Tell me a story- or not

I picked up a novel the other day. It has a very intriguing cover, black with the eyes of a wolf staring at you. In fact it is kind of scary if the dogs are howling outside and the house is dark and silent. I have to turn it over so the yellow eyes are not staring, staring, staring at me. I don't like yellow eyes staring at me in the cold, dark, silent house. And I want to open the book and see why that wolf is staring at me.

Except, I open the book and start reading and am bored to tears. I got the book two weeks ago, it is 273 pages and I am only on page 150ish. I don't care about the characters. I don't care about the wolves. I don't care about the story. Bored, Bored, Bored is how I feel about it. Yet I keep trying to get through it because I have this thing about not finishing a book once I start it. I think Great Expectations is the only book I have ever not finished.

I think I have read other books by this author. I don't remember. I need to adopt my sister's practice of keeping a list of everything I have read, then I would know.

You know how your kids come home from school and want to give you a blow by blow description of something that happened that day? ".... then Jan said to Tom..." "Then they all went to the playground." "Then the principal got mad" "she said, he said, they thought, we felt" and you tune out and hope you are saying um hmm in all the right places? That is how I feel about this book. The story has happened sometime in the past and the author is telling us about it and I am tuning out and hoping I say um hmm in all the right places.

An example: The romance part of this book. Man likes woman, then thinks she wouldn't want him because he is a widower and has baggage- aka kids. He decides to tell woman they can just be friends. This is how that scene play out:

He tells her his reasons. She smiles and asks if he wants to be right. Then she tells him her reasons why he is wrong. End of scene. We never "hear" them talk to each other. We are just told that they talked! I want to get to know the characters, who they are, what they like, what they don't like, how they walk and all of their little idiosyncrasies. Let me fall in love with the hero. Or at least like him. I could not even tell you what color the main character's hair is.

If this book doesn't get interesting soon, I just may be forced to put it down and go clean a bathroom or two.

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Indeed.

Here Comes the Sun

I am going to take a little break from the concerts. Tomorrow's posting will be amazing, but tonight, I am reveling in the idea of what the next 8 weeks can hold. You see, tomorrow is the last official day of school and I am awaiting that final bell the way a wee child awaits hearing sleigh bells on Christmas Eve. And then? I am going to sleep in every single day. I may not even get up until 6:30.

My house is going to be scrubbed- top to bottom and all the unused stuff that seems to multiply exponentially in relation to my tiredness will be hauled out and sent to bless some small third world country. My basement will finally get painted and rearranged in a nice comfy, inviting, make yourself at home way. (with Sharon's help and great eye for these kinds of things- I hope)
I am going to make it to Curves more often. My flower beds will be cleaned out and weed free. My pond will be re-done and the waterfall rocked in. And I will post pictures that I have let Jessica fix in photoshop to keep you all updated. I will cook all kinds of yummy things and take pics of the process and post them on my how to cook blog. Oh, and I promised Brandi lots and lots of picnics. And I'll take Hunter to the park, or just to the front lawn to blow bubbles and show him the world and see them anew all over again through his eyes. Jacob and I will lay on the lawn in the wee hours of the morning and watch the meteor shower in early August. And it will be glorious and wonderful and time well spent.

Oh, and reading. Lots and lots of reading. And postings of readings. I am behind in my postings and book reviews, so I will have to get them posted. There are books that you can be sure I will be reading in the coming months-

1.J. Scott Savage's Farworld
I got an e-mail from him yesterday letting me know that my ARC is on it's way. Ethan and I are going to enjoy reading it and coming up with questions for the blog tour. I will be giving away a copy of this book after the tour, so be sure to check back for details. (your book won't be an ARC, but the final deal. You won't want to miss it.)

2. And coming in September, David G. Wooley's long overdue 4th volume in his Promised Land series, Day of Remembrance. (if you are reading this, David, I would be happy to do a blog tour for you as well. All you have to do is ask) So of course I will have to re-read the other three books, just to remember all the little nuance and tidbits that have escaped the little grey cells. I was feeling that Christmas Eve feeling again when I saw the release date. I am going to have to make a countdown for the release so I can be sure and be first in line for it. (as soon as I know the exact date, I will adjust the count)

3. Anything that catches my eye during all our trips to the library. And there is always something to catch my eye. So many books, so little time.

Then, in August I start work again. This year, though, I will be lucky enough to work at a high school instead of a jr. high. Ethan is happy about this because it is the school that he and Matt attends, he will have his learner's permit and he thinks he will be driving to school each morning. And if my brain doesn't have enough to do, I will go back to school for myself and get a master's in adolescent psychology.

So what do you have planned for your summer vacation?

Free book contest

So here is another free book contest
http://jamesdashner.blogspot.com/2007/09/win-free-book.html

The rules are all listed there, so go check it out.
Now, if you don't know or haven't read James Dahshner, you should try out his books. Ethan and I read them (the Jimmy Fincher series) last year and loved them. In fact, Ethan still talks about them and wishes that there were more of them. For me, they were a nice little escape. There were a few places that I felt the action was redundant, but now a year later that is all I remember about that part of the reading, but I still remember the characters and what happened and why. In fact, whenever I am bored and want a quick, good read, I think about picking up this series again.

So go check out the link and then hit the library or bookstore and get your copy of James' books.

Happpy reading

Books down

I finished my first book for the Summer Reading Thing. I won't post about it until Friday though, when the summer reading really starts. But I am doing a boutique the rest of the week for my home business, Urban Botanic, and won't be able to do much reading, so I read this book early. Besides, Karlene gave it to me for my birthday, yesterday and what are birthdays for if you can't just sit and read the day away?

Megan says that since I started early I will have to minus one from my list. Maybe I should just add one to my list. Actually, I am going to hit the library after Strawberry Days are over and load up. Then I will post more to my list, so I will choose all the books I want for that trip and then add one for Megan.

Seriously though, I have been looking at everyone's blogs that has signed up and posted a reading list. I am just wanting to include all of those books on my list as well. I really had intended to spend this summer mucking out my house and deep cleaning and throwing away. I am going to have to limit my reading if I plan on getting anything at all done these next few months! I have a couple of real weaknesse and these are what they are:

reading
buying chairs at DI to refurbish
reading
buying cute dishes
reading
Oh, and did I mention reading?