Review: The Wednesday Letters by Jason Wright

Book: The Wednesday Letters by Jason Wright

Genre: Lit. Fiction

Rating: B+

For: F2F Book Club (the other one)

I was happy this book was chosen for book club this month. I've heard quite a bit about it and it seemed like it would be a fun, easy read. Which it was. And I did enjoy it, but I kept just wanting more! Like it barely scratched the surface of what could have been. Or something.

The story begins with the death of the aging parents. The three kids gather for the funeral, and in the process of the preparations, they discover letters that their dad wrote to their mom every Wednesday since the day they were married. Very cool, huh? It also explores the troubles and problems each of the kids have been dealing with over the last few years. Meanwhile, as they go through the letters, there's quite a big secret that comes out.

So I enjoyed it. But I really wanted it to explore the relationships more. There's the one son who's come back to face his ex-girlfriend, and I wanted much more about their relationship and their past. And the letters were fun, but it still seemed to just barely touch on the parents' relationship. I kept wishing the whole time for it to dig much deeper.

Still, all in all, I liked it fine.

Hmmm, I seem to be way more critical lately, haven't I? What's up with that?

Blog Post Bingo Wrap-Up

Here's my wrap-up post for the Blog Improvement Blog Post Bingo game. Remember, the idea was to post the following 10 kinds of blogs during these past two weeks. Here's the list complete with my links:

1. A Link Post: Author Blogs

2. A Short Post: My Weekly Geeks Book Cover post... short on words, but long on pictures. Oh, there's another one that's quite short, Introducing the Bookword Game.

3. A List Post: My Book Fair Loot post

4. An Opinion Post: Fiction vs. Non

5. A Poll or Question Post: We voted on the first bookword for The Bookword Game

6. A How-to Post: How to Run a Book Fair

7. A Long Post: Ten Favorite Things Beginning With T

8. A Review Post: Review of The Princess and the Hound

9. A Definition Post: 19th Century Words Defined

10: FREE SPACE: any kind of post, NOT the same as any above: How about A Recipe post?

I must say, this was quite fun! A brain stretch here and there, but that's part of the fun. Thanks for a great idea Kim. I loved it! :)

Happy Friday the 13th everyone! Stay safe!

Booking Through Thursday: Authors Talking

Suggested by Barbara H.:
A comment on someone else’s BTT question this week inspired this question:
Do you read any author’s blogs? If so, are you looking for information on their next project? On the author personally? Something else?

I read many many author blogs. Too many. I can't keep up. And I'm always adding to the list. It's the same old story. Too many blogs, not enough time.

I read them mostly to learn about them personally. And to follow them through the steps of publication, if they share, which mostly they do. It's very fun to feel like you are a part of the whole process and to cheer for them and celebrate with them as things happen, even if they never even know you exist.

Some of my favorite ones are:

John Green

James Dashner

Shannon Hale

Janette Rallison

J. Scott Savage

Neil Gaiman

Sarah Dessen

Mette Ivie Harrison

Sara Zarr

Brandon Sanderson

Laurie Halse Anderson

Some others I read now and then:

Meg Cabot

Judy Blume

Scott Westerfield

Linda Sue Park

Libba Bray

Mary Pearson

Rick Riordan

Robin McKinley

And I wish, oh I wish, that Markus Zusak would start blogging! Does anyone know if he does and maybe I'm just unlucky in my search? The only thing I've found is this, but nothing that points to an actual blog.

Anyway, there's many more that I've stumbled upon but haven't stuck with for very long. Let me know if I'm missing an amazing one that I should be reading! And let me know if you click on one of these that I've shared and what you think of it.

19th Century Words Defined

So, I have this cool book called What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool. It's very fun for learning about the life and times of all things Victorian/Regency especially where books and authors are concerned. So, I thought it would be fun, (for my Blog Post Bingo definition post of course), to share with you some of the terms in the glossary that jump out at me:

apoplexy: a stroke

barouche: a four wheel fancy carriage with a fold-up hood at the back and with two inside seats facing each other

bespeak: to order something, like a dinner. Also, to ask a favor.

boot: a place in the coach where luggage was put

brougham: the all purpose everyday vehicle

chandler: Originally, a man who dealt in candles. Later, the corner grocer in poor neighborhoods.

crown: a coin worth five shillings

dowager: the name given to a widow of rank

esquire: a title conferring no rights or privileges, but simply an intangible sort of dignity . After awhile, anyone who wanted to seem respectable, used it.

