Welcome 2017....I've Been Waiting for You!

This is the 3rd year I have participated in the First Book of the Year event, hosted by Sheila over at Book Journey. The year my pick is Most Wanted by Lisa Scottoline.

I have had this book for a few months.  I have been wanting a special time to read it and there is none better than celebrating the First Book of the Year.  I am looking forward to getting involved with this one.

Last year I  joined several book challenges. I failed miserably at all of them except for the Triple Dog Dare Challenge.  That one was to only read books from my TBR shelves, from the first of the year until April 1st.  But all the other challenges were not completed. You can check out my 2016 challenges by clicking on the tab at the top of my blog.  This year I will do no other challenges as far as books go. I have lots on my shelves and downloaded on my Kindle.

I am doing some quilting challenges this year.  My Local Quilt Group, does a yearly challenge where we complete a UFO every 2 months. We write up a challenge sheet that has 6 projects that need to be completed or at least finished to a certain specification. One member rolls a die and whatever number the die lands on, that is the numbered project we work on. Then there is a show and tell 60 days later. I have the UFO's picked out, but we haven't met yet to submit our lists. When we do, I will have another post.

I am also participating in the All People Quilt  2017 UFO Challenge.  This one is for 12 projects. A number is posted every month and that is the project that is to be worked on each month. I have filled out the project sheet for the All People Quilt Challenge, and the challenge coordinator has announced the number for January at bit early. It is #6 Here is a copy of my list.

 I have 36 completed blocks, 5" unfinished. I need to decide if that is enough or if I need 6 more.

My stacks of crumb blocks. I have 36 so I think I will set it 6 X 6. The blocks are smallish and oh so busy, I will sash them with black 2" unfinished sashing and red cornerstones. I'll keep you posted. Hopefully!! It is a work in progress, no pattern,  so fingers crossed that it isn't TOO UGLY!!!


Well, that's as good as it gets for now
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

March in Review and the end of The TBR Triple Dog Dare!

Again I am behind in my book reading goal. Goodreads says I am 3 books behind. I have read a total of 10.5 books. Fifteen would keep me on my goal of 5 books per month. Yikes. I had better kick it in gear.



March:

9. Of Moths and Butterflies by V. R. Christensen

     1. New to me author
     2. Women's Literary Fiction Challenge
     3. E-Book
     4. Already Owned: TBR Triple Dog Dare
 

10. Emma by Jane Austen

    1. New to me author
    2. Women's Literary Fiction Challenge
    3. Paperback
    5. Already Owned: TBR Triple Dog Dare


11.   Accidental Bachelor by Tim Holsten

    1.  New to me author
    2.  E-book
    3.  Already Owned: TBR Triple Dog Dare
    4. DNF - although the writing was decent, I grew tired of the macho dialogue.


12. The All -Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg

        1. New to me author
        2. Paperback
        3. Already owned: TBR Triple Dog Dare
        4. not quite finished but almost
        5. Women's Literary Fiction Challenge.


I am linking up with Kathryn's at Book Date for Month in Review.

And this ends the TBR Triple Dog Dare. I was successful in only reading books already on my shelves. I did purchase a few, but they have not been read. One was inadvertently purchased as my great grandson, age 2.5 yrs, was playing with my Kindle. He hit the yellow button several times and purchased the next in a series. It's OK, I wanted to read it. But now I have to figure out how to put a child restriction on my tablet. 

A side note: I have been completing some quilting challenges since the first of the year. I have finished a Scattered Squares pillow, a Spring Wallhanging and a table runner for my daughter.

Table runner called Waffle Time and a matching placemat from the scraps.

So I haven't been entirely slug-like.



Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Wondrous Words Wednesday

 Kathy at Bermuda Onion hosts Wondrous Words Wednesday. A chance to highlight words you find while reading or occasionally by listening. Share your words then link up with Kathy's blog so we can all learn a new wondrous word.


My current read is The Accidental Bachelor by Tim Holsten.  There are lots of words that are Hawaiian, but I can get the meaning by the use in the sentence. Also, there is a great deal of dialogue with Finnegan's boss, Duke that is pidgin. Hard to read, sometimes hard to understand.


kapu - noun ( in Hawaiian traditional culture and religion) a set of rules and prohibitions for everyday life.


Every guy in the place was staring at my teacher's hibiscuses. How could they not know it was kapu?

This word was used later in the book and then the meaning was clear.


I keep hoping this book will give me a reason to like it. A reason for Finnegan to get a grip and make something of his life.


Stay Busy and Stay Happy

TBR Triple Dog Dare vs Read The Books You Buy -

       Either way I am a Winner!!





