Best book you've read this year

[peapod1980]

Talking about reading and HP made me think of this:
What's the best book you've read this year?
Mine's a tie: The Memory of Running and The Tender Bar.

[bsmart]

Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, by Janisse Ray.

[Jdarg]

I know my book consumption is down since I was sucked into the SoWal cyber life. But since the weather is now finally feeling winterish, I won't be outside as much and can use that extra indoor time for a reading a book.

Or more time on the board.

[Beach Runner]

Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson

[DD]

I know my book consumption is down since I was sucked into the SoWal cyber life. But since the weather is now finally feeling winterish, I won't be outside as much and can use that extra indoor time for a reading a book.

Or more time on the board.

You took the words right out of my mouth!

[Smiling JOe]

I like this one by our local SoWal writer.
I cannot wait for this one:

[bsmart]

I like this one by our local SoWal writer.
I cannot wait for this one:

Hey that is me on the cover of those books--small world!

[Cil]

I want to read The Tender Bar.

The best book I read this year was The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Nieffenegger. Terrible title, excellent book. I just reread it last summer.

[Miss Kitty]

I'm still waiting on "The Book According to Dabell"...by Dabell! Where is she anyway? DABELL...HELLO?

[Jdarg]

I want to read The Tender Bar.

The best book I read this year was The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Nieffenegger. Terrible title, excellent book. I just reread it last summer.

I agree- best book for me too. People either love or hate this one. It was amazing that I liked it since the structure required patience, which I totally lack!

[peapod1980]

I want to read The Tender Bar.

The best book I read this year was The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Nieffenegger. Terrible title, excellent book. I just reread it last summer.

Oh, Cil, it's such a great book--I enjoyed every page, honestly.
And TTW--oh, what a great, great book! I thought I'd never be able to get past the premise since I don't like anything sci-fi or fantasy or whatever, but I loved that book!

[peapod1980]

I agree- best book for me too. People either love or hate this one. It was amazing that I liked it since the structure required patience, which I totally lack!

Yeah, that definitely put a strain on my brain, but it was so worth it!

[Jdarg]

Oh, Cil, it's such a great book--I enjoyed every page, honestly.
And TTW--oh, what a great, great book! I thought I'd never be able to get past the premise since I don't like anything sci-fi or fantasy or whatever, but I loved that book!

Ah Peapod- from your signature line, it looks like we share a fave in "The Little Prince". I like people who like dogs and this book!

[peapod1980]

Ah Peapod- from your signature line, it looks like we share a fave in "The Little Prince". I like people who like dogs and this book!

Well, as Stella's owner, I think it's safe to say you and I would get along just fine!

[Ocean Lover]

Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson

This is one of my favorites too. I read it a couple of years ago at the beach. Finished it in a day...one of those you can't put down.
BR, have you read Sam's Letter to Jennifer? If you haven't you'd probably like this one too.

[Beach Runner]

This is one of my favorites too. I read it a couple of years ago at the beach. Finished it in a day...one of those you can't put down.
BR, have you read Sam's Letter to Jennifer? If you haven't you'd probably like this one too.

Yes, I read it the same week I read the other one. It made me cry, too, but not as much as as the diary one.

I've heard it is a trend for new mothers to write diaries/journals for their new babies or for parents to journal and tell family stories to pass down to their children. What a valuable gift! I was at a poetry reading recently where the poet (who also is our minister) was saying that this is how he started writing poetry. He started recording interesting stories about his family and others he knew, and it developed into a free-form style of poetry. He is now publishing his poetry and recommended that we all start journaling.

I keep putting it off, but I really want to start doing this.

[Jdarg]

Well, as Stella's owner, I think it's safe to say you and I would get along just fine!

She is beautiful- . My kinda dog.

[seagrovelover]

Thanks for the info on the good reads......nothing like a great book to read during the holidays or when its snowing outside!!!!!

[Miss Kitty]

BR...I agree that writing down stories is so valuable. I failed to write down so many of the funny things my kids did and said because at the time I thought..."How could I forget this?" Some are lost forever. I have asked PawPaw, who has the most wonderful and vivid memories of growing up in Dallas, to write his history for us. I don't think he has the patience for it, but I will press him again. HMM's dad has done this and we have the most unbelieveable history of him from childhood, through WW2, law school and on.

[peapod1980]

BR...I agree that writing down stories is so valuable. I failed to write down so many of the funny things my kids did and said because at the time I thought..."How could I forget this?"

Ugh, I am so guilty of this. I always send my siblings emails with the funny things my kids say, but that's as far as I get. Wish my sibs would save those emails!

[peapod1980]

She is beautiful- . My kinda dog.

Thanks! This photo is about a year old, right when we got her.
Hey, jdarg, do you read Anne Lamott? Any other fans out there?

[Miss Kitty]

Thanks! This photo is about a year old, right when we got her.
Hey, jdarg, do you read Anne Lamott? Any other fans out there?

