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Books


Little Bee by Chris Cleave 
The lives of a British woman and a Nigerian girl collide in this novel of lost innocence and survival. Its a very good book and must be read

The White Giraffe by Lauren St.John
This is a kids book that my friend Michele was reading w/her daughter and so of course I feel I must read any book I find out about and I'm glad I did. It was written well and had a good plot for that age group.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Loved this book......wolves, humans, love, desperation. It was AWESOME. My next obsession and then it lead to................

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
the 2nd book to Shiver........another great book. Different take from the 1st and it worked!!!!! Now I just have to patiently wait for #3. Any of my twilight, hunger games fans should read these books.

House Rules by Jodi Picoult
Very good book. A boy w Aspbergers is framed for a murder and of course as in Picoult books its never straightforward. It was a good read w/interesting characters and a ddnt see coming ending.

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
good book.....I liked the feel of the story. Fallen Angel loves Mortal girl. Kinda Supernaturalish, It wasnt as gripping as others which I was hoping for w/the storyline. But there is a 2nd coming out and I will read that one too.





Side note:  It feels like I read something else during this time but there was about 4 wks of craziness and overtime at work,     so I dont know.
And....dylan just picked up 7 more books from the library for me!     Yay me!!!

Movies

 netflix-dvd
Hugh Dancy and Rose Burn about a guy w/Aspbergers who falls in love in a girl and it was a cute movie but the ending wasnt good. It was depressing.

dvd
I've always loved this movie and thanks to my friend Sylvia and her coupon clipping, I finally own it and then of course had to watch it straight away. I dont need to talk about it cause you either love it or you dont.

 netflix dvd
Nia Vardalos and John Corbett from My Big Fat Greek Wedding fame return in this story of a girl who doesnt want romance or love and only wants to date Until "he" moves into town and then she wants him but he's taking it way too slow. It was kinda dumb movie w/ bad acting.

netflix- instant play
 A graduate student copes with a recent breakup by conducting interviews with various men.This has John Krasinski in it. It was a depressing movie. Had the f word in it several times when the rating of it ddnt say that. In this movie, Johns character is alot like Jim!!!

netflix-instant play
This is a quirky movie. It was cute in a low budget kind of way. some bad acting but the I ddnt mind that I had watched it.

Netflix- dvd

Loved this one.....Katherine Heigel and Ashton Kutcher and it was good. Wasnt expecting the storyline which I thought was funny. If I ever find this movie for $5 or under, I'll buy it.

tv
Had seen this one before but it was on tv so I watched it. It's just ok. Eva Longoria's character is really annoying. One thing in the movie I noticed was Pauls character gave the main girl a book and it was "brief interviews w/hideous men" and I was like...hey I just watched that movie. HAHAHA!!!!

tv
This is a classic for me. I remember as a teen watching this movie w/my sister. I think we watched a hundred times. Back when HBO actually showed movies all the time and they would play all month long at different times. Anyway....I love this movie and it was great seeing it again after a long time. The songs were stuck in my head for days and dylan thought I was a bit weird since I dont like country but was singing "but you aint woman enough, to take my man!!". (add the twang for effect)

TV

The Event
This is my new I've been watching. It has John Ritters son in it and it's actually pretty good so far. Has some Aliens-a young couple in love who have torn apart by kidnapping, mean men-government people. It's been good!

The King of Queens
Only in rerun now...and very funny. I love how they're married and they act and talk horrible to each other but they really do love each other. I know that sounds bad but it's funny to watch. 






Music

James Barbour
I love this guys voice and I wish so bad I could go to this. but it's only in California, New York and one showing in Hawaii. Come to Washington, Please!!!!!!!

Oct. bookclub

This months bookclub book was Bram Stokers DRACULA which was chosen w/ the theme of Halloween. We met at Alain Black's house (which is a very charming house). Our bookclub has been missing a few members the last few times and this time it was worse. Tho there were two new people that I ddnt know.
Sooo......Dracula.......I ddnt read the book. I know, I know.  I ddnt read the book and it's Dracula which is right up my vampire alley....but I just couldnt get into it. I'm going to try again later, I just had other things I wanted to read and kept thinking of those books. But the ones that read the booked liked it and they had a good discussion about it.
Next months book is.... Sarah's Key by Tatiana deRosnay. I will read this one.

UDATES!!!!

Books

Water for Elephants- Sara Gruen
This book is my favorite book to read this month. It depicts the life a young man who spends a summer w/ a circus. I couldnt put this book down and just loved the different relationships he finds w/ people and animals that he never would have dreamed of.
This book is a huge thumbs up from me!!!!

Beautiful Creatures- Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
This is my new "series" book. It's a supernatural kind of story w/a little love story mixed in. It's a great read and I couldnt stop reading this one either. The next book Beautiful Darkness comes out this month and I will be at Hastings to get it.

