Bloggiesta Wrap Up - Finally!

Oh heck, I was doing so well at Bloggiesta this spring, working hard every night, knocking out a lot of the stuff on my list and then...life. I did end up getting a lot done, I just forget to finish things out. So here's what got done:

1, Comments: I need to catch up on the comments left this month. 
2, Mail: I've been doing better on this lately, but there's always cleaning up to be done.
3. Bloglovin': This should be at the top of the list - I've got about 100 posts I haven't read as of today and want to make sure I take time to read and comment on all of them.
4. Mini-challenges: I've been doing this almost seven years now so it's harder to find mini-challenges that work for me, but it's always worth checking out. 
5. Clean Up Sidebar: There's not a lot to do, but I do want to do some cleaning up and rearranging. 
6. Catch Up My Calendar: I'm trying to free read as much as possible but I do have some books on Netgalley that I need to make sure I read before they archive, book club reads and at least one scheduled review. Gotta make sure nothing is falling through the cracks. 
7. Prep Some Posts: I'm remarkably scheduled ahead a couple of weeks for reviews but I'd like to get the rest of those weeks filled in to give me more reading time in April.
8. Visit New-To-Me Blogs: I can't keep up with the blogs I follow already but I'd hate to think there's a great blog I don't even know about yet! 
9. Clean Up Labels: The never ending task. Ugh. UPDATE: everything's gone I wanted to get rid of. Next Bloggiesta I'm going to work on adding labels to the posts without labels and adding some new labels to old posts.
10. Books Read List: This is one of those tasks I've started and never quite finished.
11. Clean Up Old Posts: If I'm really crazy and knock out everything else, I'd love to go back and make sure older posts are all formatted the way I like them to be now. UPDATE: I did a fair amount of this while I was cleaning up labels. I'm calling that good enough for now.

Well, yeah, I didn't exactly get some of the main things done I wanted to get done. I didn't touch my mailbox and I only got about half way done with my Bloglovin' feed (which has doubled again since last week, of course!). I didn't get any mini-challenges done during the actual Bloggiesta dates but I have done a couple of them this week so I'm counting them!

Challenge #1: Litsy - the Instagram for booklovers. Because we weren't already posting pics of books on Instagram. I had already downloaded the app on my phone but hadn't got my account set up yet. I've done that now, started following some people, gotten the lay of the land. Now just to start posting. Hosted by Jenni Elyse.

Challenge #2: LibraryThing: What's On Your Bookshelf? - an alternative to Goodreads. I've been a member for several years but haven't really used it. Since I'm looking to do away with my Goodreads account, I'm going to give this a try. I don't find it as user friendly and it doesn't have some of the features I do like from Goodreads but it will work for now to catalog things. Hosted by Laurie at Bay State Reader's Advisory.

Lit: Uniquely Portable Magic

The New York Times had an interesting article last week essentially contending that Bret Easton Ellis' controversial American Psycho has turned out to be prescient of our current climate. Patrick Bateman, Ellis' first-person narrator is filled with bloodlust, is materialistic (well, of course he is, this was written in the 80's), and, surprise!, obsessed with a certain Donald J. Trump.

James Patterson has recently announced that he wants to make more money put books into the hands of people who have abandoned reading by introducing Book Shots which will be published by Little, Brown. These will be books of no more than 150 pages, costing less than $5 a piece, plot driven and, eventually, sold in nontraditional locations. Patterson will write some of the novellas, his team will write others and he will handpick the rest. What are your thoughts about this? I'm kind of for anything that puts books in people's hands.

Writer Ann Patchett is co-owner of a book store in Nashville, called Parnassus, which has just started sending a book mobile around town to food truck rallies, farmer's markets, and outside restaurants. Parnassus on Wheels has it's own web page and Twitter, updating readers as to where they can find the van as it moves about. I'd be so excited if I found a book mobile to explore when I was at the farmer's market! "In Greek mythology, Mount Parnassus is the home of literature, learning, music, and, I think, a few other valuable things," said Patchett, explaining the name of the bookstore.

Have you been keeping up with The Morning News' Tournament of Books? Care of Care's Books and Pies has been working her way through all of the books and I'm thoroughly enjoying reading her opinions of the books in the running.  

Also, in case you missed it, the Once Upon A Time challenge, hosted by Carl of Stainless Steel Droppings, has begun. I'm looking forward to getting back to my fairy tales!

The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani

The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani
Published April 2012 by HarperCollins Publishers
Source: bought this one for my Nook
Narrated by: Orlagh Cassidy and Adriana Trigiani

Publisher's Summary:
The fateful first meeting of Enza and Ciro takes place amid the haunting majesty of the Italian Alps at the turn of the last century. Still teenagers, they are separated when Ciro is banished from his village and sent to hide in New York's Little Italy, apprenticed to a shoemaker, leaving a bereft Enza behind. But when her own family faces disaster, she, too, is forced to emigrate to America. Though destiny will reunite the star-crossed lovers, it will, just as abruptly, separate them once again—sending Ciro off to serve in World War I, while Enza is drawn into the glamorous world of the opera . . . and into the life of the international singing sensation Enrico Caruso. Still, Enza and Ciro have been touched by fate—and, ultimately, the power of their love will change their lives forever.


