Sunday, April 5, 2015

Weekly Update 4/5/15: A Double Celebration


Today we are celebrating two big events, Easter and our twins' birthday. Unfortunately, we will not see Twin A today, but Twin B is with us in Florida... and it's been another beautiful week. After seeing photos of yesterday's Easter Egg hunt at home, I am in no hurry to head north. Children bundled in parkas and carrying brightly-colored baskets ignored the weather as they scrambled over snowbanks in search of treasure. The eggs were especially easy to spot in a field of snow!

Our highlights of the past week include a trip to The Everglades, a Garden Tour at Edison & Ford Winter Estates in Ft. Myers, and an extra-long beach walk to explore a part of the island I hadn't seen before. There wasn't an awful lot of reading though and I didn't finish any books.

Current reading//


by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore

Current listening//


by Eula Biss

New books//
The Gathering by Anne Enright ($1.99 ebook deal)
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande (from the library)

On the blog//
Tuesday Intro: On Immunity  by Eula Biss
Review: An Unnecessary Woman  by Rabih Alameddine

Watching//
The local library had The Barchester Chronicles (1982) available on DVD and I've watched the first two episodes, which correspond to The Warden.  It is comically over-acted, but I'm enjoying it very much.

Wolf Hall, based on the novel by Hilary Mantel, premiers tonight on PBS. It runs for six weeks, but I just noticed that it doesn't start until 10 PM. A little late for me... I may have to watch in online during the week instead!

Bookish news//


Have you heard about The Classics Salon? It's a new weekly feature at Mangoes and Cherry Blossoms. The salon is a place to "discuss or blog about the current classic we are reading. If you aren’t reading a classic at the moment but would still like to participate, please do share your thoughts on the last classic you read. There are about eight to twelve questions that will be rotated through the weeks to answer."

The Question for Week 1:
What are your first impressions of the current classic you are reading?

Questions are posted on Fridays. I'm not sure how I will participate yet. If questions are listed somewhere in advance, then Fridays will work. Otherwise, I may answer the discussion prompt sometime the following week.


Happy Easter! Are you reading anything good today?


This post will link to It's Monday, What are You Reading?  hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.


39 comments:

  1. Happy Easter to you and yours. Glad you got a chance to visit Edison's estate, a very interesting property. Enjoy your time in the sun!

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    1. Kaye - Hope you had a Happy Easter, too. I don't know much about the plants and trees down here, so learned a lot at Edison Ford. Such a beautiful property!

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  2. Happy Easter, JoAnn! It's actually almost kind of feeling like spring here, maybe! Off to Easter dinner later but a little Barchester Towers this morning to start the day.

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    1. Audrey - Glad it's finally feeling like spring! The photos from the Easter egg hunt at home were laughable. At least there are warmer temps on the horizon... we'll head north soon. I'm still basking in the BT glow. Such a wonderful book!

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  3. Happy Easter and Happy Birthday to your twins. I'm sorry to say your description of the Easter Egg Hunt up north sounds kind of comical. I'm just getting ready to read Gray Mountain by John Grisham. Will be picking the book up from the library tomorrow. Have a great week.

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    1. Pat - The photos of the egg hunt had me laughing, too... since I am at a safe distance ;-) Hope you enjoy Gray Mountain.

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  4. Hunting eggs in the snow doesn't sound like fun to me either.

    Happy Easter to you and your family. Happy Birthday to your twins - I know you miss having Twin A with you.

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    1. Kathy - Those upstate NY kids are a hardy lot ;-)

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  5. Would love to be enjoying the beaches of Sanibel and Captiva today. Sounds divine. Just finished flying through all three of the Neopolitan trilogy by Elena Ferrante which begins with My Brilliant Friend. Will be eagerly awaiting the finale this fall which will turn this trilogy into a quartet of brilliant writing. Have now picked up an oldie I read about on someone's blog, simply because of the mention of Paris .... Birds of America by Mary McCarthy. Came out in the 70's. After two recent trips to Paris, I've definitely fallen in love. Hope you have a very enjoyable Easter Day on Sanibel.

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    1. JudyMac - I just looked up Birds of America and it sounds very good. Hope you will let me know what you think. I loved McCarthy's The Group. Have you read it?

      I downloaded a sample of The Story of a New Name to my kindle, but just started Being Mortal. Will get back to Ferrante next. Hope you have a great week!

