Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke & the Bookish. It’s awesome. Every Tuesday, the lovely ladies over there give us book bloggers wonderful and fun topics to create our lists! Check out what others have posted by going over there!

http://brokeandbookish.blogspot.com

This week’s topic is-

 Top Ten Favorite books from the past 3 years

I like looking back 3 years- I was still in my 30s!  But since I really didn’t start keeping track until I started this blog 2 years ago, I am going to concentrate on that.

Here are my favorites- and some quotes that highlight why-

1.  The Book Thief

“I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.” 

2.  Anna Karenina

“If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content.” 

3.  Gone Girl

“Friends see most of each other’s flaws. Spouses see every awful last bit.”

4.  The Shining

“Sometimes human places, create inhuman monsters.”

5.  Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore

“A clerk and a ladder and warm golden light, and then: the right book exactly, at exactly the right time.”

6.  We Need to Talk About Kevin

“I thought at the time that I couldn’t be horrified anymore, or wounded. I suppose that’s a common conceit, that you’ve already been so damaged that damage itself, in its totality, makes you safe.”

7.  The Stand

“You know,” Glen Bateman said, looking out toward Grand Junction in the early light of morning, “I’ve heard the saying ‘That sucks’ for years without really being sure of what it meant. Now I think I know.”

8.  The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

“You know everything you need to know about a person from the answer to the question, What is your favorite book?”

9.  Burial Rites

“I can turn to that day as though it were a page in a book. It’s written so deeply upon my mind I can almost taste the ink.”

10.  Wild

“…the death of my mother was the thing that made me believe the most deeply in my safety: nothing bad could happen to me, I thought. The worst thing already had.”

I am liking this new wrap up I do- on Friday instead of Sunday because I think the week should start on Friday!

We weren’t supposed to ski this weekend, because the kids have “things” to do, but hubby is playing hooky from work, so just he and I will go up for the day!

Here is what happened here this week-

Reading

I have had a very busy week reading wise.  I finally finished Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult.  It did get better, but not one of my favorites by her.

I also finished At the Water’s Edge by Sara Gruen, A Love Song of Miss Quennie Hennesy by Rachel Joyce, and The Dream Lover by Elizabeth Berg.  These were all ARCs, so I feel especially productive!

I just started The Girl on The Train (I bow to pressure-jk).

Posts

I wasn’t that great posting this week, but I did manage to do this weeks Top Ten Tuesday!  I was too busy with all the reading.

I just realized yesterday that I have almost 7 books that I read and still need to write the review for.  I had better get cracking on Monday!

Cooking

This was an interesting week.  I started off by thinking I wanted to cook lighter, but with this cold weather-oh well.

We had yummy chicken quesadillas on the weekend that I make with my panini maker-love that thing.

I made my daughter’s favorite- angel hair pasta with grape tomatoes and chicken.

I also made an amazing Roast Chicken-with mashed potatoes and sautéed green beans.

And yesterday brought a brand new recipe for Thai Red Curry with Beef, served with jasmine rice.

How was your week?

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke & the Bookish. It’s awesome. Every Tuesday, the lovely ladies over there give us book bloggers wonderful and fun topics to create our lists! Check out what others have posted by going over there!

http://brokeandbookish.blogspot.com

This week’s topic is-

Top Ten Heroines

I know this is all going to be very expected, but here it goes

1.  Elizabeth Bennet

I love that she rejects both Mr. Collins and Darcy!  No marriage of convenience for her.

2.  Mathilda Wormwood

Takes herself to the library!

3.  Lizbeth Salander

I know its a tough read, but this is one kick ass lady.  She saves the guy at the end.

4.  Hermione Granger

Brains and bravery in equal measure.  Plus it was so awesome when she punched Malfoy!

5.  Scarlett O’Hara

A little bitchy, yes, but she uses everything she has (her feline wiles) to get what she wants.

6.  Jane Eyre

Walks away from relationships she feels aren’t right for her, in a time when she really has nothing else.

7.  Scout (Jean Louise) Finch

Struggling to understand right from wrong, she hold her own in the integrity department alongside Atticus and Jem.

8.  Katniss Everdeen

Volunteering to save her little sister is heroic enough, but then she teams up with Rue, and then Peeta too.

9.  Jo March

She cuts off her hair (her one beauty according to the little bitch Amy) for the $ to pay passage so Marmy can help nurse the father back to health.

10.  Professor Minerva McGonagall

I love Minerva!  So sassy and proper at the same time.  And Maggie Smith is so perfect in the movies!

Who are some of your favorite heroines?

Friday Wrap

I am not sure why. but I decided to try something new- a quick wrap up of what went on for me this past week.  I though it would be a nice way to end the eek and start the weekend!

So here it is.  This week, here is what happened-

Reading

Slow going on the reading front for me.  I started Jodi Picoult’s Leaving Time, and have only gotten almost half way through.  Not going to be a good week page # wise for me.

Posts

I only managed 2 posts this week- a review of a book that unfortunately I really didn’t care for, and the fun Bookish (& Not So Bookish) Thoughts

Home News

Last Sunday, we skied in sub zero temps.  While it was not the most fun I have ever had, we all laughed so much- not an easy task with teenagers.  Then we had a blast watching the SNL special.

Cooking

I decided to add this much for the same reason I decided to start the blog- to keep track of things I find myself forgetting!

This week’s big meals were- Shaepard’s Pie and Potato and Bacon Soup.  Some really good cold weather (did I mention it’s freezing here?) food.

We are heading back to the mountains for more cold weather fun, and I am making chicken quesadillas.  That will hopefully end my culinary tasks until Monday, but I doubt it!

Have a great weekend!

