A lovely read...

Every now and then a book comes along that grabs you within the first pages, and you can't put it down.

I loved this book.  This will be one that I remember when the year is done and I am trying to remember what were the best 5 books that I read all year. 

This is a modern day Jane Eyre, and it is beautifully written.  Although there may be slight imperfections in the story, Gemma is an heroine that is easy to embrace, and her tale of pushing forward is one that was equal parts compelling and enjoyable to discover.  I liked the period setting, and that it took place in Scotland and Iceland.  It was foreign and familiar all at once. 

After I finished this book a few days ago, it took me a while to want to pick up another one.  It also helps I was really tired before bed each night, but it was almost a let down trying to figure out "what next".  My oldest is now 7 years old.  How did that happen?  We have celebrated birthdays, and then battled the stomach flu, and now the summer continues to race on.  After yesterday's run, I discovered that I was indeed a slug on Sunday morning.  I guess my body knew that something was coming (read stomach flu) and I was moving at a much slower pace for that jog - almost 1.5 minutes slower each mile than Wednesday morning! Learning new stuff all the time...

The curse of the white shirt also struck this morning.  I should have recognized the sign when I got toothpaste on my shirt this morning.  Got that all cleaned up and walked in to work to look down and see chocolate icing all over the front.  Classy look!

Seven weeks.

Gotcha eh? I bet you aren't expecting me to say that I am seven weeks in to a run/walk 10km training program... You know better, our two lovely children are more than enough!

I can't believe it has been 7 weeks.  In the beginning, I could jog 1 minute, and would walk 4 minutes.  That first training piece was 35 minutes.  This mornings jog (end of week 7 of 13 weeks of training) was 54 minutes... I can now run 4 minutes 40 seconds, and then I walk 1 minute 20 seconds.  For week 8, it jumps to 5 minutes jogging, and 1 minute of walking.  I am doing the old school Sun Run training from years ago that plans your training over 13 weeks.  You start off with the 30 second segments and end up being able to run about an hour.  In the very least, I would love to be able to run for 15-20 minutes, and then stop for a minute, and then continue on.  Maybe once I feel like I am in a decent place with this, my goal would be to go out for 45 minutes, 3 days a week.  That would be about 4 miles/6-7 km I think.  Seems reasonable...

Now why does it feel better to say JOGGING and not running?  I think it is because I feel if I say jogging, no one expects me to be sprinting.  I also am not really a running fan.  Jogging, I can get behind!  Who knows why that really means something to me.

The last seven weeks have passed quickly. I have come to look forward to my jogs, and seeing how far I have come, and what I can do now.  I am glad to be doing something physical again.  I am running at 5:20ish in the morning.  The mornings have been amazing as the sun is coming up about 5:40 and the weather this June and July has been exceptional.

I plan to do a 5km in early September (Run or Dye) and I hope to do a 10km in early November.  Next year, I will be doing the Sun Run and who knows what else.  I don't really see any distances beyond a 10km in my future, but who knows.  I used to be only able to run for a minute.  Perhaps a year of training, and 10kms will be nothing! Who KNOWS!  It is amazing, but training works.

Consistency, a little at a time.  Not setting a crazy, blistering pace.  Just getting out there.  I love the quiet mornings.  This morning's jog was the first time I have gone for a run and it has been "soothing".  The rhythm of just moving, and watching the run, and looking at the fields as they slowly moved by, and looking out for slugs, listening to the frogs, in a word, awesome.

It also really helps to talk to other people that run, or are training, and have physical goals.  We help to motivate each other.  It also helps to put it out there, since people ask you then, and it helps keep (me at least) accountable.  It also means the world that when the alarm goes off at 5:10 am, my dear hubby rolls over, and says to me "running day!".  It all helps.  Especially the support at home.  I have a skirt I want to fit in to by September, and a coat he bought me a few years that has never fit and I LOVE.  One day I will post a picture of me in this lovely green coat and I will NOT look like a stuffed sausage in it.  Goals are so important, as are little rewards along the way.

