I finished reading The Alchemist's Daughter yesterday and was hoping to start The Red Tent, but I am having some issues procuring the book. So, instead I started reading The Birth House and I am super excited about this one. I got this one for our BAMF's book exchange and it looked really intriguing. I will hopefully be getting The Red Tent by Friday and I can't wait to read about mentration and beastiality!

I borrowed the graphic novel Wonder Woman: Love and Murder from Sarah and thought it was decent. I LOVE Jodi Picoult's books, she is an amazing writer...but her comic book adaptation left me a little less impressed. I have never been into comic books and don't really care too much for lame superheroes, but I do like the idea of graphic novels and I thought the art was fantastic. I liked the way it was drawn and the story moved along quickly. There was dialogue intended to be light and funny, comical and quick witted, but it kind of feel short and felt a bit forced. Even though it didn't knock my socks off...I would still recommend giving it a try...after all it only took me about an hour to read and enjoy the pictures....Wonder Woman has a HUGE bosom!

I have started reading The Red Tent, our next book club selection. It is actually pretty interesting thus far-I am about 40 pages into the tale. The one thing that has shocked me a little bit, though, is the multiple references to beastiality. I have to say that if the options were premarital sex in an agrarian economy or screwing sheeps, that I am shocked that the sheep won. How disturbing!

It's been awhile! I have read quite a few books recently that never made it to the blog. I am reading The Russian Concubine by Kate Furnivall and I love it. I really enjoy books that take place outside of the US because they are always so rich in texture and so beautifully descriptive. All of the characters have their demons and the book contains great loss and amazing strength.

I haven't been reading ANYTHING lately. I feel so terrible about this. I planned to read this past weekend while I was house sitting, but the television was like a vortex. I could not stop watching cable. I watched so much crap. Seriously, I watched the Girls Next Door. I really should have been reading. Here is to reading in the new year!

I finished The Man of my Dreams yesterday. I really liked this book. My friend Emily read it and thought I would identify with the main character. Well, she was correct. The unfortunate thing is that the main character has some serious flaws (fear of relationships, difficulty accepting happiness, and so on). Sadly enough, I could totally identify with her. There is a part at the end that really resonated with me:

"I wanted to hold happiness in reserve, like a bottle of champagne. I postponed it because I was afraid, because I overvalued it, and because I didn't want to use it up, because what do you wish for then? That possibility, that I was intimidated by getting what I wanted, is the hardest one for me to consider, which might mean it is the likeliest." page 266

I think that most of us can identify with this quote. I think there are always things that we hold off on doing. Reading this book definitely gave me some real food for thought. I would recommend this book.

Our Holiday BAMF's book club was a ton of fun, we were spreading merriment and cheer like no other! We did our annual book exchange and I ended up with Giraffe by J.M. Ledgard. So far its an amazing book with such vivid depressing imagery. Its fascinating how the author writes several chapters from the giraffe's point of view. The book is very dark and the author enables you to visualize the depression and despair of the characters and the country.

I am LOVING the book 'Water for Elephants'. I can't seem to put it down, yet I am nervous that I won't finish in time for book club this Friday. It's an amazingly descriptive book and the writing puts the reader in the setting so well that its almost like your there. Great book so far, I can't wait to finish.

I finished Water for Elephants on Wednesday night. I am so ready for book club! I did like the book. I think I was expecting more of an epiphany or spectacular event toward the end, but it was pleasing. I really liked the main character, Jacob. Granted I have never lived or traveled with the circus, but the book seemed really plausible. What do I know, though? I am excited to talk about this one at book club next Friday.

I started reading this holiday romance trilogy that my mom bought after WFE. I have read one of the three stories thus far and it was horrifically weak.

I also realized that I am not on track to make my annual goal of 52 books per year. I just finished number 42. I am a bit disappointed in myself. I might still aim for 48. but that is still a lofty goal.

I haven't posted on BAMFs in a while, so I am super excited. I have read a few romance novels lately and they were so crappy that I didn't even care to write about them. Last night, I started Water for Elephants. I am about fifty pages in and am digging it so far. I was a little worried about the circus aspects being boring or irritating, but so far it is all really palatable. I am trying to finish this weekend so I can give the book to Jenny!. Also, I want to be done well before the 30th because I always wait until far too close to bookclub and then cannot get the book done.

I was thinking recently that I would like my job so much more if I actually took my lunch break every day and read for thirty minutes to an hour. Haven't done it yet, though. Maybe someday soon.

I have been really slacking in the reading and posting department! I am reading The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living and I am really enjoying it. This book is really off the wall and there are twists and turns and weird shit around every corner. I have been working on this one for over a week now and I really just want to finish it. I feel like such a slacker...not even finishing a book a week now!

