I am in love with The Shadow Of The Wind. It is such a great book, it has everything you want in a book, mystery, suspense, murder, good vs. evil, love, hate, sexuality, anger and psychological themes. I would recommend this book to everyone because the way the story unfolds is marvelous. I can't wait to talk about it in February's book club. I can't wait till January's book club either because The Tenth Circle was another awesome book.

The Shadow of the Wind is actually a very good book. I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy it because it seemed heavy and long, but I am really digging it. I am about 125 pages in and don't want to stop reading.

OMG!!! I finished The Tenth Circle last night and was so excited. This is by far my favorite book club book. I didn't want it to end! There are so many twists and turns that keep you intrigued all the way up to the end. There is a shocker moment in the last 4 or 5 pages that I didn't expect (I probably should have seen the signs leading up to it, but I didn't). I couldn't stop talking about how great the book was last night, Don is even going to read this one! I so want to have book club now so we can discuss...I think there might be a lot to talk about. I bought Jodi Picoult's book The Pact yesterday and can't wait to start reading. She is an amazing writer and I love her style.

I found a secret message in The Tenth Circle comic pages. I am over halfway done now, and I noticed that on the illustrated comic pages of the book that there are letters sporadically placed. I went back over the pages that I didn't notice any and sure enough, there were letters all over the place. I think that the letters have been placed there purposely with some kind of message. I am collecting the letters to see what it spells, however; I am not working ahead of my reading because if it is something that will spoil the ending, then I don't want to know yet. In the book, Daniel and Laura met because he was a street caricature artist and he drew a picture of Laura and hide a message in it for her to find and then to meet him later. I loved that part of the story, it was kind of like the soul mates thing going on. Sorry if I just spilled the beans to those of you who haven't read this far yet. I totally didn't describe it as nicely as it is written in the book though. My boner is enormous because of the secret message...watch, it's nothing!!!

I have read about 100 pages in The Tenth Circle and I am really getting into it. I like that the book incorporates actual comic book pages between chapters to help depict the story. It took me about 50 pages to get into the book and start getting intrigued. The last sentence of the 1st chapter was such a cliffhanger. It is kind of a long book (almost 400 pages) and I feel like I haven't made much headway at all. I really enjoy Daniel's (the dad) character and want to find out about his mischievous past. Once again, I hate Laura's (the mother) character and want nothing good for her. The last three or four books we have read, I have hated/disliked the mother character...I wonder why that is?

An unrelated note: Doesn't the author look like Minnie Driver???

I finished Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris and loved it. Sarah was right, this book is hilarious. It just kept getting better as you read. One of my favorite chapters was "Jesus Shaves" about how the French have a Bell instead of an Easter Bunny. I also loved the chapter "Make That a Double" about the conjugation of verbs in French and getting the gender or objects correct.

Here's a paragraph example:

"What's the trick to remembering that a sandwich is masculine? What qualities does it share with anyone in possession of a penis? I'll tell myself that a sandwich is masculine because if left alone for a week or two, it will eventually grow a beard. This works until it's time to order and I decide that because it sometimes loses its makeup, a sandwich is undoubtedly feminine."

In other news...I joined a book of the month club called QPB (qpb.com) that will ship me books (paperback) to my house. I have belonged to these things in the past - JAB do you remember BMG??? - and they have for the most part been a rip off, but I decided I like being screwed up the ass and wanted to give it another try. I actually got a good deal on the 1st Enrollment offer. I am getting seven books for $28.00 so I am pretty pleased. I only have to buy one more book to meet my committment and they are reasonably priced - about the same price if you bought it from Borders plus shipping. But hey, I got seven books for the price of two so I guess I can buy one more that's a rip. Here are the books I am getting in my order: The Mermaid Chair, Saving Fish From Drowning, Prep, My Friend Leonard, The Time Travelers Wife, Missing Mom and The Glass Castle. I started my wish list (it is a bit ridiculous now) but it is kind of exciting. There are so many books I want to read, I want writers to take a year off so that I can catch up with the books that are out right now, its impossible to stay ahead of the reading curve. Here are a few books that I want to read: Marley and Me, Possible Side Effects, Dry, Eye Contact, For One More Day, A Death In Belmont, The Kite Runner, The Secret Life of Bees, Daniel Isn't Talking, A History Of Love, The Line of Beauty, and many many more!!! I still have about 3 books that I have already that are waiting to be read. Better get going...need to read!!!

What I couldn't/didn't say at book club....

Since I finished The Lovely Bones I keep coming back to aspects of the story over and over again. I loved this book and a lot of it has to do with emotions I have not had in a while. The overall story is that a girl dies and then describes her heaven and the aftermath of her death. I know I am that girl who talks about her dead mother all the time but this book just really brought it out for me (mostly through tears- but the good healing kind).

It will be four years in April 2007 since my mom passed away. In this entire time I don't think I ever really thought about what heaven for her might have been like. I grew up with an understanding that Heaven, though not a physical place, is a nearness to God where no sadness can occur. It is comforting to think this and I don't really think it is wrong. This book made me realize though in a kind of precious way that the sadness and longing I have for my mom might have also been emotions she felt as well. I realize it is corny to equate a fictional story with something in real life but it kind of made me feel good to know that she while not sad or in pain like she was on earth might actually look down and miss me back.

Many times after my mom passed away I thought I could feel her presence. Not like a she is in the room with me but more of a stillness with a great deal of comfort. When the book dealt with this topic I realized it has been quit some time since I felt that. Maybe it was because my emotions were heightened then or maybe it is because I needed it then, but it has not happened in a while.

We all grieve in different ways for different things. I am always amazed when I think about how far I have come from the days shortly after when I couldn't sleep for fear that the days might actually pass along. I could not then imagine living without her for this long. And then it happens one day you realize, It has been 3 and a half years. In this way I felt a great connection with the characters in the story. They were the survivors who had to learn to survive, like finding a new way to live all over again. Moving through days when you have to remind yourself to get dressed and then days when you cant help but smile even when you don't want to.

I really enjoyed this book and I think that it has helped in its own way to help me grieve again in a healthy way.

So far The Tenth Circle has not made me cry ( bonus)

Book Club met last night at Ashley's house...great fun! Ashley cooked a really fantastic meal of chicken, company potatoes (or funeral potatoes), pretzel salad, buns and brie with apricot! Her dessert cookies and truffles weren't too shabby either!

I really loved the book exchange part of our meeting and would like to do that at least every 3 months! That was so so so fun! I ended up with a book that I think sounds really interesting. I can't remember what its called, but Elizabeth picked it out so I am betting that it will be good.

We discussed The Lovely Bones for a while. Everyone really enjoyed this book, in fact it was voted as one of the top 2 books we have read along with Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons. The next meeting is on Friday, January 26th at Tina's house.