Better than others in this genre

It feels like admitting to a guilty pleasure that I enjoyed this book.  In the beginning 100 pages, I could feel my slightly feminist side starting to come out as the lead female character was pretty hopeless for a while.  There are some pretty opinionated reviews about this book, and many of them seem to seize on different aspects of the Witch's (Diana) or the Vampire's (Matthew) character that are negative and positive (okay, mostly not all that favourable to how parts of this relationship are developed) in the early stages of this book.  Read in this way, there are definitely elements of this novel that I can't say thrilled me.

Then you get caught up in the story, and stop trying to analyze every element, and truly what kind of portrait of "man" or "woman" is being painted.  I enjoyed it.  I like how the story evolved, and that there is the group of 9 (3 daemons, 3 witches, and 3 vampires) that form a counterbalance to the congregation.  I enjoyed it.  I would like to read the next in this trilogy, I won't run to pick it up since the third book isn't even close to being published. but having suffered through Twilight, this is a far better use of your time.

July?

What, I turn 40 and weeks start to go even faster?  What is up with that.  I have written a great any posts (in my head of course), and read a few books, and I have even started to jog a few miles here and there.  I figured I would start with a catch up post, and then likely I will work some "time" magic and post backwards at list the books I have read since I last posted in early June.

The biggest thing for me is that I have finally decided to fix one of the main disconnects in my life - that is to get more physical activity - for stress relief, to connect with my body again, of course to lose weight, but also to just feel better.  I think this has been a process that I have been working up to since last September, and it is finally coming together.  I have started a run/walk 10 km program like the one I did for the Sun Run in 2002 (OMFG that was a lifetime ago).  It really does start with just putting one foot in the front of the next and just going for it.  It helps I am walking a lot more at work, and it really wasn't that big of a leap that first week.

Of course, these 13 week programs start you off fairly gently with a 30 second run and then a 4 minute/30 second walk.  For the first half of the training, you go up by 30 second increments until your body can handle less breaks and more "runs".  I am more of a plodder, but I am slowly getting there.  It feels great to be doing this - I am doing it.  I haven't not been able to make 3 runs a week, and I am not almost done my 6th week of training! 

I am not out to set any speed records, I am out to beat personal bests (considering I think I can run more now at 40 than I could at 16 that isn't hard) and to just do it, for me, for my family.  I am running at 5:30 am, and I like it.  What has happened.  I am channeling my family heritage and embracing mornings.  I kind of like them, it is almost a secret.  We are having an awesome summer, and running at 6am, before everyone is out, and it is just the hint of a warm day, it is pretty magic.  I feel lucky to be out there.  I am also finding strange an unusual things on my jogs: sunglasses, a blackberry charger, a man's watch, and some mini levels.  Strange.

The running is my exciting change. The weather is also awesome.  I can't remember a July starting off this nicely.  My little peanut is now 4, and my big guy is almost 7.  We are planning his first birthday party with friends and he will be going gold panning.  I am happy to be embracing some of our BC heritage at Fort Langley.  We even get to have a bonfire!! Now how cool is that? 

Did I mention B and I also picked 34 pounds of berries and I made 15 jars of strawberry jam?  Seriously, it just seems the weeks are going by so fast.  It is either Friday, or Monday.  Or garbage day.  I guess that is the next honey do to cross off of my list tonight as I wait for ICBC to answer the phone.  The ongoing saga with my vehicle.  Still not fixed.  Still not happy with the business doing our repair.

Back to the travelling pants

I have read all of the books, except for the fourth, and I am not quite sure why.  Maybe it came out in the middle of me having my kids.  A few things happen culturally during those early years that I am still oblivious too.  Then again, maybe I did read it and it just didn't sink in as much as the first two books did.

This was a total summer read for fans of this series.  I loved the first few books, and then they just flowed, and now this one.  I really enjoyed the female friendships, the angst of growing up, and even now, the angst of growing up.  I have read about these girls for a decade and it is like reading a Nora Roberts book (since I started reading those when I was 15).. it is a little bitter sweet, maybe not always intellectually stimulating, but enjoyable. 

