Neglecting The Bookshelves Self-Challenge Week Two

Week One recap: Hit a little glitch when I lost a book. I'm still a little in awe that this happened. I more than made up for it though and spent much of my PTO either sleeping, eating or reading. It was quite nice!

This week is Sara Gruen Week. Or the Week of Sara Gruen, if you prefer. I have two of her books on the TBR list and I think I'm up for reading both. Flying Changes is the sequel to Riding Lessons, which I read quite a while ago and planned to read the second book shortly after... [clears throat] I hope I remember enough to keep up right from the start. Water For Elephants is a re-read, of sorts. I listened to the audiobook and loved, loved, loved it. Book Club is reading it this month and I decided I wanted to do a refresher and read the book this time. I hope I enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed listening to it.

Flying Changes by Sara Gruen
ISBN: 9780060790950
Paperback
Source: paperbackswap.com

Twenty years after her competitive riding career died, Annemarie Zimmer worries that her relationship with the man she loves is off course, and fears that daughter Eva's own dreams of Olympic glory will carry her far from home... and into harm's way. — When the teenage Eva is invited to audition for a world-class trainer, Annemarie realizes that she must give Eva a chance to soar. But when Eva falls in love with a spectacular blue roan Nokota who hasn't let anyone ride him since his arrival at the barn, Annemarie's doubts come crashing back.
It is a time of change at Maple Brook, when fears must be saddled and broken. And one remarkable family must learn how to deal with Flying Changes.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
ISBN: 9781616200817
NOOKbook
Source: Barnes & Noble

As a young man, Jacob Jankowski was tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. It was the early part of the great Depression, and for Jacob, now ninety, the circus world he remembers was both his salvation and a living hell. A veterinary student just shy of a degree, he was put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It was there that he met Marlena, the beautiful equestrian star married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. And he met Rosie, an untrainable elephant who was the great gray hope for this third-rate traveling show. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and, ultimately, it was their only hope for survival.

The Bad Girl's Guide to Getting Personal

The Bad Girl's Guide to Getting Personal by Cameron Tuttle

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


I picked this up a while back expecting some tongue in cheek humor, maybe a little usable insight, but what I got was pure ridiculous. I hope that was how this book was written - for humor and not for anyone to actually follow.



View all my reviews

Fusilli with Sausage Ragu

1/2 lb. fusilli (spiral pasta)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 lb. sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
3 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup white wine (I used beef broth with a little white wine vinegar)
handful chopped fresh parsley (I skipped)
1 cup grated fresh parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package instructions, reserving 1/2 cup cooking water.

Heat olive oil and butter in a skillet over medium-low heat. Add red pepper, onion and garlic, and cook until onion turns translucent, about 5 minutes.

Raise heat to medium; add sausage and break into bits with the back of a wooden spoon. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sausage is brown and starting to get crispy, about 10 minutes.

Add tomato paste and stir constantly, until sausage is coated and mixture is fragrant, 1 minute. Add wind and scrape bottom of the pan; cook until mostly reduced.

Remove from heat, add cooked pasta and 1/2 cup reserved pasta water, and toss. Throw in the parsley and cheese; toss until combined. Serve warm.

Recipe found at: Glamour magazine February 2011

Fireworks Over Toccoa

Fireworks over Toccoa by Jeffrey Stepakoff

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This book was okay. The characters were flat, the plot was interesting but poorly written and executed, and the writing was flat-out clunky. The writing was really what killed it for me. I knew within the first two pages of the book that it was going to be a struggle for me. The first page is the random finding of a key piece of evidence by unrelated characters. The next few pages introduce the grand-daughter of the main character as a story witness (which in my opinion was completely unnecessary as the grand-daughter's relationship had so little to do with the storyline that it would have been better without those few pages of bulk). And then there's this crazy back to the past, back a little further into the past, forward into the past storyline. Which I hate. Just tell the story already! And finally the writing... clunky, overfed and a random POV. Seriously, there was one sentence that covered three topics and was over 200 words long! It was painful to read. The random POV kills me every time I read it - one character POV per chapter please. Especially when it's a story that someone is remembering - how do you read the other character's thoughts and memories? First rule of writing: Show it, don't say it. A very poorly written book (which at least gives me hope for publishing my own writing some day...), but an interesting love story. I particularly liked Lily's split personality and some of the tie-ins between past and future and legends.

