#80

I was into John Grisham's latest novel when I unfortunately left it at work on Saturday. We were having a freak snow storm that left us buried in tree branches and no power. We had 8 inches of wet and heavy snow that clung to the leaf ladened trees and made a royal mess of everything. Beautiful? Yes. A nightmare? YES! We have not had power, water, or heat now for 3 days and there's no end in sight. We've been staying up during the night feeding wood to the fireplace and each of us is sleeping on a sofa as close to the fireplace as we can get. Today we let the fire go out for the first time and headed for a real meal and then to a shower at my daughter's house. It was nice and warm and comfy but we're back home now and the fire is going again and we're trying to get the chill out before night. I missed work yesterday and had the day off today but I must go back tomorrow for the late shift.

Anyway, I picked up one of my books from either NYC or the Border's closing and it was "Remarkable Creatures" by Tracy Chevalier. Very informative and historically correct. There really were such characters as Elizabeth Philpot and Mary Anning and they were important in the discovery of fossils and skeletal remains of creatures that had yet been unknown. Found along the beaches of Lyme, England these women joined forces to become some of the leaders in their field even though as women they could not get the recognition of their discoveries at the time. Great read! Back to Grisham tomorrow when I get back to work and retrieve him from my locker.

#79

James Patterson and his author du jour wrote a little novel in a cross between Nicholas Sparks (not as good by far) and Mary Higgins Clark. "The Christmas Wedding" is about a mid fifties mother who decides out of her three suitors/friends to marry on Christmas Day and have all her family come. The family hasn't all been together since she was widowed 3 years before. She won't tell anyone, including the groom which one she is picking until she is walking down the aisle. We get a little background about each of her grown kids and a little background on the three potential grooms. Cute little read.

#78

Well Nicholas Sparks has done it again! I didn't have to use a tissue since I figured out 30 some pages from the end who was going to die in this one but it was still a great read. "The Best of Me" kept me reading and I couldn't put it down. The typical boy from bad side of town meets girl from the good side of town and the parents interfere and keep them apart. She marries someone else and has a good life. He never got over her. New circumstances cause them to meet up again and the magic is still there. Of course there are other twists and turns that make it a Nicholas Sparks novel versus a Danielle steel novel. Guess we'll be seeing this one on the screen soon.

A day off on Monday, late shift on Tuesday, a day off today, and early shift tomorrow. Makes for a rotten day off. Especially when you have to wait around all day for the Fed Ex driver who never comes at the same time and you have to sign for a package or they won't deliver it. Keeps me from doing any errands or anything fun.

#77

Finally finished the afghan for the new baby of the Assistant Store Manager. The kid will be able to use this till he's in college. Got a little out of hand.

Finished reading Elizabeth Strout's "Olive Kitteridge." It was an interesting novel. All centered on a small town in Maine and the main character Olive. Once a school teacher and apparently a not great wife or mother but her husband loved her dearly and her son held whatever it was against her. The novel was about a lot of different people in the town and each chapter told a different story. Olive and her husband were laced throughout some of the chapters. Enjoyable read!

#76

Took me ages to get through this book. Not because it wasn't a good read but because I've been doing my knitting project and it hasn't given me much time to read. This was not the best Harlan Coben book that I've read but it was still okay. "Miracle Cure" was written back in the early 90's and it was about the AIDS virus and a clinic that claimed to have found a cure. Problem? Cured patients are being found murdered. Suddenly and well known basketball star finds himself with the virus from a transfusion and things get even worse. Of course it's one of the good guys that has turned bad. I was sure that I'd read all of Coben's books but found this one that had been republished. Hope there are more somewhere.

#75

Boring, boring, and most boring is all I can say about "This Beautiful Life" by Helen Schulman. Just could not get my mind wrapped around this story. Middle aged couple with a 15 year old son and a 6 year old Chinese adopted daughter. Son gets caught up in a scandal when a 13 year old girl sends him a very pornagraphic video via email and he in turn forwards it to his friend and needless to say, it is around the world in days. He gets expelled and the parents are trying to get him through this tough time. They end up fighting and even though the son is returned to school in just a couple weeks, his life is in shambles. The mother can't handle it and the father is just concerned with being the big deal bread winner. I won't even go into what the young daughter got into when she discovered her mother's computer with the infamous video on it. Guess I couldn't get lucky with all my recent purchases.