Bibliophile By the Sea

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Sunday Salon - January 5th - 2014

Well, it's back to work tomorrow after 16 days off....sigh. Although I feel like I've been a slacker for over (2) weeks (haven't done a ton of reading), I did love being off and taking it day by day.

Looking back I spent a few days preparing for Christmas: shopping, baking and cleaning and then cleaning up. We had a wonderful Christmas and the best part was just being together. Although having a little one around certainly added to the holiday joy, next year our Christmas joy will multiply as there should be (2) more little ones to celebrate as well.

One Christmas was over I was able to spend a little more time with my cutie, tried new recipes (veggie lasagne and pistachio cookies and pecan pie were hits) and played with my new kitchen gadgets. We ate out a lot, met friends that we only see a few times a year for lunch, went to the casino one day (an annual thing), enjoyed a snowstorm from indoors and celebrated a quiet New Year's Eve at home. We went to see Saving Mr. Banks (loved it) and watched a wonderful documentary with James Gandolfini (3x). It made me cry -- a special man whose life was cut short at 51. The documentary is Alive Day Memories - have you seen it?

As for reading, I only finished (3) books during my time off -- Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life, Marta McDowell (library book); Sycamore Row, John Grisham (audiobook); (no review yet) and The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly; S. Hwang (no review yet). I do have (5) books I hope to read in January - Five Days at the Memorial; Sheri Fink; Gemini; Carol Cassella; Life After Life; Jill McCorkle; The Dalai Lama's Cat and the Art of Purring; Perfect; Rachel Joyce and One Vacant Chair; Joe Coomer.

How were your holidays? Have a wonderful week.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life; Marta McDowell

2013 - Timber Press

Many of us grew up with fond memories of Beatrix Potter's many children's tales (at least the one about Peter Rabbit - right?) In this charming and beautifully illustrated book, adult readers will get a good feel for who Beatrix Potter was and how her love of nature and passion for gardening inspired her.

The book is divided into sections - parts one, two and three. Part One, Beatrix Potter’s Life as a Gardner, a biography of sorts, explores her love of plants and gardening and how this love of nature was incorporated into her books. Part Two, covers a year in Beatrix Potter’s life by season, exploring not only the gardens when she lived with her husband, Hill Top Farm and Castle Cottage. I loved all the detail about the individual plants. Part Three, Visiting Beatrix Potter's Gardens allows readers to explore other magical gardens in England (she lived in many different places), from the places where grew up to how they exist today.

The Magic of Hill Top Farm

(pp 264-265)

The author, Marta McDowell, also published Emily Dickinson's Gardens in 2005 which I need to check out. McDowell's passion for horticulture and her affiliation with the Beatrix Potter Society shows. She does a terrific job telling Potter’s life story through her love of nature and gardening. The watercolor illustrations add interest and help the reader to get a better understanding about what inspired Potter as a person and as an author. Her well-loved tales are certainly books that many have come to love through the generations. Although this book is written with adults in mind, there are images that children will love as well. It is one of those rare books that will magically transport you back in time.

Informative, unique, and filled with gorgeous illustrations, this beautiful book that would make a great gift for the garden lover in your life.

Highly Recommended!

5/5 stars

( Library hardcover)

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Happy New Year 2014

Happy New Year Readers

Wishing all my readers a - happy, healthy & prosperous New Year.

Did you do anything exciting last night for New Years Eve? Just a quiet evening at home for us with Chinese food:) (Take Out) and the Twilight Zone marathon. We are one wild and crazy couple!

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - One Vacant Chair; Joe Coomer

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where I share the first paragraph or (a few) of a book I am reading or thinking about reading soon. Care to join us? Today's pick is a book I bought 10 years ago and still haven't read - it has a 5 star rating too (I am pathetic - this must change in 2014).

One Vacant Chair - Joe Coomer

Graywolf Press - 2003

" PERHAPS OUR LIVES ARE SUSTAINED by a suspense of dying. These are the things I know and everything else is in between. Grandma Hutton called Aunt Edna to her deathbed and then decided to linger for twenty-two years. She measured her life with spoons, the brimming spoons of medicine or milk or soup that my aunt balanced with a painter's sure grip over her own cupped palm, her free hand mimicking in form and movement the dull spoon's bowl, her arm the narrow handle. My grandmother, for the last few years of her life, answered the telephone as if she were standing at the mouth of a dark cave, halooing for a lost soul. When someone answered she was always taken aback. That's how we talked to her at last, by phone, everyone but Aunt Edna. Then the family returned to Fort Worth for the funeral like separate drops of condensing water pooling in the bowl of a cold spoon, a last offering to an old dead woman none of us cared for. That's not true. Aunt Edna missed her."

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What do you think? Would you keep reading? Feel free to join us by linking your First Chapter post below.

