Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Tuesday Teaser - 01/17/12

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.
 

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
-Grab your current read
-Open to a random page
-Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
-Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


My Teasers:

"I haven't heard my father's voice in two or three years, maybe a call a few Christmases ago, and at first I say nothing. Then, because my belly is tightening again and I'm standing in a stranger's house I say, 'I'm scared.'"



Up From the Blue (Susan Henderson), pg. 3

Tuesday Teaser - 01/31/12

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.
 

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
-Grab your current read
-Open to a random page
-Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
-Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


My Teasers:

 
"Reflection


Since my return back into the world, I find myself collecting pinecones. I ask the people I know now when they go on trips to bring me back a pinecone...

My therapist and I finally solved my obsession. A pinecone was the last thing I touched before I was taken by Phillip. A hard and sticky pinecone was my last grip on freedom before eighteen years in capativity."


A Stolen Life (Jaycee Dugard), pg. 12

Friday, January 27, 2012

Friday Faves - 01/27/12

Welcome to Friday's Fave Five. It's Friday so that makes it time to look back over our week and look for those things we are grateful for. It may be big or it may be small and you have to dig for it, but there are always things we can be thankful for. Please join us as we share our favorite five. If you need the guidelines they are here

1.
Last minute weddings. Big, overdone weddings are lovely...for other people. Both my fiance (ooops, my husband) and I are low-key people.   


2. Yup, we did it!  After 5+ years of engagement the fiance and I finally got hitched. We both keep saying, "It doesn't feel any different..." and it really isn't, given that we financially wedded last year when we bought the house together. But now, its legal. We executed this puppy in less than two weeks and Saturday at 2pm about thirty friends and family arrived. By 3:15pm it was done. We had a nice party afterwards and look forward to a big Jack 'n Jill cookout this summer.

3.Gifts.  I like gifts. Call me immature, but I like getting stuff!  We tried to mention to everyone to hold off on the gifts this round. We didn't even register or anything.  But a few folks got past us and we got a couple gifts on Saturday. It was cool. Perhaps we will get more come the summer... Not that I am expecting anything, but if we do I hope that everyone keeps in mind that we don't need even ONE more kitchen tool (Dave and I have our own supplies and then we moved into a fully supplied home. We have TOO much kitchen crap!). What we need is the wood floors to be refinished... And every room needs painting... And landscaping... And...

4. Calendars.  I love calendars. I love organization. For a while, you could sync your Outlook calendar to your Google calendar...but then someone decided that Google should charge for that service. Jerks! Its been frustrating and time consuming to keep the two calendars up to date, but I refused to pay for the service out of principle (since I am forced to use Google, due to my Droid smartphone, and not Yahoo as I prefer I refuse to give them money for the service). But I discovered today that apparently they rescinded that idea and now my Google sync is working again. My Outlook and Google will finally be back in sync. And I will only have to fill in one calendar again. Yeah!  

Good move Google...I like you a bit more today.

4. Performing. My a Capella group went into production this week for a cabaret show we've been doing for several years in Hingham, MA. After several days of tech rehearsal, we opened last night to a full-house crowd! It was crazy fun and we have two more nights left. We've got two shows on Valentine's Day weekend and more booked in March and May. I like being busy with gigs!

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Booking Thru Thursday - 01/26/12

http://btt2.wordpress.com/
What’s more important: Good writing? Or a good story?

(Of course, a book should have BOTH, but…) 

What do you think?

I wish I could get all intellectual and say, "Well darling, the  writing of course....sniff, sniff!" 
But the honest truth is, the story is more important for me.  

I read a book a few years ago, a memoir about the Station Nightclub fire in Rhode Island, and the writing was...okay, just okay.  There were tons of typos and some grammatical errors. It drove me crazy!  But, I was really into the story of the person's experience that night, what happened, what didn't happen. Though I cringed every time I read an error, I battled my way through just because the story was so interesting.

Then I blamed the cheapo-publisher for not getting a good (any?!) proof-reader! 

I do suppose there's a limit...but if I got through that mess, I must love a good story a heck of a lot more than good writing!




Tuesday, January 24, 2012

The Puppy Diaries: Raising a Dog Named Scout - Abramson

Jill Abramson is known for her work as the executive editor of The New York Times and as a "hard-nosed" investigative reporter. In her book, The Puppy Diaries: Raising a Dog Named Scout she steps out of these roles just a bit and writes a memoir.

