Goodbye, 2009

This has been a pretty great year for us, with a lot of fun trips, a cross-country move, the sale of our house, graduation, and the beginning of new jobs.

As far as reading goes, I'd categorize this as the year of Sarah Dessen, the year of non-fiction, and the year of the Newbery.

I looked through all the books I read this year to pick out my favorites and I realized that I marked 68 as four or five stars. There were really so many great books - a terrific year!

My favorite 10 books of the year, more or less in order:

1) These Is My Words by Nancy E. Turner
2) The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
3) If I Stay by Gayle Foreman
4) Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
5) Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
6) Fire by Kristin Cashore 
7) Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
8) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
9) Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larsen
10) The Luxe by Anna Godberson

Watch for my 2010 goals in the next few days - I've been working hard on them!

Now we're off to have a nice family dinner and then to see Sherlock Holmes, which, you know, is clearly the perfect way to end the year.

A Day in the Reading Life

I mentioned on Facebook this morning that I've read 199 books this year, and I'm hoping to finish one more to set me at 200. Mary asked how I possibly fit that many books into my regular life; if I had super magical reading powers, or if I'm just a super fast reader.

I do think I'm a pretty fast reader. I remember at about 10 reading a novel on the couch and my mom reading over my shoulder and her later commenting that I was turning the pages before she finished. I definitely read faster than Bart, who won't let me read over his shoulder because it makes him nervous. I just now took a reading speed test online (who knows how accurate or correct it is), and it said I read about 522 words a minute (with sufficient comprehension) while the average reader does more like 200 words a minute.

Here is basically how I get so much reading done:

I listen to books on CD in the car. I listened to 46 books on CD this year (some I started in book form and finished on audio or switched back and forth between the two). I commute about 40 minutes each way to work, so I can get through more than a CD a day (since each CD is about 60-70 minutes long) and it's amazing how much time you spend just running errands.

I listen to books on my iPod. I'll download the CDs from the library to iTunes, upload them to my iPod and listen to them while I'm at the gym or cooking or folding laundry. I don't do as much of this as I could because it can be a bit of effort to actually get them onto the iPod. I'll try and be better about this next year.

I read during my lunch break. This was when I really started reading again in 2007. I had a 30 minute lunch break every day and I read almost every day straight through it (except for the days when I took a nap. Oh glorious sleep on the corner of the conference room floor). Now I have an hour lunch break and I try to read for most of it. You can really make some progress with just that much time a day.

What really puts my numbers high, though, I think, is when I have a weekend or day of concentrated reading. When we had the snow day a week or  so ago, I read four books in about 24 hours. When I went to Utah for my Dad's birthday in October, I read five books on the airplane. One Saturday this spring, I finished five books in one day.

I also keep a LOT of books around from the library so that I have plenty to choose from. Sometimes, if there is only one book there and it's not one you're interested in, you'll just not read. I want to always have something that piques my interest. If I have five books going at one time, that doesn't bother me at all. If I'm really enjoying something, it's much easier to make time to read it, than if it's something you're slogging through.

Any other great ideas of how to fit reading in?

The Everafter by Amy Huntley

8 of 10: The Everafter is just the kind of teen book I like. A quick read, a sweet romance, a little mystery, and a strong premise. Perfect for a snow day.

The Morris Award short list came out a few weeks ago - five young adult books by first-time authors. Last year, I read all five and thought several of them were quite terrific. I had planned on attempting to read all five again this year before the winner was announced in January, but then the list came out and frankly, none of them seemed that appealing to me.

Then Kimberly posted a little blurb about each one and the premise of The Everafter (a book I had heard nothing about) grabbed me enough that I put in a request for it at the library that same day. 

The basic premise is that Maddy, age seventeen, finds herself dead, in a place with objects that she lost during her life (toys, hair clips, homework, etc). By touching them, she can return to the moments in her life when those items were lost.

