Pictures of You {Project 365: Day 40}

Today was one of those days where I didn't really pick up the camera.

I took a couple snapshots from my phone. Like this one...

I didn't think I would be using this one as my picture today since he's all blurry. But that's because he was moving around like usual and I couldn't get him to hold still. Oh well.

Today was a chilly day. I love days like that.

What did I do today?? I baked a cake.

It's a Boston Cream Pie. It was pretty tasty.

I also sat and read a lot today.

You see...today was book group. And I hadn't finished the book.

I stayed up until about 1am last night reading then had to read a bunch today to get it done.

I literally finished the book, closed it, put the finishing touches on the cake, then we ran out the door.

And we were only 10 minutes late!

I say "we" because my mom goes to book group with us. Though I think she's starting to get bored with going because she hasn't had time to read the last few books.

Baby N went with us this time too. He was kind of the center of attention. But he loves that kind of thing.

As I was at my book group, Little Butt was playing over at my mom's house. Her and her little cousin love to play together.

My Baby Sis snapped this picture of Little Butt.

If you know her, you will know that this is not odd behavior for her.

I'm glad she had a good time.

Our book was REALLY good. We read The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom. It was pretty easy to focus on the book at the end and not want to put it down. It was a good page turner the whole way through actually.

So now, the kids are in bed, the dishes are done, and it's time for this mama to hit the hay!!

So Many Books {Project 365: Day 12}

I know this is goofy...but I seriously cannot believe I have blogged for so many days in a row.

I think I really like this. ;-)

Last night was a rough night. I had the hardest time going to sleep. Then around 1:45am I heard some banging type noise and ended up wandering the house for about 20 minutes checking locks and looking out windows. It took me forever to get back to sleep. Then, Baby N woke up at 5am. We got up and I fed him. I was rocking him and I literally ended up falling asleep in the chair with him. So we went back to bed.

I didn't get my workout in and I feel like a slug.

I also haven't made the best food choices this week. Tomorrow is weigh in day and I think I'm going to gain. Blah.

But what can you do?? We all have bad weeks. We just have to pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off, and get back on. I'll get it done.

I went to my mom's work today during lunch to do a Body by Vi tasting. It was a lot of fun. I ended up making a Butterfinger shake, an Orange Pomegranate shake, and my new favorite, a Vanilla Latte shake. We all sat around and drank shakes and talked. It was nice.

This evening was my book group meeting.

We met at a local Italian restaurant.

The food was really delicious!

Every time I eat at a really yummy, local restaurant, I find myself wishing that The Hubble could be there with me. He definitely appreciates these little hole in the wall places as much as I do.

And what is a book club without a book??

We read the book Sold by Patricia McCormick. It's a teen book so it was an easy, fast read. But boy did it pack a punch.

My mom didn't have time to read the book so I was trying my best to explain it to her in detail. By the time I told her the end, I had tears in my eyes. I hadn't realized that the book instilled such an emotional response in me.

I had an enjoyable time. I'm so grateful to have met such an amazing group of ladies. This book group is awesome.

So now I'm stuffed, happy, and well read. LOL! The kiddos are sleeping and it's 10pm.

I've recently started Rob Lowe's bio for my Goodreads Book Group so I think I'll go get ready for bed and curl up with Rob Lowe for a bit before sleepy time.

Are you part of a book group? Are you a member of a different kind of group?

Book Review: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

Title: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close


Author: Jonathan Safran Foer


Publication Date: March 2005


Publisher: Houghton Mifflin


Pages: 355


ISBN: 9780618329700


This review is my opinion and I have not been compensated for it in any way. 


Goodreads Synopsis:


Meet Oskar Schell, an inventor, Francophile, tambourine player, Shakespearean actor, jeweler, pacifist, correspondent with Stephen Hawking and Ringo Starr. He is nine years old. And he is on an urgent, secret search through the five boroughs of New York. His mission is to find the lock that fits a mysterious key belonging to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11.

