Exceedingly Mundane

I finished the second in a series of 5 books by Karen Kingsbury and Gary Smalley (the “Redemption” series) last night. The books follow the Baxter family from Bloomington, Indiana and their five grown children (each book covers a different sibling, but their storylines all criss-cross between books). This book touches on the events of 9/11, so it was an especially good one to read.

I won’t enter a separate review of this book on Hambones, since I reviewed the initial one and intended for that to cover all 5 books in the series. This book makes 11 for the year, with a total of 3,911 pages read.

These are great books, by the way. Gail is also reading them, and is one book ahead of me in the series. They are available at my local public library, so they should be readily available. Good reading that I highly recommend

I finished another book yesterday afternoon late, the second Brad Meltzer book I have read, called “Dead Even”. I had checked this one out of the library after reading a Meltzer that we own, called “The First Counsel”. Both are good legal thrillers, along the lines of a good Grisham book. I think I will eventually check out another Meltzer book from the library, called “The Tenth Justice”. All of his books seem to be pretty good. I will work on a review and put it up on Hambones soon. 🙂

For the record, this is book #10 on the year, with a total of 3,528 pages read. I finished reading Dead Even while we were at the driving range. We ran and picked up some fast food for supper, then Tim graciously agreed to go to the library with me to return the three books I had finished, and get 3 more. He also browsed through the golf section and got himself a book called “The Perfect Swing”. I have added the 3 new books to my sidebar that I picked up. They are “Remember” by Karen Kingsbury (2nd in a series of 5 books called the “Redemption” series), “One Tuesday Morning” by Karen Kingsbury (a book about 9/11) and a book that they had just put out, and I was the first one to check out! This book is on the NY Times Bestseller list and is a historical fiction book about a woman in 1500’s Italy. Not sure I will like the genre, but it’s a best seller and my library just got their copy in this week, so when I saw it on the “New Arrivals” shelf, I grabbed it. The lady checking me out had trouble getting it to scan, and then I told her where it was and she goes “Oh, that one is brand new, I’ll have to set it up in the system for circulation”. So, I think I’m the first one to read it. Cool, for a library nerd like me 😀 Anyway, it’s called “In the Company of the Courtesan” by Sarah Dunant, and I’m going to give it a shot. If I like it, I like it and if I don’t, nothing lost, I’ll just return it to the library.

As always, my philosophy remains. Every time I go to the library I think the same thing — “So many books, so little time”!!!

I finished another book last night – well, actually this morning. I stayed up really late and I’m feeling it this morning. I was still up reading at 1:30 AM when Tim came to bed (he’d been working on a program), and I finished it a few minutes later. It was really light and fun and frivolous and I laughed out loud at several parts. I really enjoyed it, as I had all of her Shopaholic books that I had read.

I need to do a review and add to Hambones, maybe later today or this weekend. In the mean time, this makes a total of 9 books so far this year, with a total of 3127 pages read. I have one more book from my last library run. Another Brad Meltzer book, called “Dead Even”. This is the first Meltzer book that Tim read, that got him hooked, so it should be good.

Oh, and one little funny. I think when Tim came in last night, he expected to find me asleep and I was wide awake, reading. I often fall asleep while I’m reading before bedtime, so he usually comes in, marks my page with my bookmark, puts it on my nightstand and turns out the light (yes, isn’t he a sweetheart!). When he saw I was wide awake and reading, he couldn’t resist a little jab. He goes “What, are you reading like a book-a-day now?!” 😀

With the new season of American Idol on now (see post below!), I have all my music vibes going full blast. Plus, I have been watching Dancing with the Stars and enjoying all the dancing and music on that show. Including the PussyCat Dolls that were on one Friday night, and especially – Michael Buble, whom I love! He was on one of the Friday Results shows and I got re-enamored of him again

So, today I went on iTunes and bought:

The debut album by Carrie Underwood… we really liked her last season and I’ve been meaning to get it for a while, since it came out before the holidays. I’ve been listening to it this afternoon, and so far I really like it!

