Thunder and Lightning

It was a dark and stormy night and you have the choice of three books to bring into your tornado storm shelter.  Which items do you choose?

Keep in mind that all reading will be done with the frequent siren interruptions of your brand new weather radio* purchased four hours** before the first sirens.

Oh, and you had that bright idea to install a tornado app on your phone.  It's slightly out of sync with your weather radio so you get double the random warnings.

In the event of power outage, you have three sources of light:

• Flashlight #1 with batteries that may have been replaced (were they???) once since the 2007 gift.  You have one spare battery.
• Flashlight #2 purchased day 0 of impeding storms.  You will only realize later that because it's cute and LED, it will only give you 1.5 hours of light on the three batteries.  You have one spare. 
• One LED bike light which you never got around to installing on your bike from Christmas 2012.  It is the most fun because it pulses but reading with it might be a bit of a bear seizure.

Your safe room is hot because of course it's not ventilated.  Between the noise and the heat, concentration is a challenge.

Luckily, there is room for one tiny chair so you don't have to sit on the floor.  

In two hours, you've been able to leave the safe room for a period of 45 minutes (not consecutively) but you managed a quick dinner thanks to Boca.  

What do you choose?

*Health note:  I think one should have to have a heart test before the purchase of one of these radios.

**Consumer note:  If you've been through one of these before you will pay up to 200% markup...so I've heard.

My selections:

• Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (electronic version at 95% battery) that I began during my last weekend trip.
• State of Wonder by Ann Patchett which is still in progress because I didn't want to carry a book on the plane.  
• Mosby's Memoirs and Other Stories by Saul Bellow a lovely treat sent from a friend, hard copy, not started.  

If I have time to read all three, please send reading water.  

Bottle of Red, A Bottle of White

It was a treat to spend part of Saturday sharing glasses of reading water with GBC P@1ge and GBC K@y.  A planned outing and an impromptu meeting made me feel just as home as the song with a different state in its name that European strangers frequently try to sing to me while traveling.  (Who knew Lynard Skynyrd had such an international following?)

This week has been mainly talking about books but not reading, eating great food but not sleeping, running lots of miles but not swimming,

Here's to planning the next adventures while not losing the present.

Man, I Feel Like A(n Old) Woman

I still have yet to start the next book.  I had a block of time this morning but used it to maniacally finish a baby blanket.  I can't describe the feeling I had when I finished the pattern only to read I needed to CROCHET the edges.  I had one crocheting lesson about five years ago and I had my mom's old crochet hook.  Not much in the way of assets but paired with a few you tube videos, it happened.

[It is at this point that I would like to apologize to my mother for all the clothing patterns I selected and asked her to make for me when I was younger, saying "This looks easy. I'm sure you could do that."]

The baby blanket looked easy but I'm now having a glass of reading water as a reward.  It was a brutal last hour and let's just say the pattern was tweaked a wee bit in order to reduce the amount of hand-cramping from crochet.  Egads.

Hope you have had a great weekend!  I am happy that I got to spend time with GBC P@1ge.  There's no one else in the world with whom you'd rather prep last minute for a party.

Two Words

It was a big treat to see the GBC grouping this weekend and catch up on life over a bit of reading water.  I was very fortunate to see a number of dear friends, one of which managed to succinctly create a story-telling image with the art of the two-word phrase.  Nod to KR for inspiring this little arrangement.

Pinewood
Business Plans
Cheese Curds
Snowy Lands

Outside painting
Housing sales
Machu Picchu
Haircut tales.

Interstate blanket
Toasts galore
Big hugs
Wine Store.

Honey Coffee
Presents Exchanged.
Big discussions
Life rearrange.

Pizza toss
Dinner party
Running hugs
All hearty.

10 for 15

Tips for giving up Reading Water for a month (while only two weeks in):

1. Target your second busiest work season.  Your team will love you.
2. Incidentally, your team will call you nuts and/or crazy with brilliant (but not for polite company) adjectives preceding.  You will get used to this after a few days weeks.
3. Drive over random things, preferably one each week. Fiberglass insulation at 30 degrees?  Piece of cake.  Two nails in the tire at 30 degrees?  How else would you have discovered your gauge reads down to 3 psi?   It's fun to work on your car, and weren't you just mentioning something about tires?  
4. Increase your intake of caffeine by one-third.  It gets tiring [pun #3] drinking only fizzy water and juice.  Why not supplement your espresso with two more cups of daily tea?  You will enjoy the extra hours stretched into your day so you can...
5. Start ambitious knitting projects.  That pattern that you've been afraid to try?  Do it now.  Use three colors and really small needles.  It will be such an accomplishment.
6. Speaking of accomplishments [#5], sign up for a LOT of races.  You're already at the gym because you need some outlet for stress [#1] and since you're not sleeping anyway [#4] and stepped up your workouts to two-a-days on three days of the week, you'll be just fine. Trust me.  The soreness will go away in about two weeks.  
7. Buy a TEN dollar half-gallon of heavy whipping cream instead of milk.  While it was an accident, you'll enjoy the puzzle of trying to create various recipes to use the cream so that it's a) not wasted and b) you don't gain 10 pounds.
8. Don't check your receipts while you are in the store.  Wait until you are home and it's raining before you discover [#7].  Bonus points if you also get charged for your single artisan cheese twice. 
9. Embrace the wardrobe malfunction.  Twice.
10. Carry protein bars, preferably a variety so if you have to eat one for breakfast, lunch and dinner [#1], you will have variety.  Luna, the spice of life.  

