Category About Book Blogging

Sense of Connection: Readalongs

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WalkingAs you know, I’m participating in the Anna Karenina readalong, hosted by Wallace.  It’s fun to read at the same pace as a group of people and to have discussions along the way.  Especially with the size of this book!

The Walkie Talkie Book Club was founded on readalongs, really.  My friend, Beth, and I used to walk daily (almost) and then we started reading the same book and discussing it on our daily walks.  It just adds something to discuss something happening in the moment, rather than at book club every five weeks.

It’s a nice way to connect – with a good book and with good friends and with good readers.

Off to read!

If you like reading this blog…

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I don’t think I’m going to continue linking my blog to facebook, so if you are enjoying my posts, please “subscribe!”  It’s simple – if you click through to the blog, there is a box in the upper right corner where you put in your email address and then the blog will be emailed to you as I post them.

There are other more complicated ways to read blogs regularly, but that is the simplest!

And if you like the blog, comment on it!  That’s another thing that brings me joy (see earlier post!)!  Getting comments from people!  🙂

I intend to keep posting about the five senses as well as random thoughts about books and movies.  Nothing too exciting but I’m having fun for now.

Off to read!

40 Things (40!!!) Happy Birthday, Boof!

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thank you note for every language

Image by woodleywonderworks via Flickr

Following along with Boof’s 40 Day Challenge leading up to her 40th birthday, DAY 40!  Happy birthday, Boof!

40) A favourite book about a celebration

I’m going to cheat.  I looked through my Goodreads list and couldn’t find anything with a holiday theme that I would call a favorite, so I simply thought about my favorite holiday (Thanksgiving) and some great movies that were set around a Thanksgiving theme (and maybe one that isn’t set around Thanksgiving, but another holiday I’ve recently adopted).

Thanksgiving has long been my favorite holiday.  I love thankfulness – thinking about what I’m thankful for, telling people what I’m thankful for, and writing what I’m thankful for.  That “attitude of gratitude” has been preached to us by Oprah and I really believe that it can change your outlook on life.  So, when I started thinking of movies that were centered around a Thanksgiving celebration, a few came to mind.

First, “What’s Cooking?” (In LA’s Fairfax district, where ethnic groups abound, four households celebrate Thanksgiving amidst family tensions. In the Nguyen family, the children’s acculturation and immigrant parents’ fears collide. In the Avila family, Isabel’s son has invited her estranged husband to their family dinner. Audrey and Ron Williams want to keep their own family’s ruptures secret from Ron’s visiting mother. In the Seelig household, Herb and Ruth are unwilling to discuss openly their grown daughter’s living with her lover, Carla. Around each table, things come to a head. A gun, an affair, a boyfriend, and a pregnancy precipitate crises forcing each family to find its center. IMDB)  I should re-watch this, but I remember loving it.  Loving how it wrapped up and how cleverly the story was told.

Of course, “Planes, Trains & Automobiles” is one of the greatest comedies ever, and just happens to be about getting home for Thanksgiving.  I don’t think I need a synopsis for it. My favorite scene is when they are driving down the highway and being told they are going the wrong way (“How do they know where we’re going?”).  Hilarious.

“Home for the Holidays” is also a movie I haven’t seen in a while, but I remember loving it.  (After losing her job, making out with her soon to be ex-boss, and finding out that her daughter plans to spend Thanksgiving with her boyfriend, Claudia Larson has to face spending the holiday with her family. She wonders if she can survive their crazy antics. IMDB).  Ah, family holiday dinners.  🙂  I am thankful that our Thanksgiving dinners are not filled with lots of drama!

A few others that have a Thanksgiving theme that I have seen include “Pieces of April” and “Hannah and Her Sisters.”  Good movies.

The last movie about a holiday that has inspired me is the Italian film, “Mid-August Lunch,” a great movie about Ferragosto – the Italian tradition of getting out of the city for a few weeks during the hot weeks of mid-August.  It is a great movie and a great holiday that I have embraced in the last few years, having my own “lakeside” vacation with Italian flair, right in the middle of Minnesota.

