Winter's Respite Readathon

I had every intention to jump in and sign up for A Winter's Respite Readathon hosted by the readathon-crazy Michelle of Seasons of Reading and The True Book Addict (among others!) at the beginning and completely got wrapped up in life. Not that I haven't been reading this week - I had to read like crazy to finish Possession before our Tuesday book talk on Twitter. As in 240 pages in 24 hours between working and working out. So that's a good start on a readathon, right? Since then, I've also read 100 pages of A Different Sun.

I've got a couple of TLC Book Tours coming up so my goal this week is to finish A Different Sun and get a good start on Under The Wide And Starry Sky which will be my first read on the iPad. It will be interesting to compare that to my Nook.

Lit: Uniquely Portable Magic

When I discovered podcasts on my phone, I got a little carried away (okay, a lot carried away). So many great programs to listen to! The problem is you have to find time to listen to them, which I wasn't doing. One of the programs I hadn't listened to one episode of yet was Slate's Book Club. This week I've listened to two episodes and I'm here to tell you that those folks take this stuff seriously! They talk over each other, they argue, and they can get a little pretentious but these people really know their stuff.

Because I clearly have too much time on my hands, I want to know which podcasts do I absolutely need to start downloading (and maybe even listening to)? They don't have to be about books - one of my favorites is Radio Lab. Every time I listen to it, I wish a science teacher had been able to convince me how very cool science is when I was younger!

Have you read Margot by Jillian Cantor? It's the fictionalized diary of Margot Frank, sister of Anne Frank. The Huffington Post loved it and I'm definitely intrigued, particularly having just read The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.

I've been fighting with NetGalley and Adobe Digital Editions since I got my new computer, trying to get books downloaded onto my Nook. I cannot make it happen. Apple and Nook do not play nicely together. But, silly me, I finally remembered that we have an iPad. Install an app, open NetGalley on the iPad and download the books. So easy. I can't believe how much time I wasted. Now I just have to figure out how to wrest the iPad from The Big Guy's hands! First up, Nancy Horan's (Loving Frank) Under The Wide And Starry Sky for an upcoming TLC Book Tour.

With Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl currently being made into a moving, starring Ben Affleck, The Huffington Post thought it was a  good time to put together a list of marriage thrillers that will chill you to the bone. Gone Girl, of course, makes the list as does Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, Broken Harbor by Tana French and Liane Moriarty's The Husband's Secret. Can you think of any they've left out?

Buzzfeed has a list of nine video games based on classic literature including Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. I'm not going to spend any time looking into this but the graphics that accompany this article look like the games were made for the original Nintendo system. Which makes it hard to believe this story is true. Any one know for sure?

Possession by A. S. Byatt

Possession by A. S. Byatt
Published 1990 by Random House
Source: my local library sale

Publisher's Summary:
Possession is an exhilarating novel of wit and romance, at once an intellectual mystery and a triumphant love story. As a pair of young scholars research the lives of two Victorian poets, they uncover their letters, journals, and poems, and track their movements from London to Yorkshire — from spiritualist seances to the fairy-haunted far west of Brittany. What emerges is an extraordinary counterpoint of passion and ideas.

My Thoughts:
Oh you Booker prize winner, you. You tried to defeat me, you really did. And you almost succeeded. This is a great example of where reading a book as part of a group paid off. There were so many times I almost gave up on this one, so many times I thought this book was too smart for me. And, well, it is. To really "get" everything that makes this book a prize winner, you probably need to have studied literature in college. And a good background in poetry would help. But here's the thing - there is a very good chance I will read this book again.

Byatt throws everything she's got at her reader. There is a lot of poetry in Possession, Byatt touches on all things Victorian, and you will need a dictionary. There is a present day literary mystery and a Victorian-era love story. There are diary entries and letters. It's all a little jarring moving back and forth and I constantly felt like I was being yanked out of a story line I was just getting into. I wanted to give up on Possession. I wanted to throw it against the wall. And then...then it all started to come together; where most stories will lag in the middle, Possession starts to really build. Those last 100 pages are a terrific read, tying everything that has come before together. And why, you ask, even given those last 100 pages, would I want to reread a book I was tempted to throw against the wall. Because there is just so much here, so much I wish I would have taken more time to absorb, to research. So Possession will find a place on my permanent bookshelves, a place that very few books find a home.

