One Gorilla and a Peanut's view of mommy

I picked up this book at the library without even flipping through it.

I was in a rush and was drawn to the cover illustration.

You can't tell because of the lighting but the pictures are bright, clear and vivid.

The author/illustrator uses watercolors and the result is amazing.

The book is called One Gorilla: A Counting Book by Anthony Browne

It starts as a simple counting book.

Simple in that it's a counting book, but I seriously didn't know the names of half these animals.

Peanut can now identify Macaques in a line-up of monkeys.

And then we get here and I start wondering if lemurs are monkeys.

But then John Mellencamp pops up and declares us all one big primate family!

This is a self-portrait of Anthony Browne, the author but does it remind anyone else of Mellencamp?

So here is where the book gets really fun.

We look at all the different people and ask Peanut which ones look most like our family.

The green circles are who I thought Peanut would pick for mommy and daddy.  

The blue arrows are the pictures that Peanut picked.

We all agreed on Peanut as the little Asian boy in the bottom right corner.

I thought the Asian man with glasses would be B but the one Peanut picked made sense also.

But who do you think Peanut picked for me??

Take a good look.

I know there isn't really a good match for me but I assumed

either a woman with dark hair or an Asian girl.

I was so very wrong.

Every. single. time. Peanut picks this lady.

Is it the red lipstick?  I do love red lipstick, although lets admit that the blue eyeshadow is overkill.

B tries to make me feel better by saying it's the big smile.

What is it about this lady that resembles me…

or have I looked like a blonde crackhead all these years and never even known it?

Peanut's Book Journal

Back in September for some unknown reason 
I decided that I should be cataloging the books that Peanut is reading.
Or that I am reading to Peanut.  Or that we are reading together, depending on how you look at it.

I think it had something to do with discovering the Goodreads scanner on my phone.  I spent an hour that night scanning books in a frenzy.

And so I signed Peanut up for Goodreads and started rating and sorting.

Then I started separating them into bookshelves of holidays, favorite illustrations, etc.  Both for my own references and for other parents who ask me for recommendations.

I couldn't even begin to remember all the library books we've checked out over the last few years.  
I'm glad to keep track now so that I may find and revisit old favorites.
We randomly pick up a lot of books as we pass shelves at the library and sometimes we have a hard time remembering what they were months later.

We don't review books until we've had them a few weeks.  
Like food, I find that kids are sometimes uninterested the first time around.

As we go through and fill out reviews, I've separated them into both "Mommy" and "Peanut" reviews… because we obviously don't always have the same taste.  
Ratings are averaged between the 2 of us.

Sometimes we revisit old books and he really takes to them all of a sudden.
Some books are instant classics for the both of us.




Won't this be great to look back on when he gets older?
Or is it just me in my book nerdiness?

So if you want to keep up with our book reviews
 you can find us on Goodreads HERE!

I'd love suggestions for books to read!

We are always looking for something new and I love hearing what your family favorites are.

Christmas in July Book Exchange!

We're doing a book exchange over at 
The Bibliophile Support Group!
(which every book lover should join, by the way)

I'm so excited about this.
I love books, I love mail and I love Christmas.
So we decided to combine them all and do a little gift giving for a Christmas in July celebration.  

All you do is send one book to someone and receive one back.
A gift exchange!  
You'll get a new book and the chance to share one of your books with someone else.  It's a win-win.

I love sharing books with people.
I love owning books.
I love giving gifts.
I love getting gifts.
I love helping other people share books and get gifts.
I love rambling in posts because I'm too excited 
to form intelligent sentences.

Just send an email and I'll respond with a few questions that will help us learn a bit more about what you like to read.

After that we'll let you know who you are mailing to and then we can spend our days checking our mailboxes to see if our package has arrived.  

Join the fun!

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Ugh, I loved this book.  There is no way I can properly explain the story and I don't want to spoil it for you anyway.  Instead I'll talk about what it was like for me to read it and hope that maybe you'll go out and pick it up to read yourself.  This is also a post about how I may have neglected my child in order to finish this book.  This is why I should never start a book during naptime.

