Sunday Notes on Monday

 On Sunday one of the first sections that I read of the Washington Post is the Outlook section. It contains the book section. I go to the last page and read the Washington Bestseller list. I count how many books I have read and give myself a point for each. This week the bestseller list focused on paperbacks but it alternates between paperbacks and hardcover. You can check my scoring system on the May 6, 2013 post. Oh joy! I did really well this week but I was surprised at one of the books  on the list Catcher In The Rye. 

I read this book when I was in High School.  Could it have only been ten years ago. Ha!
Don't get me wrong it is a good book but I did not think it was the best book ever.  I know some of you out there think it was and I am glad for you. Obviously the book has merit.  Wasn't it written in the 50's or close to that and it is still being read today.  I guess it must be on the summer reading list for High Schoolers and that is the reason it is showing up on the bestseller list.  If you haven't read by all means add it to your list.  It really is a classic.

This week I am starting on the lighter side.  If you want a girl power book try Four Friends.  I also have Save the Date on my nightstand.  I like Mary Kay Andrews she is fun and a perfect beach read. Even though I was on my foodie quest back in 2012 I enjoyed her book Deep Dish about two TV cooks.  Go back to my June 2012 posts and check that one out.

To satisfy my thriller, mystery craving I have two books on the nightstand.  The Target and the Lincoln Myth.  I started them both and I am not sure which one I will finish first so keep checking back.  I suspect that each of these books will make wonderful beach reading.  Have a wonderful week and keep on reading

       

Four Friends

I needed a book that was very light reading.  I mean light.  That means a book that took a very small portion of my brain to process.  So I picked this book.  It filled the bill since I was sitting in a hospital waiting room waiting for my husband to come out of surgery.  We got there at 6 and I didn't leave until after 6 so I got a whole lot of reading done. 

He is doing well.

Back to the book.  It is all about the importance of having great woman friends and I can say I have that given the texts I received while sitting in the aforementioned waiting room.  Those places are crazy.  The television was blasting Let's Make a Deal.  Talk about crazy people that show has them all.  And the room was packed.  Who knew everyone would pick that day to have surgery.  I looked at the surgery board.  It was pretty full. So the book was a good diversion.

Anyway here is a quick overview of the book.  Four friends who met because they live on the same block.  They power walk together, two of them have sons who are like best friends.  All of them have this one thing in common, not much luck with husbands.  So they support each other.  If you need something quick and easy to read with a little romance and a lot of friendship, give this a try.

By the way, after I finished this book, I started The Target by David Baldacci.  I will give you a full report when I finish.

You Should Have KNown

Grace is a therapist who specializes in marriage counseling. She has been married to Jonathan for 15 years.  She is totally in love with him.  He is a pediatric oncologist.  They have one son.   When we first meet Grace she has just written a book entitled You Should Have Known.  It is all about her observations regarding why marriages go wrong.  Her theory is that the signs f a bad marriage are there from the beginning.   But then things in her life go horribly wrong.  The husband she thought she knew turns out to be so much different.  Why didn't she see the signs? The book follows her journey of realization and recovery.

The book is psychological study on human nature.  It is a little scary to find out the person you think you know, who is your best friend, who you trust is not that person at all.  Sadly I think this happens more often than I care to believe.  I really enjoyed the book.

I am Sorry

I am sorry.  Remember when those words use to mean something.  No they are so over used it is becoming ridiculous.  They are becoming celebrities and politicians favorite words.  And the sad thing is they think by saying those three words everything is all better.  It is like when you were a little kid and hurt your finger and your Mom would kiss it and say all better.  Saying I am sorry has become like that.  "I am sorry"  All better. I don't know about you but when a politician or celebrity says they are sorry these days, I just think to myself yeah right.

I was reading the Outlook section of the Washington Post and I found this review on a book Sorry About That, The Language of Public Apology. I have added this book to my reading list and I have included the link below so that you might read the review.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/if-this-article-offends-you-im-sorry/2014/06/20/9d8b459e-f333-11e3-bf76-447a5df6411f_story.html

Sunday Notes on Monday

On Sunday one of the first sections that I read of the Washington Post is the Outlook section. It contains the book section. I go to the last page and read the Washington Bestseller list. I count how many books I have read and give myself a point for each.This week the bestseller list focused on hardcovers but it alternates between paperbacks and hardcover. You can check my scoring system on the May 6, 2013 post. Oh joy! As usual I have not done well on my scoring.  I have read only one book. 

