Sunday, November 1, 2015

Weekly Update: Hello, November!


Well, that was a week. First came the remnants of Patricia. Plenty of rain, but the real issue here was wind. And then Halloween - so much more fun this year with Twin A, her boyfriend, and Winston the guinea pig all here for a visit. We enjoyed wine tasting and lunch at a local winery, pumpkin carving, pie baking, and welcoming the trick-or-treaters... all two of them.

Today my family was here for a lasagna dinner, and soon we'll turn on the World Series. I sure hope the Mets can come up with a win. All in all, a very good weekend!

It was a good week in reading, too.

Finished this week//

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
This novel will be released in January. I loved it and will have more to say soon.



Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
We'll be discussing this at book club on Friday.  It started out strong, but won't end up on my list of favorites. I'll write a full post after the meeting.


Current reading//

The Last Chronicle of Barset by Anthony Trollope
It's good to be back in Barsetshire! This is a read/listen combination (again) for me and the final book in the series. I'll be sorry to see it end.


New books in the house//

Light Years by James Salter
An author I've been meaning to try for years, this sounds like my kind of story.


On the blog//

Weekend Cooking: Butternut Squash Quinoa Casserole
Celebrating 7 Years: I'll Keep Blogging
Pages From the Past: My 2002 Reading Journal
Book Review:  The Deep End  by Julie Mulhern

Around the blogosphere//

NonFiction November 
I love this event and can't wait for it all to get started tomorrow.
Click here for details. 



Emma by Jane Austen Readalong 
Can there be a better way to mark Emma's 200th anniversary? Coming in December, details are at Dolce Bellezza. You are welcome to join us:)


That's all from me... I think I have time for a chapter or two of Trollope before the game. How was your week? Did you read something good?


This post will link to It's Monday, What Are You Reading? hosted by Kathryn at Book Date.



49 comments:

  1. I loved My Name Is Lucy Barton telling everyone to grab it as soon as it's published,

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    1. Rhonda - That will definitely be my advice, too!

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  2. Winston is so cute! There's been so much drama in the college football world lately that I haven't even paid attention to the World Series.

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    1. Kathy - I always enjoy the energy of the World Series... this year has been no exception :)

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  3. Only 2 trick-or-treaters?! We had 120! It was a gorgeous evening and I actually expected more kids. Needless to say, hubby will have to take the leftover candy to work tomorrow.

    Anxious to hear more about the new Strout book!

    Go Royals! ��

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    1. Les - We don't really live in a trick-or-treat friendly area... about a mile outside the village, on a county highway, and house are pretty far apart. Little ones need to be driven here by their parents :(

      Strout is one of my favorite authors and she definitely did not disappoint.

      The Royals pulled it out last night. I was a Yankees fan growing up, then became a die-hard Mets fan in the 80s when we lived in Connecticut. When the twins were born in '93, I gave up on baseball - no time! In recent years, I've fallen back into my old Yankee habit, but still have a soft spot for the Mets.

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    2. We used to live out on an acreage and never got a single trick-or-treater. It's nice to be in a family neighborhood, although I think Halloween is not what it used to be. Lots of indoor activities for the littles. Guess that's good when you aren't able to predict the weather. They cancelled Halloween once several years ago. :(

      I used to be a big Texas Ranger fan, but haven't watched much baseball over the past few years. Just don't have the time to sit and relax for 3+ hours. I was happy for the Royals last night, only because we live close to K.C. I miss going to games...

      Not sure if you still have me in your feed, but I actually posted a blog post tonight! :)

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  4. I want to read My Name is Lucy Barton...and Light Years. Enjoy! Thanks for visiting my blog.

    I didn't have any Trick or Treaters...in fact, none have come in the eight years I've lived here...except my youngest grandson came one year. LOL

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    1. Laurel-Rain Snow - I'll definitely be giving Lucy Barton a glowing review and I have high hopes for Light Years. I was glad we had one group of trick-or-treaters... still have tons of leftover candy though :(

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  5. Laughed at your all two of those trick or treaters calling at your door! Love the carved pumpkin.
    Hate windy weather, it can do a lot of damage, well so can water, but wind - yuck.
    Enjoy your non fiction reading month!

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    1. Thanks, Kathryn. Nonfiction November is always fun :)

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  6. OMG cuteness overload, Winston looks adorable all dressed up. That's 2 more trick or treaters than we had lol ... but it's not big in Australia. My Name is Lucy Barton is now on my wishlist, glad to hear you loved it. Happy reading :)

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    1. Teddyree - Winston has a lot of personality for a guinea pig (I didn't even know they even had personalities!). Last year my daughter dressed him up as a pirate. Lucy Barton was excellent!

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  7. I am happy to see that you started The Last Chronicle of Barset. It was my second favorite after Barchester Towers.

    As it is the last, I felt very sad when I got to the end.

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    1. Brian Joseph - It is so good to be back in Barsetshire! I'm beginning to think of the characters as old friends... almost dreading the end of the series. I wonder if there is much character overlap with the Pallisers.

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  8. Winston is adorable!! I like his Halloween costume.

    ENJOY your reading week. Out Stealing Horses looks good.

    Elizabeth
    Silver's Reviews
    My It's Monday, What Are You Reading

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    1. Elizabeth - Last year my daughter dressed Winston up as a pirate... that was hilarious!

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  9. Sorry Out Stealing Horses didn't finish strong for you. :( Fun to reread Emma -- if I have time, I might join in.

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    1. Beth F - I did like the writing style and would read another book by the author... just got a little tired of it by the end.

