Ahhh, Sunday, the one day all week we don’t have to race around to be anywhere. Unless, of course, the church bully comes downstairs and asks, “Are we going to church?” in his accusatory “You’re all heathens!” tone, and if I say I don’t feel like it, he’ll be mad at me all morning.
It’s weird how my husband has turned into this church guy. He wasn’t like that the first decade we were together. The only time I ever saw him inside a church was for a wedding or a funeral. But now that we are PARENTS, and we have to set an EXAMPLE, he is the church bully. If I had my way, we’d go maybe once a month. If he had his way, we’d go twice a week. So we end up going about 3 Sundays out of 4, and the other Sunday, he’s mad at me. I always tell him that no one is preventing him from going by himself!
Anyway! My daughter turned 11 this week, and we caved and got her a cell phone, so she is no longer the last girl on earth without one, and she’s pretty darn happy about it. I’m sure the novelty will wear off eventually. I actually like the convenience of being able to get ahold of her when she’s at a friend’s house or she’s walking home from school. She had a laser tag party with her friends last weekend, and then we celebrated on her actual birthday by having dinner at a place of her choosing (within reason, of course!). She picked Olive Garden, because she really loves the fact that they bring basket after basket of steaming hot breadsticks. “They just keep on coming, Mom!” Yes they do, dear (oink, oink).
We watched history being made Tuesday night as Barack Obama addressed a throng of supporters with his Yes, We Can acceptance speech. My parents were here and my mother, a staunch Republican, said to no one in particular, “Well, I hope you people are happy!” Thanks, Mom, we are! My husband and I are Republicans who didn’t care for McCain at all, and thought he made a ridiculous choice in Palin, and who got very fed up with Dubyah, so we jumped ship. If the Republicans could have given us a decent candidate, things might have been different.
Yesterday my daughters’ Girl Scout troops placed flags on the graves of veterans at Forest Lawn. Many thanks to all the Veterans out there. We are grateful and proud of you.
This week I read Kandide and the Secret of the Mists aloud to my kids for my book club meeting this afternoon. Yes, it’s a children’s book for an ADULT book club, but our hostess is friends with the author so she will be attending our meeting. The kids are coming too- should be interesting. They’ve been very curious about what we do at book club (drink lots of wine and laugh and talk about books- so mysterious!) so now they’ll get to see for themselves.
I also read Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, my book club pick for December, and have no idea how I’m going to review it without giving it away. Maybe I’ll just put up a Publishers Weekly blurb and then insist that everyone go read it! It was freaky and powerful. I’ll have to read more Ishiguro (any suggestions? The Remains of the Day?) I read about 80 pages of The Zookeeper’s Wife, sent by WW Norton books for review. They sent me two copies, so I’ll be giving one away soon. However I don’t know when I’ll finish it. It reads like a textbook and I was having a hard time with it, so I put it aside temporarily and started The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by TIffany Baker. This one’s an ARC sent by Hachette that will be out in January. It’s a debut novel, which is hard to believe because it is so well written. So far I love it and I’m flying through it. It has really well developed, quirky characters. Also this week I finished scheduling for this virtual book tour and began scheduling for this one. I’m looking for tour hosts, so let me know if it sounds interesting!
How was your week? What are you reading?
Filed under: book clubs, books, Life, reading, Reading Groups, Uncategorized | Tagged: ARCs, birthdays, book club, books, Family, girl scouts, hachette book group, kandide and the secret of the mists, kazuo ishiguro, kids, never let me go, parenting, reading, the little giant of aberdeen county, the remains of the day, the sunday salon, the zookeepers wife, veteran's day, virtual book tours, ww norton book group |
Books on the Brain 
Great post this morning! I know what you mean about church…my husband and I used to go every Sunday (it is a 25 minute drive each way), but then there were some pretty radical changes in our church we did not agree with and we left. So now, we hang out on Sundays and enjoy God’s bigger church…the mountains and fresh air 🙂
I was also thrilled about Obama’s win and thought his speech was very inspiring.
I enjoyed The Zookeeper’s Wife earlier this year…and recently got the ARC of The Little Giant of Aberdeen County. I’m dying to read it…I want to get to it by the end of the month.
Have a great day!
I love Sunday Salon! Thank “you know who” you finally got your daughter a cell phone! I heard all her friends already had one, and that you were a really mean and withholding mom. I’m glad it’s no longer true.
