospital stay and subsequent bills, as a "pre-existing condition," since the ER doctor whom he saw for five minutes on the date he was admitted into the hospital coded his bill wrong. And they're denying coverage for the medication Ricky's doctor wants him on. And, yes, I named the insurance company, because if they want to play around with my husband's LIFE like that, I'm going to bitch about them by name on my blog. It's been a long three months. And, with the exception of the Read-a-Thon (well, kind of even then), reading is kind of taking a backseat to everything else. Well, everything else except cleaning, which I haven't done too much of lately, either. I'm starting to teach a class or two next month at the local college, too, so I imagine my reading time will be even MORE cut back. So. I'm trying to keep updating, but there's not that much reading-related to talk about.

On a happier note, I promised Ricky a trip to the bookstore soon, to spend some of our birthday money, so maybe I'll be updating about that next weekend.

Quick Post

Finished another book (a REVIEW book!) Wednesday night, but won't have time to review it till maybe tomorrow. I've got two Christmas parties tonight. This book was the beginning of a series and I REALLY enjoyed it (hence, my speeding through it). I haven't really read anything since I finished Any Given Doomsday, but I'll probably take a book break and read a magazine to catch up. Then, I think I'll dive in to Mary Cheney's autobiography, Now It's My Turn. Hope y'all are getting your fill of reading and holiday events!

Haven't Read a Thing in Weeks

Well. My first week in the new office is behind me. I'm a bit homesick, when I have time, but am starting to get a handle on things, I think. Ricky and I are still unpacking the house. I just finished the kitchen today, so we can get back to cooking, instead of getting take-out all the time! We still have work to do on the house, but it's coming along, slowly but surely.

I have had ZERO time, or inclination, really, to read in the last few weeks. I can't find my book in this mess, anyway, so it's not a big deal. I've been catching up on about three weeks' worth of blog-reading that I didn't do (over 400 entries in my feed reader!), so that's keeping me busy. Usually, I'm simply too tired after work and the commute and unpacking to much more than rot on the couch. We're watching a lot of Food Network and Golden Girls reruns, since the summer is winding down. Hopefully, things will get back to normal soon (and I'll find my book). I just got a new BookMarks magazine and a new Glamour to peruse, so maybe that will kick me out of my funk! But college football season is starting soon, so I'll have another distraction to battle...always something.

How is your reading coming?

Can't...Stop....POSTING!

Okay, the Read-a-Thon is officially over, I've had more hits on my blog than ever before, and I've read and blogged my little heart out, but there are a couple of loose, book-related ends that I still need to catch up on.

First of all, I have been negligent when it comes to Mailbox Mondays. For a few weeks I wasn't getting anything, but last week I did get a Mooched book that I didn't mention. I Mooched and received Andre Norton's No Night Without Stars. This is some serious sci-fi right here. I haven't read much sci-fi, but that's something I'm looking to remedy.

Also, last week I received, via LibraryThing (too tired to put in links...Google it, if you don't already have it bookmarked), Richard Currey's Fatal Light, a story about Currey's experiences in the Vietnam War. Not sure if it's more memoir, or just based on his time there, but this is a newly reissued printing on the book's twentieth anniversary. LibraryThing has been sending me a lot of war books lately...wonder why. These things seem to go in cycles, though. For a while it was cookbooks, then books about the Jewish experience during the Holocaust. So, to LibraryThing, I'm a cooking, Jewish war fanatic? HA!


Finally, while reading through my new Bookmarks magazine, I came across a book that I've never heard of and am strangely fascinated by: Amberville by Tim Davys. It's rare that I peruse the pages of Bookmarks without having heard at least some buzz on my friends' blogs about a novel as innovative and, let's face it, downright strange-sounding as this one. Amberville is, and I am not kidding you about this, a teddy bear noir mystery. Yes, you heard me right...TEDDY BEAR NOIR. It is quite possibly the weirdest genre I've ever heard of and I WANT TO READ IT. I think I'm going to have to put everything on hold and go to the library to see if I can find this book.


Have any of you read it yet? Has anyone even HEARD of it? It's getting pretty good reviews. Let me know if you know anything else about it, including who the mysterious Tim Davys might be.

Edited to Add: Damn! My library doesn't have it! Guess I'll just have to keep a weather eye out for it. Oh, and Harper Collins? If you want to send me a copy? I'll drop everything to read and review it.

T-Minus Twenty Minutes and Counting...

