April Book

So I said I wanted to keep reading a book a month (at least) as my New Year's Resolution again this year. I read Little Women in January and then I was too distracted in February and March to accomplish reading a whole book. I bought The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo to read on the plane rides to and from Italy.

I didn't end up reading it on the plane. I was trying to sleep on the overnight flight there and on the way back I was too tempted to watch Black Swan and True Grit. Both were awesome. I was blown away by Black Swan. We recently watched 127 Hours. I had to pause it when the inevitable scene comes and take some deep breaths to avoid passing out. As far as the Oscar nominees for Best Picture I think all I have left to see is The Fighter. I'm really impressed by all the films that were nominated this year. Now I will return to my reason for writing this post.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is a book that you can't put down once you get a couple hundred pages into it. Michael was feeling under the weather Easter weekend so I sat and read the second half of the book in one day. The subject material is definitely disturbing, but not enough for me to sit around and think about it. If that makes any sense... I watched the movie upon finishing the book. I think the movie would be more disturbing if it was in English (they're actually making an English version to come out in December). If I have to read subtitles I kind of lose focus on the creepiness of the film. For example, I saw the Japanese version of The Ring and it just wasn't that scary.

Anyway after watching the movie I decided that I'm most likely not going to continue reading the series. I feel that there are too many books that I want to read that are about more pleasant things than violent sexual assaults on women. My friend let me borrow E.M. Forster's A Room With a View which takes place in Florence. This is exactly what I wanted to read before my trip, but I am loving being able to picture the scenes in my head since I've been there!

January Book

So I haven't gotten around to writing about resolutions, but I'd like to continue reading at least one book each month. You may have noticed that I didn't read a book in December. I think the crafting and family time made up for it. I had planned on reading Little Women since I've never read it and winter vacation seemed like a good time. Anyway, thanks to this Christmas present I was able to read Little Women this month.

I am being serious when I say that this book just feels good in your hands. Now to talk about the book. I am so sad that I didn't read this in high school when I was busy being grumpy and unhappy. Maybe it would have turned my perspective around and maybe it wouldn't have. All I know is that every "little woman" should read this book. I guess I don't have to say much more because I think everyone has already read it and knows what a fantastic work it is.

Remember when I told you about these beauties? Santa was very kind and our Westie bookends just love holding them up.

Decorating and November Book

We got home from our Thanksgiving trip in time to watch Elf while putting up and decorating our Christmas tree. The tree has turned into a baking tree with cupcake and baking themed ornaments galore.

Of course there are others like the yearly plant a tree pewter ornaments that my mom gives me. They are really pretty and such a nice idea ;) I am also super happy with our beaded snowflake tree topper which my mother in law and I found at Marshall's. I saw one at Caspari last year and it was $80 and way too big for our tree. So I was thrilled to find this one!

And that's not even all the ornaments. I put up my favorites and then quit since what goes on must come off. Also, check out the tree skirt! We found it at Marshall's. I wanted to make one but this is really close to what I wanted and I definitely could not have made it for what I paid (price of tree skirt < materials + emotional distress).

We made pancakes with gingerbread men egg/ pancake molds. They were easier to use than I thought they would be and not a pain at all to clean. All December pancakes shall be gingerbread men pancakes!

On to the November book. I re read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It was just as awesome as it was the first time I read it. This was the first time I've re read a book in my life with the exception of Thunder Rolling in the Mountains by Scott O'Dell. I think I'm going to read Little Women for my December book. Is that a good December book? Can you suggest something more Christmas-y?

October Book

I saw a trailer for Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro and admittedly I had no idea what the movie was about. So I decided to read the book. I don't really know how to describe it without giving too much away. It's not a nail biter or a love story. It's the narrator remembering her life up until a certain point. I guess it's mostly about relationships and loss in a weird way. I know, now you are so intrigued that you are dropping everything and heading to the library.

So I thought it was a good story. A fairly quick read seeing how busy October was and I managed to finish it within the month.

Now I am going to re-read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (aka book seven) since the first part of the last movie will be out in a few weeks. Squeeeeeeee!

September Book

When I went home in August my mom lent me Women Food and God by Geneen Roth. As you have probably guessed it's a self help book and while I'm not a compulsive eater or someone who diets or worries much about their figure I thought it was pretty interesting. The book is applicable to any type of obsession like, say, flipping mindlessly through TV channels or whiling away countless hours on the internet. Things that you do that numb your mind and leave you feeling crappy. Her thoughts on allowing yourself to be in touch with your feelings and letting go of all the emotional crap we carry around are the things I found most interesting.

The author tells you that there is nothing wrong with you. You are good and it's possible to overcome the way you perceive yourself. That the way you look at yourself is really how your parents or other people along your journey have seen you and not how you really are. She tells you how to become really aware of your feelings and to take the time to allow yourself to really feel those feelings- but not become lost in them.

She shares a thought from a buddhist teacher that hell is wanting to be somewhere other than where you are. How true is that? After moving to Charlottesville I spent so much time being upset and wanting to be home and just being completely miserable. Same thing when I switched schools after 9th grade. Instead of seeing the things I could have been doing I was so focused on wanting to be back at my old school. As for Charlottesville I can say that taking up knitting probably saved me. And that's mostly because it allowed me to get out and have some social interaction with kind people. I started finding things to do around Charlottesville and realized what a cool town it was. I started being present in my life and trying to live in the moment.

The author writes from her experiences of dieting and binging and searching for answers. I think she's really got something and if you want to free yourself from the pain and suffering that an obsession is causing you I'd suggest you sit down and read it.