 Another Faust- Daniel & Dina Nayeri

So this one started out ok. I didnt finish it...kind of got bored but I would like to read it again someday and actually finish just to see how this book ends.

  Within My Heart- Tamera Alexander
I've mentioned before that I dont read the typical "Romance Novels" but my coworker Ruby got me reading this series. 
This is a list of her works so far:
 Fountain Creek Chronicles 
Rekindled (2006) 
Revealed (2006
Remembered (2007)
Timber Ridge Reflections 
From a Distance (2008) 
Beyond This Moment (2009)  
Within My Heart (2010) 
This author is a Christian Romance writer so I like how her books have no sex, language or violence and her characters have strong women and rustic but caring men. So if you need an easy read, these are fun. 
 
 Remarkable Creatures- Tracy Chevalier
This one was a good read. Good characters and storyline. It was fun to read cause the story was set in 1800 England w/towns like Lyme and Bath so it had a Jane Austen feel to it. This is a must read!!







Movies

Miss Potter-TV
I saw this movie when it first came out on dvd and found it on Tv so I watched it again. It has Ewyn Mcgregor and Rene Zellweger. It's about Beatrix Potter who wrote the childrens books of Peter Rabbit and how in that era women were laughed at as authors and childrens books werent cute and she broke that barrier w/the help of her publicist and she became a woman of self means and also fell in love w/ said publicist. I would like to add this to my collection one day.

 Date Night-Redbox
Steve Carrell is so so funny and Tina Fey is great...but in my opinion...this movie didnt do them justice. It had some funny moments but I got bored w/it.

 The Price of Milk-Netflix instant play
I loved this one......I came across it by accident. It looks like it would be sort of an Indian Film but its so not. It also has the actor Karl Urban of Lord of the Rings fame and he also played Leonard McCoy in the newest Star Trek movie. It's kinds quirky, not a normal romance movie but to me it is totally worth seeing. Loved it!!



Prince of Persia- Netflix-dvd
this was a great movie. I thought Jake Gyllenhaal did so good in this movie. It had a good story line and the acting was good, the action was good and I cant to see more of these come out. I think this is going to be the new Pirates of the Caribean movie!!!

Reign over me- TV
 Adam Sandler in serious roles always seems a little weird...but he pulled this one off too. It has a good storyline and good acting and even though its kinda dark and supposed to be depressing, it has friendship and the caring of another human being that is suffering. It was good but since I watched it on tv, I'm not sure what was cut out of it since it is rated R. 

Stargate- Netflix-dvd
This was a movie from back in 1994 that I never saw and I was looking for a new tv series to watch off of Netflix and looking at the many stargate series out there decided I should see the movie first. So, it was pretty good...I like James Spader alot so I enjoyed him and the movie was good too so even though I havent yet started the spin off tv series to this movie yet...it is on my list.

Star Trek- Netflix instant play
Uhhmm....the only thing I can say is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!








Losers- Redbox
Jeffry Dean Morgan of Supernatural Fame
Zoe Saldana
Chris Evans of the Fantastic Four films
so we start off w/a good cast and the movie itself was actually really good, lots of action. My niece told me she really liked this movie so I took her word for it and she was very right. I would like to add this to my collection as well.

Jack & Sarah-Netflix instant play
This is a British movie about a man that loses his pregnant wife during child birth and has to deal w/raising the baby himself but hires an unexpected nanny and you can probably tell where this is heading. It was a cute movie and I'm glad I saw it. Has a good cast like Judi Dench, Ian McKellen(I love him) Imogene Stubbs of some of my Austen films and Richard E Grant who is not related to Hugh Grant tho there are some similarities. (i looked it up, no relation).

The Family Man- TV
This one is a classic for me. I absolutely love this movie and each time I see it, I cant understand why it's not in my movie collection. Nicholas Cage and Tea Leoni are so perfect together and its just a feel good movie to me.





TV

Ok, for the tv portion of this blog....Can I just say that I'm so happy for the return of my many shows that I've had to suffer through the summer without. First tho, I'm going to talk about my new show that I love.
 Hawaii Five-O- starring.......dum du da....Alex O'Loughlin baby!!!!!!
lets see a few reasons as to why I love this man.

 even bloodied up he's gorgeous!!!!!

 So far the shows been fun to watch. The theme song sounds exactly like the old show and the characters are good. Daniel Dae Kim from Lost is on it and he's done great switching roles. The even have the tagline "book em Dano"!


                          So these are the returns that I'm so glad are back..........

There are a few new shows that I have DVR'd that I havent watched yet...so next time I may even some 'NAY's" to add.......We'll see!

