Light and Floofy

Yes, Floofy is a word. I have read so many of Roberts books over the years, that there is a certain level of comfort in picking one up. With few exceptions you know you will get a decent story, a little bit of the mistical, and a few twists. Robert's books are not bit L literature, and they are good at what they are - very much escapist novels that deliver a happy ending.

So, this was a quick, somewhat entertaining, and predictable read. Kind of what I think I needed at this point. I am definitely ready to move on to something with a little bit more meat in it. Our book club is reading a second book by the woman who wrote Sarah's Key... and I haven't found the motivation to pick it up. It may be that I admit in BC that it just wasn't happening for me and I got distracted by other stories.

A wee bit of a struggle

Truly.. even trying to stay up to date with the books that I am reading can be hard. Some days I feel like I am repeating myself in saying that time flies.

I struggled a bit with this book, even though I really like the author/series. This crime focused on hate/racial crimes and it just didn't pull me along like some of the other books did in this series. It wasn't a bad book, it just wasn't one of the standouts for me either. More interesting learning just how early Banks split from his wife, and how all of that unfolded.

The quotable Twain

If you have some spare time, and need a chuckle.. spend some time here...

I spent a few moments scrolling through some of the pages of quotes and found myself chuckling a few times - this came out of a conversation with a friend about the classics, when I asked whether or not she had read any of Mark Twain.. she responded that since he had a very low opinion regarding Jane Austen, she had never bothered with his books (I couldn't help but laugh when she told me that Twain thought that Austen should have been beaten over the head with her own leg bone)... hearing this, I had to go to the website:

"I haven't any right to criticise books, and I don't do it except when I hate them. I often want to criticise Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can't conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin. Everytime I read 'Pride and Prejudice' I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone."- Letter to Joseph Twichell, 13 September 1898 (Mark Twain).

For the whole thread that illuminates Twain's position on Austen, visit here.

Sunday morning sleep ins

I miss sleeping in.

Over the last six years of kids, I have gotten used to waking up in the middle of the night a few times and crashing back to sleep, but it seems that waking up for work at 5:30am has now made it damn hard to sleep in on the weekends.

Remember when you were a teenager and getting up before noon was hard? Sleeping in past 6 am is now hard, regardless of whether or not I could use a few more hours of sleep! This morning is strange, only half the house is up!!!

It has been a somewhat productive weekend so far - I was definitely surprised by the news headlines all over the place last night about Houston. I can't say I was always a fan (different music tastes) but she did possess amazing pipes, RIP. On a total aside, is it terrible to admit I have been enjoying watching the Voice? It feels like a guilty pleasure!! HA HA. Even though I have felt a wee bit culturally disconnected over these last six years, you hear the covers of music enough and eventually you get to know the artists behind the voices.. and Adele definitely has an amazing voice. It seems I am stumbling in to a post about music - when I am trying to get C to sleep, I have had the radio on... to a soft rock station.. amazing how songs can bring you back to an age, with memories flooding back of your past self and different periods of your life. Last night the song that stuck out was "Never Surrender" by Corey Hart.. remember those years?? Remember those sunglasses? Ah, youthful angst.

Motivation, wherefore art thou?

Hump Day. Thank God.

I am done, and the day hasn't begun! I should be getting ready for work... and I am rebelling by sitting here and typing instead of pulling on some clothes and running a brush through my hair. I have had some lovely insomnia this week and lots of wake ups from the kids. My intellectual abilities seem to be sluggish today!!

This is an image from a kid's book that is pretty popular around our house (Scaredy Squirrel, at night by Melanie Watt) and it pretty much describes days like today. There is an equally wonderful page when the squirrel has a good night sleep and feels like a million bucks.. but that will be for another day. Okay motivation, where are you because it is time to get ready for work!

9 is the new midnight...

This is the second book I have read in this series, and it was a fast paced action/suspense novel. Since I am "new" to this series, the books I have read focus more on the Joe Pike character rather than Elvis Cole.. at times during this book, I couldn't help but think that here was a slightly different version of Jack Reacher (strong, tough, slightly alienated every man). Although I have enjoyed both Crais and Child's books, I think that Crais' novels are a little bit more believable, if you could stretch it that way. Although that isn't saying I haven't enjoyed each - I have and do.

This was not a deep novel, and didn't really drive character development that far forward. You learn a few more tidbits about Pike's character, a little more humanity, and I am intrigued enough to keep reading the Cole/Pike novels. This novel explored Serbian gangs in SO-CAL and the underworld around it. Definitely interesting, fast-paced, and a good distraction from the daily grind.

I am having a hard time settling on my next book - do I read the Robinson book that I have waiting for me, or a fluffy Roberts novel, or one of Kate Morton's books.. I have read a few pages of them all and I suspect I will break and go for the Robinson...