This has given me another idea (stop groaning!) Kurt/SJ please help! We need a dogs of SoWal.com like the Dogs of Grayton Beach! Can you have a page where we (how I will, I don't know!) can post our dogs pics and names? That would be doggone awesome!

[Beach Runner]

BR...I agree that writing down stories is so valuable. I failed to write down so many of the funny things my kids did and said because at the time I thought..."How could I forget this?" Some are lost forever. I have asked PawPaw, who has the most wonderful and vivid memories of growing up in Dallas, to write his history for us. I don't think he has the patience for it, but I will press him again. HMM's dad has done this and we have the most unbelieveable history of him from childhood, through WW2, law school and on.

One of the deans (Linda) at the college where I teach has no family in town and has gotten close to an elderly woman who was the wife of a dean who is now deceased. This woman is from an old family in town, and she has a lot of stories. Linda visits her regularly and spends about an hour a week recording stories. She plans to write a book, not for financial gain, but just to record the interesting history of this family and how it relates to the town. Once this woman dies, that would have been lost forever, if not for Linda.

We all need to sit down with our elderly parents and journal for them. Like SS says, there are things you think you'll never forget that, unfortunately, you do. Then the stories are gone forever. Do you know your parent's favorite hymns and songs? Or foods? Or life experiences? Or best Christmases? I don't, unfortunately, even though I talk to my Mom every day. Heck, I'm not sure I know this about my own husband and daughter!

Time to write a book.

[Miss Kitty]

BR...what a lovely thing your friend is doing. And so many will derive joy from this labor of love! You bring up interesting questions here...Just how much DO we know about the ones we love? This might just add to everyone's Thanksgiving blessings this year.

[Ocean Lover]

If your parents don't like to write maybe you could record their stories with a voice recorder and you could write it later. Many MP3 players come with one. I used to write funny things down in the kids baby books. Like when my daughter ran into the living room yelling..the pot is bleeding ....the pot is bleeding!! I rushed into the kitchen and water was boiling over. LOL I think she was 3 or 4. One of the funniest things Dylan said was about a year ago. He was in the bathroom and he ran out of toilet paper. He yelled out for someone to get him some. My husband said.."there's tp on the back of the toilet..can't you see it?" Dylan said..."I don't know....I'm not an owl!"
I told you he was a little different. Makes us laugh though.

[Beach Runner]

That's cute - the kind of stories that unfortunately you forget once they get into the whirlwind of high school and college applications.

[Miss Kitty]

OL...I LOVE the things that kids say!!! When I was having MS, my parents took FS (2 1/2 yo) home with them to Houston. After a couple of days, my precious daughter says to my mom..."Mimi, where's my OTHER mother?" Still makes me grin real big! Many times when MS was small, HMM would ask him to do "big guy" stuff...after a while, MS says to HMM..."I can't do that, I'm JUST a BOY!" I still say that to him to this day!!!

[Beach Runner]

Awwwww!

[Ocean Lover]

OL...I LOVE the things that kids say!!! When I was having MS, my parents took FS (2 1/2 yo) home with them to Houston. After a couple of days, my precious daughter says to my mom..."Mimi, where's my OTHER mother?" Still makes me grin real big! Many times when MS was small, HMM would ask him to do "big guy" stuff...after a while, MS says to HMM..."I can't do that, I'm JUST a BOY!" I still say that to him to this day!!!

Cute! Mine are 2 1/2 years apart too. Another cute story from my daughter...when she was 4 she had a pet gold fish that died. She decided to have a funeral for "Goldie" and placed him in a film canister. I was busy doing something in the kitchen and she ran in with a rock in her hand. She asked ...where's a marker? I need to write rip on this rock. I was like, huh? ? She repeated herself a few times and explained she was burying Goldie in the flower bed out front and she needed this rock to mark the spot. then I finally figured it out. She needed to write rest in peace on the rock for a little tombstone. I'm sure she must have seen it on cartoons and had no idea what it even meant. The whole thing just cracked me up.

[Beach Runner]

Copy and paste these stories into a journal in Microsoft Word (or the software of your choice) right now! It will be a beautiful gift for your family.

[Ocean Lover]

Copy and paste these stories into a journal in Microsoft Word (or the software of your choice) right now! It will be a beautiful gift for your family.

Good idea...done.

[Sheila]

I just finished," The Five People You Meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom. I loved it. Very thought provoking. Easy read as well.

[Mermaid]

"The Kite Runner"

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/104-2286349-7915137?url=index%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=kite+runner&Go.x=15&Go.y=10"]Amazon.com: kite runner: Books[/ame]

It is so beautifully written and evokes a place and an age so vividly that you feel as though you have lived it with the author. It's set in Afganistan before the war that tore it apart. The funny thing is that the author is not a very admirable character, yet somehow you cannot help but have empathy for him all the way through.

[Cil]

"The Kite Runner"

.