An inspired innocent, Oskar is alternately endearing, exasperating, and hilarious as he careens from Central Park to Coney Island to Harlem on his search. Along the way he is always dreaming up inventions to keep those he loves safe from harm. What about a birdseed shirt to let you fly away? What if you could actually hear everyone's heartbeat? His goal is hopeful, but the past speaks a loud warning in stories of those who've lost loved ones before. As Oskar roams New York, he encounters a motley assortment of humanity who are all survivors in their own way. He befriends a 103-year-old war reporter, a tour guide who never leaves the Empire State Building, and lovers enraptured or scorned. Ultimately, Oskar ends his journey where it began, at his father's grave. But now he is accompanied by the silent stranger who has been renting the spare room of his grandmother's apartment. They are there to dig up his father's empty coffin.


My Thoughts:


If you would like to read my thoughts on this book, jump over to MY GUEST POST with Books to the Sky!

Book Review: The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult

Title: The Tenth Circle

Author: Jodi Picoult

Publication Date: January 2000

Publisher: Washington Square Press

Pages: 416

ISBN: 9780743496711

This review is my opinion and I have not been compensated for it in any way. (Though I did receive this book as an Advance Reader Copy when I worked for Barnes & Noble)


Goodreads Synopsis:


Bestselling author Jodi Picoult's The Tenth Circle is a metaphorical journey through Dante's Inferno, told through the eyes of a small Maine family whose hidden demons haunt every aspect of their seemingly peaceful existence. Woven throughout the novel are a series of dramatic illustrations that pay homage to the family's patriarch (comic book artist Daniel Stone), and add a unique twist to this gripping, yet somewhat rhetorical tale.

Trixie Stone is an imaginative, perceptive 14 year old whose life begins to unravel when Jason Underhill, Bethel High's star hockey player, breaks up with her, leaving a void that can only be filled by the blood spilled during shameful self-mutilations in the girls' bathroom. While Trixie's dad Daniel notices his daughter's recent change in demeanor, he turns a blind eye, just as he does to the obvious affair his wife Laura, a college professor, is barely trying to conceal. When Trixie gets raped at a friend's party, Daniel and Laura are forced to deal not only with the consequences of their daughter's physical and emotional trauma, but with their own transgressions as well. For Daniel, that means reflecting on a childhood spent as the only white kid in a native Alaskan village, where isolation and loneliness turned him into a recluse, only to be born again after falling in love with his wife. Laura, who blames her family's unraveling on her selfish affair, must decide how to reconcile her personal desires with her loved ones' needs.

The Tenth Circle is chock full of symbolism and allegory that at times can seem oppresive. Still, Picoult's fans will welcome this skillfully told story of betrayal and its many negative, and positive consequences.


My Thoughts:


If you would like to read my thoughts on this book, jump over to MY GUEST POST with Books to the Sky!

Book Review: Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

I know you are expecting a book review here for this book:

However. If you want to read my review, you have to jump over to:

The lovely Kaitlin and Jenny allowed me to guest post my review on their new book review site. So go check out MY REVIEW and then jump around and see what they have going on over there. 

Happy Reading!!!

Book Review: Cleaving by Julie Powell

Title: Cleaving

Author: Julie Powell

Publication Date: November 2010

Publisher: Little, Brown & Company

Pages: 336

ISBN: 9780316003377

This review is my opinion and I have not been compensated for it in any way.


Goodreads Synopsis:


Julie Powell thought cooking her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking was the craziest thing she'd ever do--until she embarked on the voyage recounted in her new memoir, CLEAVING. 


Her marriage challenged by an insane, irresistible love affair, Julie decides to leave town and immerse herself in a new obsession: butchery. She finds her way to Fleischer's, a butcher shop where she buries herself in the details of food. She learns how to break down a side of beef and French a rack of ribs--tough, physical work that only sometimes distracts her from thoughts of afternoon trysts. 


The camaraderie at Fleischer's leads Julie to search out fellow butchers around the world--from South America to Europe to Africa. At the end of her odyssey, she has learned a new art and perhaps even mastered her unruly heart.

My Thoughts:

Like many others, I fell in love with Julie Powell when I read Julie & Julia, her memoir detailing her ups and downs while cooking her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I loved the book so much that I saw the movie when it came out in theaters. I now own the movie and watch it regularly. 

