Book Club Rocks!

I agree with Stacey, I have read more this year then any other year. It gives me a little more to do other than scrapbook or card making. So what is the 2ND Sedaris book like? Is it anything like the first book? I am enjoying the book, but does it tie all together in the end? I haven't finished it yet, but so far it seems like its just some stories of his past. Don't get me wrong, some of them are funny as heck, and I am enjoying them, but does it have a point? Does anyone know what I mean? I don't care very much for the part about drugs, and getting high. And the chapter about the brother and the way he talks to his dad. I hope my kids don't ever talk that way to me, or I talk that way ever to my mom. Heck, my mom, probably wouldn't even know what half those words mean. I had to explain what a "dildo" was to my mom. It was quite the conversation, and I was definitely embarrassed to have to have a talk with my mom in that area. Yikes!! Well, Cheers to our Book Club, and it rocks! Who picks next?

HELLO?!

I'm glad we did this book club too. I've read more this year than in all the years of my marriage combined. I finished my 2nd Sedaris book today. Where in the world is everyone? Shonna, I fear we are alone in this universe...at least we have each other.

Do you all realize?????

Hey guys, I was thinking this morning, (something I don't normally do) that it is coming up on a year since we began our adventure in book clubbing. I think you all had the idea back when you all were together for Hunter's baptubbin. Well, in October that will have been a year. I'm proud of us all for doing this and staying involved with it. I think it has been a lot of fun. And being this far away from all of you it makes me feel a bit closer. Thanks guys for the idea and I look forward to more years of it. Now what do you all think of the book?

What a Crock!

Gary you are so funny!!! Just because you don't have as many kids at home all day doesn't mean that you automatically are entitled to the laundry fairies and the dish fairies and such. In fact all that work still needs to be done you just aren't tripping over as many of the little cherubs. In fact you have to bust butt to get it done faster so that when they decsend with all of the homework and after school stuff you have time to do that. In fact sometimes it seems that you got more done when they were all home all of the time. As far as the reading goes, you are just more effecient as to when you fit it in. The toilet, the car (when waiting on someone of course, not driving and reading....silly) just whenever you can grab a moment. There is always time to read. Now getting on the computer to blog, that is a bit more tricky. I find that I am on here later at night sometimes. So, everyone, keep reading, Stacey you keep reading and eating bon bons if you want.

Jaime, don't you know...
I sit all day long on the couch and pop bon bons and read books...in between all the soap operas I watch of course. I only have 2 kids at home during the day now. It's amazing how much stuff I can get done now!

Busy Busy Busy

So everytime I try to blog, my kiddo's like to come and hang out by me, and then Connor crys, and well its all over by then. So I dont have time to post. Plus, I am still reading the book, and am not very far into it. I dont know how you do it, Stacey, reading all those books? And taking care of kids.....when do you go to bed? or get up? Anyways, the kiddo's are here again, gotto go.
Check out my blog, Bryans Wii video its hilarious!

Hey everybody, where the heck are you?

To add to Shonna's question of "where is mom", where is Karie and Jaime? I've not seen a post from you in so long?!

Goodness Gracious Read already!!!!

So, I am happy to see that you all seem to be enjoying the book. I just started another of his books, "Naked". Again, funny. There is this chapter about someone in the family wiping their butts on the towels. It is pretty dang hilarious. By the way Mom, are you reading the book? I haven't read any comments from you.

Mr. Thedarith

Yes, I've started the book. I have read three chapters (or is it four?). I'm loving it so far. Again, I think the guy knows how to write.

My experience with the top 100...pretty pathetic

Ok first of all Karie and I are in the middle of the book and loving it!  We are reading it to each other and it makes it funnier.  I personally love the chapter about the snooty food.   So dang sarcastic.

Back to the top 100:

(Does watching a version of the book as a movie count? 'Cause if it does I've experienced over half of them.) Also why was Mitch Album's Top Five People... on the list, but Tuesdays with Morrey wasn't?  I've read that one.

1.  The Harry Potter Series

Who doesn't want to live the life of a wizard?

2. To Kill a Mockingbird

Read as a class in 10th grade and then watched the movie.  The movie -- BLAH! The book -- fantastic!

3.  The Bible (if selected verses count)

4.  Shakespeare (OK i've only seen them, not read them, but hey Audio Book, right?)

5. Chronicles of Narnia (All of them on the CDs given to me by Mom - excellent)

6. Animal Farm (One of my favorites)

7. The DaVinci Code (Makes you really think -- could that really be the Holy Grail?)

8. The Secret Garden (Again-- read as a class -- this time in 3rd grade and then watched the movie.  The book - WAY BETTER! But then I think that's typical. However I do think the most recent remake is a good one.)

