5.May

• The Perks of Being a Wallflower was read for April's book club.  I enjoyed it just as much as the movie.
• The Burgess Boys was fine.  Not as good as Stout's book, Olive Kitteridge.
• Benediction is recommended.  I love how the story weaves among all the characters of the small town.

 

15.February

Best book I've read recently.  We Took to the Woods by Louise Dickinson Rich was first published in 1942.  "In her early thirties, Louise Dickinson Rich took to the woods of Maine with her husband. They found their livelihood and raised a family in the remote backcountry settlement of Middle Dam, in the Rangeley area. Rich made time after morning chores to write about their lives. We Took to the Woods is an adventure story, written with humor, but it also portrays a cherished dream awakened into full life."

The book first drew me in with it's location.  As a family we have remote camped in the area where Rich lived and wrote about.  What kept me reading was her writing style and how I felt like I came to know her family and the other people who lived in the area.  I felt I was sitting on her front porch while she recapped her day.



Year to Date Count:
books read - 8
loads of laundry -46
movies watched - 10
kid sleep-over here - 3
dinners given - 2
dinners attended - 2

13.February

 

Yes, I can recommend this one.

 

Year to Date Count:
books read - 7
loads of laundry -41
movies watched - 9
kid sleep-over here - 3
dinners given - 2
dinners attended - 2

6.February

 

 Cannot recommend this one.

 

Year to Date Count:
     books read - 6  
     loads of laundry -35    
     movies watched - 9      
     kid sleep overs here - 3         
     dinners given - 2
     dinners attended - 1

4.February

Year to Date Count:
     books read - 5     
     loads of laundry -32      
     movies watched - 9      
     kid sleep overs here - 3         
     dinners given - 2
     dinners attended - 1

3.February

Year to Date Count:
     books read - 4      
     loads of laundry -29      
     movies watched - 9      
     kid sleep overs - 3         
     dinners given - 2
     dinners attended - 1

28.January

I finished reading The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Anaya Mathis.  Hmmm, it was not as spectacular as I was expecting.  I'll be curious to hear what others think.

Year to Date Count:
     books read - 3       
     loads of laundry -27      
     movies watched - 6       
     kid sleep overs - 3         
     dinners given - 2
     dinners attended - 1

2.January

It was a  hustle-bustle morning with Alix and Chance back to school and Paul back to work.  I am happy to report there was no yelling and no threats of "we are going to be late".  

One change to the morning is I am back to making Chance an egg and toast for breakfast and packing his lunch.  A few months ago I decided he needed to do both those tasks.  He chose to eat cereal and have the hot lunch at school.  It was recently noted by Paul and I that the time has coincided with him acting much grumpier and short-fused.  Perhaps a well balanced breakfast and lunch will curb some of the less than pleasant behavior.

The temperature has dipped to the single digits.  I happily wore my new scarf from Alix and Chance all day.  I love how the striping is vertical instead of the usual horizontal.

I took advantage of the peace and quiet and finished reading Erica Bauermeister's book, Joy for Beginners.  It was what I was expecting, a light read with characters I was not emotionally invested in.  I was hoping my expectations would be wrong.  Oh well.  The year is young and I currently have over forty books on my to read list.  BTW, 2012's tally for books read was thirty-four.

Year to date count:  books read - 1; trips for groceries - 3

28.December

I finished my reading year with a couple of recommendations.  Let's Pretend This Never Happenend was a laugh out loud riot.  Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend was original and very creative. 


Pioneer Woman Cooks:  Food from my Frontier, Ree Drummond
Let's Pretend This Never Happened, Jenny Lawson
Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend, Matthew Dicks

13.December

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

Love Anthony by Lisa Genova

29.November

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

"Meet Harold Fry, recently retired. He lives in a small English village with his wife, Maureen, who seems irritated by almost everything he does, even down to how he butters his toast. Little differentiates one day from the next. Then one morning the mail arrives, and within the stack of quotidian minutiae is a letter addressed to Harold in a shaky scrawl from a woman he hasn’t seen or heard from in twenty years. Queenie Hennessy is in hospice and is writing to say goodbye.