Also:

Laugh a lot.  You've got a good story.

Plain Dreams of Trains

I've been reading John Dies at the End by David Wong which was published before This Book is Full of Spiders.  Since I've read them in reverse order, I'm using Star Wars logic and treating it as a prequel.  The books are quite suspenseful so I'm not disappointed I already know about John* because that's one less thing that will creep into my dreams.  [Side note:  I've also been reading about dream interpretations.]  It was really fascinating to learn about Amy in reverse.

Hope you've had a good weekend.  I'm off to finish a book with a side of reading water.  It's been a fun read.

*Author's note:  Titles aren't always revealing as the other book wasn't really full of spiders. Well, not really.

California Dreaming

Sunny skies. 

Peach pies.

Letterpress.

Ramen best.

A long weekend with friends, reading water, and just the right amount of time to read. 

Feynman is pretty phun-y.

Skaal!

I'm grateful that exercise left me exhausted this weekend so that I could curl up on the sofa to finish The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson.  It was a fun summer read and the cameos by well-known political figures were great.  The story moved well and the characters were likeable with their quirky, dotted pasts.  Several parts made me laugh aloud.

There were a very highlight-able quotes including this one (p 136):

"Never try to outdrink a Swede, unless you happen to be a Finn or at least a Russian"

If you've ever been drinking in Finland or Russia with Finns, Swedes, Norwegians, Russians, and Germans, you know this to be true (especially if you're in a revolving restaurant or anywhere near a sauna).  But we'll save these stories for another day.  Hope a great week ahead!

Take It for Grant-ed

Did you ever wake up perhaps just a bit earlier than normal and manage to squirrel away all the extra minutes you managed to create on various tasks around the house: eating, coffee, laundry, uploading photos to the site of a PR guy who actually thought you knew what you were doing with a camera, and the odd ironing?  Then, did you ever find yourself with just a few minutes to spare and wonder whatever in the world could you possibly include in the GBC blog?

Then...you remembered that one GBC member had an extraordinarily fine day yesterday which ensures she will remain in the neighborhood happily for several more books to come?  Congrats GBC K1m on the grant (and thanks for the inspiration of the day)!

Odd March

Between the early morning rise, a private screening of the Hunger Games, a road trip, a haircut, and a margarita the size of my counterpart's head, I was remiss in posting anything about books or reading.

Despite my failure to write, I did manage to spend quite a bit of time discussing The Hunger Games (book versus movie) and getting this recommendation for a non-fiction read, An Anatomy of Addiction by Howard Merkel.  [I'll admit that my first draft had the book title as Anatomy of Addition. I have a feeling that wouldn't make a best sellers list.]

Running Down a Dream II

Some days you have to put the book down and run.

Today was one of those days.

A half marathon medal for the bookshelf and destined for a glass of reading water later.

Run down your dreams this weekend.

Not Your Easter Bonnet

Some of my favorite evenings are dinner parties. The combination of an eclectic crowd, a nice meal, bottles of reading water, and conversation ranging from the intensely geeky to the best of current events reminded me of some of our best GBC evenings. One of the highlights of last night's event was the discovery of a new book genre: "bonnet books." (These Amish romances gained their nickname due to the frequency of young women in bonnets on the front cover.) A search this morning led me to articles in Time, WSJ, and Newsweek which explored the more recent popularity growth and highlighted one of the genre's leading writers, Cindy Woodsmall. With my interest in the odd and unusual, my curiosity is piqued; I may just have to add one of these titles to my list.

Have Yourself

(a) a merry little Christmas
(b) a happy December
(c) a dashing Festivus
(d) all of the above
(e) none of the above

Cheers!

Books & Bubbles

A book store and a champagne bar. I do not think Battery Park Book Exchange needs any other description. Add this locale to your Asheville travels.

Club Read

I spent some time yesterday researching local bookclubs to see if I could fill this gap left by the move. While there were over a dozen reading groups, most of the these met at the LIBRARY (dramatic pause) MID-DAY. These were crossed off my list as quickly as yellow or lime summer dresses (not my color). Library + mid-day meet-up time = no reading water. I am not saying that reading water is a necessity for a good book group; well, actually, yes, yes I am. As I have mentioned here before, the GBC was not just about the books. The gatherings celebrated life and the crazy, odd, funny, crazy (worth mentioning again) things that we all had done in the month since last meet in search of living life to its true potential.

This bias against most of the aforementioned bookclubs was confirmed in a social gathering last night where several of the local (cool, interesting and would make quality GBC member) ladies had shared their stories about participating in the local bookclubs. Some excerpts: annual syllabus; assigned readings; attitude received from not completing the book and thus not carrying their own club "weight"; written synopsis; and requirements to bring questions. In addition, the book discussion seemed to frequently end on religious notes which has a slightly different tone than the usual GBC discussion [where slightly = ginormous].