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  6. Happy Easter and happy birthday to the twins! It sounds like you're having a much better Easter than those up north. Snow on Easter is just wrong! Sounds like you had a nice week even without getting much reading done. I haven't heard of Wolf Hall but I'm intrigued. I'll have to record it tonight. Have a great week!

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    1. Katherine - One year we had 2 or 3 inches of snow on Mother's Day - truly awful! I didn't stay up for Wolf Hall, so will watch the first episode online this week.

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  7. Happy Easter! Enjoy your time in sunnier climes....and have great reading moments, too. I am reading Blueprints today, which I am loving. I see your very tempting Bittersweet, and know I must add it to my stacks.

    Here are MY WEEKLY UPDATES

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    1. Oh, and happy birthday to the twins!

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    2. Laurel-Rain Snow - Bittersweet was a very good "beach read", but I wouldn't consider it a "must read". Hope you're having a good week.

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  8. Adding my wishes for a very happy Easter! I bought some books for my basket yesterday, to go with the chocolate :)

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    1. Lisa - Books and chocolate... a perfect combination!

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  9. Happy Easter and Happy birthday to the twins!! Definitely hang out in Florida until the cold weather in the north passes. Not fun! Hope you have a good reading week ahead, and if not, a good week with family.

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    1. Athira - We'll probably stay here another week or so... then it will be "safe" to head home ;-)

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  10. Happy Easter to you and your family!

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  11. Happy Easter, enjoy the beach and warm weather and if you get to read, good for you! Happy Birthday to your twins also.

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    1. Rita - Thank you! I actually finished a book last night and started the nonfiction title, Being Mortal. It's a sobering book, but a necessary one.

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  12. I want to watch The Barchester Chronicles!

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    1. Melissa - You would love it, especially with the novels fresh in your mind!

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  13. I love the cover of Bittersweet!

    I hope you enjoyed Easter and the birthday celebrations!

    Deb

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    1. Deb - It was an enjoyable vacation-type read. We had such a nice Easter and birthday party. Hope you're having a good week,too.

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  14. Belated happy Easter. Sounds like you are having a great time in Florida. Bittersweet sounds like a good book.

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    1. Emma - Thank you. Bitersweet ended up being a fun vacation read.

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  15. It sounds like you had a lovely Easter, JoAnn. I'm with you. Hunting for Easter eggs in snow drifts does not sound like fun. Much better to search for them in sand dunes, don't you think? ;)

    We had a glorious day yesterday with lots of sunshine and warmish temps. We even got out on our bikes for the first time this year! After a nice ride, we came home, collapsed on the porch and enjoyed a cold beer and snacks before our dinner of ham and homemade mac & cheese. I love springtime!

    Not much reading this weekend, as I'm trying to get caught up on emails and blog-hopping.

    Have a great week!

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    1. Les - Your Easter sounds wonderful... especially the bid ride and cold beer on the porch part! We don't have as many plans this week, so I should get some reading time in. The photos from the egg hunt had me laughing... all too familiar. An egg hunt in the dunes is definitely preferable!

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  16. How's On Immunity so far? I've been meaning to get to it. One day. . .I love the picture you posted. It makes me want to go to the beach now. :-) Have a good week.

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    1. Vasilly - On Immunity is very good so far. She's presented an interesting overview on the evolution of public health and the concept of immunity. Haven't had as much listening time down here, so it's taking me much longer to get through books. This one is relatively short though.

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  17. Happy Birthday to the twins! Glad you enjoyed a warm Easter.

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    1. Nise' - Thanks! A warm, sunny Easter is definitely a treat. Hope you had a wonderful day, too.

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  18. Alas, Florida is hard to beat after a long winter. We've been to Naples every few years, and it's wonderful. Enjoy. http://www.thecuecard.com

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    1. Thecuecard - We were in Naples earlier this week - so beautiful! The has been a long, hard winter at home home and I'm very happy we were able to spend so much of it SW Florida.

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  19. Did you get a chance to catch "Wolf Hall?" It's quite good; really impressed with Mark Rylant as Cromwell. With Selfridge leading into it, though, my Sunday evenings are shot! Easter in snowbanks? We've been known to have late snows but I don't ever recall there actually being snow on the ground at Easter. No fun!

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    1. Lisa - I haven't had a chance to watch Wolf Hall yet. Not sure about tonight's episode either, so will probably binge watch and catch up when we got home.

      We've had more snowy Easters than I care to count... and, unfortunately, even one Mother's Day!

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