Sept. bookclub

This months bookclub was about Mockingjay. This is the 3rd and final book to the Hunger Games series. The meeting was held at Erin Cox house and it wasnt as attended as past meetings but Sylvia came (finally) this month so I was happy about that.
Also, Erin had the best snacks we've had so far even w/ Anna's "Eclair cake" being really hard to forget. I have finally learned how make my own Italian Soda!! whoo hoo!!!! 
So the people that showed actually read the book so discussion was great w/lots of personal takes on the book. For me.....(and I'm writing this w/no spoilers) when I finished reading it, I was mentally exhausted and I took a couple of days to decide if I liked it. The result was YES. I couldnt see another way of ending the book. So, another series down and I cant wait to find the next BIG book!!!!  Happy reading to me!!!

UPDATES

Movies

Mama Mia- dvd

My niece txt me one night and asked if she should watch this movie and said “Heck yes”. Love this movie so much and own it. I saw it in the Theater w/Sylvia and Rachel Hammond and Randy Brown Martin and it was so much fun and girly and w/ great ABBA songs. It’s a must see, especially since it has COLIN FIRTH!!!

                                                                                                                                                                 

Firefly- Netflix

I was home sick for 3 days in Aug. and so I started this series. I had wanted to watch it before just ddnt get around to it. Well, I’m so glad I did. I love it so much and its on my list to buy now!!! It was created by Joss Whedon (buffy series) and it has  a space/western motif w/ awesome characters and a great themesong. It was only on for one season which I’m not sure why cause it was great. 

Serenity- Netflix

this was made after the Firefly series ended. I think they weren’t expecting it to be only one season so they had to end it all for the fans. This wasn’t as action packed as the series but it was good to see everyone back for the movie and to have some closure. 

The Lakehouse- Netflix dvd

This is a repeat movie for me. It has Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves and it was quite good the second time around. The first time I felt confused when it ended with all the time differences and time catching up etc. But it’s a good love story w/ a good ending. 

Roswell- Netflix

OMGosh…..I wanted to watch this series when it came out, but never did. It actually had 3 seasons and once again…..a series that I got so hooked on. It has a great themesong by Dido (which is now my ringtone) and just the characters and storyline was just so great. I was really sad when it ended. Almost more sad than I was when Buffy ended and I wanted to turn around and watch it all over again. 

Eat Pray Love- theater

This is a Julia Roberts movie that was ok. It had a good storyline and it was well done but I think I would’ve liked the book better. 

Books

I actually ran out of books for little bit! Shocking I know and then I got 8 books in one shot.....so there will be more next time!!!

13^th reality- James Dashner

I read a book of his awhile back called the Maze Runner so I decided to try another one of his books and it was pretty good. It’s a juvenile book about a boy that receives strange letters one day wanting him to accept a mission where he will save the world. Along the way he meets new people and discovers new realities in our world. It held my attention and it would’ve been fun for Dylan to have read it when he was about 12. I think there might be more books….need to check that out. 

Molokai’- Alan Brennert

This book was given to me by one of providers and it turned out to be a great read. It’s set in the late 1800’s in Hawaii and a little girl who contracts leprosy and at that time anyone who had the disease was shipped to another island. She had to leave her family and go to this strange land and she was only 7 yrs. old.  The story goes through her life on that Island and it has happy moments, sad moments, very sad moments and is just a great read. 

Austenland- Shannon Hale

*Another Shannon Hale and she did not fail. I finally got this one from the library and finished it within a few hrs cause I couldn’t put it down. Luckily it was Saturday so I actually had the time to read that long. This book is about a woman who is obsessed w/ Mr. Darcy and is given a trip to a resort called Austenland which happens to be all about the Jane Austen. It’s for “desperate” women who are looking for their form of Austen man. You get three weeks of dressing, acting, walking, exercising, dancing, whisting and speaking Jane Austen. That is literally my dream come true. It was a fun book w/ a good ending and when I finished it, I went online and bought from Hastings ($1.98 used) right away. Haha!!!

TV

There's not much going on in the land of Tv.  Reruns and just two shows Big Brother and Americas got talent that is almost over. But my calendar is full of Fall shows coming up!!!!

August bookclub

New day Tues. 8/24/10 (just this one time)

This months book club was held at Rebecca Lybbert’s house and the book was Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. 

 If you remember….our very 1^st bookclub was the Hunger Games and this book is the 2^nd of that series. The last time I read it was a year ago when it came out in Aug. (sidenote…I was reading this 2^nd book before the 1^st book became big w the group some months later…just saying) So, it was alot of fun reading it again. I had forgotten some key parts and had the ending kind of wrong. The meeting was lead by Jody Clark who had some very interesting questions and ideas about the book which always makes a meeting worth going to. Once again though….not everyone had read the book, so discussion was kind of limited. Next months book is Mockingjay….the 3^rd and final book of the series. It was sort of planned to have these books back to back for our bookclubs and we actually had our meeting on the day Mockingjay came out.  While writing this I have of course already finished the new book, but I’m not talking about it until after this months bookclub. Sorry!!!!