Good Reads

First let me apologize if this post is full of spelling or grammatical errors. I have been extra busy today and I'm just now writing this post at 10:45 pm. That is ridiculously late for me to try to think coherent thoughts - never mind trying to write them down. I may regret this in the morning, but live and learn right?

Yesterday, I shared with you my two All Time Favorite Books. Which truly are fabulous and transcendent! But there are many, many, many other books that I absolute love. Too many really to list all of them here. I noticed in yesterday's comments that many of the books that you all listed as your All Time Favorites are also favorites of mine. You have such good taste! So, I thought I'd share with you some of my other recent favorites and also give you a heads up on two new books coming out by two of my favorite authors. OK, here goes. In no particular order they are:

Ten Books I Highly Recommend

The Help by Kathryn Stockett (read my review)

The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (read my review)

Sister of My Heart by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri (read my review)

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

Also, be on the lookout for these two new books by two of my favorite authors. Home Safe by Elizabeth Berg and Weight of Heaven by Thrity Umrigar. I've already put my name on the holds list at the library for both of them. Can't wait!

Just curious - have any of you read any of my favorites? Did you like them? Hate them? *gasp* Have any you want to share? I'd love to hear what you all think.

Image from Google Images

Transcendent Books

In keeping with the theme of yesterday's post, I thought it might fun for us to share with each other books that we consider to be "transcendent". A transcendent book is one that you couldn't stop thinking about when you finished reading it. A book that you want to share with all your friends and fellow bibliophiles. A book that touched you in some way. A book that makes you sigh and smile when you utter it's name. THAT is a transcendent book.


I have two books that I consider transcendent. Before the RARI event, I referred to them as my All Time Favorite Books. Transcendent sounds soooo much better. Here they are. Can you hear me sighing and see me smiling?


A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith


I first read this book when I was 14 years old and in 8th grade. I can not remember if it was assigned reading or a book I simply stumbled upon. My guess is that it was assigned. I had a wonderful 8th grade English teacher, Mr. O'Donnell, and I can easily imagine him assigning this amazing book to his Junior High School students. As I grew into adulthood, I remembered that I LOVED this book, but I couldn't remember much else about it. Except for an image of a homeless man with gnarled and filthy feet and how the protagonist (a teen age girl) saw his feet and thought to herself that at one time he was someone's precious baby boy and his mama probably kissed his tender pink toes with love. Wow! THAT image stayed with me for nearly 25 years at which time I finally took the time to reread A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I was curious to see if I still loved the book as an adult as I had as a young teen. The answer is YES! I loved it! It's wonderful. I recommend it to almost everyone who comes into the library and tells me they are "looking for a good book". And not a single one of them has ever been disappointed. Typically, when they return the book they ask for another recommendation. And without a moments hesitation I say....


The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck


Ahhh! Somehow I managed to live 43 whole years before I read this book! What a shame. I remember first hearing about this book from the woman who was my hairdresser at that time. Isabel was a fellow book lover who received this book as a Christmas present and positively raved about it to me. It took me approximately 3 years before I finally decided to pick it up myself. Why did it take so long? Well, I am constantly learning about great new books. I try my best to keep up with all these wonderful new titles. Of course, I can't possibly read all the fabulous books I hear or read about, but I do give it the old college try. Since I am always frantically trying to keep up with all the great current literature being published, to go back and read an "old" book is very hard for me. Such a dilemma! Anyway, this book is worth a bookshelf full of great new books. It is worth dropping everything and reading - right now! And like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, no one has ever been disappointed that I recommended it.

Ok, now it's your turn. Leave me a comment telling me about your "transcendent" book(s). Not just a good book or a great book, but your All Time Favorite Book. I can't wait!

Images from Google Images

Reading Across Rhode Island May Breakfast

On Saturday I attended the May Breakfast sponsored by Reading Across Rhode Island (RARI) to celebrate the 2009 RARI book, Five Skies. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about you can read all about RARI here and you can read my review of Five Skies here.) This year, since I was fortunate enough to attend the breakfast with 7 other women from my two book clubs, we had a table to ourselves - which was terrific. Ron Carlson, the author of Five Skies, was there and he gave an amazing talk to the crowd of over 400 people. Carlson is a professor of creative writing at UC - Irvine and he is a talented and engaging speaker. He is very funny and he had no trouble keeping the audience's attention. (It didn't hurt that he is very easy on the eyes and the audience was predominately female). Oh, and to top it all off, I won two tickets to Trinity Repertory Company in the raffle! But, I digress...