I suspect another book in this series to continue the story, I was a bit surprised how some of the storyline evolved, sad how one thread ended, and happy how another thread ended (avoiding a few spoilers here just in case).  All in all, a lovely, light-hearted read that suited the moments when I read it.

The Mistress of Nothing

A friend recommended this one - and I had just tried to get in to a book about Egypt, failed, and then tried this one.  This is a really quick, interesting read.  It brought memories of when I was in Egypt, and when I actually got to stay in the Shepheard's Hotel in downtown Cairo.  A magical few weeks another lifetime ago.

This is a book based loosely on a true story, about an English maid (Sally) that travels with her mistress to Egypt (Lady Duff).  Lady Duff left several letters describing her trips to Egypt behind and they are widely celebrated.  Much is known about her, some of her bondsman(??) Omar, but very little is known about Sally.   Lady Duff made several trips to Egypt for health reasons, since she was declining quickly in England. 

The prose is elegant, this is a fast read, and it paints a totally different aspect of Egypt in the 19th century from a female, privileged position counterbalanced by that of her body servant.  Sally does this unthinkable in this novel, she dares to fall in love with the married Egyptian that Lady Duff hires to act as their guide in all things Egypt.  At the time, in Egyptian culture, men could have more than one wife, and eventually, Sally finds herself pregnant.  When giving birth, Lady Duff discovers the deception and blames Sally for her happiness, for her birth, and for her transgressions.  Sally truly becomes the "Mistress of Nothing" as she loses all rights and Lady Duff forces her from her home, and to give up her child to Omar's other family.  It is a story of love and survival, and just not the usual kind of story (or ending for that matter).  Well worth a read.

Does reading a book while waiting for your kids to get their haircut count?

Dare I count this as one of the books I have read this year?  It really isn't a long book, and there are a lot of pictures.  I pretty much read the entire thing waiting for the boys to get their hair cut.  It is a damn funny book, especially having been around long enough to see glow in the dark colours coming back and acid wash jeans.  *SIGH*

Mullets.  They do make a statement.  Everything you need to know about the mullet is in this book.  Great to flip through at the hairdressers.  It does count, right?  Lots of pictures, included a comic, even a history lesson!

The missing tale

This is a book I have tossed and turned about whether or not I really wanted to read it, and I was quite happy when one of the ladies in my book club said she wanted to read it.  I happily put in my order through an online bookseller (is there any other way?).

Seeing as I am working some date magic with these posts, it has been a few weeks since I finished reading this book.  I enjoyed it.  More than I thought I would, and it felt like the kind of book you read with your ankles crossed by a fire, a mug of tea, and your cat hanging about.  The characters are quite lovely, and there are parts of the story that seem to not move so much, but overall, a decent read.  I think what will stick with me are some of the Gothic titles I haven't read yet that this work owes a few nods too (like Wilkie's Woman in White).   I enjoyed how things came together in the end, but I didn't find it all that tense and mystical about the 'ghost'.  Definitely interesting, but I somehow think when I reflect back on a year's worth of reading, these characters are not going to be the first ones clamoring for my attention.

Funny how books land in your lap following a similar theme

Talk about bookend type books.  To have read Inferno followed up by Sanctus illustrates the difference between a Peter Robinson book and one by John Grisham IMHO.

This was a quick read - a religious conspiracy novel that is fast-paced, superficial, summer type read that didn't quite satisfy my appetite for a good, well researched read. 

What this book did do however, was rekindle my desire to one day travel to Turkey.  This is book 1 of a trilogy, and like a few other series, if I ended up with copies of the books for free, and a need for escapist literature, great.  If I have to pay to read the next books, no thanks. 

round and round

I am sitting here, catching up on computer related tasks.  Everyone else is asleep, and the fish tank is humming along in the background.  My cat is curled up on my lap, and every now and then I need to shift positions and he is not all that happy that I have disturbed his sleep.  He is mostly a lovely cat.  Like all cats, he has his moments.  Especially in the last few years since he found his voice, which I would prefer he would lose again (ha). 

