The Sunday Salon: Not a Review of The Road

This weekend my book of choice was The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I just finished it minutes ago. Wow. This book was quite the contrast. I think it was a very easy book to read word-wise and length-wise.... and yet, such a hard book to read subject-wise. In fact, it was horrific in parts.

But, this is not a review post! So enough on that! But that was my reading experience this weekend so far.

I grabbed a Sarah Dessen book from the library, This Lullaby. I think I'm going to jump right into that one next. That should be a nice contrast from The Road.

Oh, I knocked off a few War and Peace pages this week too! I know. Amazing.

But my Gilmore Girls marathon is really cutting into my reading time. How to balance the two leisure activities of choice? I have no idea.

Other random Sunday thoughts:

- We hope to see Harry Potter tomorrow afternoon. We're feeling very out of the loop seeing it almost a whole week into its run!

- Yesterday it was 102 degrees at least. Not my favorite part of the summer, that's for sure.

- My daughter's friends came and raided our YA books stash! There were three of them, and they each took like 10 books! I was in a bit of a panic... and now, I really hope that we see those books again.

- We're going camping this week. Keep your fingers crossed that everything turns out fun and that there are no bears wandering around like there were a couple of years ago!

Review: The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham

Book: The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham

Genre: Literary Fiction (old enough now to nearly be a classic, published 1925))

Rating: A-

For: TBR Challenge

I didn't really know what to expect from this book, but it seems like I've been reading some pretty good reviews lately. I bought it years ago simply because the author was one I'd heard of but never read yet. (Besides, it was on sale I think!) Also it was around the time the movie came out, a movie I have yet to see, but looks pretty good actually. (Click here for the movie trailer if you are interested.)

The story is about a girl, Kitty, who marries this guy just to get out of the house and away from her family and sister. He takes her to Hong Kong where she promptly has an affair. When he discovers this, he takes her away with him to the countryside to help with a cholera epidemic. It's there that Kitty grows up some, learns to appreciate life a bit more, and realizes that her husband is perhaps a better man than she thought.

So, I liked it fine. It didn't wow me or anything, but I would recommend it. Kitty was a quite the whiny character and I never really felt sorry for her. (I DID feel sorry for her husband however.) I do give her credit for starting to come around a bit, however, it all ended before I could tell if she really DID learn anything.

From watching the above mentioned movie trailer, I can see that the movie has much in it that was never in the book. In fact, it bothered me that the scene on my book cover (which is from the movie I think) never happened. Also, I don't get the title. Anyone who has read it want to explain that one to me?

Other Reviews:

A Comfy Chair and a Good Book
Kimmie's Krap
Book-a-rama
BooksPlease
The Magic Lasso

Second Annual Book Blogger Appreciation Week

Last year, My Friend Amy came up with the coolest idea. The idea was to have a week were we as book bloggers celebrate each other and our blogging community. It was a blast.

So of course this year, it's happening again September 14-18. Be sure to go to the official page to learn more about it all and to register and to nominate blogs for awards in a bunch of different categories.

You don't want to miss out! Come join the fun!

TV Talk: It's All About Gilmore Girls

One of the downer things about summer is that there's no new TV. It's one of those things I don't get... because, don't most people have more time to "laze" around in the summer and enjoy TV? During the school year, life is insane usually, and then, if we allow ourselves to get addicted, we have to figure out how to fit TV in along with all the other craziness. I guess perhaps there's vacations and such in the summer and people are gone, but still, I've never really understood it.

But anyway, this summer, we've taken matters into our own hands around here and have addicted ourselves to some old TV shows. Shows we've missed over the years before the advent of cool TV recording devices. We've gone to the library and rented seasons of Buffy, Smallville, and most importantly Gilmore Girls!

Yes, it's been a major Gilmore Girl fest around here. We watched half of the first season awhile back, so we got the DVDs again, finished up the first season, and are now nearly done with season 2.

So since I am so into this Gilmore Girl mode lately, I decided I needed to discuss it even though for most of you this is all ancient history!

My thoughts:

• The dialogue for this show is a blast! You better pay attention, or you'll for sure miss something extremely witty!


• I love all the pop culture/book/movie/music references. So fun.


• I'm aching for Luke and Lorelei to get together. I know it's going to take them forever though, because of course that's part of what kept people watching, right?


• Seeing Milo whatshisname aka. Peter from Heroes show up as the brooding teenager Jess has been very fun. He is so different from his Heroes character!


• But I really love the Dean dude too, and am curious to know what he's been doing since Gilmore Girls. I think he's in something else too, as the bad guy now?


• Sometimes I lose interest when the storyline follows the mom and dad. They are kinda irritating.


• But I love the Paris stuff and the Lane stuff. They are both great too.

So let me know, are/were you a Gilmore Girls fan? What was YOUR favorite part about the show? What season was your favorite? Is there a point where I should stop watching?

Review: American Idol Concert

Concert: American Idol Top Ten

Genre: Pop/Rock

Rating: A

For: my ongoing flirtation with a mid-life crisis which causes me to think it necessary to join in the celebration of all things pop culture such as American Idol

What a rockin' time we had last night! They started right out with a bang, no preliminary goofiness, with the #10 Idol, Michael Sarver. He was fun and enthusiastic, but sang a couple of songs I didn't really know so I couldn't easily sing along with him.

Then we moved to #9, and our hometown girl, Megan Joy. The comparison between the crowd's excitement for her, and its excitement for David Archuleta last year was.... interesting. We clapped politely for Megan, but for David last year, we screamed the roof off until he was overwhelmed with tears. It was great! But Megan... I just think no one really "gets" her. She sang and we endured.