Maddy becomes a bit obsessed with figuring out how she died, revisiting scenes of her life over and over. She even discovers how to make small changes in the moments she visits, but if she alters it so that her former self finds what was lost, the object is gone from the Everafter and she can no longer visit that moment, so she has to be careful.

The order of the memories, of course, is not in chronological order. She jumps around between infancy and toddlerhood, to a childhood trip to Disneyland and the time her best friend broke her arm when they both fell out of a tree, to her high school years, many of them revolving around her boyfriend, Gabe.

I didn't guess how Maddy died until just a few pages before it's revealed (if Bart had been reading this book, I'm sure he would have surmised from the first few chapters, but I'm a lousy guesser and I usually don't even consciously try and figure it out).

This book reminded me quite a lot of Elsewhere,  which I read and reviewed a few years ago, but without an ending that completely disappointed me. The various fantasies about what might happen after death are so intriguing for me to read. 

This isn't the best book you'll ever read, but it's a fun and quick read - I flew through it in a few hours, enjoying every second of it. Maybe I'll give another of those Morris books a chance after all.

Snow Day(s)

Yesterday, I woke up, rolled out of bed, and checked my email. There was an email from our church alerting us that, due to the crazy snow storm that had rolled in overnight, church would be canceled. Here it was, seven thirty in the morning, and we suddenly had absolutely zero obligations or places to be.

I never got dressed yesterday; I spent the entire day in my pajamas, and it was delightful. I made blueberry muffins and put stew in the crockpot. I finished three books.

Then, in the early evening, I went into the bedroom and saw the red light on my cell phone flashing that I had missed a call and received a voicemail. I listened to the voice on the message identify itself as the assistant superintendent for my school district and announce that, due to the snow, school on Monday was canceled. "Repeat, school on Monday, December 21st has been canceled."

Since I went to school in Las Vegas where snow basically never happens (except last year when it delayed our trip to Vegas by a day), this is my very first snow day ever. If that's not a lovely way to kick off the week of Christmas, well, I don't know what is.

Today, I may muster my strength and scrape off the car so I can go return my Redbox movie and check out "Julie & Julia." I also am dangerously close to being out of Honey Nut Cheerios, so you can see why I need to leave the house. I also have library books that are due.

Poor Bart waited in vain for a similar snow day call from his office. Alas, he was forced to brave the snow and walk to the T stop.

The Night Before

For the last ten or fifteen years, my favorite part of Christmas has been our family's Christmas Eve meal.

We call it our "Shepherds' Meal" and we have a very simple dinner - soup in bread bowls and sparkling cider (the only occasion in my life that there is actually enough sparkling cider to drink as much as you want). We sit on the floor near the fireplace. We wear various costumes, mainly of the bathrobe and towel variety, although my Aunt Miriam really helped us step it up a few years ago with a large box of Biblical costumes.

Afterward, we recite the Christmas story from Luke (years ago, my parents assigned each of us a verse or two and we memorized them. Even now, only doing it once a year, we can recite our parts without mistakes on that evening).

This has been a terrific part of our Christmas celebrations for all these years. It is a low-stress, low-preparation meal, it's quiet and low-key at the end of the day, and it focuses on the birth of the Savior, and away from the frenzy of gift anticipation and Santa and the other fun, but ultimately non-central parts of Christmas, which sometimes can become just overwhelming, especially for kids, on Christmas Eve. 

It's a tradition that I love, and one that Bart and I plan to carry on with our own children someday. 