9.  A couple of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

10. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 

11.  Les Mis (Actually, I only read part of the abridged version.  Yes I know, "Abridged is of the devil." But have you seen the size of the unabridged?)

I plan on reading Atonement because I already own it, but as for the rest of them-- I hadn't really thought about it.  For now, I'm sticking with Me Talk Pretty and The Alchemist.

Talk at ya later.

Nowhere near 100...

Okay, Shonna & Stacey have WAY too much time on their hands to be finished already. Okay, maybe they just have more time on the potty. Whatever it is, you beat us all! I have yet to start it.

Here are the books that I've read from that list. I think the list is pretty good, but there are some that I don't think need to be one there! :)

1. The Bible (plus the Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, Church History - I highly recommend all of these)
2. Nineteen Eighty-Four (I hated reading this in high school, it freaked me out)
3. Animal Farm (same as above)
4. Not the complete works of Shakespeare, but these are the ones I remember reading: Macbeth (love this one), Romeo & Juliet, Taming of the Shrew, Midsummer Night's Dream, Merchant of Venice (made me think, but a creepy concept)
5. Of Mice and Men
6. The Kite Runner
7. Memoirs of a Geisha
8. Moby Dick
9. Charlotte's Web

I love books that "show" me a new part of the world and a new way to look at the world.
10. The daVinci code

Me Too!!!!!

Hey I finished it just now. And I agree the chapter called Late Night was pretty darn funny. I thought the parts about his dad and his hoarding were stinking hilarious. Stacey, did you find the Parisian chapters boring? Or is it just me. Like the one of "I saw a girl almost killed once". Anyway, I found myself bored with those chapters.
I am beginning to think that we are the only ones reading this or we are the only ones blogging about it. Pretty quick read. I think I will start the other one that I got at the libary now. I will let you know what I think of that one.

DONE!

Am I the only one reading this thing?

Announcement...I finished Me Talk Pretty One Day

Besides chapters I've already mentioned, The Late Show, was also hilarious. All his fantasies make me laugh...and I quote...

"The eyebrows work in consort with my inky black hair, which weighs in midway between curly and wavy, and calls for the invention of a new word."

"It's...cravy," you'll say. "Like a storm at sea if the ocean were made out of hair instead of water."

I've decided I have that kind of hair...cravy.

Honestly, I was surprised I've read as many on that list as I have. The first 3 were forced readings in Jr. High or High school. I know I read some Shakespeare in High School English class, but cannot remember which ones necessarily. I guess that doesn't count.

1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
3. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
4. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson
5. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
6. Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
7. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
8. The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
9. 5 People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
10. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

I guess I've just found some other books I'd like to read, 17 on the list looked interesting. I may get into it and decide I want to read them all...you know, in all my spare time. I'm interested to see which books ya'll have read. Maybe if we combine our readings, we could be considered "well read".

Can you beat the average?

I thought this would be interesting to see where we're all at.

Here's how it works:

The Big Read says that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed.

1) Look at the list and identify those that you've read

2) Submit a new post stating how many you've read (even what they are if you want to), and how many you aspire to read.

3) Make the ones you loved obnoxiously larger than life

And now..... THE BIG READ TOP 100

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

4. The Harry Potter Series JK Rowling

5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

6. The Bible

7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell

9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott

12. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

14. Complete Works of Shakespeare

15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks

18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger

19. The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20. Middlemarch - George Eliot

21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens

24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

25. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh .

27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis

34. Emma - Jane Austen

35. Persuasion - Jane Austen

36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis

37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

38. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne

41. Animal Farm - George Orwell

42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery

47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood

49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding

50. Atonement - Ian McEwan .

51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel

52. Dune - Frank Herbert

53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov Nabokov

63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68. Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding

69. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie

70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville

71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

72. Dracula - Bram Stoker

73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75. Ulysses - James Joyce

76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78. Germinal - Emile Zola

79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80. Possession - AS Byatt

81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry .

87. Charlotte's Web - EB White

88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94. Watership Down - Richard Adams

95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare

99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

I don't know how they finalized this list, but there are some pretty good ones here. I think I'm going to go start a new one!

A Shiner Like a Diamond

Amy: "I want to look like someone has beaten the #$%@ out of me."

Then, after the artist was complete, most people nervously looked away, but on the rare occasions someone would ask what happened, Amy would smile as brightly as possible, saying, "I'm in love. Can you believe it? I'm finally, totally in love, and I feel great."