After Birth

by Elisa Albert

published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

February 2015

I received and advance review copy of this book from the publisher through net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

I saw this title on someone’s list of books to read this winter.  Now, I am sitting here, struggling with whether I should post this review on my blog or not.  I have not actually finished this book.  I got to 82% and had to put it aside.  This was not a book for me.  Though well written, I just did not like the story or the main character.  A majority of the story revolves around Ari and her inability to accept that she had a C-section, rather than have a natural delivery.  A year later, and this is still the main focus of her mind.  She is clearly depressed, though she refuses any aspect of help, other than having dinner with her gay neighbors whenever her husband works late.  She drinks and smokes pot often, yet is loud and righteous about breast feeding her son on demand-at a college faculty Christmas party- because her breast milk (pot and all) is best.  She becomes obsessed with her new neighbor, Mina, a single new mom, who is also struggling with the demands of a baby.  When Mina has trouble breastfeeding, Ari feeds her baby for her (cringe).  Then she dreams of opening a daycare, where she can be a wet nurse for numerous children.  She bemoans the fact that no one ever told her what to do, how to cook, sew, raise a baby, then in the next breathe, derides the life she is living and weeps for her lost feminism.

At some point, Ari was planning on writing her dissertation, but has stopped working on it since the baby.  She does leave him 2-3 times a week with a sitter, and she is supposed to be writing, but instead she sits in the coffee shop and trolls on the net.When she goes to see her PHD advisor, she is horrified that her advisor isn’t as in love with her baby as she is.

The parts in the book that were a little different were when Ari talked about her family.  She had a very difficult relationship with her mom, who died when she was 13.  There was a real solid storyline there, and I found myself wishing the author had pulled the two together a little more.  Seeing Ari struggling, and knowing that she didn’t really have a mom, or another woman that she was very close to, would put her struggles into a new light.  As it was, it felt like Ari was a very obnoxious, self important, whiny person, and it was a chore to read some of the thing she said and did.

I wouldn’t recommend this book.  That is why I was hesitant to post this review here.  I generally only choose to read thing I am pretty sure I will enjoy, at least somewhat.  Then I figured that I have to keep things balanced and honest, so here it is.   I will finish it, since I am so close, but it really wasn’t worth the time.

Summary

A year has passed since Ari gave birth to Walker, though it went so badly awry she has trouble calling it “birth” and still she can’t locate herself in her altered universe. Amid the strange, disjointed rhythms of her days and nights and another impending winter in upstate New York, Ari is a tree without roots, struggling to keep her branches aloft.

When Mina, a one-time cult musician — older, self-contained, alone, and nine-months pregnant —moves to town, Ari sees the possibility of a new friend, despite her unfortunate habit of generally mistrusting women. Soon they become comrades-in-arms, and the previously hostile terrain seems almost navigable.

Hello winter storm Juno!

So it seems we are getting slammed with an “historic” snowstorm and I luckily live smack dab in the middle of it.  I have run my necessary errands- hot wings and soda for the kids, wine and brie for me.  And a quick stop to the library 🙂  Oh- and got out LOTS of candles, since all it takes is a little fart from Mother Nature, and I lose power.  During Hurricane Sandy, we were without power (and that means no heat or running water-thank you well water) for 2 weeks.  So, I may not be able to get my posts out- since I have been skiing, I haven’t done any planned posts.  I do hope to get lots of snuggling and reading in-Yay!!

So if you are also on of the lucky 60 million getting hit by this- good luck!

To the rest of you- think of us out here in the Northeast!

I will be thinking of this-

Bookish & Not So Bookish Thoughts

is a weekly meme hosted by Christine over at Bookishly Boisterous, where we post things that are on our minds.  Head over there and check it out!

1.  I HAVE to read this book, simply because this baby looks just like my Jack (plus looks like a cute story).

Really how cute is that?  Doesn’t my boy look just like that?

2.  I am reading an ARC- and I hate it.  But it is a quick read, so I figured I would just waste tonight and finish it.  Has this ever happened to you?  I usually DNF, but I want to push on though.

3.  I am in serious need of an intervention!

I own too many book that I have not read, yet I am still going to the library at least once a week, AND accepting ARCs at least 1-2 per week.  It is a sickness.

4.  I live in New Jersey.  As if that is not bad enough in itself, it is freezing here.  I want to move so bad.

5.  We went to one of my favorite places before Christmas- Lake Placid.  What a great place.  We skied Whiteface ( bunny slope for me), walked though the town, and just had an amazing time.  The best part was the cabin we rented didn’t have a TV anywhere except for one in the basement.  Lots of family together time- with 2 teens it was a challenge!  I wish we could go back.

6.  After Christmas, we went to ski in the Poconos.  Second day in, I hit a mushy pile of snow and spun around.  Or at least 3/4 of me did- one knee stayed planted.  OUCH!  Icepacks and wraps were needed.  And wine.

7.  I gave my daughter a calendar with Labradors on it (since we have 2).  She thought she was getting a puppy for Christmas.  I felt so terrible, I wanted to go out and get one.  But I couldn’t get up because Jack was laying on me.  Oh well- one baby at a time.

8.  I am planning to read The Beautiful and the Damned as part of Jazz Age January hosted by Leah at Books Speak Volumes.  I am very excited- I think this might be one of the few by Fitzgerald that I haven’t read yet.

9.  The best part of winter is being able to put your pj’s on early, curl up under a blanket, and read all night.  I just described my plans for the next month.

10.  I am excited to read a few books over the next month or so- Saving Grace by Jane Green, All the Light we Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, and Gray Mountain by John Grisham.

Strange group, I know.  But I put in requests for them at the library.  I will probably wait a good while.  Good thing I have so many books already to hold my interest!

Wish you a Happy, Healthy and Safe New Year!

Hope 2015 brings you many wonderful books!