Giving the Gift of Books

I love to give and receive books as gifts especially at the holidays. This year is no exception!

For Chanukah,my husband got me - Tartine Bread

I just started reading the Tartine bread story and have not made anything yet but I can't wait to start baking.



A friend gave me - Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron


I haven't started reading it yet, but I know it will come in handy some day soon.








For Christmas, we got my mom - The Sunset Cookbook

It looks fantastic and I am sure that she will be able to find lots of good stuff to make in it!








We got my brother - Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes


I read this book earlier this year and immediately thought my brother would like to read it. I hesitate to say he would 'enjoy' the book since the subject matter is the Vietnam War but the book was well written and tells a compelling story.




What are books are you giving/receiving this year?

Books from Grandma Skip

I have clearly fallen off of the book blog train and then I got another box of books in the mail. I decided there was no better place to start then with a new box of books from Grandma Skip.

Here's what she sent -
- Tribute - Nora Roberts
- Deadly Game - Linda Lael Miller
- Lifeguard - James Patterson
- McKettricks of Texas: Tate - Linda Lael Miller
- Outcast - Joan Johnson
- Lone Eagle - Danielle Steel
- A Painted House - John Grisham
- The Cabin - Carla Neggers
- Home Before Dark - Susan Wiggs
- The Secret Hour - Luanne Rice
- Return to Summerhouse - Jude Deveraux
- Distant Shores - Kristin Hannah
- Catch a Dream - Mary Jane Meier
- Summer Pleasures - Nora Roberts

Any of these books catch your fancy? Let me know, I will happily send it your way.

Books from Grandma Skip

By the looks of it, I was busy in May. I did not get one thing posted to the blog. Here's hoping that June is a better month. I am starting off on the right foot by getting a box of books from my grandma. These titles were all included -

- Lucky Charm - Carly Phillips
- Runaway Mistress - Robyn Carr
- The Gift - Nora Roberts
- In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner - Elizabeth George
- Cherry Cheesecake Murder - Joanne Fluke
- A Summer Affair - Susan Wiggs
- Almost Like Being in Love - Christina Dodd
- One Day at at Time - Danielle Steel
- The Oath - John Lescroart
- The Whole Truth - Dacid Baldacci
- Firestorm - Iris Johansen
- Yours2Keep - multiple authors
- S is for Silence - Sue Grafton
- Just Breathe - Susan Wiggs
- Country Brides - Debbie Macomber
- Another Man's Son - Katherine Stone
- Fearless Fourteen - Janet Evanovich
- Honeymoon - James Patterson
- The Pagan Stone - Nora Roberts
- L is for Lawless - Sue Grafton
- The Broker - John Grisham
- Just Over the Mountain - Robyn Carr
- Four Blind Mice - James Patterson

Whew! That's a whole lot of summer reading.

Review - The Unnamed - Joshua Ferris

From the front flap - "Tim Farmsworth is a handsome, healthy man, aging with the grace of a matinee idol. His wife, Jane, still loves him and for all its quiet trials, their marriage is still stronger than most. Despite long hours at the office, he remains passionate about his work, and his partnership at a prestigious Manhattan law firm means that the work he does is important. An even as his daughter, Becka, retreats being her guitar, her dreadlocks, and her puppy fat, he offers her every on of a father's honest lies about her being the most beautiful girl in the world. He loves his wife, his family, his work, his home. And then one day he stands up and walks out. And keeps walking."

In the spirit of full disclosure, I am still not sure how I feel about this book. At first, I was intrigued by the mysterious illness that affects Tim. Why does he keep walking? How has it gone undiagnosed for so long? I kept thinking that I would get answers but I didn't. The book was hard to read because seeing Tim and his family struggle was hard to read about. It was fascinating to see how each of the family members cope with this challenge and how it drastically affects all of their lives. That being said, the book left me feeling a little but unfulfilled. Like I said at the beginning, I am still not sure about this book.

Title: TheUnnamed
Author: Joshua Ferris
Publisher:Reagan Arthur Books
Source: Library
Rating: 3/5

Books from Grandma Skip

Every few weeks I get a box of books in the mail from my Grandma Skip. She reads books in her spare time and she has a lot of spare time. All of her books are signed on the inside flap with her name and the date and location of where the book was read. Occasionally, she includes a sticky note with some additional information for me. You can see from the list that she likes mysteries and romance.

April's box contains the following titles:
- Under the Boardwalk - Various Authors
- No Choice but Seduction - Johanna Lindsey
- At the King's Command - Susan Wiggs
- A Virgin River Christmas - Robyn Carr
- The Law of Love - Nora Roberts
- The Hunt Club - John Lescroart
- Eleventh Hour - Catherine Coulter
- Web of Love - Mary Balogh
- The Edge of Winter - Luanne Rice
- Irish Magic - Various Authors
- Sooner of Later - Debbie Macomber
- Last Kiss - Luanne Rice
- Angel's Peak - Robyn Carr

Added to the pile :)

One Word Review - The Help - Kathryn Stockett

In one word - LOVE (as in I loved this book and if you have not read it already it should be the next book you read!)