Carlson spoke about the craft of writing, how he gets story ideas and his work as a teacher. But, the thing I found to be the most interesting is that he started his talk by saying that groups like Reading Across Rhode Island and events like the May breakfast, in which groups of people get together to talk about books (what he referred to has "literary meetings"), are the foundation of a civilized society. Wow! That is quite a statement. He talked about how some stories transcend the book in which they are written and actually cross over into our very lives. We can all recall books like this. Books that we can't stop thinking about when we are finished reading them. Books that we can recall exactly where we were when we were reading them. Books we can't wait to pass on to other bookworms. Books that become a part of our very history. And, of course, all books are not created equal. Not all books are worth sitting around discussing. Not all stories transcend the book itself. But when you find one, it is a real gift. A gift that should be shared and treasured. After all, according to Mr. Carlson, doing so is the very foundation of civilization. Mr. Carlson, I couldn't agree more.


Image from Google Images

Sentimental Sunday - Mother's Day Edition

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

In honor of Mother's Day, today's Sentimental Sunday will highlight all the women in my life who I am honored to call mother - in one form or another. But, first I want to honor my own two daughters, whom I love with all my heart and by whose very presence I have the privilege of being called "Mom". Katie and Madeleine, I love you both more than you will ever know. And I am honored to be your Mom.

This picture was taken in Sagres, Portugal last April. I have a whole series of pictures of the girls and I playing in the surf. I love all of them. This was such a happy moment!



Next, my Mom! This picture was taken last summer at my Mom's birthday party in my backyard. With us is my younger brother, Paul. My Mom is the most self-sacrificing person I have ever met. My brother and I are her whole world and I know that posing for this picture made her very happy. Love you Mom!




Next up is my wonderful stepmom, Sandy! This picture was also taken in Portugal. This time in Belem. Sandy is my stepmom, but she is so much more than that. She is my friend. And if it wasn't for her, I don't think I would have the wonderful relationship with my Dad that I do. Sandy is also the author of the blog It's a Jungle Out There. If you haven't checked it out, you should. Sandy, I value our friendship and our family relationship more and more with each passing year.




Lastly, I'd like to honor my mother-in-law, Audrey. This picture was taken about 2 years ago at Audrey's surprise 75th birthday. Here she is with her three children and her husband, Gary. Audrey would do absolutley anything for her children and she always puts her family first. Thanks for always being willing to lend a helping hand, Audrey.

And to all of you Moms out there, Happy Mother's Day! I wish you a day filled with hugs, kisses and love. Enjoy your day.

TV Quick Quips

Here's my take on this week's episodes of my favorite TV shows:

The Tudors - Still blown away by the acting. Jonathan Rhys Meyers does an amazing job as a distraught and slightly mad King Henry.

American Idol - Where to begin? First, I do not think Allison should have gone home before Kris or Danny. I like Kris, but Allison is definitely a better singer. I'm not sure I really like Danny anymore. I was impressed with him for a while, but now... not so much. Adam, of course, is still #1 to me. On to Paula... What did you all think of her performance? I was not favorably impressed. It was obvious she was lip-syncing, the lyrics and her dance were kind of sleazy for this venue, and her dancing seemed a little strained at times. I will admit that some of the "stunts" were impressive, but they were just that - STUNTS! Overall, I felt as though she was trying too hard. Anyone else think she sounded like Britney Spear? *shudders* More about Paula... Did any of you hear her interview with Ryan Seacrest on the radio on Tuesday (or possibly Wednesday)? He interviewed her about her "upcoming" performance on Idol and he asked her about rumors that she will be leaving Idol at the end of this season. She would not confirm or deny, but she did say that she had been presented with many opportunities and still had a couple of weeks before the end of the season to make up her mind. AHA! I'm not sure if I've said it here or not, but I have said that I felt that Kara was brought to Idol this season as a way of easing the audience into accepting Paula's departure and to avoid a Jane Pauley/Paula Zahn-esque drama. And I speculate that if Paula leaves it will not be completely of her own volition. Just a guess. But, it seems like maybe there is some truth to it.

LOST - Did you all catch that next week is the season finale? I'm actually kind of glad about that. This show is just too confusing and I'm ready for a break. I've said it before, but if I hadn't invested so much time in this show already and if I didn't know that the writer's have a real destination in mind as far as the plot is concerned, I would have given up a LONG time ago. Right now, I'm ready to end this season and move on to next season - which is the final season - and just GET IT OVER WITH ALREADY! There I said it. Something tells me I'm not alone in this.

