Books, Crocs and Lasagna

How about another mismatched post for you! I can't seem to string together two thoughts so it's all going to be random blabbing :) With some pictures thrown in for your enjoyment.


I have decided to give up on Harry Potter 5 - The Order of the Phoenix. I know that some of you will be sadly disappointed but I just cannot get into these books. This is the second time I have tried to read this one and have had to put it aside. I just don't have enough time to read as it is, and would rather read something that I truly enjoy. Like this:






That's lullabies for little criminals by Heather O'Neill. I know that Heather has had a hard time finding it, I think because it was written by a Canadian author. It was chosen at this month's book club selection (and btw, was also the book that I had ordered from Amazon and never received until I complained and got sent another copy priority post). It's a truly wonderful book, in all it's sadness. The subject matter could be considered depressing but I love the way the book is written and the insight into this little girls world. It really is sad but very very well written. It's so nice to be able to read something and look forward to reading again (sorry Harry!)

It's also great to have some new friends on Goodreads (Hi Mel! and Belva!) it's so great to be able to share my hobby with others and I love reading about others' opinions when it comes to books. It's also a great way to find new reads that I may have missed as well. It's been a fun way to try new authors and also discuss books with friends. I truly love this site!

________

You know what's really truly frustrating? I made a lasagna from scratch for dinner last night. The last time I made it, was when I was away in Texas and Bee said the girls loved it. Well, last night they certainly did NOT. Lea had maybe one bite and Anna decided to throw it all over the floor. See:

I try not to take it personally and they did have a big lunch but I still find it really frustrating when I go to the trouble to cook and then they don't eat. If it were nuggets, Mac and Cheese or Chef Boyardee they will eat like little fiends. I know that this is the nature of kids but I just needed to vent a little!

________________

I found the cutest little pair of Crocs (not the real ones!) at my store for a whopping $2.99 and I was thrilled to find that they were just Anna's size! I had to get them for her :) I just love these pictures and hope her legs stay chubby like that forever!!!! (ok, not really but you know what I mean!)

Look at those chubby legs!!!! LOVE IT!

Book Review: Garbo Laughs - Elizabeth Hay

This is a novel about movie love. Set in Ottawa in the 1990s, it is the quixotic tale of tall, thin Harriet Browning, inflamed by the movies she was deprived of as a child. Bent on seeing everything she has missed, she rapidly becomes so saturated with old movies, seen repeatedly and swallowed whole, that she no longer fits into this world. Equally addicted are her three companions-of-the-screen: a boy who loves Frank Sinatra, a girl with Bette Davis eyes, and an earthy sidekick named after Dinah Shore. Breaking in upon this quiet backwater, in time with the devastating ice storm of 1998, come two refugees from Hollywood, the jaded widow of a famous screenwriter and her movie-expert stepson. They are Harsh Reality. With them come blackouts, arguments, accidents, illness, and sudden death. But what chance does real life stand when we can watch movies instead? What hope does real love have when movie love, in all its brief intensity, is an easy option? In this brilliant and poignant comedy of secondhand desire, movies and movie lovers come first.


About the Author
Elizabeth Hay is the author of two highly acclaimed, bestselling novels. Her first novel, A Student of Weather (2000), won the CAA MOSAID Technologies Inc. Award for Fiction and the TORGI Award, and was a finalist for The Giller Prize, the Ottawa Book Award, and the Pearson Canada Reader’s Choice Award at The Word on the Street. Her most recent novel, Garbo Laughs (2003), won the Ottawa Book Award and was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award. She is also the author of Crossing the Snow Line (stories, 1989); The Only Snow in Havana (non-fiction, 1992); Captivity Tales: Canadians in New York (non-fiction, 1993), and Small Change (stories, 1997), which was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award, the Trillium Award, and the Rogers Communications Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. Her stories have been anthologized in Best Canadian Stories, The Journey Prize Anthology, and The Oxford Book of Stories by Canadian Women, edited by Rosemary Sullivan. She has won a National Magazine Award Gold Medal for Fiction and a Western Magazine Award for Fiction. In 2002, she received the prestigious Marian Engel Award.Elizabeth Hay lives in Ottawa.