This has been a week of pulling back and trying to refocus.  The last two weeks have passed by in a typical blur - with a few truly lovely moments thrown in for good measure.  My 40th wasn't quite what I expected.  That being said, I spent a lovely day with my family at the aquarium, folks came for cake, and some friends at work spoiled me.  I received some lovely cards from loved ones, and roses from my man.  The stuff that matters.  Having a big party wasn't a huge priority this year.  I was talking to my sister from another mister and she remembered her 30th being like my 40th.  Young kids impact your ability and desire to want to party.   We almost had a few parties, but we bailed when we realized it was a great idea, but the execution of said parties just wasn't happening with the little free time that has been available.  Maybe a random party in the summer, or better yet, smaller gatherings with groups of friends. 

Work has been a completely different challenge these last six months. I have grown in ways I didn't see coming, and I am hoping that I am becoming a decent manager/supervisor along the way, but also learning how to manage myself better and uncover/deal with some of my own weaknesses as well. 

Tonight has been important to have some moments to catch up on a few book posts, to hang with the cat, to clear out some work emails (I know, not on work time but it will make my day so much better not having almost 100 emails in my in box when I come in).  This week has too many plans.   Physio appointment for B, track and field, book club, a concert on Thursday, birthday party Friday night if my energy holds out, parade/fire works on Saturday, and then I believe, on Sunday we may rest. No wait, laundry and planning for the week!  The weeks truly do roll over quickly.  I know someone without kids that is complaining how tired and overwhelmed they are - they aren't even living with their partner!  Just wait... but not worth totally popping their bubble.. enjoy the space you are in... the part that continues to surprise me is how much personal management and routines mean. 

Speaking of routines, it is amazing how hard it can be to start a new routine.  I want to start jogging, but it continues to be a concept, and an idea for me.  I guess the more I talk about, the more I am getting comfortable with the idea, the closer it gets to becoming a reality.  It is about making the space for it to happen.  I attempted to take the kids with me on my first walk/jog on Sunday.  That was also a learning experience.  Sometimes it is better to just take the 40 minutes for yourself and not always try to "kill two birds with one stone".  Between the complaining, and the bathroom needs, and then the I don't want to do this, to I don't want to go home... it wasn't exactly a first time out, and we did get out for some fresh air and exercise so we accomplished "something". 

First step- taking my lunch walk again tomorrow.  Getting back to routines, and mapping out new ones.

Back to yet another series...

Inferno felt like a summer movie - well paced, decent writing, and exciting.   Sometimes moving so fast it is borderline superficial at times, this book is definitely entertaining.  I think that this latest chapter in the Robert Langdon series will stick with me longer than The Lost Symbol, it was certainly a return to form in many ways.  There is an underlying formula to how Brown crafts his novels, but can you blame him?  It works.  Da Vinci code is one of the most wide read books in the modern world, and there are ideas embedded in all of his works that are great to get to a mainstream audience and get people talking.  Compare some of what is contained in Inferno to 50 shades, and really, Inferno wins hands down, IMHO.  I have the urge to go and dig out my copy of Dante's Inferno from my university days. It would be interesting to read it now.  Twenty years ago I didn't really grasp what Inferno was about, even though I loved  and searching out the etiology of words, places, and even choices of colour in literature.  

Obviously it was an enjoyable read.  There were parts of this book that weren't always cohesive, and there are a few twists (of course, being Brown).  Langdon is still the coolest professor since Indiana Jones, and his women are interesting, to say the least.  Inferno tromps through the pages of Dante's masterpiece, and casts light on the issue of overpopulation and introduces a new philosophy - transhumanism.  I will take away from this book the unsettling awareness of our population growth, memories of biology courses, and looking at some of the population graphs out there.  There are some truths in this work, such as that the mind will only explore the negative for so long before it will distract itself.  Food for thought, entertaining, solid read if this is up your alley.  

