Life | Book Chatter

This past week was strange in all sorts of ways. The weather was so bizarre. Tornadoes, flooding and mudslides. This is Southern California! I think we got over 19 inches of rain total, although the actual figure varies quite a bit depending on where you are (foothills or the coast). Work is still in a state of change. Everyone is waiting for “the word” as far as budget cuts and layoffs. Although I believe that I have enough seniority (over 15 years) to be somewhat safe, changes will be made and hopefully they won’t impact my office too much.

This week hasn’t been too much of a reading week. I started my book club’s pick for next month, Case Histories. It’s very interesting. It pulls you in but I am only halfway through it and wondering if there will be anything to discuss. Sometimes a book is good for reading, but not good for discussion. I am thinking that may be the case here.

My book club also met to select our books for 2010. If you care to see the list, click here. I am very excited about this list. There’s been one change since my post though. The Shadow of the Wind was swapped out with The Book Thief. I’m not sure why.

Right now I have a pot of chili cooking on the stove. The sun is shining, The Hub came home early from work and all of the homework is done. On top of my massive pile of laundry I do plan to get a little reading in. Probably a little more of Case Histories and then I will start The Weight of Heaven for a book tour that I have in February.

Hope you all have a lovely Sunday!

Diane of Bibliophile by the Sea has given me an award. Many times bloggers are asked to share some little-known or not so little-known facts about yourself. I don’t participate in many memes but this Bald Faced Liar…whoops….”Creative Writer” award sounds like harmless fun.

I like guessing games as much as the next person so here’s what this is all about.

1. Thank the person who gave this to you. ( Thanks Diane!)

2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.

3. Link to the person who nominated you.

4. Tell us up to six outrageous lies about yourself, and at least one outrageous truth.

5. Allow your readers to guess which one or more are true.

6. Nominate seven “Creative Writers” who might have fun coming up with outrageous lies. (I will skip this)

7. Post links to the seven blogs you nominate. (Skipping this too)

8. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know you nominated them. (You guessed it!)

The 7 items that I have listed below contain (6) untruths and (1) absolutely true statement. I make no promises that the 6 don’t include some part of truth. Guess which one is absolutely true. I’ll share the answer tomorrow. Hope you enjoy and feel free to speculate as much as you like. Now to the tall tales or not…

1. I wrote a screenplay adaptation of A Separate Peace when I was in college and it was optioned, but never made into a movie.

2. Steve Martin asked to borrow my toothpaste when he was filming The Jerk on location.

3. I was a witness to two murders when I was 5-years-old.

4. I failed Geometry two times and had to have a 13-year-old tutor me when I was a high school senior.

5. I was a tour guide for Universal Studios Hollywood.

6. I planned a big wedding and then ended up eloping after it got too stressful.

7. I climbed Half Dome.

I apologize for the spacing. For whatever reason I could not get the spacing right even after tweaking the code.

Chatting with friends about books and life…