This was chosen as my book club selection for the month of February. It is an author that is getting a lot of publicity right now since she was a finalist for the Giller Prize. Can I just say; book club is freaking awesome! It’s a great bunch of ladies that all have very strong personalities and loads of experience in all kinds of things. We are a new club but I can tell it is going to be great! Ahem. At our last meeting, we decided to pick our books for the following 2 months so that those less fortunate (like me! J/K!!) could get the books from the library. Both books had a very long queue but for some reason this one came through quickly. I have once again put aside Claire and Jamie to read this new novel.

I am really enjoying this book right now. I am only halfway through but want to remember what I am thinking and feeling. It is the first time in a long time (possibly ever) that a book has actually touched me. It is scary in the sense that I know these characters (or rather people just like them) and I can so relate totally, on a level that is just… wow. A few other things that I found really interesting is that it was set here in Ottawa, so the landmarks visited by the characters in the book are very familiar to me, at one point part of my daily life. I am sure that is one of the main reasons that I can relate so well to the story.

It also talks a lot about the Ice Storm of 1988, which is something that I remember all too well. It was my 19^th birthday and I had gone out to dinner with friends in the west end. That place with the car that is halfway in the wall.. anyways, I was taking the bus home, the 95 to my Ottawa friends! And it was the middle of this ice storm. I had to walk a few blocks home and the world was covered in shiny, clear ice. It was actually really beautiful. It was very late, 11:30pm ish (I know right! Those were the days!) and the sky was that dark blue that it gets when it snows, and the streetlights bathed everything in a golden shiny glow. I was looking at the trees above me and the ice had become so heavy that they had bent and leaned over the road. At one point I heard a very large crack and from that point I became terrified whenever I came near an ice encrusted tree. I was so afraid that a branch was going to snap off, due to the sheer weight of all that ice. It is something that I don’t think I will ever forget and this book has brought it all back to the surface. It’s nice to know that those memories are still in there!

The story itself is a little slow and I really don’t get all the actor references (which really, is a large part of the book) but it is very well written and definitely evokes emotion. We’ll see how I feel once I finish it!

Now that I am done this book, I must say that I am a little dissapointed with the ending. I hate when authors just seem to wrap everything up very quickly and end the story. I was a little surprised at some of the events but I won't mention what they are, for those of you that haven't read the book. All in all it was an ok read. I would try this author again but am not in any hurry to get another one of her books.

House of Leaves: To finish or not?

When Johnny Truant attempts to organize the many fragments of a strange manuscript by a dead blind man, it gains possession of his very soul. The manuscript is a complex commentary on a documentary film (The Navidson Record) about a house that defies all the laws of physics. Navidson's exploration of a seemingly endless, totally dark, and constantly changing labyrinth in the house becomes an examination of truth, perception, and darkness itself. The book interweaves the manuscript with over 400 footnotes to works real and imagined, thus illuminating both the text and Truant's mental disintegration. First novelist Danielewski employs avant-garde page layouts that are occasionally a bit too clever but are generally highly effective. Although it may be consigned to the "horror" genre, this novel is also a psychological thriller, a quest, a literary hoax, a dark comedy, and a work of cultural criticism. It is simultaneously a highly literary work and an absolute hoot. This powerful and extremely original novel is strongly recommended for all public and academic libraries.-Jim Dwyer, California State Univ. Lib., Chico Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc

Most of you that know me, know that I love to read. I always have a book close at hand to pick up and read when the opportunity arises. Lately I have been shaking up my reading by reading two books simultaneously (the last 2 J. Patterson books and one of my "Outlander" series books). That didn't go too badly. I think because I was in need of a change of writing style and both Patterson books were quick reads. It was really nice to get totally into a book, to not be able to put it down. That doesn't happen very often these days. Which brings me to my next point, and the whole reason for this post.

My good friend Heather (Hi! Heather! - miss ya!) and I often read books together as a way of keeping close and trying to narrow the distance gap. Reading and being able to talk about the same book makes her seem not so far away. Kinda cheesy I know, but totally true... anyways! She mentioned that she was interested in this book and that she had heard good things about it. So, I ordered it from the library and was surprised by it's size. It's almost like a textbook and that's not where the similarities end. I also only had 3 weeks in which to read the book and no chance to renew. The basic story sounded very very interesting but the writing style is awful and very difficult for me to follow. There are changes in font, lots and lots of references and footnotes, pages and pages with only one line written (not sure if that's for dramatic effect or not, I didn't make it that far).