Monday, December 30, 2013

Perpetual Bucket List ~ Books I Meant to Read

(nope it's not a challenge)

In January of 2013 I created a reminder list of my top 20 books I had always meant to read but never did. As the year progressed I crossed them out and linked reviews as I worked through the list. With 2013 coming to a close I managed to read 9/20 on my list. For 2014, I'm adding 20 more books to this list and make this a perpetual working list.

As you might recall, with the exception of a handful of books, I do not save my books once I've read them (too many books to reread), so I'm trying to read and purge my shelves of mostly hardcovers first.

Below was my list 20 for 2013 (plus an additional 20 for 2014)

~~The Girl Who Fell From the Sky; Heidi Durrow~~ (2010) - 4/5 (Nov-2014)
David Copperfield; Charles Dickens
~~The Chosen; Chaim Potuk (1967~~) - 4.5/5 (May-2013)
Ex cellent Women; Barbara Pym (2005)
Sweet Thursday; John Steinbeck (1955)
~~Naomi; Junichiro Tanizaki - (1924) (2001)~~ - 4.5/5 (Jan-2013)
~~On Chesil Beach; Ian McEwan - 2007~~ - 4.5/5 (June 2013)
Post Office Girl; Stefan Zweig (2008)
~~The Giant's House; Elizabeth McCracken (1997)~~ - 3.5/5 (April-2013)
Passing On; Penelope Lively (1990)
Mangus; John Fowles (1985)
~~The Garden of Eden; Ernest Hemingway (1986)~~ 3.5/5 - April 2013
~~A Yellow Raft in Blue Water; Michael Dorris~~ (2003) 3/5 - (Aug-2013)
The Lizard's Cage; Karen Connelly (2007)
~~In the Woods; Tana French (2007)~~ - 4/5 (Jan-2013)
The Girls; Lori Lansens (2006)
By George; Wesley Stace (2007)
~~The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne~~; Brian Moore(1922/2010) - 5/5 (Feb-2013)
~~Half of a Yellow Sun; Adichie~~ (2007) - 4.5/5 (Sept-2013)
Cassandra at the Wedding; Dorothy Baker (1962)
The Broken Teaglass; Emily Arsenault (2010)
Amigoland; Oscar Casaras (2009)
Kings of the Earth; Jon Clinch (2010)
One Vacant Chair; Joe Coomer (2003)
My Cousin Rachel; Daphne DuMaurnier (1951)
The Clock Winder; Anne Tyler (1972)
~~The Road Home; Rose Tremain~~ (2008) 3.5/5
Flannery, A Life of Flannery O'Connor; Brad Gooch (2010)
The Wilderness; Samantha Harvey (2009)
N0S4A2; Joe Hill (2013)
Mountains of the Moon; I.J. Kay (2012)
Rush Home Road; Lori Lansens (2007)
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest; Stieg Larsson (2010)
The Group; Mary McCarthy (1989)
Stoner; John Williams (2006)
~~Trespass; Rose Tremain (2010) (April-2014)~~
The Violent Bear it Away; Flannery O'Connor (1960)
Straight Man; R. Russo (1997)
Random Acts of Heroic Love; Scheinmann (2009)
~~And Then There Were None; Agatha Christie(1922) Sept-2014~~

Have you read any of these? Do you have a "bucket list for books"?

Mailbox Monday - December 30th

Rose City Reader is our Mailbox Monday host this month. Mailbox Monday was started by Marcia as a way of sharing your new books and having fun at the same time.

My mailbox was loaded these last (2) weeks of 2013. Here's a peek at what was inside.

(5) audiobooks

Stella Bain; Anita Shreve (Hachette)
Bones in Her Pocket; Kathy Reichs (Simon & Schuster)
White Fire; Preston & Child (Hachette)
TakedownTwenty; Janet Evanovich (Random House)
The Al-Girl Filling Station Last Reunion; Fannie Flagg (Random House)

(7) arcs

Savage Girl; Jean Zimmerman (Viking)
Clever Girl; Tessa Hadley (Harper Collins)
The Boy Who Could See Demons; Carolyn Jess-Cooke (paperback swap)
Life After Life; Jill McCorkle (amazon vine)
The Headmaster's Wife; Thomas Christopher Greene (MacMillan)
The First True Lie; Marina Mander (Random House)
Mind of Winter; Laura Kasischke (Harper Collins)

Friday, December 27, 2013

Favorite Reads in 2013

Books Read in 2013

As 2013 comes to a close I have mixed feelings about my year in books. While I exceeded my goal of 125 books (I read 158), and had a lot of enjoyable reads, I think I felt less pleasure reading in 2013. Several of the books I read made me feel like I had to read them because I requested them. I'm grateful yet, accepting "free books", places a certain amount of pressure on me, and often makes the reading experience itself, less enjoyable......do you know what I mean?

For 2014, I'll be accepting fewer "free books" and doing more reading by mood. There is something uplifting about selecting a book off your personal shelves and curling up with it on a whim. I do still plan to read a combination of physical books, eBooks and audiobooks in 2014, as well as some kids books.

Here's my favorites of 2013 --read them --

Top 10 Fiction Read in 2013