When I started the book I hadn't really worked out that I was in the mood for it.  I had just finished another book that morning and was feeling more in the mood for some fluffy romance with rainbows and puppies in it.  The only reason I started this one is because it comes so highly recommended and has a phenomenal overall scoring on Goodreads (where you can read the plot summary).  Plus I knew there were people at the library waiting for the book and I wanted to get it back sooner rather than later.

About 50 pages in I'm glad I started it.

100 pages in and I am getting that antsy, squirrely, face-rubbing excitement I get when I know I've found a good book.  Have I ever told you that I have a habit of rubbing my face when I get really excited about something?  It must be a physical manifestation of the building emotion.  Or something.  Anyway, I've done it since childhood.

200 pages in and I've finished Part One.  I stop and post on the book club website about how I want to tear through the remainder of the book to find the answers and yet I don't want the characters to go away.  What I really mean is that I don't want any of the characters to die.  Of course, this a book about  war.  It is often brutal, always raw, and sadly true in a million ways.  We know in the very first chapter that she is an enemy spy and she will be executed.

The reason I came to pause at that one point is because I not only identified with these characters, I loved some of them and understood the rest.  It's a miracle that I could look at the evil Nazi bastards (as they are often and rightfully described) and sometimes feel a moment of pity or at least understanding about parts of them.

I won't go into the details here for fear of spoiling things for you but I could have hours of discussions on the character of Von Linden, who he was before the war and who he would turn into during.  Anyway, in the end it doesn't matter.  What matters is that at one point I was so caught up in the war that the sound of the neighbors bringing in the trash can nearly made me jump out of my skin.  That grating, rumbling sound in the quiet and dark was part of the war until I realized that I was sitting in a fluffy pink robe over polka dot pajamas in the comfort of my own home.



201 pages in and I'm squealing in delight.  258 pages in and I'm soaring on hope.

I have to wake Peanut from his nap or he'll ruin his bedtime and I've already let him sleep later than usual.  I tell myself it's because he needed the sleep (which he did) but I suspect part of the reason is because I didn't want to put the book down.  Once he wakes I settle him onto the bed next to me to watch Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  Forget developing brain cells, this kid should watch some TV!  This will buy me some time.

285 pages in and I'm crying.  I'm trying to be quiet because I don't want to alarm Peanut.  It occurs to me how odd it is to hear the cartoon music in the background at the same moment that my mind and heart seems to be stuck in France.  I'm filled with love and terror and admiration and I'm shattered and dumbstruck and raw.

Then I remember that I need to get groceries and vaguely realize that Peanut has watched 3 episodes in the time it takes for me to read and re-read these precious pages.  I walk around Albertsons in a daze because the world seems wrong or maybe it just seems wrong that I'm walking around in it.  We eat Rotisserie Chicken with Couscous and canned vegetables because I'm running behind schedule and I don't want bedtime to go too late because I must finish this book as soon as possible.

294 pages in and I've decided that this book is absolutely brilliant.  I want to read the whole thing again cover to cover and I haven't even finished it yet.

332 pages and I reluctantly finish the last line.  I am positive this will be one of my favorite picks of 2013.  If I had read it last year it would have been my favorite for the year.

I can't fully describe how I feel at this point because it's all too soon, I've only just finished it tonight.

I do hope you read it and like it and come back to discuss it with me!

Kiss me, Hardy.  Kiss me QUICK!

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

I first entered The Night Circus in April, 2012.
I was wandering through the library when I noticed it on the New Books shelf.
The cover was pretty and interesting and the title held a bit of mystery and magic.

I peeked in and looked a bit further and found myself falling deeper and deeper.

When it was chosen by The Bibliophile Support Group I decided to revisit Le Cirque des Reves by way of Jim Dale's audio recording.  I must admit that the first 30 minutes I had to keep reminding myself that Dumbledore had not joined the circus but after 106 hours of HP audio you cannot fault me.

But what about the book?

I cannot remember the last time I read a book so rich in imagery. 

The Night Circus travels the world with no schedule or announcements preceding it's various destinations.
It is open only at night and contains magic, wonders, love and comradery that you can hardly imagine.
Luckily you don't need to imagine, you simply read this book and step across the pages into
 The Circus of Dreams.

