Blue Nights by Joan Didion

Overview

From one of our most powerful writers, a work of stunning frankness about losing a daughter. Richly textured with bits of her own childhood and married life with her husband, John Gregory Dunne, and daughter, Quintana Roo, this new book by Joan Didion examines her thoughts, fears, and doubts regarding having children, illness, and growing old.

Blue Nights opens on July 26, 2010, as Didion thinks back to Quintana’s wedding in New York seven years before. Today would be her wedding anniversary. This fact triggers vivid snapshots of Quintana’s childhood—in Malibu, in Brentwood, at school in Holmby Hills. Reflecting on her daughter but also on her role as a parent, Didion asks the candid questions any parent might about how she feels she failed either because cues were not taken or perhaps displaced. “How could I have missed what was clearly there to be seen?” Finally, perhaps we all remain unknown to each other. Seamlessly woven in are incidents Didion sees as underscoring her own age, something she finds hard to acknowledge, much less accept.

Blue Nights—the long, light evening hours that signal the summer solstice, “the opposite of the dying of the brightness, but also its warning”—like The Year of Magical Thinking before it, is an iconic book of incisive and electric honesty, haunting and profoundly moving.

My thoughts:
This book felt a lot like The Year of Magical Thinking to me, except this time Didion was working through the death of her daughter and her own aging instead of the death of her husband.  The writing worked outward in circles.  She kept coming back to some of the same facts or phrases, but provided a richer background and landscape for those things.  The flowers and plants that grew at one of their homes, that her daughter then used for her wedding, and how she looked on that day.  How she questioned how she really did as a parent, like we all do.  Are we doing enough?  What are we missing when we are in the middle of it?  Did we make the right decision.

The book really flowed from chapter to chapter, even though it was in no way taking place chronologically, sometimes Quinitana was a little girl, or a baby, or sick in the ICU as an adult.  They lived in different places full of different memories, but they all revolve around her little girl and her understanding of her role as a parent.

Central to it all are fears about death and aging and becoming frail.  Having lost her mother, husband and daughter within ten years of each other took her family and left her wondering who she should list as an emergency contact at the hospital.  The people she would normally use are gone.

No one is free of worries or fears.  She talks about how she can;t open a closet or a drawer without coming across mementos for memories she no longer wants to have.  How she wishes she had lived that moment more fully instead of worrying about saving something that is now trivial. Each time I ended a chapter I kept right on going.  I read the whole book in one day in on and off spurts.  The pacing was great.  This is the second e-book I've borrowed from our library and I am loving this feature!

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780307267672
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date: 11/1/2011
Pages: 208

Saturday Snapshot- BounceU October Visit

Back in October I took my youngest two to BounceU for a Preschool Bounce Session.  I remember when it first opened when I was pregnant with my now five year old.  It was a great way to tire out kids!  The price has gone up since then and so many birthday parties are held here that we rarely just go for an open session.

Bouncing around in the moon bounces is harder than it looks.  Parents are invited to play with their children.  In this one they can jump and also try to get balls through hoops.

I can't seem to get the picture to rotate the right way but this is coming down the slide.  You can tell by his face that he isn't so sure that he likes this!

Where as this one loved it!  He went down over and over and over again.

It was fun.  I'm going to have to think about trying it again sometime soon!

This is hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books.

The Shadow of Your Smile by Susan May Warren

About the book: The Shadow of Your Smile

A beautiful blanket of snow may cover the quaint town of Deep Haven each winter, but it can’t quite hide the wreckage of Noelle and Eli Hueston’s marriage.

After twenty-five years, they’re contemplating divorce . . . just as soon as their youngest son graduates from high school. But then an accident erases part of Noelle's memory. Though her other injuries are minor, she doesn’t remember Eli, their children, or the tragedy that has ripped their family apart. What’s more, Noelle is shocked that her life has turned out nothing like she dreamed it would. As she tries to regain her memory and slowly steps into her role as a wife and mother, Eli helps her readjust to daily life with sometimes-hilarious, sometimes-heartwarming results. But can she fall in love again with a man she can’t remember?

Will their secrets destroy them . . . or has erasing the past given them a chance for a future? Read the story behind the story here: http://www.susanmaywarren.com/books/the-shadow-of-your-smile.

My thoughts:
I received this book as part of a Litfuse Blog Tour.  I read it last month before the holidays and it was just the read I was looking for.  We did not have any snow last month, but it was easy to imagine how  treacherous roads can be and the stress of driving in bad weather.  When Noelle has her accident everything about her life as well as the lives of her family members changes.  But you are left to ponder if the memory loss is a curse or a blessing.  Thing of all the things we hold with us that are better left to fall away, what if you could let all that go in an instant.  No longer feel angry about petty life issues that can easily weigh us all down.  Whose turn it is to take out the trash, who is being taken for granted, who has let go of dreams or wishes.  To see all that gone and not even know it is gone might lift you up.