That was another weekend that blitzed by. We babysat my parent's dog today and that is definitely enough to convince me that a cat and fish house is good. Give it at least 3 years before contemplating the wisdom of a doggie. Visits are good. Overnights are okay. Permanent stays, not so good at this point, LOL. It is amazing how different life is when it doesn't rain. I puttered around my backyard a little, and we took the dog for a walk along the dyke. At least the days are getting longer... it is getting dark just as we are getting home... a few more weeks and we might have some daylight time left to play outside before dinner!! I seem to have adjusted to early mornings fairly easily... the downside is that my bedtime has moved up drastically! speaking of which....

Censorship and how the times change

Since I have been reading many suspense and thriller novels, I figured I should read one of the classics by the grand dame of them all - Agatha Christie.

I am not sure what is more interesting - this book, or the evolutions that this book has gone through in print. I didn't know it started out life as "Ten Little N-". Deemed politically incorrect, the title and associated poem turned in to "Ten Little Indians". Again, times changed, and the title turned in to "And then there were None" with the poem that novel is framed around changed to "Ten Little Soldiers" on Soldier Island to be even more inoffensive. This tells a tale of the times - how opinions have shifted, and how much more culturally sensitive we can be at this time.

The story itself is a fast-paced read in which ten strangers are brought to an island to face a form of justice for crimes that were beyond the law when committed, and each individual has a different feeling of guilt associated with the murder(s) they are attributed to. As a novel, it is quick and lively, and the the postscript from the killer is an interesting piece. I think it is folly many of us fall in to, thinking that we must be smarter than the people that came before us because we live in the present, and they lived in the past. This is a smart novel, that hits upon some behavioural and criminal psychology that is still being explored and investigated today. Was it the best written crime novel ever written? No, but it is important for it's historical notes, and it is a decent read. Did I also mention, FAST? I think I will read a few more Christie's along the way... they are a decent diversion.

Going back to the beginning of a series

This is a mystery/suspense/legal thriller series that I have truly enjoyed since I started reading him. One of things that I have enjoyed about the series is the character development as well as the author's ability to write. Unlike some authors that hit their stride early and start to decline, Lescroart's ability to tell a story well has progressed and I seem to enjoy book more than the last.

Last year I read his first book, and frankly, that was cruel and unusual punishment. Although this is one of his earlier novels, and the first Hardy/Glitsky novel, it was great. At times it felt like I had read this one before, and I checked to see if it has been published under a different title, but it seems that after you have read so many books in a particular genre there has got to be some overlap because parts of the book also felt entirely new. Who knows, maybe I read it shortly after the birth of one of my kids when I was getting a lot of sleep - but I doubt it. I think I would have remembered the title, and the character development. It is interesting when you start later on in a series to then return to pick it up from the beginning. Especially in series where life actually happens to characters and they age, and have life events happen to them. All in all, a good book. Not one of the best, but great in terms of early characterizations and events that colour later developments in the series. Now I want to pick up the rest of the earlier novels and fill in the rest of the gaps!

Lets talk about it

B and I were invited to tell a bit of his story last night, and I am thankful that I have done enough public speaking that I wasn't too nervous. It is a strange thing when you realize that other people might want to hear about your life experiences, and how things have developed and that it could have an impact on other folks lives that you never imagined.

Summarizing fives years of experiences as a parent with a child that has had challenges is a strange experience. The telling is okay, but trying to reach a balance where you say enough to let people understand a little of your journey versus protecting your own privacy and the integrity of your experiences is a bit tricky. This is our story after all. We were really well received, and this last year has been quite the growing experience.

The shift to the kindergarten before and after school program, and to kindergarten itself, and new support people, and teachers, and our own changes as well. It has been really something else, moving beyond just us, and what we do every day and moving it outwards. I am aware of how I have changed (or at least I know I am a little further along my own journey of enlightenment, ha ha), but I don't think B is aware of how much he changed and grown, and how his confidence has bloomed. All told, he is a really cool kid that has a good grip on reality. Something else that has been cool - we were asked to provide input how the school's playground would be further developed, and they took our feedback in to consideration and integrated some suggestions. That is pretty amazing from a parent's point of view.

I can't say enough how important it is to use your voice, to get out of your comfort zone, and push when you need to, or pull back as well. Even if it isn't always easy.

The Deep Freeze

It has been damn cold these last days. Watching the mercury dip close to -10 c brings back memories of other winter events. Although it has been a bit anticlimatic... truthfully, I was hoping for a snow day sometime this week, and although it could happen tomorrow, it hasn't happened yet.