Behind the wonders of the circus, behind the Ice Garden, the Illusionist, the Cloud Maze and the scent of caramel in the air, a battle is being fought.  A lifetime feud persists leaving everyone who is a part of Les Cirques des Reves tied to the outcome.  As Celia and Marco duel they each pour themselves into the game and fall into a dangerous and remarkable love.  

Who will win the game and at what cost?

The Night Circus reads much like the circus it describes. 

You start off slowly, working your way in circles, 
picking up bits and pieces of the circus and it's characters along the way. 

You stop here and there just to observe but never knowing what you'll see on the next page, in the next tent, with the next character.  

You are always moving in circles, heading this way, circling back, entering here and leaving just there. 

Pretty soon you find yourself completely inside the circus, 
where you stay until the book ends 
or morning comes.

Although the book does tend to skip around, it didn't seem to bother me at all.  I tend not to read the dates at the chapter start regardless but found that the settings revealed themselves soon enough.

If you like a book that is rich in imagery, romantic, mysterious, magical and compelling, I believe that you'll soon find yourself happy to have read this book.
I daresay that some of you will be donning a touch of red and naming yourselves among a great many Reveurs.

I hope you read this book and come back to tell me how you enjoyed your visit to The Night Circus.

Check out Erin Morgenstern's website and the first bit of the book HERE 
and check out this awesome fan fic artwork!

Rediscovering Harry Potter

I spend roughly 2 hours a day in my car.  Days that I'm off of work it's less, some days it's much more.

Sometimes we listen to music as I take Peanut to my parents.

Sometimes we chat about what we spot out the window as we drive by.

It's when I'm driving by myself that I get bored or tired or unfocused.

After hearing so much about the Harry Potter audio books by Jim Dale, I decided to pick one up.

I've read all the books but I haven't read them in years and years.

We watch the movies a lot.

I mean, at least once a week there is a Harry Potter movie on.  At least.

*Let's take a quick detour and talk about the Chocolate Frog that my friend Courtney brought all the way back from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter for B & I!  I should have taken a picture of me holding it, so that you could see the box was the size of my hand.  You have no idea how excited I was to get this.  When she brought it to me, I sent a picture to B.  He responded by saying not to open it until we're together because they only really have one good jump anyway.
Thank you Courtney and Allen for bringing us this!!

I'm not sure what I expected from the audio books. 

 It's hard to think of one person narrating books that you know so well.  

Especially when you have such firmly established ideas of a characters sound and style.  

30 minutes into the first book and I was enjoying the morning traffic.

I stopped thinking of Jim Dale as the narrator and started listening to all characters as they spoke.

I got so hooked that I started going to the library to get the next set of CDs before I finished the previous ones to guarantee I wouldn't have any lag time in between.

I listened to all 7 books almost non-stop.

Occasionally poor Peanut would remind me that we could listen to music and then we would.

These books sometimes had 23 different CDs to listen to and it just didn't seem enough.

106 hours.
106 hours and I wanted it to be more.

I discovered quite a few things in this listening experiment:

*Jim Dale is genius.  His talent knows no bounds.

*I had forgotten so much of the books.  After years of just watching the movies I was suddenly peeking back into this amazing magical world. So much of the story doesn't make it into the movies.  I had forgotten so much of the original story that much of the audio books felt new to me.

*An hour in the car is nothing with Jim Dale to keep you company.

*I'm obsessed all over again.  I try to wrap my mind around how a person can create such stories and it's nothing short of amazing.  I want to completely immerse myself in this world.

*I'm also terribly sad that it's all over.  Again.  

I want more of the magic, more of the story, more of all of it.

I'm thinking that perhaps next year I'll re-read the books.

Are you a Harry Potter fan?
Have you read the books, listened to them or seen the movies?

Favorite Reads of 2012

Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book.

-Author Unknown

I'm going to just into this post and try not to turn this post into a novel of it's own.

Here are my favorite reads of 2012:

Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
This lovely and haunting book is about a family grieving.  They are grieving over the loss of an uncle, a brother and a lover but mostly over the loss of connection and of dreams.  It's a tale of jealousy and love and what the results of both can be.

I don't want to say too much for fear of ruining it for you but I'm not sure that I could put my thoughts into the right words anyway.
Read this book.

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
This children's story, told by Ivan the gorilla would be a great family read.

Inspired by a real life gorilla named Ivan,
 this touching story is about friends and family and what it means to help, love and protect each other.