I am reading a good book right now and will post on Wednesday.  The basic theme is how well do you really now someone and are there obvious giveaways to what this person is like when you first meet them,  It is a good read and I would recommend it and it to the summer reading list.  The book is You Should Have Known. 

I have two books on my list for this week The Lincoln Myth by Steve Berry. I find his books so interesting because he always mixes in some great history tidbits.  The other is One Hundred Names by Cecelia Ahren.  Have a great week.  Hope you have some time to read.

   

The Wishing Thread

The Van Ripper sisters were brought up by the Aunt Mariah owner of the Stitchery.  The Stitchery is no ordinary yarn store and Mariah is no ordinary owner.  People come to her when they have a problem that they need a little help with, a little magic help.  Mariah will knit something special and sometimes the spell works and sometimes it doesn't.  Aubrey the middle sister is the heir apparent.  Bitty and Meg had left the Stitchery behind and did not feel the need to come back.  That is they did not feel the need to come back until Mariah died. 

Coming back forced all the sisters to look at there lives and to depend on each other for help. 

I liked the book.  There were a few surprises especially at the end.  It is a feel good book because it ends on an up note.

If I Were a Rich Man

I grew up right outside New York City.  No one ever called it New York City or Manhattan it was just the city.  It is like Celine Dion.  You just need to say Celine and everyone know who it is.  Both my parents loved the theater and their love rubbed off on myself and my brother.  Every year my Mom would say what do you want for your birthday and I would reply, to see a show on Broadway.  There was no hesitation  and it never grew old.  I think I was eight or nine when they first started taking me into the city and I fell in love with Broadway at first site.

One of the very first shows I saw was Fiddler on the Roof.  The original cast had come and gone but years later when I looked at the playbill (which I saved for the longest time) I noticed that I had seen the show with the Divine Miss M, Bette Midler herself.  She was playing the role of Tzeitel. What a great voice.  Years later for another birthday my husband bought me tickets to see her live and she was amazing. 

It is hard to believe that the show is turning fifty. Given the opportunity I would see it again but only  live onstage.  The movie was ok but the stage version was the best

For those of you who are interested I am sharing a link to a story that was in The Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/50th-anniversary-of-fiddler-on-the-roof-reunites-tevyes-many-daughters/2014/06/12/cd909860-f122-11e3-bf76-447a5df6411f_story.html

Sunday Notes on Monday

It's been a heck of a week.  For that matter it's been a heck of year so far.  But this week a project we have been working on for awhile has reached its climax.  We see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I hope the pace in my office slows just a little bit.  Not too much because I like to stay busy but just enough to free up evenings a little.

I had planned to see the movie The Fault in Our Star the weekend it opened but there was no time so I went to see it this past weekend.  All I can say is bring the entire box of tissues.  I mean it!  Because I had read the book I started crying at the beginning of the movie. Well not really crying crying just a tear or two.  But the movie stayed pretty true to the book so I was spent by the time it was over.  They did a great job including the casting of the movie. If you haven't seen it, go! Also when I read the Sunday Washington Post I found an article directly related to the book The Fault in Our Stars about the girl who inspired the book.  I have included the link below.

So by now if you have been reading my blog  you know that every Sunday I play this little game with myself. On Sunday one of the first sections that I read of the Washington Post is the Outlook section. It contains the book section. I go to the last page and read the Washington Bestseller list. This week the bestseller list focused on paperbacks but it alternates between paperbacks and hardcover.  My score was 5 out of 10.  I have been doing well when it is paperbacks not so good with hard back. Gone Girl and The Orphan Train are on the list.  If you have not already read these books consider putting them on your list.  They are good summer reads and they are out in paperback.

Just a quick note on my Saturday Post about The Astronauts Wives Club, this summer they will have a show on the subject.  You can find it on ABC July 24th.  If it is as interesting as the book it should be worth watching.

Since I see the light at the end of the tunnel and think I will have more time to read I am putting two books on my reading list this week; The Wishing Thread and You Should Have Known.  I will keep you posted

Have a great week! 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/my-sister-esther-inspired-the-fault-in-our-stars-the-movie-is-her-sequel/2014/06/12/504c2ca4-efef-11e3-914c-1fbd0614e2d4_story.html


      

The Astronaut Wives Club

Clubs by Definition

The definition of club according to the dictionary  is an organization that offers its subscribers certain benefits such as  discounts, bonuses or interest in return for regular payments or purchases.  There are many types of clubs in today's world,  many requiring no monetary payment just participation. For example many of you have seen the movie The First Wives Club.  This was a group of women who had been friends in college and years later found themselves in the position of the "other" woman.  They formed the club to support each other in this very emotionally distressing period of their life and to as Ivana Trump pointed out with her brilliant statement "Don't get mad get everything" , get revenge.

