A more “straight on” view:

Isn’t that so fun!?

I found them on designboom. Pretty inspiring site, but this was the best thing I found.

What do you think? Like them or absolutely love them?

The Book: A Widow’s Story, by Joyce Carol Oates

The Story: (From Goodreads):Oates’s deeply personal and intimate memoir–unlike anything she’s written before–about the unexpected death of her husband of 40 years, Raymond Smith, and its wrenching, surprising aftermath.

What I Thought: I know that I told you guys a little bit about my NaNo experience last year: Writing a novel in a month and all that. It really was so incredible and I feel really glad that I did it. The plot of my novel and my reasons for writing it, however, I wonder if I shared with you. My novel is about a woman whose husband dies suddenly and she is left, several years later, still picking up the pieces. I wrote it because becoming a widow at a young age (or an old age or… ever…ugh. I can’t talk about it.) is my number one biggest fear. I decided going into the novel that I was just going to write through it… just take these fears that I’ve had floating around since we got married and get them all out on paper. It was therapeutic in a way, but also took me to a level of grief that I’ve rarely experienced.

I think that I picked up this book for the exact same reason, just this morbid curiosity about something that absolutely terrifies me.

Joyce Carol Oates’ situation was different than what I wrote and even what I’ve based this huge fear around. The big difference is that she was older. She was 70 and her husband was 78 and they had been married for a long, long time. For some reason that has rarely played into my imagination for a few reasons, only one of which being that I cannot yet imagine being old or being married that long… but still, same idea. She’s totally in love with this man, structures her life around him and then in a blink… he’s gone. It’s so sad and true and horrifying and… just everything.

I read a book a couple of years ago written by a widow- same general premise- and for the life of me I can’t remember what it was called. I know that in my review I said that I couldn’t give it a positive review because even through her grief, I had a hard time connecting with her- I had a hard time seeing her relationship, her life as something real.

To put it very mildly, that is not a problem here. I immediately “got” where Joyce Carol Oates was coming from, found myself in her shoes and cried (sobbed) with her as she went through about a zillion stages of grief all at once, all the time. There was something so powerful about her taking her craft, her art, her skill and just spilling her guts out… oh, man. I was right there with her.

Even beyond her grief, I loved having this inside look to her marriage. These were often the most poignant parts of the book because you know, from page one, how it all ends.

Can I confess, though, that when I found out she married less than a year after the death of her husband, I almost felt cheated? I know that people just need a companion and I’m happy that she found that, but I was almost shocked that she could recover from it all that quickly and fall in love/get married again. I’m not sure if that’s wrong of me, but it did taint the book a bit for me.

Conclusion: This one will rip your guts out, but is a great read. I would recommend with caution.

Here’s what we’ve got:

So that’s that. Not much movement, although with lots of fun library sales coming up, I have a feeling we are going to be seeing some growth soon! Eek!

How is your TBR shelf looking?

2. I’m finally starting to feel pregnant. I’m getting dang close to my third trimester and I’m, like, huffing and puffing when I bend over and stuff… and groaning when I have to roll over in bed. I’ve had this really easy pregnancy that almost makes it easy to forget that I’m pregnant (with the exception of, you know, human movement inside of me), but I have a feeling that those days are drawing to a close. That in mind, we should probably name this kid and get at least a little space ready for his arrival!

3. Last night, Shaun came home from work, dropped some sushi off to me and whisked Isaac off to an evening of disc golf with friends. They were gone for two and a half hours and I didn’t leave my hammock one time. It was quite possibly the most glorious evening of my life.

4. My mom, brother and nephew visited from Monday thru Thursday this week. It is always so good to see them. My nephew is almost three, so with two toddlers, we kind of had our hands full. We did a lot of trips to the park and they got to come with Isaac, Maria and I to story time on Tuesday. We also hit up Chick-fil-a 2 out of 3 days that they were here. It’s what we do, you guys. It’s just what we do.

5. In most-awesome-book-nerdery-ever I bring you this:

That’s right- my friend Jessica knitted our whole group of Harry Potter loving friends these tiny Harry Potter sweaters. Is that not the most amazing thing ever?!

At least it is gorgeous.

My mom, brother and nephew have been here for the last few days and I know I owe you guys a review or ten, but this is all I have the time/energy for today. Tomorrow. Tomorrow, you will get your review.