I also got the rest of “It’s Time” by Michael Buble. I had already downloaded the song “Home”, which is my favorite, but decided after seeing him sing on DWTS that I *needed* the whole album. 😀

I just finished “Danzig Passage” by Bodie Thoene this morning. Tim had to work really late last night, and I sat up till midnight reading, but didn’t quite finish it. So, since I got up earlier than he did this morning, I was able to finish reading it. What good books these are 🙂 This is #5 of 6 in the Zion Covenant series.

This makes 8 so far this year, with a total of 2753 pages read. 😀

I think I’m going to switch gears now and read something a little lighter. The last several books I have read have either been in the Zion Covenant series (struggle of Jews and those trying to help them as Hitler ravages all of Europe) or legal thrillers like “The First Counsel” which I just finished, and “Dead Even” which I also have checked out from the library (both by Brad Meltzer). I am going to read “The Undomestic Goddess” by Sophie Kinsella. I read 2 or 3 of her Shopaholic books last year and really enjoyed them. They are light, funny and entertaining. Books about shopping are a nice diversion 🙂

Mark another item off of my to-do list 😀 I just finished typing up 5 movie and 1 book reviews in the Reviews Section at Hambones.org. I added reviews for the following movies:

a) Eight Below (theater)
b) Kingdom of Heaven (DVD)
c) The Legend of Zorro (DVD)
d) Flightplan (DVD)
e) Just Like Heaven (DVD)

And the book “The First Counsel” by Brad Meltzer. Whew, caught up, for a few days, at least. 🙂

Be sure to add any reviews of books or movies to the Reviews section, if you are so inclined. 😆

I finished “The First Counsel” by Brad Meltzer last night. This is a book we own, that I bought for Tim a couple of years ago, and that I pulled out of our library when I wanted something to tide me over, until my next trip to the library (tomorrow). This was a really good book, very similar to a good John Grisham legal thriller. Tim really likes this author, Brad Meltzer, and I can see why. He sucks you in pretty quickly, gives you impossible situations, and then leads you from pillar to post, first throwing the plot one way and then another.

I need to write a review of this book for Hambones, but I haven’t yet… maybe soon! This book makes #7 on the year for me, with a total of 2,340 pages read so far. I am going to the library tomorrow to return the 3 I have finished, and check out more. For today, I will resist the urge to start a new book and try to instead focus on cleaning out some magazines that I have piled up around here. That, and the huge pile of mail on the kitchen table.

I think I may get more reading done in the near future, if I do more of what I did yesterday. Tim wanted to go to the driving range and me go with him. He really wanted me to hit balls, but as I told him repeatedly, “I don’t want to hit golf balls, I don’t want to play golf”. So, we compromised, I took my book and iPod and read while he hit balls to his heart’s content. If I go with him more, I will get a lot more reading in! A lot less chores, laundry and cleaning done, but more reading! 🙂

Yesterday was a pretty cold and windy day, so I curled up and read most of the afternoon and evening. I finished the 4th book in the Zion Covenant series by Bodie Thoene, “Jerusalem Interlude”. While I liked this book, and enjoy reading the next one in the series, I will say that I didn’t like this one as much as the previous 3 I had read. I didn’t find the subject matter (Jerusalem, Arabs vs Jews) as interesting as I had the others, which focused more on Hitler’s pre-war expansion in Europe. It was a good book though, and I’m looking forward to reading the final 2 in this series. I won’t put up an individual review on Hambones, since this is part of a series.

OK, that makes 6 books read so far in 2006, and a total of 1861 pages. You can check out my sidebar for that info, any time. 🙂

Up next to read… something that we own; have to figure out which one. This is the last book of 3 that I checked out from the library a couple of weeks ago. All of our library branches are closed on Sundays, so I can’t go this afternoon and check out more books. I will probably either start a Grisham from our library (I’m about 5 or 6 books behind with his), or else my new Nicholas Sparks book. I’ll have to move up my trip to the library this week!