I read and enjoyed this book.
Another one I recently finished:How To Be Lost by Amanda Eyre Ward. Sometimes flashbacks bother me but these were very good.
It's a real page-turner.

Whoever said that they couldn't finish The Sunday Wife, well I am there with you. I wanted to like this book but the characters were unappealing and the story just bogged down. I don't have to like characters, but I have to at least care what happens to them.

[steele mama]

If your parents don't like to write maybe you could record their stories with a voice recorder and you could write it later. Many MP3 players come with one. I used to write funny things down in the kids baby books. Like when my daughter ran into the living room yelling..the pot is bleeding ....the pot is bleeding!! I rushed into the kitchen and water was boiling over. LOL I think she was 3 or 4. One of the funniest things Dylan said was about a year ago. He was in the bathroom and he ran out of toilet paper. He yelled out for someone to get him some. My husband said.."there's tp on the back of the toilet..can't you see it?" Dylan said..."I don't know....I'm not an owl!"
I told you he was a little different. Makes us laugh though.

I did have Mama Sis record all (many) of "her" stories going back to her Father and all of our childhoods. They are so cute and funny and to hear her voice telling them is the great thing. She has a way! I wanted to publish them in book form also but that may be a pipe dream.

[bluemtnfriend]

Thanks! This photo is about a year old, right when we got her.
Hey, jdarg, do you read Anne Lamott? Any other fans out there?

I've read all of Lamott's books except her new one just out. Taveling Mercies is great. In it someone ask's her if she's a "born again Christian" and she thinks "yeah, but I'm the kind of Christian who would think about what its going to do to my lease if I put one of those silver fish on my car."
And I liked what she said about prayer, the two she seems to pray the most are "help me, help me, help me" and "thank you, thank you, thank you.

[Jdarg]

I've read all of Lamott's books except her new one just out. Taveling Mercies is great. In it someone ask's her if she's a "born again Christian" and she thinks "yeah, but I'm the kind of Christian who would think about what its going to do to my lease if I put one of those silver fish on my car."
And I liked what she said about prayer, the two she seems to pray the most are "help me, help me, help me" and "thank you, thank you, thank you.

OK- I have to read these books! They sound interesting!

[Donna]

My husband and I have both enjoyed the Alexander McCall Smith series, beginning with "The #1 Ladies Detective Agency," set in Botswana, Africa. Both of us raced through all six in record time. Husband hijacked one while we were in New Zealand and was so desperate for the next in the series that he paid hardback UK prices for it. This is very extreme behavior for frugal hubby. They are simple stories with intriguing plots and many smiles, extremely well written. He has started a new series that I hope to begin during Christmas vacation at Grayton. (Fortunately, the house has lots of hiding places!)

[peapod1980]

OK- I have to read these books! They sound interesting!

That's why I asked if you'd read them--I get the idea you'd really enjoy them. I'm a big fan of hers!

[FMluvswater]

Mine's a two way tie "Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire" and "The DaVinci Code".

[Miss Kitty]

Welcome Oh, Canada!!!! You might just win the award for furthest away from 30 -A!!!! Do you get down there often? I visited your fair city a few years ago and found it quite charming! Please post often and join in the FUNN!

[FMluvswater]

Welcome Oh, Canada!!!! You might just win the award for furthest away from 30 -A!!!! Do you get down there often? I visited your fair city a few years ago and found it quite charming! Please post often and join in the FUNN!

Thanks for the welcome, Sueshore. Uhh no I've never visited outside Canada. You might wanna rethink your invite for me to post a lot (have a heart to heart with RO - he may have info that changes your mind, lol.)

[Miss Kitty]

Thanks for the welcome, Sueshore. Uhh no I've never visited outside Canada. You might wanna rethink your invite for me to post a lot (have a heart to heart with RO - he may have info that changes your mind, lol.)

WHAT???? You have never been to the USA...or more importantly to SoWal? What kind of friend is RO...he should invite you....I think?

[FMluvswater]

I think he's ascairt of me.

[RiverOtter]

WHAT???? You have never been to the USA...or more importantly to SoWal? What kind of friend is RO...he should invite you....I think?

I have invited that crazy canuk down before.

[FMluvswater]

I have invited that crazy canuk down before.

I know. Someday hasn't arrived yet.

[RiverOtter]

I know. Someday hasn't arrived yet.

I thought you were gonna be the Atlanta area this year Did you chicken out?

[Miss Kitty]

I thought you were gonna be the Atlanta area this year Did you chicken out?

Is your friend, FM, skeered of us crazy AMERICANS????

[RiverOtter]

Is your friend, FM, skeered of us crazy AMERICANS????

I think she's just skeered of planes

[FMluvswater]

I thought you were gonna be the Atlanta area this year Did you chicken out?

I don't recall that plan. There are several reasons why I'm unlikely to visit anywhere in the States anytime soon and NO none of them are due to fear, lol.