Synopsis: An unexpected discovery takes eighty-four-year-old Lily Davis Woodward to 1945, and the five days that forever changed her life. Married for only a week before her husband was sent to fight in WWII, Lily is anxious for his return, and the chance to begin their life together. In honor of the soldiers' homecoming, the small Georgia town of Toccoa plans a big celebration. And Jake Russo, a handsome Italian immigrant, also back from war, is responsible for the elaborate fireworks display the town commissioned. But after a chance encounter in a star-lit field, he steals Lily's heart and soul—and fulfills her in ways her socially-minded, upper-class family cannot. Now, torn by duty to society and her husband—and the poor, passionate man who might be her only true love—Lily must choose between a commitment she's already made and a love she’s never known before.

Recommended Reading:
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell
The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf
On Mystic Lake by Kristin Hannah

Book 3 of Self-Challenge

13 Little Blue Envelopes

13 Little Blue Envelopes Free with Bonus Material by Maureen Johnson

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Honestly, I'm not sure why I stuck this one out. I was hoping that the book would live up to its premise, but it never did. The main character was flat, one dimensional and boring. The guy she hooks up with is a creeper. There's a best friend that we never get properly introduced to (who might have had a chance to liven up this story). The aunt was really the only saving grace of the book. She was the classic flaky, fun artist aunt and I adored her. I would have like to seen more of her in this novel. The storyline that followed the plot just didn't follow through. The main character's attempts to fulfill her aunts requests were half-hearted at best - in some cases I wouldn't have even considered them accomplished. Some points of the story were missing, like there was something we were supposed to "get" but just didn't have enough information. There was some bad writing (in my opinion), quite a few "Americanisms" were incorrectly done - like the expression "Up and Adam". Seriously? It's "Up and at 'em." There were quite a few of this mistakes made throughout the book, which is probably an epic fail on the part of the editor.

Synopsis: When Ginny receives thirteen little blue envelopes and instructions to buy a plane ticket to London, she knows something exciting is going to happen. What Ginny doesn't know is that she will have the adventure of her life and it will change her in more ways than one. Life and love are waiting for her across the Atlantic, and the thirteen little blue envelopes are the key to finding them in this funny, romantic, heartbreaking novel.

Book Two of Self-Challenge

Beat The Reaper

Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was luke warm on reading this book. I really had my heart set on a bit of chick lit, but seem to have misplaced the damn book, so I read this instead. I'm not longer luke warm. I loved this book. There's no time wasted setting up a story, the main character if witty and funny - seriously laugh out loud stuff. The plot, while a tad outrageous seems to hold water. Really though, it was the characters that won me on this one.

Synopsis: Meet Peter Brown, a young Manhattan emergency room doctor with an unusual past that is just about to catch up with him. His morning begins with the quick disarming of a would-be mugger, followed by a steamy elevator encounter with a sexy young pharmaceutical rep, topped off by a visit with a new patient—and from there Peter's day is going to get a whole lot worse and a whole lot weirder. Because that patient knows Peter from his other life, when he had a different name and a very different job. The only reason he's a doctor now is thanks to the Witness Protection Program—and even they can't protect him from the long reach of the New Jersey mob. Now he's got to do whatever it takes to keep his patient alive so he can buy some time...and beat the reaper.

Recommended Reading:
The Winter Vault by Anne Michaels
The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle

Book 1 of 24 of Self-Challenge

Due To Technical Difficulties...

...we interrupt this regularly scheduled program...

I'm not sure how it happened. To be honest, I'm not even sure WHERE it happened. I know that I put my book on the kitchen table Friday morning. I'm almost certain that I took said book out to the car. What I'm not certain of is if the book made it into the car - and if it did, what happened to it after that. It's just disappeared.

I am certain that it isn't in the house, in the car or at work. I did a thorough check of my office before I left Friday because I'm on PTO (we won't even try to call it a "vacation") for an entire week and it wasn't there. I'm stumped, and possibly a little fearful that I may have left the book on the car trunk while buckling The Diva into her carseat. In which case, I can consider the book gone.

I've never lost a book before. This has me quite perplexed. In the meantime, I'll read this other book...