This story will break your heart and then swiftly fill it again.


Insurgent by Veronica Roth
This is the second book in the Divergent Trilogy and I'm hesitant to say to much if you haven't read the first which I believe made my list last year.

We learn more about the characters in this book as they learn more about themselves and each other.  The exploration of each faction is interesting and engaging as were the individuals that were so completely representative of their factions.
If you haven't read Divergent yet you'll need to start there.
(or apparently you can wait for the movie to come out as they just started casting for it)



The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease
I found this book at the bottom of a bag of clothes being passed to Peanut.  It no doubt came from my sister-in-law who is a mother of 3 and an elementary school teacher.

This book is a fantastic resource for parents, teachers and librarians.
It discusses the importance of reading aloud to children (even past the age they start to read themselves) and the positive effects it has.
The book dives into silent reading, TV watching (and it's not all negative) and other reading-related issues as well.
The second half of the book is a reading treasury- a suggestion of books that are good to read aloud (as opposed to some that are better read silently).  They are marked with grade level and descriptions.

This is probably the best parenting book I've read so far.  It feels universal in that you don't have to be on board with a specific parenting style to appreciate it.  Although, that could be because it's not actually a parenting book but an educational book.
Whatever it is, I'm glad I read it.



A Year of Writing Dangerously by Barbara Abercrombie
I wandered by this book in the library and picked it up, thinking it might have some good prompts for my blog.  Instead I found so much more.
A day later I decided I wanted to be a writer and started to actually write.

The author and writing teacher creates the perfect balance of inspirational quotes, writing prompts, funny anecdotes, occasional coddling and a few good shoves that all equal the sudden urge or unavoidable deep need to write.

I just ordered this book because I need to have a copy at home.

And last but definitely not least:

Room by Emma Donoghue
This sat on my shelf for several months as I debated whether or not I was in the mood to read this story.
What I didn't understand, given the premise, was that this story could be sweet and loving and hopeful.

All told from the perspective and in the language of 5 year-old Jack, Room is his whole world.
He has spent every moment of his life in Room with his Ma.
What is a prison to her is just the world as he knows it.
I was in awe of these characters, the depth of a mother's love, the innocence of youth and the reality of living life outside of the box.

This book is stunning, haunting, innocent, tragic, full of love and so completely unique.

This may have been my favorite read of the year, perhaps because it was so unexpected but mostly because the story is still with me.

********
OTHER GREAT BOOKS I READ LAST YEAR:



The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
I can't remember the last time I read a book so rich in imagery.
Dreamy, romantic, surreal.
I read this last April and am about to start the audiobook narrated by the great Jim Dale.
More on this book to come.



Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Just thinking about this book, the discussions about this book and the way people feel so vehemently about the characters and especially the ending.
This book made my skin crawl, it made me frustrated and nearly drove me crazy but I loved it.
I though the end was perfect.  Everything about this book was toxic.
Toxic and wonderful.

If my dear mother-in-law is reading this.... you absolutely CANNOT read the end of this book ahead of time!  Do not skip around!  Do you hear me?!


The Maze Runner Series by James Dashner
I read the first book in 2011 and finished the series in 2012 although I've found there have been a few stories added as companions.
I enjoyed The Scorch Trials even more then The Maze Runner.
I found the environment much more intriguing and the story kept me on my toes.
 Mostly though, it just brought an onslaught of unanswered questions.
The Death Cure wraps up the story with even more twists and turns.
I still have questions and see the opportunity for so many more stories but it didn't feel like a cliffhanger at all.  I'd definitely read more from Dashner.



The Friday Harbor Series by Lisa Kleypas
I won the second book off Goodreads and ended up reading the entire series, with the exception of Crystal Cove which is released next month.
The first book is a simple and sweet introduction to this chick lit/romance series.
It was predictable but I didn't care at all because
I needed that sort of giggle-squeal-sigh sort of romance.

Although I enjoyed it, I enjoyed the subsequent novels even more.
Rainshadow Road and Dream Lake pick up a little bit of magical surrealism that fans of Sarah Addison Allen might enjoy.  I'm looking forward to reading the next book.


