A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty  Smith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this book in 1969 when I was a young mother. Reading it now changed how I viewed the book. I fell in love with Francie Nolan and I understood her mother in a whole new way. What a wonderful story of growing up in poor America in the early 1900's. Betty Smith touches our hearts with poignant examples of how boys were treated differently than girls, how wives struggled and went hungry so their children could have a better future. Some of this still is happening, but thankfully not as prevalent as in the past.

This has become one of my favorite books.

Taking a Posting Break

I will be taking a break from posting. You may have noticed that I have been absent already.

I will still review as I complete titles that fit my challenges.

Read the Books You Buy
Women's Fiction Challenge
What's in a Name 2016
Cruisin' Thru the Cozies

But not much else. I've hit a wall. I feel empty and inadequate. So until I recharge this blog will be a bit vacant.

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

The Cat Sitter's Whiskers by Blaize and John Clement

The Cat Sitter's Whiskers by Blaize Clement
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Dixie Hemingway lives in Sarasota Florida. She is a cat/dog sitter for the mostly rich and famous who live on Siesta Key, a sliver of sand that hugs the shoreline of Sarasota. She lives in the upstairs apartment over the garage of her older brother's house. Micheal and his partner Paco, are her port in a storm. And she has had a few storms. She used to be a police officer, but after her husband and young daughter were killed in a car accident, she couldn't go back.  That doesn't keep her from having a cop's instincts. She reads people well, most people like her and she is fearless. This can help or hinder her in the situations that seem to surround her.

I really enjoyed this book. Even though it is the 10th in the Dixie Hemingway series, I did not feel as if I had missed anything. The author uses the main characters, memories and thought processes to add her back story to the current story. I will read more of this cozy mystery series. Thanks to Cathy at Kittling Books for the giveaway.

I am linking this up to

You can find this challenge here,

Cruisin' Thru the Cozies 2016 is hosted by Yvonne at Socrates' Book Reviews

 And you can check out this challenge at The Worm Hole, this link will go to the page "Profession".

Or you can see all my challenges by clicking on  the 2016 Challenges tab at the top of my blog page.

The Chili Queen by Sandra Dallas

The Chili Queen

Sandra Dallas

Addie French's life hasn't been easy. But when she meets Emma Roby on the train to Nalgitas NM, she can't help but take this poor unsuspecting woman under her wing. Emma is going to Nalgitas to marry a man she has only corresponded with.  Addie is sure that Emma needs her help, and when the prospective groom fails to pick Emma up at the train depot, Addie takes her in at The Chili Queen, her brothel.   As their friendship develops or at least changes, secrets and schemes come to light. Each woman learns something about the other and the plot thickens. I wasn't completely surprised at the ending, and I enjoyed Ms. Dallas' writing. Her descriptive words take you to the desert barrenness of New Mexico and to the mountain towns of Colorado.  Although, Margot of Joyfully Retired           (commenting on my First Chapter First Paragraph post) was correct, I did not like the characters, Dallas did an awesome job telling us about each of them.

I am linking this review to What's In A Name 2016 challenge and Kathryn's Women's Fiction Reading Challenge. 



Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Bossypants by Tina Fey What's In a Name 2016 challenge

Bossypants by Tina Fey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am a big Tina Fey fan. I have been wanting to read this book since it was published. I enjoyed it very much. You need to know that it is like reading SNL. Her sense of humor is what makes this book so good. You will learn a bit about her life, a bit about her husband and daughter, but mostly you will learn about her work.


View all my reviews

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - The Chili Queen

Every Tuesday is the day to share the first paragraph or two of a book you are reading or want to read soon. The event is hosted by Diane at Bibliophile By the Sea. Let's share!

 The Chili Queen

Sandra Dallas

St Martins Press  2002

one


As the train pulled into the shabby station at Palestine, Kansas, the pinch-faced farmers and their wives in their rusty black-wool best lined up along the tracks like the teeth of a rake. In the Kansas heat, three boys slumped on an empty baggage cart in the shade of the depot, too listless even to tie a tin can to a cat's tail. A bitch in heat wouldn't draw a yellow dog under the sun, Addie French thought, as she shaded her eyes from the hurtful glare of the prairie, which was bleached the dirty white of worn underwear. She put a handkerchief to her nose, as if to block out the stench of sweat and barnyard and old pancakes that clung to the farmers' clothes. Although she had spent well over half her thirty-six years off the land, Addie never forgot the sour smells of the farm. She wiped her damp face and neck with a soiled handkerchief, leaving behind streaks of dirt on her wet skin.

What do you think?  Would you read on?  I am already enamored with Addie French and Emma Roby and I am only on page 13!



Stay Happy and Stay Busy

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? The Chili Queen and Ready Player One

It's Monday What Are You Reading 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.

Life may have been hard on Addie French, but when she meets friendless Emma Roby on a train, all her protective instincts emerge. Emma's brother is seeing her off to Nalgitas to marry a man she has never met. And Emma seems like a lost soul to Addie-someone who needs Addie's savvy and wary eye. It isn't often that Addie is drawn to anyone as a friend, but Emma seems different somehow. When Emma's prospective fails to show up at the train depot, Addie breaks all her principles to shelter the girl at her brothel, The Chili Queen. But once Emma enters Addie's life, the secrets that unfold and schemes that are hatched cause both women to question everything they thought they knew. With Sandra Dallas's trademark humor, charm, and pathos, The Chili Queen will satisfy anyone who has ever longed for happiness.

The Chili Queen is the winner of the 2003 Spur Award for Best Western Novel.

