Books, Family, Random
Currently Reading The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Pages Read Since Last Update 0
Time Spent Reading Since Last Update zero
Time Spent Blogging Since Last Update no clue.
Total Time Spent Blogging a lot?
Total Time Reading 3 hours something
Total Pages Read 155
Books Finished 0
Pots of Coffee Brewed 2
Loads of Landry Done and Folded and Put Away 3
Reader Blogs Commented On: 85 (is that all?!)
sighs sighed 27
I’ve been reading! I spent most of the time between 2-4 pm blogging and commenting and reading while waiting for blogs to load… and then read for the last hour and half.
Pages Read: 155 (The Pillars of the Earth/Ken Follett)
Hours Spent Actually Reading (approximate): 3+
Blogs Commented At (or is in ON?): about half, maybe? I’m putting ticks by the names of participants and still have many readers to visit.
I’ve not eaten nor drunk a bite nor sip. I’m in bed, the hub is home from fishing (he caught a few and was home before it started to rain – he’s now cooking soup and making fun of my ‘Read-A-Thon’ RRrrrrrrrr) I’ll get up and go back to my desk or kitchen table soon.
It’s ME! cheering and reading and blogging on my PC while dreaming of PIE.
I decided to spend one total solid hour reading! So, from 1:05 to 2:05 pm, I sat and turned 55 pages.
I know, not nearly the pace Eva sets but she’s the gold standard, right?! congrats to all of you who have read over 100 pages.
My dog is not happy with my plans for the day. The pic above shows Oscar stealing the book away from me in order to prevent my ignoring him…
Pages Read: 87
Time Elapsed: 6 hours.
Yoga: 2 hours
Laundry loads: 2 and 1/2
Showers taken: one
Blogs Commented On: Already lost track.
Food Consumed: One tuna fish sandwich with lots of lettuce on wheat, one pear, one big glass of water, 2 cups of coffee – fatfree 1/s & 1/2 only.
Husbands sent off to go fishing: One
Dogs allowed in, then back out, then in again: One
Tracking sheet and participant lists printed: All
Mini-challenges Participated in: None
Mmmm, book.
Howdy,
I see that I have 6 comments on my prior (update 1) post and I haven’t even read them yet! but, thank you. I will!
But since it is 12 on the dot, I wanted to post:
Pages Read: 32
Blog Comments since last post: 1 (Vasilly!)
Tracking Sheet of hours and print off of participants: NOPE! gonna do that next. after lunch.
Ok, carry on! I am still not ready – want to fix a bite to eat and read more… So don’t comment on this! go read something or cheer another on! (come back for update 3 / mini-challenge response… I can’t wait to play!)
One of the hardest things about Read-A-Thon is knowing what time it is!
I just got back from yoga, read 1o pages of Pillars of the Earth – I am SO EXCITED that I finished a book last night so I can track pages read easily…
I am not quite ready to commit body to chair and fingers to keyboard and thoughts to cheering but I hope to read a few pages, do a mini-challenge and comment here and there every so often, so you might see me around.
Congrats to everyone getting off to a great start. Steady does it. Drink a health beverage, allow to get absorbed into a story, don’t watch the clock and have some fun.
TTFN = ta ta for now!
Pages Read: 10
Blogs Commented: Chris, Anna, BiblioMom, Violet
Mini-Challenges: none yet.
Hello, here’s the plan for tomorrow. Even though I am not signed up as a reader, I will be reading the following books:
A Lesson Before Dying by Earnest J. Gaines
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
and/or
Oliver Sacks’ The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
My goal is only to beat last year’s achievement of 219 pages – yea, I know: PATHETIC.
Which is why my OFFICIAL activity is CHEERING!!!
I have yoga (I can’t miss my yoga class) at the same time my time zone is to start the Read-A-Thon, so my main cheering will be after 10 pm EST which will be hour 14 and beyond.
IF YOU ARE A BLOGSPOTTER READER or anyother kind of blogger with cryptic security stuff on your comment sign in screen!!! ***** Please turn them off ***** for this weekend – it makes commenting SO MUCH EASIER.
I won’t be hosting any official mini-challenges and I won’t be hosting any contests so don’t feel like you have to stop by here… I just didn’t get organized early enough. My goal is to be a comment-fool so if you want me to comment and stop by here – you’ll likely get a comment back. It’s just the way it works easiest right!?!?
You know the official site? Read-A-Thon Official Site
You interested in my last year’s efforts? Click HERE.
Interested in the first Cheering RAT I participated in? Click HERE.
Curious what I will be doing next week after R-A-T is all wrapped up and we get back to business?
