three junes by julia glass
This past December my email book club met in person for the first time. It was a night of yummy snacks and great discussions! The librarian of our group bought a few of her recent reads from Savers and let us pick one to take. Due the fact that I was still holding onto June from Tell the Wolves I'm Home, I decided to take Three Junes.
Best. Choice. Ever.
Three Junes weaved a beautiful, haunting story through three different Junes, years apart with different, yet connected, narrators. The book could simply be described as being about death, family, and love - but not just romantic love - the love between friends, siblings, parents and children, and every combination in between. It was magic reading about these characters, and I can't wait to meet at least one of them again in the next Julia Glass novel.
heroes are my weakness by suzanne phillips
My book club made me read a romance novel. I repeat. My book club made me read a romance novel. I sat out of the voting process for this pick because everyone else's first choice was a book I didn't even want to know existed let alone read, but then I was blindsided by this awfffulllll choice. Instead of rewriting my thoughts I'm going to copy my review on goodreads:
If this hadn't been a book club pick I would never have made it past the first few pages. While I will never have the urge to read this book again, it did provide a morning of entertainment. I definitely didn't expect to laugh as much as I did - although I was more laughing at it's ridiculousness than the actual dialogue or story. Although those elements were laughable too.
Favorite lines:
"irritating Annie had been ... fun."
"But those big eyes kept sucking him in, making him want to play games. Have a little dirty fun."
"Living without a set of balls makes life less complicated."
"Deep soulful penetrations."
"Although the farmhouse was cold. She was warm. Hot."
"A ruffled rose garden. Full bloom." - I couldn't with this one.
Oh it was just so bad.
If this hadn't been a book club pick I would never have made it past the first few pages. While I will never have the urge to read this book again, it did provide a morning of entertainment. I definitely didn't expect to laugh as much as I did - although I was more laughing at it's ridiculousness than the actual dialogue or story. Although those elements were laughable too.
Favorite lines:
"irritating Annie had been ... fun."
"But those big eyes kept sucking him in, making him want to play games. Have a little dirty fun."
"Living without a set of balls makes life less complicated."
"Deep soulful penetrations."
"Although the farmhouse was cold. She was warm. Hot."
"A ruffled rose garden. Full bloom." - I couldn't with this one.
Oh it was just so bad.
tell the wolves i'm home by carol rifka brunt
It's so hard to write about a book I love without discussing every plot point/character and how wonderful they are. For me this book was about seeing people complexly and understanding that we all know and hold onto different pieces of our friends and family members. They mean something different to each of us and understanding that is key to truly knowing someone. June, the main character, comes to know more about who her uncle was as she develops a trusting and loving relationship with his boyfriend after his passing. They go on adventures and talk about the man they knew and how he affected their understanding of the world. I experienced every emotion reading this book, and ended with tear-filled tissues everywhere. It was worth every single one.
ask the passengers by a.s. king
My email book club selected Ask the Passengers by A.S. King as our Fall 2014 pick. All of us enjoyed the book, but it’s hard to determine if that’s just because it’s the best book we’ve read so far in the group or if it was really as good as we thought. The writing was very YA, but the story was interesting and I loved the twist of having the narrator send love to the passengers of the planes that fly overhead. It was a unique way to give her a lot of heart. It was a quick, fun read and I would recommend it for anyone looking for a an interesting coming of age story that wasn’t as cliched as it could be.
family photo shoots 2014
What do you do when you leave the photography industry and your favorite clients ask you for one last shoot? You say yes, of course! These families have been so wonderful to capture through the years and I would never pass up the opportunity to photograph them.
One of the most rewarding experiences this year came when I was able to do a family shoot at Hill-Stead in Farmington, Connecticut. The museum is absolutely gorgeous, with sweeping grounds that just beg to be photographed. It was one of my photography bucket-list items that I never fulfilled as a professional, and I’m so happy the opportunity presented itself when shooting a close friend’s family.
The photos below are my favorites from the three family shoots I did this year. The first set at Hill-Stead, second set at Weir Farm in Wilton, CT(also incredible museum and grounds!!), and the final set at Holcomb Farm in Granby, CT.
nathan hale homestead
Christina and I adventured to the Nathan Hale Homestead today. If you haven’t been I highly recommend visiting. We were lucky to visit at a time when the Farmer’s Market was in full swing, so we nommed on apple cider donuts and freshly made hot chocolate. And I mean hot chocolate made out of melted chocolate and cream. It was phenomenal! There were food trucks and craft vendors all over the place – so much to see and take in!
The best part, of course, was the woman dressed in revolutionary war clothing standing by the location where the tour starts. She was so fun to talk to and told us so much about the area while she set us up for our tour. The tour itself was wonderful. Our docent was so knowledgeable and was a treat to listen too. Christina and I both have plans to become her when we’re retired. Just happy to talk about history and love life.
We took a few fun photos on the grounds before heading out. I never give up an opportunity to play with my Fuji!
building a sukkah
I was on the sukkah building committee at work, so I was able to spend some quality time with these incredible ladies to design our office’s very first sukkah.
this is where i leave you by jonathan tropper
One of the comments I’ve been using a lot since being a part of the email book club I’m in is, “I enjoyed the experience of reading it.” And I think I would use that for this book too. I didn’t love it, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The writing kept me interested and engaged, and had great little moments along the way, like whenever Judd came to a conclusion about something. I didn’t necessarily find anyone likable, but that ended up becoming part of the appeal. They were all dysfunctional enough that I just wanted to know what they would do next.
christina's wedding photographs
How much do I love Katie Slater Photography? So so much. She is kind, calm, and an incredible photographer. Here are some of my favorites from my best friend’s wedding this summer.
Oh and that beautiful chalk board at the ceremony? I did that!! Must add chalkboard extraordinaire to my resume.
if i stay by gayle forman
You mean, if I want to cry off and on for a couple of hours? Yep, that’s the experience of reading If I Stay. Overall I enjoyed the story, although I found myself skimming a few sections where the “young adult” writing became a bit too much. Now don’t get me wrong, I love reading books categorized as “young adult,” but this one has an element of over description and jolting simplicity that bogs me down at points. I loved all of the characters though, and was genuinely moved by the relationship Mia had with her family. The book also does a fantastic job with defining a healthy romantic relationship, as well as healthy friendships, which I wish I could have read more about when I was in high school.
Boy, Snow, Bird & Lexicon
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi - you can read it, but don’t expect to like it (despite the rave reviews elsewhere)
I read this book as a part of an email book club I’m in with a few friends. While I enjoyed the act of reading the story, I can’t say I enjoyed the story. The writing isn’t a style I particularly like, so I found it hard to really dive in and connect with the characters. Plus the ending is just absolute craziness… I believe I described it as, “cray” in the emails.
Lexicon by Max Barry – read it now I really want to talk to someone about it!
This is a very biased review as I’ve loved Max Barry since reading Company years and years ago. One of his other novels, Machine Man, remains one of my favorite books! Plus he’s charming, funny, and engaging. I’m mostly writing that because I stalked his website after reading Lexicon and was reminded of why I love him so much. Look up how Machine Man became a book – it’s brilliant.
Anyway… I loved every second of reading Lexicon. It is one of those novels you just can’t put down and when you do, you spend the rest of the day thinking about it. The writing is engaging, and filled with action, but the action is framed by beautiful descriptions, and sharp, witty dialogue. I really enjoyed piecing together the story through the disjointed narrative, as two journeys are told in alternating chapters until they catch up with each other. It made the thriller even more thrilling as you saw every piece come together. I laughed, gasped, and even yelled, “oh my god!” a few times!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)