And as to my list, as I admitted yesterday, it was incomplete.  Last night I did some thinking about how I wanted to move forward and here’s what I came up with:  You know I love the Satellite Sisters and I have written about their book “Uncommon Senses.”  I am going to create a list of things that I want to accomplish based upon the “senses” highlighted in their book.

The Sense of Connection
The Sense of Self
The Sense of Humor
The Sense of Adventure
The Sense of Direction.

As I’ve said about their book before, it applies as well today as it did ten years ago when it was written.  And I know that I can find things in all those “senses” that I would like to put out there as challenges for myself.  So as well as writing about books, I will be writing about these challenges.

Thank YOU for following along with these daily posts!

Off to read!

40 Things (39)

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Angela's Ashes

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Following along with Boof’s 40 Day Challenge leading up to her 40th birthday, day 39!

39) A book I expected to hate but loved

Before I started the Stieg Larsson trilogy of books, I never would have imagined that I would have loved them as much.  It took me about 75 pages to get into the first book, but then I was hooked.  I felt myself wincing a few times, anticipating that things were going to be scary or bad, but they just got up to the edge and never went over for me.

I also didn’t want to read “Angela’s Ashes” because I thought it would be so heavy and sad, but it was nothing of the sort.  It was full of hope and good humor.  I loved that book, too.

#39 on my list was:  Nothing.  Here is the point when I have to admit that the list that I found of my “40 things” ends at 38!  How depressing is that?  I was making my list as I went along (as was evidenced by #37 – penned when the opportunity arose) and was focused on the ones left to do rather than finishing the list.  Ugh.

So tomorrow, I will work on a new list of some kind!  5 Things to complete by October end?  10 things to do on my Sabattical?  45 things to do before 45?  50 things to do before 50?  I will ponder this and start a list…

Off to read!

40 Things (38)

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Nick Hornby

Following along with Boof’s 40 Day Challenge leading up to her 40th birthday, day 38!

38) An author crush

This is a toughy, because although I can be an author-stalker, I don’t necessarily think about them as crushes.  But one author that I immediately looked for on Goodreads because I love to read anything by him, would be Nick Hornby.  His books are clever and witty and apt.  I would love to meet him and see if he’s anything like the characters he writes.

#38 on my list was: Drink before noon.  How silly is that?  It wasn’t a well-thought-out addition or something I had been dreaming about doing for years, but rather added as the opportunity came about.  🙂  We have a small cabin on a small lake about an hour from where I live.  It’s absolutely perfect.  This drink happened one morning at the end of the dock to celebrate my brother’s birthday and the nearing end of summer.  I always say that the end of the dock is my favorite room at the cabin… whether it be with coffee or wine, alone or with friends, with a book or purely sun worshiping.  It’s the best.

My Favorite Room at the Cabin

Off to read!

40 Things (37)

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Bel Canto (novel)

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Following along with Boof’s 40 Day Challenge leading up to her 40th birthday, Day 37 –

37) A book that I still think about years after having read it

Gosh, there are a lot of books that I still think about, years later.  I’d like to re-read “Tale of Two Cities” sometime, as I remember loving it in high school and have vivid pictures in my head relating to the story.  I also was amazed by “Death of a Salesmen” when I read it in college.  Just blown away.  And “The Color Purple” was beautifully vivid, and I can also see those pictures in my head.  More recent books that I still think about include: “Those Who Save Us,” “Bel Canto,” “Peace Like a River,” and “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.”

#37 on my list was: Road trips with Kitschy Side Trips.  Unfortunately, I haven’t taken many road trips that allow for scenic stops along the way.  I’m usually purposeful in my travel, trying to get from Point A to Point B in a timely fashion.  But in October of 2007 my friend Beth and I took a mid-week road trip from our SE corner of the state of Minnesota to Pierre, SD.  Beth’s sister lives there and works in a bookstore that was hosting a Lorna Landvik book signing and discussion.

