Complete Jane Auten on PBS

Here's one benefit of the writer's strike - I've been channel surfing and found that Masterpiece Theatre on PBS is running the "Complete Jane Austen" series every Sunday night.

Tonight was Mansfield Park and next week is "Miss Austen Regrets" (a biopic) followed by "Pride and Prejudice" (3 weeks), "Emma" and "Sense and Sensibility" (A Room with A View follows the Jane Austen Series).

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/schedule/index.html

The Keep

My book club didn't select The Keep by Jennifer Egan (we read Look at Me instead), so I decided to read it myself.

In the end it was a little bizarre but it was fun to read this story about a billionare turning an old castle somewhere in eastern Europe into a hotel/retreat (yes, I did have visions of the castle I stayed at in Gloggnitz, Austria in my mind.

Great Book Club Books

Great book club books:

Are you looking for a book for your next book club? Or just want to read something juicy that you can discuss with friends? Here's my list of great book club books and what my book club is reading next.

Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield
Bel Canto, Ann Pachett
Notes on a Scandal, Zoe Heller
The Inheritance of Loss, Kiran Desai
The Distant Land of My Father, Bo Caldwell
The True Story of Hansel and Gretel, Lisa Murphy
The History of Love, Nicole Krauss
The Known World, Edward P. Jones

What my book club is reading next:
Special Topics in Calamity Physics, Marisha Pessl

Away

The bookstore near my office was having their yearly 40% after holiday sale, so I picked up a couple of books that I've been wanting to read but was waiting for the paperbacks. Luckily, I didn't have to wait until spring to read Away by Amy Bloom.

I'm only half way through the book, but it's great so far. It's easy to get caught up in this book -which is great during a "snowy" weekend!

After Lillian's entire family was brutally murdered in Russia, she ends up in New York living as a seamstress and mistress. She is told that her daughter, Sophie, isn't actually dead so she heads to Siberia to find her. Lillian has just made her journey across the US and is in Seattle, trying to get back the money that was stolen from her so that she can continue her journey....I'm hooked :)

Gift from the Sea

I've been meaning to write about Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Linbergh for a while now. It is such an amazing gift of a novel. It was written many years ago but it is filled with timeless wisdom. A different chapter will probably resonate with you with each reading, which is what makes it so breathtakingly beautiful. I want to read it everyday to remind myself of the beauty of words and to be reassured that I am not alone in my feelings or fears.

2007 List of Books

2007 books (my favorites are at the top):

The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield
The Distant Land of My Father, Bo Caldwell
Gift from the Sea, Anne Morrow Lindbergh
The True Story of Hansel and Gretel, Lisa Murphy
Inheritance of Loss, Kiran Desai
A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseni
On Chesil Beach, Ian McEwan
Suite Francaise, Irene Nemirovsky
Intuition, Allegra Goodman
View from Castle Rock, Alice Munro
Not on Our Watch, Don Cheadle/John Prendergast
The Keep, Jennifer Egan
Talk, Talk, TC Boyle
Passage to India, EM Forrester
A Breath of Fresh Air, Amulya Malladi
Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon
Sisters Keeper, Jodi Picoult
People's Act of Love, James Meek
Little Children, Tom Perrota
Look at Me, Jennifer Egan
Bastard of Istanbul, Elif Shafak
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, JK Rowling
Love Walked In, Marisa de los Santos
Monique & the Mango rains, Kris Halloway
A Hole in the Universe, Mary McGarry Morris
Accidental Tourist, Anne Tyler
Amateur Marriage, Anne Tyler
Digging to America, Anne Tyler
Something Borrowed, Emily Griffin
Blue Shoes & Happiness, Alexander McCall Smith
The Almost Moon, Alice Sebold
Missing Joseph, Elizabeth George
Playing for Ashes, Elizabeth George
A Place of Hiding, Elizabeth George
The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets,