It's Monday, What are you reading?

At this time of year I feel like I need to read something "Christmas" related.  I'll be doing a Christmas Reading display at the library soon, probably Friday... So on the night stand.

it a good way to get into the spirit,  well before Black Friday.

book photos of books I own.

It's Monday What are you reading?

Just started to read this story... seems o.k.

Sunday Salon...

Sunday Salon finds me "still" reading

I've gone back to my e reader.  It just seemed every book I had been reading was a hardcover,  too heavy to carry around.  As I get older the carrying is killing me.  I'm feeling increasingly like a bag lady, nice bags, but bags nonetheless.


On tap this week is the completion of a painting, (by Wednesday) and I'm not liking it yet.  I'll post,  if I remember when I'm done.  and a few dozen bulbs to put in, before the soil is frozen.  Of course I'll be battling the squirrels to keep them there.   I've gone hybrid this year,  not sure why, just liked the tangerine colour, I'm liking pink and orange together, hopefully the effort will bring forth a flourish of colour, announcing Spring.  Funny to think that far ahead when we are just now cooling to "winterish" temperatures.

It's Election day tomorrow  here in Canada, we shall see how things turn out. 

It's Wednesday, what are you reading?

book description from inside flap,
At Madeline’s Tea Salon, the cozy hub of the Avalon community, local residents scrapbook their memories and make new ones. But across town, other Avalonians are struggling to free themselves of the past: Isabel Kidd is fixing up her ramshackle house while sorting through the complications of her late husband’s affair. Ava Catalina is mourning the love of her life and helping her young son grow up without his father. Local plumber Yvonne Tate is smart, beautiful, and new to Avalon, but finds that despite a decade of living life on her own terms, the past has a way of catching up—no matter where she goes. And Frances Latham, mother to a boisterous brood of boys, eagerly anticipates the arrival of a little girl from China—unprepared for the emotional roller coaster of foreign adoption.

Enter Bettie Shelton, the irascible founder of the Avalon Ladies Scrapbooking Society. Under Bettie’s guidance, even the most reluctant of Avalon’s residents come to terms with their past and make bold decisions about their future. But when the group receives unexpected news about their steadfast leader, they must pull together to create something truly memorable.


This was a    l o n g  read.  Chick Lit, which I've been enjoying over the past few weeks.  Just a nice story.

Missed Sunday Salon...

Sunday Salon, or should I say Monday, finds me finishing up Anne Rivers Siddons, The Girls of August.  I didn't get to the beach this summer, at all... so I thought I'd read about others who did.

Product Description

Every August, four women would gather together to spend a week at the beach, renting a new house each year. The ritual began when they were in their twenties and their husbands were in medical school, and became a mainstay of every summer thereafter. Their only criteria was oceanfront and isolation, their only desire to strengthen their far-flung friendships. They called themselves the Girls of August. But when one of the Girls dies tragically, the group slowly drifts apart and their vacations together are brought to a halt. Years later, a new marriage reunites them and they decide to come together once again on a remote barrier island off the South Carolina coast. There, far from civilization, the women make startling discoveries that will change them in ways they never expected.



I don't usually read this type of book, however,  I needed some enjoyable reading, with not so much catastrophe, although this did "spark" in more than one spot.

What's next, I'm going to give Gone Girl another go,  I abandoned it earlier this year.

Sunday Salon...

