The Story of My Life

My niece JessJess had been urging me to read the Stephanie Meyer books for a year now.... She came to visit this summer and left me the first 3 books of the series. She came back later in the summer and I had not read the first one, so she took them home. I guess I just figured I, a grown up librarian, literary intellect that I was- could not possible love young adult novels concerning vampires. Was I ever wrong. Jess came back to visit last weekend and brought me Twilight , the first book in the series. I began reading it on Sunday afternoon and was hooked. I hurried the children to bed, took it to work, stayed up way too late and finished it in no time. Bella Swan is the heroine of the tale and we are immediately drawn to her story. Moving to Forks, Washington, the least sunny place in the USA, was a choice she did not really want to make, but one she choose out of determination to do what she needed to do. Charlie is her stranger father and she moves there to live with him and giv...

I have to admit that I am not big at keeping up with political stuff. Doesn't sound too educated, does it? I am neither party. I do not stayed glued to Fox News nor NBC. I keep up with the political figures and climate so as not to be stupid in discussions or out of touch with our country and the status of the world. I do care- but I am not obsessed with keeping up with politics and views of the players. I said all that to say that I was not sure who Arianna Huffington really was or what she stood for politically. Sure, I had heard of her. I am a computer nerd, so I had heard of her most popular blog, of course....but that was about the extent of it. So I was able to pick up her book, read it and evaluate it from a pretty unbiased literary standpoint. Regardless of whether you agree with Huffington's politics or not, you can argue with her on the fact that many women today struggle with fear-- fear in work, life and love. Her book offers many personal and meaningful stories ...

Fashion-and-style expert Charla Krupp is not one to beat around the bush.... "Aging sucks," she declares in her bestselling new book, How Not to Look Old: Fast and Effortless Ways to Look 10 Years Younger, 10 Pounds Lighter, 10 Times Better. Her book is like 10 issues of Glamour all wrapped up in hardback copy- which the author used to work for, by the way. Her favorite quote in the book is from designer,Isaac Mizrahi: "Do you want to look 70? Get a facelift." "People think, I'll just go under the knife and I'll look younger. That's not the answer, because if you have a bad facelift and you look like you had a facelift and your skin is tight and you look like a frozen monkey, you're going to look old! You're going to look old enough to have a facelift, because young people don't look like that. So we have to find the perfect balance of doing something to get rid of our wrinkles and lines and sagginess — but we can't go overboard, be...

Sundays at Tiffany's is a new book by James Patterson & Gabrielle Charbonnet released April 28th. Although I was not invited to the book party at Tiffany's with the author, I did receive a copy from Hatchette Books as a wonderful Mother's day present. This book is a love story- not a mystery like I usually expect from Patterson. This love story is unique and intriguing from page one. Jane is the 8 year old daughter of Vivienne Margaux, a famous movie producer- a strong, dominating mother who is seemingly too busy to be bothered by motherhood. Sunday afternoons are a special time for Jane- time with her mother. They have dessert at a fancy hotel, the St. Regis, and then shop for diamonds at Tiffany's each and every Sunday afternoon. Jane sits with Michael as her mother sits with whomever is more important than Jane on that given Sunday. Michael is Jane's best friend- a handsome, comforting male presence in her life. They play games, people watch and laugh togeth...

Once again, my blogging is making me happier. I am getting a Mother's Day present from my friends at Hachette Books !!! I got an email from Valerie that said: On behalf of Hachette Book Group USA, I would like wish to you a glorious Mother’s Day. In honor of your ongoing dedication to our books and this very special day, we’ve put together an exclusive & exciting medley of our newest titles especially for Mother’s Day, which I’d like to send to you as a gift. Our Mother’s Day Book Package includes: Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet (ISBN 031601477X) Your Best Life Now For Moms by Joel Osteen (ISBN 0446581003) How Not to Look Old: Fast and Effortless Ways to Look 10 Years Younger by Charla Krupp (ISBN 0446581143) Bobbi Brown Living Beauty by Bobbi Brown (ISBN 0821258346) Kim Cattrall Sexual Intelligence by Kim Cattrall (ISBN 031600541X) Sew U Home Stretch: The Built by Wendy Guide to Sewing Knit Fabrics by Wendy Mullin & Eviana Har...

When I was married, a friend of mine gave me a book, which I had never heard of and thought rather strange- until I sat down a bit later and began to read it. Strange, mainly because this is the picture of him on the cover......................... Kahlil Gibran was a Lebanese born in 1883 poet who came to the United States to live and write. He died in 1931. He wrote poetry and was an artist and sculpture.... and is quite famous, little did I know back in 1989. His tiny book, The Prophet , published in 1923 has many great passages and some of my all time favorite quotes. It is illustrated with his mystical,mostly nude sketches as well. Deep, but meaningful and powerful and written in the spirit of another of my favorite poets, William Blake, his simple lines will make you stop and think- and marvel at his way with the written language that will touch your spirit and soul. Enjoy. If you did not know of Kahlil, I am pleased to introduce you. On revenge : An eye for an eye, and the whol...

A Book Review: Free Food For Millionaires by Min Jin Lee I received this book from a publisher and I must confess, I had not heard of it. I am a librarian, yes, but an out of work one at present raising children, so I am not on top of all that is literary! I was anxious to start this novel, although again, I must confess, it is not one I may have chosen from a book rack, simply because I read....well... fluff- easy reading- fun these days. I have read my share of hard core lit in college and grad school, and do enjoy stretching my brain from time to time, but mostly, NO. From Chapter 1 of this book, I was captivated by the depth of the story. I can usually pull down a James Patterson in one afternoon, but this book was detailed and more intense to read. The main character, Casey Han is a Korean American- daughter to poor, working class immigrants. The differences in culture are apparent and stark from the first chapter- and through the course of the story. The ways of American culture...

Have I said that I loved Blogging? I get great personal satisfaction form rekindling my love of writing from blogging. I have made great friends and have gotten lots of good stuff in my short 3 months in the blogosphere. I got an email from a book rep,(Valerie M. Russo Hachette Book Group USA) the publisher of this book- Free Food for Millionaires - by Min Jin Lee. - It won many awards last year when it came out in Hardcover. The email asked if I would like to receive advance copies of books to review for my site. I replied, of course- I am a semi-retired librarian and I love to write....so it was an easy answer. This book comes out in paperback April 2008 and I got an advanced copy of it via UPS today to read! So exciting. The paperback version has a different cover than the hardcover, which is shown at the bottom of post. . The author has a book event scheduled on April 22nd at the Alabama Booksmith at 6:00pm. (I believe the rep found my blog after I went to the Mary Kay Andrews s...

I recently finished reading all the books by Mary Kay Andrews . If you have never read these entertaining stories, you are missing out. I know, I am obsessive compulsive and once I started on these, I couldn't stop, but you won't be able to either, OCD or not. A Southern writer with a background in journalism, Andrews, tells tales of women in Georgia and other southern settings- in all kinds of predicaments, and they are hilarious. Her eye for detail and decor make the stories sing with personality and ambiance. Little Bitty Lies was my first experience with Andrews' books. I bought it one Saturday morning at the bookstore when we all went to browse. By Saturday night, I was done. ( I sat outside with my children as they played with my head in the book.....) It was that enthralling. It is laugh out loud funny. It is so typically what we all fantasize about- plotting revenge against a cheating man with our Best friend ...Just kidding.....of course- who would fantasize abou...