Outstanding in the Field

I just found out about this book/organization through a book signing at Anthropologie in Berkeley, CA. The author, Jim Denevan, has been dubbed the inventor of the slow food movement. He and his culinary troop travel around from farm to farm throughout North America and host remarkable meals with all local and sustainable ingredients.

The experience is a little pricy for my budget at $200 a person, but it is definately on my to do list.
I will have to live with his cook book for now.

Outstanding in the Field

photo from website: http://www.outstandinginthefield.com/shop.html

Three Cups of Tea

I just found out about this book today from my supervisor. She went to hear the author, Greg Mortensen, speak and promote his book in San Francisco last night. His story is really inspiring. He has dedicated the most recent years of his life promoting education in Afghanistan and Pakistan while emphasizing the importance of educating women.

The subtitle of the book, One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time, sums up his vision and his new life mission. I can't wait to dig into this book.

No reading today

Well I did read a little on the bus to work. I just got home from the Blitzen Trapper and Fleet Foxes show at the Fox in Oakland. It was an awesome show.

I went for Blitzen Trapper but I sort of got into Fleet Foxes. Before tonight I had very little exposure to their music. Their singer has a great voice and I'll always listen to vocal harmonies.

I have to say that BT is still my favorite of the night. Fleet Foxes make beautiful music, but most of their songs are too mellow and slow for me. BT has enough rhythm to keep me interested.

I hope I can get a good sized chunk of reading in tomorrow.

Worn out from the weekend...

Today was quite a busy day! We started out by going to the Jack London Square farmer's market. I came back home to meet my brother and his friends who took my GIANT tv off of my hands. I helped out with the yard work and then started prep work for our grilled chicken fajitas. We just finished eating and I can't wait to change into my pajamas and continue interview with the vampire.

Currently reading...

I recently started reading Interview with the Vampire. my husband saw how much I loved Twilight and wanted me to read the "original." Well, I guess the original is Bram Stoker's Dracula. I am on page 126. It's getting pretty good. I was so caught up in the story I forgot to get ready for tonight and was 30 minutes late! Oops!

I don't know if Stephenie Meyer was influenced by Ann Rice, but I see a lot of similarities. I think the next set of vampire novels will be the True Blood/Sookie Stackhouse series. I have heard a lot of good things about them.

Anyone else out there read any good vampire books?

The subject matter is very hard to take. It's quite a sad story and doesn't get any happier at the end, but I still really loved this book. I found myself feeling like I was the only friend to little Bone, the main character, and I wished I could do something to help her.

I read this book in one of my college lit classes that was focused on stories about "the other." Bone is not the only person in this story who feels outcast and alone. I found it very interesting to examine the behavior of each of the characters in response to their feelings of being "the other."

Dorothy Allison wrote this as a semi-autobiographical novel.

It's so sad that people feel it is necessary to abuse and exploit others, especially children.

My Horizontal Life

This is the funniest book ever! Chelsea Handler cracks me up! This was an impulse buy at the airport on my long ride home from a fun vacation on the Jersey Shore. I was bummed to be returning to work and grabbed this to pass the grueling 6 hour ride back to my West-coast reality. I figured Chelsea's show was funny, her book should be able to entertain me for a few hours.

I was pleasantly surprised when I got into this book. From chapter 1 I was in. I laughed out loud on the airplane and had Britt (my husband) reading over my shoulder to see what was so funny.

This is a great casual read. The chapters don't necessarily flow into each other so it is easy to put down and pick up as you please.

Enjoy!

Earth's Children - a 5 book series

I never thought in a million years that I would read these books. I have always known of their existence. They have a permanent resting place on the living room bookshelf at my grandma's house. She has followed the entire series. My mother is also a fan, although she has only read the first three.

As a child I remember seeing the second volume, The Valley of the Horses, desperately wanting to read it. At the time I was a huge fan of horses. When I asked to read them I was told I had to wait until I was older, and for good reason.

This past new year's day I was "trapped" at my grandma's house waiting for my husband, brother, cousin, or anyone my age to rescue me from an afternoon with the 80 and over crowd. I was tired and slightly hung over from the night before and didn't have anything to help me pass the next few hours. I decided to start reading to pass the time.

I was quickly drawn into the story. The series is a historical fiction novel about a Cro-Magnon little girl who is orphaned after an earthquake and is adopted by a clan of Neanderthals. She lives with the clan throughout her adolescence and eventually strikes out on her own to find others like herself. Jean M. Auel uses her novel to not only tell the fictional story of the young woman struggling to fit in and learn about her own kind, but to also paint a picture of the physical landscape of Eastern Europe from 30,000-15,000 years ago.

The series as a whole sheds light on Neanderthal culture, human survival, invention, communication, cultural differences and understanding, and human human nature at its most basic and complex levels.

I cannot wait for the final installment to be released. The date has yet to be announced.

Jane Eyre

The first time I read this book I was a sophomore in high school and had to read it as part of my required summer reading. It was slow to start in the beginning, but but I quickly connected to little Jane. By the time Jane met the love of her life, Mr. Rochester, and was established in Thornfield Hall, I was hooked.

I would have to say this is my favorite book of all time. This was not only the first "real" book I read, but it is also the first book I re-read. Re-reading the book was a very interesting experience for me. The mystery was gone (since I knew what was to happen) but there was a different kind of suspense. It was more the suspense surrounding the anticipation of knowing what was going to happen and not having the patience to wait to get to the good parts!

I had much deeper appreciation for the novel looking at it from an adult perspective. Re-reading Jane Eyre reinforced my original standing that this is my favorite book of all time.

I love reading

Sample Images

The beginning

The first book I read that got me started with my new reading addiction was Twilight. It started at work. My friend started reading Twilight non-stop. She carried the book around with her everywhere she went. When I would ask her about her book and she tried to explain the subject, I have to admit I thought it was pretty lame. Vampires in high school fighting with werewolves didn't sound like something I would really like.

Finally after months of hearing nothing but Twilight, I gave it a try... and I couldn't put it down. I have to say that the writing is really not that deep. I guess that is why it is in the young adult section of the book store.

The story line is another thing. Stephenie Meyers really captures the feelings of being in high school again and having your first crush and/or your first love. I was transported back to 1997-2000 and couldn't help feeling for what the characters were going through.

I believe Stephenie Meyer's occasional references to the classics really opened my eyes to what I had been missing in school. I suddenly had a strong desire to re-read (or finish reading) the classic romance novels of the Bronte sisters and Jane Austen.

Introduction

Hello,

This is my first entry in my blog. I am trying to keep track of the books I have read and I would like to expand my "to do" list of books I want to read.

I never really thought of myself as a reader. When I was in school, I would start our assigned reading books and would somehow never finish them. Once, I even had my boyfriend read a book for me and give me a review so I could write a paper on it for class.

After all the required reading, I never really got into reading on my own. I would read Harry Potter and Chelsea Handler (hilarious by the way) with no problem, but anything else was a lost cause.

Things aren't like that for me anymore. Something strange happened to me within the last 4 months. It began with the Twilight series of books by Stephenie Meyers and has taken off from there.

In the past 4 months I read all 4 Twilight books, re-read Jane Eyre(which was the only required reading from highschool that I really enjoyed), and I am finishing up the 5 book Earth's Children's Series by Jean Auel.

I am adding books to my list and my stack keeps going and going.