Category Books

Great Audio Book by Abraham Verghese!

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I enjoy working on puzzles while listening to an audio book. Finding the right book is tricky. The story line has to be engaging, but also the narrator’s voice makes or breaks the story.

Bingo – Abraham Verghese’s, “Cutting for Stone” was a fantastic family saga set in Ethiopia with a focus on medicine. Sunil Malhotra was a perfect choice to narrate the book. I immediately sensed the author had a medical background, the surgery scenes were so detailed. Oh, not gory, not like that, professional.

I don’t want to give the story away. Verghese did a wonderful job of building the scenes and giving a good ending, ie, not a predictable one. He’s Indian, lived in Ethiopia and works in the medical field. The sign of an excellent book is when you keep wondering whether it really happened! He accomplished that.

Here is the puzzle I worked on. A lot of fun.

Now, I’m off to find a NEW book to read. Maybe Verghese has another one I will like.

Any recommendations, let me know. I tend to enjoy historical fiction.

Enjoy the weekend!

Coincidences… The Universe KNOWS what we want!

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The other day, I had to run errands. Get my new crown put in. My gosh, it’s so expensive, I do feel it’s like a piece of jewelry in my mouth, I need to treat it with care. Then the DMV sent me a notice, go for Emissions Check on the car. That’s always stressful. If the car doesn’t pass, go to repair shop. Luckily, my car passed.

I was so busy that it was 3 pm and I had not eaten anything. It was a hot day, in the high 80s, so I wasn’t hungry, but I was really really thirsty. I had a vision of a Starbuck’s Mocha Frappuccino. That’s what I wanted. However, no Starbucks close by.

I decided to stop at Barnes & Noble. I always enjoy browsing the books, puzzles, journals, and magazines. I must have been there about an hour, time flies when we look at books. Suddenly, a lady came by with drink samples from the cafe. GUESS WHAT – she said they were Mocha Frappuccino samples.

I’m still laughing at the coincidence of this encounter. I was lost in a book, minding my business when the cafe lady approached. Of course, I took a sample. Then I smiled and thought, how nice of my Guardian Angel to surprise me like this. Team work. Sometimes a small sample is all we need.

The authors from the book, “The Secret,” would say I perfectly manifested my drink.

You know what, I would agree with them. Now, if I could just manifest winning the lottery.

November, Writing month – NaNoWriMo -> Love it or Hate it?

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Day 1–> November 1st —> NaNoWriMo starts!

Are you IN or OUT? People have different opinions on this. If you don’t know what NaNoWriMo is, you can visit the website for details. Basically, every year for the month of November you challenge yourself to write a novel of 50,000 words.

Some people like this structure and sense of writing community. Others feel like they are being handcuffed and their creativity goes out the window. Suddenly no words, no ideas come to them.

I have mixed emotions about it. Do I need to put more pressure on myself for a month? I don’t think so. So, this year, I’ll be monitoring some conversations, but going solo. Who knows, I might just hit 50K!

Are you participating? Do you find value in this? Met other writers?

Exercising – Window cleaning with an audio book!

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People ask me, how do you get things done? I look at them in surprise. Why, I multi-task, of course. I can do a zillion things at one time. Like a video in full speed. It’s true.

This weekend, for example, I needed to clean my windows, but I also needed to go walking. The weather was so nice, I wanted to read my book at the park. As I was thinking about what “choice” to make, I realized I could listen to an audio book while I cleaned the windows and when I walked. BRILLIANT IDEA!

The key is the narrators . I started searching the library for books. Luckily, we can play a sample, so it was an immediate thumbs up or thumbs down.

By chance, I found The Crimson Thread by Kate Forsyth. The storyline is good, set in Crete during WWII, so I could learn a little bit about their culture. I was pleasantly surprised with a multi cast of narrators. Normally, there is just one narrator. I’m always amused how narrators are fantastic at portraying a woman’s voice, a man, a child, a grandparent, etc. — it’s really entertaining — and that they remember throughout the book what voice they need to use for each character.

If you’re not a fan of audio, you should give it a try. Gee, you can garden, wash your car, chop vegetables while listening to a good book. Definitely worth it!

Share what you’ve been reading. I’m always on the lookout for something new to read.

A book, some Baci and the ocean… What could be better?

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Recently, I was in the San Francisco area. I was by the ocean, went into a very small book store. Small bookstores are wonderful, they have a more interesting choice of books. Usually, many local authors, which I like.

As I went to purchase The Cat Who Saved Books, they had the Italian Baci candies at the check out. What a treat! I haven’t had them for so long. I thought it was a lovely idea to buy a book, a few Baci chocolates, then head to the ocean and start reading. I bought three!

This story sounded interesting about a boy who is depressed when his grandfather dies. He meets a talking cat and goes on quests to “save books.” I was curious about the talking cat and saving books, how/where and what kind?

