Tag Archives: Bookish Chatter

Chatter about books, reading and anything related to either one.

A Monday Hello (A Rarity!)

Hello there. You probably forgot all about me. The Boy reminded me yesterday that I did not post a Sunday Salon post. Apparently, he looks for them. I had no idea. Well, Sunday has come and gone but I just wanted to pop in to say hello. I had quite a weekend which kept me busy and because of it, I just never got around to posting. Plus, I am still using that lame laptop of mine and it’s glitchy, at best.

Friday night, I completely lost my mind and ripped out all of the downstairs carpet. Why? Because the dear Otter Pup, AKA Chloe, Squirrel, Pupper Dog, got scared during a storm we had and did a number on the carpet. Not once, but several times and it was just too much to deal with. So, I ripped it out. Plus, this post on Pinterest piqued my interest. Stained concrete will be the end result. We spent all of Saturday doing prep work and then this weekend we will do the final prep work and then apply the stain. It will be nice to finish this weekend, but I am okay with it taking another week in order to get it right.

Here are some pictures. The first one, you can see the huge stain we made while cleaning the carpet. We have one of those home carpet cleaners. We always thought it was doing a really good job. Nope. It may have been clean on the surface, but underneath the carpet and pad… ugh. I never want carpet again.

Ripped Out Carpet

Living Room - No Carpet

Dining Room - No Carpet

After all that ripping, and sweeping and sealing, we went out to eat and I had one heck of a reaction from three bites of a tortilla. It was supposed to be a corn tortilla, but apparently it wasn’t. It did look a little suspect. Needless to say, after all the dust from the carpet and then accidentally glutenizing myself, I had the mother of all allergic reactions. Blisters down throat, near fainting and dizziness. It took me awhile to figure out what it was because I really didn’t think it was that tortilla. Needless to say, I collapsed into a heap and was out. The pup checked on me once to see if I was breathing but no one else did!! I woke nearly four hours later and they were eating dinner. Hello??

When Sunday came along, I was not feeling up to hitting the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, but The Girl saw the event insert and noticed that she missed Judy Blume on Saturday. Talk about guilt! I was barely functioning and I had no idea she would be so upset about missing her but it also warmed my heart a tiny bit that she was so passionate about seeing her. That said, I sucked it up and off we went.

We did not see Judy Blume, although she was there because we saw people waiting in line to see her.

I did not buy any books. I was REALLY out of it.

I took silly pictures with my phone because I wasn’t focused enough to do otherwise.

The Girl

All in all, it was a fun trip. Normally, I attend the panels but I always regret not having the time to browse so this was a nice change of pace.

On the reading front, I am still juggling a handful of books and doing well, but still behind on my reviews. I suppose I will never catch-up if I continue to read. If everyone could have such problems! Ha!

My Reading List (AKA Books, Books and More Books)

As I have been saying and saying… I have been a reading fool although the words have not been coming out of my fingers in the form of reviews but that’s okay. I have reviews scheduled for the weeks ahead and I will focus on next week, this weekend. You ever do that? Schedule a bunch of stuff for a tour or because of a book’s release date and then find yourself with nothing for the very next week? I am not into memes so sometimes I have to improvise without boring you to tears. So, what do I do? Talk about what I am reading, what I plan to read and what I really need to get to out of guilt.

I am reading:

Emily Alone by Stewart O’Nan (sequel to Wish You Were Here)
The Starboard Sea by Amber Dermont
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (a re-read, almost done!)
Alien vs. Predator by Michael Robbins (poetry!)
The Moon and Sixpence by Somerset Maugham
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (a re-read for me, a wonderful book)
The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakmi (stories)

What I plan to read next:

Whatever You Love by Louise Doughty
Words Get in the Way by Nan Rossiter (Her new one! Really liked The Gin and Chowder Club)
The Adults by Alison Espach (not sure it’s my thing, but it’s a library check-out, renewed 4 times!)
The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones
The Savage Garden by Mark Mills (a friend has been begging me to read this)

What I really want to read, but haven’t gotten a copy of as of yet and they are not out yet:

The Twelve by Justin Cronin (he is killing me on FB with all of the mentions and here I sit, waiting)
In One Person by John Irving (requested it on Net Galley and my request sits, not approved, not denied, not anything)

What I really need to read since my daughter ruined my review copy with her bottle of water:

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

This all looks good in writing, but any reader knows that this could all change at the drop of a hat! I am heading to the library to return the 17 books my daughter checked out, and that could mean an entirely new haul for me.  I mean really, how can I avoid the New Books section? It’s just not going to happen. Why even try?