Sunday, May 16, 2010

Sunday Salon: Making room for Pi


Here I am again friends, on a Sunday morning, feeling like I need a few more hours of sleep. At the Adult Literacy League silent auction, my husband bid on and won a dinner for 8 at the chef's table at The Capital Grille, plus limo service. We used it last night, and it was so much fun. However, there never seemed to be any end to the champagne and wine, which was paired with each course. I think I need to turn in my head for a new one. Blegh.

It was a busy week as usual. This is shocking news I know. The kids are starting to have their final projects due, plus take their finals (which somehow becomes my problem!!!). My parents' house next door has had a little critter problem, where the cute little things chewed through air conditioning pipes, causing a very large leak, causing their bedroom ceiling to partially fall down. This, as you can imagine, is requiring a twelve step process to fix, and is going to be an ongoing project. We laid to rest a dear sweet woman who worked at the kids' school who finally succumbed to the devastating effects of ALS. My daughter had a spring dance on Friday night (and had her first slow dance - eek!). She was horrified that I was a chaperone, but too bad. We also got her ears re-pierced yesterday. We had it done four years ago, but they got infected, so we are hoping for better results this time. Actually praying would be a better word. This child is not good with pain and discomfort, and and if she suffers, we all do.

I had a decent reading week, slowly working on the pile of books that I need to get through before the summer, when I turn solely to my Kindle. I did finish "The Heart Is Not a Size" by Beth Kephart on Sunday by the pool. What a sweet book! I read a biography on Jane Austen. My daughter and I also read "Beastly", a modern twist on the beauty and the beast plot, which is going to be a movie this summer. I'm now about 50 pages into "The Daughters of Witching Hill" which I have heard so much about lately. The prose is a little different but I'm getting used to it and finding the story very compelling.

I finished the audio book "Love Walked In", the prequel to "Belong To Me" by Marisa de los Santos. What a wonderful, charming book! There are two narrators in the story, and one of them initially irritated me because she sounded prissy, but I got over that quickly as the story unfurled. I couldn't stop listening. And now, there is nothing more I would rather do than listen to "Belong To Me" but instead I must listen to "The Life of Pi" for book club. I've read this book before, years ago and really liked it. But the audio isn't tripping my trigger much, and is making me antsy. It is not a real long audio, so I will grind through it, but I'm not happy about it. I've also been listening to "Garden Spells" by Sarah Addison Allen in the car without the kids. That narrator is a little strange, but I'm enjoying the story. I should be able to finish it this week I think. The kids and I are also making good progress on the 7th Harry Potter audio, and hope that we can finish before school is out.

So what is in store for this lovely Sunday? Church of course. Probably projects and studying with my son. Maybe a little reading by the pool if I'm lucky. What are your plans?



21 comments:

Harvee said...

I hope you get through the Life of Pi on audio. Some books are better read than listened to and vice versa. Have a great week!!
Harvee,
My Sunday Salon

Alice said...

I have both Love Walked In and Belong to Me, and I hope to read Garden Spells soon too. All these book have been "resting" in my TBR pile for the longest time. You have a great week ahead, Sandy!

rhapsodyinbooks said...

The dinner with limo sounds like fun! I think champagne is like margaritas - too easy to drink too much of!

ALS is a totally horrible disease. My husband's dad had it. The historian (and terrific author) Tony Judt has it now, and there are a lot of pictures of him about. It's just devastating to see what it has done to him!

Peppermint Ph.D. said...

I haven't tried books on tape yet...but I can definitely see where some books might be easier to get through on tape. Vacation travel time may be just the opportunty to give it a try :)

Andreea said...

Yes, as always, your week has been busy:) But I am glad that you managed to listen to some books. I read Garden Spells and The Girl Who Chased the Moon and loved them both.

Jackie (Farm Lane Books) said...

I can see why The Life of Pi might not work on audio - I hope it improves a bit. Reading by the pool sounds fantastic - I wish I could join you!

Frances said...

