Friday Fill-Ins June 17, 2011

Friday Fill-Ins time June 17, 2011....my answers are in RED! And...here we go!

1. One of my favorite birthday presents was the earrings my husband gave me this year.

2. No thank you, it was as simple as that.

3. The moon was full and bright.

4. Nothing ever includes batteries.

5. I was tempted by cupcakes yesterday!

6. Swimming, reading, and watching fireworks are some of the things I like to do on vacation.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to having a baby, tomorrow my plans include having a baby, and Sunday, I want to HAVE A BABY!! If I don't have a baby this weekend (I'm not due until Monday)....then I guess I'll just relax, rest, and read :)

Book Review: A Most Uncommon Degree of Popularity

I finished my 8th book this month!! Kathleen Gilles Seidel's a Most Uncommon Degree of Popularity.

From the author's website: "Her own daughter...one of the popular girls? On the first day of middle school, Lydia Meadows, a former lawyer turned full-time mother, is startled to discover that her daughter Erin is one of the popular girls, a tight foursome whose mothers are also great friends. Lydia has always thought of popular girls as ambitious little manipulators who enjoy being cruel. But Erin is kind and well-adjusted. Maybe this popularity thing won’t be so bad after all.

Then a new student ruthlessly targets Erin to boost her own popularity, and Lydia helplessly wonders what to do when her daughter’s phone stops ringing..."


Seidel's novel fits the bill for what I've been looking for these past few weeks :a quick, easy read that deals with relationships between women this. This one had it all: friends, sisters, mothers and daughters....it's been great! 


Onto book number nine!!

Booking Through Thursday: Interactive?

Question June 16, 2011: With the advent (and growing popularity) of eBooks, I’m seeing more and more articles about how much “better” they can be, because they have the option to be interactive … videos, music, glossaries … all sorts of little extra goodies to help “enhance” your reading experience, rather like listening to the Director’s commentary on a DVD of your favorite movie.
How do you feel about that possibility? Does it excite you in a cutting-edge kind of way? Or does it chill you to the bone because that’s not what reading is ABOUT?

My answer: I don't really know how I feel about the interactive component of eBooks. I have a Kindle and like it for ease of portability, it's light and it's easy to have a few books on hand at once! I haven't read any with interactive features-but I will say I've used the dictionary a few times, and that was convenient. IT kind of makes me think about when CDs, especially movie soundtracks, started having special features you could play on your computer. I specifically remember my Romeo and Juliette soundtrack had stuff you could do on the computer, but I don't remember ever being interested in that. At the same time though, I think of how often I end up searching on the internet after reading a book-especially historical fiction-to find more specific information, or to find discriminate between fact and fiction.
So after all of that-how do I fell about possible enhancements to eBooks.....I guess I'll have to come across one that does and see if it adds to or takes away from the reading experience!

Book Review: The Ballroom on Magnolia Street

After reading Sharon Owens' The Tea House on Mulberry Street I was very excited to read the next novel in the sort-of series: The Ballroom on Magnolia Street. Unfortunately I was quite disappointed. Although similar in style, I just could not get interested in the characters or their stories! Oh well. I've read quite a few "gooders" as my friend Marcia might say, so  I guess a dud was due!

I have a stack of 8 library books to choose from and I'm hoping to get at least one more in before this baby makes an appearance (I'm due in 5 days) so I could very possibly not meet that goal, or finish all 8!! We'll see!!

Book Review: Firefly Lane

Kristin Hannah's Firefly Lane is about a lifetime friendship between two women, Tully and Kate. The first chapter reveals that somewhere along the way the women had a major falling out and one of them (we don't know who) is finally reaching out to the other. I totally thought I knew what the falling out was all about and I was 100% wrong. Not only that the book ended in a way that I never would have expected. I almost finished it last night but was super tired so I went to bed-and thank goodness I did, because on the very next page something happens that I know if I had read it before bed I would NEVER have been able to sleep. I won't say more about it, but that it completely caught me off guard.  The past few books I've read have all been about the relationships between women, as was this,however Firefly Lane definitely was not a light read! I did enjoy this book but need something lighter right now!!

Book Review: A Country Affair

I am on a ROLL!!!! I read Rebecca Shaw's A Country Affair this afternoon. WOW! It's the first of her Barleybridge novels and I can't wait to read the next ones! Another quick easy read-this one set at a veterinary clinic in rural England. I found it to be similar in writing style to some of Maeve Binchy's works as well as the last book I just read and reviewed by Sharon Owens, in that it deals with the lives and relationships of a fairly large group of people in a small town.

From the author's website: "It is Kate's first day in her new job, and she is more apprehensive than she thought was possible. But there is no time for nerves, and her anxieties soon vanish as she finds herself flung headlong into the hectic world of the busy vet's practice and the clients who visit it.

But it's not just the animals who win Kate's affections: the staff are friendly and welcoming, particularly Scott, the Australian, whose wicked sense of humour and enthusiasm for life Kate finds hard to resist, despite his rather colourful reputation.

Before long, Kate begins to feel there are other changes she wants to make in her life - and her boyfriend, Adam, is not at all happy about it. As Kate struggles to cope with Adam's increasingly erratic behaviour, she realises she must make some very difficult decisions . . ."

I have a whole bunch of books from the library so I don't know which one to pick next...I'll give it an hour or so to decide :) I unfortunately did not get any of Shaw's other books....next time I guess!!

Book Review: The Tea House on Mulberry Street

I am just flying through books this week-it's great!! I picked up Sharon Owens' The Tea House on Mulberry Street at the library because on the inside cover a reviewer compared Owens to Maeve Binchy's Quentins, and I  LOVE Maeve Binchy-especially that book!! I was not disappointed. The Tea House on Mulberry Street has an interconnected cast of characters that are involved in or are guests at a tea house in Belfast. It was very Binchyesque and as I've said in my past few reviews, exactly what I'm in the mood for: nice, easy, uncomplicated reads, that I can lose myself. Even better when they are set in United Kingdom!!

As of today I have now been to BOTH libraries in Red Deer, and have a total of 19 books checked out (2 of which are baby related). I wanted to have plenty to choose from over the next days or weeks before this highly anticipated baby makes an appearance and I no longer have time to read-or will I?