What? Huh? No one blogged book club? Come on, Jenny!, you are slacking. Book club was held this past Friday at Jenny!'s house. Jeanette was our lovely co-host. We read two different mystery books and did a murder mystery activity. Dinner was delicious. Jeanette made meatloaf and Jenny! took care of the brie with apricot, mashed potatoes, and corn. What a fantastically delicious Midwestern meal! Everyone by me dressed up in costume. This should surprise no one. My character was supposed to wear a black suit and sunglasses. It was 85 degrees and that was so not happening. We barely talked about the books because only a few people finished and we had two different books. A good time was had by all, but some of us party poopers had to leave early because we were too tired and had to wolrk at the JOB on Saturday at 8:30am.

I am reading The Starter Wife by Gigi Levangie Grazer and so far it's decent. It has some pretty entertaining passages about men shaving their balls. I am not all that excited about the fact that it's being made into a movie because I don't like Debra Messing and her sickly looking ass. I do think that she will play Gracie's part well though. And Joan and Cricket have been casted very well too. I will want to see the movie after if comes out, but not sure that it will adapt well to the screen. We shall see!

I just finished Free Love and fucking LOVED it! I couldn't put it down! Next book club meeting is October 5th and we have a special surprise in store for everyone! We are doing a murder mystery! Ohhhh....how fun!

I just finished reading Up Close and Personal. It was a decent and quick read. I started last night and finished this morning. You totally knew where the book was going the entire time, but the characters were really likable. Fern Michaels is a huge animal fan and includes lots of pets in all of her books. I will just say that this can get terribly old. I like cats and dogs, too, but enough already. Please stop devoting so much print to them. Maybe that was her creative way to fluff the text and make the book longer. I have to start looking for something like that.

Next up is The Zookeeper's Wife. It is based on a true story of a couple who smuggled Jews into the Warsaw Zoo during World War II. Should be interesting.

I finished I Love You, Beth Cooper the other night. It was really entertaining and I would highly recommend it. If there is any part of a geek in you-and face it, most of us blogging for sure have that-you would enjoy this one. It is really a quick read and is pretty funny. On to the next book now. I got two at the library. I think I will go with the romance novel next because I will be too embarrassed to read that on a plane.

I am loving I Love You, Beth Cooper. My old roommate Laura had recommended the book to me. She said it was funny and entertaining. It was also featured in the University of Illinois Alumni magazine this summer as Larry Doyle is a U of I alumnus. So, I finally put it on reserve at the library and decided to read it. It has literally made me laugh out loud more times than I can count. The book revolves around Denis Cooverman, valedictorian of Buffalo Grove High School, and his ambiguously gay best friend, Rich Munsch. It starts out with Denis' speech at high school graduation and then the rest transpires on graduation night while hanging out with Beth Cooper and her two friends Cammy and Treece. It has a Can't Hardly Wait or Dazed and Confused feel to it. This book is really funny. There were two quotes I wanted to share, but I cannot find them now.

The BAMFs met for another round of bookclub this past weekend. There were six of us in attendance. Jeanette was not able to attend, unfortunately, because of work. We went to Wishbone in Berwyn for some Southern cooking. The food was fine. Our service was mediocre. I was really surprised by how busy it was. We did actually get to talk about our book, Montana Sky by Nora Roberts. Of the six of us, three were completely finished with the book and three had about 150 pages left. Thus, we didn't get to discuss it all. I think everyone was pleasantly surprised that they were totally digging a romance novel after having looked down on them with disdain. Our next book club will be at Jenny!'s and then the holiday bookclub will be at my house. Jenny and Jeanette have yet to reveal what the October book is, so we are all anxiously awaiting this information.

So far in Montana Sky there is a whole lot of sexual tension...but NO fucking! I want the fucking!

I have to decided to proudly embrace my romance novels and include most of the novels I read on this blog. I am sure there will be a few with covers or titles that embarrass me far too much to include. I saw this book at Target, but didn't buy it because I guessed, as did occur, that my mom would buy it. My mom always buys books by Carly Phillips. They are usually "Bookmarked" at Target when they are new on paperback. I took it from my parents and asked my mom how it was. Her review was so-so. By the way, my favorite thing in the world is when my mom hands me a book and says "You might want to read this. It wasn't very good." Oh, that's right, I have so much time on my hand that I want your crappy books. Seriously! Back to the topic. I actually liked the book. The characters came together fairly quickly and there wasn't all this drama involving contrived, barely existent conflict. They knew they would end up together and so did the reader. They just had to solve a mystery and stay alive to do so. The author also did one of my other non-favorite things which was introduce other characters who one will then have to buy her next book in the fall to find out what happens to. Oh, those clever romance writers. What to read next, that is the question. I will most likely start I Love You, Beth Cooper by Larry Doyle. It was recommended to me by my friend Laura.