Archive for December, 2006
Saturday, December 30th, 2006Best Books of 2006
I read a lot of great books in 2006 and I credit that to having joined a couple of on line book clubs. I picked up books I might never had read, and enjoyed most of them. The following is a top ten list of the books I read (in no particular order):
1. The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield
2. Savage Beauty - The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay, by Nancy Mitford (nonfiction)
3. The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank, by Ellen Feldman
4. Back When We Were Grownups, by Anne Tyler
5. That Old Ace In The Hole, by Annie Proulx
6. Talk Before Sleep, by Elizabeth Berg
7. Saint Maybe, by Anne Tyler
8. Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe
9. Moloka’i, by Alan Brennert
10. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See
Cats and Chrismas Trees
“Do we need to worry about them climbing it?” Kip asked me as we strolled among the Christmas trees, hugging ourselves against the chill and looking for the perfect fir.
“My previous cats never did that,” I muttered. I held an especially full tree away from my body at arms length. “This one is good.”
“I’m thinking of attaching two cords to the limbs and then stretching them to the wall,” Kip continued.
I gave him a glance over my shoulder. “Do you like this one?”
“Sure, sure.” He frowned, not listening to me at all.
Once the tree was selected and tied to the hood of our car, we drove home and the discussion continued.
“Cats have been known to destroy Christmas trees,” Kip said.
“I don’t think we need to worry.” I gazed out at the pretty lights that twinkled on houses and lighted shrubs. The sky was jet black and clear with a thousand little sparks of star light.
“How can you be sure?”
“I’m thinking optimistically.”
“Time will tell,” Kip said.
The cats did not climb the tree and I managed to prevent Kip from stringing cords from limb to wall like so many spider webs.
They did redecorate it, however. In the days before Christmas, the perfectly symmetrical tree began to look a bit unbalanced as Gizmo and Maia removed the ornaments one by one and scattered them throughout the house. When I found one, I carefully picked it up and placed it a bit higher on the tree. By Christmas Eve the limbs of our perfect tree were bare from the floor upwards for about 2 feet. All the pretty ornaments winked from mid tree on up.
“I told you they’d mess with it,” Kip reminded me.
I shook my head. “No…you said they’d climb it.”
“Same thing.”
I laughed. Looks like the start of a new tradition.
Caribou & Argus - Christmas 2006
Very good dogs…waiting to eat their cookies until mommy says so! Notice all the new toys around them. And they LOVE the new rug!
Wednesday, December 27th, 2006TBR (To Be Read) Challenge - 2007
December 3, 2007: CHALLENGE COMPLETED!!!
Challenge Wrap Up and Thoughts: The goal of the challenge was to read 12 books off of my TBR pile - and I did that. I had originally targeted 12 primary reads and 5 alternates, and had wanted to read them all. Instead, I managed to knock 10 of the primary reads off the list, along with 2 alternates. I won’t be able to get to the rest of the books by the end of the year, but don’t be surprised if you see them on my TBR 2008 Challenge list!I thoroughly enjoyed this challenge. It gave me a good feeling to know I was finally getting to some books that had sat on my shelves for far too long. My favorite read from this challenge was a tie between Terms of Endearment and Fatal Voyage - I loved them for very different reasons and they are completely different genres! My least favorite read was The Maze.
Thanks for hosting the challenge, Jenn! See you in 2008!!
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Perhaps I’m stepping in over my head, but I’ve joined another reading challenge…to read 12 books in 12 months from my to-be-read stack. The books I’ve picked have lingered in the pile for 6 months or more and they are:
1. Balzac and The Little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie
Completed: January 8, 2007
Rated: 3.5/5
To see a review of this book, click here.
2. Zelda by Nancy Milford
Completed: February 8, 2007
Rated: 3.5/5
To see a review of this book, click here.
3. I Know This Much Is True, by Wally Lamb
Completed: February 27, 2007
Rated: 4.25/5
To see a review of this book, click here.