Until the 24-Hour Read-a-Thon begins! I was quite a bit worried when I woke up this morning with a worse headache than I'd had yesterday (damn migraines), but after taking some Excedrin Migraine (the best drug ever invented), I am feeling good, and ready to do some damage to Mount TBR.

So far, my plan is to finish The Best American Short Stories of 2008, read my May/June Bookmarks magazine, which came in the mail the other day, and at least start, if not finish, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. I read the first book in the trilogy back in the fall and enjoyed it, so I thought the most famous of the three would make a good Read-a-Thon read. If I get through all that, I want to read The Fire, the sequel to The Eight, which I read at Christmas-time, and for which I owe a very much belated review...

What's on your plate for today? Any guesses on how long I'll make it? In October, I made it something like 17 hours, but then succumbed to sleep. Can I do all 24 hours today?!

Another Super-Busy Week

Not much reading done this week. Again. I went shopping with friends Monday night and ended up buying a BlackBerry. Sigh. Dinner with Ricky's parents and brother on Tuesday. Trivia night on Wednesday night. Girls' Night last night. Hopefully, this upcoming week will be a little calmer.

It's also been a rough week for me, emotionally. A judge that I used to practice in front of passed away suddenly. The memorial service is tomorrow. While I wasn't close to the judge, he was a presence in my life at the courthouse, and it's really made me think a lot about those I love.

I hope to finish up Doctor Zhivago this weekend and then catch up on some of my magazine reading that has fallen by the wayside...

Christmas Update

Well, I left for parts north on Saturday, Dec. 20th. The flight up was fairly uneventful. Well, once I was on a flight that was actually going to make it. Apparently, there was some delay with the flight to Atlanta, so they booked me through Baltimore instead. Otherwise, I would have been stuck in the ATL overnight. Which wouldn't have been a problem, there are people I could have dropped in on whom I haven't seen in a while, but then again, unexpected guests are not always the most welcome. Luckily, I had a pretty enterprising ticket agent working for me, so she found another flight which would get me into Ohio on time. Or at least the same day.

It was bitterly cold when I first arrived, and I am simply not built for cold and snow anymore. There's a REASON I moved to Florida, y'all, and it was pretty much so I wouldn't have to battle single-digit temps anymore. I HATE the cold, I'm not REALLY a fan of snow (even on Christmas), and I can DEFINITELY do without scraping ice off my car for several months of the year. But the week warmed up, and my parents' house is always 800 degrees, so I was pretty comfortable.

During the flight up there, I was finishing up the November/December issue of Bookmarks magazine and perusing a holiday-themed issue of Rachael Ray's magazine. Then I started in on The Eight. And I'm still reading it. It's long, like 600 pages. To be fair, this vacation was not the string of uninterrupted reading time I anticipated. I always forget how busy a trip home is. There's Christmas with my cousins, Christmas with the immediate family, dinners with my best friend, evenings watching movies with the fam, a football game, shopping with my sisters, dinners out with my parents and sisters, computer games, etc. Mostly, I read in the mornings over breakfast, before the day got going. And occasionally when I had some down time during the day. On the flight back, I was sick with a terrible cold, so I read a bit in the airport, but slept on the plane. Hopefully, I'll have a chance to finish the book soon, but I do have those 300 Google Reader entries to catch up on...

Sigh. There's always something else going on.

P.S. Hurrah for the Georgia Bulldogs, winners of the Capital One Bowl!!!!!!!!!!!

Holiday Random-ness

Christmas shopping is, for the most part, done. I would like to get Ricky a thing or two more for his stocking, but the particular last item I want is SOLD OUT at the particular place I went looking for it. (He reads this blog, or at least I think he does, so I have to be kind of vague.)

I have the makings of my holiday peanut butter fudge sitting on the stove, to be made later today or maybe tomorrow, if I have time.

The office Christmas party was last night. I pooped out on the bail bondsman's party that is THE big holiday fete. I was just too tired after working all day and then partaking of the Christmas cheer with my co-workers. I'm invited to yet another party tonight. Not sure if I'm going. Mostly, I just want to curl up in my apartment and read or surf the internet. I don't really feel like schmoozing. Or drinking. Which means something is wrong with me, because I ALWAYS feel like drinking.

The fiance' and I had an unaccustomed amount of togetherness this past week. He was on a short break from job number three (!!!) while they switched him to another store, so we got to spend our evenings together, which we haven't done for quite a while. And I didn't even kill him. We actually went on a dinner date on Wednesday. And it was nice.

Tomorrow, I plan to accompany two of our good friends up north, to "Central Florida," to see another couple that we used to work with and their new baby girl.