On my Kindle: 

in audible version

n the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines—puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. 
   But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.

Sheila at Book Journey raved and raved about this being soooo good.  I had to spend an audible credit, so this is one I picked. I also finally got a Smart enough phone that  I can listen to books. And I loaded audible on my phone, I hope to be able to listen while I get my steps in this week.

I will also be sewing this week, going with my Mr. Busy to a doctor's appointment and probably attending a funeral. I got word late last night , that my boss of 27 years (before I retired) had passed away. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday What Are You Reading 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.

On my nightstand:

Before Liz Lemon, before "Weekend Update," before "Sarah Palin," Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV.

She has seen both these dreams come true.

At last, Tina Fey's story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon -- from the beginning of this paragraph to this final sentence.

Tina Fey reveals all, and proves what we've all suspected: you're no one until someone calls you bossy.

I am enjoying this one so far. It is classic Tina Fey, a bit raunchy, a bit raw and a lot funny! I have been wanting to read this for some time and I will link review to :

Read a book with an article of clothing in the title. = BossyPANTS. 

On deck: 

Life may have been hard on Addie French, but when she meets friendless Emma Roby on a train, all her protective instincts emerge. Emma's brother is seeing her off to Nalgitas to marry a man she has never met. And Emma seems like a lost soul to Addie-someone who needs Addie's savvy and wary eye. It isn't often that Addie is drawn to anyone as a friend, but Emma seems different somehow. When Emma's prospective fails to show up at the train depot, Addie breaks all her principles to shelter the girl at her brothel, The Chili Queen. But once Emma enters Addie's life, the secrets that unfold and schemes that are hatched cause both women to question everything they thought they knew. With Sandra Dallas's trademark humor, charm, and pathos, The Chili Queen will satisfy anyone who has ever longed for happiness.

This one is another on my list of titles for What's In A Name 2016. Read a book with a country in the title. I thought I remembered the author's name, and when I picked it up from the shelf at the library, I realized I had read The Persian Pickle Club years ago. I am anxious to get started on this one too. 

I hope to finish both of these soon and get caught up on my reading goal. Hope you have some good reading coming up. 

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

The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd

The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am a fan of Sue Monk Kidd's writing. Her prose is elegantly beautiful. This story of 42-year-old Jessie Sullivan's journey to come to terms with the death of her father, her mother's erratic behavior and her own loss of self, feels very real. I think lots of women have felt this loss. Ms. Kidd tells this story with humor and truth, and with honest compassion. I enjoyed the story of the monks and the abbey, the fable of the mermaid chair, and the description of Egret Island and its inhabitants. I especially liked Kat and Benne. I even liked Jessies' mother, Nelle.

As a woman of a certain age, I could put myself in this story. Not all of it of course, but the parts of feeling that your life was lived in a small box. That your life was lived for others. I totally understand Jessie. I feel for her husband Hugh.  I understand the part about "staying in the marriage", "the small acts of forgiveness", the relationship that changed.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday - The Mermaid Chair - 1-19-16

Tuesdays I like to link up with Diane at Bibliophile by The Sea to share the First Chapter First Paragraph of a book that I am reading or plan to read soon. Today I share two paragraphs. If you would like to join us, share the first paragraph (or two) of a book, then link up at Diane's blog.

The Mermaid Chair
Sue Monk Kidd
Penguin Books 2005


PROLOGUE

    In the middle of my marriage, when I was above all Hugh's wife and Dee's mother, one of those unambiguous women with no desire to stir the universe, I fell in love with a Benedictine monk.


CHAPTER ONE

    February 17, 1988, I opened my eyes and heard a procession of sounds: first the phone going off on the opposite side of the bed, rousing us at 5:04 am to what could only be a calamity, then rain pummeling the roof of our old Victorian house, sluicing its sneaky way to the basement, and finally small puffs of air coming from Hugh's lower lip, each one perfectly time, like a metronome. 


So what do you think? Would you read on?

I picked this book up a while ago, after reading The Secret Life of Bees and Traveling With Pomegranates, both by Sue Monk Kidd. I since have read The Invention of Wings, I love her writing. I chose both the first paragraph of the prologue and the first chapter to give a bit of insight into the book.

I am on page 23 and anxious to continue.


Stay Busy and Stay Happy

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? The Mermaid Chair and Emma

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you are and about to be reading over the week.  It's an opportunity to visit and comment, and er... add to that ever-growing TBR pile!  This meme started with J Kaye's Blog   and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. So share what you are reading this week and link up with Book Date.


This week I am still trying to read Emma by Jane Austen. I will persevere. 
I really am thinking of finding the audio version and read it along with the print book. 

And I have started to read  The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd.

From Goodreads: 

Sue Monk Kidd's phenomenal debut, The Secret Life of Bees, became a runaway bestseller that is still on the New York Times bestseller list more than two years after its paperback publication. Now, in her luminous new novel, Kidd has woven a transcendent tale that will thrill her legion of fans. Telling the story of Jessie Sullivan -- a love story between a woman and a monk, a woman and her husband, and ultimately a woman and her own soul -- Kidd charts a journey of awakening and self-discovery illuminated with a brilliance that only a writer of her ability could conjure. 


I am just starting on this one. So far it lives up to my expectations of wonderful prose from Sue Monk Kidd.  It will meet requirements for at least 3 of my 2016 Challenges. 

A book with an item of furniture in the title. 






It may even qualify for the Women's Fiction Challenge. I really won't know for sure until I have finished. 



Stay Happy and Stay Busy