Drinking Closer to Home

Drinking Closer to Home by Jessica Anya Blau
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After reading the first few chapters, I was sure I was going to hate this book. I got to the end, and I was sad. The story was crazy, the timelines were all over the place, the characters were... well, colorful to say the least. Once I adjusted to the timeline - really, just think of it as the way memories work: present and past. Present is linear, but remembering the past isn't. Memories happen at any time. I loved the characters, I think Emery was my favorite. I just loved this book!

Synopsis: They say you can never really go home again. Adult siblings Anna, Portia, and Emery are about to discover just how true that is.
From Publishers Weekly:
Blau's second novel (after The Summer of Naked Swim Parties) revolves around a family in crisis after a mother's debilitating heart attack. The troubled adult children of Buzzy and Louise come home to visit their parents on their hippie ranch in Santa Barbara, Cal., "where the days are so sunny you'd swear a nuclear reactor had exploded." Sisters Anna and Portia, and brother Emery, recall the events that led them to their restless present. Emery and his partner, Alejandro, tip-toe around the topic of asking a sister to donate eggs so that they can have a child. During their week-long visit everyone must deal with uncomfortable details about their parents' personal lives, as well as the ghosts of the people they once were, wishing that they could leave their childhood wounds behind once and for all. Blau writes funny, often heartbreaking, and always relatable anecdotes. She aptly describes the family visiting Louise in the hospital: "every day, a moment comes when someone can no longer take sitting in the beeping, stinking room." Blau's lifelike characters are such a joy to get to know that one feels sorry to leave them behind. (Jan.)


Recommended Reading:
Skinny by Diana Spechler
Lean on Pete by Willy Vlautin
What He's Poised to Do by Ben Greenman
The Average American Male by Chad Kultgen
Flatscreen by Adam Wilson
The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbol

Inkdeath

Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I love the characters in this series, and the storylines through all three books... but oh man, am I glad they're done! This book could have done with about 200 less pages. There were parts of the story I didn't understand "why" and just wanted to get on with the story. It was the plot that wouldn't stop twisting and turning, even though the reader can clearly see the ending.

Synopsis: Ever since the extraordinary events of Inkspell, when the enchanted book Inkheart drew Meggie and her father, Mo, into its chapters, life in the Inkworld has been more tragic than magical.

The fire-eater Dustfinger is dead, having sacrificed his life for his apprentice Farid's, and now, under the rule of the evil Adderhead, the fairy-tale land is in bloody chaos, its characters far beyond the control of Fenoglio, their author. Even Elinor, left behind in the real world, believes her family to be lost - lost between the covers of a book.

Facing the threat of eternal winter, Mo inks a dangerous deal with Death itself. There yet remains a faint hope of changing the cursed story - if only he can fill its pages fast enough.

Inkdeath - the captivating final tale in the Inkheart trilogy.


Recommended Reading:
Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
Queste by Angie Sage
The Fire Eternal by Chris d'Lacey
Stargazer by Patrick Carman
The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer
The Sorcerer of the North by John Flanagan

Best Friends Forever

Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was a bit uncertain how I would like this book, most of the reviews were bad and I have liked JW's other books. This wasn't an amazing book, or even emotionally deep, it was an entertaining read. This book was a great escape, easy to fall into, with wacky characters which made for some great humor. I ranked this book high even though the plot didn't pan out and the romance was flimsy at best, I really enjoyed the writing and was thoroughly entertained.

Synopsis:  Following the ups and downs of a long-time friendship between two young girls who grow up to be two very different women: Addie Downs and Valerie Adler were eight when they first met and decided to be best friends forever. But, in the wake of tragedy and betrayal during their teenage years, everything changed. Val went on to fame and fortune. Addie stayed behind in their small Midwestern town. Destiny, however, had more in store for these two. And when, twenty-five years later, Val shows up at Addie’s front door with blood on her coat and terror on her face, it is the beginning of a wild adventure for two women joined by love and history who find strength together that they could not find alone.


Recommended Reading:
Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner
South of Broad by Pat Conroy
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan
A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
On Folly Beach by Karen White

Inkspell

Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

What is this?? I finally finished a book!

This was an easier read than the first book of the trilogy. The story moved at a faster pace and there were some twists I didn't expect. Some parts of the story weren't as developed as I would have liked them to be. Characters stayed true to the first story - although Dustfinger seemed to be more softhearted and not as mysterious. I wasn't quite sure what the point of Elinor and Darius in the story was, so that was a struggle to read through. Very well written for being told from so many point of views.