In between all the merry-making, fudge-making and baby-meeting, I'm not having much reading time. Since my opportunities to read have been pretty broken-up lately, I've been indulging in magazines. Currently, I'm browsing the November/December Bookmarks. I asked for a subscription for Christmas...I HOPE SANTA BRINGS ME ONE! (Uh, hint hint.) And today, for some unknown reason, I decided I had to have the Rachael Ray magazine that I saw in the checkout, despite the millions and millions of BOOKS staring at me from the spare room, waiting to be read. But come on, how am I to resist 329 meals that rock, or the holiday cookie blowout? I mean, really. I've never read Rachael's magazine, but I love her cookbooks and cooking shows. Although she should annoy me to high heaven, I ADORE the lovely Ms. Ray. I just hope this isn't a must-have subscription. I think one to two magazines a month are my limit.

It's Tuesday, Where Are YOU?!

Well, since the Read-a-Thon, I've returned to my slow-reading ways. I'm currently in the midst of 1960's Louisiana with the Walker family (Little Altars Everywhere). I'm really enjoying this book, and have gotten back into it a bit this week, after leaving it lie for a while. It's not that I don't like the book, it's just that life is so doggone BUSY! I'm now making good headway, and will probably finish it this weekend, fingers crossed.

I've then got a couple of magazines I want to run through: December's Glamour and the November/December issue of Bookmarks. Next book on the list? The Eight by Katharine Neville, as a prelude to the review copy of The Fire that the publishers sent to me. I'll get to it someday, I swear!

Sunday at the Bookstore

The Fiance' and I went to Barnes & Noble today. I had to pick up the latest Bookmarks magazine, I just HAD to. God knows when I'll get to it, but it's nice to have something to browse through in my "spare time." Amazingly enough, I didn't pick up anything else. I wanted to find Mary Cheney's Now It's My Turn. I'm actually a political lefty, but this book was recommended by...um, someone (I should really start keeping track of where I hear about books), and I figure it never hurts to read the other side's perspective. I may not AGREE with it at all, but I feel that keeping an open mind is a good thing. HOWEVER, Barney's (as my friend Zach and I used to call it, when we worked together at an Office Depot across from one) did not have a copy of the book, at least not that I could find. So I left empty-handed, except for my copy of Bookmarks. Well, I WANTED to buy Best American Short Stories, Best American Mystery Stories, and Best American Non-Required Reading for 2008, but I decided that the budget just doesn't allow for those right now. And I'm asking for them for Christmas, so...we'll see. I collect those series, practically the only series I DO collect, and have them going back to 1999, I believe. Almost ten years' worth!

Okay, enough rambling. Time to go finish watching the Dolphins game. Don't even talk to me about the Georgia/Florida game. No, don't.

What Hour Is It Again?

DAWGS WIN!!! Well, they won about two hours ago, really. Since then, I've been polishing off my Glamour magazine (it's not all high literature in Ms. Lexi's household), and I've made a fair start on H.G. Wells' The Invisible Man. I'm going to take another short break soon, to deliver dinner to the Fiance' at work. That shouldn't take long. When I get home, I would like to check my email and Google Reader, and then back to the reading! I'm a little afraid that I won't be able to stay up very long tonight, since I'm ALREADY tired and it's only just shy of 6 PM. But I'll do my best.

Read-a-Thon Update, Hour 8

Still watching the Dawgs' game. I've read about another 1/3 of my magazine. I think it's about time for more caffeine, though. I've reached my mid-afternoon slump. After the game, I'm getting a shower and will try to start on H.G. Wells' The Invisible Man.

Where are YOU at with your reading? Reaching goals? What are you reading?

Read-a-Thon Update Hour 6

Things have slowed down for me in the last hour or so. The Georgia Bulldogs are playing, and I never miss a Georgia game, if it's on the tube. We're up by two touchdowns over Vanderbilt right now, so things are going well. I decided to browse through my Glamour while I'm watching and I'm about a third of the way through that...

Things will pick back up this afternoon, when the Fiance' gets off to work and the game is over with.

Thanks to everyone who has stopped by to cheerlead and comment! I appreciate the support!

Hour 4 Update and a Review

Title of book(s) read since last update: FINALLY finished The Empress of Weehawken
Number of books read since you started: 1
Pages read since last update: 25
Running total of pages read since you started: 113
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 1 hour
Running total of time spent reading since you started: (keep track of this one to be eligible for a prize!) 3 hours
Mini-challenges completed: Still just one
Other participants you’ve visited: Jessi, Dewey, Iliana, Angela
Prize you’ve won: None yet...

