borrowed books

My boss at the coffeeshop has my own good taste in books and lent me these. The first two were stories set in contemporary Afghanistan. The third was very Oprah's Book Club, in the best possible way.


B+


B


A

where the winter ducks go

So I took that movie Chapter 27 out of the library. $2 wasted. It was terrible; when a movie has you just wanting John Lennon to get shot already, something is very very wrong. Also why would you cast

to play

when there is


D

beginning of the end

Another season of Lost starts, another new job in York starts. Maybe this one will last longer than the training takes, unlike all the other excellent employment opportunities I have found in York. I am making coffee at Penn State York in a bistro next to the Pullo Center. I might be making coffee for the Dog Whisperer on Feb. 27. No lie, and I am sure Mr. Milan will be very interested in hearing about the Scariest Tiny Dog in York County.

like christmas eve

Since Lost:Christmas and Black Smoke:Santa, I have compiled a wish list:


The reason why I am taking cake decorating classes.


Truth on so many levels.


Because I dream someday of hosting the best Lost party ever. What this kit is missing: Hawaiian pizza (because bacon=boar and pineapple=mango).


Pug-sized replicas of my best friends.

picture perfect

This book felt more Jennifer Weiner than Picoult. I read a Jennifer Weiner book straight through on a flight from Alaska to Philly because it was engaging enough to hold my interest that long but not heavy enough to ever need to take a break to digest the story. History repeats, except this time I was in York wishing I was on an airplane to anywhere.
C

underdog medal

Rolling Stone had named Sam's Town the Most Underrated Album of the Decade. I had previously named it my Most Favorite Album of Ever, so the props are ok by me.

crash into me

The Crash in real time. Lost anything in real time is wacky and seems kind of wrong. Thank you, stranger who posted this on Mandi's FB.

Wake me up in ONE WEEK :) :)

frank mills & sunshine

handle with care

I would not have fallen so hard in love with Jodi if this book had been my first impression. It is also her most recent, so I'm not all that surprised that success has led her to drop the ball a bit. There were too many similarities between this and My Sister's Keeper--the mother who has lost herself in her crusade to save her sick daughter, the father who is startled to realize his ineffectiveness but is so emotionally invested that he is sympathetic (and the warrior for the daughter who becomes an underdog because she is healthy). Not a bad book, but not up to par.
C

opening squared

The Job


The Play

westward bound

Highlights from Colorado holidays:


Eagle, CO--Jeff & Molly's town.


Bambified.


SKIING FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER. I am my brother's sister after all.


Fireworks at Beaver Creek on New Year's Eve.


RED ROCKS.


On the way to the airport, we stopped at the outlets at Silverthorne and stopped at a Chinese restaurant that had my favorite ladies room ever.


Apparently, United bought Oceanic.

the other other sister

First off, I liked it more than I thought I would. It looked like a straight-up Lifetime movie, but it did seem like one that could hold it's own in the theatre too. I initially thought Joan Cusack would be playing the mother. It was a good & different interpretation of the book to have her playing the judge, but she would have been better than Cameron Diaz as the mother. She wasn't bad in the part, but something about it just never rang well with me. The girls were well-cast. Both the brother and the dad had their storylines sliced out, so they were forgettable. My main issue was the complete changing of the ending. I just don't see the point of basing a movie off of a book unless you try to hold true to the actual storyline.
C+

salem falls

She used allusions to The Crucible and the Jack & Jill nursery rhyme, which I love. I'm a big fan of authors incorporating other voices within their own. I feel like the themes of The Crucible/McCarthy hearings/etc. have gotten to the point of being boring, but this was a fresh take on because there was just a hint of The Crucible flavor instead of it being the same old main course. It's fun that Jodi girl intertwines characters from book to book (esp. in this case since it was a lawyer and that makes sense). I think though, she needs to be careful of recycling plot points (a maybe-raped victim chops off her long red hair...didn't that happen in the 10th cirlce?). Girlfriend always has plot shockers but she dropped bombs right up until the last line. I liked the story that was told in Second Glance better, but liked the storyteller here best of all. In an interview, she said thepoint she wanted to hammer in was that lies can outpace the truth everytime. I don't know if I agree, but I definitely don't disagree.
A+

plain truth

One thing that I love about Jodi Picoult is that she takes ideas that are so easily generalized and researches them so well before writing them into a plotline. In Salem Falls, it was Wicca and in this one it was the Amish community. She usually uses an attorney in one of the main roles and this one was one of the most fully-developed outside the context of the case. I think I would put Plain Truth in my top 3 Picoult's so far.
A

bizkit

23 seconds well-spent.