August Book

That's right! I finished Gone with the Wind yesterday. The book is incredible and if you haven't already read it you need to. I loved the movie when I was growing up, and I haven't seen it in many years. I cannot wait for Sunday when I can sit down and watch it. I think when I watched the movie back in the day I always thought I wanted to be like Scarlett. I wanted to dress up like her for Halloween but mostly I probably just wanted to get anything and everything I desired. I also remember thinking that Melanie was dumb. Of course now while I'm reading the book I want to slap Scarlett around and make her change her ways.

Being the eternal optimist that I am I finished the book thinking that Scarlett would come out on top. I really love that the end of the book wasn't all hunky-dory with everyone being happy and with all the problems solved. Margaret Mitchell kept it real. Respect.

June/ July Book

My June book, which I actually started mid-May, turned into my June/ July book. I even incurred a late fee of ten cents. I finished it on August first. I read Antonia Fraser's Marie Antoinette: The Journey. I have been wanting to read it since Sofia Coppola's movie, Marie Antoinette came out since the movie was based on the biography. It was a lengthy book filled with tons of information. It was an in depth look at who Marie Antoinette was- beginning with her childhood and ending with her death. I enjoyed every second of it.

Now if I can only figure out what I want to read next. Most of the books that I want to read are either checked out or on hold at the library. Any suggestions?

May Book

I was a little nervous that having a real deadline (i.e. library due date) would discourage me from picking up The Kite Runner. No matter how interested I was in reading this book, the idea of a deadline threatened to leave it collecting dust on the coffee table. I picked it up and could barely put it down.

I haven't read many books in which the setting is not somewhere like the US or England. Besides The Good Earth which I had to read in high school, Love In the Time of Cholera was the first book I read and began to embrace another culture though its literature. The Kite Runner was another such book. It's a story set in Afghanistan and America. While I don't pretend to understand every nuance of Afghanistan's history and customs, the book shed some light on a people who have experienced things I can't even wrap my mind around.

It's a story about the bonds of family, friends, and those that you feel to your country. It's a story about atonement. Not the lightest of subject matter, but it's most definitely a book to put on your reading list.

April Book

Maybe I've felt so strange during the past two weeks in part from reading Picture Perfect by Jodi Piccoult. The book is well written and easy to read. The subject matter is heavy since it's about an abusive relationship. That's really all I have to say about it. I'm trying to decide what I feel like reading in May. Something happy.

March Book

Have you read Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass? They are fantastic and such quick reads. They are clever and whimsical. Such a good spring time book, in my opinion, and a definite for your bookshelf.

When Michael and I stopped in a used book store, which I think specializes in rare books, the man working there is apparently a HUGE fan of the Alice stories and he told me to get the Annotated Alice, but I forgot. The copy that I bought at a different used book store (not the one I had seen earlier in February in their window because it was $50) on the Downtown Mall had notes about some of the satire in the book. Honestly I didn't read all the notes, but the introduction was interesting and I'm not interested enough to read about every poem and song recited and sung. But if you are then I'm telling you that an annotated version exists.

I Netflix'd Disney's Alice in Wonderland and it came in today! It's been forever since I've seen it. There seem to be several versions out but I'm thinking I'll stick with Disney. I haven't seen the new Alice in Wonderland since it costs an arm and a leg to go to the movies here.

My next book is Picture Perfect by Jodi Piccoult. What are you reading?

February Book

I just finished reading Emma. I think it has to be my favorite Jane Austen novel. I loved Pride and Prejudice, but Emma was different. So maybe there's not much of a comparison. Of course they are both love stories. I guess I appreciated the comedy in Emma more, and it moved faster for me than Pride and Prejudice did. I am clearly no great book critic. ha!

My artsy shot of Emma

I am a little sad that I am finished with Jane Austen because there are at least three movies made for every novel. After Best Picture nominees on my Netflix queue are something like five movies for the last two books I read.

So I have a few days left in the month to decide what I want to read for my March book. I am thinking Alice in Wonderland. I saw a neat old copy in a book store on the Downtown Mall. Maybe I will go to work early tomorrow to check it out.

In news related to books, I joined a site called Good Reads where you can keep track of books you've read and books you want to read. You can befriend people and see what they have read, too. Seems much more enriching than stalking your friends on Facebook.

January's Book

Today it has been snowing since we woke up. Or should I say since Theo woke us up to go outside. The snow and waking up early on a Saturday afforded me the time to finish Sense and Sensibility which I started months ago but haven't been able to finish until I added "reading one book per month" to my list of resolutions.

I'm not going to review the books I read. I'll tell you if I like them but I won't pretend to know what goes into an actual review. So, yes, I enjoyed this book as I have enjoyed all of Jane Austen's novels that I have read. Emma is next and it will be my final Austen novel. I started reading them last year around this time. With Michael gone in February to Salem for his Psychiatry rotation I am sure I will have plenty of time to read Emma.

Resolutions

Resolutions always seem to involve losing weight. I am typing this as the scent of baking homemade brownies wafts through our side of the duplex. I'm sharing my 2010 to-do list with you. It's going to be a good year.

Places I will visit:
1. jamestown
2. mount vernon
3. boston to see Andrew (hopefully by train)
4. NYC

Things I will do:
1. sew at least one article of clothing
2. take a tap dance class
3. get a new camera
4. acquire and learn to use Photoshop
5. eat less fast food
6. hike once a month (unless it's super cold)
7. canoe on the James River
8. take Theo to the beach (which will involve- but is not limited to- icees, a picnic, and music)
9. be a part of the Women's 4 Miler Training Program (and then complete the race)
10. read 1 book a month
11. attend the naturalization ceremony at Monticello on the 4th of July
12. volunteer
13. go to the Virginia Safari Park and the Natural Bridge for my birthday