Printable Freebie & Book Club

Images from Lemony Squeezy's blog

I'm always a sucker for a freebie and these are so adorable!  Lemon Squeezy has these little goodies on her blog.  I always manage to misplace my bookmarks so the idea of having free ones that I can reprint as many times as I need to is great.  

I know I haven't posted lately about our book club books but we have read a couple good ones.  The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot was a great non-fiction read that was extremely interesting.  Without her consent, Henrietta's doctor took some cancerous cells from her body.  Those cells have been sold and used for research throughout the world.  Her cells helped with the polio vaccine and many other medical areas.  I'm not a science-y person but it was so interesting and a little scary to read about the medical practices and ethics not that long ago.

We also read The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton.  This was last months book but I am still reading it.  Shhhh, don't tell my group!  Having a newborn has really cut down on my reading time.  Go figure!  I would much rather sleep than read.  Anyway, I really liked this one as well.  It's about a young girl who was left on a dock in Australia.  Years later this now woman decides to look for her roots after she is told that her parents are not her biological parents.  The story is told from 3 different perspectives and generations.  I would highly recommend this one, too.

Book Club: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

For our January meeting we read this lovely story, The Thirteenth Tale.  Margaret, who works in her father's book store, one day receives a letter from one of the days most famous writers asking her to write her life story as she's dying.  She has told her story to many other journalists before but they have all been just that....made up stories and lies.  She is now ready to tell the truth and it's Margaret she wants to tell.  This is a mystery of sorts that tells the tale of deep family secrets, a mysterious ghost, a governess that disappears, an abandoned child and oh so much more.  

I wouldn't say it was a page turner as far as mysteries go but I was definitely interested throughout the book.  There was a charm to the writing that I really enjoyed.  There were a good deal of ideas to sort out at book club too which made for some good discussion.  If you are an occasional reader then I would maybe pass on this book.  If you are a true book lover then I think you would like this one.  If you read this and enjoy it then I would also check out The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.  Another mystery dealing with books and authors.

Next month:  The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

I'm thinking this one will lead to some great discussion...we'll see!

Book Club: Picking Cotton

Tonight is our book club Christmas party, and I'm really looking forward to it.  It's so fun to get a group of girls together to talk and stuff our faces :o) 

The book we read for this month was a memoir of a young woman who was raped and the man she wrongly accused of the crime.  Merry Christmas, right?  This story is interesting in the fact that it is told in 3 sections.  The first part is told by Jennifer the victim of the rape.  The second section is told by Ronald who was wrongly accused and served 11 years in jail.  You read that right.  11 years.  The final section is told by both Ronald and Jennifer.  There are no interesting or suspenseful plot twists.  The characters are real people with real feelings.  This book is worth a read though.  I found Ronald to be the most interesting.  He survived jail for years knowing he didn't commit the 2 rapes he was accused of and he forgave Jennifer.  It was a true story of forgiveness.  I know I've said this before but I love my book club for so many reasons but the top reason being it pushes me to read outside my norm.  

Book Club: Little Bee by Chris Cleave

For this months meeting we read Little Bee by Chris Cleave.  It is the story of a young Nigerien refugee Little Bee and Sarah a magazine editor from London.  Their lives become intertwined in a sad and tragic way that is so eye opening at the same time.  I'm not one who would willingly pick up a sad story to read in my free time but I did enjoy this book.  

The gals at book club last night seemed to really like the book as well.  Out of the 10 of us, only one really didn't care for the book.  I will say this about the book, it made for a night of good discussion.  The past few books we have read were good but not good for discussion.  This led to a night filled with discussion about oil companies, government, marriages, kids, affairs and the list goes on.   While I didn't love, love, love the book it was a good read and out of the realm of things I would normally read.  This book club is definitely stretching my comfort zone and I love it!