farthing: a coin worth one quarter of a penny

garret: an attic

macintosh: rubberized waterproof clothing. Slow to take on because it smelled bad.

mute: a person hired to come to a funeral and mourn

paddock: a horse pasture

plate: silverware

pomade: perfumed hair ointment made partly from apples

press: a cupboard or closet for storing clothes

rounders: a game like baseball

stile: a set of steps through or over a fence, which a human could use, but not the sheep

sugarplum: a roundish piece of flavored candy made mostly of sugar

turnkey: a jailer

Twelfth Night: January 5, the night before the twelfth day after Christmas, on which day Christmas festivities traditionally ended. January 6 was Epiphany.

waistcoat: a vest

weeds: mourning garments

yeoman: small independent farmer

You know.... I love this stuff!

Midweek Morsels: Comfort Food

I decided today that I felt in the mood to make bread to go with dinner tonight. Then I realized there really isn't a more perfect comfort food than homemade bread. So I'm sharing our family recipe:

Grandma's White Bread

3 cups warm water
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbs. yeast
4 cups flour

Dissolve yeast and sugar in water. Then add flour. Beat until smooth. Let it sit for 1 hour.

3 cups milk, scalded
4 Tbs. sugar
2 Tbs. salt
6 Tbs. shortening

Mix together and let cool until lukewarm.

Stir yeast mixture down, and add to milk mixture. Then add 8 to 10 more cups of flour. Knead for about 10 minutes. Let rise until double in bulk. Shape into five loaves. Let rise again. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.


I haven't made this forever, so wish me luck!

Be sure to come visit Kristina's blog today and share your favorite comfort food!

The Bookword Game: Time to Vote!

The first installment of The Bookword Game is well underway! Thank you everyone for your great suggestions over at An Adventure in Reading . We really appreciate so many of you participating.

As a reminder, here is the definition of the bookword we are currently attempting to create:

"What do you call a book that everyone else loves, but you hate? Everyone is raving about it, but you just don't get it."

Raidergirl3 and I have pondered the list and have chosen our top favorites. Here are the bookwords that made the cut:

A Bafflebook - submitted by BookPsmith

A Blue Cheese Book - submitted by Farm Lane Books

A "Twilight Zone" Book - submitted by Chris at Book-a-rama

A RecommenDUD - submitted by SuziQoregon at Wimpulsive

A "That's it?" Book - submitted by Chantele

A NIMHO Book (where NIMHO stands for Not In My Humble Opinion)- submitted by John Mutford at The Book Mine Set

A "Huh?" Book - submitted by Beth Fish Reads

A BADwagon Book - submitted by Julie at A Small Accomplishment

And now it's time to vote! Please use the embedded poll to cast your vote. (Hopefully this works. At the time of this writing, I can't tell!) Comments are welcome too, but we'll tally the winner from what the official poll says. We'll leave the poll open through Monday, then announce the winner on Wednesday here at It's All About Books. Also at that time, I'll give the next book situation that we think needs a word, and take suggestions for a week. Then we'll vote on that new bookword the next week at An Adventure in Reading.

Get it? Whew, I hope so! :)

poll by twiigs.com

Fiction vs. Non: An Opinion Post

As part of the Blog Post Bingo quest some of us have been working on these past two weeks, I must write an opinion post. This is a very hard one for me, as I'm not the most opinionated person, at least I don't think I am! So I've been struggling with what to write about. I debated arguing the fact that I think the Grammy's are fixed, but I have nothing to base that on. Besides, it would be nice to try and figure out an opinion I have on something book related.


Then I was reminded about a sort of book argument I had with my husband awhile back. He thinks fiction and specifically fantasy, is a waste of time. He feels that non-fiction is the only type of books a person can read and still learn something. (However, sometimes I think he takes this stand just to get me all riled up. Yep, it works!)


So, then of course I start freaking out about how all reading is learning, even if it's fantasy. And that no matter what we read, we are learning something. And that even if the whole purpose of reading is to escape the real world and live for a time in a fantasy one, that's okay. And I know that non-fiction is really great for learning, and I wish I could fit more of it in, but as for me, I tend to crave the fictional, (sometimes realistic, sometimes non,) stories to immerse myself in and forget about the current world and all its too real problems.


So, there's my opinion, simple as it is. How about you? Do you see the benefit of reading fiction, even fantasy? Or do you think that non-fiction is the only way to learn from a book?