Things I've Been Doing Instead of Blogging

• Dealing with my fourth (or possibly fifth) cold of the school year. Delightful.
• Watching Little Dorrit (Ralphie would be proud) (what would winter be without these kinds of movies?)
• Losing my mind with joy at the Scholastic warehouse sale. 30 books for $160, mostly hardbound (these were, of course, all for the school library, not for my home library).
• Putting up the Christmas tree (bless Bart for suggesting we do it).
• Christmas cards (our first year doing them! Kind of exciting, actually).
• Making a valient effort to plow through my library books and return them.
• Ordering Christmas presents (this is the first year I am really, truly ready for Christmas well in advance).
• Listening to Christmas music (we've fallen in love with Celtic Woman): 

Home Again, Home Again

Bart has been in Florida for the last two weeks, finally returning home to me on Friday evening. Here are some signs that he's home:

• my cell phone doesn't need to be charged daily
• the dishes magically do themselves
• I eat something besides cereal for dinner
• My voice isn't thick from lack of use all afternoon and evening once I get home from school
• The laundry is done!
  
• I don't have to convince myself that there are no monsters in the apartment when I'm falling asleep
• I have to share the bathroom sink when I get ready in the morning
• Lunches get magically made and are ready when I leave for work
• When I watch movies on the couch, someone rubs my feet

Who wouldn't be glad he's home?

Christmas

Just over ten years ago, the week of Thanksgiving 1999, my family found out that my youngest brother, Shepard, had a brain tumor. He spent the weekend in the hospital, until the doctors determined that he would need brain surgery.

The doctor recommend that my parents take Shepard to San Francisco for brain surgery. "If it was my child," he told them, "I wouldn't send him to anyone in Las Vegas." (This has become something of a running joke in my family, as we have now heard this from friends and neighbors about nearly every possible health issue you can have - one wonders if there really could be no competent doctors in the Las Vegas area).

My mom, Shepard, and Grannie spent about a week in San Francisco (my dad was there for the actual surgery, then returned home to be with us and to work), while we waited for the news about whether the tumor was benign or malignant, if the surgery would get it all, if chemo would be necessary.

The night my mom and Shepard flew home, we all went to the airport to greet them. This was still nearly two years before 9/11, of course, so you could go up to the actual gate. I think we all felt a little nervous - Shepard had a large horseshoe shaped scar on the back of his head with huge black stitches (they actually used a blanket stitch - they could not have been more conspicuous if they tried), and we knew his head had been shaved for surgery, but when he was actually there, his normal fiery sweet self, we were all so relieved to see him that we all squeezed in to hug and kiss him.

My mom told us about a kind gentleman on her flight who offered her his first class tickets (like I said, there was no way NOT to notice Shepard's scar), but my mom insisted they were fine and that the flight was very short anyway. A few minutes later, the man came back, saying he'd been to the ticket desk and upgraded her tickets and that this was something he and his wife really wanted to do, and merry Christmas. The kindness of strangers, indeed.

Since my dad's return a few days earlier, we had worked feverishly to get all the Christmas decorations up and the lights on the house hung so that it would look festive and welcoming for Mom and Shepard's return. When we pulled up the house, my mom commented on the lights, of course, but Shepard, in the back seat, didn't see them. Then, as we all tumbled out of the car, and he was removed from his seat, he looked up at the house, lit up in the dark with hundreds of tiny lights, and whispered, "Home." We all got a little teary.

That was a Christmas to remember - such a combination of heart wrenching gratitude and family love, but also tinged with fear and nervous anticipation for what might lay ahead, as we all knew chemotherapy was fast approaching in January.

It was also the last Christmas. Shepard died 26 days before Christmas in 2000. His presents were already wrapped under the tree - presents we've never unwrapped and that we put back under the tree year after year.

It's not a Christmas you'd ask for, but it's one I'm grateful for anyway. Grateful to be reminded that family is really the most important thing, grateful to know that people, strangers, can be kinder and more generous than you might ever be, grateful that even difficult times can be full of joy and sweet moments.

The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale

8 of 10: The Actor and the Housewife was not at all what I was expecting, but I loved every page of it. I had absolutely no idea where it was going to go and that is a fun way to read a book. 

You may remember that Shannon Hale wrote her first adult novel, Austenland, a couple of years ago. I read about 20 pages, put it down, and never picked it up again. So I can't compare this one to it in any way.