Synopsis: Although a year has passed, not a day goes by without Meggie thinking of INKHEART, the book whose characters became real. But for Dustfinger, the fire-eater brought into being from words, the need to return to the tale has become desperate. When he finds a crooked storyteller with the ability to read him back, Dustfinger leaves behind his young apprentice Farid and plunges into the medieval world of his past. Distraught, Farid goes in search of Meggie, and before long, both are caught inside the book, too. But the story is threatening to evolve in ways neither of them could ever have imagined.


Recommended Reading:
Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Firestar by Chris d'Lacey
The Prophet of Yonwood by Jeanne DuPrau
Flyte by Angie Sage
Magyk by Angie Sage

A Bone in the Throat

\Bone in the Throat by Anthony Bourdain
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

couldn't get into it. really wanted to read more "real life" stories by this author. didn't finish.

Synopsis: A wildly funny, irreverent tale of murder, mayhem, and the mob.

When up-and-coming chef Tommy Pagana settles for a less than glamorous stint at his uncle's restaurant in Manhattan's Little Italy, he unwittingly finds himself a partner in big-time crime. And when the mob decides to use the kitchen for a murder, nothing Tommy learned in cooking school has prepared him for what happens next. With the FBI on one side, and his eccentric wise guy superiors on the other, Tommy has to struggle to do right by his conscience, and to avoid getting killed in the meantime.

2014 Resolutions

One of these is book related, I promise! I spent a lot of time thinking and I came up with a list of 6. I think they're challenging and do-able. So here goes...

1. Read the Bible. The ENTIRE Bible. Accountable on book blog, FB & Twitter.

Read 25% of TBR books: current is 103 books, so goal is 27 books, plus Bible.

TBR shelf cannot exceed 105, year end goal is 80.

 

2. Run a 5k.

Get back into Yoga once a week during non-running season.

Run 2-3x each week starting May 1, gradually increasing distance and improving time.

3. Get my finances under control so that I can spend my bonus checks on FUN!

No-Spend January, April, July, and October.

Create a workable budget.

Create goals for bonus checks.

4. Finish projects: laundry room, Tink’s room, and dining room.
5. Travel: NYC is at the top of my list.
6. Journaling and writing.

Journal once a week.

Work on manuscript / creative writing once a week.

Looking Back and Figuring Out What's Ahead

Welcome to the 2013 Edition of Things I Failed To Do!

When it came to books this year, I was a big loser. Big, fat, hairy, hand in my pants loser. I set a goal of 50 books - just under a book a week - and I ended with 31. I blame the internet and life. But mostly the internet.

So, I'm trying to find my Year of Happiness - because 2013 was NOT it (So.NOT.it.) - and thinking about what I want to do in 2014, what I have to do, and what I will probably end up doing. I don't want my goals to be too easy, but yet I don't want them to be too hard or too varied. But that's the problem with having a high I.Q. - my interests and abilities to learn are endless. I could be all over the board trying to conquer my physical, spiritual, educational, and career. I'd be exhausted by the end of the day. So, here's what I already have going on for sure in 2014:

• Church Secretary (requires approx. 2 hours/week)
• Committee Chair (time requirement unknown)
• Youth Group (10 hours/week, including 1 hour class + baking)
• Full-time job (including at least one trip to China in 2014)
• Home Business Pangea Organics (time requirement unknown)
• Two weekly newspaper columns (time requirement unknown)

So, add in mommy duty, my meager housekeeping skills, and sleeping... Not to mention that I have (FINALLY!!) found The One and he has three beautiful children. Four more people to give love, attention, and time to. I'm tired already. Albeit a happy tired.

Here's the "Extras" I'd like to accomplish in 2014:

1. Read the Bible. The ENTIRE Bible.
2. Read some books.
3. Run a 5k.
4. Get back into Yoga once a week.
5. Finish an Engineering class.
6. Take a Language class.
7. Get my finances under control.
8. Projects.
9. No-Spend January, April, July, and October.
10. Travel: NYC is at the top of my list.

Obviously not all of this is going to happen. It just can't. So if I narrowed the list down to half... that would still be too much. Four? Does four seem reasonable? And which four? And what's the plan? And accountability?

Sometimes, I'm really good at making things harder than they need to be. I'll get back to you on what I figure out in the next few days. If you have any suggestions, please post them!