I will have a wrap up on my Still Alice Author Event! and more about my first book club meeting with my new book club friends where we discuss… Still Alice! and we picked the next book! and I have a review of 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff to write/post (one word: delightful!) and I bought 3 books at the library sale yesterday I have to tell you about. and, and, and. I have another pie to bake for my husband’s birthday and a shout out to Jill who has a birthday next week and all sorts of celebrations going on at her blog (click here.)
Toodles until after yoga! sometime Saturday afternoon!
Review 
The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright, 2007 Berkley Books, 280 pages
I have a new review system! Since I like pie, I’m going to use slices of pie as my rating guide. If I give a book five slices, then you know I would want to eat the entire pie in one sitting – it’ll be THAT good. If I give a book one slice of pie, then I was able to eat the one slice but I didn’t care for it much. If I give a book two slices of pie, then I ate it and liked it OK but it won’t go into my list of favorite pies. Are you getting the idea? A three slice of pie book is one I enjoyed, and a four slice is really good! Might go onto my list of faves but, again, a five slicer is incredibly delectably awesome.
The Wednesday Letters gets two slices of pie.
An older couple with three adult children pass away on the same night. The children come home to attend the funeral and find out that Dad wrote Mom letters ever single Wednesday of their entire married life. The history, the tenderness, the fights and disagreements, the exciting adventures, and all the secrets are revealed. Except one big secret which comes out at the very end.
Actually, not quite. The very end is a happy years-later tender scene – oh wait! The very last ending is one more letter. The book has a gimmick of a sealed envelope in the back of the book which will probably get lost since it’s not physically included in the book spine – thus the word ‘gimmick.’
It’s very Christian centered and yet its a very superficial sugary coating of the power of love and not all that much religion. My thoughts: It was a just a bit too sweet to be believable.
Maybe this is what made me think of pie?
I’m giving up on Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathon Safron Foer. It’s not that it’s bad – it’s good. It’s quirky, even. It’s just that I’m not in the mood for this right now. I am avoiding picking it up after I put it down. So I think I will try it again in September. Also for Fall, I am recommitting to Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes which I failed to finish before Halloween last October - and it was really great! But I was no longer in a mood to be creeped out.
♦
I’m half way through April’s Post-Every-Day goal. How am I doing? I am getting considerably more hits and visits; I’m getting a ton of comments (thank you) and I’m getting comments spread out over many posts per day – which is not typical. Thank you, again. I sure hope to have a summary and maybe some of the stranger search term/phrases for you in a few weeks.
♦
Reminder: Read-A-Thon is this weekend. For my near-Boston location, starting time is 8 am. I have only committed to cheering, even though I hope to get some reading done, too. Please visit www.24hourreadathon.com for all the info.
♦
And because it is Wondrous Word Wednesday*, here’s a couple:
From Still Alice by Lisa Genova, page 54: “an awkward saccade“ - a rapid, jerky movement of the eyes between positions of rest.
From Oliver Sacks’ The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat, page 31: ”But this dwelling on the past and relative hebetude towards the present…” HEBETUDE - mental lethargy or dullness.
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I dropped off a bunch of junk treasure to Goodwill last week and then decided to spend a few dollars at the awesome store they just opened in Wareham Mass. It’s HUuuuuuggggGGGGeE! I found a bunch of plates to smash for my mosaics (sorry kid who wrapped them up so nicely as I was checking out) and I found BOOKS!
Don’t you just love it when you casually peruse the shelves and SEE the ONE!?
Last fall, I signed up for Jessica’s Lit Flick Challenge and committed to reading the books that inspired the Best Picture Oscar winning films that I had yet to see:
Cimarron
All About Eve*
Midnight Cowboy Click here to read that post.
But I had trouble finding the James Leo Herlihy book until it was shining like a beacon on the shelf at the Goodwill store! Pick me! I’m here! You’ve been looking for me – this day was fated!! I sure hope I like it… Then I will watch the movie. Another cool thing about this first edition Simon & Schuster hardback with the original jacket: it was published in 1965. I bought this for 99¢. The quick research just now conducted lists a first edition of this novel at US $120!
The other books I brought home with me are A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines and Barbara Pronin’s Substitute Teaching: A Handbook for Hassle-Free Subbing. I’ll probably need it today – I’m subbing this afternoon for 5th grade.
Another book in my possession that I started yesterday and finished this morning was given to me by one of my tutees at the nursing home I volunteer at: The Wednesday Letters buy Jason F. Wright. Review soon.
* All About Eve is based on a play and I have it available on bookmooch if you are interested. Find me as ‘bkclubcare’ at www.bookmooch.com.
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