{shades of pink}

Jodi Picoult

If you haven't indulged in a Jodi Picoult novel, I highly suggest you treat yourself to any of her fourteen works. I have read three so far: The Tenth Circle, Nineteen Minutes and My Sister's Keeper. All of these have been fabulous. I am starting a book club with a first meeting date of Feb. 5 and The Tenth Circle was my choice for the first meeting.

Jodi picks very controversial topics and puts them into a very personal scenario. Her characters are all very believable, and she intertwines the story lines into thick knots but never to the point of stories seeming contrived or unbelievable.

Her website also is a great resource. There are synopses of all of her works along with book club questions and lots of Q&A about her and her writing.

If you like a good story, definitely give Jodi Picoult a try.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I'm sure a lot of people are sick of the Harry Potter mania right now, but as a huge Potter fan, I must say, not only this book, but the entire series is absolutely BRILLIANT! What a masterpiece. I finished book seven last night and I couldn't put it down. And, I'm not ashamed to say, I did cry starting at the second-to-last page. What an incredibly perfect ending to a wonderfully told tale. I don't have children, but this series makes me think how nice it would be to share with a child.

Thank you JK Rowling!

Fish!

I started my new job a few weeks ago, and I love it! Last week, one of my coworkers gave me this book to read. It is a good, business-motivation book. In fact, it is more than good, it was quite excellent. I really enjoyed the story built around the motivation. The book is about Seatlle's Pike Place Market and their philosophy of making work more fun, enjoyable, and also more productive. If you get a chance, I highly recommend this book. It is a very short read, only 106 pages and I'm sure you will find something in there to make you reevaluate how you view your job and why.

The Book Thief

I haven't given many book reviews, but this book is one of the best I've read in a very long time. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a very fresh, intriguing and compelling story of a young girl during Nazi Germany. The most interesting part, is that it is narrated by the Grim Reaper. It has both very sad and very happy moments. Really, it was quite fabulous and I highly recommend reading it. For me, it's right up there with The Lovely Bones, My Sister's Keeper,The Time Traveler's Wife, Middlesex, Life of Pi, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and The Kite Runner for fresh, fascinating stories.

Griffin & Sabine

For those of you who don't know Griffin & Sabine, I can't say enough that you must find out. I was first introduced to Griffin & Sabine through a movie script that a friend wrote. The script wasn't picked up, but my love of Griffin & Sabine started. After reading the script, I had to get the book. What an amazing piece of art.

Last year for my book club, I hosted and picked this book. It isn't heavy reading in the least, and it's just such a nice book that most of the club members enjoyed making the puchase for themselves, a little early self-Christmas present. There is a whole series if you fall in love with them like I did, but you really must check out the original.

The reason I bring Griffin & Sabine up is because we watched The Lake House last night. The movie was very well done but it is a complete copy of Griffin & Sabine. Cody and I can only reason that Griffin & Sabine would ultimately be too expensive to make, so the concept was used, but not the original story. Regardless, it was a very good movie.

The Speed of Time

Another week has gone by and I can't believe how fast it disappeared. I've had no time to stamp, although this weekend should help. I have quite a few ideas in my head and in my sketch pad, so I'm hoping to clear out the ideas to leave room for more to accumulate next week.

In the meantime, I've been listening to a great audio book. My DH and I carpool to work each day, and since we can't agree on a morning radio show, we listen to audiobooks to pass the time. We're almost through listening to Garlic & Sapphires by Ruth Reich. Ruth is currently the editor for Gourmet magazine, but she was the food critic for the New York Times and this is her story about that time in her life. She went through many different costumes to become anonymous and her stories are very funny. And if you like audio books at all, she narrates it herself and she has a very nice voice.

My food adventures are going to include a Beef Wellington this weekend. I've wanted to attempt this dish for a while now, and I've finally found a recipe that isn't too daunting. At least, I think I can do it justice. I'll report later how it turns out. Of course, we may end up having pizza, as pizza is always the backup in case I really mess something up!