Can we get a midget?

When Spencer was a little boy (probably 4 or so) he asked us if we could get a midget. He promised he'd watered it and feed it and take it on walks.

I couldn't get through the Rooster chapter, I had to skip it. The swearing gets to me...however, the one on starting on page 97, I laughed until I cried at that one...Big One or Big Boy, something like that.

You can't kill the rooster!!!!

If you aren't to this chapter yet, just wait. Really raunchy and I was laughing my butt off. Iagree with you Karie, I do quite enjoy this book as well. Haven't we all had fantasies of having our own personal midgets. I used to be so jealous of the Johnsons (uncle Lyle's family) because they had that midget (dwarf) nanny. I thought she was so cute and I really wanted to take her home. I think she was actually a friend of one of the nannies but I still wanted her for our nanny. Not that I knew what nannies did anyway.
Stacey, I don't remember which book it was. I didn't read much of it, I couldn't get into it at all. I will find out and let you know. I also have the same problem of checking out boatloads of books. Then I forget to get them back on time and then.....well you know what happens.
Just keep reading!!!!

O.K. Roger and I are reading the book together and I don't know that I have ever laughed so hard.  I love the part about his own "personal midget" and playing the flute and being deemed a prodigy.   Do we all have lives like this and just fail to see the humor in it? Or is he just a really funny guy who knows how to write a book?  Maybe this could be a life lesson for all of us to see more humor in our lives, especially about our past.   I think this is a fantastic book so far and I get so excited to read more every night.  Every time I read it makes me laugh so hard that tears are streaming down my face.  I cannot wear makeup with this one.   Love Love Love it!!!! 

P.S. by the way

By the way Shonna, which Ayn Rand book were your kids ordered to suffer through? Have you read any and which one?

Reed 'em and weep

This will make 4. I'm mad too. I went to the library yesterday and got a BOATLOAD of books for everyone...the bane of my existence is keeping track of them, but I do it anyway. ANYWAY...I had 2 copies of Me Talk Pretty, one for me and Gary, and one for Sheryl. I also had a Dave Barry book. I got home and discovered I never checked them out. They are probably still sitting on the counter crying that they didn't come home with me...oh wait, books don't have feelings. Or do they? I'm not going to scrap the Ayn Rand book. We committed to read it and we're going to finish it. I want to see if Dagny (who names a kid Dagny anyway? how do you look at a beautiful baby and decide to name it Dagny? Or Draco? Or even Ursula for that matter. Alas i digress...) ends up in the special society and what exactly happens to all the characters. Most of them need to be slapped around a little.

By the way, have any of you taken an IQ test before? I just did one online, and the results seemed not quite right. I think I want to take another one and compare.

Miss She who reads 3 books and a long dumb one

Hey Stacey, you mentioned that you are reading 3 books. Does this one make 4 or have you finished it or are you waiting to finish the Ayne Rand one. I suggest you just pooch that one. She bugs me as an author. My kids have to read her book in school.

Started It!!!

Hey so i had already read most of the first chapter online. So I finished that last night and having worked in the school environment with the therapists and special needs people (from an employee standpoint) I find it funny that he picked up on her attitude so well. See the therapists and special ed folks gripe quite a bit about some of the kids that they are dealt. So, I can just imagine how she must have felt as well. I was laughing my butt off though. Then the part about "Future Homosexuals of America". I am laughing as I type. I think this will be a great read. As I was at the library last night I picked up another one of his called Naked. So, that should be interesting. Oh and they way the mom reacts to him complaining about "Agent Samson". "Oh, I am sure she's not that bad, she's just trying to do her job". I have said that so many times to my kids. I guess that really isn't much consolation to a kid eh?

Got it and started it.

Well I actually got the book last saturday, and so far I am only on chapter 2. The first chapter, north carolina is quite interesting. It hasnt quite grabbed my attention just yet, but its just the beginning too. Its funny how he calls the therapist Agent Samson.
I am a busy mom so far. This school thing and being so involved gets me wiped out! I guess I will get used to it, right shonna? But really I have enjoyed being involved, I never knew there was so much more to school than just sending your child to school to get a good education. I joined the PTA this year, and went to my first PTA meeting to vote on the budget. Then tommarrow its another meeting to meet with teachers as room parents to plan parties for the year. Wow! But its what I want, I want to know what is going on and want to be involved. Crazy! Crazy!

Got It!!!!

Hey everyone I got my book at the library tonight. Woo Hoo. I will begin reading tomorrow. After I go and get the damn dryer.