A "419" you say?

Was that really my 40th?  Talk about time blitzing by at lightning speed.  So much for dwelling on that experience!  I got a new book for my birthday (Inferno!!), so I really needed to finish this current book, 419 by Canadian writer Will Ferguson.  This is a far cry from How to be a Canadian... 

I really had no idea what this book was about - I did know that it won the 2012 Giller.  I also had no idea before getting in to this book what a "419" was.  Now I do.  For me, this was a provocative novel, and I really enjoyed the first half more than the second half.   It was eye opening in the sense that the story shifted between different main characters, physical locations (somewhere in Alberta and then Nigeria), and different chronological sequences.  For me, this was almost a great book.  The central idea was good, but Ferguson almost tried to do too much - in a way I would have been happier if the story unfolded through one person's perspective, or if it was actually longer since some of the story I really enjoyed, and other parts didn't really feel at that connected.  Some of the characters didn't feel fully realized, and I had unanswered questions throughout.  Definitely an interesting read, just not completely satisfying (if that makes any sense at all).

Friends only in my head...

This was a great summer read.  This was a truly unique concept as this is the story of an autistic boy (undiagnosed) and his imaginary friend.  The story takes place over two weeks, and it is a really quick read.  It did get under my skin a bit and I was anxious to finish the book last night to see how things evolved.   There were parts I found a ... meh ... for lack of a better word, but overall this book does work. This is a book about imagination, and I loved reading about the lives of our imaginary friends, and how they exist, and then how they cease to be.  This is a bit of a magic book in the sense that it opens up your mind to remember a bit of your childhood, to think about why kids invent or have imaginary friends, and then even to consider the power of our imaginary friends.

I stumbled across the author's website, and he seems like quite the character himself.  It is a whole different element of reading and consuming books that their authors are so much more accessible now.  I remember reading the Black Stallion series when I was a kid, and I wrote to Walter Farley... only to find out after the fact that he was an older gentleman and likely no longer answering fan mail (back in the stone ages we didn't have wikipedia to look this kind of information up).  Now we can use social media and connect, or lurk through the net and see what has been posted.  It is a good and bad thing this whole idea of celebrity and what is "out there".

Well worth a read - likely it would have been fun to have discussed at our book club last month.  Maybe I can sneak in a few words or questions and see what the other folks thought of it.

Monday Morning Shenanigans

I think the last days of my 30s are speeding up beyond my control.  Next week, that 40s milestone looms and I am thinking about it, and in many ways thinking about it because it does feel a bit anticlimatic.  It may have to do with the ages of our kids, and the fact that life is generally pretty busy, and it does seem like I am on a pretty good treadmill sometimes.  Who knows.  Will be an interesting experience to blog through.

This last weekend went by way way way too quickly.  It was good, just no time for the wicked to rest.  Out for a kids playdate and hang out with their cool folks on Friday, and then Saturday breezed by between painting, riding, usual trip to the states, a little bit of chillaxing at night with my honey, and then Sunday blitzed by between chores, a lovely high tea with my mom for Mother's Day (yes, a little early, makes life easier), trip to the park, and then this morning, chores before work, getting the boys ready for the day, making lunches, organizing items for my dad to take to the dump, and then the sprint out the door.  At least it is now summer traffic mode and it was an amazing drive in today.

Both bathrooms are now painted with fixtures hung.  They look so much better.  A lovely terra cotta in one, and then "dragon fire" orange in the other.  Pretty stunning colours.  One more bathroom to go and then likely no more painting until next year or whenever we crack and replace the floor in our living room.  It is terrifically ugly and gets stained by a look.  *SIGH*.

This week is going to be a blur, B has a playdate tonight, and we have track and field, physio, karate, and on Friday night we rest, or I fall over.  The next big project will be to get my front flower bed looking better.   I would  love to get a handle on it this week and get this off of my "honey do" list.  We shall see how long my energy lasts.  I figure once my projects are completed, I will start training to do a 10 JOG (not run) this fall.

