The Best Thing That Ever Happened to this Blog Happened Today

This morning I got a monumental email.  (Mom, it wasn’t the one you sent me about a new mattress, but thanks for that.)

I have copied and pasted it here in its un-lying and totally true entirety – I am star struck.

I wanted to comment on your blog site but the darn thing wouldn't accept my URL. I also am not certain of your name, so please forgive the no-heading.

I just wanted to thank you for your great review! Thank you! I am so happy that you enjoyed the book. :)

A big hug from Forest, Virginia.

Kathleen (Grissom)

Yes, this actually happened.  I love that my new friend Kathleen got a dig in at the crappy site blogspot, and that we agree that it sucks.  I am pretty sure there is an undertone here of respect for our mutual art of writing.

Kathleen, I am Allison.  Let’s get together sometime – perhaps with Ken Follett if he is available?– and talk about smart literary stuff. 

My day can and will go downhill from here.

Bookworm Raves & Continues To Love List Making

The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom is an awesome, awesome book and easily one of the best I have read in a long time.  In fact I am putting it on the top of my largely ignored Current Favorites List here on the right of your screen.  Yes, it was worth spending several seconds remembering how to do that.

Why is this book so awesome, no one asks?  I’ll tell you:

1.  You get into it immediately.  Within 10 pages I knew I loved this book and was going to race through it to lend it to my Mom, since I will see her in a couple of weeks.

2.  Super sad, complex, fast moving, historical story.  It is fictional, but felt so real.

3. The story takes place in Virginia, including several chapters in Williamsburg.  I knew some of the streets and historical sites referenced very well, though my favorite place remains The Cheese Shop, which probably wasn’t there in 1791.

This is the kind of book that makes me love being a reader.  Crappy television like Andrew’s favorite Gardening By The Yard has the same effect but with more eye rolling.

After Two Weeks of Silence, Bookworm Finally Blogs in What Seems Like a Bad Mood

Since I last wrote, I have been slogging through The Last Romanov by Dora Levy Mossanen.  Somehow “slogging” seems like the perfect term for laboring through a book while it is 15 million degrees outside. 

This book looked so promising when I paid full price for it at Barnes & Noble.  A historical novel about the search for the last surviving member of the Russian royal family, I couldn’t wait to jump in.  But the book managed to nail an awful combination of boring and hard to follow.  Even when something cool happened, it was told in such a disjointed way that I was left with a “Say Wha??” feeling.  Not good, Dora.

Just to be clear, I do not recommend this book and want to ask my friends at B&N why it is placed on a prominent table.  I would have much rather read The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss, which I recently bought for a friend’s baby shower.  So if given the choice between those two, I recommend going with the Doctor on this one.

Warning: Unsettling Bathing Suit Shots Ahead

Steve Martin is hilarious. I actually clapped when he showed up in the season finale of Saturday Night Live recently.  His tweets are better than most books.  Including, The Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin.

I liked the book, and even did one of those “hmph” out-loud laughs a few times. It was also kind of sad (yes!) and definitely a quick and easy beach read (that was literally dropped in wet sand, oops).  But I didn’t love it – it was just okay.  I liked the development of the main character, but the plot was a little odd and the ending was not believable and totally out of left field.  I think he got tired of book-writing and realized that he is a super rich dude that can just hang on the beach and tweet if he wants to, so he wrapped it up pretty quickly. 

I, only the other hand, am not super rich and am therefore back at work.  I announced to my team that I now require an afternoon nap post-vacation, and got only laughs rather than the calendar management assistance I was hoping for.  

That book will be dropped in wet sand approximately 5 minutes after this photo is taken.
Even an inanimate object was terrified by our swimwear.
Photo Credit: Loyal Tuesday/Thursday Blog Reader Phill

Life is Awesome; Look for Next Week’s Sequel: Life is Terrible

Here is how a recent Best Case Scenario worked out. 

The day before vacation, my book club selected a light, silly perfect-for-the-beach read as our next book.  (Possibly to try and improve reading performance from last time.)   Luckily, I was able to borrow the book the same day and bring it with me to the Outer Banks, where I am currently vacationing. 

(This is likely to be followed up by a Worst Case Scenario, since I have one-fourth of one squinted eye on my email and can tell that work is falling apart and that next week will be just terrible.  But today is a beach day!)

Star Island by Carl Hiaasen was a great beach read.  Fast paced, silly, mindless, and let’s face it kinda trashy.  I haven’t read any of Hiaasen’s books before, but would happily pick up another at some point.  This is one small step up from watching anything on E! but a notable and important step.  Good pick for a book club full of non-readers!

Doing nothing all day brings out the best in people.
*Note: doing nothing for Andrew is working in the morning and
reading emails throughout the day.

I think there are 19 people in this beach house, but I can't keep track.
Here are some of them, with fancy cocktails.

I Thought The Irish Ate Corned Beef & Cabbage Every Single Night

One of my cohorts at work recently said that no one’s life is as perfect as they make it look on their blog.  I am not sure if this comment was directed at me and World’s Best Dog Norman or not.  Perhaps it was aimed at my glamorous job in advertising, which gave me the opportunity to drive 4 hours in one day to shadow a call center rep in Manassas, VA this week.  Oh, the stories I could tell about haggling for lower cable prices – I am a hit at parties!

Somehow I found time to finish Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy.  An author I usually love, but much like Jodi Picoult I am getting sick of her.  And yet, I am addicted to buying her books so she can live in Irish luxury.  I’ve definitely bought her a bunch of corned beefs by now (which, according to my boss who married a Real Irish Person that is not what they eat.)  So, if anyone does want to read this book, just borrow it from me – Binchy can eat leftovers tonight.  

Bookworm Confesses to Dull Blog & Speedy Sock Folding (In That Order)

We had to drive thousands of miles but we made it – Andrew and I finally completed 11/22/63 by Stephen King.  The dramatic ending was underscored by the fact that I ran out of renewals (this was a 25 disc set from the library that I have had since March) which forced us to listen to the last hour off Andrew’s computer in our living room. 

I have never read a Stephen King book before – I think R.L. Stine was my fearful limit at age 9.  But this book is apparently different from his others since it was not in the horror category, and it was pretty awesome.  It definitely could have been a few discs shorter – King is one verbose dude.  But overall it was an awesomely descriptive story, and led to some peaceful car rides that could have otherwise been pretty bleak if we hadn’t been worried about whether the antagonist would be able to save JFK’s life. 

Speaking of bleak, this is a pretty dull entry, and we finished this book a week ago.  I hope this is just a lull, but I could be losing some blogging steam.  What will both of you do with the extra 30 seconds per week if I give this up?  And what would I do with the extra 5 minutes I would have spent blogging?  Eat a sandwich?  Fold 20 pairs of socks?  Give Norman a belly rub?  I better not make any rash decisions here.