My new reading selections...

Yesterday I recieved a gift card to Barnes & Noble and I immediately ran out to spend it. I mean, I have two long train rides ahead of me, of COURSE I can spend it now, thanks!!

Here is what I got...

Hot & Bothered: A Novel by Annie Downey

From amazon.com:

From BooklistThe chirpy heroine in Downey's debut is surprised to find herself at a crossroads when, at age 39, her husband ("Ex-Rat") leaves her with two children and an identity crisis, presumably to join Sex Addicts Anonymous and gallivant around with a new girlfriend. Saddled with a sassy best friend, a flaky mother, and a gigantic crush on a charming professor ("Perfect Guy"), she thinks that it's a miracle when she finds time for herself. She tries meditation, she tries a part-time job, she even tries shopping for sexy lingerie, all while parenting and hosting holiday dinners. Told in flashes, Bridget Jones-style, the short, page-length snippets, with titles like "A Manic Moment" and "Cheese Danish," give the sense that the author, like her main character, is always on the run. Still, Downey pulls off the fast pace, and readers will root for this single mom to find her prince, however unconventional the pursuit may be. Will she end up with Perfect Guy? Ex-Rat? Rugged Alaskan Man? Now that she is thriving, who cares? Delightful. Emily CookCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Mating Rituals of the North American WASP by Lauren Lipton

From amazon.com:

From Publishers Weekly: Lipton's second effort (after It's About Your Husband) is a feast of standard genre fare redeemed by the author's wit. After a night of partying in Vegas, Peggy Adams wakes up married to a stranger. Her new husband is Luke Sedgwick, scion of an old Connecticut family who manages the dwindling family fortune and cares for his elderly aunt Abigail in the crumbling ancestral manse. When Peggy arrives in Connecticut to sign the annulment papers, Abigail intervenes, unwilling to let the last living Sedgwick get divorced on her watch. She poses a deal: if they stay married for a year, Abigail will allow them to sell the Sedgwick estate and split the proceeds. Since Peggy needs a windfall to save her faltering business and Luke wants to pursue his dream of becoming a writer, they agree, but married life brings plenty of familiar obstacles and a foregone romantic conclusion. Lipton's skewering of WASPy culture is reliably entertaining, and her perfectly mismatched leads are sturdier than most. It won't change your life, but it'll help kill a couple hours at the beach. (May) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Something Blue by Emily Giffin

From amazon.com:

From Publishers WeeklyGiffin's sophomore effort-which tells the story that her bestselling Something Borrowed did from a different character's point of view-stars such an unsympathetic narrator that it's a little like reading a Cinderella story featuring one of the wicked stepsisters. Perhaps beautiful Darcy Rhone isn't really wicked, but she is one of the most shallow, materialistic, self-centered and naïve 29-year-olds around. Ostensibly a high-powered PR person in Manhattan (though she never seems to work), Darcy spends most of her time shopping, partying and getting ready for her wedding to perfect guy Dex. But an alcohol-fueled Hamptons fling with one of Dex's pals, Marcus, starts to break Darcy's perfect life down; and discovering Dex hiding in her best friend Rachel's closet really shatters it. Pregnant with Marcus's baby, Darcy decamps for London, where she crashes in high school pal Ethan's flat and annoys the heck out of him with her endless shopping and complete disregard for her impending motherhood. But after a good lecture from Ethan, whom Darcy has started to fall for a little, Darcy embarks on a self-improvement plan, thereby demonstrating she can think about someone besides herself. And if readers don't mind the first 200 pages in which she doesn't, they'll enjoy her happy ending and the few surprises along the way. Fans of Something Borrowed, too, may relish the "she said, she said" fun. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

I am taking the Mating book and Emily Giffin's book with me to Chicago. I haven't read the first book Something borrowed, but I think that will be fine...

Off till Wednesday!!

What to read.. what to read...

The hub and I are headed to Chicago on Sunday and we are taking the train. So I will have a lot of uninterrupted reading time. Now, WHAT DO I BRING??? I don't have a lot of books at home that are unread that seem like fun a fun trip read. I have Middlesex, which I may bring, but I kind of want some chick lit. I may have to go to the library and grab some stuff. My grandma gave me a couple books to read, which I may look at, but I am torn. What to bring, what to bring.. I have a ton of old magazines and I may bring a few of those because I can ditch them when I am done and possibly buy new/used books in Chicago.