UPDATE: Ok, I’ve settled on “The First Counsel” by Brad Meltzer. Tim has read several of Meltzer’s books and this is one of his favorites. We own it in hardback, so that’s on the docket next. 🙂

I finished the book “Redemption” by Karen Kingsbury and Gary Smalley last night late. Tim had to work really late, so I stayed up late and finished my book. I really enjoyed it (it’s the first in a series of 5 books by the same 2 authors, about the same family) and I’m really looking forward to reading the others.

I just checked online and the other 4 books in the series are available at my local library. A couple are currently checked out, and one has a hold waiting on it, so it may be a while before I can get through them all. But they are there and available, and I’m very patient. 🙂 I love that I can sit at home in my pajamas and bring up the card catalog from my library online and look and see a) what is available b) if it’s checked out c) when it is due back and d) if someone else has a hold on it, waiting for it to return. I love the Internet

I’ll try to get a review up soon in the Reviews section of Hambones. That brings my number of books read so far in 2006 to a whopping 5. 😀 Pages read are at 1461 (see sidebar counters). I think that’s pretty good, don’t you?!

Today, I have a lot of laundry and cleaning to do. I hope to try to work out again this afternoon, and if I have time, I’m going to catch up on several days worth of newspapers. Once I’m caught up on the papers, (and I’m not watching all of our TV shows!), I will try to start the next book in the Zion Covenant series (Jerusalem Interlude).

I almost gave up and quit reading my latest book “Talk to the Hand” by Lynne Truss. I have been struggling for the past several days, trying to read this book and not give up and chuck it. I finally persevered, more out of stubbornness than a desire to read the book and get anything out of it.

I tried to branch out of my comfort zone and read a “different” kind of book for me, and in this particular instance, it didn’t really work. Reading this book was a struggle and I didn’t really enjoy the book, and didn’t retain much from it. I’m accustomed to reading fiction, where there are characters I can enjoy and “get into” and there’s a plot and story that I want to learn that happens. This book is more like a textbook, more like being back in college and sitting in a sociology class and hearing the professors drone on and on in a monotone voice.

I agree with what the author is saying – the world has become a more rude place and the advent of technology has really speeded up that progression. Courtesy, respect, manners are quickly becoming harder and harder to find in others. People have their own private space, a bubble, and they don’t interact with others as well as they did in the past. Blame cell phones, blame email, blame text messaging, blame the Internet, blame lots of these things. I agree with all of this, and there were several vignettes in the book where she related personal experiences to attest to this fact. Those were quite enjoyable, as well as a few other passages in the book. However, she would also quote from books such as “The Civilizing Process: Sociogenetic and Psychogenetic Investigations” by Norbert Elias (1939). Ack. The bibliography is 3 pages long, she quoted from so many boring textbooks on social behavior. This is just not me anymore, I guess.

I almost quit…. but I didn’t. The OCD part of me did not want to give up and be a quitter, so I did finish it. Barely. That makes 4 for the year so far.

If you’d like an example of how the book reads, you can click on the Read more section and read an excerpt from the book.

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I stayed up late last night and finished the Nicholas Sparks book “True Believer”. I had bought it last summer to take on vacation and read, and of course, never opened it while we were gone. 🙂 It was a quick read and a good book, typical Nicholas Sparks fare. I have another one of his to read that I got for Christmas, called “First Light”, but I think I will wait and read something else in between. I don’t want to OD on Sparks.

I need to write reviews on both books I have finished in the last week and put them up on Hambones. Alas, I don’t think anyone reads them or cares, so I’ve gotten fairly slack in that department. It’s on my “to-do” list though. 😀

That makes 3 for the year, and a total of 911 pages completed. I’m trying to decide now if I want to read something that we have here, like one of the many Grisham books we own and I have not read, if I want to go to the library and check out some books, or if I want to go to the bookstore and buy some books. Decisions, decisions.

I finished the last book in the Mitford series by Jan Karon last night, Light from Heaven. It was a bittersweet thing for me to finally finish this book – I wanted to finish it and see how it ended, but I hated to see these books and this series come to an end. Sigh. Very sad. I’ve read all nine of these books and enjoyed them immensely. They are comfy cozy books, like an old quilt, and I look forward to each new one so that I can read it and see what’s going on with my favorite characters. Now, the series is over and there are no more. The good news is that the writer, Jan Karon, is going to take the main character (Father Tim) and do a set of 3 books about him, and just not have them set in Mitford. So, I do look forward to those. The first book won’t be out until 2007, though.

