Everyday Stuff | Book Chatter

Yesterday, my book club met to select our reading list for the year. We each get to pitch two books and then we go through a couple of rounds of voting to narrow it down to twelve or thirteen books. But yesterday, we didn’t have a lot of people show and some people only pitched one book so we only had to eliminate three books to get our list down to twelve.

The three that were eliminated:

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
The Cuckoo’s Calling by J.K. Rowling
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

It was a great meeting. There was food and lots of good book talk plus the day was so pretty so we ended up outside.

The final list is below, and I will also post it under the Book Club tab at the top of the page. I also list the previous lists there in case you are curious.

Final List: (Begins with March since we already had Jan & Feb chosen from last year, see full list on Book Club tab)

MAR – Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
APR – Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
MAY – And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
JUN – The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
JUL – The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
AUG – Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick
SEP – Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup
OCT – I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
NOV – Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink
DEC- A Gathering of Old Men by Ernest Gaines
JAN – TransAtlantic by Colum McCann
FEB – Havisham by Ronald Frame

I pitched Never Fall Down and Twelve Years a Slave but overall, I think these books will generate plenty of discussion.

As for today, not a lot going on. The sky is a very strange color. It sort of looks like it could rain but there is no chance of it happening according to the weather reports. It makes me want to just hang around the house though, which is perfectly fine by me. Next week, I have a parent meeting for The Girl’s track team, more rehearsals and I need to figure out what to bring to the Super Bowl party we are going to.

What am I reading?

Finishing up The Secret of Raven’s Point and then maybe I’ll start Orfeo by Richard Powers.

What am I cooking?

Nothing special. I might make a chicken stir fry for dinner. Sometimes you just want chicken and rice or something simple and today is one of those days.

What am I watching?

I just watched this week’s American Horror Story. What’s happened to that show? The first season was so brilliant. The second, strange but still watchable. This season is just a blood fest. With them being witches, they are killed and resurrected so many times, I can’t even keep track of who is alive anymore.

I think I need to go back to watching Leave it to Beaver.

Well, I survived my first week back at work. I think within 30 minutes of arriving to the office, I was back in full swing. It sure doesn’t take long, does it? The semester begins on Tuesday which means that this past week was spent prepping for that. Lots of little things and some big things that needed to be taken care of. I will say though, it made the week fly by.

Today, The Girl is heading to a sleepover and my one “to do” is to take The Teen for tap shoes. He needs them for the next show he is in. I fear that we will have a hard time finding his size. He’s like a puppy with large paws.

What am I reading?

At the moment, I am reading two books. The first one is The Secret of Raven Point by Jennifer Vanderbes. The second book is Mr. Lynch’s Holiday by Catherine O’Flynn. Both are very good in different ways. I find that I read the first one during the day, and the second one at night, before I go to bed. I hope to finish them soon. Since work started, I haven’t been able to really dive back into them. Maybe I can later today.

What am I cooking?

This morning we had cinnamon rolls and bacon. Well, they did. I just had bacon and lots of it. Oh, and coffee of course.

We had planned to grill steaks for dinner but that is The Girl’s favorite dinner and since she is heading to a sleepover, we will grill burgers instead and save the steaks for tomorrow. I am off tomorrow so I can grill them a little earlier so they can still make rehearsal on time. Yep, nothing like singing and dancing with a stomach full of steak. It’s so nice to have the extra day off, even though the kids still have rehearsal.

What am I watching?

Oh, I am still weeding through my DVR. We watched a Steve Martin/Goldie Hawn movie last night that I had totally forgotten about, The Out of Towners. It was cute, typical funny fare. We also watched Fast Times at Ridgemont High and a movie that I thought I would never watch, Zombieland (ended up being a total hoot).

I think someone in my house will be watching football but today, I am hoping to steer clear of the TV and read a little. I had a fever last night and feel a little off, so I just want to rest. Production week for Oliver begins soon and I really don’t want to get anyone sick.

What are you doing today?

Chatting with friends about books and life…