Yesterday, after reading Laurel-Rain Snow's post about Reading The Books You Buy, I had to double check a couple of the titles I included on my list. As it turns out, several of the books on my Kindle were purchased before June 2015. Thanks Amazon for keeping track for me. The titles will work to complete the TBR Triple Dog Dare of only reading books already owned from January 1st until April 1st. But they are too old to be included on Kathryn's Read The Books You Buy Challenge. So check the corrections on my pages tab, 2016 Challenges.


I am going to continue to read some of my old titles whether they fit a challenge or not. Some will work for Women's Fiction Challenge and maybe I can even find one that fits a category in What's In A Name 2016. Maybe I'll start my own personal EBook challenge!


Stay Busy and Stay Happy

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

On my Kindle since November 2013.

The Accidental Bachelor by Tim Holsten

Goodreads Synopsis:

Finn McCallister has serious doubts about his career. The receptionist in his coastal California real estate office wears her wetsuit to work, and his eccentric boss lectures in Pidgin: Braddah Finn, tell dem kook clients to pound sand! As the last of his friends to find a customer for his surname, hungover from one singles-bar karaoke of "Heat of the Moment" too many, Finn senses his personal life, too, is circling the drain.

In an attempt to outrun his insecurities, Finn trains for a marathon and literally collides with doe-eyed veterinarian Kim, who awakens primal feelings dormant since Phoebe Cates graced the halls of Ridgemont High. As Finn gains momentum from this new relationship, he attempts to rehabilitate his toxic best friend, Carmichael, whose marriage has flatlined. Still playing point guard from their high school basketball glory days, Carmichael plans a guys' weekend in the one city diametrically opposed to rehabilitation--Las Vegas.

An epic desert battle of Finn's morals versus Carmichael's impulses results. In combat, Finn slips back into a Members Only jacket, reunites with a (now clothing-optional) prom date, clubs with a Saved by the Bell alum, and stages the ultimate 80s-tribute concert. In the heat of the moment, in a last-stand effort to save a friend, Finn risks destroying his own future.

My Thoughts so far:

I am having a bit of trouble warming up to Finn and his buddies. I especially am not impressed with Carmichael  Thompson, Finn best friend and the bully of the bunch.  Maybe I am just too old to appreciate the world as seen through the eyes of a 30 something male. 



On my nightstand:

The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion  by Fannie Flagg.  This is next month's read for my face to face book club. I have it in a print book and it will be the last of the titles on my TBR Triple Dog Dare. Luckily I was able to read the book club books as part of the Dare because I purchased all of them before the end of 2015.

Goodreads Synopsis:

The one and only Fannie Flagg, beloved author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Can't Wait to Get to Heaven, and I Still Dream About You, is at her hilarious and superb best in this new comic mystery novel about two women who are forced to reimagine who they are.

Mrs. Sookie Poole of Point Clear, Alabama, has just married off the last of her daughters and is looking forward to relaxing and perhaps traveling with her husband, Earle. The only thing left to contend with is her mother, the formidable Lenore Simmons Krackenberry. Lenore may be a lot of fun for other people, but is, for the most part, an overbearing presence for her daughter. Then one day, quite by accident, Sookie discovers a secret about her mother's past that knocks her for a loop and suddenly calls into question everything she ever thought she knew about herself, her family, and her future.

My  thoughts so far:

Ok, I don't want to spoil the plot here, but just now I am shaking my head at Sookie Poole. I like the writing so far,  Ms. Flagg knows her characters  and their flaws. And she knows how to make you laugh at the ordinary things that happen in life.


Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Of Moths and Butterflies by V.R. Christensen

Of Moths & Butterflies by V. R. Christensen

Goodreads Synopsis:

Archer Hamilton is a collector of rare and beautiful insects. Gina Shaw is a servant in his uncle’s house. Clearly out of place in the position in which she has been discovered, she becomes a source of fascination . . . and curiosity. 
A girl with a blighted past and a fortune she deems a curse, Gina has lowered herself in order to find escape from her family and their scheming designs. But when she is found, the stakes suddenly become dire. 

All Gina wants is the freedom to live her life as she would wish. All her aunts want is the money that comes with her. But there is more than one way to trap an insect. An arranged marriage might turn out profitable for more parties than one. 

Mr. Hamilton is about to make the acquisition of a lifetime. But will the price be worth it? Can a woman captured and acquired learn to love the man who has bought her? 
All Gina wants is the freedom to live her life as she would wish. All her aunts want is the money that comes with her. But there is more than one way to trap an insect. An arranged marriage might turn out profitable for more parties than one. 
Mr. Hamilton is about to make the acquisition of a lifetime. But will the price be worth it? Can a woman captured and acquired learn to love the man who has bought her? 