I’m at the beginning stages of reading this book, so no book review yet. Summer is coming, I think this will end up in the beach bag for summer reading. Life is so busy right now, no time to read.

What small bookstore have you found lately? We do need to support them, I try!

St Patrick’s Day this week – NEED a book for LUCK?

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Since St. Patrick’s Day is this week, I thought I’d share this book. A friend recently told me – GO GET IT! I listened to it in audio. As with any book, some really “good” parts, then parts where I yawned a bit, but didn’t want to “fast forward,” because I “might” miss something CRITICAL.

Has it changed my fortune? Stay tuned in the coming months to FIND OUT.

Spring is almost here. LUCK does seem to be in the air!

Merry Christmas – The Holiday Puzzle!

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It’s the Christmas holiday, it’s cold and snowy. Time for a holiday puzzle, right! I found this one with the vintage red van, made me think of California, surfers, and Lake Tahoe.

At first, I wasn’t enjoying this puzzle. A few things… The puzzle pieces are small, they don’t stick together, so if you want to move a group of them, they all fall apart. Then they have some strange shapes that don’t click in place, they just sit side by side. Some pieces had me fooled, they looked like they were for the border, but NO, they go in the middle somewhere. Chuckling, I guess that’s why we do puzzles, we want to be challenged, right.

There was a huge surprise. I found three special pieces. The cardinal, the snowman and a reindeer!

A special THANK YOU to fellow blogger, Danny Watts: Chronicles of a Fountain Pen for recommending the Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear. I’ve been listening to the audio of the first book in the series.The narrator, Orlagh Cassidy is fabulous! What a wonderful story!!

Five more days, then Christmas Eve!

Got to focus, get the puzzle done. I might be on book 2 at this rate.

Happy Holidays!

HarvesTrolley – Mini Food Mart on Wheels

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I used to work in adverting. As I drove from place to place, I was always on the hunt for new advertisers. At a stop light or stop sign, NEVER know what advertisement is driving by. For example, this HarvesTrolley bus. Brought back memories of my advertising days. I loved the look of this bus, I had to find out more about it. Without getting into a car wreck, I quickly pulled over to check it out.

Turns out, it’s a mini food mart in a bus. Great idea! HarvesTrolley Mobile Market started in Texas, with locations now in IL and New Jersey. During COVID, when it was hard for Seniors to go shopping they started the trolley service along with online order / delivery. Anyone can use the online service or hop on the trolley to buy something. In fact, when I was there a young lady was buying eggs / ice cream and a distinguished gentleman had finished his purchase as well – two huge bags full.

Once they came out, I went inside. It was nice. They had eggs, milk, cereal, crackers, frozen foods, soups, spices, etc. It was a quick look as I spoke to the driver for more information. It had the basics anyone would need, a lot of products can fit into a small space. It worked! The Driver indicated that they go to select locations once a week at the same time. They are still trying to build up their business.

When I first saw the bus, I thought it was the Bookmobile – NOPE, it was a mini mart on wheels.

A FUNNY thought…

Why not get the Bookmobile and the HarvesTrolley to a location at the same time. THEN we could get our books, a snack and find a nice shady tree or bench to sit and start reading.

I’m on board with that!

I’m imagining — ME — in a hammock RIGHT NOW! Reading my book with the ice cream melting…

SUMMER BLISS!

Library… Ah, the hardcover book.

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I haven’t been to the Library in a long time. Before COVID to be exact. It’s so easy now to get books online, that going to the library isn’t necessary. Yet, there’s something about a nice hardcover book in my hands that makes reading that much more enjoyable. Sit by the window, no straining with the eyes.

The other day I walked passed a library. I decided to go in. I forgot how nice it is to look at the section for NEW books that “just arrived.” I was so happy! All sorts of unknown book titles. Before I knew it, I had been in the library almost 2 hours. Amazing, I was a little kid, opening one book after another.

It’s also interesting to see what books people return. Look at this, I found a Jeffrey Archer book. I used to read him all the time. Then moved on, but I really enjoy his writing style.

I can’t give a review of the book yet. I’ll admit that the story line does not seem NEW so far. Seems like a plot that’s been out there already. I’m hoping for some MAJOR twists and turns, so I am not left yawning and skimming versus reading to get to the end.

PLEASE, Mr. Archer, SURPRISE ME!

Off to make a pot of tea!

Such a great book… The Truth Pixie by Matt Haig

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Matt Haig is an amazing writer. Over the holidays I found the audio version of The Truth Pixie from the Library. He wrote it in verse and he narrates. Such a fabulous story. It’s about a pixie who must always tell the truth, no matter what she is asked. Of course, many people get angry with her when she speaks so honestly. She feels lonely. Then comes the day that telling the truth saves the day. This story is about her journey of acceptance and loving herself.

The rhyming is so lovely, the story so powerful. I truly think you will fall in love with the book too. The audio is the best. This story puts you in a good mood. GREAT if you need a gift.

Enjoy!