4. The Space Between Us, by Thrity Umrigar
Completed: April 21, 2007
Rated 3.5/5
To see a review of this book, click here.
5. Terms of Endearment, by Larry McMurtry
Completed: May 26, 2007
Rated 4.5/5
To see a review of this book, click here.
6. The Evening Star, by Larry McMurtry
Completed: June 30, 2007
Rated 4/5
To see a review of this book, click here.
7. Lost Geography, by Charlotte Bacon
Completed: August 25, 2007
Rated 4/5
To see a review of this book, click here.
8. Range of Light, by Valerie Miner
9. The Maze, by Catherine Coulter
Completed: January 21, 2007
Rated: 2.5/5
Head hopping, information dumping, plot holes I could drive my car through (especially when it came to law enforcement protocols)…this one was not the greatest. On the plus side, the sex scenes were good *laughs* and it was fast paced. The ending was not believeable in the least. Can’t recommend this one.
10. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, by Stephen King
Completed: November 30, 2007
Rated: 3.5/5
To see a review of this book, click here.
11. The Guardian, by Nicolas Sparks
12. Fatal Voyage, by Kathy Reichs
Completed: December 3, 2007
Rated: 4.5/5
To see a review of this book, click here.
Additional Reads if I have time: 1. The Last Time They Met, by Anita Shreve2. The Last Kingdom, by Bernard Cornwell3. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, by Kim Edwards
Completed: February 19, 2007
Rated: 4.5/5
To see a review of this book, click here.
4. The Reading Group, by Elizabeth Noble5. East of the Mountains, by David Guterson
Completed: October 1, 2007
Rated: 4/5
To see a review of this book, click here.
Winter Classics Challenge
Today I finished the Winter Classics Challenge! Thanks to A Reader’s Journal, who sponsored this challenge and renewed my interest in the classics.
This challenge encouraged participants to read 5 classics in January and February 2007. I ended up reading seven classic novels from 12/27/2006 through 2/11/2007. My reads included:
1. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
I finished reading this one on 12/27/2006. Technically, it was not read in January or February…so I’m adding another classic read below! I just couldn’t wait to read this one until January. I rated it a 4.75/5. Great book about a young man torn between following the conventions of his time or following his heart. Wharton draws the character Ellen perfectly…a woman who is ahead of her time; a free spirit in a time when women were supposed to be pretty things on a man’s arm. The only reason this one didn’t get a 5/5 was because the ending disappointed me.
2. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
DNF - Did not finish this one…I hated it. The dialogue is circular and repetitive; the writing is just plain bad (filled with adverbs and adjectives). I know it is satire and supposed to be a ‘must read’ kind of book; but I longed for some action, any action, any plot at all that would pull me in. I’m adding another book to my list for this challenge to substitute for this one.
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
I finished reading this one on 1/2/2007. A wonderful classic that I can highly recommend. A story about love and marriage…and the barriers to them! Lizzy’s prejudice shadows her regard for Darcy. A sometimes tragic, mostly comic view of what happens when gossip distorts the facts. Rated 5/5.
4. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Excellent book! Finished reading this on 1/18/2007. Highly recommended…a story about an Oklahoma family who moves West during the Great Dust Bowl Migration of the 1930s. Rated 5/5. To read my review of this book click here.
5. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Not my favorite Austen novel. The first half of the book is rather slow, a bit dry. Luckily for the reader, the second half picks up and moves along nicely. Catherine, the MC, is a silly girl - a bit of a drama queen with a tendency to let her imagination run wild. Austen pokes fun at the novel in this story, and there are moments of humor that gave me a chuckle. Rated 3.5/5.
6. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
I finished reading this book on 1/12/2007. A splendid novel which I rated 4.75/5. To read a review of this book, click here.
7. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
I finished reading this book on 2/11/2007. A compelling and tragic novel, rated 5/5. To read a review of this book, click here.