Life: It Goes On - December 8

Every year I set myself a schedule of things I need to get done in December before the holidays. I never build in a couple of days to be sick and yet every year I seem to get catch a cold that knocks me out for a few crucial days. You'd think I'd learn to just plan on that happening! Woke up with a cold Friday and the very productive weekend I'd planned has been completely tossed on its head. I have gotten quite a bit of reading done, though!

I have stuffed tissue up my nose (sorry for that visual!) and plugged away on the decorating. I've done some new things this year which is always fun but makes the whole process take longer. Everything is up now but I still need to decorate the tree. Honestly, it's my least favorite job, although I think this is largely my own fault because it has to be just so and therefore takes much longer to do than it should!

Here's What I'm:

Listening To: I continue to listen to Under The Tuscan Sun and, although I'm still not enjoying the narration, I've gotten over the fact that it's not like the movie and am enjoying it for what it is.

Watching: It's definitely winter - our movie rentals have resumed and we're catching up on all of the Oscar nominated movies from last year we never saw. This week we've seen Lincoln (incredible acting), Django Unchained (interesting story but if you don't like blood, pass on it), and Life of Pi (cinematically amazing).

Reading: This week I read Anna Quindlen's Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake which I'll review this week and can't wait to discuss with the Bookworms this week. It's a book I would recommend to all women of a certain age. I've started Rachel Joyce's Perfect for an upcoming TLC book tour. With Christmas gifts to make, though, I'm not sure how much more reading I'll get done this year when I'm done with that one.

Making: This week I'll start making fleece blankets for the great-nieces and nephews...again. Apparently they were such a big hit last year that the kids want more. Which warms an auntie's heart but definitely means my reading time will take a hit. Also have another project to work on but it will have to stay top secret until after the holidays.

Planning: On getting started this week with Christmas baking. The kids love to help with most of it so it requires some planning to find times that work for all of us.

Grateful for: Kleenex Ultra Soft.

Loving: That Miss H has finally started college. She was not excited to start but did it for us. We are so proud of her for the effort she's putting out so far. We just want to make sure she has options in life.

Feeling: Overwhelmed - I can't believe there are only two weekends between now and Christmas!

Thinking: With help like this, I may never get much done on the computer! Twenty-pound cats really do not belong on desks but there's no convincing Iroh of that.

Looking forward to: Spring. Is it bad that I'm already so over winter and we haven't even had a real snowfall yet? On the plus side, before long, the days will soon start getting longer.

How are you handling the holidays this year? Are you finding the time to get it all done or have you made changes to make your life easier this time of year?

This Is The Story Of A Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett

This Is The Story of A Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett
Published November 2013 by HarperCollins Publishers
Source: my copy is courtesy of the publisher and TLC Book Tours in exchange for this review

Publisher's Summary:
This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage is both wide-ranging and deeply personal, overflowing with close observation and emotional wisdom. Stretching from her tumultuous childhood, from a disastrous early marriage and a later happy one, she charts the hard work and joy of writing, and the unexpected thrill of opening a bookstore. Patchett shares stories of the people, places, ideals, and art to which she has remained indelibly committed. Brimming with thoughtful advice and emotional wisdom, this collection brings into focus the large experiences and small moments that have shaped her as a daughter, wife, writer, and friend. An irresistible blend of literature and memoir, This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage is a unique examination of the heart, mind, and soul of one of our most revered and gifted writers.

My Thoughts:
I've been a fan of Patchett's since I read Bel Canto in 2006. It remains one of my all-time favorites and based on that book alone, I would happily pick up anything Patchett writes. So I didn't hesitate to accept this book for review even knowing it would take me out of my comfort zone. As so often happens, it turns out that it's good to step out of your comfort zone periodically.Imagine my delight to discover an entirely new type of book! It's not really an entirely new type of book, just new to me. Of course, now that I've discovered essays I'm kicking myself for ignoring them all of these years. Perhaps if I'd just thought of them long ago as non-fiction short stories, I would have given them a chance sooner. Maybe it just took Ann Patchett to convince me.

Patchett opens the book explaining how she came to be a novelist and how writing for magazines allowed her to support herself and gave her the time to write fiction. This Is The Story of A Happy Marriage is a collection of essays she wrote for those publications. The voice I've enjoyed in Patchett's novels shines through in her essays as does her sense of humor and her honesty. She writes about her childhood home which was so poorly built that mushrooms grew in the carpet, about how the Rodney King beating affected her father's legacy as a Los Angeles policeman, about her book Truth and Beauty which stirred up a controversy when it was chosen as required reading for Clemson University's incoming freshmen, and about love in its many forms.

My favorite essay is titled Love Sustained a story about the relationship between Patchett and her grandmother and the time they had together in her grandmother's later years. It's a lovely story about the bond the two of them had and I was touched by the care Patchett gave her grandmother in her latter years. The depth of her love was astonishing.

"I felt certain that this had been one of the great loves of my life, and I crawled into the bed and held her in my arms and told her so.  Her eyes were open, and she touched her finger to her lip. I was crying and then that was that."