Next month: Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption

Book Club: Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins

I'm a little behind on reviewing this one by about a week.  Let me start by saying that I am the type of person that finishes what I start.  I have finished some books that I really did not enjoy in the past.  For me something just feels wrong about not finishing the book.  This book is the first book I have EVER not finished.  It wasn't a horrible book.  It wasn't an uninteresting book.  The main theme throughout the book is immortality.  Sounds like it might be a good one.  Especially for a book club to discuss.  Well, for me it fell flat.  Throughout the book the lives of several people are told.  One is of a king who was born thousands of years ago and was still living in the 1960s when I stopped reading the book.  There is a common thread of perfume throughout the story as well.  I think this book would have been perfect for me to read when I was getting my undergrad in English.  To sit and ponder what the symbolism of different aspects of the story meant with a handful of my peers would have been fun.  Reading it now as a mom with plenty of other things on my mind was just not fun.  I knew as I was reading it that I wasn't giving it the time I should to really think about what the story was saying.  The reviews of this book on Amazon are great.  Let's just say my review is less than stellar.  Then again, I didn't finish it so take that with a grain of salt.

I did however read The Hunger Games in 2 days.  I was bummed after not finishing Jitterbug Perfume and this had been sitting on my shelf waiting for me to pick it up.  I loved it.  It had great characters, kept my interest and had me turning pages late into the night.  I ordered the next one and can't wait to read it!  It made me look forward reading our next book club book which is Little Bee.  

I'm always looking for something new to read or suggest to my book club.  What have you read lately??

Book Club: Catch Up

So while I was gone book club trucked on and we read some really good books.

    The Help was a really good unexpected read for me.  I didn't know how I would feel about reading a book with some dialect in it.  To be honest, I read some reviews prior to starting it and that was one of the complaints.  I learned not to let reviews jade me.  The entire book club really liked this book.  While it is a work of fiction about women in Jackson, Mississippi during the 60's there was some history intertwined throughout the story and you grow to love the 3 women in the story.  It's a story about racism and unexpected friendships.  Several of our group commented how we thought about these women when not reading the book and we wondered what happened to them after the story was over.  That to me is a sign of a good book.  

Being an animal lover, I knew this was going to be a book I loved.  This is told in a series of flashbacks.  Jacob is an old man who is living in a nursing home. A circus sets up outside the nursing home and he starts recalling his days of working as the vet for a struggling circus during the depression.  He travels with the circus on train from city to city tending to the animals the best he can.  Some weeks the food is low, some weeks there is no pay but it's a job for him.  He meets and falls in love with Marlena the equestrian star who is married already.  Rosie the elephant is a stubborn girl who grows to love Jacob and Marlena.  Great characters and a great story.  I thought it was an easy read too.

The book club is reading this one now but I actually read it back in April when I went on a trip.  This was another one that drew me in with it's great characters.  This book is different in that it is written in a series of letters from character to character.  At first it was little difficult to follow but once you got a handle on all the characters it was fun.  It also is a good one to read if you only have short periods of time because the letters are short and it's easy to find a spot to stop.  Coming out of WWII, Juliet is trying to come up with a topic for her next book.  A man she has never met ends up writing her a letter and they hit it off.  She is drawn into his group of friends who live on the island of Guernsey.  She learns of their lives during the war and trying to deal with the Germans who occupied their island during that time.  I was expecting this book to be serious but was pleasantly surprised by how light and easy this was to read.  Good quick read for the end of summer.

Book Club: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

From the outside of Dachau, a Nazi concentration camp, looking in.

"Work makes one free."

"Think about how we died here."

Memorial Sculpture

Why the depressing pictures?  Read on...