Sunday Salon finds me completing "the Night Guest", Fiona McFarlane.  What a good book, a little out there, but then again so am I.  I wonder. will I be Ruth, with two sons?  I know I won't have the $ Ruth had, so perhaps I won't be such a tempting target.

from Amazon.ca

Ruth is widowed, her sons are grown, and she lives in an isolated beach house outside of town. Her routines are few and small. One day a stranger arrives at her door, looking as if she has been blown in from the sea. This woman--Frida--claims to be a care worker sent by the government. Ruth lets her in.
Now that Frida is in her house, is Ruth right to fear the tiger she hears on the prowl at night, far from its jungle habitat? Why do memories of childhood in Fiji press upon her with increasing urgency? How far can she trust this mysterious woman, Frida, who seems to carry with her own troubled past? And how far can Ruth trust herself?
The Night Guest, Fiona McFarlane's hypnotic first novel, is no simple tale of a crime committed and a mystery solved. This is a tale that soars above its own suspense to tell us, with exceptional grace and beauty, about ageing, love, trust, dependence, and fear; about processes of colonization; and about things (and people) in places they shouldn't be. Here is a new writer who comes to us fully formed, working wonders with language, renewing our faith in the power of fiction to describe the mysterious workings of our minds.

So if you are elderly or have an elderly person in your life, check on them... before Frida comes to stay.


Thank You Annie for suggesting this title, it was a very good read.

Sunday Salon... Tiger Lily

Sunday Salon finds me starting a new book.  I'm ever so slow, nursing these allergy related headaches, limits my reading time. On Friday I finally finished Ice Queen, a good read, "I love it when a plan comes together"  I think the only thing that bothered me about the story line was the "infidelity".  I have a hard time with men thinking with their underwear (so says the mother of two boys). 

Product Description (Ice Queen)

The body of 92-year-old Jossi Goldberg, Holocaust survivor and American citizen, is found shot to death execution style in his house near Frankfurt. A five-digit number is scrawled in blood at the murder scene. The autopsy reveals an old and unsuccessfully covered tattoo on the corpse's arm--a blood type marker once used by Hitler's SS. Pia Kirchhoff and Oliver Bodenstein are faced with a riddle. Was the old man not Jewish after all? Who was he, really? Two more, similar murders happen--one of a wheelchair-bound old lady in a nursing home, and one of a man with a cellar filled with Nazi paraphernalia--and slowly the connections between the victims becomes evident: All of them were lifelong friends with Vera von Kaltensee, baroness, well-respected philanthropist, and head of an old, rich family that she rules with an iron fist. Pia and Oliver follow the trail, which leads them all the way back to the end of World War II and the area of Poland that then belonged to East Prussia. No one is who they claim to be, and things only begin to make sense when the two investigators realize what the bloody number stands for, and uncover an old diary and an eyewitness who is finally willing to come forward. 


Suffice it to say:  If you're EVIL, you PAY at some point in your life.


There are a few fictional characters, aside from Atticus Finch, that I like.  King Arthur, Camelot, Robin Hood, and Peter Pan, and thus the choice of Tiger Lily.  I've only just begun, so we shall see how things progress.  I also like dragons, and beautiful horses, (stay tuned for my drawing adventures.)

I've also indulge myself in binge watching the BBC series Endeavour,  love Morse, and the beginnings are a little weird watching but.... on season two tonight.  thank goodness S. Vincent likes him too.

Have a wonderful Sunday,  Handy Andy and I are off to Ikea and the battle begins. We won't go out for lunch, because by then I'll want to throw food at him.

Well we left for Ikea at 11;45 and home by 1:00, it was packed solid, not many a parking space, big huge rented vans packed full for students to move off to college.  We were in and out, I needed frames as did Handy Andy, I kept trying to lose him, but he stayed with me, first time ever.

Sunday Salon, The Outcast

I'm somewhat confused today... thought it was Sunday, it's only Saturday.
Don't tell my kids, they'll put me on a list for a Nursing Home.

 This past week I've been reading   The Outcast, by Sadie Jones, beautifully written, heart wrenching story of a young man struggling with life.   I think the most ridiculous thing/feeling someone could have said to this young man was that "he was loved too much as a young child" is there such a thing.  Can you love your child too much. I'm so glad we've come out of that stiff parenting style.  I can't identify with Lewis, I don't think I've ever felt unloved, and what a horrible feeling that must be.