Thanks to TLC Book Tours for including me on this tour. For other impressions of this book, check out the full tour.

Ann Patchett is the author of six novels: the New York Times bestselling State of Wonder and Run; The Patron Saint of Liars, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year; Taft, which won the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize; The Magician’s Assistant; and Bel Canto, which won the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Orange Prize, the BookSense Book of the Year, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. She is also the author of two works of nonfiction: the New York Times bestselling Truth & Beauty and What now? Patchett has written for many publications, including the Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s Magazine, Gourmet, the New York Times, Vogue, and the Washington Post. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

Find out more about Ann on her website and follow her bookstore, Parnassus Books, on Twitter.

Rise and Shine by Anna Quindlen

Rise And Shine by Anna Quindlen
Published 2006 by Random House Publishing
Source: this audio book is mine
Narrator: Carol Monda

Publisher's Summary:
It's an otherwise ordinary Monday when Meghan Fitzmaurice's perfect life hits a wall. A household name as the host of Rise and Shine, the country's highest-rated morning television talk show, Meghan cuts to a commercial break - but not before she does something that, in an instant, marks the end of an era, not only for Meghan, who is unaccustomed to dealing with adversity, but also for her younger sister, Bridget. A social worker in the Bronx, Bridget has always lived in Meghan's long shadow. The impact of Meghan's on-air truth telling reverberates through both their lives, affecting Meghan's son, husband, friends, and fans, as well as Bridget's perception of her sister, their complex childhood, and herself. What follows is a story about how, in very different ways, the Fitzmaurice women adapt, survive, and manage to bring the whole teeming world of New York to heel by dint of their smart mouths, quick wits, and the powerful connection between them that even the worst tragedy cannot shatter.

My Thoughts:
It's not great literature; it's not even the best book by Quindlen I've read. But I liked Rise And Shine. I liked the interaction between the sisters - the older sister who grew up feeling that she had to take care of her little sister, the little sister who grew up without a real recollection of her parents and in her sister's shadow. I liked the juxtaposition of life amongst the uber wealthy versus life among the desperately poor and Quindlen's no-holds-barred approach to both. Most of all, I liked Bridget and watching her, at forty-three, finally finding her own voice and place in life.

If you're looking for a book with a strong plot, skip this book. This book is, as they say, character driven. There is the kerfuffle at the beginning of the book and some action at the end of the book but in between, there's a lot of talking and thinking and deep looks at life in New York City. Quindlen talks about living a life of poverty in the city but skirts the grittier issues which is fine here given the nature of her story. Some readers may be annoyed, though, that even as she throws the rich under the bus, Quindlen's characters rely on money to make their lives easier.

The story is told first person from Bridget's point of view and Carol Monda did a very good job with it. She's a reader I will look for again. I wished, as I was listening to this book, that she had read the last Quindlen book I read, Black and Blue. I think she would have added the vulnerability I was looking for in that book's protagonist.

Rise And Shine has plenty for book clubs to discuss   - sibling relationships, motherhood, class differences, marriage - without anything that would offend any reader.                                                                              

Life: It Goes On - December 1

Hoping all of my friends in the U.S. had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend and that those of you who hit Black Friday sales survived and got lots of great deals.

We enjoyed time with both sides of our family including shopping with my sisters and nieces on Friday AFTER the crowds had thinned. and a nice long walk without so much as a jacket with the Shepp side yesterday when temps were in the 60's.

Today I've gotten all of the fall/Thanksgiving decor down and after I get a good cleaning done, it will be time to put up the Christmas decorations.

Here's What I'm:

Listening To: I started Frances Mayes' Under The Tuscan Sun Friday and I must say I am not enjoying it at all. The narration is, frankly, awful. I'm not sure I'll keep listening; it's enough to adjust to the fact that the book is nothing like the movie. I have the book so may just read it in print.

Watching: We used to watch The Mentalist regularly but when it moved to Sunday nights it couldn't compete with football and Downtown Abbey and we lost track of it. But with the series winding down, we've been watching the past couple of weeks again. I'm not sure I like the way things are wrapping up. Do you watch it? What are your thoughts?

Reading: Ann Patchett's This Is The Story of A Happy Marriage which is a book of essays and may just have convinced me that I need to read more essays. I'm enjoying it a lot.

Making: I looks like I'll be making more blankets for Christmas gifts this year; two of the kids I made blankets for last year told me yesterday that they'd love to have another blanket.  Looks like a trip to the fabric store is in my future this week.

Planning: Oh you know, all of the Christmas things - shopping, baking, and, hopefully, Christmas cards this year!

Grateful for: Time with our families - love them all so much!

Loving: Having a four-day weekend. It's been very relaxing.

Feeling: Recharged and ready to head into the busiest time of the year!

Thinking: People need to learn to get over it. If you've got a problem with someone, talk about it over and move on.

Looking forward to: Playing with some new decorating ideas for the holidays thanks to some new pieces and Pinterest. What are you looking forward to this week?