This was a really good book.  It's the story of a young girl named Liesel in Germany who is sent to live with foster parents during World War II.  The family takes in a young Jewish man and Liesel has to keep her new family's secret. The unique twist on this story is that it is told from Death's perspective.  Death has followed Liesel throughout her life because he has a soft spot for her and her books.  Her life has been riddled with tragedy and heartbreak and what Death finds interesting about her is her love for words and books.  It's a story about people and their relationships, the power of words and books.  This story is so touching. I was sad that I couldn't keep reading about all the characters.  I felt like I knew them.  I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone.  I really, truly enjoyed it.   Almost everyone in our book club really liked this book. 

The pictures above are from our trip to Germany a few years ago.  We visited Dachau which is a concentration camp outside of Munich.  That concentration camp was brought up several times throughout this book.  I think the fact that I have been there brought out more emotions than I expected.  As I was uploading those pictures I got goose bumps and teary-eyed all over again like we were standing there again.  You can feel the pain in sorrow in that terrible place.  That was a horrible time in the world's past that will never be forgotten.

Next month...The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

Book Club: House Rules by Jody Picoult

*Don't click to look inside...the pic is from Amazon :o)

Our monthly book club meeting was last Thursday and as always I was not disappointed.  Our selection for last month was House Rules by Jodi Picoult.  Let me start by saying that I have only read one other of her books, My Sister's Keeper, which I did like.  Some of the other ladies in the group have read several of Picoult's books and found this one to be not one of her best books.

This book involves an 18 year old boy who is diagnosed with Asperger's, a form of autism.  Jacob is high functioning and is very intelligent.  He is very interested in forensic science and will show up at crime scenes to "help" the police officers.  He is accused of murdering his social skills tutor who is his only friend in life besides his mother. 

This book was not as suspenseful as I was hoping it would be considering there was a murder.  I had it figured out really early on as did most of our book club.  This book brought about many great conversations about autism.  Our group has a lot of teachers or moms who used to teach as I did.  Between all 8 of us there that night, combined we have taught a lot of autistic kiddos.  Autism is such a hot topic as far as vaccines are concerned and that is brought up a couple times throughout the book.  I would recommend this book especially to a book club because we didn't stop talking for 2 hours about the book.  We usually talk that much but we tend to get off topic ;o)

Next up, The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak and I'm really looking forward to this one! 

Don't forget to check in tomorrow for the 1st ever

Blogiversary Give-Away...yay!!! 

It will be worth your click to stop on over. 

Book Club: Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

I'm sure you've seen the trailers for the movie and you've probably heard of Nicholas Sparks.  So without further ado, our book club thought the book was...meh.  As reviews go, there's not much for me to say.

Was it a bad book?  No. 

Was it an easy read? Yes. 

Was it a page turner?  No. 

Was it a sappy love story?  Yes.

Did it give us much to talk about at book club last night?  No. 

Did we still have plenty to talk about at book club other

than that book?  You bet!

I don't know why I didn't join a book club years ago.  We have such an eclectic group of women and the conversation is never dull.  What we realized is just how many of us have read wonderful books that no one else in the group has heard of.  We voted on our next 2 books: House Rules by Jodi Picoult followed by The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.  We decided that after reading those 2 we are going to let each woman in the group take a month and recommend the book for that month.  The thinking is that we will all branch out of our norms and try reading some of these authors that we never would have tried on our own.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Book Club: The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

So I've been reading this months book selection, The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, and I have to say that I'm glad it was chosen.  It was not something that I would have picked up on my own because I consider myself a pretty happy gal.  It's made me realize that there so many small ways to alter my thinking to put myself in a better mood. 

