Lent

So this Lent thing is killing me. Somehow I managed to be the only one in my family to give up something tangible. I gave up soda. I never realized how frequently I reach for a soda instead of water. Clearly this isn't a good thing. My head definitely attests to it anyway as I've had the mother of all caffeine withdrawal headaches for a few days now (well, the headache is probably exacerbated by all the other lousy junk happening to me seemingly daily right now, but the lack of caffeine certainly doesn't help). But at the end of this, I should have kicked the habit and feel much healthier, right? At least I'm not going to be stinky, like the child who chose to give up baths as his Lenten sacrifice (I did tell him, to his chagrin, that baths and showers were two different animals so he won't really be unwashed for 40 days). And the oldest child knew that I was vetoing his plan to give up homework even as it came out of his mouth--his sacrifice now is to give up complaining when I ask him to walk the dog. And perhaps the family's biggest sacrifice is my daughter's intention to give up yelling at her brothers. Ah... for a little peace and quiet and family harmony! We just won't go into the husband's belated offer to give up beer despite having had it at business dinners the first two days of Lent. There's always that one failure for statistical purposes, right? He'll be pleased to know he fills that requirement. ::grin::

Winter Reading Challenge

Because I love these set 'em yourself challenges and because I didn't manage to finish the Fall Into Reading Challenge, I'm going to try challenging myself to the same thing I did then and will hopefully be more successful this go round. Inksplasher is hosting a Winter Reading Challenge that suits my purposes beautifully. I want to finish all of the books I currently have bookmarks in during the 9 weeks remaining for the challenge. That means I need to read:

1. Middlemarch by George Eliot (this was the big stumper for the Fall challenge and I'm still not very far into it)
2. Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser (I seem to have stalled out on this)
3. Trawler by Redmond O'Hanlon (which I am enjoying but is a slower read than I envisioned)
4. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen (the newest addition to the in progress pile)

With luck I will manage all of these (and the others that sneak into my reading piles with no warning) by the March 19th deadline. Whee!!!!

Review: Summer Half by Angela Thirkell

I do so love the wonderful set of books comprising the Barsetshire chronicles by Angela Thirkell. Summer Half is not too far into the series but as all her books, may be read out of order (unless you are seriously quirky like me and must read in order). This particular book focuses on Colin Keith, Tony Morland, Rose Birkett and several others. Colin, not wanting to be a further financial burden on his father, decides to apply for a job in a boy's public school during the short summer term. here he comes in contact with Tony Morland, who is quite the young man now and with the self-centered and rather unconsciously entertaining Rose Birkett, who is leading her wildly jealous fiance a merry chase. Half of the story takes place at the school, where Rose is intrigued by Colin, who is entirely unimpressed by her but must try and diplomatically convince Winter, a fellow master and Rose's unhappy fiance, that he wouldn't touch her with a ten foot pole. Thirkell's great strength in these well wrought and thoroughly entertaining books is to capture the minutia of the everday absurd so beautifully and believably. The other half of the book returns the reader to the Keith house and local area and allows the school relationships to be seen outside the distortingly small arena of a boarding school. As are all of Thirkell's books, this made me chuckle, grin, and just warmly enjoy the reading experience. And really, there's little higher praise than that.

Behind: A Perpetual State of Being

Don't you wonder about those people who always seem on top of everything? I sure do. And I'm clearly not one of them. I started this blog to help keep myself on top of my book reviews, keep me chatting about my running (which assumes I actually get off my rear and run), and just generally keep an ongoing glimpse into my life for anyone interested (or just plain bored). Somehow I've managed to fall behind on all three of those goals and I just started this thing in November! I swear I did learn that keeping on top of life was the best possible plan but I just seem congenitally unable to manage it. Shoot, I haven't even pulled off a birthday party for my daughter (her birthday's in September). Actually, I haven't even called to reserve the place yet. How appalling is that? And because I am nothing if not equal opportunity about neglecting things for all of my children, I have never made the playdate my oldest has been asking about since the beginning of the school year. I only signed my youngest up for tennis lessons today because he is home half days to nag me (and he missed the first session anyway so don't think I was on top of that either). Maybe one of those days I will morph into an on the ball sort of person. In the meantime, at least I'm fairly laid back about being a day late and a dollar short. (We'll get the house on the market sometime before the spring, I promise--or maybe sometime after the spring if we're working on "Kristen time.")

2008 TBR Challenge

Well, another challenge I've discovered that I'm going to play along with is the 2008 TBR Challenge. I generally do read from my own collection but I'm going to try and choose books for this one that I've passed over many a time so that I actually get them read. So here's the list and the 12 alternates.

1. So Big by Edna Ferber
2. Toehold by Stephen Foreman
3. The Grand Tour by Tim Moore
4. The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant
5. Blind Submission by Debra Ginsberg
6. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
7. The Effect of Living Backwards by Heidi Julavits
8. Rex and the City by Lee Harrington
9. The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye
10. Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
11. There's a Slight Chance I Might Be Going to Hell by Laurie Notaro
12. Widow of the South by Robert Hicks
alternates
13. Before you Know Kindness by Chris Bohjalian
14. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
15. The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizake
16. Made in Detroit by Paul Clemens
17. Still Life With Chickens by Catherine Goldhammer
18. Pure Dead Batty by Debi Gliori
19. Pomfret Towers by Angela Thirkell
20. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
21. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
22. Chasing Shakespeares by Sarah Smith
23. Dog Is My Co-Pilot by the editors of Bark
24. Blue Valentine by Alison Tyler

Because I am having fun joining challenges and I definitely have the books to complete this one in my stash, I'm joining the Jewish Literature challenge too. It can be found here: http://jewishliteraturechallenge.blogspot.com/. My potential list for this one (plus an extra) is:

1. My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
2. Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl
3. A Wall of Light by Edeet Ravel
4. The Nazi Officer’s Wife by Edith Hahn Beer
5. Outwitting History by Aaron Lansky
6. Early Bird by Rodney Rothman

Should be an interesting mix of reading!

Decades 2008

I participated (rather unofficially) in the By the Decades reading challenge for 2007 so I thought I'd sign myself up for it again (albeit officially) for 2008 . I found a gem or two that I didn't expect over this past year and want the impetus to look closely at some older books that didn't find their way onto the new releases table at Barnes and Noble. So here's the potentials list, although as I understand the challenge, I can swap out titles at any moment. Good thing for this mood reader! And by all means, feel free to suggest your favorites to me although I've tried to choose books that I'm reading for other challenges already so I don't completely overbook myself (like usual).

1990's Skating to Antarctica by Jenny Diski or The Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce or Medieval in LA by Jim Paul or The Autobiography of Santa Claus by Jeff Guinn
1980's Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon or A Not Entirely Benign Procedure by Perri Klass
1970's The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner
1960's The Golden Spur by Dawn Powell or Mr. Bridge by Evan Connell
1950's A Question of Upbringing by Anthony Powell or Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer or Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
1940's The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham or The Locust’s Have No King by Dawn Powell or The Big Rock Candy Mountain by Wallace Stegner
1930's Pomfret Towers by Angela Thirkell or Remembering Laughter by Wallace Stegner
1920's The Bride’s House by Dawn Powell or So Big by Edna Ferber or Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset
1910's The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley or Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
1900’s The Man of Property (Forsyte Saga) by John Galsworthy or The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy or Madame de Treymes by Edith Wharton or The Wings of the Dove by Henry James