After the difficult loss of her West Highland terrier, Buddy, Abramson is not sure she can open her heart to another dog.  As she watches her children leave the nest for lives and careers of their own, she and her husband Henry decide that another pet is just the thing they need.

They embark on the journey of raising Scout, a golden retriever puppy, whom they purchase from a Boston-area dog breeder. The Puppy Diaries chronicles their first year with Scout. True to her investigative background Abramson delves into such issues as breeders vs. shelters, pack-leader vs. positive-reinforcement training, and types of dog food. Throughout the journey, she discovers that even in middle age you continue to learn, and you continue to open your heart to love.

This book was interesting. It was neither the how-to book of Cesar Millan or the pet humor of John Grogan. Nor was it completely a memoir either. Abramsom tells us of her experiences, while retaining an investigative outlook on the learning process. When she is unsure of the right pet-parenting move, she interviews experts to gather their thoughts, but then doesn't bore her reading audience with the details.  And though the subject lends itself to humor-filled moments, she pretty much avoids them and gives the straight facts. Despite that, the book was quite entertaining.

I enjoyed reading about Scout's first year and could clearly imagine his hi-jinx. I learned a bit about raising a puppy, particularly one of such a size as a golden retriever, and got a small peek into the life of a high-powered newspaper editor, while also envisioning the life of a fifty-something empty-nester. All very interesting subjects, skillfully melded into one brief book.

Overall, it was a good read for pet lovers.  However if you are looking for a laugh-out-loud puppy story or a self-help pet-parenting book, this is just not the one to choose. If you are looking for a quick read, with not too much emotional tugging (which I was), this is a great read.

3/5- Good. Read it, have a good time and move on. Or not.

More opinions at:
The New York Times (John Grogan) 

 

Teaser Tuesdays - 01/24/12

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.
 

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
-Grab your current read
-Open to a random page
-Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
-Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


My Teasers:

 
"When  she left the room, I opened my suitcase to find Dad had packed two butterscotch candies and the World Encyclopedia for the letter D with photos of every breed of dog. Beneath the book were clothes that smelled like home. I simply tipped my face into them, holding my stomach tight as I bent over, thought it did nothing for the ache."


Up From the Blue (Susan Henderson), pg.57

Monday, January 23, 2012

Mondays - 01/23/12

Sheila at Book Journey hosts this weekly event where we celebrate what we are reading for the week, as well as books completed the previous week.









Been so busy with the wedding this week, still working on this...

Currently Reading:
Up From the Blue (Susan Henderson)
Voices of the Dead (Peter Leonard)
Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
Math for Grownups (Laura Laing) 

Just Finished:
The Puppy Diaries (Jill Abramson) 

On Deck: 
The Children in Room E4: American Education on Trial (Susan Eaton)


Just Married!

Hi all,

Apologies to anyone who stopped by over the past week and found...nothing. I blacked out for SOPA/PIPA and then got involved in all the details of planning and executing a last minute wedding!

For those who are newer and don't know, the fiance of 5+ years and I decided two weeks ago to just do it. And, given how busy I am and travel plans for work, etc. this past weekend really was the time to make it happen. So, we called friends and family and, forgive me Emily Post, asked them to be there with less than two weeks notice. Most everyone showed up too!

My dress (on a model...)
Thursday, I bought a dress.  He got a new suit and together we picked out his ring.  Friday, we shopped for food and cleaned the house and Saturday at 3pm...TA DAAA!...it was done.

Exciting, but crazy!

No long stress of planning and prep. It didn't cost us tons of money since we did it at home (or new home) in front of the fire place with a Justice of the Peace and about 30 friends and family.  We had a nice little party afterwards, though we plan on a big Jack and Jill cookout over the summer when our extended friends and family can come.

Overall, it was lovely and we are both glad its done and we now get to move into the future as man and wife!




Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Book Blogger Hop - 01/20/12

The Book Blogger Hop is back and completely re-imagined! Toss out all those old rules, because the new Book Blogger Hop is way different...!

Enter your link ONCE each month and you are done. No prompts. No requirements to post anything on your blog (but it would be nice if you did to keep the word out there!). No nothing.  

With Google Friend Connect going away for all of us Wordpress bloggers, the Book Blogger Hop will become even more important to help us connect with each other and find new blogs to read.  

The only requirement is that you enter your link in each monthly list ONCE. If you spam this list, all of your links will be deleted. It is easy to see if your link is on the list. Just do a Ctrl-F (Find) on your PC and type your blog name to see if you’ve already entered your link for the month.