Needless to say, the local book club members probably didn't spend their Sunday morning finishing My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler. The book did make me laugh aloud in more than a few occasions, but I would not place this on my "Stop the Presses: read this immediately" list. I would place it on your "Whoa, I totally forgot that I did that too list" for summer reading or any other time when you are feeling like perhaps you did not quite "live" your twenties (or thirties - not judging).

Bon Chance

I am living with a little chaos. Last weekend I made a huge dent in the boxes, but still a bit more organization to go. ("Bit" is, of course relative.) This weekend I am taking some time off from work. I am going to read, spend time with friends, laugh a lot, enjoy a bit (again relative) of reading water, and think of all the wonderful, amazing, crazy things which have happened in the last year since I was standing on a 3rd floor balcony under an eave in the pouring rain watching fireworks.

Happy Independence Day!

March Notes

I am still working through The Healing Art of Qigong, but think there are limits to how much I could (should) write about this subject before I lose my audience. Moving on, I have renewed The History of Love by Nicole Krauss so that I can begin the book without pressure to finish it immediately since I dedicated more time these last three weeks to qi and knitting rather than to reading. I also received the unexpected surprise of a book from a co-volunteer today: Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. The back jacket reviews include words such as "irreverent, hysterical, Hunter S Thompson, and wickedness." Yep, this book may jump line over Love. The owner and I also appear to share the same [neurotic ?] habit of not bending paperback spines, so all-around a great lend.

Enjoy the weekend ahead. The weather here is lovely, and I think I will begin my Friday evening in the spirit of GBC with a little reading water.

We are Not Alone

It seems we are not the only club that fails to discuss the book. My sister has just returned from her book club meeting with the intended discussion of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. This was the first of three manuscripts handed to his publisher in 2004 shortly before he died. Described as "engrossing, but at times disturbing," my sister felt it was worth the read. This will likely be my pre-Christmas reading as well.

Sometimes life, with the aid of video, will take precedence over discussion. For the record, reading water was not involved.

Santa Baby

The GBC can keep a secret for two months. Who knew?

This month's meeting was a combo book club/baby shower for two of the GBC members. The scheme was hatched at the end of the October gathering; reading water can be so inspiring.

The culprits, who gave themselves such nicknames as "wise men," met at a fellow bookclubbers house to assemble a basket of gifts (baby books) as well as diaper the beverages of choice. The atmosphere was festive in preparation with one member singing a verse of "We Wish You a Merry Baby." As the appointed hour grew nearer and the last attorney arrived, the group began to assemble in a line down the sidewalk donned in jackets, gloves and hats, as it was a cold winter's night. In the journey walking two houses down, a verse of "Away in the Manger" was sung by GBC members though the last few lines trailed off without lyric books.

When the hosting couple (a.k.a. the parents-to-be) opened the door, they were greeted with a single crowd of cheering clubbers (not to be confused with a mob). "What did my wondering eyes should appear - you all arrived at the same time; that is so dear!" was rumored to have been said, though cannot be confirmed. As the bottles of diapered wine and juice were presented, our unsuspecting hosts realized that the GBC was in fact throwing a shower, and that this group could be the oddest set of bookclubbers in this town.

Books were unwrapped, photos were taken, toasts were given, and "oohs" and "aahs" were said at appropriate times. It was a happy gathering.

The food was, of course, fantastic with homemade tamales and a now infamous squash casserole to accompany. The cheese course was delicious to begin, and dinner closed with gingerbread and freshly whipped cream.

At some point the club settled in for a long winter's discussion about the readings, noting our favourite passages or poems. The GBC continued the tradition of reading aloud in the round with "Buying Presents" by E.M. Delafield.

As the evening began to wear down and guests were shepherded out the door, there was a sigh and a wave. And to all, a good night.

November Clubbing Downtown

On Tuesday evening, the GBC ventured downtown to GBC HeLen's pad for our monthly meeting. Reflecting on the evening, I am certain we did not pause in conversation the entire night. We enjoyed various nibbles pre-dinner and a scrumptious main menu of green salad followed by a seafood pasta. The pecan pie was delicious and congrats to GBC Bill for identifying the secret ingredient. (Of course, I won't tell you here...GBC book code and all.)

Each of us had read the book (always notable) and discussion ranged from character relationships to Holmes to the seance to Lincoln. My favorite moments are those as the meeting begins to wind down when we tend to share personal anecdotes inspired either by the book or the varied topics we have covered during the course of an evening (and several bottles of reading water).

GBC Bill prepared our reading materials for next month; we have a collection of short stories hand-picked for December. Start preparing your reading voice as it is tradition that one of the stories is read aloud in the round.

We also looked a bit forward to January for My Life in France by Julia Child for menu planning. We decided that we each should attempt one dish from Mastering the Art of French Cooking for the meeting. GBC HeLen was voted our stand-in for Ms. Child since she is the tallest.

As you begin to look towards Thanksgiving, remember the words of Ms. Child quoted several times in French Cooking: "Above all, have a good time."