Karen’s Book Nook

Lynne’s decided to change the start date for the challenge to May 1st instead of June 1st. (Sounds good to me!) She also set up a separate blog just for the challenge which can be found here.

I’ve listed my book choices on my original post.

If you want a chance to win an advanced copy of Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs (author of The Friday Night Knitting Club) or a book tote, check it out by heading over to The Written Word  for details. I’ve got  Friday Night Knitting Club on my TBR list and hope to get to it soon. Would love to make it a Double Shot Tuesday!…hehe!

Since I’ve blown through 5 books in the past 3 days, I’ve got some time left on the remaining library books before they’re due. I’ve decided to pick up two that I hadn’t finished and had put aside to read other things, Wicked, The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire and Teacher Man by Frank McCourt. I saw the play Wicked and loved it. The book is good as well, but quite different. Teacher Man is a memoir and I’m almost through and want to return it to the teacher that I borrowed it from. It was kind of dry as I remember it but we’ll try it again.

After finishing The Locket in one sitting this morning with a pot of coffee and two furry girls by my side, I’m moving on to another by one of my favorite authors, Richard Paul Evans. This one doesn’t resemble the rest physically, as most of his other books are small with pages that have that torn  edges resembling books of old. I have a feeling that this story, A Perfect Day is more of a modern day tale.  We’ll soon find out.

I picked this up at the library as a reference book. I won’t be reading it cover to cover but will jump around to answer any questions that I have.  My switch to the Macbook Pro has been quite smooth and painless… ( I LOVE MY MBP!!) I figured most things out myself but I’m sure that there some things that I haven’t even looked into or tried yet (e.g. spaces, garageband, imovie, etc.)

I read more than half of Merle’s Door yesterday because I was dying to finish it, return it to the library, pay my fine, and pick up the 5 books that I had requested which came in. Try as I might, I couldn’t finish the last chapter before the sandman came calling so I read it early this morning before the humans in the house arose. Sitting there with my cup of coffee, two dogs on my lap and tears streaming down my face, I finished it before dawn.

Later, I took the girls for a long walk, then after checking email and rss feeds, I settled in on the couch to read. I finished two short books, Aquamarine, and Good Dog. Stay. So, it was nice to see some movement in my Library! I’ll be starting Making Autism a Gift and The Locket tonight.. after “Baby Girl Bath Night!” My vacation is almost over and I’m hoping to get through a couple more books before heading back to school on Monday.

I’ve read lots of books by Richard Paul Evans and they’re always quick reads. I discovered him by accident one day at the library when the books’ small sizes caught my eye. I’ve got a few more of his on my To Be Read list but for now, I grabbed The Locket this time.

I’m always interested in reading and learning as much as I can about Autism. Today’s read is Making Autism a Gift: Inspiring Children to Believe in Themselves and Live Happy, Fulfilling Lives by Robert Evert Cimera. I’ve had this one for awhile and it’s my final renew so I’m bumping it up to the front of my list before I have to return it to the library.

Trying to get through my soon-to-be-overdue pile from the library and this one is a shorty. Good Dog. Stay. by Anna Quindlen looks like a one day book for me. (At least I hope so… which will mean that I’m spending some of my vacation doing exactly what I want to do!

I’m participating in the Heard it Through the Grapevine Challenge that I heard about (a few times removed) on Lynne’s Little Corner of the World. I believe I originally found Lynne through Mary on the Weight Watcher’s Booklovers board after visiting Mary’s book blog. I’ve got tons of books on my TBR (to be read list)… WAY more than I’ve even listed in my Reading Now library at this point. (So many books, so little time!) Since the goal is to read 3 books between June 1 and November 30 that have been recommended to you by others, and my summer vacation falls between those dates, this is an easy one for me! I’ve got plenty of books to read in the meantime so I can save these so that I get to them during the right timeframe as well.

Extra special thanks goes out to Natasha of Mawbooks for helping me out and answering all of my questions about Now Reading. I don’t know her and found her through links on Mary and Lynn’s blogs. I searched for someone using wordpress with the plug-in and took a chance emailing her with a question. She graciously offered to help me in any way that I needed and it feels like we’ve known each other all along! Thanks so much!!

The first book for my challenge is Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog by John Grogan. It was recommended by fellow dog lover and my co-teacher Sydney.

I’m also going to read Riding Lessons by Sara Gruen. I read Water for Elephants and didn’t even realize that this one was out. It was recommended by Mary (Bookfan) a fellow WW Booklovers Board member.

I purchased this one to read with Oprah’s Book Club but life (work!) got in the way…. I’m looking forward to reading this one on my summer vacation. Oprah raved about it! So, Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet is my final choice for the challenge.