My Thoughts:

A bit slow at the beginning, I soon found this story hard to put down. Ms. Christensen has obviously done her homework regarding the restrained dialogue and the emotions of the 1880’s. The dialogue in this story frustrated me a lot. As was the times, no one spoke straightforwardly.

Women had no rights, and unless married were destined to a life “in service”.   Imogene Everard lived a life much like servitude in her uncle’s house. She was his bait, as he enticed unethical businessmen to his home. When he dies, his will surprises everyone, including Imogene. But she wants nothing of her uncle’s ill-gotten gains and makes a hasty decision regarding her future.

Her future seems destined for failure. No matter what decisions she makes, something always goes array.  This fact was a little disheartening. As the story progresses I began to root for Imogene or Gina as she was known to Archer Hamilton.  Archer treated Gina with care and respect. Like the insects he acquired and displayed, he too was caught up in a web of family secrets.  As their stories became more intertwined, the secrets threatened to be revealed and I couldn’t put the book down until I discovered the outcome.

The Liar's Club by Mary Karr

The Liars' Club by Mary Karr
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Liar’s Club is an honest, gritty memoir written by Mary Karr. Parts of this book were hard to read, parts of it were funny and silly. My book club was divided. Three of them did not even finish it, 3 of us finished it, but only two of us liked it. I think it boils down to the life experiences of each of us. We did agree that the writing was superb. The subject matter is not unheard of, but when this book was first published in 1995 it was unique. Ms. Karr does not sugar coat her childhood experiences. She does not place blame or make us hate her parents. She just tells it like it was. And it was heartbreaking. How interesting that The Liar’s Club is such a rare, honest telling of her story.
Mary and her sister, Lecia ( pronounced Lisa) endured a childhood filled with emotional pain and unbridled expectation. Their mother, Charlie Marie, struggled to find her place in the world. Southeast Texas in a slumping economy was not where she thought her future lay. So she searched for the perfect place and the perfect person to share her future with. Their father, Pete, or J.P. was a hard working ordinary kind of guy, not really up to the standards of Charlie’s expected life. He was a sort of town celebrity as he wove stories of his past and the past of the area, for the enjoyment of his friends at the American Legion.
Do not read this memoir if you are expecting a rose garden. There are only thorns in this story. Well, maybe a few daisies and a bit of green grass, but mostly a tangle of briars and bushes.
I will read the other memoirs written by Mary Karr and I want to experience her poetry also. What a talented writer.




View all my reviews

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 3/14/16

IMWAYR is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. Share what you are reading, what you read recently or what you hope to get to in the coming week and then link up with Kathryn at Book Date. It is a great place to see what is going on in the blogosphere and to add to your reading lists or piles of titles to be read.

On my Kindle:    

I am still reading this one. I have had a bit of difficulty finding some reading time lately.  We have had company on Friday, Saturday we were away from home, and Sunday we had company again for several hours. Then, of course, there is laundry, food prep and trying to get my steps in. 

I did visit our library this week and got some direction on loading Overdrive and One Click Digital on that device. I finally got One Click loaded so now am able to listen to Emma while reading along. It is much better for me. 

I have the audio version for 10 more days, so I will give this my full attention. I also have been sewing some. I just about finished a table runner for my daughter's new-to-her house. She will move the end of May. I hope she likes it. I am putting together a placemat too. She is by herself now, so this is a sort of celebration. Her long fought divorce is finally (20 months) over. We are not celebrating the divorce necessarily, cause no one won. But the end of the stress of the negotiations  is a reason for a celebratory gift. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

And for all of you in the US whose states participate, Happy Spring Forward to Daylight Savings Time. 

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - 3-1-16 Fannie Flagg

Every Tuesday Diane hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where she shares the first paragraph sometimes two from a book she is reading or thinking about reading soon. Share a book you are interested in reading and link up at Diane's blog, Bibliophile by the Sea. 

The All-girl Filling Station's Last Reunion

Fannie Flagg

Randon House Trade Paperback 2014

A Most Unusual Week
Point Clear, Alabama
Monday, June 6, 2005
76 and Sunny

Mrs. Earle Poole Jr, better known to friends and family as Sookie, was driving home from the Birds-R-Us store out on highway 98 with one ten-pound bag of sunflower seed and one ten-pound bag of wild bird seed and not her usual weekly purchase for the past fifteen years of one twenty-pound bag of Pretty Boy Wild Bird Seed and Sunflower Mix. As she had explained to Mr. Nadleshaft, she was worried that the smaller birds were not getting enough to eat. Every morning lately, the minute she filled her feeders, the larger, more aggressive blue jays would swoop in and scare the little birds all away. 