Don't Breathe a Word by Jennifer McMahon
Eek!  I don't want to spoil the book but I was totally wrapped up in this story.
Is it fantasy?  Is it fiction?  Is it mystery?
Will all this have a rational explanation or is this really a dark fairy story?
It kept me guessing until the very end.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
What an interesting and somewhat haunting book.  A tale of a boy whose mother is fighting cancer as he fights some monsters of his own.
A unique point of view and an interesting way of illustrating how different people cope with the illness of a loved one.


Update:  I forgot to add these in my original post!
but I'm too short on time right now to expand on these.
More on these titles in the future,

What were your favorite reads of 2012?
Did you read any of the books I mentioned?
Are the any books I must read in 2013?

2012 Reading Challenge, 2013 Goals

I can hardly believe it's a new year.  This year was full of fun events both big and small and I'm proud to say that despite all the action I managed to meet and exceed my reading goal of 52 books.

As usual, I'd go weeks tearing through book after book and weeks where I didn't even pick one up.

The grand total for 2012.....*drumroll please*

63 books read!

According to Goodreads that is 21,817 pages.

And before you ask, I did not include the books I read to Peanut this year.

The Harry Potter books aren't included in my 6 books because I actually just listened to the audiobooks.
That is a post unto itself.
Let me just say that I ADORE Jim Dale.

The breakdown on the books this year:
Adult Fiction/Fantasy/Mystery:  13
YA:  15
Younger teen or Children's:  8
Historical Fiction:  3
Nonfiction:  5
Chick Lit/Romance:  15
Parenting:  3

I'm not opposed to reading any kind of genre and I feel very strongly about being comfortable with your book choices or preferences.

All reading is good reading.
I'm sure that plenty will disagree with me on that.
I'm just glad to read and glad other do as well.

Personally, I tend to go through phases where all I want is a little fluff.
Hence the Debbie Macomber marathon during Christmas.
I'd never even heard of her before, despite the fact she has published 327 books.

I'm also not embarassed to say I tore through the Fifty Shades series.
Although I must say that I hesitated to categorize it under "Romance" but I just didn't have a category for BDSM fantasy-fiction with an emphasis on terrible writing and high entertainment.

2013 READING CHALLENGE
I've signed into Goodreads again and hope for another 52 books this year.
My goals are to broaden my reading horizons,
catch up on all of the books I haven't read for The Bibliophile Support Group
and perhaps accept another book challenge through that group.

Coming soon.... my favorite picks of 2012.

The Bibliophile Support Group

One fine day in August, my friend Ashley sent me a facebook message.

Ashley and I went to high school together and reconnected on facebook.

I'm not even sure we've seen each other since high school.. have we Ashley?

Somehow between facebook and pinterest and the great interwebs in general I feel that we're better friends now than we were in high school.  Isn't it funny how that works?

August Primary Pick- now this is a great discussion book

Anyway, Ashley sent me a message saying something to the effect of...

Hey I wish we all lived close enough to be in physical book clubs but we don't and I think between all our friends we would have a really interesting one and I'm brilliant so I came up with the idea of an virtual one, so can you put it together?

Or something like that.  Only when she wrote it the message made sense and was more than one sentence.

30 minutes later the page was up on Facebook and a few days later we had something like 75 members.

This is how The Bibliophile Support Group was born,
 and yes the very brilliant Ashley thought of the name.

August Secondary Book


So what is this Bibliophile Support Group?

It's a virtual book club where we gather to discuss books and book related things.

We vote on a poll to pick one primary and one secondary book for each month.

We've voted on them through November so that everyone has the time to get their hands on the books in time.  Occasionally the books are in high demand and the wait list for libraries runs long.

September Primary Book

We love book lovers, so if you'd like to be a part of The Bibliophile Support Group you can find us HERE or you can search us out on Facebook.

September Secondary Book

Each book will have it's own discussion under the Events tab.

We'll send out an invite to all members whenever we set an event/discussion up.

Feel free to comment on the book discussions whenever you finish the book.
Seriously, if you finish the book 9 months later you are still welcome to comment!
Only you know, we've only been around since August so that's as far back as you can go.

One of the reasons we set it up under Events was so that we would be able to keep a running conversation about the books individually without spoilers for those who haven't finished yet.

October Primary Book

You can read both books or neither.

You can comment on all or nothing.

