It's Monday! What Are You Reading? Pausch, Brink and Morrison

Sheila at Book Journey hosts a weekly meme to share what you reading this week and encourages all of us to visit others participating. Fair warning - this tends to add to your reading list! ;)



This week I am in the middle of

from Goodreads:

"Jai is such a giver that she often forgets to take care of herself," Randy Pausch wrote about his wife. "Jai knows that she’ll have to give herself permission to make herself a priority."
In Dream New Dreams, Jai Pausch shares her own story for the first time: her emotional journey from wife and mother to full-time caregiver, shuttling between her three young children and Randy’s bedside as he sought treatment far from home; and then to widow and single parent, fighting to preserve a sense of stability for her family, while coping with her own grief and the challenges of running a household without a partner.
Jai paints a vivid, honest portrait of a vital, challenging relationship between two strong people who faced a grim prognosis and the self-sacrificing decisions it often required. As she faced life without the husband she called her “magic man,” Jai learned to make herself a priority to create a new life of hope and happiness—as she puts it, to “feel a spark of my own magic beginning to flicker.”
Dream New Dreams is a powerful story of grief, healing, and newfound independence. With advice artfully woven into an intimate, beautifully written narrative, Jai’s story will inspire not only the legions of readers who made The Last Lecture a bestseller, but also those who are embarking on a journey of loss and renewal themselves.

And I will start tonight: on my Kindle-

From Goodreads:

Jessica Hart is new to Seattle, days away from the big Three-O, and just months away from marrying the perfect man. But, when her fiancé, Jim Carozza, gets into a car with a creepy stranger who looks like a Vegas pit boss her perfect life takes a bizarre turn.
Her brother tells her to go home. The police tell her to go home. Her inner voice even tells her to go home. Unfortunately, Jessica has never been the kind of girl to do as she’s told. Instead, she jumps feet first into trouble looking for answers just to find out that every answer leads her into more trouble.

Before she knows it, her world has turned upside down. Jim is missing and he’s got secrets. Greg has moved in and he’s got secrets. Her new friend, smoking hot and mysteriously irresistible Eric Wolf, even has secrets.
Now, a crazed killer is stalking Jessica and he wants something that she doesn't have. Wolf wants something that she knows she shouldn't give. And, the police, the FBI, the mob and a bunch of scary looking mercenaries are watching her every move.

Greg thinks she needs to let the police handle things.
Her best friend thinks she needs to let Wolf seduce her. Jessica thinks she needs some retail therapy, a manicure, and a margarita.

And I hope to start:

I did not get to this one during Banned Books Week, and the copy I borrowed from my public library looks different that this, but the page numbers and the ISBN match. It has been on my TBR list for some time. I am anxious to get to it, hope I can get through it.

I finished The Book of Ruth and had trouble finishing it. It was hard to read and very depressing. If you are interested my Goodreads review is here.



Until next time
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

The Scent of Rain and Lightning.

The Scent of Rain and Lightning
Nancy Pickard
Ballentine Books  2010
5/5 stars


On a warm summer afternoon, Jody Linder is unnerved to see her three uncles parking their pickups in front of her parents house. From her upstairs window she wonders why they are here, do they know about her liaison with Red Bosch.?  No, that couldn't be it, they are dressed in polished boots, pressed jeans, fresh white shirts....her uncles suspiciously clean visiting clothes disturb her.

The three bring news she never wanted the hear. The man, Billy Crosby, convicted of murdering her parents has been released from prison.  Would he dare come back to Rose, Kansas, where her grandparents ranch has been her safe haven?

I fell in love with spunky Jody Linder. She is living her life with a catastrophic past. On a stormy night 23 three years ago, her father was murdered and her mother disappeared.  She has lived just a few doors down from the wife and son of the man accused and convicted of the murder. Jody and Collin Crosby have spent their growing up years avoiding each other in this small town. Now she may have to come face to face with Collin and his father.

This is a wonderfully written story that tells of what can happen when people are quick to judge and slow to look for the truth. And it tells of the healing power of truth if we can open our hearts and minds to look for it.

This book is set in Rose Kansas

and will fulfill the "book with an element of weather" in the title section of

Until next time,
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Review January Book #5 First Family

First Family by David Baldacci
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are together again. This time, working together to solve the kidnapping of the First Lady's niece. As usual King and Maxwell work well together, but this story has a side story involving Michelle ( Mick)'s family.

There is lots of "insider" information regarding what happens at the White House. Lots of "spin" put on details, as I imagine really happens in real life these days.

We (my husband and I) listened to this audio book as we both pursued our own hobbies. It was fun to share the story, talk about our reactions and our thoughts on what was going on, what the ending was going to tell us.

Baldacci always weaves a tangled web of information and misinformation to develop the story line. We like trying to figure out the mystery of "who done it" and more importantly why?


View all my reviews


Until next time
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

                                                                                       First Family takes place mostly in Washington DC

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? Finishes and Starts Jan 2014

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.  As she says, it’s “a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!”