This is an upcoming read for my book club. Would you read on?  Have you read this one?  It has been on my TBR list since 2013 and on my actual shelf since November last year.


Stay Happy and Stay Busy

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 2/29/16

IMWAYR is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. Share what you are reading, what you read recently or what you hope to get to in the coming week and then link up with Kathryn at Book Date. It is a great place to see what is going on in the blogosphere and to add to your reading lists or piles of titles to be read.

It's Leap Year so today is extra time to read. I guess you could spend it doing chores but why not chose to spend it reading or maybe in the Northern Hemisphere, taking a walk in anticipation of Spring. I am not sure what it is like in the Southern Hemisphere, is it working it's way into Fall? Is it cooling off a bit? However you chose to spend your extra day, I hope it is a great day.


Today I will!

Finish: The link will take you to the Goodreads page-

The Liar's Club

Mary Karr

Last night I stayed up too long watching the Academy Awards and so only read about 10 pages again before my eyes got sleepy. I am not sure yet how I feel about this book. I won't write a review until after my book club meets for discussion. It is raw and gritty. It is a memoir after all, but wow it is unbelievably real. The life Ms Karr experienced and endured is something.  

I hope to listen and read: 

Emma

Jane Austen

My library had an MP3 CD copy of the audio version. I haven't tried yet to insert it into my laptop or CD player, so I hope it works. Speaking of audio books, I have discovered I somehow got a trial at Audible.com and I do not remember signing up. And so then I did not cancel it after the 30 days and so I have purchased a new month.  I have tried audible.com in the past but do not like listening on my Kindle. I can't hear it well enough to do other things while listening and isn't that the point of audio books? I got a CG at Amazon for my birthday, so maybe I should invest in wireless/Bluetooth speakers. If I upgrade my phone in 2016, I will make sure it supports a reading app. Then it will be more portable. 

Also, on the horizon is to dig into:

Of Moths & Butterflies

V.R. Christensen

Happy Leap Year Day

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you are or are about to read over the next week or so.  It's an opportunity to visit and comment, and then, of course, add to that ever-growing TBR pile!  I started participating when it was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. And here we are! Join us. It is a great way to see what others are reading.


In Print:

Goodreads Synopsis:

The Liars' Club

by Mary Karr

When it was published in 1995, Mary Karr's The Liars Club took the world by storm and raised the art of the memoir to an entirely new level, as well as bringing about a dramatic revival of the form. Karr's comic childhood in an east Texas oil town brings us characters as darkly hilarious as any of J. D. Salinger's—a hard-drinking daddy, a sister who can talk down the sheriff at twelve, and an oft-married mother whose accumulated secrets threaten to destroy them all. Now with a new introduction that discusses her memoir's impact on her family, this unsentimental and profoundly moving account of an apocalyptic childhood is as "funny, lively, and un-put-downable" (USA Today) today as it ever was. 

This one is the March selection for my book club, I am a bit concerned about the discussion that will follow the reading of this one. 

On my Kindle: I am just beginning this one. 

Goodreads Synopsis:

Of Moths and Butterflies

by V.R. Christensen (Goodreads Author)

Archer Hamilton is a collector of rare and beautiful insects. Gina Shaw is a servant in his uncle’s house. Clearly out of place in the position in which she has been discovered, she becomes a source of fascination . . . and curiosity.

A girl with a blighted past and a fortune she deems a curse, Gina has lowered herself in order to find escape from her family and their scheming designs. But when she is found, the stakes suddenly become dire.

All Gina wants is the freedom to live her life as she would wish. All her aunts want is the money that comes with her. But there is more than one way to trap an insect. An arranged marriage might turn out profitable for more parties than one.

Mr. Hamilton is about to make the acquisition of a lifetime. But will the price be worth it? Can a woman captured and acquired learn to love the man who has bought her? 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Deep Down Dark by Hector Tobar

Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free
Hector Tobar
2014  Picador Movie Tie-In  Ebook


On August 5, 2010, 33 of the men that make up the A shift, enter the San Jose Mine in Copiapo, Chile. One man, Mario Sepulveda is late. He is hoping that maybe he will be fired, and that will make it easier for a friend to get him a job at another mine. Most of the miners live in the Copiapo area. Mario commutes from Santiago. As he walks toward the mine, a friend gives him a life and he arrives in time to report for his shift, only the supervisor Luis Urzua notices but makes no mention. Now all 34 men are beginning their work day.

