Book 3 - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Proud Mama alert! My 10 year old will be playing the White Rabbit in his school production of "Alice in Wonderland". His school puts on pretty elaborate productions and we are both pretty excited about it. He originally got a smaller part then got bumped up when the girl slated to play Alice moved away. This is extra good news because I have been watching that girl play the lead for the past several years and she is pretty one-note so I am glad to see someone else get a chance to shine, and it benefited my son as well.

Anyhoo, this lead me to seek out the original version of this tale, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll, first published in 1865. We recently travelled to Big White ski resort and listened to this on audio book on the way home. I was nervous about the road conditions so I wanted a distraction. The roads ended up being not too bad, and the snow tires that I bought last season were a definite asset as well.

Book 2 - Water for Elephants

Growing up one of my most beloved movies was Toby Tyler (which I just noticed is based on a book written in 1880, sadly it's not available at my library). To me there is something romantic about an old timey circus, even though there is quite a bit that is also quite sad and violent and cruel about them as well. My Dad suggested that I watch the movie version of "Water for Elephants" and I was surprised that I did enjoy it, I normally avoid anything with anyone from the twilight movies in it. Then when I found out that it was a book first, I was excited to read it. I was pretty lucky to get the hold request very quickly from the library and I devoured this book in just over a day.

I wish that I had read Sara Gruen's book version before having seen the movie as the two are quite similar. Gruen has an amazing descriptive voice and I was transported to the world of a depression era circus train quite fully.

Book 1 - Postcards From the Edge

The copy of "Postcards From the Edge" (PCFTE to make my life easier) that I got from the library was a classic edition. There was even one of those card envelopes on the inside cover. Did we really just write our names on a card and take a book out, how technology changes us. I wish I had taken a picture, but c'est la vie. The picture above is the same design as the one that I got however.

I very much enjoyed "Wishful Drinking" it was my 2nd book in CBR3 and I just noticed in the comments of that review that I was going to read PCFTE  at that time but I guess I forgot about it. I was watching the HBO special for Wishful Drinking (which was pretty hilarious) and she mentioned PCFTE and so I requested it from the library and read it up quick.

2012 is the Year!!

I am very excited about the year to come. In 2011 I read 44 books, which was less than my goal but still a pretty amazing feat if I do say so myself. I am really happy to be a part of Cannonball read and I am very excited about CBR4! This will be the year I make it to 52 books (that is if the world doesn't end sometime before I can finish)

I have already read two books in 2012, and I have a bunch on my shelf that I am itching to read. I am on holidays with my son starting on Thursday, so hopefully I will squeeze some reading in there along with fun in the snow.

Now if only this little guy would give me some peace to read! He likes to chew on the corners while I'm trying to read.

Alli's CBR-III Review #44 - Fame

I was tricked into reading another short story collection because the title indicated that it was a novel in 9 episodes. However in this case I was pleased with the collection overall. A couple of the stories I skimmed through a bit but most were engaging and the writing was quite outstanding.

This collection was translated from German. I always wonder in these cases how difficult it must be to translate and not make the text too much of your own. Also how much of my enjoyment of the book came from Carol Brown Janeway's influence on the text.

Alli's CBR-III Review #43 - It Feels So Good When I Stop

Apparently Joe Pernice is some kind of musician, but I just happened upon his book in the highlighted section of my library and decided to check it out. There are a lot of musical references throughout the book so I should have clued in, but I didn't notice until about halfway through when I decided to read some of the author recommendations printed on the back of the book. I haven't heard any of Pernice's music that I know of, but after reading "It Feels So Good When I Stop", I am now of the opinion that he is also a respectable fiction writer.

Alli's CBR-III Review #42 - Stash

"Stash" by David Klein is a tale about a mother, Gwen Raine, who visits an old boyfriend to pick up a bag of weed and on the way home gets into a car accident and things just go downhill from there. The other driver is killed, but the accident is determined to be his fault. However, because the police find the drugs in her car, they threaten her with major charges and try to force her to turn in her source.