Fall Across America (Or maybe just a few states)

Mr. and I did a lot of traveling in October so here are some glimpses of autumn in action across the USA.

Fall in Pennsylvania

Fall in Indiana

Fall in Michigan

Read This!: Catherine the Great

Challenge: Non-fiction over 150 pages

By Robert K. Massie

I took this out of the library on a whim.  I had been wanting to read a bio on Catherine the Great for awhile and this writer had gotten some good reviews.

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman covers Catherine's life beginning as Princess Sophie of a minor German principality to being the Grand Duchess Catherine, the wife of the future emperor of Russia, to being Empress Catherine, the sole ruler of Russia.

Catherine the Great had a fascinating life and Massie details not only about Catherine's political life, but her personal one.  I did think he waxed on a bit long in certain sections about snoozy subjects like philosophers and politics but the more personal info about her lovers and personality was fab.  It also didn't hurt that I was just at a few of the places mentioned so I felt more connected to the events.

Read This!: When You Are Engulfed in Flames

By David Sedaris

I picked this out of the library with the thought it would be my challenge for non-fiction but I decided to read a biography for that, so this turned out to be just for fun. 

When You Are Engulfed in Flames is a set of essays that cover everything from to fashion faux pas to views on Americans in Paris to Sedaris' experience quitting smoking.

I read Me Talk Pretty One Day many years ago and liked it so I am not sure why it has taken me so long to pick up another one of his books.  This one had edgier language and stories than MTPOD but the humor was definitely there and I found myself laughing out loud at some points and reading other things out loud to Mr.  My only complaint is that I thought the last essay ran a little long. 

Read This!: A Shot of Sultry

By Macy Beckett

This is the sequel to Sultry with a Twist (too lazy to link) that I read a few months ago.  I treated myself to it as a reward for getting some challenge books done.

Bobbi Gallagher heads to her hometown of Sultry Springs, TX to film a reality show about love in the country.  There, she meets her brother's best friend, Trey, who is charged with "protecting" her.  As can be imagined, sparks start to fly between Bobbi and Trey...

I enjoyed this book.  It was a fun romance novel to read and a nice break.  I did read it while on a business trip and my co-workers had a good laugh at the "quality literature" I brought with me.  Hee hee..  Either way, I am looking forward to the next installment of the Sultry books.

PS I didn't quite buy the feasibility of the last scene but let it go since it's a romance after all.

Read This!: The Piano

By Jane Campion and Kate Pullinger

Book challenge: Book based on a movie

This was the only example of this category that I could think of so I went with it.  

Ada McGrath, a mute pianist, and her daughter Flora arrive in New Zealand to be with Ada's arranged- marriage husband.  When they land, Ada's beloved piano is left on the beach.  After hearing her play, a neighbor, George Baines, buys the piano and Ada is told she must teach him to play.  George doesn't have any interest in learning to play the piano but does have interest in being a bit more than a friend to Ada...

I haven't see this movie, The Piano, in years but I thought this was a good depiction of the film as a novel.  In fact, I like that I got more back story about Ada's history, her muteness, who Flora's father was.  The story is generally a dark romance and a bit earthy but I give it some points for its originality.

Book Fair Spoils!

This year's book fair has come and gone.  We donated 21 books and bought 38...  Oops.  Here are our new titles.  All for $14.75. (yeah!)

Mr.:
Right as Rain - George Pelecanos
Hell to Pay - George Pelecanos
Founding Brothers - Joseph J. Ellis
At Swim- Two- Birds - Flann O'Brien
The Plot Against America - Philip Roth

Me:
Murder at the Vicarage - Agatha Christie (I actually already own this.  Whoops.)
No Place Like Home - Mary Higgins Clark
The Binding Chair - Kathryn Harrison
A Summer Affair - Elin Hilderbrand
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - John Brendt
Save Me - Lisa Scottoline
American Wife - Curtis Sittenfeld
The Borgia Bride -  Jeanne Kalogridis
Sing You Home - Jodi Piccoult
Death in Holy Orders - PD James
Loves Music, Loves to Dance - Mary Higgins Clark
The Fault in Our Stars - John Green
Vanishing Acts - Jodi Piccoult
Dorothy Dale at Glenwood School - Margaret Penrose (This book is from 1908 so I bought it for that reason.)
Dumb Witness - Agatha Christie
Summer on Blossom Street - Debbie Macomber
An Inconvenient Woman - Dominick Dunne
Sam's Letters to Jennifer - James Patterson
The Dead Lie Down - Sophie Hannah
Let It Snow - John Green, Maureen Johnson, Lauren Myracle
Charming Billy - Alice McDermott
The Seamstress - Sara Tuvel Bernstein

Babies:
Let's Nosh
Dinosaur Sticker Book
Dr. Seuss' ABC
I'll Teach My Dog a Lot of Words
What Was I Scared of?
Go, Dog, Go
Little Helicopter
H is for Hoosier
Curious George and the Puppies
Snow
The Night Before Christmas

Read This!: Black and Blue

By Anna Quindlen

Challenge: Author that has a Q name

“Q” authors were hard to find so I went with an easy one here.

For almost 20 years, Frances Benedetto has lived with a husband who beats her.  After one terrible attack, she takes her son and flees from Brooklyn to Florida to start a new life.  Even here, thousands of miles away, she isn’t free of her husband and the life she left in New York.

Black and Blue is told from the perspective of Fran.  She jumps back and forth in time and is, on occasion, hard to follow.  I kept having to go back and re-read because I wasn’t sure how I got from A to B in the story.   Through her voice though, you get to understand why Fran stayed with her husband, even though especially as an ER nurse, she knew she should leave and why Fran never told anyone.  The story did drag a bit in the middle and I kept waiting for some action to take place to keep the story going, especially because, and I don’t think I need to spoiler alert this, but SPOILER!!!,in case I do, you know her husband is going to make an appearance.