Raul Villegas, driving a dump truck of ore to the surface, passes all the other miners on his way out of the mine. He is the only one to escape as the blast and collapse happen behind him. It is 1:40 pm.
At first, the rumble and the dust catch everyone by surprise and then they realize what has happened. The next few minutes they try desperately to determine where their companions are and if they are all safe. As the dust settles and they start a head count, all are accounted for except for Raul, the driver of the dump truck. All are uninjured.

What happens in the next few hours, and the days and weeks that follow is nothing short of miraculous. As luck would have it they are trapped near the Refuge. A sort of break room, with reinforced walls and a small kitchen. They are able to move up and down several levels but their escape routes are all blocked or the chimneys have no ladders. Several vehicles are operable, have gas, batteries and there is a large tank of water used for servicing the equipment.

Hector Tobar continues to tell the story and intricately weaves the personal stories of the miners and their families, the townspeople of Copiapo and the government officials of Chili with the details of the mine and what happens when "the mine pancakes." I found the story impossible to put out of my mind and it caused me to wonder if I would have been able to deal with the hardship that occurred. I'm not sure that I would have.

I would suggest reading this book if you like non-fiction and even if you don't. I have a few friends that normally do not pick non-fictions, but because this was a book club selection, they read it and enjoyed it. It is well written with wonderful descriptions of the surrounding area and the time inside the mine. I am also anxious to see the movie   THE 33.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intro - The Liar's Club by Mary Karr

Every Tuesday Diane hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where she shares the first paragraph sometimes two from a book she is reading or thinking about reading soon. Share a book you are interested in reading and link up at Diane's blog, Bibliophile by the Sea. 

The Liar's Club

Mary Karr

Viking Press 1995

Chapter 1

My sharpest memory is of a single instant surrounded by dark. I was seven and our family doctor knelt before me where I sat on a mattress on the bare floor. He wore a yellow golf shirt unbuttoned so that sprouts of hair showed in a V shape on his chest. I had never seen him in anything but a white starched shirt and a gray tie.  The changed unnerved me. He was pulling at the hem of my favorite nightgown-a pattern of Texas bluebonnets bunched into nosegays tied with ribbon against a field of nappy white cotton. I had tucked my knees under it to make a tent. He could easily have yanked the thing over my head with one motion, but something made him gentle. "Show me the marks," he said. "Come on now. I won't hurt you." He had watery blue eyes behind thick glasses, and a mustache that looked like a caterpillar. " Please? Just pull this up and show me where it hurts," he said. He held a piece of hem between thumb and forefinger. I wasn't crying and I don't remember any pain, but he talked to me in that begging voice he used when he had a long needle hidden behind his back. I liked him but didn't much trust him. The room I shared with my sister was dark, but I didn't fancy hiking  my gown up with strangers milling around in the living room.

What do you think? Would you read on?  Have you already read this one?   It is the next read for my face to face book club.


Stay Busy and Stay Happy

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Of Moths and Butterflies

Every Tuesday Diane hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where she shares the first paragraph sometimes two from a book she is reading or thinking about reading soon. Share a book you are interested in reading and link up at Diane's blog, Bibliophile by the Sea.

Of Moths and Butterflies

V.R. Christensen

Captive Press Publishing 2011

Part One
People have very little idea how great are the injuries which imprudence draws on them, or they would not despise this homely virtue. Especially for young women is prudence required in the conduct of love affairs. There is no end to the tale of misery we could tell resulting from its want. Marriage would not be the lottery it is, if girls would exercise a little prudence. They should never engage themselves to a man of whom they know nothing - the past of their future husband ought to be clear to them.  

Laura, Valentine, The Young Woman's Book

Does this introduction to Part One intrigue you or are you turned off by the language?  I'll admit I really knew nothing about this book except it was by a Goodreads author, it was historical fiction set in the 1800's and the cover took my breath away.



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First Chapter First Paragraph Intros - The Nightingale

Diane at Bibliophile By the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros. It's a place to share the first paragraph or two from a book you are currently reading or hope to start soon. Share a book you are reading, then link up to Diane's blog.

The Nightingale

Kristin Hannah

St Martin's Press

ONE

April 9, 1995
The Oregon Coast

If I have learned anything in this long life of mine, it is this: In love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are. Today's young people what to know everything about everyone.They think talking about a problem with solve it. I come from a quieter generation. We understand the value of forgetting, the lure of reinvention. 



I have had this on my Kindle for awhile now. I love reading Kristin Hannah. I've read lots of historical fiction set in WW II. I have been reluctant to read another. But my friends have been praising this one lately, so I will get to it soon. Tomorrow it has been out for one year. Maybe I will get to start it tomorrow.

What do you think? Have you read The Nightingale?


Stay Busy and Stay Happy