From Publishers Weekly....Set in post WWII suburban London, this superb debut novel charts the downward spiral and tortured redemption of a young man shattered by loss. The war is over, and Lewis Aldridge is getting used to having his father, Gilbert, back in the house. Things hum along splendidly until Lewis's mother drowns, casting the 10-year-old into deep isolation. Lewis is ignored by grief-stricken Gilbert, who remarries a year after the death, and Lewis's sadness festers during his adolescence until he boils over and torches a church. After serving two years in prison, Lewis returns home seeking redemption and forgiveness, only to find himself ostracized. The town's most prominent family, the Carmichaels, poses particular danger: terrifying, abusive patriarch Dicky (who is also Gilbert's boss) wants to humiliate him; beautiful 21-year-old Tamsin possesses an insidious coquettishness; and patient, innocent Kit—not quite 16 years old—confounds him with her youthful affection. Mutual distrust between Lewis and the locals grows, but Kit may be able to save Lewis. Jones's prose is fluid, and Lewis's suffering comes across as achingly real.

Friday 56... The Red Tent

The Red Tent

"Jacob saw her suffering and gathered her to him with greatest tenderness.  And after all the years, all the nights, all the miscarriages and broken hopes, Rachel found delight in his arms. "

 Rules:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
(If you have to improvise, that's ok.)
 *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it)
*Post it.

Freda is the host of Friday 56, but she's getting married so she's a little busy.  Have a wonderful Day Freda.

Teaser Tuesday...

 Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here's my teaser:

"Well I have to go.  It's almost four thirty, so my mother might drive up.'(little girl)
"what time will you be here tomorrow? (old man)
School's out at two forty.  so about quarter after three. (little girl)
Where do you go to school? (old man)
Gatzert.  (little girl)
Isn't that a long walk? (old man)

O.K. so I'm reading along, thinking "too much information" little girl and my heart is pounding.

Now just to be clear this is very early in the book, but still... scary.

Friday 56...

Friday 56 is hosted by Freda's Voice,  (congratulations to Freda, she's getting married).
Rules:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
(If you have to improvise, that's ok.)
 *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it)
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url. 
*It's that simple.
  Here's Mine.

I remember as a child thinking it perfectly normal that complete strangers joined us for meals.  Sometimes, we were surprised to see they were even wearing our clothes.  Mum would invite passersby in for tea.  Dad would pick up hitchhikers and bring them home for dinner; if they had been standing out in the rain, he'd give them a dry shirt.  When the minister at church announced that a runaway teenager needed an adoptive home, Mum was the first to put up her hand.


This is my first non fiction for the year, and I'm struggling with it.  They Left us Everything, is a memoir by Plum Johnson, a heartfelt story of what parents leave behind.

Sunday Salon...The Lanugage of Flowers and The light Between the Oceans

I don't know if this is random or if I'm like the "Sugar Queen" and books find me, but... I finished reading the Language of flowers last week in preparation for my luncheon.

Well both books were heartbreaking stories of children, lost children.  I actually had to stop reading a couple of times to regain my composure, not good to cry on public transit.

While I like to read around the world these two books took me to San Francisco, and Australia.  Had to keep reminding myself that Australian Christmas are warm.

Both books very good stories, would recommend them both, great books.  And you'll look at flowers in a whole new way.

Up next... maybe a visit with Flavia.

March Wrap up...

I've had a not so good reading month, not sure why, but I've only just finished an Inspector Banks Mystery by Peter Robinson.  Interesting and somewhat confusing, I almost wanted to take a highlighter out and sort things out.  Eventually I got it!  I've not read much of Inspector Banks, I like him, but I don't know him.

A piece of my Heart, was a scary trip back to the time of the Manson Murders.  It was a very scary time, all that LOUD music, drugs and free love.  I'm so glad I wasn't part of that.  Never been to a rock concert, even though I did wear bell bottoms.