I've tried out several of her "theories" and found them to be simple and easy to do.  First step was getting rid of clutter.  That was a piece of cake for me because I love to declutter.  My closets are so much more organized now.  I just needed a little kick in the pants to get going.  Second thing I took on was gratitude.  I often take things in my life for granted.  I know this about myself and will openly admit it.  I don't tell Steve often enough what a great husband and dad he is.  I don't tell my friends how much I appreciate them listening to my stories and venting.  She talked about starting a gratitude journal and I immediately thought...ugh.  She goes on to say that she didn't like it either.  She found that she was dreading writing in the journal and it felt forced.  I know that is how I would feel without even trying it.  She mentioned that now she just mentally goes through all the things in her life she is grateful for while her computer boots up every morning.  This I knew I could do!!  I took it a step further and decided to pray every morning as my computer loads.  Taking that time to *thank* God for all the amazing people and things in my life has really started my days off on a high note.  The third thing I've done is really enjoy Ava and Steve.  I have completely lost my sense of humor with my husband.  I've become a fuddy dud.  He jokes and laughs and I remind him of all the things we have to do.  That's not me...at least it didn't used to be.  I now make it a point to laugh with Steve everyday.  I enjoy the moments when Ava is covered in stickers from head to toe and has pink marker all over her shirt and hands.  She's only going to be this little for so long.  I need to savor every moment with her.  There are countless other nuggets of info in the book that I have tried and loved but don't want to bore you with. 

The bottom line is I think the book was worth the $15 bucks I spent on Amazon for it.  I know I have started to appreciate the people in my life a lot more and have made much more of an effort to act the way I want to feel...happy.

Book Club: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Last Thursday we had our first book club meeting at my house.  It was a blast.  I know I wasn't really sure what to expect.  I have never been a part of a book club before and come to find out none of the other girls had either.  I think that turned out to be a good thing because we just made it what we wanted it to be.  There were 11 of us that made it that night and it was a great group of people.  Not everyone knew each other and I think that made for interesting conversation about the book we read, The Lovely Bones.  There was also a good mix of people as far as life experiences go too.  It's great to look at things from someone else's perspective and take yourself out of your own little world.  There was plenty of good food and wine to get the party started while everyone was getting to know each other for the first half hour or so.  Finally, we decided we should probably talk about the book!

The conversation about the book flowed really easily because it dealt with such strong topics as rape, murder, infidelity, adolescence, etc.  The funny thing about The Lovely Bones is that while it did provide conversation topics, no one in the group would have recommended it to a friend.  For me, the book was not something that I wanted to read.  The idea of a serial killer walking around in a neighborhood with no one the wiser really creeped me out.  Now that I have a daughter, I view things differently and this book really pointed that out to me.  It was disturbing to be in the murderer's head at some points in the book.  Some might find that interesting but for me it was too much.  There was also a sex incident in the book that we all found a little odd.  It seemed out of place and thrown in for interest that was forced.

We voted for our next book and it ended up being a tie.  We are reading The Happiness Project this month and then Dear John the following month.  I think after the dark book we just finished The Happiness Project was a good choice.  We were joking that next month we will all be so much happier.  If any of you have read The Lovely Bones, I would love to know if you liked it or not.

2010 Theme

I'm not one for New Year's resolutions but I have been thinking a lot about my life in general lately. I need to make some changes. I've come up with a theme for 2010, if you will. That theme is balance. I have been solely Ava's mom for the last 18 months of my life and that is about it. Don't get me wrong, I love being a mom but it has really consumed me and other things in my life are falling away or being seriously neglected. I don't think I've been a great wife, friend, church member, exerciser (yeah, not sure if that's a word), and numerous other things that I used to be. As a way to bring balance in my life, other than being a mommy, I started a book club. I emailed a bunch of my girlfriends to see who was interested and I was surprised by everyone who was super excited. Now, I have never been in a book club, so starting one is a bit of a leap but I think we are off to a good start. There are 13 of us reading our first book, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Everyone submitted ideas for books to read and then we voted. This was the winner. It's a small step towards bringing more balance into my life but a fun one. Now I can say that I'm feeding two of my loves which are reading and spending time with my friends (minus our precious kiddos).

On a side note, I think I will post here as we choose new books and after I have finished the book. If any of you are interested in reading with us who are not in the area, I would love for you to read with us and then comment about the books. If you are in the area and want to join in the reading fun let me know! We would love to have you!!