Did I mention how excited I am to go to Chicago?? I haven't been since 2004? It's been awhile. I hope the weather somewhat cooperates so we can wander around and be big ole tourists.

What books should I pick up for the trip? Is Middlesex too much for a fun trip? Where should we go while in Chicago?

Wordless Wednesday...

Weekend Plans..

It was crappy all day and the sun came out RIGHT when I got out of work!! Yay! *happy dance* I am sipping on some beer, waiting for the hubby to come home, so I can convince him we need to go on a date! This weekend we had planned on getting our boat out, but after our fabulous friend Travis came to fix it, we now have wiring problems that we need to fix over the weekend. Better on land than in water! So we need to fix that up and do some gardening *gulp* FYI: I HATE DIRT!!!! And we need to do some mowing which I am oddly excited about since I haven't mowed in 2 years.

I am kinda hoping for a bonfire at some point this weekend. A s'more and some grilling sound good to me!!!

What are your plans??? I hope they are fun. Enjoy the long weekend!! HELLLLLLLLLOOOOOOO SUMMER!!!!

Review: Rattled! by Christine Coppa

Rattled! by Christine Coppa
I read this memoir by Coppa in one night. I am a daily reader of her blog on Glamour.com and was really interested in what she had to say about her transition from city girl to mommy. For those who do not know, Chrissy is a single mom to JD and a freelance writer. She blogs daily about JD and her daily occurrences at Storked! and her writing over there got me interested enough to purchase not one, but two copies of her book the day it came out. One for me and one for my best-friend.

In Rattled! Chrissy relays how her boyfriend of three months and her had one night of unprotected sex and she ended up pregnant. The boyfriend stuck around half-heartedly for a few months while Coppa was thrown head first into mommy-hood and adulthood with a bleep on a sonogram.

Throughout the novel you want to throw things and swear at the boyfriend, hug and love her family (especially her very supportive father and brothers), giggle at the antics of her dear Nanny and sometimes throttle / sometimes desire to befriend her posse of pals.

Coppa is a very beautiful writer and really brings to life images and thoughts. My only complaint was that I wasn’t particularly moved by it. I thought there was emotion that could have been added but wasn’t. I don’t know, something just seemed a bit off, however I would recommend it and will most likely re-read. And would definitely read the next book that is sure to come!

Wordless Wednesday...

This or That Tuesday...

Conner Gray
or
Brady Michael

Isla June
or
Anna Elizabeth

Week in Review

This last week I read and finished Mercy by Jodi Picoult and started The No. 1 Ladies' Dectective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. I really enjoyed Mercy and the thoughts it brought forth. Such as, if you truly love someone do you let go or do you hold on tight?

Personally, I think that question is really loaded. You have to take in a lot of factors and even with a lot of thought, sometimes the right answer is not the answer you should make. So, do you make the right answer or the correct answer? Deep stuff. It's not always easy to let the person you love leave when there are a lot of unanswered questions that turn into a bunch of what if questions.

The No. 1... is not starting out like I expected. I had heard good things about it, but I can't remember what it was exactly. It seems like a slow start so I am hoping it gets good soon or I will be sad. Not sure if I will be going to the library this week or try to get through the stacks I already have at home!

Jodi P

"I don't know about Jamie, but I understand doing something you know you shouldn't be doing, and knowing at the same time it's not wrong." - Mia, pg. 293, Mercy by Jodi Picoult.

Do you connect with this statement? Why or why not?

Wordless Wednesday...

Looking for some suggestions..

Okay, so in about a year or so the DH and I are thinking about expanding our family. I really want to read some books that relate to this. Some non-fiction, some fiction. I've had many recommendations for Taking Control of your Fertility and plain on sucking it up and buying it on Amazon, since my local library does not have it. Besides that, any other suggestions that might be helpful? I am open for anything from chick-lit, to historical, to non-fiction, to medical to anything really. I just want to read more about parenting, pregnancy and famililes. So if you could throw out some suggestions, that would be great!

In the past I have read... Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner, Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult, My Not so Fairy-Tail Life by Julie Wright, and The Doctor's Wife by Elizabeth Brundage. Just a few that are some-what related to the topic...