This week is my F2F book club meeting. Our discussion book is The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith. Here is my review from Goodreads. 

This week I am reading: the 15th in the Benni Harper Mystery series. 

It is the final entry into the Mega Mix Challenge hosted by Love of Reading on Goodreads. It was an untimed challenge and I have been working at it since 11-12. But it was great fun. I may do it all over again on my own with different titles of course.  

Spider Web is set in
San Celina (fictional) California

Mr Busy and I are listening to this Baldacci novel. We have listened to several other titles by David Baldacci during road trips. We always have to finish them at home, because our trips are not 12 -14 hours long. But it is enjoyable, so we decided to borrow one from the library just to share at home. I sew in my sewing room and across the hall, he is building an RC airplane (from scratch). The boombox sit out in the hall so we can both hear and I am in charge of keeping track of where we are in the story, should we have to pause it. It has been fun, discussing our own ideas about the who and why. 

First Family is set in Washington DC

This week too, I will start listening to The Goldfinch on audio-books. I am new to this realm and it is a trial subscription. I don't know if I will continue or not.  

Until Next Time

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

What's In A Name 2014 #3 and Where Are You Reading? Wyoming

What's In A Name 2014 is a challenge that is hosted by Charlie at Worm Hole. You can click on this link to get to the sign up post and learn a bit more about this favorite of mine challenge. This books fulfills the # 3  part of the Challenge, a title with a number written in letters.

I am also linking this review to the Where Are You Reading Challenge hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.You can either click the link above to check out Sheila's blog or here to see Where I have been reading.

One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Though I have read other reviewers say this book was unlikable or unbelievable, I liked it. I also found that although I know the story is fiction, I could believe the events. Maybe it stems from growing up in the region. I know the Black Hills, Ft Laramie, Ft Robinson, the Tongue River, the Big Horn Mountains. I have visited museums and historical sites that show that the Cheyenne, the Sioux, the Crow all lived in the place I call home.

I grew up listening to the Dakota Sioux at Pow Wow in the Black Hills. I have seen the native dress and watched the native dancers.

I loved the pictures that Jim Fegus painted of the wildlife and the landscape. The descriptive words of the Indians and the treatment of the very real emotions that the White Women experienced.

This book was recommended to me by several friends and they did not steer me wrong.


View all my reviews


Until Next Time
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd

is set in the late 1800 in Nebraska and Dakota Territory. The places mentioned in the story are in what is now Wyoming. 

Where Are You Reading? and a Book Club finish - The Cuckoo's Calling

Where Are You Reading is a challenge sponsored by Sheila at Book Journey.  She also sponsors a Monday meme title It's Monday! What Are You Reading?  Both of these events compliment one another. I have been participating in the It's Monday meme for the last weeks of 2013 and will continue in 2014. I have decided to join the Where Are You Reading challenge because it seems a fun way to see all the settings of the books I read all year. Sheila suggested a Google Map and I set one up, but may not be able to share it. If I cannot, I will add a page to my blog and keep a list going there.  I have my fingers crossed that I can link up the map. We will see.

I just finished my first book of the new year The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith. This book is set in Britain. Here is my review from Goodreads.

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was the selected read for January of my F2F book club. I wasn't sure what it was about, but the other members were all atwitter with it being written by J.K. Rowling. I have not, nor do I intend to read the Harry Potter series, so I wasn't impressed one way or the other.

Cormoran Strike, is an injured veteran of the war in Afghanistan, returned to Britain to heal and get on with his life. Now he is a "homeless" ( having been kicked out of his super gorgeous girlfriend's apartment) and trying to make a living as a Private Detective.

Recently hired by a prominent lawyer to investigate the death of his sister, a supermodel, Cormoran proceeds in unconventional ways to gather facts and talk to witnesses. His recent temporary secretary is of great help to him. Robin has always secretly wanted to be a detective, since stealing her brother's Hardy Boys books as a child.

This book kept me interested and on the edge of my chair for the entire read. There was good character development and I never figured out what really happened to Lula Landry until the very end when Cormoran reveals his theory and conclusion to his client.

Although the language was a bit rough at times, the vocabulary in general was interesting. I looked up a lot of words I did not know prior to reading this. I like books that teach me new words.

I would recommend to all my friends who like mysteries and crime genres.


View all my reviews

Until next time
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

ps I am linking this to 2014 Ebook challenge hosted by Sarah at Workaday Reads.

Where Are You Reading? 2014 Progress Post.

The sign up for this challenge is here.  I tried to set up a Google Map. I may not be able to use it. If I can figure out how to do it, I'll put a link here at a later date. 

Alabama:

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California: 

Colorado: 

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida: 

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts:  

Michigan: 

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire:

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York:  

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio:

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania:

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee:

Texas:

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington:

West Virginia

Wisconsin:

Wyoming