The basic premise of the story is that Becky, average Mormon stay-at-home mother of three and hugely pregnant with #4, sells a screenplay. She finds herself in LA, meeting about a contract. While in the meeting, who should march in, but Felix Callahan, one of the biggest movie star heart throbs alive, and a personal favorite of Becky's.

It turns out they are staying in the same hotel and he gives her a ride back in his limo. Later, when she's going to eat dinner in the restaurant in the hotel, the waiter will only seat her at the (smoking) bar since she's alone and it's hotel policy. Felix is there and takes pity on her, asking the waiter to seat them together. During dinner, he looks over her contract and makes some fairly major suggestions about things to change.

And then she goes back to Utah, to her beloved husband and rowdy children and assumes she'll never see him again.

Except that a few months later, he calls her and says that he and his French supermodel wife are going to be in Utah to ski and could they all four get together?

And, against all odds, they become friends. And not just friends, but CLOSE friends. There doesn't seem to be any romantic feelings on either side, but it's enough to make Becky's family a little suspicious (her husband thinks the whole thing is pretty odd, but doesn't have a real problem with it).

This book doesn't fit easily into a genre - it's hilarious and sad, it's romantic and realistic and unrealistic and so many other things at the same time. I can't think of any box this neatly fits into.

If you've read any Emily Griffin books, this book had the same "I have no idea where this story is going, but I trust the author to make it work" feeling her books have (except, you know, a lot cleaner). 

It's fairly long book - it took me a three hour plane flight and several more hours in the hotel in Florida to finish it - and it spans some 12 years or more. The pacing, though, never felt slow, and I enjoyed it all.

I wondered how it would work with the main character being Mormon and it being a pretty major part of her life (and the story). I need someone who isn't Mormon to read this and tell me what they think, since I'm, of course, familiar with all the things that were mentioned in connection to her religion in the story.


This book just completely hooked me - I loved all the characters, I loved watching the plot unfold, and I had no idea, up the last page, how things were going to end up. Delightful.

I am wildly impressed with Shannon Hale's ability to write in such diverse genres. She is a master.

Whoops

Sometimes, in the craziness of a school day and the inability of many children to enunciate with any degree of accuracy, I find myself answering the wrong questions.

Today, I had half a dozen little boys asking me for World Record books (of course they were all checked out because, hi, those are my highest circulating materials (much to my dismay)).

A few minutes later, one of the boys got into a little argument with a girl from the class and I came over to settle things.

The little girl said loudly, "He says World Records are real!"

I instantly and emphatically said, "They are real." (I thought to myself, kids are so weird).

The little boy looked triumphant and said, "I TOLD you werewolves were real."

Oh. Um, sorry.

Palm Beach

On Friday, I left straight from work and drove to the airport, where I boarded a plane and arrived, some six hours later, in Florida. Bart was waiting for me in the ugliest car known to mankind (otherwise known as the HHR).

Saturday was one of those perfect, perfect days. The weather was warm (even if it did rain a bit in the afternoon), we got up after 8 hours of sleep, went to the gym, and then out to breakfast/lunch. Sometimes there is nothing better than some diner food. Hello, blueberry pancakes and hash browns.

Afterward, we wandered down to City Place and walked through many of the stores and spent some time browsing at Barnes and Noble (is there anything I love as much as a bookstore?), before hitting a matinee of New Moon (I couldn't stop giggling over Jacob's horrendous wig, and Bart nearly died of laughter when Jacob suddenly went out of control and began threatening Mike. Also, Bart confirmed that Mike had aged poorly in the year since the last movie).

We went back to the hotel where Bart did some laundry, and I read for a while (The Actor and the Housewife, which was delightful and for which a review will be coming shortly). Then we walked back to City Place, had a lovely dinner at Cheesecake Factory and came back to the hotel to watch the UT football game.

I fell asleep during the game and only got up for about five minutes to brush my teeth and put on pajamas before going back to sleep, which meant I clocked nearly 12 hours of sleep that night. THAT is my kind of vacation.

