Saturday, March 28, 2015

2015 SOLSC 28/31 and Celebrate This Week

                               
Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 
to the Slice of Life (SOL) community.
Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Betsy, Dana, Beth, and Anna
for hosting this meeting place each day in March
                                                    and for nurturing our writing lives. 

                               Join us each weekend for Celebrate this week with Ruth Ayres.  
 When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy.
Discover. Play. Build.
  A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember!

1.  Book Club List for Upcoming Year Arrived:
Several folks asked if I was willing to share our list.  It's always an eclectic list, but half the fun of a book club is reading books one wouldn't necessarily choose.  Two titles on the list were suggested by me, The Grapes of Wrath and All the Light we Cannot See.  I'm sad that our club didn't also choose my third title, Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast.
  
The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
Dish:  The Inside Story on the World of Gossip by Jeanette Walls
The Zhivago Affair:  The Kremlin, the CIA and the Battle Over a Forbidden Book by Peter Finn and Petra Couvee
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin
Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith by Gina Nahai
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Translator:  A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur by Daoud Hari
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell
Unbroken:  A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
by Laura Hillenbrandt

2.  Play Dates on Thursday and Friday:
Half the fun of being retired is being available to watch some of my young friends.  Imi and I played at the park on Thursday.
Eliza (age 4) led me in a busy afternoon of
Adventure, a Discovery Toy puzzle activity,
Soccer (she was patient with me even though I was "slow"),
Find the Hidden Soccer Ball, and 
Chase (I don't think I've actually "run" in a decade or so). 
The first part of the afternoon, she watched "Ramona and Beezus"
which gave me some commenting time.  
I'm sorry that I can't report on my time with Emma who slept from the time she was dropped off until her mommy returned almost three hours later. (My children never napped for three hours.)  She enjoyed the neighbor's, "goggie" while we snacked on cookie bars and chatted with her parents.  I haven't seen Eliza and Emma since last spring when their family moved away for one year.  Unfortunately, yesterday's visit was during the time that their parents loaded a truck from their storage unit.
We're still hopeful that they will move back after
a short 18 month commitment in another state.  

3.  A serendipitous find at the library book sale:
I worked at the Friends of the Library book sale on Wednesday and Friday.  I ended up sorting the adult fiction during my shift on Friday, but couldn't leave without spending a little time straightening the children's section.  I shouted with glee when I found The Cozy Book by Mary Ann Hoberman.   I gave this book to a friend quite a few years ago because it was perfect for their "cozy" themed Christmas,
but had been unable to find a copy for myself until yesterday.
I picked up a few other titles, but don't tell my husband
because we're decluttering  at our house!

6 comments:

  1. Our library sale is in April and I'm wondering how I will get the books in the house without a raised eyebrow from the other inhabitant of the house. What fun to play with little ones! Good practice for when the grandkids come. That's a lot of reading ahead of you. Grapes of Wrath? I had a hard time with that in high school. Steinbeck was never a favorite of mine.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your time with the little girls sounds lovely. Wow! That's quite a book list my friend. All to be read in a year? Love that you found The Cozy Book. Your reward for volunteering!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have to wait until June for the library sale, but will be there for sure. Nice to hear about your find. Fun also to hear about your time with the friends' children.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Our little book club consists of teachers who still have retirement to look forward to, so we meet only a few times in the summer. One book that still stands out in my mind is Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford. (I can't underline of italic) Sounds like your day was full of what matters in life:-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I loved Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and actually got to hear the author speak at a library event. I still haven't been to the hotel in our international district where the Japanese families stored their stuff. Sometime soon!

      Delete
  5. I love reading your slice that so full of fun and excitement. Love that book club list. I'm sharing it with mine.
    Digital Bonnie

    ReplyDelete