Up From the Blue

While perusing the aisles of Target with a gift card burning a hole in my pocket, I purchased Up from the Blue by Susan Henderson to read on a trip.  It's the story of Tillie's coming of age in a family with a mentally ill mom and military dad.  The book starts and ends with Tillie going into an early labor, with her husband overseas and reaching out to her father, who she hasn't spoken to in years. It was an okay book but not great. 77/100

Today I sent out my Sunday School class curriculum, admired the fall leaves, went to meet a friend for brunch, got stuck in horrible traffic (repaving the parkway meant my 15 minute drive took an hour and a half!), showed up late, she was very understanding, caught up over a yummy vegan sandwich at Le Pain Quotidien, met a mentee for coffee, had tea instead, walked and chatted and enjoyed a perfect fall day, ran into some friends still tanned from their honeymoon, gave advice about which type of pots and pans to buy (the kind where the handles don't get hot!  learn from my mistake, I really wish I had spent the extra money), went to My Heart's Desire's cousin house for family fun time, met an adorable infant, had dinner, and came home to get ready for tomorrow.

Room

Wow. Emma Donoghue's Room is an amazing novel that I read in one sitting.

The ripped from the headlines premise is the story of Jack, a five-year-old boy and his Ma.  They live in an eleven foot square shed and are captives of a man known as Old Nick.  The hook? It's told from the Jack's point of view. Everything he knows - and loves - is in the room. His routine (breakfast before bath), and activities are all normal to him.

Shocking, tender, and unique, this book knocked my socks off.  76/100

Today I am grateful for: family fun time, sleeping in my own bed, being able to be flexible, libraries, the candle that makes my living room smell good, Lincoln Park At Midnight (my current fave nail polish), La Brea Bakery sourdough, falling leaves, and independent films.

2010 Goals: October Progress

I set specific 2010 goals so here's an update on my October progress.

Read/Write/Blog
1. I read 9 books this month, so that's 73 books from January - October. I'm on track to read 100 books this year.

2. My writer's group caught up over coffee and went to an author reading. We heard Andre Dubus III read from his forthcoming memoir Townie. It was a phenomenal reading, probably the best one I've ever been to. I loved his book House of Sand and Fog (read my review here). This was also a milestone year for my MFA writing program, so I went to an event to celebrate it and saw many of my former classmates, teachers, and mentor.

3. Yes, I am happy to report a poetry submission for October. I've been a bit sporadic in my submissions and I figure a little something is better than a lot of nothing. I average 50 rejections per acceptance, so if I want to get something published I need to get a lot of rejections first.

4. This is my 152nd post of the year, so all is on schedule for me to meet my goal of 200 posts this year.

Healthy
5. I met my goals of participating in 2 races, raise money for a worthy cause, and go outside my comfort zone. I have participated in four races: Earth Day 5K, Girls on the Run 5K, Race for the Cure 5K (where I raised money with my Furiously Walking team), and in September I participated in a Half Marathon! October was a lot more relaxed, with yoga, walks and some more walks.

6. My original goal was to eat vegetarian 90% of the time. This month I did not keep track of how many meat vs. vegetarian meals I ate. I'm still enjoying produce from the CSA and trying to cook healthy meals. I made spaghetti squash (based on Facebook suggestions) from the CSA and it was terrific. I made spaghetti squash from the grocery store and it wasn't nearly as good.

Fun & Friends
7. A new thing I tried in September was visiting the "What Makes Us Laugh?" exhibit at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. It was my first time at the museum and I really enjoyed the exhibit and laughed and smiled a lot. The museum features a lot of work by non-professional artists, mostly of the self-taught variety.

8. I exceeded my goal of seeing friends at least once a week. I went on walks with a friend, got a fancy pedicure with a friend, went to a baby shower, a new life/housewarming party, and attended an alumni event for my undergrad university.

9. My Heart's Desire and I had a pretty low-profile month. We went to a wedding (the last of the 2010 weddings, as far as I know) on a perfect fall day. We also enjoyed going on walks, watching movies, and made our first fire of the fall on Halloween Eve.

10. Photo taken of My Heart's Desire and I? No. Maybe we could get a decent photo of us taken in November but I'm not holding my breath.

Bonus! It's All Relative.
11. My father-in-law came down for a weekend and stayed with us one night. We all went out with My Heart's Desire's aunt and uncle and cousins and toddler for dinner (kabobs, of course). It was very nice that My Heart's Desire and his dad got to spend some time together.

I liked The Magician's Assistant so much that I kept my eye out for other work by Ann Patchett. Then I read this article about her life and home in The New York Times that made me want to apply for the unofficial writer's retreat at her cozy home in Nashville. Or at least sit on her porch and drink tea.

I enjoyed her nonfiction book Truth and Beauty. It was good, but I was blown away by Bel Canto. I know this was a big book when it came out but for some reason I had been reluctant to read it. I got into it right away and read the whole book in one day (on two flights). Interesting story and really beautiful writing. 74-75/100

Last Night at Chateau Marmont

I was looking for a light, fluffy read and Last Night at Chateau Marmont by Lauren Weisberger fit the bill perfectly. I did not like The Devil Wears Prada novel or read her other books, so my expectations were pretty low. Fine, Last Night at Chateau Marmont was on sale and you know I love a bargain. It's about a nutritionist who works two jobs to support her singer-songwriter musician husband, and his decade of hard work turns him into an overnight success. Success, fame, and paparazzi soon follow. For what it was - a gossipy, fast read, it was pretty good. 73/100