30s, slowly going down the drain

Forty does not look like what I figured it would.  Hard to believe it was a decade ago already when I was staring down thirty in the face.  Thirty seems like a bigger deal - we went to Vegas, we had a cool backyard party, lots of cakes and people asking how I felt about turning the big 3-0.  Speed forward (literally) the next 10 years, and here we are.  Two kids, a new house, busy work, and not a lot of free time - and it has nothing to do with Ken and I being busy... it is our kids and work and commuting! 

I think I will push back a midlife crisis at least 5 years, I am just not all that fussed about turning 40.  It seems a bit surreal, and I am not fretting.  As I said, a decade ago 30 was the big deal, 31 was anticlimactic, and my thirties have been damn busy with marriage, kids, buying a house, switching jobs, redefining myself along the way.  Forty almost is a relief - I know myself better, kids aren't babies anymore, in a few years, less daycare costs (a small victory here).  I have been trying to figure out what I would like to achieve in the next year (not quite resolutions, but close).  I could call it my "turning 40 bucket list"... This next year I would love to try stand up paddle boarding, I would also love to attempt another 10 km run (aiming for this fall if I can get my ass off the couch and out of the house three days a week to train... doesn't sound too bad except the execution), achieve some house improvements (bathrooms painted, gardens updated), learn and IMAC and actually make some photobooks or print out some photos, and keep reading different books and continue knitting some projects.  The big ones are the paddle boarding and getting a little more fit.  I am trying to get out for daily walks, but I would really look look here a year from now and to have shed some of myself - say 20 pounds (at least, I want it to be a realistic goal since weight loss has always been hanging around my neck). 

I think it is going to be a busy month - between karate, track and field, play dates, wrapping up school year, birthday, long weekend (fingers crossed about a campfire at some point), and some good weather (small victory in itself) will be interesting to see where we are at in the beginning of June.  Enough already, time to prepare for the day.

Appreciating the west

What a refreshing 250 page book! (laugh at self inserted here after the longer reads I have recently tackled).  There are so many reasons why I love to read - to learn something, to be moved, for escape, to grow,to laugh out loud, to name a few.  This was a powerful novel, especially considering that it is a first novel (although that begs the question, after you get this kind of praise and make it as the first book on a certain powerful woman's book club relaunch, where do you go from here?).  I really enjoyed the narrative - it was a different way to tell a story.  This novel is about Hattie Shepard, and each chapter is crafted from the perspective of one of her children or grandchild.  Over her lifetime, there are sweeping personal events that are related against the backdrop of history. 

After reading the section about the Jim Crow laws of the land, it made me appreciate we are not from the South, and that is not truly part of the fabric of the Canadian west.  Especially living in a multicultural city, working in a large institution that welcomes diversity, these attitudes seem so far away.  I recognize this is an idealistic comment and that there is racism here, and that different cultures rub up against each other and not always in positive ways, however I am glad that this isn't such a part of our history to escape or grow from, since parts of it are still alive and well in the south (we have our own issues to tackle such as the East Side or engaging our Aboriginal populations in a more positive manner since they are a growing part of our Canadian population). 

I have a somewhat weird comment to make about this book - I don't always read the jacket covers, but this one describes Hattie as "She vows to prepare [her children] for the calamitous difficulty they are sure to face in their later lives, to meet a world that will not live them, a world that will not be kind.  Captured here in twelve luminous narrative threads, their lives tell the story of a mother's monumental courage and the journey of a nation."  I can't really say that this describes the book - or perhaps my definition of courage is one that needs to grow when I reflect upon the contents of this book and what courage means to me.  We don't truly see a lot of Hattie beyond the first chapter (which shapes the course of her life with a preventable tragedy) and the final chapter (when Hattie seizes a moment to demonstrate love and kindness for one of her brood to perhaps change her life path in a way she never reached out to her direct children) and perhaps this is the point.  We see hints of the strong, dynamic, ferocious woman that is Hattie, fighting to keep her kids alive and fighting to keep her family together, but we don't always get insight in to her she truly is.  There are glimpses, such as in the chapter about her daughter Ruthie, but it can be like quicksilver.  This is a great book, and like a few of the books I have  been recently reading, I expect this to become a part of our modern canon. 

