I have completed some challenges and decided to include them in one big wrap up post.
The Chunkster Challenge was all about reading those fat books which at times seem so intimidating. I chose the Mor-book-ly Obese option (to read 6 or more chunksters OR three tomes of 750 pages or more). My last book for the challenge was The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb…and I actually did not finish it completely until the day after this challenge ended. BUT, I did manage to finish 600 pages of it on the last day of the challenge…and since a chunkster is defined as a book longer than 450 pages, I figured I would count this one (okay, so I stretched the rules a tad…oh well!). You can see the books I read, and my ratings and links to reviews, but visiting this post. My favorite book of the challenge was Last Night In Twisted River by John Irving, with the runner up being Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. Many thanks to Dana who hosted this fun challenge. In 2010, I’ll be taking over the hosting duties for the Chunkster Challenge – hope to see you there!
The 2009 PUB Challenge was hosted once again by Michelle…and it was all about reading books published in 2009. My goal was to 9 books – and I actually did that some time ago, but just kept going. I finished 28 books (so far) this year which were published in 2009…and although I will probably read a few more before the year is out, I have decided to wrap up this challenge. You can see the books I read and their ratings and links to my reviews by visiting this page. I read some GREAT books, including some five-star ones:
- Last Night In Twisted River by John Irving
- A Disobedient Girl by Ru Freeman
- The Mechanics of Falling by Catherine Brady
- The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Thanks Michelle for another great challenge!
The New Authors Challenge encouraged readers to read new-to-me authors. Hosted by Literary Escapism, this is one of my favorite challenges. The goal was to read 50 new authors over the course of the year. So far, I have read 57…and will probably read several more before 2009 closes out. I decided to wrap up the challenge, but will continue to add new authors to my list which can be found here. Some new-to-me authors who I am eager to read more from:
Per Petterson, Joyce Hinnefeld, Jhumpa Lahiri, Catherine Brady, Benjamin Black, Tana French, Judith Ryan Hendricks, Emily St. John Mandel, Laura Lippman, Amitav Ghosh, Kathryn Stockett, Ru Freeman, Tom Piazza, and Louise Erdrich.
Many thanks to Jackie for a terrific challenge. This one will again be hosted in 2010 – hope to see you there!
don’t know, maybe we’re all chaos theorists. Lovers of pattern and predictability, we’re scared shitless of explosive change. But we’re fascinated by it, too. Drawn to it. Travelers tap their brakes to ogle the mutilation and mangled metal on the side of the interstate, and the traffic backs up for miles. Hijacked planes crash into skyscrapers, breached levees drown a city, and CNN and the networks rush to the scene so that we can all sit in front of our TVs and feast on the footage. Stare, stunned, at the pandemonium – the devils let loose from their cages. “There but for the grace of God,” the faithful say. “It’s not for us to know His plan.”
Where did the day go? I am so late posting this…but it is still technically Monday!



Beth at
My very first cookbook I ever owned was Betty Crocker’s Cookbook which my mother gave me. For many years this was my sole inspiration and reference to cooking…until I became more adventuresome. But I still use this cookbook – primarily for reference. And so when I roasted my chicken yesterday, I dragged my dog-eared, food splattered copy of Betty Crocker’s Cookbook off the shelf and looked up the time-frame for roasting a chicken. What I love is that any basic food information you could want can be found inside this simple cookbook (their pie crust recipe comes out perfectly). I looked up chicken, and referenced the roasting schedule (which is conveniently divided up into the SIZE poultry and whether it is stuffed or not). For my chicken, I planned on 2.5 hours of roasting time at 325 degrees.


















