Resolutions? What???

So, last year I set a goal for myself to read 12 books for fun.
You know---in addition to work, motherhood, being a wife, school, & the reading necessary for school.

For those of you who devour books like they're candy...well, hats off to you. While I very much enjoy reading, it's sometimes difficult for me to find time to read for enjoyment when I should be spending that time reading for school!

How did I do?

Well, here is what I read this year:

Ya-Yas in Bloom by Rebecca Wells
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
New Moon by Stephanie Meyer
Rattled by Debra Galant
Try and Make Me by Levy, O'Hanlon, and Goode
Just One of the Guys by Kristen Higgins
When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka
How to Behave So Your Preschooler Will Too by Dr.Sal Severe
Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
North River by Pete Hamill
The Help by Kathryn Stockett

That's 12.
TWELVE.
I did it. {so what if 2 of them are parenting books? I read them, dammit!}
The last 4 were my favorites.

I think I'll keep that same resolution for 2010. I've really enjoyed it.

And, I have to mention 3 more books:

Plum Lovin' by Janet Evonovich: Are you kidding me? I've heard great things about this author, but this book was less than impressive. I got about 1/2 way through it, and just could NOT go any further. Stu-pid. And to be perfectly honest---I couldn't care less how that story ends.

In the Fold by Rachel Cusk: started it (as in, read 1-2 chapters, and put it down), haven't picked it back up yet, but intend to. Mediocre so far, but too soon to really write it off...

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurtston: just got this for Christmas. Read 1-2 chapters so far. The dialect makes this a difficult read {for me, anyway!}. I really have to get into a mind-set & focus on what I'm reading for the language to make sense. I'm enjoying it so far.

What other books should be on my list for 2010???

Finished.

Okay, so last night I finished THE HELP



Thoughts, and spoilers in case someone may want to read it & hasn't--don't read ahead.

Loved it.
Loved it so much, I even read the author's acknowledgements, etc.

I kept waiting for this twist that didn't happen: For Skeeter's Daddy to be the father of Constantine's high yellow baby.
It didn't happen that way---but that's what I kept waiting to read!

What I'm Reading...

I've got two things going right now, and two more already lined up....

Going:



and...




:)
Just an FYI....

Lazy Daisy....

Well, I would love to say that I had a Lazy Daisy weekend---but I didn't.
I DID have a Lazy-Daisy yesterday. I should have done my school work, but I didn't.
Instead, we watched The Guardian & Goonies. And we started watching Seven Pounds. I took a super-long bath & read my book! {The Help....I've had it for about 1 week & I'm 12 chapters into it. I love it!}

Fell asleep on the couch, for 2 hours.
That like NEVER happens.

Got new glasses over the weekend.
Ate Mexican food for lunch Saturday.
Panda Express for dinner Saturday.

We had a FIRST this weekend: Gage got his FIRST set of real Legos.
Oh my goodness---I couldn't believe how expensive these things have gotten. And they're so much cooler than they were when I was a kid. I'm just sayin'....

We babysat my Mother in Law's dog over the weekend. He's perfect!
:)

So, I've got a test on Wednesday. A test that I have NOT even started studying for.
But---my fortune inside the fortune cookie from my Panda Express dinner---it read, "Wednesday is your lucky day." So...does that mean I can forget studying & leave it up to fortune cookie luck????
I'm too anal retentive to do that....

Book/Movies. Books to Movies...

Okay, so I have some thoughts to share.
And---spoilers, only because I have thoughts about these things.

We'll start with this book...


I read this years ago. When it was new.
I got caught up in it---thought it was a page turner, and couldn't wait to know the whole story. My mom---not so much. She wasn't that into it.

Now, it's been some years since I read it, and to be perfectly honest, I couldn't remember the ending. So....when I saw the movie in the Video on Demand listings, I decided to give it a whirl.



So, perhaps the movie has a different ending than the book. Like I mentioned, I can't remember.

Something in ME has changed. I have a whole new perspective on this story. I am now the mother to a little boy.
Perhaps in the book, you can shut out the fact that a grown-ass woman is intimately involved with a 15 year old child---but in the movie---there it is. Right there. On the screen. Everything about it felt odd, and wrong, and inappropriate, and sad, and sick. I just wanted to slap & shake Kate Winslet! {not that she did a bad job acting, because the acting was great}....

I just think---if I could change ONE THING about that whole story, I would make the boy 18 or 19 years old. I would just change that one thing & I think I would feel better about the whole thing.