How the threads of the novel wrap together is beautifully crafted.  This isn't always an easy read to digest, this is telling a series of stories you don't often get a glimpse in to.  Like any good novel, there are transcending moments that connect humanity to each other, those gems within the story that make you stop and think and reflect upon what the words mean to you, in your drama as it plays across your stage. 

Hidden gems

 There are some days I do feel pretty lucky both about where I work, and where my kids are able to go to elementary school.  I was able to join B's class on a local field trip to check out a totem pole that is in the process of being carved.  The totem pole depicts a thunderbird on the top, with a killer whale on the bottom.  The picture to the left shows the killer whale's blow hole, and the picture to the bottom shows the top of the pole looking down from the top of the thunderbird. 

It was pretty magic getting to see an actual totem being created, and to speak to the artist.  He shared some experiences with us, and shared quite a few of the tools of the trade as well.  Ironically, the red cedar log (which is about 650 years old) was pulled from a log boom in the Fraser River close to where we live! A very remarkable morning!

It also helps that the sun is shining and the wind has chased the clouds away.   It is amazing how much your overall mood can change when it is NOT raining.  It has been a decent week - that is except for forgetting about my book club meeting this week!  It was originally for Wednesday, and it got shifted to Tuesday night. So much for getting to talk about our latest book.  SIGH, I seem to do well when things are scheduled and I have a plan, but when things shift, my focus shifts.  I was so focused on getting B out to track and field, fed, and then home, I totaly forgot about the fun I could have with my book club ladies.  Next month eh? 

It has been great to leave the Winter behind us.  Spring feels like a renewal this year, for all of us.  It has also been interesting now that we are in our second year in our new place - it isn't so new any more, and we are making changes to both the yard, and we are planning on repainting bathrooms soon.  It feels more like ours, like we are building out future, if that makes any sense at all.

An element missing from my "english" literature degree

I love to read.  Books like this remind me of why I have always loved to read.  I cannot remember a time in my life where books did not play a prominent role.  This has been floating around my "I would  like to read this" list for a while, and I was really glad that one of my bookclub friends suggested this as a bookclub read rather than me, just in case it didn't live up to the expectations I had for it.  This book totally delivered.  The prose was lyrical, the characters rich, the landscape diverse.  This is the kind of book you want a cuppa beside you, a good comfortable chair, and a few hours that you can steal away from the daily grind. 

I sometimes wonder what direction I should take in the "book blog" element of how I have continued to blog.  Should I provide a synopsis, should I provide a character anaylsis, or should I just shout from the rooftops to announce when I loved book, and when I did not.

This is a book that will stay with me for a while.  I really engaged with the story, and how it was told.  The first 200 pages pretty much deal with the birth of the conjoined twins that, one of whom becomes the narrator of this tale.  Books like this get me thinking about my degree in "English" literature.  I think back of what I read, and we really did read a lot of "dead white guys".  It was very much an "English" canon.  I have loved being a part of a bookclub to take different reading risks, to be exposed to different books and different authors, and to stumble across books I would never have considered in the past.  I think because of how long I took university courses, I did a lot of escapist reading.  What I am reading now is so much more satisfying than what I was reading in the past, that I hope literature programs are evolving in the west, and the east, north, and south to include different voices, and different landscapes.  This needs to be balanced with an appreciation for the local voice - what makes each region unique.  I had to really search out Canadian literature courses, and then, to get courses on BC literature, it was even harder.  We should be celebrating our local, and we should be balancing that with "other" voices.  Within the global context, how can we ever expect things to evolve if we continue to only hear our local voices, or the voices of a bunch of dead white guys, who although were brilliant, and form a great backbone of many literary traditions, should be balanced off with some modern, and some voices from other cultures.  Students should not need a bookclub to think different thoughts.  That being said, pretty cool when you stop and consider how these kinds of ideas are now being shared - with social media, with bookclubs, with informal gatherings.  Pretty cool if you ask me!