Julie Powell's first book is the one that inspired me to start cooking, and actually enjoying it. That book earned a spot on my bookshelf of "books that have inspired and shaped me as a person and a reader."

So it wasn't a surprise that I was curious about her second book. The topic (the art of butchery) was not incredibly appealing to me. Neither was the idea that she had an affair. But, I found the book half price at a Borders store closing sale and picked it up. 

With all that being said...I have to now say that I was less than impressed with this book. In fact, I'm downright angry that I wasted so much time on it. 

In the beginning (like the first 30 pages) I thought the whole thing was kind of interesting. Reading about the ins and outs of butchery was fascinating (at first). But that didn't last long. It got old.

Especially because what the book is really about is her 2 year affair and her subsequent obsession with the guy. Her and her husband, Eric, were stepping out on each other throughout the book and it had nothing to do with the art of butchery.

I tried, I tried desperately to find some correlation between the two parts of the story. The only thing I was able to gather was that she was not only trying to distract herself and her readers from her whoring around and let me tell you...it doesn't work! It doesn't distract her or us!

After her and D, her lover, break up she still text messages, calls, writes letters, sends gifts and is all around creepy. She starts sleeping with random people in dark hallways. THEN she decides she has to travel through Argentina, Africa and other various places.

At first, I could understand. I have someone in my past who was able to control my thoughts and actions. He was able to get under my skin and make me do things I wouldn't normally do. He even came into my life within the last few years and made me question certain choices in my life, i.e. my marriage. However, for me, my love for my husband was so strong that I was not tempted away from him. This guy's control over me was over. For Julie Powell, unfortunately, she had not severed those ties yet.

What bothered me the most though is that there is no real resolution to any of this at the end of the book. That is what made me angry. I was just mildly annoyed before the end of the book.

I have a problem with weak individuals and this book made me think of her as weak. So...I'm choosing to TRY to forget I ever read this book and only think of Julie Powell as cute little Amy Adams in the movie Julie & Julia.

If I were you, I would pass this book up. Don't read it. Don't be tempted. Just walk away. It's not worth it.

I give this book 1 star and would give it negative stars if I could. Blah. Time to move on!

Book Review: Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

Title: Loving Frank

Author: Nancy Horan

Publication Date: January 2007

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Pages: 400

ISBN: 9780345495006


This review is my opinion and I have not been compensated for it in any way.


Goodreads Synopsis: 
"I have been standing on the side of life, watching it float by. I want to swim in the river. I want to feel the current.

So writes Mamah Borthwick Cheney in her diary as she struggles to justify her clandestine love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright. Four years earlier, in 1903, Mamah and her husband, Edwin, had commissioned the renowned architect to design a new home for them. During the construction of the house, a powerful attraction developed between Mamah and Frank, and in time the lovers, each married with children, embarked on a course that would shock Chicago society and forever change their lives."

My Thoughts:

I tend to read books blindly. Meaning, I don't do a lot of research or reading about a book before I read it. 

I know I've already talked about my love for Goodreads. After that post, I started a virtual book group on Goodreads. (If you are interested in joining our group, click HERE).

The April book selection for the group was Loving Frank. So...I just ordered it on my nook and started reading it without much knowledge about it, outside of it being a story of a love affair between Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick Cheney.

The author, Nancy Horan, has an exquisite way with words. Her descriptions of scenes and situations are utterly delicious. But this is not a book to be devoured when famished. It needs to be savored. 

This book took me a LONG time to finish. Or, at least, long in my reading timeline. It took me a month to read (not that I was moving while reading it or anything).

To be honest, at certain points I was a bit bored reading about the love between Frank and Mamah. I felt that there needed to be some 'hook,' some...climax...something.

Then I reached the end. 

The tragic end to this love story absolutely blew me away. I had no idea it was coming. I mean, simple research into the lives and relationship between these two people will reveal all...but like I said, I read books blindly. 

I'm trying not to let the intensity of the last few pages alter my thoughts of the book as a whole. 

If I were to judge this book by Horan's beautiful prose and the final pages, this book would receive marks above most. However, the rest of the novel must be reviewed as well.

All in all, I enjoyed the book. I have many more books on my to read list now because of this one. I am truly glad I read Loving Frank. I am still reeling from this tale several hours later, and I'm not sure it will leave me any time soon.