As part of that, the boys will obviously have to share a room. Right now Izey is in the littler room and we have the bigger one. Sometime in the next 4 or 5 weeks, we are going to switch rooms and make the bigger room a double nursery. Super fun. I am not even kidding, I’m SO excited even though it means that Shaun and I will probably have to find some way to strap our dresser to the ceiling.

The last few days I’ve been dreaming about how to do the boys’ room- specifically how to store the unbelievable amount of kids books that we have. Right now we just have them on a little three-shelf bookshelf and it is fine, but nothing totally FUN like all of these!! I haven’t reached any decisions, but I’ve found some great inspiration pictures.

Let me show you a few! (If you click on the pictures, they will take you to the source!)

(This one is from Ikea Hackers. If you have never looked at that blog, please go now. Prepare to die of the awesome.)

(This one is from Project Nursery. Another GREAT resource!)

This one has me absolutely drooling. All that COLOR! I am in love.... although I know that the first book Izey would want is the one touching the ceiling...

Which one is your favorite? Do they look functional to you? How do you have your kid’s books organized?

A. Lincoln, by Ronald C. White Jr.

Since I started the challenge, of course Abe Lincoln was one of the presidents that I was really looking forward to reading about. I knew the basics- log cabin, beard, tall hat, Civil War- but I was really excited to get some detail.

What I really, really loved about this biography is that I got this really full scope of not only who Lincoln was and what he did, but also what he was thinking through it all. Lincoln was a prolific letter writer and was notorious for writing little notes about what was going on in his head and stuffing them in pockets, his hat, and desk drawers. Ronald White wrote this bio after a lot of that stuff was newly released and so he got to draw a lot of new conclusions about Lincoln’s motivations.

I loved finding out more about Lincoln’s humble beginnings- he was not highly educated, he moved around a lot while he was younger and his parents (obviously) raising someone that they felt was destined for greatness. He was a self starter from a very young age and at the time that he was elected president, he had barely scratched the surface of being in politics.

I think what really fascinated me was just watching him work through this whole slavery thing in his own head. There are quotes from Lincoln early in his life that people have misconstrued to say that Lincoln was actually a racist and that he had less-than-stellar motivations… the thing is, he just hadn’t gotten to the end of his thought process on slavery and blacks. As he became more well known and got elected, America was in this super turbulent time. He had personal convictions against slavery from very early in his life but honestly could not picture how America could not have slaves… after all, they always had. As he watched the war progress and felt out how Americans were responding, he started not realize that he could help make that personal conviction come to life… Just that thought process was a really amazing thing to watch.

Ronald White wrote this biography in a really clear, personable way. By the end, I truly felt like I knew Lincoln- about his life and his family and his personality. It had enough facts and dates to feel like a legit scholarly work, but enough personal detail and flowing prose to keep this nonacademic totally hooked. I have read a lot about the Civil War, but almost always the more “domestic” side of things and less the political side. I really enjoyed seeing everything from the other side and realizing the crazy place that policy makers were put during the war. I just feel like I have a much more complete picture of what went on.

I don’t know what else to say- I spent almost all of April with this mammoth of a book (It took me nearly THREE WEEKS to read!) and I loved it. I cannot even think of one negative. If you are doing the presidential challenge, I highly, highly recommend that you block off a few weeks and read this one. So, so good.

If you want more info on the Presidential Challenge, read this and check out the current participants. If you want to join, email me or comment here and get started!

None of these were great or awful or… anything. They were just grey, formless books in my reading memory. With that, I’ll provide you with a teeny sentence or two on each one and leave it at that.

Then maybe I can get on with some serious reviewing:

1.

Girl in Hyacinth Blue, by Susan Vreerland

A short little book about a little known Vermeer painting. Told in reverse chronological order, which was an interesting way to tell a story… but not interesting enough to really hold my attention

2.

Small Wars, by Sadie Jones

A military guy kind of loses it and emotionally gives up on his family…. this guy’s wife is so awful that I almost didn’t even feel sympathy for her. Lacked any real emotional depth.

3.

The City of Falling Angels, by John Berendt

A Venice Opera house catches fire and…. ?? I don’t really know. I loved this dude’s other book but couldn’t get into this one at all.

4.