 

Astronaut Wives Club 

There are other clubs of course; book clubs, wine clubs and in the case of this book The Astronaut Wives Club.  This club was comprised of the wives of the astronauts from the Mercury 7 project. The Mercury 7 were the 7 men chosen for the then fledgling NASA manned  space program.  They were all test pilots for the military and were introduced to the world in the Spring of 1959. The men who comprised this group were Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra, Gordon Cooper and Deke Slayton. Later on the wives of the Apollo project joined them.

 

This book gives amazing insight into the world of 1) military wives especially during that time period and 2) the amazing character and strength these women had.  They were married to men that for the most part were absentee husbands and fathers.  They lived with the knowledge that any day a member of the military could show up at their door and tell them their husband had been killed.  While they might have been an unlikely group in the beginning, they all shared these traits.

 

Added to this stress was the additional stress of being propelled into the public's eye when their husbands' became "celebrities".  They were followed around by reporters and journalist and basically had very little privacy and yet they made it.

 

One last note. I was always interested in the origin of the word astronaut and here it is according to the NASA website. The term was a cross between "aeronauts," as ballooning pioneers were called, and "Argonauts," the legendary Greeks in search of the Golden Fleece. These new explorers were being prepared to sail into the new, uncharted vastness of space.

This is a non fiction book.  I would put it on my beach read list because it is a really easy read with a great story.

 

An Interesting Opinion re Amazon

I must admit I was and still am a little worried that Amazon owns The Washington Post.  I read or at least glance at the Post every day.  I think the Post is well written but I worry that the longer Amazon owns the paper the more influence it will have on the paper.  I have seen firsthand when a large business comes in and buys a smaller one.  At first it is business as usual so everyone is lulled into a false sense of security and "sameness".  But gradually things start changing.  Key positions are filled with company "men" and policies start to change.  After awhile the company once known is no longer there.  It is like the Borg on Star Trek say "Resistance is Futile".

It will be interesting to see how the power play that Amazon is using with the publisher Hachette will play out.  I was reading this article in The New York Times and thought I would share it with you.  It is actually from the opinion page.

://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/31/opinion/how-book-publishers-can-beat-amazon.html

Summer Breeze, Summer Reads

When you are on a beach sometimes you just feel like something light and humorous to mix in with all those hot thrillers and murder mysteries.  Where Did You Go Bernadette to me is one of those books.  It is just bizarre enough to be funny but not too far over the top.  It has no social messages and nobody gets killed but there are some minor injuries. 

If you haven't read The Final Cut post February 12th, 2014)  yet this is another good summer read.  This is a murder mystery but it is humorously written.  In fact I found myself chuckling out loud.  I was alone on my couch so I wasn't disturbing anyone.

On a more serious note I really loved the book The Invention of Wings (post March 5, 2014).  This is the newest novel by the author of The Secret Life of Bees also a great book. 

Don't forget the suntan lotion.  Enjoy!

        

Sunday Notes on Monday

So by now if you have been reading my blog  you know that every Sunday I play this little game with myself. On Sunday one of the first sections that I read of the Washington Post is the Outlook section. It contains the book section. I go to the last page and read the Washington Bestseller list. This week the bestseller list focused on paperbacks but it alternates between paperbacks and hardcover. You can check my scoring system on the May 6, 2013 post. Oh joy!  I have read half the books on the list with Inferno by Dan Brown and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn sitting in the one and two position respectively.  Sadly I do not feel as content as I usually do because the paperback bestseller list has changed very little therefore my score is a little less meaningful.

I did read two books that I enjoyed this week.  Garlic and Sapphires a non-fiction pick and The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry.   Garlic and Sapphires was a humorous but straight forward look at the life of the former food critic for the New York Times.  She provided insight into a world of dining that often is frequented by only the elite.  Her quest to review restaurants led her to create many characters so that she remained undetected by the restaurants she set out to review. Growing up right outside of New York City I found the book a delight to read.  This book has been around for awhile and if you haven't read it you may consider putting it on your list.  The author has just published a novel entitled "Delicious" and I have added it to my summer reading list so I will keep you posted.