To return to the book at hand, this is an exchanting novel.  Exotic, rich, textured, thoughtful.  I caught myself a few times wanting to mark passages to use as references in this post, but alas, life moved on and I am not going to pick my way back through the book to find those passages.  Well worth the time.  Read this.

Likely, I should be asleep right now.

I was tired a few hours ago, and then Conner sneaked over to my side of the bed and climbed in, shaking me from the really good book that I am reading now (Cutting For Stone, a truly amazing book and one that will make my top 10 list for the year).  I thought about falling asleep, and then just couldn't seem to fall over that cliff.  Therefore, I am frittering away some time - budgeting, checking out new computers, checking out cell phone plans, and just wondering where all our money goes.  It seems like the more you make, the more you spend.  One of life's simple truths, much like nature abhors a vacuum, it also abhors money in the bank, that money is meant to be moving. 

I wish I could pinpoint what was up with January and February and why things seemed to go sideways in so many ways.  Our boys are doing well again - happier, making friends at school/daycare, and things appear more even keeled.  In time for the school year to end (OMG that was Grade 1), our morning routines are finally normalizing and we are getting out of the house at a better time, with a lot less yelling.   We have horseback riding, karate, and a run/throw/jump group going for Brandon, and I think that I need to get Connor going with some swimming lessons next.  I see skating for him in the fall.  Life is getting busier as they are getting older.  We were at the park last night for the track and field club, and just being out, smelling cut grass, watching people be active, I have missed this part of my life in the last few years.  When your kids are young and you work full-time, it is hard enough getting time to spend with your husband than be active.  I may be able to sneak in a few more walks!

It is all about getting in some kind of walk every day now.  Good for stress, hopefully good for my physique eventually!  As my 40th looms, I can't say I am having a midlife crisis (yet), but I would like to try Stand Up Paddling (SUP) this year, and another (gulp) 10km run towards the end of the year.  If I do it, I will run it at my pace.  I am so self conscious of being a "plodder", it is time to make my peace with a slow and steady pace (gets the job done right, all about the journey and not the destination, right???).

There are also moments I go back and forth whether or not I want to remain as chair on our childcare society.  The second year would be far easier than the first, and the experience is good, however, there is a but hanging in the air from our experiences in January/February.  *SIGH*.  Life never seems to be on a straight and narrow path.  I suspect I will see this through 2 years, and then retire from the board entirely at that point.  I will have felt like I have done my duty to the society, and ultimately, learned a fair bit along the way. 

I am grateful I do have rose coloured glasses perched off of the end of my nose perpetually and that I generally see the cup as half full.   It may be a bit idealistic, but it is a positive choice (hah).

A behemoth read

I had great intentions to make a few posts over the last few weeks, however, life went and got in the way again.  In the very least, if all I do is post around when I complete reading a book, it is something. 

"The past is obdurate. It doesn't want to change." The past is also a dangerous, fickle place — and woe to anyone who dares alter it. That's the mantra coursing through "11/22/63."


I found this quote when I went trolling for the cover image, and it is a good theme to keep in mind.  This is a really long book - almost 850 pages. There were times I felt impatient, ready to move on to another book, however, that doesn't mean I was not enjoying this book (I was and did), more so that I was starting to feel eager to read something new.  This book took me all of three weeks to read, and was overall very satisfying.  Great characters, nice historical developments, and a touch of bittersweet at the end.  King paints quite the protrait of the late 1950s heading in to the early 1960s.  This is more a novel of characters, rather than as an exploration in to time travel, a more Twiligh Zone feel to it.  It has been years since I have read a King novel, and it was a welcome joy.  I would say that this one is right up there for me with his short story that formed the basis of the Stand by Me movie.  I would say, the same kind of feeling that was evoked of times past.