Title: The Help
Author: Kathryn Stockett
Publisher:Amy Einhorn
Source: Library
Rating: 5/5

Reading Time

I have noticed that when works gets busy my reading time goes out the window. Usually, it's just because I am too tired at the end of the day to read too much without falling asleep. I was so excited to be able to have 7 hours of uninterrupted reading time when I flew to California last week. It almost makes me want to spend more time on a plane...almost. Unfortunately, the red-eye back to North Carolina was not as conducive to getting reading done.

Where and when do you have the most reading time?

Great Quotes

"Perhaps that is what all human relationships boiled down to: would you save my life or would you take it?"

- Toni Morrison
Song of Solomon

Review - Unfinished Desires - Gail Godwin

From the inside flap:
It is the fall of 1951 at Mount St. Gabriel's, an all-girls school tucked away in the mountains of North Carolina. Tildy Stratton, the undisputed queen bee of her class, befriends Chloe Starnes, a new student recently orphaned by the untimely and mysterious death of her mother. Their friendship fills a void for both girls but also sets in motion a chain of events that will profoundly affect the course of many lives, including the girls' young teacher and the school's matriarch, Mother Suzanne Ravenel.

I enjoyed this book until it got to the 'chain of events' - really one night - that changed everything. I thought the the book lost a little something after that. There is a lot going on in the book - it jumps from the present back into the early fifties and has multiple narrators. I thought the most interesting character was Mother Ravenel and enjoyed the book the most when she was narrating. I was not as fond of the Tildy character - she seemed like a spoiled brat most of the time. It could be that that was the point.

Worth a read.

Title: Unfinished Desires
Author: Gail Godwin
Publisher: Random House
Rating: 3.5/5
Source of book: Library

Review - Hot Springs - Geoffrey Becker

From the inside flap:
Vibrant, sexy, and quite possibly crazy, Bernice is determined to reclaim the child she gave up for adoption five years ago. She convinces her new boyfriend, Landis, to help carry out her plan, but once the abduction is accomplished Bernice - whose own mother was given to manic episodes and strange behavior - is plagued with doubts. Will Landis stay with her, given her volatile personality and his own drifter lifestyle? Will she and Landis both end up in jail for this crime? And, most importantly, will she fail at being a mother?

I am not quite sure what led me to pick up this book to read. The cover is kind of weird and it's probably not something that I would usually be interested in. I am so glad that I found it! The premise was, and still is, very interesting to me. I really liked how the story unfolded from each of the character's perspectives and how the pieces came together. The book reminded me that no person is one thing or one event but really the culmination of all of the things that happen along the way.

That being said, there were two things that bothered me about this book. First, the narrator is different in each chapter. We hear from Bernice, Tessa, and Landis but we never hear from Emily. I would have loved to have a chapter narrated by her to see what she was thinking throughout this situation. Second, I was not really satisfied with why the police weren't called when Tessa and David realized that there daughter was missing. There was an explanation towards the end of the book but I still wasn't really convinced.

Kept me entertained.

Title: Hot Springs
Author: Geoffrey Becker
Publisher: TinHouse Books
Rating: 3/5
Source of book: Library

Add It To The List...

Here are the books added to the list this week -
The Postmistress - Sarah Blake
Very Valentine - Adriana Trigiani
Wench - Dolen Perkins-Valdez
The Ticking is the Bomb -Nick Flynn
The Privileges - Jonathan Dee

What did you add to your reading list this week?

Review - Among the Missing - Dan Chaon

From the inside flap:
In this haunting, bracing new collection, Dan Chaon shares stories of men, women, and children who live far outside the American Dream, while wondering which decision, which path, or which accident brought them to this place. Chaon imagines today's family instinctively trying to stay together, only to find itself lost in the throes of a chaotic, modern world.

It's been a while since I've read a book of short stories. I am so glad that I picked up this book. I think that Dan Chaon creates an amazing array of characters in each of his stories. My favorite story was Prosthesis. The narrator, Suzanne, takes an encounter in a library with a man with a prosthetic arm and turns it into a reflection on her life.

" What if they'd never met? It made her stiffen a bit, because it seemed so governed by chance, so improbable. How many small, offhand choices had let her to the college where they met, had led her to the room where they first looked at one another, had led her to be sad and in need of someone who thought she was beautiful?"

This was a very satisfying read!

Title: Among the Missing
Author: Dan Chaon
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Rating: 3.5/5
Source of book: Library

Great Quotes

I love quotes. For me, they provide endless inspiration and meaning. They can remind me of people, places or things from my past. I have kept a quote book since I was a senior in high school. From time to time, I will share some of my collection with you.


