Monday, October 19, 2009

this weekend's book bonanza

East of the Sun by Julia Gregson. Thanks to Diane D for recommending this book to me - I really enjoyed it. It's about three women who head to India in the '20s and what they find there. Once I started the first page, I was hooked and it was really hard to put down. 

The Lace Makers of Glenmara by Heather Barbieri -- also a recommendation by Diane D., also a good book. This one is about a tightly-knit group of women in Ireland and how they are changed by the arrival of a young woman who is traveling to escape her painful past. 

NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman.   Really a fascinating book on how what we think we know about kids and how they develop may not be entirely true. It also gave me a better understanding about how parents might need training too, in order to get better at helping their babies and kids learn. Seat of the pants works okay, but sometimes it's good to have a little more information. 

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Denville Book Barn Rocks My World

Check out this immense pile of books - 25 of them, for $25.00 at the Denville Book Barn! (It's on Pocono Road in Denville NJ, hours are 9 to 1 on Tuesdays & Saturdays. And yes, they take donations too, but only 2 bags or 2 boxes at a time.)

You'll notice there are a lot of different types of books in the pile. This is because I am responsible for keeping my father, my mother and my aunt in books, and buying used is a good way to do it, especially since for some strange reason my mother has a complex about library books. She is afraid they will get lost in her house and she will owe a fine.

My dad will occasionally agree to read a library book, but it makes Mom nervous even knowing that there is one in their house. My aunt and I are the only two people in my family who use the library regularly.... and although my parents claim they have library cards, I fear they may have expired long ago.

Now please excuse me, I have to go get some reading done!
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Saturday, October 10, 2009

latest reads

The Kids Are All Right: A Memoir by Diana and Liz Welch (on my Kindle)

You Were Always Mom's Favorite: Sisters In Conversation Throughout Their Lives by Deborah Tannen (on my Kindle)

NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children by Po Bronson  (on my Kindle)

Not Becoming My Mothe
r by Ruth Reichl  (library book)

Damn you, Kindle! You make it much, MUCH too easy to purchase books! So every time I see a great book review I download a sample and more times than not, I find myself purchasing the book at the end of the sample chapter. With the result that now, the backlog of books to be read on my Kindle is probably as large as the backlog of actual books on my shelf waiting to be read. 

Wait a second... why am I writing this? I could be reading!!! Excuse me...