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  10. Sounds like a fun Halloween! Winston wins the prize for costume. OK, isn't it funny that you guys were impacted by Patricia and so were we? Parts of our area had 14 inches of rain - on Friday alone. Our airport about floated away.

    Good luck with your nonfiction reads and your finishing of your Trollope series. I'm going to participate in the Emma read. It's been a long time since I read that book. Hope I don't stall out on it, but probably not. I can always switch to audio and may do it that way anyway.

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    1. Kay - We didn't get anywhere near that amount of rain, but lots of school events were cancelled due to wind and power outages... thought we were going to blow away!

      Glad you'll be reading Emma, too! It's the only Austen novel I have not read... been saving it for years so I'll always have one more to discover, That seems a little silly to me now ;-)

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  11. I could comment on almost every book on your blog. Like each one.

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    1. Thanks, Tea. I've had a streak of good reading lately.

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  12. So nice to have family in town. Sounds like a nice end to the month/start of the new one.

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    1. Emma - November has definitely started strong. I love Thanksgiving and am already looking forward to it!

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  13. Your weekend sounds lovely! Minus the Patricia fallout. :)

    I love wine tastings ~ my husband and I need some adult time soon, and a wine tasting sounds like a great idea!

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    1. Erin - Except for that wind, everything was just about perfect! Wine tastings are so much fun... we're lucky to live in an area with vineyards nearby.

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  14. Hmm...I wonder if I should request My Name is Lucy Barton. I really enjoyed The Burgess Boys.
    And - I need to read some James Salter!

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    1. Sarah - If it'a any help, Lucy Barton is very short... just over 200 pages, so it won't take long to read. Hoping to get to Salter before the year is over.

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  15. That dressed up guinea pig is a riot. What a cute costume for that one. Solid reading here.

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    1. Stefanie - My daughter just loves that little guy... he is one pampered piggie!

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  16. OMG...that little Guinea Pig is adorable! We bought the giant bag of candy from Costco and had Our doorbell ring four times but they were big groups!

    Thank goodness! Your weekend sounded lovely...

    We got some of that wind and it was awful. Light Years looks very interesting!

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    1. Patty - I actually had Halloween candy for breakfast this morning - yikes! The rest of it went to work with my husband... the temptation was just too great ;-)

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  17. I loved Olive Kitteridge! Looking forward to the new one!

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    1. Amy - Me, too! Olive Kitteridge is an all-time favorite.

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  18. When I went to bed last night, the Mets were ahead. I woke up this morning to hear that KC had won. I wonder how that happened! We had gorgeous weather for Halloween; I had over 30 kids compared to last year's one. Here is a summary of my week. Happy reading!

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    1. Kathy - I went to sleep with the Mets winning, too... woke up to a surprise.

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  19. I'm glad you're safe and sound after Patricia. It was so rainy here on Halloween (and still is) that it made the night even more gloomy and spooky. Of course, it was cold and rainy last Halloween and then we were covered in snow. My fingers are crossed for the same this year. ;) WHERE did you ever find such an adorable guinea pig costume?! I love it!!!

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    1. Kathy - My daughter bought the guinea pig costumes. She ordered them online, but I'm not sure where. PetCo may have had some in the store.

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  20. We had twice as many trick-or-treaters as you! Oh, for the good old days when our dead-end street was filled with kids! Now, they're all in college or beyond.

    Elizabeth Strout is becoming a favorite writer--glad to hear her latest is a winner.

    Emma is on my list for January--I usually do an Austen then but the group read sounds like fun. Tempted!

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    1. JaneGS - Our trick-or-treaters have mostly grown up and moved away now. We're lucky to still have a few kids in the neighborhood.

      I've loved all of Elizabeth Strout's novels (haven't read Abide with Me yet) and she is delightful in person, too. Her lecture was one of the best I've attended.

      Hope we can tempt you to read Emma a little earlier than planned. I need to finish The Last Chronicle of Barset before I get started.

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  21. I loved the Salter when I read it for a book club years ago. His writing is so beautiful!

    Super excited about Emma together!

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    1. Bellezza - I've seen such praise for Salter's writing. Can't wait to discover him for myself! I'm join to try really hard to finish The Last Chronicle of Barset this month so I can start Emma on time.

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  22. We had four trick-or-treaters and I was picking up dinner when two of them came by. Oops. I didn't realize Elizabeth Strout has a new book coming out. I still need to read The Burgess Boys, which has been languishing on my shelf for far too long. Enjoy your week!

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    1. Introverted Jen - I loved The Burgess Boys and Elizabeth Strout is a favorite author, Hope you decide to read it soon :)

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  23. Winston looks oh so adorable!! Love his costume. Your week sounds great - we had 150+ trick o treaters, so our door stayed open for the better part of Halloween evening. I have couple of Elizabeth Strout's books in my list that I need to get to soon. Waiting to hear your thoughts on her latest.

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    1. Athira - If Olive Kitteridge is one of the Elizabeth Strout novels on your shelves, I'd say to start there!

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  24. Oh no, did Out Stealing Horses peter out towards the end? What happened? Should I read it or pass on it? I have never tried James Salter either, which I should rectify too

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    1. Thecuecard - I'm not sure whether my mood changed or I just took too long to read the book, but I was ready for it to be over. Maybe it would have been better if I'd read it in a couple of sittings rather than spread it out over whole week. At any rate, I would still be willing to read another book by this author. Will be curious to hear how the rest of the book club reacted...our meeting is tomorrow.

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