REMINDER: BFab this Tuesday!

Hi BFabers!
Looking forward to discussing Three Cups of Tea this Tuesday at my place at 7:30. Let's see how long we can stick to talking about the novel this time! LOL! Oh, and you'll be happy to know that I discovered Belgium chocolate-covered fruit at M&M's this week...the owner said to make sure they are eaten within an hour, which of course killed me - as if they'd last that long?!!!

Looking forward to seeing everyone again and picking our next three selections, so don't forget to bring your lists please! "Room" is #1 on the Bestseller list today, followed by "Secret Daughter" in the #2 spot, so we've been reading some popular work!

Are we still game for a throwback to an old Christopher Pike thriller selection? We may need to get to a city library to check those out!!! Who has a library card?

One of my suggestions comes off the bestseller list and is a fictional story of non-fiction events called "Sarah's Key:"
De Rosnay's U.S. debut fictionalizes the 1942 Paris roundups and deportations, in which thousands of Jewish families were arrested, held at the Vélodrome d'Hiver outside the city, then transported to Auschwitz. Forty-five-year-old Julia Jarmond, American by birth, moved to Paris when she was 20 and is married to the arrogant, unfaithful Bertrand Tézac, with whom she has an 11-year-old daughter. Julia writes for an American magazine and her editor assigns her to cover the 60th anniversary of the Vél' d'Hiv' roundups. Julia soon learns that the apartment she and Bertrand plan to move into was acquired by Bertrand's family when its Jewish occupants were dispossessed and deported 60 years before. She resolves to find out what happened to the former occupants: Wladyslaw and Rywka Starzynski, parents of 10-year-old Sarah and four-year-old Michel. The more Julia discovers—especially about Sarah, the only member of the Starzynski family to survive—the more she uncovers about Bertrand's family, about France and, finally, herself. (From Amazon.com)

See you on Tuesday!
xoxo RFab

Three Cups of "Juicy" Tea

If there's one thing David Oliver Relin does really well in the novel "Three Cups of Tea" it's give really juicy descriptions of the settings throughout the novel. He uses such beautiful language to describe the most simplest of spaces, such as a river:

"Here the river was as ugly as the ice peaks that birthed it were beautiful." (Chapter 10)

It's amazing when you can form the exact scary image of the unforgiving waters in your mind as you read it. (Maybe I am hung up on this because I'm in the process of attempting to teach my little grade ones to use "juicy words" to add detail to their sentences at school?!! LOL)

When I was finding the first few chapters long to read, I did enjoy the scenery and could imagine the mountain scape spread out before Mortenson as he was lost high up. I discovered the website of the late photographer Galen Rowell and his wife, who have taken the most incredible pictures. You have to check this one out, it is almost exactly what Mortenson describes seeing as he awakes on Baltoro to the sunrise. Stunning.

Looking forward to discussing the novel this Tuesday BFabers...

Oh Jane, where have you been all my life?

I can't believe what a snob I've been for thinking a Bronte novel just wasn't for me. When I went to see Black Swan at the theatre, a preview for a movie really caught my attention and left me wanting more...the title of the movie: "Jane Eyre." I thought, it must be another? I've had the novel sitting on my bookself for as long as I can remember, and have never been tempted to pick it up. That night, I discovered it was also included free in my Kobo (as a classic title) and began reading right away. What a fantastic and sad story - I am nowhere near the end, as I am working hard to finish our book club selection for this Tuesday, but so far I am in love and thinking: What took me so long?

The opening of the story has a Cinderalla feel to it (in a bad way), as Jane is being raised by a horrid aunt on the promise she made to her dead husband, Jane's uncle, after Jane's parents both succumbed to Typhus. Treated like a dog, attacked by her cousin and left often in seclusion, she dreams of leaving the estate and finally gets the opportunity to attend a boarding school. My favourite character thus far (besides the fabulous Jane herself) is Helen Burns, her friend at Lowood school for girls. Helen appears more introverted than Jane herself, yet is the type of wise and forgiving young woman we should all aspire to be. When Jane confides in her of her past at the Reed's estate and her resentment towards them all, Helen replies "Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs." What a beautiful thought (perhaps not practical, since what else would we gossip about today) but wouldn't it be nice to live this way?!!

I have much more to read and share and am so looking forward to the film. Who's coming with me?

Flavia's Back!