The Corn Palace

So we took off one Tuesday morning, stopping at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD – yes, a building and gymnasium decorated with corn.

We also stopped at cute restaurants for our meals.  It was a blast getting there, and the adventures continued when we met Lorna. She was promoting her book, “The View from Mount Joy,” which we read in preparation of meeting her.  We had photos taken with her, drank wine with her, and eventually took her site seeing around Pierre with Beth’s sister in the lead!  We went to the Veteran’s Memorial in Pierre and lit the flaming fountain.  We had such a good time with many well-needed laughs.  I need to do this more often!

We have met with Lorna twice since this first trip: once at the Bryant Lake Bowl in Minneapolis, where she has a stand up routine in January, and she joined us for dessert afterwards, and once in our hometown where we bid and won dinner with her for a library fundraiser.  Good stuff.

at Bryant Lake Bowl

Off to read!

40 Things (36)

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Woman's Home Blog Book

Image by Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com via Flickr

Following along with Boof’s 40 Day Challenge leading up to her 40th birthday, day 36:

36) A favourite book recommended by another book blogger

Well, since almost all the books on my TBR list come from book blogs or newsletters, it would be hard to choose just one!  But a recent favorite was the book “Attachments.”  I raved about it in a previous post, but it was just so clever and unique.  It will rank up there as one of my favorites of 2011.

#36 on my list was: Go to an Opera.  So I did!  My list-making compatriot, Deadra, and I looked at the Minnesota Opera schedule and chose a more comedic story to go see.  In November of 2007 we saw L’italiana in Algeri (The Italian Girl in Algiers).  It was fun to get dressed up and go to the Ordway and the show was a lot of fun, too.  It’s a long and complicated plot (you can read elsewhere) but it was not difficult to follow.  We had great seats, but not for opera.  We were close to the stage.  Lesson learned:  When you go to the opera, you want to sit NOT in the front rows so that you can better read the subtitles being projected above the stage!  We still did all right, as I said, but next time I’ll look for different seats!  Good times!

Off to read!

40 Things (35)

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Title page of first edition of Anna Karenina

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Following along with Boof’s 40 Day Challenge leading up to her 40th birthday, day 35 –

35) The longest book I have ever read

Once again, I am so thankful for Goodreads.  It was easy to look up the number of pages in several books that I have read.  If I had to guess without looking, I would guess that even the abridged version of “War and Peace” that I read in1994 was probably one of the longest books I’ve ever read.  The full version of the translated book clocks in at almost 1400 pages.  Yikes.  Looking at some of the big books that I’ve read, I noticed that I have listened to some of my lengthier books on audio – “Fountainhead,” “Jane Eyre,” and the Harry Potter books rank up there (The Half Blood Prince is 652 pages).  I guess the number of discs included and hours required doesn’t intimidate!  A few summers ago I read “East of Eden,” (600 pages) and loved it.

And today’s the perfect day to announce that I am participating in an “Anna Karenina” readalong with Wallace at Unputdownables, which starts this weekend, I believe!  Wallace is mailing me the Penguin classic version, which clocks in at 817 pages, and I’ll keep you posted on my progress – or sign up yourself, if you’re up to the challenge!  I’m excited to read this, especially with others, because a movie will be released in 2012 starring Keira Knightley and Jude Law.  There are many versions of the movie out there, so it will be fun to watch some of them after I’ve finished the readalong.  Love me some books and movies!

#35 on my list of things to do: Sing a solo in a concert.  In the fall of 2006 (after my daughter went to college!) a small group of us organized an adult choir to sing showtunes and other fun music.  We are still together, meeting weekly and doing little “gigs” in lots of different places in SE Minnesota.  I used to sing solos a lot as a child/teen and I was the mother in “Cheaper By the Dozen” musical, so it isn’t too far of a reach to sing a solo at a concert, but it had been years since I had, and the nerves were still there.  🙂 At our spring concert in 2007 I sang a song called “Crossword Puzzle” from a little known musical and it was great fun.  In 2009 I sang another solo called “The Hostess with the Mostes’,” also a lot of fun.  I love to sing and may even look for another choir to join in addition to “my” current choir!

