Posts Tagged ‘books’

• 24: I’m so lost

  Date: 2010.05.25 | Category: I'm just saying, television | Response: 5

  I spent the day being sick. My sinuses are all congested and my food tastes funny. But of course, the day I’m sick is the day the cleaners come and it just felt too weird to be laying on the couch (dying) so I went up to Panera to have a cup of coffee and read my book.

  I came back around 10 am and they were gone so I took up camp on my couch for the rest of the day. I watched The Bachelorette and let me tell you, those guys are all idiots. Except for Frank, I kinda like Frank. I wasn’t too impressed with Ali either, but then again she was given a few zingers that I probably wouldn’t have even known how to respond to.

  Then I watched some of the 24 finale. I’m so lost. It seems that I’ve been falling asleep over the last five or six weeks of 24 and my plan was that I’d figure it out next week. Yeah, that plan is not working out too well. If it weren’t for the fact that it’s the very last episode ever I’d probably just delete it from my DVR and call it wrap. But, I’ve still got 40 minutes left to suffer through.

  I read my book, The Forgotten Garden, watched a little of the French Open (that’s tennis folks, one of the grand slams), took a nap, read a little more, took another nap, and then I finally sat up and plowed through the last 200 pages of the book. It was a really good story. I’d absolutely recommend it.

  Do you know what would make being sick on the couch so much better? An iPad. I’m just saying.

• Page 343

  Date: 2010.04.28 | Category: I'm just saying | Response: 3

  I’m on page 343 of The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Thank you Jennifer for lending (loaning?) me such a lovely book. For a number of years now I’ve scoured the various bestsellers lists for what I should be reading next. I’ve actually read some really good books this way, and it’s always nice when Time magazine puts out it’s list of the top 100 books of the year to see that I’ve read a good handful of them.

  I have a file in my book bag that is labeled Books to Read. It’s filled with ripped out book reviews from various magazines that I read. I suppose in this digital age I could just keep those titles in my iPhone, but that just seems way too easy.

  While I try to stay away from Oprah’s book club — for reasons that I can’t even explain because I used to read those books and enjoyed many of them — I tend to read just about everything from chick lit, to mystery, to great literature, to memoirs. I actually enjoy the memoirs, which I’m a little bit surprised with.

  Anyhow, I’m reading The Help — I can’t put the book down to save my life. It’s just that good! And I could just kick myself because of course it was on the New York Times bestsellers list months ago (and still is) and I got it on audio from the library, but did I ever listen to it? No I did not. I absolutely hate it when I realize that I had a great book in my hands for such a long time and I ignored it.

• The One Without a Title

  Date: 2010.01.08 | Category: Wine Club, television | Response: 0

  Tonight is wine club and this month we are tasting South American wines. One of the best parts about tonight is that the hostess has THE BIGGEST chick-lit book collection I’ve EVER seen! Oh Kate, I’m bringing my library book bag to check out some books.

  Tomorrow is yoga, a facial, probably the movies, and of course starting Season 3 of Battlestar Galactica. I really need to get a Blu-Ray DVD player for the basement so I can be on the treadmill while I’m watching Starbuck duke it out with the cylons.

  I suppose I could stop at Best Buy on the way home. I’m sure it’d be less than another PS3.

  And speaking of the Playstation 3, I really need a DVD remote control for it. It just seems ridiculous to be controlling the DVD player using a joystick. Which, by the way, is in the shape cylon spaceship.

• Dexter’s No. 1 State of Fear

  Date: 2009.12.29 | Category: Pop Culture | Response: 2

  I love it when iTunes has a sale on audiobooks. On Sunday I noticed a sale on 100 mystery and thriller books ($6.95 each), so of course I couldn’t help myself and plunged right in to pick out a few to listen to.

  • Dexter By Design, Jeff Lindsay: I’ve not read the Dexter books, but I love the tv series so I’m interested to see how the two compare.
  • The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith: Okay, I’ve tried to read this book many times before, and I can’t seem to make it through. Do they get better?
  • State of Fear, Michael Crichton: It’s been a long time since I’ve read a Crichton book, but I’ve devoured his books in the past.

  Who knows, when I finish two of the three perhaps I’ll go back for more!

• A 200 Year Old Bottle of Wine

  Date: 2009.12.17 | Category: Pop Culture | Response: 2

  I’m reading The Billionaire’s Vinegar: The Mystery of the World’s Most Expensive Bottle of Wine, by Benjamin Wallace. The synopsis of the book is this (from the back cover):

  The Billionaire’s Vinegar tells the true story of the 1787 Chateau Lafite Bordeaux — supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson — that sold for $156,000 at auction and of the eccentrics whose lives intersected with it. Was it truly entombed in a Paris cellar for two hundred years? Or did it come from a secret Nazi bunker? Or from the moldy basement of a devilishly brilliant con artist? As Benjamin Wallace unravels the mystery, we meet a gallery of intriguing players — from the bicycling-riding British auctioneer who speaks of wines as if they are women to the obsessive wine collector who discovered the bottle. Suspenseful and thrillingly strange, this is the vintage tale of what could be the most elaborate con since the Hitler diaries.

  I started this book in the fall, but put it down for some reason and just recently picked it back up. I’m stunned by what I’m reading, not only about Thomas Jefferson, but also about how this particular bottle of wine was handled.

  If you’ve read it, or know the ending, don’t tell me!