6. Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich

What can I say? I love Stephanie Plum. The sheer hilarity of the antics and completly wacky situations she gets herself into are great. I find her to be a wonderful breath of fresh air and a break from reality. Really who can be serious all the time?

The book starts with Grandma running away...to Atlantic City...you can see this is going nowhere good.

I'm not a big "chicklit" fan but for this series I make an exception. This is the first of the between-the-numbers novels that I have really enjoyed. I see there is a new one out "Plum Spooky" hopefully it is more of the same and not the drivel of the Christmas and Valentines' Day ones.

4 Stars

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

This movie was very long! (butluckily it didn't seem long) Luckily I knew that before hand so I rationed my liquid intake for the entire afternoon before going!

The movie was excellent and really made you think. Brad Pitt (always a favourite of mine) plays the main character in a very convincing way. This movie brings out the full gamet of emotions. The main themes I take away from it are living in the moment and that age doesn't matter, nothing lasts forever. I can definitly see why it was nominated for best picture.

5. Gone With the Wind

5 Stars

*****SPOILERS****

****DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON"T WANT ANYTHING GIVEN AWAY****



I think this may very well be my favourite book of all time. I could read it over and over again (and have). Each time I reazd this book I glean something new. I see way more of myself in Scarlett than I am proud of. I hold a huge soft spot in my heart for Rhett and I despise Ashley Wilkes. However, sometime eachtime I read this book I still have a part of me hoping and wishing for a different ending and that Scarlett makes different choices througout. It breaks my heart that Scarlett ends up alone but really she has no one to blame but herself. Ashley is a spineless ninny and I can't believe she doesn't realise it until the Melly's death and the breakdown of her 3rd marriage. But I could go all day on this point so I'll leave it at that.


I do think the book idealizes the Old South and glamorizes the lifestyle. But the reality of it is that slavery existed in that time period and is abolished through the book. I do think that Margaret Mitchell portrays slavery in a fairly realistic light. Some like Mammy, Pork and Uncle Peter choose to stay working with the families they have grown to love as their own, others strike out on their own. Before criticizing the book too harshly for its historical inaccuracies the important thing to remember is that this is a work of fiction. It is not meant to be an educational textbook on the Old South and as such should be appreciated for what it is....

What a Day!

Today at work was insane. A major crisis popped up and it pretty much ate up my whole day on top of the three meetings I also had scheduled. Oh and I moved offices today. Which is good because I finally have a window but bad because it made a crazy day even crazier!

My VP really appreciated my hard work though since he gave me permission to go out for a nice dinner and expense it! Oh and my manager is buying me a coffee tomorrow nice!

I finally get home and get 2 pieces of bad news. Ian's sister miscarried and his Stepmom may have canceer. So those both served to put a real damper on my day!! More than a damper really, it sucks! Thoughts and prayers to both!!

Car search

The lease on my current car expries in 4ish months and the car is not worth near what I would have to buy the lease out (thanks to our dollar skyrocketing and car prices dropping) at so I am turning in the car and BUYING something else. I am in the first step of looking at cars right now and I know I want a small car not a Chevy Cobalt (my current car) or a Mazda3 (Ian's car - that I don't like driving as much).

I have much higher standards this time around since I know I will be spending a little more money than last time (which was the bare minimum) and actually getting some features. Right now there are four cars I am thinking of Toyota Yaris, Nissan Versa, MINI Cooper and Chevy Aveo (only in the running because I still love my dealerships convenience factor!). All are good on gas, all will be pretty much in the same price range by the time I add on the options I want. So the search has begun (sort of)...

The Tudors

I rented the first season of "The Tudors" this weekend. The first episode I wasn't too thrilled with but the next couple have grabbed my attention. While it isn't my favourite show, maybe I'll also pick up the second season once I am finished with this one.

We went over to Katie & Chris' place friday night and I saw Katie had the DVDs and we started talking about them, which peaked me interest. We had a great time having dinner and playing games. They have a great new house with the most amazing kitchen I am totally covetting the kitchen right now!!

Bride Wars

I saw this movie a couple weekends ago...

It's a cute movie about 2 best friends who end up getting engaged and through an error of the wedding planner the weddings are booked for the same day at the same venue. It is truly heinous yet at the same time hilarious the things these girls do to eachother. You can tell that they are best friends because I don't think that anyone else would be able to hurt you like that since they wouldn't know you well enough. It's not the next great drama or anything but it is a great, light hearted romantic comedy. Good for a girls night out, but it's a rental -- not a theatre must in my book!

2009 Book Reviews

I've decided that for 2009 I'm going to keep a log of the books I read and my reviews on my blog as well as Good reads. So these are the ones I've finished already, I will add posts under the label as I finish them with my comments and a rating out of 5 stars at the end.

1. The Wise Woman by Phillipa Gregory

This is the author of The Other Boleyn Girl and I have read a number of others by her as well. I can say that she needs an outline (ie. real person's life) to base her story around or else things fall off the rails and become smutty fast!! The main problem I had with this book though is it's complete lack of a coherent storyline.

2 Stars

2. Her Last Death: A Memoir by Susanna Sonnenberg

I had high expectations for this book and I'm not sure why. It's like when see a commercial for a movie and all the good parts are in the commercial. I feel the same way. Almost cheated.

The child of a famous person bragging about how horrible her childhood was and what a trainwreck her mother is. Yeah no thanks. It was still a somewhat entertaining read, likely because it was mercifully short and it didn't seem too whiney until about 2/3 in.

2 Stars

3. Prisoner of Tehran by Marina Nehmat

Wow! I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I was expecting a straightforward retelling of the harrowing events. This story is much more. It is heartbreaking, uplifting and really makes you feel for Marina. I don't feel like she sensationalised her experience as happens with many memoirs. This was one of the best books I have read in a long time. It is definitly one that makes you think about real life issues.

I feel like I have a much better understanding of some of the issues after having read this book. I have a renewed appreciation for the desperation that people feel to escape these situations and their home countries during politcal turmoil and religious persecution.

5 Stars

4. I Am Hutterite by Mary-Ann Kirkby

An amazing story! The book is educational in the descriptions and stories of life on the colony and then adjusting to "English" life after. It's a great story of how a family can overcome adversity amd really stick together when times get tough. I know way more about the Hutterite lifestyle than I ever did before and I have a much better appreciation for them now.

Growing up in Southern Alberta you see/hear alot about the Hutterite colonies but I can't say I ever actually knew anything about them other than you can recognize them by their clothes. I found this to be a very powerful story!

4 Stars

New for 2009

I'm not much on New Years' Resolutions. I'm pretty sure I made some last year but I have no idea what they were now! 2008 was a good year though! My wedding, Tara's wedding, Chicago, Vegas, Cruise, a new niece...

For 2009 I am trying a bit of a different challenge. I am going to read at least one book by an author whose name begins with each letter of the alphabet. I have a huge TBR pile and I thought getting through that alone would take care of most of it but as it turns out I read alot of "m" and "s" authors. I already have an "x" and a "z" lined up and that take care of the really tough ones. I'll be tracking my reading over at goodreads (I actually cheated and started with my end of December books for the challenge though).

My other major passion is travel and we have some of that on the go for this year too. Looks like Italy in September and somewhere hot and beachy in March (booking a last minute all inclusive). Now that I have 5 weeks of vacation plus 8 flex days to be used every year I don't have to worry about taking time off. Pretty much I can do whatever I want so it's great!