Book Chatter

Sunday Matters

Production week for The Sound of Music is almost done. It’s been a full week of rehearsals and The Girl has one more show tonight and that’s that!

We got to see the show yesterday. It’s always fun to see it all come together. The Girl was a festival singer, one of ten girls singing. She really wants a lead in Peter Pan. We’ll see if she even gets in. The sign-up line begins at 4 am on Wednesday. Hello!

I will try to share pics from The Sound of Music later, but they banned cameras backstage so the pickin’s may be slim.

Right Now:

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there. Since we have the show going on, we plan to celebrate next weekend. Today, we will hit church and then back to the stage we go.

This Week:

Did I mention that sign-ups for Peter Pan are at 4 am on Wednesday morning? Good Gawd! I will be totally dead at work but she really wants in.

Reading:

I am going to finish A Little Life this week if it kills me. I’ve been savoring it but I really need to finish it up so I can move on to other books.

I am listening to Luckiest Girl Alive and although it started off a little bumpy, I am really into it now. This is the book that Reese Witherspoon just optioned so we’ll see if it becomes a movie soon.

Just started Nantucket by Nan Rossiter. It IS summer after all. Gotta get a summery read in before the Atlas Shrugged read along! We’ve got seven readers signed up so far. Will you join us?

Watching:

Not much this week. My secret hiding spot at work was in-use all week so I could not watch Mad Men at all. I did see a little bit of Orange is the New Black but it’s not pulling me in this season.

Making:

I made a really great chicken and pasta dish made entirely from leftovers. I had cooked-up chicken breasts a few days before and just sliced them up with fresh peas, garlic and olive oil, a spoonful of cream cheese for flavor, a dab of tomato paste, and then tossed with pasta and Parmesan cheese.

But, I haven’t made anything since! Production week, production week. No cooking goes on during this week.

Grateful for:

As much as I love seeing the show, I am so glad when production week is over. These days, I find myself getting all worked-up when my calendar is full so it’s nice to finally have it behind us. At least for a little while. I am grateful that after tonight’s show, we are done until September!

What’s going on in your world this weekend?

Misery
By Stephen King
(Signet Book, Mass Market Paperbound, 9780451169525, 352pp.)

The Short of It:

Annie Wilkes is Paul Sheldon’s #1 fan and when she finds her favorite author on the side of the road, injured in a car crash, she takes him home to “nurse” his wounds.

The Rest of It:

It’s King! And this one is a doozy. I’d forgotten the ending even though I’ve read it twice before and seen the movie so reading this book for the third time was like reading it for the first time.

Why did I read it again? This.

#MiseryRAL

I am a total sucker for read alongs involving Uncle Stevie. As long as my eyes are not scratched up by a hair brush, I will say yes. That’s all I’m saying about that. So when Care asked, I of course said yes.

The book. Wow. I had forgotten how intense the story is but I was quickly reminded just a few pages in. I won’t go into details because if you haven’t read it, you really must. Basically, Annie is nuts and when she finds Paul Sheldon on the side of the road, injured and needing help, she steps in and takes it a little too far.

Annie Wilkes is quite the character and King takes great pleasure in sharing all her cockadoodie mannerisms and oogie hygiene habits. Those words are sprinkled throughout the book, numerous times and every time I heard them, I got chills up my back. They are SO Annie.

And Paul, not as helpless as you think but still, what a predicament to be in. Trapped, injured and having to rely on Annie?? Oh my word. Yes, a tough situation to say the very least.

On the gore chart, this one is a little intense. But on the supernatural front, there is nothing really to speak of. What makes this story scary is that it could actually happen.

What’s neat about the book is that there is a story within a story. Paul is writing a book while held captive and King spends a good chunk of time fleshing that story out. Almost to the point where one blogger wanted to read the rest of THAT story! No? Yes!

Overall, this was just too much fun to read as a group. Every time we came across a little gem, we’d hop on Twitter to comment. If you want to check out the comments, search for #MiseryRAL. I guarantee you will want to join in on the next King read along after reading some of those tweets.

To sum this up, I enjoyed the book more this time around than the first two times. I must have been very young when I read it before because I really didn’t remember too many of the details. So glad I decided to read it again.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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