Monday, March 23, 2015

Monday - Books

 This is a busy Spring here and if you aren't busy yet you will be!  The songbirds are back, the sun is shining and all is right with my world!  And my daughter is on Spring Break this week so there will be more "phone time" than usual which is a good thing as we tend to motivate each other.  So, if Spring hasn't arrived yet in a neighborhood near you...just be patient.....it is coming!
Meanwhile, the reading continues......not as many as last week though.  I only finished one but it was a great one!  I'm going to be making a list of my TOP 10 Books of 2015 and I'll put it on my blog sidebar and this one will definitely be going on it!  I will probably do one for last year too since I kept track of my 2015 reads.
Ms.  Trigiani did not disappoint with this one.  She's such a flawless writer and storyteller that I would probably love anything she writes but I do have my favorites and this is one of them.
I think she wrote a lot of it from family history as she divulges some correlations in the epilogue and what a great family history to have.  I related to much of it and that generation which would have been my parents generation and their parents.  The hard work ethic, the feeling of responsibility to your family and showing love through caring for them.
"This heartfelt story of the limits and power of love chronicles the remarkable lives of the Castellucas, an Italian American family over the course of three generations."  I think you will enjoy it very much.
This is a book I bought years ago and it is a non-fiction about nature but anytime people praise a book as highly as this by "those in the know" I find it disappointing.  So far it seems to me her writing sounds like she's smoking something!  Some of it makes sense and then some sounds like she's in a dream state.  I've only just begun reading it so maybe it will become more understandable as I get further but right now it's a struggle.  Definitely not a "relaxing read" more like one of those required in school. I read Shakespeare and all the Greek tragedies etc. and in my mind if I have to sit and figure out what the writer is trying to tell me then the writer is at fault....not me! LOL!  I'm a realist and I don't deal well with "skipping around the bush" or symbolism...spit it out!
I just chose my next fiction book this morning and this is it......
I got this at a library book sale but I can't remember when.  I buy many books based on the cover and the blurb on the back.  It looks to be one of those book club books which are usually pretty good.
 "A funny and poignant novel about having your heart in the right place even when everything else isn't."
"Newly divorced Dana Stellgarten has always been unfailingly nice --- even to telemarketers---but now her temper is wearing thin.  Money is tight, her kids are reeling from their Dad's departure, and her Goth teenage niece has just landed on her doorstep.  As she enters the slipstream of post-divorce romance and befriended by the town queen bee, Dana finds that the tension between being true to yourself and being liked doesn't end in middle school....and that sometimes it takes a real friend to help you embrace adulthood in all its flawed complexity."
I'm still listening to the audio of Agatha Christie short stories thus I haven't started The Secret Garden audio.  That's it for this week!  What are YOU reading?
Happy Trails!


20 comments:

  1. That last fiction book sounds like my cup of tea! Happy Reading!

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    1. Hi Miss Merry,
      I highly recommend it! I'm into it now and really enjoying it.!

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  2. I added the last book to my TBR. I like the sound of it because there is so much pressure to conform and keep up with others. I had added the family saga one last time. It's been awhile since I've read a good family saga.

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    1. You will like Deep Down True, I think. I'm enjoying it and want to look for more books by her.

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  3. I'm reading a book of Amish fiction this week. I always enjoy those. Did you notice that you won the drawing on my blog last week? I haven't recieved your address yet. Could you email me at queenbetsy2@gmail.com?
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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    1. I like Amish people but I haven't read the books much as all the ones I saw were romances which I'm really not into as a main theme. I've never been a romantic much at all....too practical. lol! I also don't agree with their patriarchal lifestyle or religion so there you go but I know many people enjoy them. I only buy from the Amish here at the farmer's market and I lived near them in Iowa and I truly admire their lifestyle. The ones I've met are always kind and honest. I'd join in a minute if they weren't such chauvinists! LOL! That being said I should read out of my comfort zone and I might find I'd enjoy them. Any you would recommend? They're on every street corner nowadays....the books that is....not the Amish. Ha! Ha!

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  4. I am reading blogs:0 Oh and the weekend free newspaper:)

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    1. I know there is so much out there that reading takes on a whole life of it's own....I read blogs and then Pinterest and there is You Tube and podcasts.....I could spend my whole day just doing that!

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  5. I still want to write down some of your books from last week. I'm in between books right now and anxious to start a new one. You know I love Adriana Trigiani. I was blessed to meet her several years ago when her very first book came out. She gave me one and signed it and we have been friends ever since. She's just as beautiful as you would expect her to be and her books are always wonderful. Have a good week my friend. Sweet hugs, Diane

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    1. OMG! You are friends with Ms.Trigiani? I bought her first book when I was there visiting the Biltmore Estate and I knew she lived there somewhere. I'd never heard of her but loved the name of the book and the cover and the brief synopsis and after the first one I was hooked and had to wait until she came out with the next and I've read her ever since. What a writer! Lucky you! I don't swoon over movie stars but I do over great authors! I so admire the great ones.

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  6. Replies
    1. Hi Cucki, I need to stop by and see what you've been creating lately!

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  7. what am I reading? the back side of this little bag of 'M&M's... lol! it's about all the time I have available for reading,,, at least until I get my garden cleaned up and planted... lol!
    Happy Spring...
    >^..^<

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    1. You go girl! I love gardening but not in my yard of Bermuda Grass.....no one told me that's what they have for grass down here! AHHHH! So, a few containers for now but wait until I get back up North...I'll be a gradening fool! LOL! Meanwhile I can live vicariously through yours.

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  8. The recent death of famed British mystery novelist P.D. James led me to Nook up her latest - it had been awhile. As expected it's very good. At age 80 something she was still at the top of her game & will be sadly missed......

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    1. I had no idea she passed away and I'm ashamed to admit I've never read her but I will now! Thanks for the reminder as I love British mysteries. I usually like to look up authors on Wikipedia and get the list of their books and start at the beginning of the their writing career.

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  9. Very great post. I simply stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your weblog posts. After all I’ll be subscribing on your feed and I am hoping you write again very soon!

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    1. It's a busy time of year so I'm not as good as I am in the Winter and Summer about writing but I'll try harder!

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  10. Awesome work.Just wanted to drop a comment and say I am new to your blog and really like what I am reading.Thanks for the share

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