Book Your Ticket

I left my laptop at work for an entire week at the beginning of this month. As a result, my reading list for February is off the charts:

• On Hallowed Ground: The Story of Arlington National Cemetary, Robert M. Poole (history, military)
• The Bride Wore Chocolate, Shirley Jump (chick lit, romantic comedy, recipes)
• The Secrets of Mary Bowser, Lois Leveen (black history, espionage)
• Silent Tears: A Journey of Hope in a Chinese Orphanage, Kay Bratt (biography, China, culture)
• Baking Bree, Sara West (chick lit, romantic comedy)
• The King's Hounds, Martin Jensen (history, mystery, England)
• The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II, Denise Kiernan (history, culture)
• A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table, Molly Wizenberg (biography, food, recipes)
• The Rose of Winslow Street, Elizabeth Camden (historical fiction)
• The International Bank of Bob: Connecting Our Worlds One $25 Kiva Loan at a Time, Bob Harris (biography, finance)*
• A Wilder Rose, Susan Wittig Albert (biography)*
• 47 Ronin, John Allyn (historical fiction, Japan, culture)
• The Discovery, A Novel, Dan Walsh (fiction)
• The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, Simon Winchester (biography, history)
• Dead Wood, Dani Amore (detective fiction)
• Frankie in Paris, Shauna McGuiness (chick lit, culture)
• Mommy Had a Little Flask (The Tales of Imperfection Series), A.K. Turner (chick lit, humor)
• Mud Season: How One Woman's Dream of Moving to Vermont, Raising Children, Chickesn, and Sheep & Running the Old Country Store Pretty Much Led to One Calamity after Another, Ellen Stimson (biography, humor, culture)
• For the Love of Livvy, J.M. Griffin (chick lit, humor)
• Bootstrapper: From Broke to Badass on a Northern Michigan Farm, Mardi Jo Link (biography, humor)
• Uneasy Lies the Crown: A Novel of Owain Glyndwr, N. Gemini Sasson (history, Wales)
• Shot on Location, Laurence Shames (screwball comedy, mystery)
• James and Dolley Madison: America's First Power Couple, Bruce Chadwick (history, biography)
• Murder in the Library, Steve Demaree (cozy, mystery, humor)

*The most inspirational thing I've read in quite a long time.  

**Without Rose Wilder's tenacity in dealing with her mother, the Little House series never would have seen the light of day.

Started, but discarded:

• Stop the Wedding!, Stephanie Bond (I love her mysteries, but this romance novel sucked.)

I'm even scaring myself a bit with that list!

Drive-Bys

Giggle of the Day:

A punk rock nine course tasting menu would be a case of Old Style missing three cans that were thrown at the band.

Priceless!
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Looking to adopt a really special pet? Why not consider a retired Military Working Dog?
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Hero of the Day: Elizabeth Smart

"I know exactly what you did. I know you know what you did was wrong. You you did it with full knowledge," Smart said, looking directly at Mitchell, 57, and speaking forcefully during brief remarks in federal court in Salt Lake City.

"I also want you to know that I have a wonderful life now, that no matter what you do you will never affect me again," Smart told Mitchell. "You took away nine months of my life that can never be replaced. "In this life or the next, you will be held responsible for your actions and I hope you're ready for that when the time comes." (Emphasis mine.)

Young lady, I take my hat off to you and your incredible inner strength.
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Ear Worm of the Day:



I'm going to have to get their album. Fabulous stuff.
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Oh, puh-leeze:

But consider this: It's not that Obama can't speak clearly. It's that he employs the intellectual stammer. Not to be confused with a stutter, which the president decidedly does not have, the intellectual stammer signals a brain that is moving so fast that the mouth can't keep up. The stammer is commonly found among university professors, characters in Woody Allen movies and public thinkers of the sort that might appear on C-SPAN but not CNN.

And it may just be that if he hasn't thought it out beforehand, he's not quick enough on his feet to formulate an answer readily.
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Reading and doing crossword puzzles can block your ability to hear? Hah! The Princess Mom, were she still alive, would be assuring my readers that in my case, reading blocks not only the ability to hear, but also to smell.

Back in my youth I once read my way through a chicken burning so badly that it welded itself to the pan, which had to be tossed. I was so wrapped up in my book that I didn't see or smell the smoke that had filled the entire first level of the house. (So it's no wonder that i can read in the middle of a very busy and noisy sports bar and not be distracted.)

I can now validly claim limited brain capacity...
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Head-Scratcher of the Day:

Book Your Ticket

I can't see myself breaking the 200 book mark for 2010, but I'll come pretty close. Here's November's list:

November – 14/162

Sunday’s Child, Tom Lewis*

Hawke: A Novel, Ted Bell*

The Ghost Shrink, The Accidental Gigolo & the Poltergeist Accountant, Vivi Andrews[1]*

The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food and Love, Kristin Kimball[2]*

Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Truman Capote

We Bought a Zoo, Benjamin Mee

Hour of the Hunter, J.A. Jance*

One Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding, Robert Gover*

The Reluctant Mage, Karen Miller*

Worth Dying For: A Reacher Novel, Lee Child*

Liar, Liar, K.J. Larsen*

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, Bill Bryson[3]*

Decision Points, George W. Bush*

A Chesapeake Shores Christmas, Sherryl Woods*

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[1] Yes, it’s as silly as it sounds, but what’s wrong with a little laughter every now and then?

[2] I loved this book. There’s a relentless pacing that really gives you the sense of the whirlwind that hit Kristin Kimball and changed her life forever in this true story.

[3] Recommended to me by John Cox, it’s an absolute delight, especially for anyone born in the 1950’s.

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While I'm on the subject of books, if you're considering getting or giving a Kindle for Christmas, here's some things you should keep in mind:

There are tons of free books out there.

Kindle does stuff beyond just acting as an e-reader.

If you have friends or family who you really trust, you can share a Kindle account and, thus, share books.

You don't need to own a Kindle to read Kindle books -- you just need one the free Kindle apps.

You can send Kindle books as gifts via email.

I have the second generation Kindle (Holy crap! I'm sorry I missed this deal, as $89 for a Kindle I'd have bought one for every member of my family), but I bought my Sainted Sister-in-Law the new wi-fi version for her birthday, and I'm bowled over by how much smaller and lighter the darned thing is -- and it holds more books, to boot!

They're holding a $100 gift card give-away for 30 users a day between now and Christmas over at the Kindle Facebook site.

Finally, keep track of other Amazon.com lightning deals here.

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P.S. -- Seems like I'm in good company on this keeping a list business.