My Thoughts:
This is the fictionalized account of Trigiani's grandparents' love story and it's a story Trigiani clearly loved writing. Her grandfather did apprentice as a shoemaker and her grandmother was a seamstress. Trigiani pulled in her grandmother's love of Enrico Caruso, her own love of opera, and spent twenty years thinking about the book.

The Shoemaker's Wife is a paean to the details and beauty of everyday life. At the same time, it is a sweeping saga that spans an ocean and decades. Trigiani does a magnificent job of bringing a scene to life for her readers, the colors, textures, and smells. It's the kind of book I usually eat up.

So why didn't I love this book?

Perhaps because Trigiani so wanted us to love the book, she wanted us to love the story of her grandparents. She wanted it to be sweeping and beautifully told. Here's the thing - I could see the majesty of those mountains, imagine the bustle of turn-of-the-last-century New York/New Jersey setting, feel the textures of the costumes and hear the glory of the music. But I didn't feel the emotions, not to the extent I should have to feel the pain, the love, the joy of Trigiani's characters. Some of that I attribute to what felt like a need to tell me how I should feel and why, a need to remind me, in some cases, again and again and again. Some of it was that the emotions just got lost in all of the words. Oh so many words. Fifteen discs that could have been twelve or thirteen. The Shoemaker's Wife is a wonderful story, but there's just too much of it.

A word about the narration: Orlagh Cassidy does a wonderful job with the narration, the Italian names and phrases rolling off her tongue. Then, for some inexplicable reason, the narration changed and suddenly Trigiani was narrating. It's her story, I'm sure she knew what she wanted it to sound like. But her voice is just not as pleasant, her style doesn't flow as easily and I didn't enjoy it as much.

The List - Spring Reading

So, yeah, that whole #readmyowndamnbooks thing is a great idea, in theory, but Netgalley had so many shiny new books that called to me. And TLC Book Tours had a couple of books I couldn't pass up even as I'm trying to pull away from scheduled reviews. Plus, there are book club selections to be read.

What I'm saying is, my spring is pretty filled up with books I need to read once I finish the books I have going right now. I'm looking forward to all of them so it's not going to be a terrible task to do the reading (although I will have to battle The Big Guy to get the iPad as much as I'm going to need it). Here's what's on the agenda:

Miller's Valley by Anna Quindlen

At The Edge Of The Orchard by Tracy Chevalier

Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld

Everyone Brave Is Forgiven by Chris Cleave

Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman

When The Moon Is Low by Nadia Hashimi

A House For Happy Mothers Amulya Malady

Beyond The Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo

The Secret Daughter by Shilpa Somaya Gowda

I'm pretty excited about all of these but I'm also hoping to add in a couple of more books from my shelves and my Nook. I did, after all, recently download Notorious RBG and I'm so eager to get to that one. Of course, that's what I saw about all of my pretties when I look at them!

What are you hoping to read in the next couple of months?

The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian

The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian
Published July 2012 by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Source: bought this one for my Nook to read with my book club

Publisher's Summary:
When Elizabeth Endicott arrives in Syria, she has a diploma from Mount Holyoke College, a crash course in nursing, and only the most basic grasp of the Armenian language. The First World War is spreading across Europe, and she has volunteered on behalf of the Boston-based Friends of Armenia to deliver food and medical aid to refugees of the Armenian genocide.

There, Elizabeth becomes friendly with Armen, a young Armenian engineer who has already lost his wife and infant daughter. When Armen leaves Aleppo to join the British Army in Egypt, he begins to write Elizabeth letters, and comes to realize that he has fallen in love with the wealthy, young American woman who is so different from the wife he lost.

Flash forward to the present, where we meet Laura Petrosian, a novelist living in suburban New York. Although her grandparents’ ornate Pelham home was affectionately nicknamed the “Ottoman Annex,” Laura has never really given her Armenian heritage much thought. But when an old friend calls, claiming to have seen a newspaper photo of Laura’s grandmother promoting an exhibit at a Boston museum, Laura embarks on a journey back through her family’s history that reveals love, loss—and a wrenching secret that has been buried for generations.


My Thoughts:
I picked this book for my book club for two reasons, I've been wanting to read some Bohjalian for a long time and I felt like the subject matter was something that could really tie in with world events right now.

Bohjalian certainly has a story to tell here and the events of the Armenian genocide and the war the helped to hide it made for an interesting read. When I could get past the often confusing structure of the thing. Bohjalian uses multiple points of view and both third-person and first-person narrators. He switches rapidly between points of view and I often had to go back a few sentences to try to figure out whose story I was reading about now. Worse yet, it made it harder for me to get emotionally involved in the story. And it's a story that should break your heart.