The Whore’s Child, by Richard Russo

I really like short stories and I really like Richard Russo. He did a good job, but nothing amazing. The one about the nun was memorable, but outside of that… not much stands out.

5.

Island of Lost Girls, by Jennifer McMahon

There was suspense here and that was good but… um… there’s literally a man in a bunny suit… like Donnie Darko style… That’s pretty much all I can say. Crazy stuff.

Um, I feel so much better having these books checked off. Seriously, a weight has been lifted. I can now review books that I have feelings on! Yay!

The Book: Divergent, by Veronica Roth

The Story: (from Goodreads) In a future Chicago, 16-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.

What I Thought: I know that with Insurgent coming out soon-ish (not sure of the date, but I’ve been hearing some major buzz!), I know that Divergent is totally old news, but you know… sometimes old ladies like me get behind on what is cool. It’ll happen to you too one day, just you wait.

I, for the most part, really love dystopian books. I have for as long as I can remember. When I was younger, I’d have to dig and dig to find a good dystopian book, but I looooove that all this new dystopian stuff is coming out! Just the different ideas about what a crazy place the future could be… man, I eat that up.

This was no exception, honestly. I got into it in the first few pages and sailed through this in, like, 2 sittings or something. I was HOOKED.

I think that the writing here was just alright- nothing amazing but nothing that would detract from the story. It was concise and to the point and, most importantly, moved the story along and talked in a voice that I could “hear” in my mind.

The story, though, is where Victoria Roth pulled out the stops. I thought the idea of everyone being divided into these categories was totally fascinating, especially in the main character’s case, where she was going through this at the same time as her brother. This idea of choosing your own unique path but still wanting to be a part of your core family… that is just this universal process that teenagers go through and I thought that it was handled really, really well. With that was the main storyline, there were all these other bits (romance, factions, popularity, yadda yadda) that crept in and just made this overall a really great story.

The thing that I’m super interested in reading is how society ended up being like this. Somehow, even though this future was totally different than our present, it seemed somehow fairly believable that things could end up this way. I’m looking forward to finding out some history.

So that’s that. I can’t say much that hasn’t been said. I know that I’m just about the last person in existence to read this, so I’m going to leave it at that. I’m totally excited about Insurgent and am actually looking forward to seeing the whole book blogging world review the same book all in one week.

Conclusion: Read this one quick, #2 is on its way!

Here is my World Book Night tally:

2: Books to friends who always talk about my books and want to read but don’t
2: Books given out in the doctor’s office waiting room
2: Books my husband handed out on the bus on the way to work this morning
2: Books delivered to the at-risk youth high school program that shares a building with my husband’s company
6: Books given to three college aged workers at Starbucks and three customers that came in behind us
2: Books given to parents we met in the play area at the mall
1: Book given to the lady at the Guest Services booth at the mall
3: Books given to teenagers walking in the mall

My original plan was more outdoor based and pretty much got screwed up by horrible cold and VERY windy weather today. I was feeling kind of mopey about it so Shaun suggested that after dinner that we head to the mall and see what we could do about this big box of free books I had sitting on the table.

You guys. It was so fun I could have died.

Giving books to friends is fun, but giving someone a free book out of the blue is maybe the greatest thing of my life. It was amazing to watch people’s faces just absolutely light up. I just loved how people were genuinely excited and grateful. The college aged girls at Starbucks were so fun. They just kept talking about how they used to love to read but haven’t read a good book in a long time. They were absolutely giddy with their new books.

The woman at the Guest Services booth just looked bored and in need of a new book. When I walked over there with a book she kept saying, “For me? Seriously!?” It was adorable. She started pointing out books on the back that she had heard of and we talked about books for a long time.

My favorite response, though, was probably from one of the parents in the play area. The guy looked at the book for a minute then pointed at Shaun and said, “Did he write this?” Haha. It very clearly says on the cover that it is by Stephen King and while Shaun is pretty awesome… well… he’s no Stephen King

Seriously, this was a wonderful experience. I know I’ve talked about World Book Night a lot over the last couple of months, but if you haven’t checked out their site yet, go do it! The application process was seamless and getting the books at a local place was so easy. I don’t know how many people they had setting this thing up, but they did a fantastic job. I know that it was great for the people receiving the books to get a book but it was great for me too as a giver to get that experience of sharing a love for literature with people that usually don’t get a chance to experience it.

Were you a giver? How was your experience?