First book review

Ha! I finally am posting a review. This is the third book I've finished since I said that I was going to start doing these, but rather then trying to catch up, I'll just start with this book I finished today. If Lisa doesn't mind, I'm going to copy her format and post the publishers description of the book, followed by my review.


Summary: For more than ten years, Naomi and Phil Harrison enjoyed a marriage of heady romance, tempered only by the needs of their children. But on a vacation alone, the couple perishes in a flight over the Grand Canyon. After the funeral, their daughters, Ruthie and Julia, are shocked by the provisions in their will.
Spanning nearly two decades, the sisters’ journeys take them from their familiar home in Atlanta to sophisticated bohemian San Francisco, a mountain town in Virginia, the campus of Berkeley, and lofts in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. As they heal from loss, search for love, and begin careers, their sisterhood, once an oasis, becomes complicated by resentment, anger, and jealousy. It seems as though the echoes of their parents’ deaths will never stop reverberating—until another shocking accident changes everything once again.


My thoughts: I give this book 3 1/2 stars. I loved the premise of this book. The author is spot on in describing the sisterly relationship. It is such a complex relationship. It made me sad that they missed out on so much of each others lives because of holding on to grudges and not being able to understand each other. At a point in their lives when they needed each other the most, they were separated. At first only separated by geography, but soon they became separated by jealousy, anger, and resentment. I was really surprised (in a good way) at where the story takes the characters, the plot wasn't predictable, which was refreshing. However, this book wasn't a real page turner. I wasn't driven to pick it up, or to stay up late reading it. I did enjoy it, but the ending was a bit rushed and it didn't really leave me satisfied.

Book Report

I was really excited to start writing book reviews. I have already read two books since I declared that I would start reviewing books here on this blog. But something strange happened. Whenever I think about writing it, I just find something else to do. It feels like I'm back in Jr. High and I have to write and present a book report. I never minded reading the books in school, but for some reason when it came to the report, I just didn't want to do it. I guess I just don't feel very confident in sharing what I think in writing. I don't feel qualified to share my opinion, because I generally enjoy almost everything I read. I know a good critic is quite a bit more picky. I also know that I am a pretty poor writer. I LOVE my book club and love discussing the books we read with them and with others, but when it comes to sharing my thoughts in writing, without any discussion or questions to trigger them, I am lost and I don't know where to start.


So, I am going to do it. I just haven't yet. Maybe I should give myself a "due date"...

Runners High

Well, I did it-I ran 10 miles yesterday. I've only done that once before in my life and it was 3 years ago during the half marathon I did. (yes, before that race, the longest I ran was 7 miles-and I only did 7 once) I feel really good about my accomplishment even though it's hard to get too excited about it, because my husband runs 10 miles all the time, so even though it was hard for me, I still feel a little like a wannabe. I guess it's all about perception.

I have a REALLY hard time doing long runs by myself. (Running is VERY much a mental challenge for me. If I have someone to chat with, I can usually run for a long time, but if I'm by myself, it's really difficult do more than a couple miles) All my usual running partners were busy yesterday morning, so I begged Jerry to come run with me. He was happy to, but that meant bringing the boys in the stroller. Bringing them actually wasn't bad. Jerry pushes and they are pretty happy to just be outside and to people watch. The problem is that you can't exactly wake up two babies at 5:30 in the morning to take them running. (ok, you can, but that just isn't something I'm willing to do. Seriously, why would anyone EVER wake up a child unless it was a really special circumstance or an emergency? I spend WAY too much time and energy trying to get them to sleep!! And anyway, their schedules would have been off for days if I had woken them up early) So anyway, by the time they got up and we got them fed and dressed and we drove down to the trail system we were going to run on, it was 9:15 am and 75 degrees by the time we started our run. Luckily a lot of the trail was shady and it wasn't too miserable. It ended up being a nice Saturday morning together as a family.

The best part was after we got home, both my boys took really good naps and they did it at the same time, which almost never happens. Which means that I got a nap too! It was glorious! The last nap I had was in July and the last one before that was in March. (Yes, I can remember the exact dates because it just never happens) The whole rest of the day I just felt really really good. For no apparent reason. I guess it must have been a runners high, but when I've felt that in the past it's only been for maybe a couple hours after a run, not the whole day. I didn't just feel good. I felt really good. Like giddy. I try to be a pretty happy person, but a lot of days it really has to be something I choose. I try to choose to be happy everyday. But yesterday I didn't have to choose. I just was.

Music

I feel like every few months I go through different music phases. I have VERY eclectic music taste and like pretty much anything. What I find interesting is how some music I can be very familiar and I like it OK, then I can hear it and BAM it's like genius! It must have something to do with growing up and my taste changing.

Lately for me, this has been the case with Billy Idol. I don't know why, but recently I just can't get enough Billy Idol. How weird is that? I know my brother-in-law, Brad, won't be surprised, because he is a huge Idol fan, in fact I pretty much love all the music he loves. There is another person who has almost the exact musical taste as me. Vicki, who I used to work with at TwinLab. She is always posting stuff on Facebook that when I hear it, I'm like "Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" (yes, good music makes me say stuff like that)

What music are you loving these days?

New post?

I know that blogs are boring when there is only a new post like every couple weeks. THIS blog is boring. I'm bored right now just looking at it. I actually think of new post idea's every day, but by the time I actually have 15 minutes to sit down at the computer, I've either forgotten what I was going to write about, or I've decided that my subject was stupid. Or (tell me if this has happened to you) I sit down intending to write up a new post and decide to check my email-really quickly. When I always have some new notifications from facebook. So of course I get "sucked-in" (as Jer and I call it) to the computer and waste like 30 min on Facebook. By the time I'm ready to write up my post, my free minute is gone and one of my boys, or more likely-both, need my attention.

So let me pose a couple questions. Is it better to post more often with less than great subject matter, or less often with a more interesting post? How can I avoid getting "sucked in" and wasting my precious free time? Since I read a lot, would anyone be interested if I started posting book reviews? And the most important question, what should I make for dinner tomorrow?