But I forgot to say that the other day I DID win a copy of Joshua Henkin's Matrimony from Megan at Leafing Through Life!!! I'm so excited, since I've been trying to snag a copy of this book for ages.

Okay, so. This book. It was sent to me by the publisher, Picador, through LibraryThing. A couple of months ago. I don't feel SO bad, since it was already released in the U.S. before I even received it, but here, finally is my review.

Overall, I have to say I'm ambivalent about this book. I didn't HATE it, but I didn't LOVE it, either. It was an interesting read, once I got into it, but there was nothing about it that drove me to seek it out. It was a solid 3 out of 5.

The story is narrated by Elisabeth Rother, wife of Dr. Carl Rother, a Jewish convert to Catholicism. It starts during the years just prior to World War II. The book is fiction, but the narrator does have a granddaughter with the same name as the book's author...hmmm.

Frau Doktor Rother is rather opinionated. Her opinions were ones I generally disagreed with, so maybe that's why I didn't love this book. I appreciated the sort of "insider" look at WWII through the eyes of one who lived through it in Germany, but wasn't a Jew. She did suffer some of the same indignities that German Jews did, since she was married to a former Jew, and eventually Dr. Rother did have to flee Germany for the United States.

The book does a good job of examining the relationships between the three generations of Rother/Dische women: Elisabeth, Renate and Irene. I found the way Elisabeth and Renate each chose to interact with her daughter to be strange: not the way I'd do things if I had a daughter. But those were different times, too.

Again, I didn't find the narrator to be terribly sympathetic, which I believe to be part of the reason I didn't jump for joy over the book. There is a lot more I could delve into (the book provides discussion questions at the end, so it might be a good choice for a class or book group), but I'm anxious to get back to my reading. I think I'll pick up a magazine now to let the last book soak in...

Happy reading to all!!!

Mailbox Monday Once Again!

It's Mailbox Monday again, and I actually have some acquisitions to report! From the folks at LibraryThing and Andrews McMeel Publishing, I received a new cookbook, Pamela Sheldon Johns' 50 Great Appetizers. I LOVE COOKBOOKS! And I love to try new recipes. I wish I cooked more often, but our office is having a Halloween party at the end of the month, so I'll be trying out one of these appetizers on my unsuspecting guinea pigs. Heh.

I also received Leaving Cold Sassy, the sequel to Olive Ann Burns' Cold Sassy Tree. I Mooched this from the same lovely lady at BookMooch who sent me the first book. I'm looking forward to reading these classics that I've yet to get to.

Finally, I received November's Glamour magazine. I still love Glamour, despite the fact that I cannot afford any of the clothes and no longer really need the makeup tips (since I hardly ever go out anymore) and find it all just a little...repetitive. I've subscribed for YEARS, at least since college, and it's a habit I don't think I can break at this point. I do enjoy their articles on world events and the political coverage, and there are definitely still other "fluff" articles that I enjoy. It's kind of like brain candy for me. And I'm ready to dive in once again this month.

So, a fruitful harvest, overall this week. It could be a while before I receive many more books, as I'm topped out on BookMooch and the Fiance' and I are "saving money." But we shall see, we shall see. I have a feeling, like any good bibliophile, that I will find a way to bring more books into the house, regardless.

Book Slump

Although my sidebar says that I'm currently reading The Empress of Weehawken, I'm kind of...not. I haven't been into a book since I finished Defending the Damned a couple of weeks ago. Maybe it's that I liked that book so much, maybe I just needed to let it settle, but I can't seem to get motivated to pick up another book. I've just been reading my Bookmarks and Glamour magazines (of which I have plenty to catch up on, but...) I do tend to need some time between books to mull things over, but this is a little ridiculous. I mean, I finished the last book on Sept. 7 or 8, and it's now the 26th. Sigh.

This is quite an unusual phenomenon for me. I'm almost ALWAYS into some book or another. Well, once I finish the current issue of Glamour, I won't have any choice but to dive back in. Anyone have any ideas to jump-start me?

Oh yeah, I forgot! I made Paula Deen's Low Country Boil last week, to rave reviews from the Fiance'. Amazing, since he doesn't really like seafood. I pared it down to just two servings, from the original six, since we weren't going to consume that much of it (and to save money, too!). It was great. Both of us enjoyed it. I have yet to make something out of her cookbook that isn't excellent. Up next? Bourbon Beef Tenderloin!!!