Seattle got hit with the blizzard, the Island, and then the Valley. We have some snow on the ground, and it is a real novelty. Outside of the first snowfall, it hasn't been good snowball or snowman weather though. Yes, I am glad my man doesn't have to work in, and dig his truck out of it... but a day from work with pay that doesn't impact my vacation would have been a wonderful thing. ONLY IN SOUTHERN BC!

It is hard to believe that January is already marching by, and it is that time of the year again that I am worrying about childcare for the fall. BAH. I am bringing out the advokating hat again to keep my kid in our centre. I find it all a bit surreal.

A refreshing change

If I found the last novel anti-climatic, this book was a welcome change. This is one of those books I picked because I was intrigued by the cover. I wasn't really sure what to expect, and this was a really refreshing, lighthearted read.

In a snapshot, this novel is a departure from other traditional mystery/detective novels in that it takes place in Botswana, and the lead character, Mma Precious Ramotswe, is not your traditional detective with a police background/career. This novel follows some of her early history, and weaves different threads in to a pleasurable whole. A bit of African flavour is mixed in, and McCall Smith relays a sense of place quite successfully.

I found this book to be charming, and I will read more in the series if I can get them at a used book store. Even for me, I read this over the weekend and it made me smile - a gentle sense of humour, characters that were engaging, and some nice resolutions. Not earth shattering literature that is going to change your perception of life as we know it, but well worth a dive between the covers.

Push this one back down!!!

I used to love reading Tami Hoag... but I have found that the I was losing that loving feeling with some of more recent reads. I wonder if it is me that has changed, the writing style that has changed, or if the answer lies somewhere in the middle.

I sometimes wonder if how my literary tastes have evolved over time, has something to do with the length of time since I have been in university. I seemed to really love truly escapist literature there for a few years, and now, I am really craving a much more intellectual kind of satisfaction from the books that I read. At least, for my escapist novels, I just want something different than what I got out of this book.

The start was promising, interesting precept, but then this book just went off of the rails for me. There have been quite a few popular books that I have read in the last year that have tried to do too many things in the span of 350 some pages. This is where I can't help but think that I have done more of the changing over time, I want a good bang for my buck and a scattered story that tries to be a love story, and then more or less reveals a killer part-way through, but then adds another random body and potential murderer, and then other linked violent acts, and ends up like a Hollywood Summer Blockbuster movie where things explode and people are running around everywhere! Okay, that isn't really how this book unraveled, but this is how it felt. I finished this because it was an easy read, but I will happily sell it back to a used book store rather than pay if forward to someone else. Give me a character driven mystery any day. Maybe that is truly it - after so many good suspense novels that aren't all about unrealistic plotlines, where characters evolve, and stories take place over "months", this just didn't ring true or do it for me.

Next!

Socks

My first project of the year - I am going to learn how to make socks. I have done dishcloths, scarves, hats, and sweaters. Time to tackle the sock. Tuesday morning, first day back at work I landed in a conversation that found me a new friend that likes to knit whom is more than happy to show me the ropes on socks. I have started a pair for Brandon and have discovered that I am a "thrower" and there are people that do "picking" and others that use a "continental" stitch. Who knew! A few days in to the year and I am rookie again, reteaching my fingers some knitting skills.

All in all, not a terrible week. Some extremes from work, some incredibly endearing behaviour, and some incredibly alienating behaviours. Interesting is all I can say.

A few moments ago I had something profound to say, but it seems to have slipped away for the moment... Well maybe this isn't profound, or speaks to the life of a married working mom with two kids, but the best time to shop at Costco is on a Friday night on the way home from work. No line for gas, fairly well stocked, and no lines! S W E E T !!!!!

Cooking, cleaning, laundry, repeat.

I figured I would try to start the year off with good intentions with my blog since my posts started to peter out throughout the last months of last year. Blame it on the move, blame it on the rain, blame it on transition.

The Christmas break could not have come soon enough. When I walked out the door on the 23rd, I was so glad to get away from work, and from many of my coworkers as well. The last few days at work got weird, and I am glad that we all have had a break from each other. It was a sprint to Christmas between shopping, cleaning, cooking, wrapping, putting all the magic together. In our new house, it is just so much sweeter. I love our new place. The lights, our tree, having more space... We certainly don't have a lot of decorations beyond our tree, but what we do have is nice (read not over the top). I am still in love with having a "real" tree... I should have taken it down yesterday... but I just wasn't in to it. We bought a noble fir this year, and I can't see another douglas fir when nobles and frasers are cheaper and easy to find and look so much better!

The holidays were good, we hosted Christmas, Boxing Day, and New Years Eve and we have had positive reviews about our new place (good for the ego if nothing else) and for the meals we put on. Our ham on Boxing Day was bigger than our turkey! I successfully cooked for 28, and it didn't seem like the chaos got too out of control. The kids got spoiled, we ate lots of good food, and now I am glad to settle back down and ease in to the month of January.