And another thing....
My Sister's Keeper.
Seen the movie? I haven't. I read the book:

So...if you haven't read the book, I'm warning you---spoilers here in my opinions.
In the end---as parents, you let a person with a KNOWN SEIZURE disorder drive your child around!? As a parent, I just couldn't. I just couldn't risk it. My personal thoughts on it here. Not trying to discriminate against people with seizure disorders...I'm just sayin'....I wouldn't knowingly let Gage ride in a car being driven by someone who has seizures like that.

And....so, Anna's been the victim, and now she's on life support, etc.
Didn't take them long to pull the plug. I'm just sayin'. Countless hours were spent pouring energy & soul into Kate, and they all fought, fought, fought for her to live. Poor Anna. "Oh, she's done. Pull the plug. Harvest her organs, and do it now!"
Just all seemed a little....quick to me.


AAAAND: I hear that the movie ends differently than the book. I hear that they don't kill Anna in the end of the movie.
Hmmmmm.....

MIA.....reading.

This is where I've been:



...enthralled in this.

Today: tree trimmers are here to trim the remaining 6 of our super huge trees.
Today: school.
Today: must run to the store for a few things.
Today: just printed a 64 page "handout" that my professor emailed. {"I look forward to that, Greg."---Meet the Parents movie reference, and a staple of a phrase around here...}

Have a dia fabulosa!

Rattled....

So, this is what I'm reading now...


Let me just tell ya...it's NOT great.
But, it's been hard to wedge reading in with school, work, housework, keeping up with Gage, family, friends, etc.
And still, I'm sticking with my "Read at least one book per month" New Year's Resolution. (And no, school books don't count. Neither do Gage's books!)

So, because I started it---I will damn well finish it so I can count it.

The main character---I can't decide if I hate her or not. She is supposed to be a NJ HouseWife who lives in a McMansion, but for some reason in my mind---she's got this Southern Belle Diva quality to her.
And still---I don't really like her.

Maybe I will by the time I'm done with the book....

Finished my book!

Okay, I finished "When the Emperor was Divine", and it was very good.


Finished it Monday evening during dinner. (No, I wasn't much on conversation during dinner, clearly. Yes, I know it's rude to read at the table. Whatever. I was so.close.to.the.end!)

Summary that I found online:
This short novel tells the story of a Japanese-American family’s internment during World War II. They are living comfortably in Berkeley, California, when their nightmare begins. Soon after Pearl Harbor the husband/father is arrested by the FBI--taken away in his housecoat and slippers. We learn of this through the narration of the eight-year-old son, his ten-year-old sister, and their mother--who are rounded up several months later and sent to a camp in Utah. The father remains shadowy--a figure of memory, wishful thinking, and censored letters stamped "Detained Alien Enemy Mail." The reason for his arrest is never explained, as if there is no reason to question the man’s loyalty.

After her husband’s arrest, the mother is left to take care of her children and the house. A few months later she must pack up the household belongings, give away the family cat, kill and bury the family dog, tell her daughter to let loose the pet macaw. They are allowed to bring with them--where to they do not know--only what they can carry. They take an endless train ride through the Nevada desert to reach an internment camp in Utah, "a city of tar-paper barracks behind a barbed-wire fence on a dusty alkaline plane high up in the desert" (49).

Here they remain until the war ends, some three and a half years later. They learn to live in one room with a single light bulb; to stand on line for everything; to eat in the mess hall; to avoid rattlesnakes, scorpions, and the sun; and to "never say the Emperor’s name out loud" (52). They are unable to avoid the desert dust that covers and gets into everything. The children attend makeshift classes, play cards, are bored, lonely, and confused. The boy misses and has fantasies about his father, the girl reaches adolescence and becomes cynical, the mother is too depressed to eat or read.

At the end of the war, the three are allowed to go home "with train fare and twenty-five dollars in cash" (117). Their house has been vandalized; neighbors, teachers, and classmates either ignore them or are openly hostile. Finally their father is released from detention in New Mexico, a changed man both in appearance and spirit.

What I'm Reading....

So, I recently finished....
YaYas in Bloom


And now, I've moved on to....
When the Emperor was Divine

Anyone read it?

Books....

So far this year, I've finished
THIS:


and

THIS:


I just ordered THIS:


So, my goal for this year is to read 12 books, in addition to my school work load.
For those of you who devour books like they're candy...well, hats off to you. While I very much enjoy reading, it's sometimes difficult for me to find time to read for enjoyment when I should be spending that time reading for school!

....so, anyway....there's that!