I finished Dry and have started reading The Last Boy. It was a recommendation from Elizabeth so I am positive that I will love it. Dry was not as good as Running With Scissors, but was still enjoyable and hilarious.

I finished reading Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult and loved it. Since this is the third book I have read by Picoult, I was able to guess the surprise ending long before it was revealed. I think this is my favorite Picoult book of the three that I have read. It really left me wanting more story about what happens after the book ends, but I was kind of disappointed in the end. I think it was because I knew the secret and then when it was revealed it didn't pack the kind of punch that I am use to at the end of her books. This was a great recommendation by Elizabeth, she has recommended the most fantastic books and I think from now on, I am going to defer my book choices to Elizabeth.

I have started reading Dry by Augusten Burroughs. I loved Running With Scissors, so I am hoping this lives up to my expecations!

This is my latest book. Thanks Memo for buying it for me. I have heard really good things about and so far they are all true.

It is about the life of a high school English teacher in New York. He tells a great story and has been through some pretty amazing things. The last three books I read all had death in them and so I am hoping that this one is a change of pace from that!

Me and Emma

So I am working on my February book, me and Emma. SO far it is really interesting but also very disturbing. The entire story is told through the voice of a little girl about her and her sister. Where it really has gotten strange is that the youngest girl is being molested by the step father but becuase the story is told by the other little sister she is rather flippant about what is happening (mostly becuase she does not get what is going on).

Jenny picked this book out and it is really a good choice. I am really hoping that the little girls figure out how to do away with the step father becuase I am just about done with his character.

Of course the most frustrating character is the mother who knows what is going on and is not trying to stop it.

To present this book to the book club I was going to make a power point or display board (mostly for my own entertainment) but know I am thinking I may go all out and make a little quilt or something!

I finished reading The Glass Castle and found it kind of interesting and enjoyable, not the most captivating of books.

She opens her memoir by describing looking out the window of her taxi, wondering if she's "overdressed for the evening" and spotting her mother on the sidewalk, "rooting through a dumpster." Walls's parents—just two of the unforgettable characters in this excellent, unusual book—were a matched pair of eccentrics, and raising four children didn't conventionalize either of them. Her father was a self-taught man, a would-be inventor who could stay longer at a poker table than at most jobs and had "a little bit of a drinking situation," as her mother put it. With a fantastic storytelling knack, Walls describes her artist mom's great gift for rationalizing. Apartment walls so thin they heard all their neighbors? What a bonus—they'd "pick up a little Spanish without even studying." Why feed their pets? They'd be helping them "by not allowing them to become dependent." While Walls's father's version of Christmas presents—walking each child into the Arizona desert at night and letting each one claim a star—was delightful, he wasn't so dear when he stole the kids' hard-earned savings to go on a bender. The Walls children learned to support themselves, eating out of trashcans at school or painting their skin so the holes in their pants didn't show. Buck-toothed Jeannette even tried making her own braces when she heard what orthodontia cost. One by one, each child escaped to New York City. Still, it wasn't long before their parents appeared on their doorsteps. "Why not?" Mom said. "Being homeless is an adventure."

I really found the parental units disturbing and disgusting. I really must have some kind of complex that never allows me to like the mother figure in books. It's amazing how fucked up families can be!

I am so much in love with Jodi Picoult that I am reading Plain Truth. So far so good!

The Pact is so far a fantastic book. I have high hopes since I absolutely loved The Tenth Circle. I am about 175 pages into the 500 page book and can't tear myself away. At first glance, I thought that this was going to be a cheesy Romeo and Juliet style story, but it is totally is better!

Kite Runner was a fantastic book. It took me about 100 pages to get into it. In fact the 1st 100 pages took me about 5 days to get through and the last 275 I got through in one day. This book kept me guessing the whole time and when you thought you knew how it was going to work out, the story up and changes itself. I would recommend this book highly.