I recommend this book; however, I think a majority of it can be skimmed. 

I give this book 3 stars (I liked it but it wasn't insanely amazing).

So Many Books...So Little Time

Photo by jinterwas

If you have been around this blog for a while...you know I'm a reader.

And if you are new around here. Hey! Guess what?? I'm a HUGE reader! 

Like...I have a 3/4 sleeve tattoo of books. 

Yes, it's that bad.

And yes...I still know that I need to post pictures.

But if you didn't know this about me...I'm kind of lazy and procrastinatey.

Anyway. 

So last week sometime (or maybe the week before...I don't know. Like I said, I'm lazy!) my older sister posted on her Facebook this message:

"Thanks to my sister I have read some amazing books in my life. Thanks Manna!!"

See...someone on her Facebook page asked if anyone had read The Memoirs of Cleopatra. I read it back in 2006 and made my older sister read it in 2009. She was so excited someone was asking about it. 

This led her to start looking through her Goodreads list and she realized that because of me (and me bringing her into my "back home" book group) she had read some really amazing books that she would never have read if not for me.

My family members tend to find a genre and stay there. My mother and older sister both read a lot of horror and science fiction/fantasy stuff. Whereas, I'm ALL OVER the map (working for Barnes & Noble for a million years made me that way!).

My older sister looking at her Goodreads and talking about all these amazing books made me start examining the books I have been reading lately. And I'm sad to say...I've been reading a lot of crap!

Not that the stuff I've been reading wasn't good...it's just stuff that I consider "fluff." Fun...but not really substantial you know??

Don't get me wrong now...I love me some fluff. But I am the type of person that likes some heavy thrown in with all that popcorn. 

Let's look at what I've been reading. 

I read all the books by Emily Giffin. These include:

Something Borrowed

Something Blue

Baby Proof

Love the One You're With

Heart of the Matter

So, obviously I went through a chick lit phase. No problem. They were fun books, though the cheating and unhappiness within relationships got a little old by the end.

I also read the Hunger Games series  by Suzanne Collins which I thoroughly enjoyed. But they are young adult books, so not so much on the heavy, intellectual side. 

At the end of last year and beginning of this year, I was reading The Immortals series by Alyson Noel. These books were cute. They offered something a little different than the whole vampire thing. But again, young adult books that didn't have anything really deep to them. 

A friend of mine bought me the book Peeps by Scott Westerfeld. This book was half vampire story and half biology/parasite lesson. Another great twist to the idea of vampirism but yet another young adult book that didn't really fire many synapses (though it did have a pretty awesome "ewwwww" factor as far as all the parasite talk went).

In the midst of all this, I did read a book on M. Night Shyamalan called The Man Who Heard Voices that was an interesting account of the making of Lady in the Water (a movie that I absolutely adore). It was a very good book. But you have to really like the guy I guess. He is passionate about what he does and it's evident in this book.

I also read Stone of Tears and  Blood of the Fold (the second and third books in the Sword of Truth series) by Terry Goodkind. To me, these are fluff because they are fantasy. But The Hubble feels they are substantial because they have heavy philosophical and religious undertones that get the reader thinking. I can definitely see his point. But it's not the "classics" you know?? 

Oh yeah. The last book I read was Dear John by Nicholas Sparks. Don't even get me started on that book. It made me mad. It was slow and full of unnecessary and pointless dialogue. It was definitely not the man's best and for sure not the 'rom dram' I was looking for at the time. 

So...all of this to say that I'm disappointed in myself. I need to get some good stuff in here. I want to read amazing books again. I want to read books that leave me reeling and confused. I want a book that inspires emotion and feeling. I want a book that inspires me. 

Right now, I'm doing a 'buddy read' with Kaitlin and another friend of mine. We are reading Lady Chatterly's Lover by D.H. Lawrence. Though this is a 'classic' I'm not sure it's the type of book of which I'm searching. 

So...have you read anything great lately???

Oh! And are you on Goodreads?? If not, you should be! It helps you keep track of the books you are reading and/or have read. If you are on there, look me up and be my Goodreads friend. You can find me HERE.