Always read these posts nodding my head "yes" and saying "been there" over and over to myself. Also understand just wishing for a little more sleep. And a to-do list that occasionally grew smaller or (miracle of miracles) disappeared. Happy reading!

bermudaonion said...

Oh, how I remember the end of the school year! To be honest, I'm glad that part of my life is over. Your dinner last night sounds like a lot of fun - you and your hubby must be ALL's biggest supporters. Have a great Sunday!

Trisha said...

Awwww, the first slow dance. That's so sweet! I don't have kids, so I don't know the feeling, but for some reason, I can totally imagine what it would be like to watch your daughter have her first slow dance. I'm probably more able to remember how it felt to have the first slow dance though. What a feeling! Okay, I'm like gushing on this, so I'll stop now.

I really enjoyed The Life of Pi, but I can see how a re-read, whether audio or not, could be an amazingly different experience due to things I can't say because of plot spoilers.

Iliana said...

You are one busy gal! Today my plans were to be all about organizing my studio but I went out and bought a bike so there goes half of the day! What fun though :)

Hope all goes well with your parents' house. I hate home repair stuff. It's just always expensive and time consuming.

Ana S. said...

I've heard wonders about Garden Spells - looking forward to your thoughts on that one! Also, I'm one of the few people who haven't read Pi, but I promised a group of fellow bloggers on Twitter that I would not too long ago.

Julie P. said...

I hope you enjoy DAUGHTERS OF THE WITCHING HILL as much as I did!

Jenners said...

Isn't Marisa de los Santos wonderful? I read "Belong to Me" first ... not realizing there was a book before it and just fell in love with it.

Melody said...

I have to read Belong to Me as it's been sitting on my pile like for ages! I'm glad you are enjoying Garden Spells. I loved that story. :)

Literary Feline said...

Your poor parents! I hope the repairs go smoothly, Sandy. What a mess!

I am sorry about the death of the woman at your children's school. A family friend died this past week of a brain tumor and the funeral was Friday. It's the third death in the last two months of people we know. It's been a rough season.

I need to go through my immediate TBR stack and prioritize. It's one of my favorite tasks because I love going through all the books, but one I put off because I know it will take awhile and it won't be easy.

I hope you have a great week, Sandy.

Sheila (Bookjourney) said...

Church was the morning start up for us as well - we had Teen Challenge there today which is always amazing - had lunch with our kinship partner and a bit of house cleaning and prep for leaving this next weekend.

Your dinner sounds fun!

Ti said...

We saw Iron Man 2 and then hit the zoo today. It was very nice, but the best part was the pizza dinner that included a really nice glass of wine. I talk about drinking a lot but I really do not drink. Funny I know, so when I had this one glass I got all loopy. I went to my room to read and fell asleep. Lightweight that I am.

Alyce said...

Wow, you had a really busy week! We've been listening to the Harry Potter books as a family and just started the fourth one today. It's such a blast watching my kids get to experience it all for the first time.

Anonymous said...

I never really got into audio books because I find most readings intrusive to the enjoyment of the book. I prefer to read at my own pace and to attribute a voice of my choice to the narrator.
Wishing you luck with your reading. Sounds like you have an interesting line up.

Zibilee said...

So sorry to hear about your parent's roof! I hope that it is an easy process getting it all fixed. Also, you amaze me with just how much you get done every week! My daughter got her ears pierced a few years ago, and we almost had to take them out because she wasn't keeping them clean enough. Now she wants piercings in the upper ear, but her father and I are refusing to commit to that right now!! It sounds as though you aren't having such a great time with Pi right now. That is one of the only books I did completely on audio, and I do agree with you that the narrator wasn't that great. I hope you have an awesome week and get in some serious reading time!

The Bumbles said...

Dude - how do you read 8 books in 1 week while chaperoning dances, helping with homework, coordination home repairs and socializing? Do you remember all of the plots down the road or do you need to refer back to your review posts? I have a hard enough time remembering the details about the paltry books I've read in the course of a year. I can't imagine juggling all of those reads at once. And are the audio or text reads easier to remember? I bet the audio ones are - I remember conversations better than something I've read.