My dimwits have been clamoring for an iphone or blackberry. Can you believe the nerve? I recently got a blackberry, and my older son complained that it “wasn’t fair”. I yelled out, “Whoever in this room has a job, raise your hand!” Grrrrr……
I loved Little Giant of Aberdeen County! That’s funny about your mom. 😉 If the Republicans had been able to produce a candidate with truly conservative politics (small government) I would have probably voted their way…so as you can see, I didn’t vote Obama (nothing small govt there! 😉 but third party. Still, it’s exciting to see history being made and much faster than I think anyone ever imagined! I sincerely hope we can all get on with our lives now!
I also don’t make it to church as often as I feel I should. (I know you weren’t saying that) but mainly b/c I have yet to find another church that feels like family. 😦
Kandide came in the mail for me this week. I will be interested in seeing how your group liked it.
I had a similar hard time with The Zookeeper’s Wife – I was expecting a more engaging biography (and more about the actual zoo!), but it just never really brought the subject to life for me.
I loved this entry. Especially about your daughter being the last girl on earth to get a cell phone!!!! Kids are so wonderful, especially their expression, their need to fit in somehow. And, we’ve been through it. And your Mom’s comment made me laugh, too. Waiting to hear the same from my Mom.
Haven’t read a thing except blogs this week, and glad I did!
Happy (belated) Birthday to your daughter! She looks delighted with her phone.
I’m also a lifelong Republican who supported Barack Obama. I’ve become pretty disillusioned with the Republican party over the past eight years. I hope they can get themselves together and actually work with Obama instead of against him, so we can start the process of rebuilding the country. I don’t envy Obama at all, he’s inherited quite a mess. Still, it was amazing to see how far we’ve come: America changed the world on Tuesday night, and I’m so glad I was here to see it.
Happy birthday to your daughter! BTW, I wish I had a church bully in my house. I need one.
So you caved on the phone issue!! 😉 I’ve been reading ‘Out Stealing Horses’ and it seems like its taking me forever to get thru it. It’s not a breezy read, thats for sure. Have you read it? Don’t get me wrong, I like it, but its a slow readl. Maybe its the translation, I don’t know. I hope to finish it in the next day or two. Btw, tell your mom Thanks, that I’m happy too! lol
OMG! Laura is like the cutest kid EVER!
My girls got their cells for their 11th. Dee Dee washed hers in the washing machine and she still hasn’t earned the $50 to replace it.
Make sure you block downloading RING TONES and music. The store didn’t tell me to do that and $80 later, I was hit with their sneakiness. The novelty TOTALLY wore off about one month into it. We just use them now when we are apart and their Dad calls them on their cells (to avoid me).
Hey, is L going to church tonight?
OK OK! I’m going to read Never Let Me Go! lol I’ve had it on my stacks for ages, and I have no idea what has taken me so long.
Happy Bday to your daughter. The novelty wears off quickly. I had Verizon disable text messaging but now I am thinking about activiating it because he is not allowed to have his phone on during school and texting him is easier than leaving a voicemail that he won’t check.
I agree with you on McCain. I think he shot himself in the foot by going with Palin. My husband’s family are Republicans so I got all sorts of grief for going with Obama but they will have to live with it.
Try deciding on Saturday whether or not you’ll be going to church on Sunday. It might make the mornings more pleasant when you both know what the plan is. My husband and I don’t like going to church, but we do have to decide whether we will go to my parents’ house in the afternoon. I always want to go and of course our children want to go, but sometimes my husband doesn’t want to. I don’t give him any grief about it because Sunday is his only chance to do whatever he wants to do.
Your daughter looks so cute in that hat!
I just bought a parenting book for myself. How to Raise an Amazing Child by Tim Seldin. It has such great information and lovely pictures, but I’m finding it hard to read because my eyes keep tearing up. I’m so sentimental!
Stcik with the Zookeeper’s Wife–althoug it reads a little bit dryly, it is worth it–I love Ackerman’s (poetry and non-fiction) other stuff, and that’s what kept me going with this–it made me cry!
Stick with the Zookeeper’s Wife–although it reads a little bit dryly, it is worth it–I love Ackerman’s (poetry and non-fiction) other stuff, and that’s what kept me going with this–it made me cry!
I’m sorry to hear that about The Zookeeper’s Wife – I’ve been looking forward to that one. By the way, I read a very spoilery review of Never Let Me Go and that sort of ruined it for me.