"When it comes to life, we spin our own yarn, and where we end us is really in fact, where we always intended to be."

- Julia Glass
Three Junes

Review - Treasures - Nora Roberts

It turns out that this book is actually two books - Secret Star and Treasures Lost, Treasures Found. I will review them separately.

Secret Star
From the back of the book:
He was standing face-to-face with a dead woman...and she was holding a gun. Lieutenant Seth Buchanan's homicide investigation was thrown into turmoil when Grace Fontaine turned up very much alive - an in possession of one of the huge blue diamonds known as the Stars of Mithra. Seth never let his feelings get in the way of his job...but it was becoming increasingly difficult with no mystery more compelling than that of Grace herself.

I'll admit I didn't have high hopes for this book initially. I chose to read it because I was taking cold medicine before bed and wanted something that was 'easy'. Even in my altered state, I knew that this book was ridiculous. Did it pass the time? Sure. Was it marginally entertaining? Um....kind of. Did it grow more and more ridiculous as the pages went by? Yep. If you are able to suspend all reality when you read a book - this one is for you. If not, I would not waste your time.

Treasures Lost, Treasures Found

From the back of the book:
Kate Hardesty had inherited a dream: a pile of mysterious charts and notebooks mapping the way to sunken treasure. Determined to complete her late father's explorations, she returned to the island where she grew up and hired deep-sea diver Ky Silver - the man she'd left behind four years ago. But working with Ky meant more than searching for gold...it meant finding a priceless treasure Kate hadn't been looking for.

After the last book, this one could only be better. I guess it could have been worse but thankfully, it wasn't. Since I currently live in North Carolina, I am really a sucker for a story that takes place in the state and especially on the Outer Banks. As I read this book, I kept thinking "I've read this before" - I couldn't find the book title on any of my book lists so it may just be that the story is familiar. This book won't change your life but it will provide an escape from your daily life...unless of course you are a university professor that is looking for a shipwreck and buried treasure on Ocracoke Island then this book is your life.

Title: Treasures
Author: Nora Roberts
Publisher: Silhouette Books
Rating: 2.5/5 (Secret Star 2.0/ Treasures Lost, Treasures Found 3.0 so I took the average)
Source of book: Grandma Skip

Add It To The List...

Here are some titles that have been added to my To Be Read List this week:

Where the God of Love Hangs Out - Amy Bloom
This Book is Overdue! - Marilyn Johnson
Union Atlantic - Adam Haslett
Shadow Tag - Louise Erdrich
Another Bullshit Night in Suck City - Nick Flynn

What have you added to your list this week?

One Word Review - The Disappeared - Kim Echlin

In one word - HAUNTING

Title: The Disappeared
Author: Kim Echlin
Publisher:Black Cat
Source: Library
Rating: 4/5

Review - The Master Butchers Singing Club - Louise Erdrich

From the inside flap of the book:
Having survived the killing fields of World War I, Fidelis Waldvogel returns home to his quiet German village and marries the pregnant widow of his best friend who was killed in action. With a suitcase full of sausages and a master butcher's precious set of knives, Fidelis sets out for America, getting as far as Argus, North Dakota, where he settles. Over the years he works hard building a business, a home for his family - which now includes Eva and four sons - and a singing club consisting of the best voices in town...What happens when the Old World meetings the New - in the person of Delphine Watzka - turns out to be one of the great adventures of Fidelis's life. Delphine meeting Eva and is enchanted; she meets Fidelis, and the ground trembles.

I somehow missed this book when it came out in 2003. A few weeks ago, I was browsing at my local library and came across it. I have read many of Lousie Erdrich's other books and very much enjoy her style of writing. As soon as I started reading this book, I was reminded of why I enjoy reading her so much. I love the characters that she creates in each book. This book was no exception. Delphine Watzka is an interesting character - she starts as a wandering human table, finds her way back to Argus and in the process learns alot out about herself. If you missed this book too, I would definitely recommend that you pick up a copy and read it. Very enjoyable!


Title: The Master Butchers Singing Club
Author: Louise Erdrich
Publisher: HarperCollins
Rating: 4.5/5
Source of book: Library

Books from Grandma Skip

Every few weeks I get a box of books in the mail from my Grandma Skip. She reads books in her spare time and she has a lot of spare time. All of her books are signed on the inside flap with her name and the date and location of where the book was read. Occasionally, she includes a sticky note with some additional information for me. You can see from the list that she likes mysteries and romance.

February's box contains the following titles:
- The Third Circle by Amanda Quick
- Rogue by Danielle Steel
- Manhunting by Jennifer Cruise
- Sealed with a Kiss by Carly Phillips
- The Third Option by Vince Flynn
- A Prisoner of Birth by Jeffrey Archer
- The Charm School by Nelson DeMille

I should add that these titles are in addition to the FOUR other boxes of books that I have received in the last couple of months. I have my reading cut out for me!