You can simply lurk around the club looking for your next good read.

 
October Secondary Book

We keep a list of the Monthly Book Picks under the Files Tab for your convenience.

The more people involved the more fun and exciting it is.

I'm constantly impressed by the thoughts and opinions of others and the ways in which people interpret the books that we read.

Some flat out hate them, some love them,
some could care less but all are super entertaining.

We discuss each book at the end of the chosen month (or very beginning of the following month).

November Primary Book

We'd like to cover a variety of genres so if you have any suggestions for future reads
please share them with us!

I'm loving the challenge of reading all these books and the new books that I'm being exposed to.

 
November Secondary Book

We would love to see you there!

My Favorite Reads of 2011

Last January I joined Goodreads as a way to journal the books I'm reading and what I think of them.   They host a yearly challenge in which you set a book goal and they keep track of your status on the site.

My goal for 2011 was 52 books, one a week assuming that some weeks I might not finish one and some weeks I would finish several.

I read 55 books last year.

I can hardly believe it.

On January 20th I started The Hunger Games and finished on the 21st.

I read Catching Fire in it's entirety the next day.

I ran out and bought Mockingjay on the 23rd and finished it the 24th.

Despite the fact that I had a 11 week old baby, I gave-up any chance of sleep and inhaled the series.

Read the books and tell me what you think.

These are by far my favorite reads of 2011.

They stayed with me for weeks, the characters living in my mind throughout the days.

Nearly a year later I'm still excited about it.

Oh and the movie will be out in March and I seriously cannot wait.

2011 could also be called the year of YA dystopian society novels.

After reading The Hunger Games Series I was eager to read anything suggested to readers who liked that genre.  I started reading all the suggestions and there you have most of them above.

Out of this group, although I like all of them, my favorite is Divergent by Veronica Roth.

May I also mention that she is 23 years old.  Incredible what people can do.

The Maze Runner, Birthmarked, Matched and Delirium are all the first books in a series.

I'll be reading the next book to all of them but to be honest I typically like to wait until all the books are out and then read them all, one after the other.

Delirium writer Lauren Oliver gets bonus points for being an awesome author/blogger and letting her blog readers name the next 2 books in her trilogy.  How cool is that?

In Delirium, love is a disease that the government cures you of when you turn 18.  It is required and a normal part of every day life.  

I thought love as a disease was an interesting concept as they dive into all the insane and sometimes awful things people do for love.  Life without love, including parenting, is a very odd thing to behold.

I kept my momentum up by reading some fast YA novels in between some of my longer or heavier reads.  If I pick up a book and don't get into it in the first few chapters I put it down to and revisit it soon after.  Sometimes it's just a matter of mood.

That being said, I flew through these.

I won't go describing The Help as I'm sure you already know it's fantastic.

The Thirteenth Tale was awesome and recommended to me repeatedly by different people for good reason.  Lots of twists and turns and I enjoyed them all.

The Red Tent had been sitting on my shelf for years.  I've no idea why I didn't get to it sooner but I really liked it.  Based on a Dinah, mentioned in the Bible in the Book of Genesis it's a very interesting historical fiction.  I'll be reading more historical fiction this year.

I'm positive that my new found addiction to the library (which I hadn't been to in years) helped fuel my reading.  Finding out you can have books transferred to your library for a quarter and having return deadlines really pushed me to find what I want and then read it immediately.

It also kept me from hitting a standstill when I lacked the funds to buy a new book.

Who can afford 55 new books a year?

That being said, I wish I owned some of these as they'd fit nicely in my future library.

I'll wrap up with a few children's books I really liked.

Don't scoff at children's books by the way.  We're not talking picture books, all of these were at least a couple hundred pages long.  In fact, Wildwood by Decemberist frontman Colin Meloy, was one of the longest books I read this year at over 500 pages.  I picked that one up because I got sucked into the gorgeous cover illustrations.

Anything But Typical was is one of those books that I want others to read because of the perspective it gives as the narrator is an autistic middle school boy, in a very simple way, that people of all ages will understand.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate is a coming-of-age tale about a young girl who already seems to be growing against the grain.  She bonds with her grandfather, the avid naturalist, as he teaches her about this mysterious and often shunned-upon topic called science.  Callie has 6 brothers, a resistance to wearing petticoats and lace and the dream of a future that is unique to girls in 1899.

