Wednesday, February 28, 2018

A Few More Books

I found time to read a few books that weren't on the challeneg list mentioned in my last post.  One was Another Piece of My Heart by Jane Green.  I've read and enjoyed most of her books and this was no exception.  I actually read this right before I found out about the reading challenge.  The Best of Us by Sarah Pekkanen was another book that I really enjoyed.  Two of my friends liked another book by Sarah Pekkanen and thought I might like it too.  I did and since then I've read a couple of her books.  I enjoyed this one too, read it on a plane last year.  Lone Wolf was another Jodi Piccoult book I read last year.  I've read many of her books too and I usually like them.  This was typical Jodi:  good read, sad in parts, makes you think about a controversial issue.  Shopahoic to the Stars I read because I tend to enjoy the Shopaholic books.  I read one as part of the challege too.  Every year at Christmas time I enjoy reading a new Christmas book.  This year I picked Twelve Days of Christmas by Debbie Macomber.  It was a little cheesey, but cute and funny.  I liked it.
So there you go, those are the rest of the books I read last year.  In 2015 I read 22 books.  In 2016 I only read 18 books.  I don't know what happened.  I think part of it is because I usually read a lot in the summer, but I was gone for most of the summer taking a class in Ireland.  I did much better last year, reading 31 books.  I'm hoping to top that this year.  I've read four books and I'm hoping to increase that number to six by the end of this week since I'm on vacation this week.  I have a big pile of books next to my bed that I want to read so time to get cracking! Happy Reading!

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Reading Challenge

Last year, a friend sent me a reading challenge on Pinterest,"The 26-book 2017 reading challenge."  I like to read and I've been trying to read more (and spend less time in front of a screen) so I decided to go for it.  Full confession:  I "might" have finished the challenge during the first week in 2018 instead of  by the last day of 2017.  So here's the challenge and what I read:
1.  A book you read in school--To Kill a Mockingbird.  I read it in junior high school, I definitely think I appreciated it more now.  Now I want to see the movie too.
2.  A book from your childhood--Number The Stars  I remember friends of mine reading this in elementary school and I always thought it sounded great, but I never got around to reading it, until 2017.  It was sad in parts, but I liked it.
3. A book published over 100 years ago---Sense and Sensibility  I was a little slow reading this, but I was glad I read it.
4.  A book published in the last year--Lost and Found by Andrew Merton; this was written by a former univeristy professor of mine.  It wasn't  my usual type of book (a book of poems about his life), but it was interesting.
5. A non-fiction book--The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw; I have been meaning to read this for around a decade.  Years ago I went to Belize and one of the women I went with recommended this book--it is about a zookeeper in Belize.  I finally read it last February. It was an interesting book.  I enjoyed it, though parts of it made me angry.
6,  A book written by a male author--Rogue Laywer by John Grisham.  I like Grisham's books and I haven't read one in a while so I was glad to read this.
7.  A book written by a female author--I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella; I enjoy Sophie Kinsella's books and I enjoyed this one too.
8.  A book by someone who isn't a writer--Rockhopper Copper by Conrad Glass.  This book is about the island of Tristan da Cunha, the most isolated populated island in the world.  He is a police officer and he writes some interesting information about the island and its people.  A tiny part of me wants to visit the island, but that is no easy task and I imagine it is an expensive task too.  There is no airport and weather can make it hard for ships to dock there. 
9.  A book that became/is becoming a film--Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban;  I finally gave in to peer pressure and started reading the Harry Potter books.
10.  A book published in the 20th century--And There Was Light by Jacques Lusseyran; this is the true story about a blind Frenchman who survived a Nazi concentration camp.  I saw and purchased this book when I visited a concentration camp in Germany this past July.
11. A book set in your hometown/region--Change of Heart by Jodi Piccoult
12.  A book with someone's name in the title--Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict  a funny book my friend Kate suggested I read
13.  A book with a number in the title--Sizzling Sixteen; a Stephanie Plum novel, I've read the previous 15 so 16 was next.
14.  A book with a character with your first name--My Not So Perfect Life; another Sophie Kinsella book, which I enjoyed
15.  A book someone else recommended to you--Confessions of a Jane Austin Addict; recommended by my friend Kate who also recommended Rude Awakenings of a Jane Autin Addict.  I enjoyed them both.
16.  A book with over 500 pages--Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire; it was a long one
17. A book you can finish in a day--Shopaholic to the Rescue; I spent the whole day reading this book (it was not a work day).  I think I did work out, but otherwise, I read all day.  I like the Shopaholic books and I liked this one too.
18.  A previously banned book--Alice in Wonderland; according to google, it was banned in China and other parts of the world.
19.  A book with a one-word title--Falling by Jane Green; I like her books and this was no exception
20.  A book translated from another language--A Man Called Ove;  I really wasn't sure I was going to like it, but I liked it a lot.  It was pretty funny.
21.  A book that will improve a specific area of your life--The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up; I have been doing some serious decluttering as a result of reading this book.
22.  A memoir or a journal--Try to Make Your Life by Margot Friedlander is about a woman who survived Nazi occupied Germany, a concentration camp and then moved to America with her husband and lived here for many many years before eventually writing this book and later returning to Germany
23.  A book written by someone younger than you--Life in Motion by Misty Copeland was an interesting autobiography about ballerina Misty Copeland.  The dancer in me enjoyed it.
24.  A book set somewhere you'll be visiting this year-- The Good German
I have had this book for a few years and just never read it.  I wanted to read it last year (2017) since I was going to Germany.  Now I want to see the movie.  The book was good. 
25.  An award-winning book--The Glass Castle; I enjoyed this book and I want to see this movie too.
26.  A self-published book--Down to You--this was a little raunchier than I usually read, but it still held my interest. 

All in all I enjoyed the challenge.  I read some stuff I would normally read, some new things, and some books I've been meaning to read for a while.  (I read a couple of other books too, but you'll have to wait for the next post for that.)

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Lexington and Concord

Last year I did a trip to Lexington and Concord with my mom.  If you are into American history at all (which I am), I highly recommend it.  We wanted to do a boat ride that had good reviews, but not enough people signed up for it so we couldn't do that.  Instead we enjoyed our visit to a park, museum, cemetery, lunch, visitors' center, other historical sites, and a few shops (not necessarily in that order).  I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.  We ended the day with ice-cream.  :-)
















Wednesday, February 7, 2018

NYC A While Back

I was going through some old pictures that I meant to  include in blog posts and never got around to, so the next few posts will probably involve some overdue catching up.  A while back, my husband and I went to NYC for a weekend.  We arrived on a Friday night and just went out for dinner and walked around a bit.  The next day included a visit to the tower near Ground Zero where we got some nice views of the city.  The rest of the day included shopping and exploring.  That night we did a holiday tour of the city and saw some cool window displays.  The next day we went to a park that had a Christmas market set up where we poked around and saw some cool things.  I showed great restraint and only purchased macaroons.  I'm going to spare you all the details since it was a while ago and instead just offer you some pictures from the weekend.  Enjoy!