Suave Does NOT equal Secret

In a reading blunder, I was recently at the drugstore pickingout deodorant and I am not one to be a follower of a particular brand or anything, I just tend to stay away from some that I have tried in the past that do not work. However, I typically lean towards Secret because it is effective. Probably too much body odor information for the general public, but stay with me. So I picked up my normal blue "Secret" deodorant and went on my merry way.

The weather was slightly warmer but I seemed to be extra sweaty. Then about a week later I a mindlessly putting on the goods and I read on the cap "Suave vs. Secret, can you tell the difference? and I thought huh???? And I turned it around and lo and behold it said Suave! DOH!

Well let me tell ya, Suave is NOT as good as Secret for me and I will be dilligently reading my labels from now on!!

Eights are GRATE on Wednesdays...

8x8

8 Things I Am Looking Forward To:
1. Summertime
2. Getting a Job
3. Having children
4. Summer baseball/softball games
5. My weekend
6. Making sangria on Sunday
7. Blueberry picking
8. Watching Bride Wars

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
1. Worked
2. Drank margaritas
3. Ate tacos
4. Watched the Tigers beat the Twins!
5. Voted
6. Talked to my grandma
7. Spent too much time on facebook
8. Read the prologue for Mercy

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:
1. Go on another all inclusive vacation
2. Go to Kenny's concert this year
3. Make my best-friend happy
4. Teach kindergarten
5. Get children to realize they do need to memorize math
6. Get children to slow down and read directions
7. Make sure all children are hugged, kissed, fed and loved every day
8. Eat all the ice cream in the world and be skinny

8 Shows I Watch:
1. NCIS
2. Law & Order: SVU
3. In Plain Sight
4. Criminal Minds
5. Grey's
6. Brother's and Sisters
7. Medium
8. Burn Notice

8 Favorite Fruits:
1. Strawberries
2. Blueberries
3. Pineapple
4. Apples
5. Kiwi
6. Oranges
7. Blackberries
8. Grapes

8 Places I'd Like to Travel:
1. Mexico
2. Bahamas
3. Washington D.C.
4.Italy
5. Ireland
6. Alaska
7. Puerto Rico
8. Costa Rica

April's Reads...

12. Rattled! – Christine Coppa (April 15th) - This was fantastic. Coppa is a blogger for glamour.com and a freelance writer. She is the mother to an adorable boy, Jack Domenic and she does it all alone. Well, all alone with the love and support of her friends and family. Jack's dad bailed before the pregnancy was over and has never met his son. Rattled! is the story of what happens when you end up 26, pregnant, in NYC, all alone. It's the story of growing up, of becoming independent and about love. Excellent representation of a mother and the love she has for her child.

13. Blonde – Joyce Carol Oates (April 16th) - I have many mixed emotions on this one. It started out fabulous, but I think 500 some pages was a bit too much for this one to hang in there. Oates writes this as if we have a front row seat to Marilyn Monroe's most inner thoughts. While I loved the thought of knowing what Monroe felt and why she did things, it was a bit over the top. I did enjoy the spin Oates put on her life and certain aspects. Definitely worth the read if you are a Monroe fan or just curious about that time period.

14. PS I love You – Cecilia Ahearn (April 19th) - This was awesome. My hubby kept asking, "What does that book say???" I kept laughing and crying it was that good. The book follows Holly through the year after her husband suddently dies. He and her and always talked about "The List" that he would have to leave her if he were to die. When letters start arriving, she starts following their advice and holding on to her husbands memory. She takes risks she never would have before, get's a job SHE LOVES but never would have tried for and realizes who her true friends are. I would totally recommend this one.

Reading lulls..

I've been having troubles getting my butt to sit down and read lately. Which is odd, since I've loved reading since I could read See Spot Run on a page. I've always enjoyed curling up with a good book and getting lost in some adventures. However, it seems like more and more lately, even when I WANT TO READ and have books that I WANT to read, I still put it off. I got a TON of books for Christmas and I have not even read half of them. I have two books out from the library that I know I want to read and will enjoy, but have not started. I am so not going to make my reading goals for this year and it is making me angry. I should be enjoying the time I have now to read since I know there will be a lot of time in the future that I won't have all this time to read.

Why can't I just pick up a book?