Adventures in Reading

This is an interesting blog so far. Are any of you currently reading a book? Just curious. Sheryl said no one had started her book yet.

As for me, I'm in the middle of 3 books right now...and no it's not ADD. I'm keeping up on all of them so don't you worry about that...

1. Boundaries in Marriage by Dr. Henry cloud and Dr. John Townsend...A great book that would help any of you have a more fulfilling marriage. For those who aren't married, the principles would help you have a better relationship with another person in general. It's not as easy a read as a novel, but I've enjoyed it quite a bit.

2. Atlas Shrugged by Ayne Rand... She is the most overly descriptive author I've ever read. Gary and I have read this one together, and we started it the day before his ankle replacement surgery last October. The book is 1069 pages long, before the epilogue, and we are on page 841. Yeah, it's taking a while. We're sort of bored with it. If we would just read 10 pages a day we could be done by the one year mark. It's a book about the theory of "objectivism" which is her theory of life. Basically, survival of the fittest, no emotions involved or you fail kind of a thing. You should not help others who are in need. This is really simplistic, and there's more to it I know. It's not what I was taught growing up, that's for sure!

3. When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris...This is his latest book. Yes, it has a few raunchy parts, watch the language, and hold on to your butts. A few parts have made me laugh harder than I thought I could. I started it in the hospital on Monday and am almost 1/2 way done. It'll be interesting to read his other book soon...

Me neither

Our library does say that it has 2 copies so we will see. I owe money at my town library so they won't let me check anything out. I guess I should pay that off. I keep giving them a dollar here and a dollar there. It amuses me. I don't know why. I think I owe like $9 in over due fines. Does that suck or what?! I find it funny to see the look on their face when I say, "I'll pay a dollar today". Anyway, can you tell I am sleepy and it is late. Me talk pretty one day.

I don't have it yet...

I went to the UofU library today to check out the book and both copies were already gone. What a bummer! I'm trying the local library next.

I knew who the Halloween Fans were - nothing but the SLC Wabel's! I think a family of Frankensteins would be hilarious! You won't have to worry about platform shoes. I think this year I might go "all out" for the holiday. I've been thinking I would dress up as a Canadian.

Halloween Fans

So, Jaime Do you all have a blog now? If so then let us see. It is so much fun. A great way to keep in toughc

Whats in a name?

I am so new to this blogger thing. If you see a post by the Halloween Fans, it is I, Jaime and or Bryan. Sorry if we confused any of you.

My Virgin Blog experience

This is my first blogging experience.  Up til now Karie has been the sole blogger, but now with this book thing I'll do my share of contributing (I'll hopefully start contributing to my family's blog too.)  

Sheryl, I think this is a great idea and I love the "Our Library" on the side.  We bought our book yesterday and are excited to dive right in.  

Stace, I think the Frankenstein idea is a good one for y'all.  

Lets give it a try

Okay, so here we go. I am trying this out. I hope this works? and I do it right? The book sounds very interesting, I read the first chapter online, and am interested in seeing what is to come of the rest of the book. I'm in!
Anyone thought of halloween costumes yet? I woke up this morning laughing, thinking of a funny idea for my kids......frankenstein. Can you imagine Connor with a black crazy hair wig and colored green? Then again, everyone may think of us as the jolly green giant family? Hee hee!
My brain is still brewing up some good ideas for halloween.

So we finally have a book!!!! Woo Hoo!!!!

So, David Sedaris eh? Should be interesting. Be prepared for language folks. I have heard he is good though. I am excited. I will get mine this week and get started. Oh do you want us to add pictures of us reading? Pictures make things more fun. And we all know we could all have more fun.

How does this thing work?

Okay, how do I "post" on this blog? Some of you might be posting on a blog for the first time. So, I'll try to explain how to do it. If you post rather than "comment" it will be a little more effective.

First, click on "Customize" in the top right corner of the screen. Then click on the tab "Posting" in the top left corner of the screen. At this point, simply give your posting a title and then type your comments. When you're finished, click on "Publish Post" in the bottom left corner of the screen. You will then see a screen that says, "Post successful! View your blog" and you're finished.

Hope this helps! :) There is a link on the side bar if you need to see screen shots (pictures) of how this is done.

I am in

And the winner is....

Our next book will be Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. There's a link to some reviews - if you want to read them. I think Mom will like the link because she can even read the first page - oh, wait, it's the last page she likes to read first. I digress.

I set up the blog with each of us as authors. This way we can all write right here. Nifty, eh? I thought so. If it's not so groovy, we can just go back to the email way of doing things. Let me, wait - everyone, know what you think! Blog on....