Lol - check out the heading from the Books section of this mornings Ottawa Citizen: "Unsinkable, endearing Flavia: Precocious child detective charms readers once again." I thought of our club and how most of us had so much trouble getting into the book and into her character (some of us, who shall remain nameless, didn't even finish the book - tsk, tsk). After reading the book "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie," I can see why readers would be drawn to her charm - she appears far smarter than most 11 year olds and she knows it. She speaks quite like an adult, yet she has childish tendencies as well, such as being subject to surprise or driven to frustrated tears.

In the latest adventure by Alan Bradley "A Red Herring without Mustard," Flavia, her sisters and father still reside at Buckshaw manor, but a fortune-telling gypsy becomes the latest victim with mysterious surroundings.

It actually sounds intriguing enough, but I think I will have to put it on my summer reading list for now! (I can guarantee it won't get voted into our book club list!!!)

Dabble Magazine Launched

Kimberly Seldon (of HDTV's Design for Living) is the editor of a new on-line magazine for anything stylish in design, travel and food called Dabble. It just launched online on Monday and was featured in today's Ottawa Citizen, so I thought I would share it!

It has the usual make-you-envious pictures of wealthy people's stately homes, extravagant vacations and exquisite menus, but offers budget friendly options as well. We know we want to see what we can't afford anyway and live vicariously through the pages, right?!!

Check out the editorial in the First Issue (March-April 2011) on Diane von Furstenberg - I was actually looking behind her in the picture at her gorgeous bookcase/shelf with the ladder. Reminiscent of the bookshop and library in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, I have always wanted one of those!!! I was also personally thrilled with the "How to choose tile" article as Rob and I are stuck on that final element of our basement bathroom. The tips were super helpful.

Things to take note of: the shopping event called Designer Market, held in Toronto's Distillery District in April and May (page 18), the oh-so-sweet pink flower cushions for your couch (page 92), the name of lunch hot-spot in Nashville "I dream of wienies!" (page 97), the gorgeous shots of Prague (starting on page 121) and finally the recipe for Bikini Muffins (page 177).

The beauty of online magazines is that they can pack in so much without the cost of printing 200 glossy coloured pages. I'm keeping it on my radar to check out bi-monthly!

Enjoy.

Oh Kobo...is there anything you can't do?...

So Kobo's tagline reads: "eReading: anytime. anyplace." After receiving one as a gift for my birthday before Christmas, I couldn't agree more. I was travelling alot and was able to ready a ton of books at the airport, on the plane, in the back of the car, around the pool - basically it came almost everywhere I went on holidays. Now back to reality at home and the need for hot, relaxing baths (frequently) has set in and I'm left searching for paperback books that I haven't finished or started reading yet, when I have perfectly great books waiting for me on my Kobo. Don't get me wrong - I am no tech snob and love paperback books, but I have bought new books online for the eReader that I WANT to read. So anytime. anyplace. I think not! Here is my short list of places that you cannot bring your eReader:

* bathtub
* hottub
* a nordique spa
* a sauna or steam room
* within 6 feet of a children's pool
* outside on a super hot tanning day, or muggy, rainy day
* within three feet of a good campfire

That was my little rant about that! Second annoying thing is that Rob (who has maybe finished reading two books in the 13 years we've been together) is falling for the classics that come free with the Kobo and we are now fighting over who reads it in my bed at night! He's already 49% into "The Call of the Wild," 55% into "The Works of Edgar Allan Poe" and 37% into "The Art of War." I am so torn between really wanting to encourage this new love of reading and wanting to read my saved books as well!!!

We all know that as soon as I were to buy him one, it would sit there collecting dust anyway - I bet he's just scrolling through the pages to annoy me?!!! LOL!

Sorry for the wait!

Wow...two months of hiatus - brutal. Sorry about that BFabers! I have so much to share and have been writing notes in my bedside table, just never getting around to plugging them in on-line. Time has flown by since Christmas, I can't believe we're already in March - yikes!


So I finished "Mindless Eating" which was recommended to me by follow blogger Erinn and absolutely loved it. It's a really fast and interesting read that forces you to think about your surroundings and emotions when eating and to put yourself in check. If you don't care about that stuff though, it's still a great book because it makes you laugh. "Mindless Eating" explores the studies of Dr. Brian Wansink (Ph. D.) who is also the director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab as well as Professor of Marketing and Nutritional Science at Cornell University. He and his team have performed countless studies involving food consumption that will have you laughing and sometimes crying (thinking, I have been fooled like this before too!) If nothing else, it gives you really intersting facts to bring up at dinner parties around the table!!! Enjoy!