I finally got to watch the last Harry Potter movie. It was awesome. I am sad to see the series end, but glad that I can watch them all again... at some point. I also watched the Dolphin's Tale.. that was a sweet movie... about what I had expected.... Hmmm... I also had some work that I did from home, and then lots of prep, baking, wrapping, recycling (thankfully they TOOK IT ALL, YAY!!!)... found a good park to take the kids to, and discovered that they have developed a stretch along the Fraser River that is just incredible to go walking down. To say I am thrilled is an understatement. I am starting to get the urge to start jogging again - it is time to try to get this body moving again now that life is settling down again.

New Years was good - louder neighourhood (more house parties), and I had every intention of doing the plunge again, but it seemed really selfish when I had all our family out from the island, they had a ferry to catch, and the timing was all wrong. Doesn't really make sense to drag 12 people to Port Moody to have them watch you... especially when one is nursing a wicked hangover (not us)... another year!

Today, by luck of a great conversation with a coworker, I discovered another knitting NUT! YAY! I am going to learn how to make socks. I am thrilled.

The beautiful song

I am waiting a shipment of Christmas books from a book giant, and they show delivered to my box, and yet somehow, there is no key to open that box and retrieve my books. My fingers are crossed that key appears before the end of the day as I have just finished my latest book.

This was a good book, one that I think my bookclub could sink their teeth in to! I enjoy Patchett's writing style, and yet as much as I enjoy the characterization of her books, it seems like they take a long time to read. There are moments where I think that she has really captured something, and then I reach the end, and it seems that the endings of her novels are a bit problematic. I am not sure if I would label them rushed, or tacked on, but in both Bel Canto and then in The Magician's Assistant, I can't say that I found either ending satisfying.

This was a totally different kind of read, apparently it was inspired by the Lima Crisis a few years back. It centres around a nameless southern country and a group of people that are held hostage to leverage the release of prisoners. The lines blur between the hostages and the captives as the event is drawn out over several months. It is an interesting book that delves in to love, and to rediscovering self-hood, elements of the Stockholm syndrome... a good read, and again, the epilogue wasn't all that satisfying - it felt rushed. This is very much a character novel, and worth some time between the covers.

I finished book, just in time to wrap and bake

I think this took me a few weeks to read, although it doesn't really feel like three weeks have passed since I read the book before this one. How many different ways can I say that December sped up this month, and I would swear that every day was really only 20 hours long?

This is another new author to me, and I really enjoyed this book. It is definitely small "l" literature, and I really enjoyed Patchett's voice. I have "Bel Canto" lined up for when I have some time to read in the next few days... A very different book, and it starts off with an ending, which of course leads to a new beginning. I enjoyed how this book unfurled itself, and would have almost liked it to have continued on a bit longer.

Yesterday was the Solstice, and I am grateful to see the days getting longer again, YAY! I can't wait to enjoy the neighborhood in a different way.

I am busy working on my list for the next few days, I hope I manage to get some sleep, and that everything is wrapped before 3am. I can't wait to see the looks on the boys faces when they check out some of their gifts.. should be a great year with their ages.

What day is it?

I was doing so well this year, staying up to date on my blog. Then we had a health scare, and then we sold the house, and started kindergarten, and then we had to pack up the house, and move the house, and adjust to the new house, and a new drive, and new routines. Now, Christmas.

Damn, the days go by so fast right now. I get up before 6am, I get home about 6pm. We scramble through dinner, sometimes a walk, sometimes some clean up, a few books, bed, and then maybe a moment or two before collapsing in bed and then the routine starts all over again.

I am really truly looking forward to the break between Christmas and New Years, a few days to do just not much of anything. Okay, who am I kidding? Maybe to do some stuff around the house, to putter, to take the kids for a walk and feed some ducks. Hell, maybe even finish the book that I started a few weeks ago. I am so tired at night that I am lucky if I can make it through 10 pages before I get sleepy drunk and need to go to sleep.

Our new house rocks. It is so nice having more space, and living somewhere flat where you can walk outside your door and go for a nice, easy walk. I love being able to take the kids out to look at the lights and then they sleep better at night. I love having a living room, even if I don't get to hang out in there very often. I see little projects around the house, and I am glad that they are ours to fix.

I hate blinds. We have been slowly replacing all the ugly blinds with curtains. Amazing how much better a place looks with curtains. I am not fond of the 8 'clock train that seems to need at least three engines to pull its load. I love Christmas traffic since it doesn't matter if I get stuck by that train I can still make a good effort to get in to work on time. I am so glad I am getting though my list, and things are starting to calm down a little at work. Although I know it will be a lot of work over the next few weeks, I am really glad that we are hosting the Christmas dinners this year, it is nice to have the space to have everyone over.

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.