I'm Back

Oh internet, how I have missed you!!! (I say as I lovingly stroke my laptop) I landed back on the east coast last night and boy was the trip an adventure (California I miss you already). I can't wait to start reading all the books I got for Christmas and my birthday. I will be posting more about all my sweet loot later this week but I wanted to drop in and say I have missed my blog as well as all the other blogs I have come to know an love. I never thought I would be glad to be back in Dementorville (as I lovingly refer to the city I am temporarily residing).

I will say that I have already spent $75 of the near $300 in gift cards I received to Barnes and Noble!!!! I love the holidays...or should I say January, when I get to spend my gift cards.

I'm off to bed, more tomorrow....

Catching Fire Did It Again

I was planning on rereading Catching Fire sometime in 2010 and then last week I broke down and read it.

It wasn't my fault. I was trying to finalize the books that I was giving for Christmas and I was stuck on one person. I really wanted to give her Hunger Games but I was honestly worried that she would judge it because it is YA. I asked my husband to take 20 minutes and read as much of the book as he could and then give me his opinion. I even set a timer. At the end of the 20 minutes he told me he had good news and bad news.

"The bad news is the book is not going back on the shelf."

Well, when he finished Hunger Games and went on to Catching Fire I was actually a little jealous that he was reading it and I wasn't, so I snuck in while he wasn't looking and reread it before he could finish. I wanted to have all the events fresh on my mind when he finished. Oh how I love that book. My first review of it is HERE.

Happy Holidays

Well I am officially a slacker. I have been back home in California for 6 days and this is my first time getting on a computer since I left the east coast.

The problem is that my mom lives on a mountain. Seriously! 40 acres in the middle of nowhere with no cell service or internet. It is amazingly beautiful and I love the peace and quiet (something I am actually missing with the holiday insanity) but I have to take it in doses because I need my technology. My husband is having a really hard time with the lack of his internet, I am more used to it than him.

We did manage to make our way down the mountain into Sacramento to see his family and go to a Christmas party with his old friends. They had an ugly sweater contest and the moment I heard about that I started crocheting. Now I am not very good, I can do squares, so I made 4 squares and stitched them together to make mine. Then of course I had to add my initial Mrs. Weasley style. My mother-in-law found an old sweater from her husband and fancied it up for my husband, Mike and I have to share the results...


I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. I will be checking in if I can but I most likely won't be back online until I am home on January 2.

Have fun...be crazy...take lots of pictures.

Goldengrove - Francine Prose

Goldengrove: A Novel
By Francine Prose

After the death of her older sister, Nico becomes a little too close with her sister’s boyfriend. This is the story of the summer Nico’s sister died and how Nico, her parents, and her sister’s boyfriend find a way to get through it.

Although I had read reviews for this book, and well as the description, I was still surprised by the book. It was exactly the story that was described, simply about a girl who lost her sister and the grieving process she goes through, but I still expected to find more to the story. How could an entire book be so simple if it was going to be a “page-turner?” Well I was surprised when it was exactly that. The simplicity of the story was what enhanced the complex emotions.

As depressed as Nico and her family are throughout the book, every time I stopped reading for a moment I found I was left with a strange sense of hope instead of feeling depressed like I would have expected.

Overall I adored this book and was stunned how fast of a read it was. It was simply a fascinating look at what we do after we lose someone we love.

* I read this book before I started my blog but wrote the review right after finishing it. I wanted to get the review up before the end of the year.

Fire - Kristin Cashore

Fire
by Kristin Cashore

Wow! I have to admit that when I started Fire I was a bit disappointed that it was not a sequel to Graceling. Now I am just disappointed that it is over. I adored this book!

It took me a few chapters to warm up to the new characters, especially since I did not realize when I bought the book that it was not going to be continuing with Katsa. Like I said, I was disappointed that I had to spend time becoming familiar with this new setting but that is because I am so enthralled with Cashore’s writing I wanted to jump right in where I had left off with Graceling.

Now that it is over I feel like I should be sad to have finished the story so quickly but the story closed so beautifully that I don’t feel any sort of loss. I was so engulfed in the story that I didn’t even realize I was reading the epilogue until I paused in the second paragraph and noticed the heading. I wasn’t sad because the characters were leaving me but content as if I was releasing them to continue their lives. How does Cashore do that?

There are so many things I loved about this book but most of all I love how strong and independent Cashore’s female characters are. Fire is someone I want to be friends with, someone I want to learn from. I want her confident independence and I think it is so important for young girls to read about women (even fictional) who have that kind of strength and independence, women who view that strength as a vital quality.

I cannot say enough about this book and how much I love Kristin Cashore’s writing. I can’t wait for the next one.

* I read this book before I started my blog but wrote the review right after finishing it. I wanted to get the review up before the end of the year.

Lord of the Rings Readalong

Okay, I read The Hobbit in high school and really enjoyed it but I have to admit I was never able to finish The Fellowship of the Ring. I have always wanted to try to read them again but it just hasn't happened. When I came across this readalong, I knew it was just what I had been waiting for.

Thank you Eva, Maree, Teresa, and The Literary Omnivore who will each be taking a month to host a book, starting in January with The Hobbit at A Striped Armchair.

Check out Shelf Love to sign-up

Teaser Tuesdays

Thank you MizB for hosting Teaser Tuesday.

-Grab your current read
-Open to a random page
-Share 2 teaser sentences from that page
-Make sure you don't include any spoilers
-Share the title and author so envious readers can add it to their TBR pile

Check out Should Be Reading to read more Teaser Tuesdays.

"That which is scarred and pitted in nature can mean sustenance and life, whereas a smooth and pretty skin can mean destruction and death. People, too, are not often what they seem, even those whom you love."

-Page 132
The Heretics Daughter
by Kathleen Kent

I love this quote. It is a mother explaining to her daughter how to tell the difference between poisonous and edible mushrooms.