How is everybody doing?

Happy Thanksgiving you turkeys!! Have any of you finished November's book yet? I'll be honest, I have it on my nightstand, but I haven't read it yet. I'm using it as a reward for when I finish a couple of projects I've been putting off because I REALLY don't want to do them. I am in charge of choosing the next book, I think, but if nobody has finished this one do we want to wait and give ourselves an extra month? Or is that just ridiculous? Also, do we want to choose a Christmas-y book for December, or do you not care?

November Book

Okay, sorry I'm posting this so late in the month. Things have been kind of crazy around here lately. I just got offered a teaching job at a high school in Petaluma (just north of SF) so I'm moving next week and start teaching in two. I'm really excited, but things are kind of hectic.
Anyway, a friend of mine recommended this book and she said it is one of her favorites. She's an English teacher so I always ask her for new ideas on what to read. I've heard good things about it so I hope it's a good one. And I hope you haven't already read it...I did just see that it was on Oprah's book club list (for any Oprah fans out there - Me, not so much :)) The author is a pretty famous Latin American author so maybe you've read something by him. Enjoy!



One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

The story follows 100 years in the life of Macondo, a village founded by José Arcadio Buendía and occupied by descendants all sporting variations on their progenitor's name: his sons, José Arcadio and Aureliano, and grandsons, Aureliano José, Aureliano Segundo, and José Arcadio Segundo. Then there are the women--the two Úrsulas, a handful of Remedios, Fernanda, and Pilar--who struggle to remain grounded even as their menfolk build castles in the air. If it is possible for a novel to be highly comic and deeply tragic at the same time, then One Hundred Years of Solitude does the trick. Civil war rages throughout, hearts break, dreams shatter, and lives are lost, yet the effect is literary pentimento, with sorrow's outlines bleeding through the vibrant colors of García Márquez's magical realism.

I just had to post this review because it was everywhere I was reading about the book and I thought it was interesting -

"One Hundred Years of Solitude is the first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading for the entire human race. It takes up not long after Genesis left off and carries through to the air age, reporting on everything that happened in between with more lucidity, wit, wisdom, and poetry that is expected from 100 years of novelists, let alone one man...Mr. Garcia Marquez has done nothing less than to create in the reader a sense of all that is profound, meaningful, and meaningless in life." William Kennedy, New York Times Book Review

Cute Pregnant Jenny

I meant to put this picture up about a month ago, where has time gone!? I went to Seattle for work and got to see Jenny for a bit. Love her, she is now a mom of three! Ha, we're kind of twiners.

I just don't know.

I just don't know exactly how to explain my feelings about this book. Part of me wants to say I'm not a fan, but then the fact that the author is a dying (now deceased) man trying to leave his last words of advice to his children, makes you feel guilty saying anything bad about the book. If it weren't for the fact that this man wrote the book while dying of cancer, I'd really dislike the book. It jumps around like crazy and I even think he repeats himself quite a bit. You know the expression 'drinking water from a fire hose'? That is how I feel. Lots of good thoughts and things I should apply, but there is just so much of it! Does anyone else feel this way? Am I a horrible person?

Better Late than Never

So I just finished Love Walked In and surprise, surprise, I LOVED it. Just reading about some of her old movie references inspired me to turn on the Turner Classic Movie channel. I think Cornelia is a much stronger woman than me, but I definitely identified with her. And let's be honest, I wish I had a gorgeous childhood friend to fall in love with. Oh, and this entry is helping me avoid figuring out "what color is my parachute".
Which explains why I identified with Cornelia's discovery: As she learned that prior to Martin's entrance into her life she was "...one who spent her days skirting around the edges of adulthood, commitment, responsibility, accomplishment". After Martin, she learned that real life is not "going after what you want and getting it" but "knowing what you love and why".
I'm not sure exactly why this week has been different, maybe because I've been praying to understand the Lord's mission for me on earth and here in Arizona, but I've become especially grateful for close friends and family. I think sometimes I get so caught up in the need to have everyone like me, that I forget to revel in the friendships I already have.
So, I want to tell each of you how much I love you. I love you for your goodness and your testimonies. I love you for our shared experiences: girls camp, weekend parties, "Made in the USA", making movies, etc, etc. And I love you for being a part of my life.

October's book

Ok, I guess it's my turn to pick. I am picking a book that you might have read, but that I've been wanting to read for a while.

The Last Lecture

by Randy Pausch

Ok, I tried to get a summary, but blogger won't let me paste it here. So go to this website to read about it:

www.thelastlecture.com

I'm excited!

Who's picking for October?

I have a business trip coming up and want a good read...just curious.