Finally figured out the last book from the pile I read

This was the last book that I attempted to blog about the other day. It was a fast, light and fluffy read. There were some issues with this book that I found a bit strange and odd, but it was an amusing read (and quick).

Now I am on to the People of the Book and it is great. Last few nights I have been barely able to read more than 3 pages because I have been so tired by the time my head hits the pillow. Once I relaxed last night, giving B a cuddle, I think I fell asleep for a bit, woke up, stumbled around, went back to bed.

I think moving "catches up to you". We have a bunch of plans this weekend, however they should be pretty mellow. YAY! (B's last riding lesson for the Fall, a birthday party to tire out the boys, B and Ken get to do a Christmas event together).

It has been nice this week as routines are starting to get established again. The boys were asleep before 9, first time in a while! The house looks pretty good, and I must admit, when you feel a lot of pride about your place, it is much easier to keep clean. I find that I want to keep it looking nice, rather than letting it go like I did a few times at the old place (nothing worse than 3 days of dishes to get caught up on, it never ends). Pretty much up to date again with laundry, first time in six weeks. It seems crazy that Christmas is in 4 weeks, it seems unreal because although I have done some planning for it, I am really not quite there yet.

A few more words.

I love our new house.

I love having more space (and more than one bathroom), I love that there is a wide street outside, I love that we have a pretty decent sized backyard. I can't say that it feels real yet. It still feels like we are on a working vacation, because it is just so much nicer than our old place. I have to say, our old place wasn't bad, but this is just such an upgrade that the novelty has not worn off yet. I really enjoy having a gas fireplace, and hardwood floors, and a really nice kitchen (amazing how much easier it is to keep clean when it looks good).

Last week, my first commute day (Monday) was HELL. It was snowing, I had to wait for two trains, there were a few accidents along the way. I just sucked at getting to work on time. To say I was already frazzled and not knowing where I was supposed to be by the time I got in to work is an understatement. We also had a power outage Monday night going in to Tuesday, and then our shower was acting up (there is a trick to getting it going), and I made up the time I missed Monday on Tuesday morning so had another day that never ended. The rest of the week got better as I got used to our new routine, although I am still trying to figure out the best new way to get to work.

To say it has been a learning curve, and a transition period is putting it mildly to say the least.

I am grateful to my dear friends that helped us move. I don't know what I would have done without the helping hands. We are now almost done unpacking, and it feels weird driving past our old place and moving on. Life is definitely moving forward. We had friends over last night, and it was nice to spread out through the house and not just be cramped in to one room. It was a totally different experience for us adults to again be sitting at a table together, and not at a noisy restaurant (although that is now starting to look really good as the kids are getting older and probably more capable of being babysat).

This was a great weekend of starting to really feel settled. If not settled, at least mostly moved in. We can almost park a car in the garage, most of the leaves are up, and there aren't that many boxes left to unpack. We have a lot of stuff, and then, not so much stuff too. We have done a pretty good job of sorting and letting stuff go, and I think there may be a few more rounds of that to come. It feels good to be at the end of the process instead of the beginning. This has been so many months in the making, it is surreal it has come and gone. Here we are, a house that is a home, a place where we will dig in some roots and stick around for a while. I can finally work on getting some photos organized, figure out this whole kindergarten thing before B gets to grade one, and maybe even learn how to relax a little and not just fall asleep from exhaustion.

All that to say and you talk about books?

Books, my dear friends I think I would be lost without them. The hours of escape, imagination, dreams, tangents, new thoughts, explorations...

I found a stash of my old Nancy Drews (and not sure what I am going to do with them) but I have not found my old Black Stallions... You win some, and you lose some I suppose.

Just because the last month has gone incredibly fast, I think I will hastily write a note about the books I have been reading lately to track them, since that is one of the things I was shooting for this year. Speaking of which, now that November is starting to draw to a close, I am really glad I didn't attempt NaBloPoMo. I would have failed miserably this year.

I just did a scroll past and then last book I made notes on was back October 21st!! That feels like a lifetime ago... Moving with 2 kids under 5 is really something else. I think I am just used to moving, and working, and sorting, and unpacking, and doing laundry. I finally did a real shop this weekend I am still in a state of shock at what I managed to spend between Costco and Superstore. I am not sure if I can even remember everything I have read since my last book entry.

To get caught up (I hope), I will start with October/November's bookclub read, which was amazing: Any Known Blood. I really enjoyed this book, and I really like Hill's writing style. I find it very easy to read, and I found that I really enjoyed this multi-generational story. Well worth reading, this is an author that is much more than just the book that he is known for (The Book of Negroes) and over time I look forward to reading more of his novels.


This was a perfect book to read while moving. Not all that deep, fast-paced and entertaining. I found myself interesting reading this because Crais is a new author to me, and I think I go through an adjustment period when I read a new author to see how they "fit" and whether or not I like their style. I found similarities to the Lee Child Books (Reacher series) maybe not in contact, but about an everyman hero(s) and a job that needed doing. I will certainly read more in the series because they are entertaining and a break from other kinds of reading (and the day to day grind)

Well, our library has quite a few Robinson's, so I flew through another one. Damn, I am getting to the end of the Banks series. I really enjoy these books and this one is as good as the rest, another good tale. Great series, good character development, very entertaining in a different way than Crais. A little less explosive and fast paced, more about character and how a mystery unravels. It has been a few weeks since I read this one, so that is about all I can say in this moment...


I enjoyed this one, although it wrapped up a little quickly to my liking. I can't say that this was an "oh my god this was one of Cricton's best" because IMHO it wasn't. It was entertaining, and insightful to an era of privateering. I found it interesting because it reminded me of a younger self that used to devour the bodice rippers almost nightly. Of course, where this book was about politcs and strategy, those books were about girl meets boy on the high seas, adventures arise, some drama, and then lots of steamy scenes. This was an adventuring novel of a different sort and it was good, but not totally satisfying. It was a book that was said to be found written prior to Crichton's death, so who knows how much he would have tweaked it prior to publishing submission if things had turned out differently.

There is one more that should be in this list that I will probably have to come back and edit in... The title is just not coming to me. I tried doing a search.. but it just isn't there. It is about a mom and daughter that run a boarding house, and for some reason, different heroines from books stay at their "boarding house" for a rest, to get away from the drama in their books. It is a sweet, quick read and it is kind of interesting to see a few famous ladies appear in print again (like Scarlett O'Hara and Catherine Earnshaw from Wuthering Heights).

It is interesting that through the absolute craziness of the last month, I still managed to read about a book a week. I am surprised.