Harold pens a quick reply and, leaving Maureen to her chores, heads to the corner mailbox. But then, as happens in the very best works of fiction, Harold has a chance encounter, one that convinces him that he absolutely must deliver his message to Queenie in person. And thus begins the unlikely pilgrimage at the heart of Rachel Joyce’s remarkable debut. Harold Fry is determined to walk six hundred miles from Kingsbridge to the hospice in Berwick-upon-Tweed because, he believes, as long as he walks, Queenie Hennessey will live.

Still in his yachting shoes and light coat, Harold embarks on his urgent quest across the countryside. Along the way he meets one fascinating character after another, each of whom unlocks his long-dormant spirit and sense of promise. Memories of his first dance with Maureen, his wedding day, his joy in fatherhood, come rushing back to him—allowing him to also reconcile the losses and the regrets. As for Maureen, she finds herself missing Harold for the first time in years."

14.November

Recently read, Abdication by Juliet Nicolson.  

"The year began with the death of a beloved king and the ascension of a charismatic young monarch, sympathetic to the needs of the working class, glamorous and single. By year’s end, the world would be stunned as it witnessed that new leader give up his throne in the name of love, just as the unrest and violence that would result in a Second World War were becoming impossible to ignore. 

During the tumultuous intervening months, amidst the whirl of social and political upheaval, wise-beyond-her-nineteen-years May Thomas will take the first, faltering steps toward creating a new life for herself. Just disembarked at Liverpool after a long journey from her home on a struggling sugar plantation in Barbados, she secures a position as secretary and driver to Sir Philip Blunt, a job that will open her eyes to the activities of the uppermost echelons of British society, and her heart to a man seemingly beyond her reach.

Outwardly affable spinster Evangeline Nettlefold is a girlhood friend to the American socialite Wallis Simpson, a goddaughter to Lady Joan Blunt and a new arrival to London from Baltimore. She will be generously welcomed into society’s most glittering circles, where one’s daily worth is determined by one’s proximity to a certain H.R.H. and his married mistress. But as the resentment she feels toward Wallis grows in magnitude, so too does the likelihood of disastrous consequences.

Young, idealistic Julian Richardson’s Oxford degree and his close friendship with Rupert Blunt have catapulted him from excruciating hours in his mother’s middle-class parlor to long holidays spent at stately homes and luxurious dinners in the company of a king. But even as he enjoys his time in this privileged world, his head cannot forget the struggles of those who live outside its gilded gates, and his uneasy heart cannot put aside his undeclared affection for May.

May, Evangeline and Julian will all become embroiled in the hidden truths, undeclared loves, unspoken sympathies and covert complicities that define the year chronicled in Abdication."

15.August

 

Vacation Reads

Maine
by J. Courtney Sullivan

Good Enough to Eat
by Stacey Ballis

Other Waters
by Eleni Gage

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

The Age of Miracles
by Karen Thompson Walker

28.June

I enjoyed reading Jennifer Wilson's Running Away to Home:  our family's journey to croatia in search of who we are, where we cam from, and what really matters.

14.May

If you are a fan of Downton Abbey this a wonderful companion book. 

1.May

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

I didn't want this adventure to end.

A Book and Recipe Recommendation

It was another chilly day -- perfect for tucking-in in front of the stove and finishing this page-turning book, When She Woke by Hillary Jordan, the author of Mudbound.  For me this was The Scarlet Letter if written by Margaret Atwood.  So very good, but be prepared for some late night reading sessions.

For dinner:  Penne Shrimp with Herbed Cream Sauce from Giada De Laurentiis.  Also highly recommended. 

Recently Read

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
The Little Bride by Anna Solomon