too tired...

...for doing much on-line this week. Not sure what the problem is.
Just wanted to note that I finished The Well and the Mine today and started Shanghai Girls. I hope to get my reviews caught up this weekend and visit all my book blog buddies.
Have a wonderful Friday everyone!

Wordless Wednesday

4th of July
(above my front yard)

monday, monday

What's In Your Mailbox Monday is hosted each week by Marcia over at The Printed Page.

I had a little slower mailbox week this week , which is, in reality, a good thing as far as the tbr mountain in my house is concerned!

** 24-Karat Kids by Dr. Judy Goldstein and Sebastian Stuart (pure chick-lit!)













** Jane Austen's Guide to Good Manners: Compliments, Charades & Horrible Blunders by Josephine Ross. (for the Everything Austen challenge)






























What are you reading on Mondays? is hosted each week by J. Kaye's Book Blog.

I finally finished Keeper and Kid, from last week. (review to come)

Currently reading The Well and the Mine, a book that I am really enjoying and highly recommend if you are looking for southern lit.

Next up is The Year of Fog.

Happy Independence Day. I hope you all have a safe and glorious day.
God Bless America.

success at the library

I went to pick up books for my boys to read this summer and look what I came home with for myself! Library Loot is hosted by Eva and Marge each week...What great books did you come home with this week?



The Commoner














The Syringa Tree















The Pajama Girls of Lambert Square














Lost on Planet China
















When We Were Romans















Circling My Mother














No One You Know














The Yellow Lighted Bookshop

Going back to 2002

My Favorite Reads is hosted by Alyce from At Home With Books every Thursday. What a great way to read reviews of books that were mainstream (or not!) a while back but have faded off the radar of what is "hot" right now in the land of literature.





The book I am remembering today is The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas. I read this back in July 2002 and it was the first Dallas book I had read. I loved it! The characters are so rich and real, the storyline giving us a peek into small town depression era Kansas. It is a story of friendship and loyalty amongst the women in this small community as they gather each week for their quilting club. The depths to which they go to protect one of their own is at the heart of the plot and brought tears to my eyes. It is truly a little gem!

Wordless Wednesday

My boys.
Goofing around.
Making me smile.
May 2009

Hooray!

I finished Keeper and Kid-- a book that wasn't bad, it just wasn't great. Or maybe I just didn't relate to the author's writing style. Anyway, review to come later, but I just wanted to say that I started a new book while waiting at the cardiologist's office and I can already not stand to put it down--just grabbed me from the opening sentence.

The book?

The Well and the Mine by Gin Phillips.

If you are still looking for a southern book to read for the southern reading challenge, you must check this one out. It is set in a 1931 Alabama coal town. The introduction was written by Fannie Flagg, who enthusiastially praised this book. I do too, and I am only 15 pages into it!

Monday info

What's In Your Mailbox Monday is hosted each week by Marcia over at The Printed Page.

I had a fairly busy book week--some arrived by way of the mailbox, but some arrived by me purchasing them and carrying them into the house!

From Paperbackswap:
** Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (for my boys' summer reading)
** They Never Came Home by Lois Duncan (for the boys, again!)
** Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson

From the library sale shelves:
**Everyone Else's Girl by Megan Crane

From the store:
**Julie & Julia by Julie Powell
**Home Repair by Liz Rosenberg

____________________________________________________**





Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about mid-year reading… Now that we’ve come to the middle of the year, what do you think of your 2009 reading so far? Read anything interesting that you’d like to share? Any outstanding favourites?

If you click on the picture of books, labeled: completed books 2009, on my sidebar you will see a list of completed books so far this year. I have finished 31 which is a number a little behind where I was last year this time. That is alright though as I am not doing a "100 books in a year" type challenge or anything. What I am really happy about is that my challenge progress is right where I want it to be, at this, mid-year.

I have enjoyed most of the books I have read, and the couple which I liked the least I am still glad I finished--there are two of them and they were for the book award challenge and even though they weren't my cup of tea, I still think they were worthy of award.

The books which I can point to as outstanding area:
**The Uncommon Reader
** Sarah's Key
** The Birth House
** Mudbound
** Fair and Tender Ladies
___________________________________________________**




What are you reading on Mondays? is hosted each week by J. Kaye's Book Blog.

I am STILL reading Keeper and Kid, and hope to finish in a day or so. I have so many books I want to read and this one has hit a desperate, dragging on point that isn't too pleasant, yet I wan to know how it ends. It isn't a bad book, I think I just am not in the right mood for it at this time. But, I am so close to finishing it that I can taste it!

Up next:
The Well and the Mine

everything Austen---(edit: 5:00 p.m.)

Edit:: After a trip to my library this afternoon, I have chosen 2 different books instead of the ones at the end of this post. The first one is My Dear Cassandra: the letters of Jane Austen selected by Penelope Hughes-Hallett. The second one is Jane Austen's Guide to Good Manners: compliments, charades and horrible blunders by Josephine Ross.





I just wrote a post the other day about how I need to scale down the number of challenges and how I am toying with the idea of chucking them mid-year. Well, apparently, I lied! I have seen this challenge floating around out in blog land for several days and have decided to jump in. It looks too delicious AND I have movie options so it is not all books I am adding to my pile.

The challenge is the Everything Austen challenge hosted by Stephanie's Written Word.

The details! The Everything Austen Challenge will run for six months (July 1, 2009 – January 1, 2010)! All you need to do is pick out what six Austen-themed things you want to finish to complete the challenge. Click the link above for a great list of movies and books to get you started--luckily, there is a lot of Austen stuff out there!


So, my list for now will include:

Books:
Emma or Mansfield Park (already on one of my challenge lists)
Two Guys Read Jane Austen
Jane Austen: a life by Claire Tomlin

Movies:
Becoming Jane
Clueless
A & E Emma

This should be fun!

The Sunday Salon

As is usual, the week has flown by too quickly.
Somebody! Stop the ride. I want to get off!

I have not had a great reading week--just too much going on. I am still reading Keeper and Kid. While I like the book, I think I am not just loving it to death, thus I am not ploughing through it as quickly as other books. When I finish it, I am thinking about reading The Well and the Mine next.

I participated in my usual weekly events this week:
**Monday Questions
**Wordless Wednesday
**My Favorite Reads
**Friday Finds

I put together a reading list for my two boys for summer reading and I found and joined a Summer Reading challenge.

It has been a good week, even though the reading has been slow. Here are some reasons I love summer:

Fresh Fruit

Graduations

Baseball

Youth group short term mission trips (Sam's first one!)

Last Day of School

Flowers

Have a great week everyone!

just one of the reasons I love summer!

Fresh melons and berries! Yum!