Off to read!

40 Things (34)

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Writing

Following along with Boof’s 40 Day Challenge leading up to her 40th birthday, day 34:

34) A book I wish I had written

Hmmm.  Good question.  I wish I could write any book that is fun, intelligent, and succinctly written.  I love words, especially well-chosen and clever words.  And I love books that leave you with a smile on your face and a lingering good feeling.  I haven’t ever written a story before, but I have written some poems, song lyrics (adapted to familiar tunes), and some good haikus.  I’ve written long, rambling letters and cute, pithy slogans. But what do I wish I could write?  I guess this is worth more consideration, as I’d love to write something, and at this point I’m happy with blogging.

#34 of my list was: Eat more ethnic foods.  And so I have!  I’ve always loved going out for Mexican or Chinese food, as well as preparing both.  Since I wrote this on my list, I’ve eaten Spanish tapas, Vietnamese quite a few times, and found that I LOVE Indian.  Since I wrote this list I also made it a personal goal to avoid chain restaurants as much as possible, especially when traveling, seeking out new places to try.

Off to read!

40 Things (33)

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The Card Players, a 1895 painting by Paul Céza...

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Following along with Boof’s 40 Day Challenge leading up to her 40th birthday, day 33:

33) A book that I would love to read but never do

This is tough, because it’s sort of similar to yesterday’s post (a book on my shelf for five years), but I guess maybe it could be about a book not even on the shelf?  And I don’t know what that would be.  I love love love Goodreads and the Goodreads app on my phone, because now I can keep a running list of books I want to read and eventually it will happen. I’ve found that audiobooks are a great way for me to “read” a book that I maybe won’t take the time to read but that I want to have read.  I’m very purposeful in my trips to the library and my wishlist creation, which isn’t to say that I don’t leave with an armful of books that aren’t on my TBR list when I go to the library.

That said, I’m a little curious about “Gone with the Wind,” which I’ve never read, and more Charles Dickens, but I’d like to read the Bible someday.  I’ve read parts of the Bible and gone to Bible studies, but I’ve never read the whole Bible purposefully.  I gave my parents a chronological Bible, which is interesting, and my current Bible has different reading plans so you can read it in a month or in three months or whatever plan you choose.

#33 on my list of things to do was: Learn and REMEMBER a card game.  I’m terrible at remembering how to play card games and always have to have it explained to me the first time.  I don’t remember jokes very well, either.  So I set out to find a game that I could play with friends without having to play a fake round to remember the rules.  I noted in my journal that I conquered the card game “Garbage,” but now if I had to explain it to you, I don’t think I’d be able to!  I am a whiz at Uno, so I’m going to take that as my go-to card game.

Last weekend when I was out at Oktoberfest with a friend, a group of young men approached us and asked us if we liked to play card games with our kids at home.  It was a random segue of a conversation, and it turns out that they developed a card game that was going on sale this week and they wanted to tell us about it in the hopes that we would buy.  Well, I got in touch with them through Facebook and this week met one of them in a bar and bought a game from him and learned how to play.  When I was telling my daughter about it, she said that she’d played a game very much like this in college, and the developer admitted that it was a standardized combination of two college drinking games, but that they were marketing it to families.  It’s pretty complicated and I’ll need help remembering the rules for a while, but it appears to be a fun game!

We attempted a few rounds last night at my birthday party, but the group was too large (yay!) to all play so we didn’t get too absorbed in the game but did a lot of socializing instead.

Pumpkin Ginger Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting. WOW.

For my birthday party, I made cupcakes from a recipe found on a blog that I just started reading – and they were sooooooooooo yummy!  Megan at ‘write Meg‘, posted about these cupcakes just as I was trying to figure out what kind of cake to make myself, and I’m so glad I read about and made these!  They were delicious!  And my niece and daughter decorated them so beautifully!  Yummy!  Quite a hit – and will become a fall staple!

Off to read!