Noelle and Eli have to relearn each other and she has to relearn the life that she used to have and decide if that is the life she still wants to have.  Pieces of the puzzle of who she was in the twenty-five years that have been erased come back to her or to Eli and they don't always make sense until they are brought into focus and moved to the right place, getting a little bit of information from her friends, acquaintances and her children bring about a picture of the secrets she was keeping or that Eli stopped trying to share.  Eli has secrets as well that come to light.  The fragility of the marriage they had is opened up and decisions must be made.

I was drawn in by this couple and their struggle.  I wanted them to be honest with each other and to find their way.  So often when the going gets tough people head for divorce, but if there was something there worth believing in then one would hope it would still be there and just needs the chance to be nurtured and grown.  After reading this book I want to go back into Deep Haven and find out more about some of the other residents.  I haven't had the chance to look for those books yet, but they have been added to my TBR list!


About Susan: Susan May Warren is an award-winning, best-selling author of over twenty-five novels, many of which have won the Inspirational Readers Choice Award, the ACFW Book of the Year award, the Rita Award, and have been Christy finalists. After serving as a missionary for eight years in Russia, Susan returned home to a small town on Minnesota’s beautiful Lake Superior shore where she, her four children, and her husband are active in their local church.

Susan's larger than life characters and layered plots have won her acclaim with readers and reviewers alike. A seasoned women’s events and retreats speaker, she’s a popular writing teacher at conferences around the nation and the author of the beginning writer’s workbook: From the Inside-Out: discover, create and publish the novel in you!. She is also the founder ofwww.MyBookTherapy.com, a story-crafting service that helps authors discover their voice.

Susan makes her home in northern Minnesota, where she is busy cheering on her two sons in football, and her daughter in local theater productions (and desperately missing her college-age son!)

A full listing of her titles, reviews and awards can be found at:http://www.susanmaywarren.com/.


Link to buy the book.

Blog tour schedule here.
 Come back to Deep Haven and Win!

Enter 1/9 - 1/28.

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Sometimes love requires a little forgetting ... Come back to Deep Haven and find out what's been happening in your favorite quaint hamlet. If you're new to the Deep Haven series - this is the perfect book to start with - each book in the series is a stand alone story.



Susan is celebrating the release of The Shadow of Your Smile by giving away a prize pack worth over $200 from 1/9-1/28.

One grand prize winner will receive:

• A $200 Visa Gift Card (Use that to rekindle a little romance, treat yourself to a spa day, snap up those shoes you’ve been eyeing, or purchase a few great books!)

• The entire set of Deep Haven Books 

The winner will be announced on 1/30/12 on Susan’s blog, Scribbles! Just click one of the icons below to enter and tell your friends about Susan's giveaway on FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning.

The Scorch Trials (Maze Runner Series #2) by James Dashner

Overview

The Scorch Trials picks up where The Maze Runner left off. The Gladers have escaped the Maze, but now they face an even more treacherous challenge on the open roads of a devastated planet.

And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them.

Can Thomas survive in such a violent world?
 
My thoughts:
This was last weeks audio book in the car.  Thomas and his friends discover that although they escaped the maze, they have not escaped the trials and are still being used and watched.  This time they are dumped out into the world and need to travel 100 miles in two weeks to be given the cure for the virus they all have.  They must go through deserts, tunnels and deals with Cranks.  Cranks are people who are infected with the virus and have gone crazy, or past the gone, and do violent and random things.
 
Each of the boys has awoken in what they thought was a safe house with a  tattoo on the back of their necks with a number.  In some cases they also have a word.  Ming ho is the leader, Newt is the glue, Thomas is something much worse.  They have to work as a team and get through this task and then they will all be saved.
 
The violence in this one is worse than the first one.  Seeing people who are crazy and want to kill them is worse to me than the mechanical monsters in the maze.  It is like the Cranks have lost their humanity to the virus.  It was a darker read.  At times it was hard to remember that the characters are all, for the most part, teenagers as they are dealing with situations involvingg life and death.
 
I know a lot of people have compared this series to The Hunger Games, but as I said in my last review, I still prefer The Hunger Games.
 
 
Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780385738767
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Publication date: 9/13/2011
Pages: 384
Age range: 12 - 17 Years
Series: Maze Runner Series, #2

Love in a Nutshell by Janet Evanovich and Dorian Kelly

Overview

Number one bestselling author Janet Evanovich teams up with award-winning author Dorien Kelly to deliver a sparkling novel of romantic suspense, small-town antics, secretive sabotage, and lots and lots of beer

Kate Appleton needs a job. Her husband has left her, she’s been fired from her position as a magazine editor, and the only place she wants to go is to her parents’ summer house, The Nutshell, in Keene’s Harbor, Michigan. Kate’s plan is to turn The Nutshell into a Bed and Breakfast. Problem is, she needs cash, and the only job she can land is less than savory.