The Kite Runner follows the story of Amir, the privileged son of a wealthy businessman in Kabul, and Hassan, the son of Amir's father's servant. As children in the relatively stable Afghanistan of the early 1970s, the boys are inseparable. They spend idyllic days running kites and telling stories of mystical places and powerful warriors until an unspeakable event changes the nature of their relationship forever, and eventually cements their bond in ways neither boy could have ever predicted. Even after Amir and his father flee to America, Amir remains haunted by his cowardly actions and disloyalty. In part, it is these demons and the sometimes impossible quest for forgiveness that bring him back to his war-torn native land after it comes under Taliban rule.

I am going to start Jodi Picoult's book The Pact. I loved The Tenth Circle so hopefully this book will be just as amazing!

Last night I finished The Memory Keepers Daughter. It was a quick read and it was so-so. I did not love it, but was glad that I read it. Towards the end I was basically skimming because I was getting terribly bored. I rushed through the last 100 pages so that I didn't have to spend another night reading this book. I didn't particularly like the ending, nor did I love the characters. I thought all the characters blamed everyone else but themselves for their problems and never really owned up to their mistakes. Again, I found myself hating the mother character (what is with me and hating the mother figures in books...I don't have any pent up rage against my own mother) and not liking the way she shunned her husband and ignored her fault in her miserable marriage. The dad was pinned to be the root of the problem (which, admittedly he made huge mistakes) but his wife did nothing to make the situations any better. I didn't like the son's character either, he was a shit and needed to be slapped around. I found the basis of the book to be off and kind of out there (I guess that's the point of a novel and creative writing). I don't know if it was the actual book that left me feeling high and dry (totally not ridden hard and put away wet), but maybe the fact that after reading The Shadow of the Wind, this book just couldn't compete.

I started reading The Kite Runner last night and so far it's okay, I will update you when I get a little farther in.

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.

I finished The Lovely Bones the other day and absolutely loved it! It is one of my favorite books from book club. I am looking forward to our next book, The Tenth Circle. This book was a really suprising read, I wasn't expecting to love it because of the subject matter and themes throughout the book. I found myself angry at the mother in this book too, kind of like the Curious Incident of the Dog. Towards the end it got a little weird, but all in all, the book was great! See you guys next week for book club...don't forget your book for the grab bag!

Book Club was a blast! We had a Tastefully Simple party before hand, so that kind of mixed it up a bit. Those dips are fantastic! I am slightly disappointed that we didn't make it to Studio 21 after the meeting...that would have been some kind of fun! I thought people were going to like the book more. I didn't really love it, but I didn't hate it either. The next book is Lovely Bones and the meeting is on December 1st at Ashley's. This will be our 1 year anniversary meeting...OMG!!! We are also going to do a book exchange secret Satan thing so that sounds pretty fun. I am going to finish the vampire novel book before I start Lovely Bones. I also can't wait to talk to Lorna on November 18th...that will be different.

So I am not impressed with Curious Incident...

Everytime I started to get into the story he would go off on this insane and at times boring launch into stuff that just did not matter. I guess I can say that I thought it was interesting to read the thought process of an Autistic person but it was just not enough to really keep me engaged in the book.

I think it was also a slight let down after I read Running With Scissors which I thought was absolutely fantastic. I cannot wait for the movie to some out, although I am sure there will be a long debate about the changes made for the movie. After just seeing the previews I am already upset that the girl Augusten hangs out with (whats her name) is not overweight in the movie. I also can tell already that the house will not be as disgusting as it was described in the book.

I really have to get on it with the reading thing becuase I have just begun Tall Pine Polka and it seems a little slow at first. Housewives eating bonbons was the same way though and I loved it!

I have started reading the book "Little Children" by Tom Perrotta. I am about half way through and it is okay. I wouldn't highly recommend the book to people, but I wouldn't call it a complete waste of time. Tom Perrotta is the author of "Election" and "Joe College" so I expected this book to be funny like "Election" - it's not! I loved "Election" the movie, I never read the book and I am slightly disappointed because that was so witty and fun, and this is totally not like that at all. This book is being made into a movie, don't know release date or anything, but I'm not sure how great of a movie it will be. I think that Kate Winslet may be in it?