Saturday morning, we slept in, went to church, and then I caught a flight back to Boston. Where it had snowed.

I kept saying to Bart, "This is the kind of thing people who have kids talk about not being able to do anymore." And it was grand.

What I'm Reading: Round 6

The mega-bucks winner this time around is Emily with Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson. I've been meaning to read this for a while, so I'm happy this one won (not that I didn't want YOURS to win too, of course).

The other suggestions:

• The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Tina and Kathleen)
• Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner (Zillah)
• Stay! Keeper's Story by Lois Lowry (Miss Short Skirt)
• A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel (Definitely RA)
• The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers by Harry Bernstein (Lexiloo)
• We Are All the Same by Jim Wooten (Melinda)
• The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (Stacy)
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith (Smalldog)
• Housekeeping by Marilyn Robinson (Carly Jane)
• All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot (Merry)
• Forest Born by Shannon Hale (Norby Family)
• The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett (Kelly J)
• Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin (Sherry)
• The Winter Prince by Elizabeth Wein (Crafty Ashley)
• The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (Jenny)
• What Dreams May Come by Richard Matheson (Kayla)
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Ang)
• Amy's Eyes by Richard Kennedy (Janelle)
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson (Shelly)
• Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton (Melanie)
• Someday Angeline by Louis Sachar (Elisa)
• Charlotte's Rose by A.E. Cannon (Heather)
• The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (Miri)
• Gone in a Heartbeat: Our Daughters Died . . . Our Faith Endures by David and Marie Works (Emily Anne)
• Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Murrillier (Angiegirl)
• Tangerine by Edward Bloor (Katie)
• The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey (Mom)
• The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo (Leslie)
• Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson (Saskia Tielens)
• The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey (Megan)
• Impossible Things by Connie Willis (Yankee Girl)
• The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein (Julia)
• The Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Cormier (Angela Noelle)

Another pitiful month for me as far as number of the suggestions read:

• Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin (currently reading)
• Tangerine by Edward Bloor
• The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

But, you know, better than last month, and if there is anything to warm my heart, it's surpassing my own sad little standards.

East by Edith Pattou

8 of 10: East is a solidly good book, although maybe a smidge too long.  

East is a retelling of the fairy tale East of the Sun and West of the Moon (if you aren't familiar with it, don't worry, neither was I. If you are, congratulations, you are far smarter than I am). Looking at the Wikipedia entry on it, I can see some of the differences between East and the original (oh yeah, I went to grad school where we talked non-stop about judging the quality of websites, and I still turn to Wikipedia first thing. Raise those eyebrows as high as you can). Also, it simplified my life to think of it as a Beauty and the Beast spin-off. Because, of course, I can't be thinking too hard or anything.

The story is this: Rose is the eighth child of a farming family. Her older sister gets sick and looks to be on her way out of this life, when a giant white talking bear (go with it) shows up and says, "If you'll give me Rose, Sara will live and, oh yeah, your life of penury will be over and you will all be rich and happy."

The mother, who is incredibly superstitious, thinks Rose should go. But the father and her brother, Neddy, are absolutely against it (well, hello! who wouldn't be?). Rose, though, has a serious streak of adventure in her and when the bear shows up to get their answer, she grabs a hidden knapsack and takes off with him.

He takes her off to his mountain castle where he appears to live alone with only 2 servants. And he doesn't talk much, as it's pretty hard for him. But he likes her to talk to him, read to him, or he'll just sit and watch her weave.

Also, at night, someone is coming and getting in bed with her, but the lights are all magically extinguished and can't be turned back on, so she doesn't know who it is.

She goes home for a visit at one point and while she's there, her mother gives her a magic candle that will light any darkness. When Rose returns to the castle, she can't quite quench her overwhelming curiosity about WHO is in her bed, so she lights the candle. And . . .it's a handsome guy. Who wakes up, tells her she's ruined everything, since he only needed a girl to stay with him for one year without seeing his human face and he'd turn into a human again (oh, he's the white bear; in case you missed that part).