Matt Culhane wants Kate to spy on his brewery employees. Someone has been sabotaging his company, and Kate is just new enough in town that she can insert herself into Culhane’s business and snoop around for him. If Kate finds the culprit, Matt will pay her a $20,000 bonus. Needless to say, Kate is highly motivated. But several problems present themselves. Kate despises beer. No one seems to trust her. And she is falling hard for her boss.

Can these two smoke out a saboteur, save Kate’s family home, and keep a killer from closing in…all while resisting their undeniable attraction to one another? Filled with humor, heart, and loveable characters, Love in a Nutshell is delicious fun.

My thoughts:
This was the first audio book I checked out of our library for digital download.  I wanted to try listening to audio books while I run instead of music because a lot of the time I feel like I am having to decide between spending free time reading or running.  While it worked, I don't think the story kept me quite as motivated as music usually does.  I am going to give it another try before I rule it out entirely.  I also have to figure out how to remove it from my Ipod.  It isn't in itunes so I don't know how to select to remove it.  Can you tell the Ipod is still kind of new territory for me?

On to the actual book, I enjoyed this story.  It had good pacing and was fun.  There was a bit more about beer and brewing than I cared for, but had I been reading it I just would have skimmed over it.  My husband has brewed at home and I've heard all about the different components of brewing.  It just isn't my thing.  I liked the sleepy little town in the winter/fall and the way Kate went after what she needed.  There were some colorful and memorable characters along the way and a couple of interesting dogs.

I liked the mystery in the book too.  I accidentally listened ahead at one point so I found out who the person behind the sabotage was half way through, but it made me listen to see if I could have figured it out on my own if I hadn't already known and I have to admit, I'm not totally sure I would have.  Usually I can, but it could also be the difference between reading and listening, things that might have jumped off the page might not jump out as much listening, not really sure.

It was a fun listen and it is exciting that I got to read it so soon after it came out, usually it seems like lots of other bloggers are posting about the new books or coming out books they've read and I'm still months behind on getting to them.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780312651312
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication date: 1/3/2012
Edition description: First Edition
Edition number: 1
Pages: 320

Checkpoint!

This past week I did well in some areas and faltered a bit in some others.  I went over my calories by quite a bit, it seemed like I was always hungry or eating because of stress.  So it is something to work harder on this week.  According to My Fitness Pal my goal between food and exercise is 1200 calories a day.  I have a hard time sticking with this and usually try to add in extra exercise so I can still eat.  I averaged between 1300 and 1400 a day overall, but only actually went over my amount on three of the days.

Exercise for the week:
Ran 24 miles
Walked 3.5

I didn't do any strength training or other exercises for the week.  I started walking at lunch two days a week with a coworker, which is good stress relief in the middle of the day.  Also, I took the time to do a long run this week.  Friday I ran 9 miles.  I made the decision to register for the half marathon at the end of April after the run, if I can do 9 now in three months I can do 13.1.

Goals for next week:
Get in more cross training.
Stick better to my calories, stop letting stress and eating just to eat be ways to sabotage myself.

This is hosted by Mari atBookworm with a View.

The Twenty-First Wish by Debbie Macomber

Overview

The Twenty-First Wish by Debbie Macomber

Anne Marie Roche and her adopted daughter, ten-year-old Ellen, have each written a list of twenty wishes—on which they included learning to knit. But Ellen has quietly added a twenty-first wish: that her mom will fall in love with Tim, Ellen's birth father, who's recently entered their lives.

My thoughts:
When I borrowed this book from the library I meant to read all the stories, but the one I was most interested in was the one by Debbie Macomber.  I ended up not having enough time for the whole book.  I always like to stop back at Blossom Street, where a bunch of characters live and work and interact.  Anne Marie owns a bookstore and she and her adopted daughter have been living above it.  Since they are low on space they have bought a new house, but Ellen is having a hard time adjusting to the idea of moving from what she knows and aways from her friends.  Also in their lives is Tim, Ellen biological father who found out he had a daughter just recently.  Tim was not totally honest with Anne Marie in the past and now she isn't sure about trusting him.  But the attraction that was present in their past misunderstanding is still there.  When Anne Marie was widowed she met a group of women in a support group and they all made a list of twenty wishes.  Ellen found out about the wishes and made her own list.  Now she has added an additional wish, that her mom and dad will get together so they can be a family.  This was a nice, short easy read.  Just right for a sitting or two.  Especially if you are in a bad mood and want to see some sunshine!