The Office - I had seen the previews for this episode in which Pam says that she and Jim are getting married "today". Inside I was a squealy fangirl, but I knew in my heart of hearts that the wedding would never happen this episode for the simple fact that they let us see that clip. But I was disappointed just the same. I would LOVE it if we got to see the wedding this season. Dragging it out doesn't really make sense with Jim and Pam's history and her endless engagement to Roy. But, I'm losing hope that we will see a wedding this season. Grrr! On a different note, I LOVED when Angela told Michael that if he's going to make her be at the party she should be allowed to have some fun - by cleaning up! I so get Angela sometimes and that really frightens me.

Got Maps, Will Travel

No need to call the National Guard. I made it to Boston and back with very little trouble and nary a colorful word passing my lips. Yahoo! A red letter day if I may say so myself. I think I have figured out the key to not getting lost. It's imperative to have multiple sets of directions. I'm not kidding! When one set seemed a little ambiguous I quickly consulted one of the others and by compiling the information it all seemed to make sense. Of course there were a few minor snafus. For instance Map Quest said take Exit 20 toward I-90 and Google Maps very helpfully added the information that Exit 20 is on the LEFT. That is good to know. You're not usually expecting exits to be on the LEFT. The only problem here was that the exit was ... on the RIGHT! Oops! Minor details like that happened a few times, but otherwise it wasn't so bad. I didn't even get lost. Not even a little bit. So what's an incorrect LEFT vs RIGHT in the grand scheme of things, right? I mean, "correct".


As for the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art), I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. I love art museums but I must admit that I am not a big fan of contemporary art. Most of it is completely lost on me. I just don't "get" it. But, since the ICA is a brand spanking new museum it seemed like something fun to try - once. Well, did we ever luck out. The ICA is currently exhibiting the work of Shepard Fairey, the artist who painted the Hope portrait of Obama that was featured on the cover of Time magazine! Because Fairey attended the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) our local paper (The Providence Journal) did an article on him when his portrait was chosen for Time magazine. So, I was familiar with him and his connection to RI. But, other than that I didn't know anything about him. Apparently he is quite famous in the art world and he is being touted as this generation's Andy Warhol. We listened to the audio tour provided by the museum and I learned so much about Fairey as an artist and how his art sends a political message. But the best part? The original Obama portrait was there! Larger than life. I was able to walk right up to it and study it closely. What you might not know from looking at the image on the cover of Time is that this portrait (like all of Fairey's work) is actually a collage of sorts with lots of different layers - paint, stencils and most intriguing of all pieces of newsprint. Very cool. AND we got to see the letter from Obama to Fairey thanking him for his support and for painting the portrait! Amazing! I was not expecting to see this and I am so happy that I did.


In addition, the museum is located right on a pier and the views are lovely. I've added some pictures here for you to see. Enjoy!

This is the actual museum. It's hard to tell but the entire thing is made of glass. The second story juts out over the harbor and the wall is made of glass. The view is gorgeous.




This is a view of the harbor from the second story of the museum. It's really very pretty and we had a great day. We also lucked out in that today was the first day of a three week Boston stop of the Volvo Ocean Race (an around the world sailing race). We got to see some of the sail boats and check out some booths. Kristen won a Beatles CD at a local radio station booth and we saw a Volvo SUV made entirely out of Legos.

More modern art! And this I get!

Boston or Bust - Again?

Wish me luck! I'm going to need it. Today I am going to Boston (yet again) to meet up with a friend from college. Kristen and I met when I was a Junior and she was a Freshman and we have managed to keep in touch all these years. She lives about 2 hours away and we try to meet a couple times a year - sometimes in Boston. Today we are going to visit the brand new ICA Museum. Since we both like museums and history, Boston makes sense. Except for the fact that every time I go there I get completely turned around, hopelessly lost, and lots of colorful language is used. Remember the GPS debacle of a couple of weeks ago? Well, I do. So, I've got my printed Google Maps directions, and for good measure I have Map Quest as well. Oh, and the directions on the museum's website. And just in case, I have a train schedule. Who am I kidding? I grew up in a small town far from any metropolis. I don't even know how to READ a train schedule. Much less understand how to switch to the "Silverline Waterfront". Forget it! I'll just drive myself there and travel the myriad one way streets like a rat in a maze trying to find the cheese. Fine! But please tell me if you have any idea what I should do when the Map Quest directions say this (and I quote):

Blah, Blah, Blah (this is the stuff I understand)
13: Take the I-90 E exit on the LEFT toward LOGAN AIRPORT/SOUTH BOSTON.
14: Keep RIGHT at the fork in the ramp.
15: Keep LEFT at the fork in the ramp.

WHAT?! I feel some colorful language bubbling to the surface even now. ARGHH! If I don't have a post up tomorrow call out the National Guard. Tell them to look for the brunette in the red Mini Cooper, swearing like a sailor with a crazed look in her eye!