I was grateful to Bohjalian for the way he consistently was able to bring the worst of the outrages to light but pull away before it became too difficult to continue. I was also grateful for the incentive to look into the Armenian genocide more deeply - and to compare what happened then to what happened to the Jews twenty plus years later in Germany and again today in Syria. It's about hatred and the ease with which people are willing to decide an entire race of people is less than human.

"My name is not "YOU PEOPLE." But an alien from another world trying to make sense of some of the conversations I have had with virtual strangers over the years might suppose that it is." 

Sounds like a lot of what I hear daily. It's a first step onto a very slippery slope.

"...the short answer to that first question - How do a million and a half people die with nobody knowing? - is really very simple. You kill them in the middle of nowhere."

That's what happened to the Armenians when the Turks drove them into the desert of Syria. It's also what happened when the Nazi's first walled off the Jews then put them onto trains and took them out into the country. Think it can't happen again? All it takes is for the world to decide they don't want to get involved, that they can't go against a country that's an ally. Let The Sandcastle Girls be a wake up call.

Life: It Goes On - March 27

Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate it! We enjoyed dinner with my parents; my sister, her daughter, her husband and his parents. Everyone contributed and it was delicious. Easter really seems to kick off the lighter food eating season and I love the foods! My mom bought, and my brother-in-law built, for my dad some raised garden beds which the guys spent a couple of hours putting together and getting set up on the garden. It was a sunny day and we all enjoyed being able to spend some time outdoors.


This Week I'm:

Listening To: I started The Girl Who Played With Fire which is a little slow going so far, a lot of catching up new readers with the events of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Simon Vance is narrating and I love him as a reader but his Lisbeth Salander seems to have a Cockney accent. I'm not sure why they would not have gone with someone who could handle Swedish accents. 

Watching: Basketball this weekend, The Voice, and Selfridge on PBS tonight. 

Reading: I read a childhood favorite (and book on my Classics Club list), A Little Princess then moved on to something that couldn't be any more different, Alicia Nutting's Tampa, which is disturbing, to say the least. I'm also reading Anna Quindlen's Miller's Valley, which I'm enjoying every bit as much as I was hoping I would. 

Making: Hmmm, it was a lazy week in the kitchen this week, some sandwiches, salads, soups. For Easter I did make a layered lettuce salad and a cheesecake. 

Planning: Nothing on the calendar this week we have to do. We may just keep the calendar clear.

Thinking About: Gardening and bringing more color to our outdoors. 

Enjoying: Having all three of my kids with us today for the holiday.

Feeling: Tired. Is it bedtime yet?

Looking forward to: Getting my hair cut and colored this week. It's way past time!

Question of the week: What do you most look forward to in the spring?

Once Upon A Time X

Thanks to Wendy from Musings of A Bookish Kitty, who brought it to my attention that the Once Upon A Time challenge started this week. Hosted by Carl, of Stainless Steel Droppings, is hosting the challenge for the tenth year and there are a lot of ways you can join in by reading, watching, or even gaming about fairy tales, folktales, myths, and fantasy.

There are several levels of participation:

The Journey which only requires that you read one related book between now and June 21st which is when the challenge ends

Quest the First asks that you read five related books in the next three months.

Quest the Second requires that you read one book from each of the four genres.

Quest the Third involves you doing one of the above plus a June read of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream or a viewing of one of the movie adaptations.

Short Story Quest is just what the name suggests and only requires that you read one or more short stories that will fit the genres.

Quest On Screen involves viewing any movie(s) that fit within the genres because, as Carl says, great stories aren't just told on the page.

Quest The Game is also just what the name suggests. I'm not a gamer so I'm clueless as to what kinds of games might fit into these categories with the exception that I know there are a lot of fantasy games. Apparently, there are also a lot of table top games you might try your hand at.

Sound like fun? No? Well, head on over to Carl's post and let him explain it. He does a much better job of it! Trust me, it's fun!

As for me, here's my plan:

The Journey - I'll read Marissa Meyer's Cinder which I downloaded to my Nook something like two years ago.

Quest the Third - I may try to read A Midsummer Night's Dream as well but I'll definitely plan on watching at least one movie adaptation. I'd like to find the 1968 version with Diana Rigg, Helen Mirren, Ian Richardson and Ian Holm...or the 1999 version starring Kevin Kline, Rupert Everett, Michelle Pfeiffer, Stanley Tucci, and Christian Bale...and definitely Woody Allen's A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy. 

Short Story Quest - you know I've got all of these fairy tale books that have kind of gotten ignored of late, including a lovely new edition I got for Christmas from Mini-me and Miss S.

My spring is pretty busy already so I'll probably only have time for a few short stories through May but come June, I'll be all over it! Won't you join us?!