Tonight the group of us that read this book together will watch the movie adaptation starring Gwyneth Paltrow. I eager to see how this very complicated book was interpreted and to have the chance to enjoy it with others who enjoyed this book to varying degrees but who all had very strong opinions about it.

Life: It Goes On - January 26

It's been a family-filled weekend, productive weekend. The Big Guy's sister and her husband spent the night last night and the four of us babysat one set of their grandkids. Today we spent time with the other set, going to watch their oldest grandson play basketball. We always have a lot of laughs and those kids are just so much fun. Our four-year-old great-niece kept taking me by the face and telling me "you and I were meant for each other!"

Company means a flurry of cleaning and today I'm using the rest of the day to finish up what I didn't get to yesterday. All of this means almost no reading or bloggiesta projects have gotten done. It's not going to happen tonight, either, with Downton Abbey and Sherlock both on!

Here's What I'm:

Listening To: Podcasts - I didn't listen to one minute of Shirley this week. I really must get back to it but with some many interesting choices of podcasts, it's hard to do.

Watching: The new season of "Sherlock" and "Downton Abbey" on PBS and lots of college basketball.

Reading: I will finally finish Possession, probably tomorrow, then I'll be picking up A Different Sun by Elaine Orr for an upcoming TLC book tour.

Making: I think the only thing I actually made this week was oatmeal cookies. BG continues to be the supper king - he even made lasagne one night!

Planning: Finishing up some reorganizing and redecorating of the boys' rooms. I'm not sure I'll be able to get everything I want done until it's warm enough to get furniture outside to paint but at least everything will be where it needs to be.

Grateful for: Wonderful in-laws. I know how lucky I am to have in-laws who care about me and who have always considered me family. After thirty years, that should go without saying, but I know that in a lot of families, it doesn't.

On Saturday mornings, the line will be out the door!

Loving: We were at one of the supermarkets in the Hispanic area of town today where they make their own salsa, tortillas, and chips. We came home with some of all and it will be all we can do to keep ourselves from inhaling that salsa in a couple of days. You know you're doing things right when you have a line at the counter in the middle of the afternoon to pick up the homemade foods.

Feeling: Optimistic - we've had some good news on several fronts this week and winter is already more than half way done!

Thinking: A trip to the fabric store is in order. I'm feeling the need for new window treatments in a lot of rooms.

Looking forward to: The Super Bowl even though I don't have a horse in the race and BG's birthday this week. Which means that for the next nine months, I'll get to call him "old" again.

Mini-Bloggiesta

Time to work on our blogs again - Bloggiesta's are always the kick in the butt I need to do the things I've been wanting to do but have just put off. I'm not sure how much time I'll have to devote to the blog this week (we have company spending the night tomorrow) but there are some things I really want to make sure I make time for:

1. Clean up my email (isn't this always on my list?)
2. Clean up my reader (again - always on my list)
3. Get started on a page for the books I've reviewed. I've got a list started and my goal will be to get at least this much entered. Once it's started, I'll be able to add a few more at a time until I'm caught up. Getting the links added is a whole other story! That may have to wait for the real Bloggiesta.

**Well at least I got something done - but not the tough thing!**

Introducing...The List

The other night, as I was reading, after I'd listened to a podcast, made dinner, watched a movie, and played on the computer, an idea popped into my head for something new to do here. It's about capturing the things I think about, or do, or want to do, or dream about or any of the random things that pop into my head. It may be about books but just as often it will be about other things. There is not set number of things that will be on the lists. I don't know how often I'll post a list but I do know that I'll want you to contribute to the conversation by telling me what you'd put on your lists.

To kick off The List, I'm weighing in on a subject that other bloggers have been talking about lately - the invisible TBR pile, those books you've downloaded to your ereader that don't take up any space in your home but are piling up none the less. Between Book Perks and the Barnes and Noble Daily Finds for Nook, my Nook book shelf is starting to get crowded!