I hate to admit this, but I am going to have to stop reading it. There are very few books that I can honestly say I did not care to finish but this was one of those books. I have read approximately 50 pages and while I am interested in the basic plot, I can't get past all the things that I mentioned above. It makes the book very very hard to read. I suppose that for some, it would seem a challenge, an obstacle to an otherwise great story, a true test of will, you get the idea. Unfortunately I think I am at a point in my life where I don't want to waste my time. I don't have a lot of free time anymore and so I want to spend what time I do have very wisely and if that means putting a book down in favor of something more enjoyable than that's a sacrifice I am willing to make.

So, I will be returning this one to the library, hanging my head in defeat, that I could not read it. At least not right now, maybe when I don't have a 3 week deadline. I guess I will return to Claire and Jamie!

Top 100 Books

For quite some time now, I have been looking for a top 100 books list to see how my reading compares and to also encourage me to read more true literary works (but really, who says what "true literary works are"?) In any case, I stumbled on this list and one of my goals is going to be to read all the books on this list. It may seem like a big task but I am up to it and I think that it will be a great way to read some true classics. I am not giving myself a deadline in which to do this, just that I would like to do it in my liftetime!

The books in bold are the ones that I have read:

Top 100

1.The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2.Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3.To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery) * I would like to reread
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10.A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11.Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12.Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13.Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16.Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees(Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie(Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True(Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)---Several times.
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolsoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth(Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100.Ulysses (James Joyce)

Wow, I have scored an even 25/100. How did you do?

Book Review - The Lake House by James Patterson

The six children have escaped horrifying government experiments, a childhood in captivity, and a frightening brush with death. Living out in the world for the first time, they yearn to be reunited with Kit and Frannie, the couple who saved their lives. And Max, the leader of the flock, is seized by an overpowering fear that the kids are about to face a danger greater than any they've ever known.All that the children want is to return to the one place they have ever felt truly protected-the waterfront cabin known as the Lake House. But in order to get there, they must thwart the sinister plans of a survivor from their worst nightmare-plans that not only keep Kit, Frannie, and the children in constant peril, but also threaten the future of human existence. And it's a battle they must be willing to pay any price to win.THE LAKE HOUSE is the completion of James Patterson's most original and compelling story ever-a conclusion that millions of readers have awaited for years.

This was another very quick read for me (2 days again!). I was anxious to find out the answers to all my lingering questions after I had finished reading the first book and I must say that I am very dissapointed. The author did not revisit the past story at all. Basically he took the characters and created a somewhat new, and I must admit less interesting plot line. There seemed to be so much less character development and interaction in this book. If I had not read the first one, I am not sure that I would have enjoyed this one at all. It was good to put an end to the story and all, but I don't think it took two books to do that. Another quick trashy read.

Book Review - When the Wind Blows by James Patterson

Frannie O'Neill is a young and talented veterinarian living in Colorado. Plagued by the mysterious murder of her husband, David, a local doctor, Frannie throws herself into her work. It is not long before another bizarre murder occurs and Kit Harrison, a troubled and unconventional FBI agent, arrives on her doorstep. Late one night, near the woods of her animal hospital, Frannie stumbles upon a strange, astonishing phenomenon that will change the course of her life forever....Her name is Max.With breathtaking energy, eleven-year-old Max leads Frannie and Kit to uncover one of the most diabolical and inhuman plots of modern science. When the Wind Blows is as unique a story as has ever been told, filled with suspense and passion.


This was the first James Patterson novel that I have read. I enjoyed the storyline and found it to be a very quick read (ie. 2 days). It was so nice to deviate from the Outlander series for a little while and read something somewhat trashy. The story was definitely interesting and had me wondering what was going on for the duration of the book. My love of all things macabre was very intrigued and I was more than a little disturbed at some of the descriptions. One of the down sides of this book is that it was very poorly written and nothing has really been explained. I hope the sequel will clear up some of the questions I have.

I would definitely recommend this book if you are into genetic engineering/biotech/sci fi type stuff. It was not so much murder mystery which seems to be more his style? (based on other reviews that I have read) It was enjoyable and I am looking forward to reading more works by this author.