Anna Begins

I hope you feel better soon! A Moveable Feast was one of my favorite Hemingway's. He is definitely in my top 3 authors of all time!

Thanks! The stickman with the bloody knife And they are all the same cover, which is kind of freaky as well!

55% into When Paris Went Dark. Soooo good! Looking at a goal of 100 pages today.

Thank you! That sounds like a great birthday present! Enjoy dinner! Have you worked on "the never ending afghan" during the terrible weather? I have one of those That is very kind, thank you! As they get older, it's like, everyday is more precious. You do sound busy! Try to take sometime at least, to relax

I didn't know you were interested in any David Baldacci! I hope you like the Gregory All the Agatha Christie looks good, We did the play Witness for the Prosecution. RL Stein's The Snowman is supposed to be good. Enjoy! I love the pictures! That is a lot of cataloguing!

Oh goody! I am looking forward to it! Thanks for the tip, Janet, I will try it with my next review- it drives me crazy! I used to read The Little House on the Prairie collection over and over when I was a child, they are one of the first books I remember reading on my own Happy reading to you too! Is that The Tudor Court series? There is something up with Book 1, that is about Katherine of Aragon, you might not like that one quite so much, if I were you, I'd stick with The Cousins War series It wasn't available when I started the series, which is a shame, as Alison Weir has that new Katherine book out soon (May, I think) and I think I would rather read that. They stand alone, although The Boleyn Inheritance (book 2) makes more sense if you have read The Other Boleyn Girl (book 3).

Well, of course for me, it has to be Jack Reacher as #1 for sure. Then, I agree with Gaia about June from Legend trilogy Tris from Divergent series Katniss from Hunger Games trilogy also: Ren from Year of the Flood (Margaret Attwood's MaddAddam trilogy) Charlie ad Eli Sisters (The Sisters Brothers) Mark Watney (The Martian) and is it ok to add: Anne Boleyn and Mary Boleyn from The Other Boleyn Girl (Tudor Court series) That's 10! Fun!

Oh, wasn't The Other Boleyn Girl good?? I can highly recommend the next one too, The Boleyn Inheritance. Thanks for stepping into my blog It is good to see you back around

If that was to me, and I do have a few historical GN, I have Maus on my wish list, there are two of them. I have Showa, A History of Japan on my Wish List too.

Thanks for no spoiler That makes sense though, he is up for an Oscar for it. He said it was the hardest role of his life and it almost killed him. I LOVE Ian McKellen! Don't know if it's your thing or not, but he was great in X- Men. And Patrick Stewart- YUM.

Thanks all, Luka (my puppy wuppy) is 11, so it gave us quite a scare. He is completely better now, wagging his tail and bouncing around. My Luka is back The little one is still sick, but feels and looks better today

I need some help! I started a GN about Bosnia last night and the cover isn't a hard cover, but its super nice and stiff. How do I open this thing to read it?? I read some last night with the book half closed to not wreak the spine.

I will be (hopefully) enjoying: Gone Again- Doug Johnstone (257 pages) In the Tunnel- Takamichi Okubo (37 pages) Stickman 1- Dennis Yates (48 pages) Stickman 2- Dennis Yates (47 pages) Stickman 3- Dennis Yates (56 pages) The cover for Stickman scares me to death!

Thanks! So far, so good I actually loved all my January reads, I was lucky this month! Are you doing a monthly summary? (Thanks for catching my misspelling!)

A great thought to start a new month with! The little one is still sick, the dog is not dead. We are 50/50 at the moment.

This morning I rubbed the sand out of my eyes and started When Paris Went Dark, about the Nazi Occupation. I've been reading off and on all day and it's a very good read, almost finished 160 pages today. I hope to finish by the 5th, for the read a thon

No problem, I probably wrote it wrong! I shouldn't drop bombshells like that, but I didn't even think it would be taken as a spoiler I was surprised Breakfast at Tiffany's was the way it was, especially being a big fan of In Cold Blood. It was just so bizarre to me, that he would write such completely different novels, I had to read it. I loved Hunter. I thought he was such an original person, just so unique. He was smarter than people give him credit for. He just did lots of drugs I've been watching the movie for the last 2 or 3 nights, I love the beginning, its my favorite! Which is a good thing, because I usually fall asleep half way through

You went through a lot this weekend! I was up at 5:00ish too, my dog almost died this weekend and my kid came down with the flu. So ya. Fun and games.

That makes sense- I buy as I read and it gets pricey when I think how many books I read in a year. I think its really neat you try and read more Irish authors. I think I am going to try the US States Challenge, I'm just not sure how I want to do it yet! I'm Traveling Alone sounds scary

I started a history book, When Paris Went Dark, about the German occupation. 50 pages into it, well written and interesting so far.

January Summary: Pages read: 2,522 Total for read a thon: 536 pages Books read: 7 and 1 short story Most impressive: The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan (about the history of Israel and Palestine) Biggest disappointment: my re- re- re- read of More Now Again by Elizabeth Wurtzel On the whole, all the books I read were good ones. Read a Thon: Nine and a Half Weeks by Elizabeth McNeill (118 pages) 1/1 (storyline was medium of interest, but the Afterword had me ) Cornbread by Sean Hammer (23 pages) 1/1 (Ok, short story) On Two Feet and Wings by Abbas Kazerooni (258 pages) 1/1-1/2 (Amazing story of a 9 year old fleeing Tehran) The Lemon Tree by Sand Tolan (307 pages) 1/2- 1/5 (fascinating history of Israel and Palestine) The Pact by Jodi Picoult (481 pages) 1/6-1/9 (Love story + courtroom drama) Hunger (Book 2 of Gone) by Michael Grant (600 pages) 1/10- 1/13 (excellent book 2! Can't wait for book 3 in a week or two!) The Time Traveler's Wife by Andre Neffengger (416 pages) 1/17- 1/22 (Hated the ending, but loved the book, don't think I will see the movie though!) More Now Again by Elizabeth Wurtzel (319 pages) 1/23- 1/31 (Harrowing account of addiction and depression) Total= 2,522 pages

More Now Again- Elizabeth Wurtzel (320 pages) Lots of people will go out on a binge if they get fired or their girlfriend leaves, but not me. That stuff, I can handle. For me, it’s the broken shoelaces that have me hooked. This is a tough read, one I have read many times, because I identify with Wurtzel’s depression and addiction. Starting each chapter with lines from music lyrics (like Kiss Off by the Violent Femmes) or a piece of poetry (like Anne Sexton), the book presents a grim story of Wurtzel’s life and what it means to be hopelessly addicted to drugs (which starts off with Ritalin). During More Now Again, Wurtzel is working on a new book called Bitch, about feminism. The book, of course, turns into a disaster with everyone begging Elizabeth to get some help. What becomes of the life of an addict? What does it mean to live a lifestyle of drugs and addiction? How do addicts feel and what do they do, how do they do it? Wurtzel has amazing insight into this period of her life and it is a stunning and harrowing account without being preachy. Because I really don’t think I have a drug problem- I think I have a life problem. ‘My supply/ of tablets/ has got to last years and years/ I like them more than I like me,’ Anne Sexton writes in The Attic. I like my pills more than me, more than I like anybody else. That’s the only thing I know that matters.” Highly recommended

That's surprising because the book was just recommended to me from Amazon and it's only 273 pages!

That's a good idea, I wish I had done that.