From Publishers Weekly

Det. Insp. Alan Banks investigates the apparently motiveless murder of Nicholas Barber, a rock journalist from London visiting a small town near Banks's Yorkshire police precinct, in Robinson's less-than-stellar 14th novel to feature the Yorkshire police detective. Meanwhile, another mystery unfolds in a parallel narrative, the fatal stabbing of a young woman at a local rock festival back in 1969. Needless to say, the cases are intertwined—as Banks puts it, "the past is never over"—and part of the pleasure is trying to piece together the links. Unfortunately, Robinson takes too long to connect the two stories, and the earlier thread suffers from the lack of Banks's engaging presence (though it does capture, with great fidelity, that odd mixture of self-absorption and idealism of the late 1960s and the whole hippie/rock music scene). As always, the author's prose is clear, observant and intelligent, but the story itself is not nearly as compelling as 2005's Strange Affair. 6-city author tour. (June)

It's Monday What are you reading... Everything I Never Told You

 

from inside flap of the hardcover copy

Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet . . . So begins the story of this exquisite debut novel, about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee; their middle daughter, a girl who inherited her mother’s bright blue eyes and her father’s jet-black hair. Her parents are determined that Lydia will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue—in Marilyn’s case that her daughter become a doctor rather than a homemaker, in James’s case that Lydia be popular at school, a girl with a busy social life and the center of every party.

When Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together tumbles into chaos, forcing them to confront the long-kept secrets that have been slowly pulling them apart. James, consumed by guilt, sets out on a reckless path that may destroy his marriage. Marilyn, devastated and vengeful, is determined to find a responsible party, no matter what the cost. Lydia’s older brother, Nathan, is certain that the neighborhood bad boy Jack is somehow involved. But it’s the youngest of the family—Hannah—who observes far more than anyone realizes and who may be the only one who knows the truth about what happened.

A profoundly moving story of family, history, and the meaning of home, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, exploring the divisions between cultures and the rifts within a family, and uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.

I'm about half way through this book, and it's a page turner.

What are you reading is hosted by Sheila from book journey. 

My computer is once again on the fritz so posts are irregular at best.  See you soon I hope.

It's Monday What are you Reading... Norwegian by Night, Derek B. Miller

I don't read thrillers, usually, this was more than that.  I did a search for my War Through the Generations challenge and found this book, it had been reviewed by someone I trust and I don't remember who.  WELL, it hit upon several wars, WWII, Korea, Viet Nam and even Kosovo, and to top it off it had a complicated family relationship and dementia.  Who could possibly do that, I am so impressed with this author, I will have to look for him again.

A riveting look at the life of survivors, and what they deal with FOREVER!  Relationships, cold and warm and necessary, responsibilities, pride, and faith AND in the middle of this all killing and more killing.

If you only read one War Through the Generations book this should be it.  Five *****

Friday 56... The Light We Cannot See

Friday 56 is hosted by Freda's Voice.

"She watches New York city recede;   the forts of New Jersey salute her departure with cannons;  channel markers bob in the swells.  A lightship with twin beacons glides past as America recedes; ahead wait the great glittering prairies of the Atlantic."

This is a few lines from the book The Light We Cannot See,  I've finally gotten it from the library, it was a long wait, and these lines do not seem that exciting, but... I'm anxious to see what the wait was all about.

 Each week, Feeling Beachie lists four statements with a blank for you to fill in on your own blogs.  
The statements:

1. Do I have ___
2. If only ___ then ___
3. Every girl needs a___ and every boy needs ___
4. I would love to learn about ___ but do not want to have to ___

Here are mine:

1. Do I have to wake up.

2.  If only I was younger, then I'd learn to drive again, so I wouldn't have to take a bus everywhere.

3.  Every girls needs to learn to use basic tools, and every boy needs to learn to cook a great meal.

4.  I would love to learn about art restoration but do not want to have to go back to college.