OK, I’ve updated my sidebar. That makes 2 books so far for 2006, 589 pages completed. I still have to enter a book review on the Reviews section of Hambones for “Light from Heaven”.

I started the Nicholas Sparks book I bought last summer, “True Believer” late last night, and so that’s my new “currently reading” 🙂

I finished the book “90 Minutes in Heaven” by Don Piper a couple of days ago, but haven’t had a chance to type up a review of it on Hambones. I finally did the review this morning, and you can read it here on Hambones.org.

In summary, a very enjoyable book. It did jump around and was sort of random in its telling of the story, which is hard for someone like me (very OCD about things like that). But, the story itself and the feeling the book left me with really outweighed any negatives I might have to say about it. Great story, I recommend it to anyone to read.

I have now started the last book in the Mitford book by Jan Karon – Light in Heaven (a Christmas present from Tim’s parents). I have read all of the Mitford books and loved every one of them. I am so sorry to hear that this is the last book in the series. However, I got online and listened to an interview with Jan Karon and was so happy to hear her say that she’s working on a series of 3 books about Father Tim, although they are not set in Mitford. The first book is supposed to be called “Home to Holly Springs” (as in Holly Springs, Mississippi!) and is to be published in 2007. So, I’m very glad not to have to completely say goodbye to this character I love so much. This is a long book, nearly 400 pages, so I will be reading it for a while!

I finished the Christmas paperback book “Home for the Holidays” by Debbie Macomber last night. It was a book with 2 short stories in it, light “women’s fiction” about people who meet and fall in love, and resolve issue with their families, and discover the joys of Christmas, all wrapped up in a short book. I thoroughly enjoyed both of them, though, and am happy to report that with the completion of this book, I completed my goal for the year! I read 35 books (my first goal was 30, so I revised it when I reached 30) and met my goal. Yippee for me!

I would like to start a new book, but hey – I have to be realistic. I still have to do Christmas cards, finish shopping, do all the wrapping, then do some baking and cooking next week. I’m fast running out of time, so I don’t think starting a new book now is prudent! I really would like to read though, it’s a good escape and stress reliever for me. Either way, I look forward to jumping back into my reading in January, and setting a new goal for 2006.

As for other news, Tim is taking off a half day today, and we’re going to go shopping this afternoon. I hope to finish up all the shopping then! I might still have a couple of small happies to get for his stocking, but otherwise, I hope I’m done later today. Then, there’s all of them to wrap!

Last night after we finished with the grout, we hopped in the truck and ran to Sonic. We barely made it home in time to watch Lost. When we turned the TV on, the tail section was falling into the ocean, so I don’t think we missed anything. We rested and watched both Lost and Invasion.

After that, I settled in to read and finish my book. And I did! I finished “Munich Signature”, book 3 in the Zion Covenant series by Brock and Bodie Thoene. That makes #34 on the list for the year. My original goal was 30, and my modified goal was 35. Now, I have to return this book to the library and decide if I want to check out the next one in this series (these are looooong books!) or if I want to read one of the books I have here. I bought a Nicholas Sparks a few months ago that I have not read (“True Believer”) and now he has a new one out that I will probably add to my Amazon list. Plus, I have the book that Wendy recommended that Tim bought me for my birthday that I want to read (“90 Minutes in Heaven”). So, that’s my dilemma – whether to keep on with the Zion Covenant series or read some of the books I have here. I was going to stop after this one, but I’m so close to meeting my second goal of 35 books, that I feel compelled to read at least one more. I just know it’s going to be hard with all the birthdays and holidays and decorating and shopping that we have coming up. Sigh. Decisions, decisions! Tough life, I know. No bashing!

UPDATE: OK, problem solved. I found a paperback by Debbie Macomber of 2 Christmas short stories today when I went to Walmart. I picked that up, and will read that next. 🙂 Picture of the cover just added to my sidebar, look to the right ➡