What did you read in 2011 and what do you recommend I read in 2012?

A Brunch in Paris

Yesterday we had another book club, this time hosted at Alicia's house.

The book was The Paris Wife by Paula McLain, so Alicia and Courtney went with a Paris theme.

Blown away is an understatement.

Alicia's house is really perfect for this kind of theme. 

She has a sort of eclectic style with some old world charm and loads of personality.

I'm not quite sure how to describe it but it's incredible.

The table was set gorgeously and there were so many details to be in love with.

In the background there was post-war music playing to set the mood

and plenty of good conversation.

Speaking of music, they made us CD's to take home.

Can you believe that?

Me neither.

I haven't stopped listening to my CD since.

I love music from that era.

We had croissants and quiche and they made apple beignets.

Of course, we had to finish off brunch with this cake.

Chocolate cake that was light and moist and rich all at the same time.

A touch of cinnamon, some banana and the whole thing covered in creme anglaise.

I wish I had more right now.

We all liked the book, as frustrating as it seemed to be for various reasons.

We talked about Hadley and what we thought about her,

the way she handled her marriage,

Ernest Hemingway and how he was awful and tragic and I wanted to strangle him.

We talked about relying on other's for your happiness and

having a sense of self in relationships.

We talked about a million other things,

like Connie's engagement

and so many things that had nothing to do with the book at all. 

It was the kind of day that as a child I always imagined having as a grown-up.

Only it made me giddy like a little girl.

In my visions of future me I arrived in my '59 Cadillac 

and wore a dress and heels, maybe even a hat.

I mean, besides arriving in jeans and a shirt covered in drool and bits of Peanut's breakfast,

my Subaru Forester filled with various baby gear,

it was pretty spot on. 

Thank you Alicia and Courtney, it was incredible!

It's about books.... and eating... and gabbing

I haven't decided if our book club meetings are more about books or food or just sitting and talking.

But I don't suppose it really matters.

I love all of the above.

This past month's pick was The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton.

Has anyone read a Kate Morton book before?

Overall it had a good review. 

Although one of us was a little miffed at the similarities with The Secret Garden :)

We had a hard time with the constant switching of viewpoints.  

It's this rapid change between characters, eras and situations.

I mean, every chapter is different.

About halfway thru the book I stopped noticing.

I inched thru the beginning and flew through the end.

I had a few issues with some of the characters, Nell in particular, as I couldn't identify with her reaction to news she wasn't who she thought she was.

Some of us figured out the end way before it came... but I wasn't one of those people. :)

In all honesty, there is very rarely a book that I finish that I don't like.

Have you read The Forgotten Garden?

Courtney and Alicia came with wine and this delicious concoction.

It's so simple but the ingredients were so fantastic, I couldn't stop eating it.

Sliced baguette, delicious creamy double cream brie, 

lightly salted marcona almonds and perfect lavender honey.

The cheese spread like soft butter on the bread and the honey and almonds are the best topping.

Soft, crunchy, sweet with a bit of salt.

Kelly made these stuffed pasta shells which we dove into after I stopped admiring her pyrex.

Also, she let me borrow her 50mm lens and I'm in love.

If anyone wants to buy it for me.  Hint, hint.

You know who you are.

I think it's necessary for food photography.

Anyway, the pasta shells are stuffed with a turkey and spinach mixture,

 topped with sauce and melty cheese.

 I'm requesting a recipe from her.

We'll be visiting this again, I'm sure.

I made the oreo cake I had found on pinterest.

So here's my review on this cake.

It's super easy to make and the cake itself is really, super delicious and chocolatey.

I changed up the frosting recipe a bit.

It calls for 1 1/2 lbs of powdered sugar but I only had 1 lb (1 box).

I mixed the frosting as directed and it was more then sweet enough.

In fact, we felt like the frosting was just a bit too much for the cake.

It might be that I served huge pieces, which I did, 

but I feel like I could halve the frosting recipe and use it just as a topping

with a different filling.

Or you could just serve really small pieces :)

Another great night with the girls!

They keep me reading which is always a good thing.  

I'm halfway thru my 52 book goal for this year and I'm picking up speed!