Right now on my Nook:

1. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion - Tina at Book Chatter suggested to I think Sheldon Cooper (The Big Bang Theory) when considering this book - I was sold.

2. The System: The Glory And Scandal Of Big-Time College Football by Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian - You all know how much I love my football!

3. Someone Else's Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson - I'm fairly certain Jackson is an author I just don't "get" but I've read so many great reviews for this one I caved and will give her another chance.

4. Tampa by Alissa Nutting - Between great reviews I've read, the shock value, and the fact that Nutting appeared recently at the Omaha Lit Fest, I had to have this one.

5. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon - Okay, okay, you all wore me down. But time travel? Gabaldon is going to have to knock me out with her story to help me get over the time travel.

6.  Nemesis by Jo Nesbo - I've been wanting to read Nesbo for a long time, thanks to Rhapsody Jill and Ti!

7. Fin and Lady by Cathleen Schine - I've been eager to read this since I first heard about it; I enjoyed Schine's The Three Weissmans of Westport.

8. Enos by Paul Harding - I downloaded this one before I started Harding's award-winning Tinkers. So glad I've got it ready to read when I finish that one.

9. The Castaways and Summerland by Elin Hilderbrand - My friend, Mari, loves Hilderbrand so I'm looking forward to these - although it may be warm again before I read them!

10. Maya's Notebook by Isabel Allende - Allende is one of my favorite authors.

11. The Good Muslim by Tahmima Anam - Loved Anam's A Golden Age so I'm eager to read more by her.

12. Middlemarch by George Eliot - I'm hoping to get to this one for the Chunkster Challenge.

13. Les Miserable by Victor Hugo - One day I will actually finish this book!

14. If I Stay by Gayle Forman - I've read so many great reviews of Foreman's books.

15. What Happened To Goodbye? by Sarah Dessen - Ditto what I said about Foreman.

16. Dracula by Bram Stoker - Always good to have something creepy ready to read, right?

That's it...as of today, but I make no promises that I'll be able to pass up the next great $1.99 book that  shows up in my mailbox. If you've got an ereader, what would be on your list?

The Memory of Love by Linda Olsson

The Memory of Love by Linda Olsson
Published February 2013 by Viking Penguin
Source: my copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Publisher's Summary: 
Marion Flint, in her early fifties, has spent fifteen years living a quiet life on the rugged coast of New Zealand, a life that allows the door to her past to remain firmly shut. But a chance meeting with a young boy, Ika, and her desire to help him force Marion to open the Pandora’s box of her memory. Seized by a sudden urgency to make sense of her past, she examines each image one-by-one: her grandfather, her mother, her brother, her lover. Perhaps if she can create order from the chaos, her memories will be easier to carry. Perhaps she’ll be able to find forgiveness for the little girl that was her. For the young woman she had been. For the people she left behind.


My Thoughts:
After reading so many rave reviews of Olsson's Astrid and Veronika, when I was offered this book, I was anxious to see what it was about Olsson's writing that appealed to so many people.

Here Olsson blends three time periods of Marion's life - a sad, difficult childhood in Sweden; an aborted chance at love in her thirties; and, finally, life as a fifty-year-old retired physician who has spend the past fifteen years hiding from other people and her own emotions in New Zealand until a young boy who needs help comes into her life.

It was a slow start for me, moving back and forth in time, shifting from first-person to third-person narratives. The more I got to know young Marion (Marianne), the more I came to understand why middle-aged Marion was so fragile and guarded and the more I came to care what happened to her. In helping Ika and in uncovering his horrible past, Marion is finally able to allow herself to slowly let her memories return so that she can, at last, deal with her own pain. These two damaged souls allow each other to slowly, quietly heal in a place where the environment allows them the solitude and peace they need.

There is much about Olsson's writing that is poetic, particularly when she writes about life on the beach. But there is also a tension that starts building, pulling the reader through the book, until all three of the stories come to their climaxes. As much as this story is about love, in its many forms, it is also filled with subject matter that is difficult to read including some that still leaves me wondering about my feelings about this book.