And then the troll queen shows up, whisks him away and she needs to hunt him down, declare her love for him, and save him from the queen.

I'll say again, I think this book dragged on a bit too long, but it was pretty engrossing. It's told from the perspective of five different characters, which sometime is a bit much to keep switching between, but everything was well-labeled, so I can't complain all that much (who am I kidding? I could complain a lot about it, but I won't).

Also, I never felt like the romance between Rose and the White Bear was that well-developed. And, well, you know I like a well-developed romance.You know, something really fine and deep, like Twilight (haha! ha!).

This is one of those books that I have more complaints about after I finished it than I did while reading it. Really, it was a lovely read.

Holiday Savings

So maybe I've mentioned once or twice how I love saving money. Or not spending it. Or earning it. Or looking at it.

You know how sometimes you get emails that are all "Save 50% off at Old Navy!" and then there are only about three things that are really on 50% off and they're all DOG collars and SWEATERS for dogs? And you still have to pay shipping. And tax. And basically you saved no money at all and now have a polka-dotted sweater for your dog, which means I'll be forced to mock you inwardly.

This is not like that.

Kristi was the good soul to tell me about Ebates. I don't do a lot of online shopping, and I've still made some $100 on this in the last 18 months (and if I was more diligent about looking up what stores were on there, it would have been a lot more (PRICELINE, HOW DID I NOT KNOW YOU WERE ON THERE?!)).

Basically it works like this:

1) Go to Ebates.
2) Sign up for an account (if you really like me, you can put my ebates email address in the "Referring Member" section and we'll both get a $5 bonus or perhaps a choice of various $10 giftcards. . . it varies. My email address for ebates is jcgates at gmail dot com).
3) Find the store you plan to shop at (there are THOUSANDS of stores; Amazon is one of the few that isn't on there).
4) Click through to the store from Ebates - it will look just like the normal website (mainly because it is).
5) Place your order just as you normally would. Ebates will credit you the correct percentage for your purchase total (it may take a few days to show up on Ebates and if it's through something like Expedia, it won't show up until you actually take the trip).
6) Every three months, Ebates sends you a check. Of real money.

Seriously. Money for the purchases you were already planning on making. It's like . . . well, it's really just like free money.

I bought some things from Barnes and Noble the other night. Eight percent of my purchase back to me. Our Christmas cards? Sixteen percent back. Crate and Barrel? 4.5% back.

And then they send these awesome emails like, "Hey don't forget to use us this year for Christmas. Any order you make, we'll give you an extra $5 back." Last year, when I bought books from the nieces and nephews, they gave me $10 for making any purchase, plus 6% back, and there were coupon codes galore and free shipping, so my total cost for the 5 books I ordered ended up being something like. . .  $9. I love looking like a good aunt without spending a fortune. Or even $10.

Basically, I cannot say enough good things about Ebates. Or, looking back at this post, you might disagree.

Tell Me What to Read: Round 6

A day late here on this, because I just couldn't wait any extra moment to tell you how much I loved New York. And also relive that waffle at Max Brenner. Regardless, time to tell me what to read in December. This will surely be the book I take home with me and read on the plane flights between Boston and the west coast.   

It can be any genre, any age level, and have been published last week or three hundred years ago. You can pick it because it's a book that everyone should read or because it changed your life or because it is great literature or just because it entertained you. You can DEFINITELY suggest the same book you suggested last month.

Here's how it goes:

1. Comment with the title of one book you think I should read (any book you want). One title only, please, lest my brain explode.
2. I'll select one comment at random and announce it on the blog later this week
   
3. On the off-chance that I've already read the book you select, I'll contact you and ask for a follow-up suggestion (make sure there is a way to contact you either by blog or email).
4. I'll get a copy of the book and read it by the end of December.
5. I'll write a review of it here. Even if I hate the book, I will not hate you.

And. . .go!