Up next was #8, Scott, who I totally love. He has the clearest, most clean sounding voice of them all I think. He rose up out of the stage, sitting at the piano, and sang "1000 Miles" and something else I like but didn't really know. He was great with the crowd and had wonderful stage presence. I loved it.

Let's see, #7 was Lil. She did three songs I think, and one was that "All The Single Ladies" song that got everyone up and dancing. She sounded awesome.

Anoop was next at #6, and wow, he was also amazing. I wanted to stand and scream for him too, but sadly, it appeared I was in a bit of a dead audience section. I hate it when that happens.

Then we were to #5, which was Matt. Wow. Did he have some energy or what! And he ROCKED on the piano! Amazing.

Then those first six did a group number with Matt and Scott dueling it out on the piano together during "Tell Her About It." That was a blast too.

Intermission. Boring. I hate intermissions usually. I noticed so many people going up and down past our aisle seat during the concert itself that I wondered why we even needed one. Sheesh. People, if you are paying a ton of money for a concert like this, why not SIT (or stand as the case may be) and WATCH the show! Just wondering.

Alison, #4, brought us back from intermission rocking out to "Barracuda," along with a couple of other songs. She had it going on for sure.

Danny was next, and I loved listening to him. He sang "What Hurts the Most" and a couple of others that were quite inspirational.

THEN... finally.... what the audience had been waiting for! The energy was intense. Everyone was holding their breath, then screamed like crazy! ADAM was on! First the very cool, very loud, very flashy intro, which segues right into "Whole Lotta Love" and there's Adam rockin' out on stage! Wow. He was just like you'd imagine him to be. It was insane. But finally, the WHOLE place was on their feet singing, dancing and screaming. He sang five songs, including his duet "Slow Ride" with Alison.

Then they put a curtain down in front of the band, and up from the stage rises Kris, sitting on a stool, with his guitar! What a contrast. But it was Kris singing "Heartless"! And he was wonderful! And we all screamed for him too. He was so good. He played the guitar, he played the piano, he played the electric guitar. Amazing. (Please, don't go and count how many times I used that word in this post. Please.)

I could definitely watch both those guys for a full two or three hours and never get tired of it.

Kris ended with "Hey Jude" and the rest of the Idols came out and joined him. Then they did a finale of Journey's song "Don't Stop Believing" and suddenly, it was all over.

I loved it. It makes me wish I was younger so I could enjoy it all without feeling like a weirdo or something. But, happily, there were LOTS of middle-agers screaming for Adam and Kris last night. Lots.

And next time, I will not take my 14 year old son who sat there with his fingers in his ears, and his elbows on his knees, looking down at the floor, then asking me if the noise hurt my head! Are you kidding me? I love the noise! I go for the noise! Yes, next time, he stays home.

Review: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

Book: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin, 1978 Newbery Medal Winner

Genre: YA

Rating: A-

For: Dewey's Books Challenge

My 10 year old daughter's been begging me to read this one ever since she read it at her school's book club. Good thing I already had it on my Dewey's Challenge list! And being a Newbery Award winner from the era of my own childhood, I'm surprised I hadn't heard of this one before now.

The book starts out when a bunch of seemingly random people end up renting rooms at a new apartment building. Then the old guy, Mr. Westing, who lives on the hill, dies. And suddenly, all the people in the apartment building are invited to the reading of the will and come to find out, they are all connected somehow to the guy! Mr. Westing, of course, has then laid out a game of sorts, complete with riddles, and clues and hints, which will help everyone figure out who his murderer is, because yep, he claims that's what's happened!

And so the game begins! Everyone is put in unlikely pairs to work together. Lots of discoveries are being made, and many strange and odd things begin to happen.

I enjoyed it all for the most part. Some things were quite easy to figure out, some things I didn't see coming at all. I think it's perfect and very fun for kids. Though I also think many of the nuances would go right over their heads.

Since this is for the Dewey's Books Challenge, I wanted to link to her review of this book and remember what she thought of it, but at the moment, I can't get to her blog. But I'm almost positive that she loved it!

Other Reviews:

The Book Zombie

Books. Lists. Life.

The Book Nook Club

A Reader's Journal

Weekly Geeks 2009.26: Where in the World Have You Been?

For Weekly Geeks this week, we are asked to think about the places books have taken us. Fun fun assignment I'm thinking.... except for one thing... I just know I'm not going to remember all the places I've traveled through books, and it's going to make me crazy! But... I'll try my best.


China

The Good Earth
Sun Flower and the Secret Fan

India

A Fine Balance
The Far Pavilions

Russia

Anna Karinina
Fathers and Sons

Afghanistan

The Kite Runner
A Thousand Splendid Suns

Egypt

The Memoirs of Cleopatra

Germany

The Book Thief
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Ireland

Circle of Friends
Quentins

Italy

Galileo's Daughter
Angels and Demons

Scotland

Outlander

Holland

Girl With a Pearl Earring
Diary of Anne Frank

Africa

Cry the Beloved Country
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency

Romania

The Historian
Dracula

France

The Scarlet Pimpernel
Les Miserables

Greece

Pompeii
Nights of Rain and Stars

Australia

The Moon Below
Magic or Madness

Mexico

All the Pretty Horses
100 Years of Solitude

Canada

Anne of Green Gables
The Blind Assassin

USA and England

tons and tons and tons!

Okay, well. Not too bad, but I know I've had to have read something about Japan, and South America! So which ones did I forget?




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