Mrs. B's 2010 Book Reviews Part One

I've been trying to come up with an easier way to do this series, especially as I read a whopping SIXTY books this year. I know, hard to believe, huh? Anyway, Mr. B was helping me create pie charts of the books' statistics but it sure looked a lot less difficult when he showed me than when I attempted to do them on my own. Cripe, it'd take me longer to do those suckers than put in reviews of all I read! Thanks anyway, Mr. B!

But, for the series opener, I figured I'd throw out the stats I compiled; just in written out format, nothing fancy.

Many of you who frequent my Blog are either also following me on Goodreads OR see my reviews as they come out real time via Facebook. However, this is a nice annual tradition for me; to see in black and white and color all in one place what I've accomplished!

So, here goes the opener. Of the 60 books I read:

Ratings

7% = hated/1 star

20% = didn't much care for/2 stars

33% = solid/good/3 stars

25% = really good/4 stars

15% = totally awesome/5 stars

Genres

85% = fiction (14% of these historical fiction)

15% = nonfiction

Reason Read

17% = book club selection (80% of these 3 stars and above)

38% = recommended to me/someone else I know read it (60% of these 3 stars and above)

45% = my own choice (62% of these 3 stars and above)

Medium

32% = listened to (many of the stinkers are in this category, I might add)

68% = read-read (of these, 15% I actually borrowed from the library or someone else; unusual for me since I typically like to own everything I read)

43% were duplicate/favorite authors. Of these, I was sorely disappointed (1 or two stars) in 23%.

Believe it or not, I read the most books (seven) in November. Other heavy hitter months with six each were March, May, August and September. The least read months were January and June (three).

Finally, there was only one book that I started and just could not bring myself to finish. This dubious honor goes to (drum roll):

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

Summary of the book from Goodreads:

Rural Wisconsin, 1909. In the bitter cold, Ralph Truitt, a successful businessman, stands alone on a train platform waiting for the woman who answered his newspaper advertisement for "a reliable wife." But when Catherine Land steps off the train from Chicago, she's not the "simple, honest woman" that Ralph is expecting. She is both complex and devious, haunted by a terrible past and motivated by greed. Her plan is simple: she will win this man's devotion, and then, ever so slowly, she will poison him and leave Wisconsin a wealthy widow. What she has not counted on, though, is that Truitt - a passionate man with his own dark secrets -has plans of his own for his new wife. Isolated on a remote estate and imprisoned by relentless snow, the story of Ralph and Catherine unfolds in unimaginable ways.

With echoes of Wuthering Heights and Rebecca, Robert Goolrick's intoxicating debut novel delivers a classic tale of suspenseful seduction, set in a world that seems to have gone temporarily off its axis.

My Review:

Quite frankly, this book simply stinks.

I got about 1/2 way through it and just didn't care to finish it.

As for the remainder of my reviews, I think I'll go back to doing it by month, so, next up, January 2010's books!

Mrs. B

A White Day After Christmas

It did start to snow here around 7 last night; we were freshly home from a wonderful day at my mom and dad's and settled in to watch "It's A Wonderful Life". About 1/2 way through the movie, the ground was covered. As an aside, anyone who doesn't tear up watching this movie is a total Scrooge.

These pictures are from 9 this am. Probably about 5" at this point. Now, at 11 am, it's still coming down and, who knows, maybe we're heading towards a FOOT of it :-)

Since Facebook's photo uploader appears to be on the fritz, I'm resorting to the "old fashioned" way of posting via my Blog!

More pictures of the holiday festivities coming soon!

Mrs. B

Standing on our front porch

Snowy tree in our yard

Our SUV almost covered

Looking down the street

Lucy running in the snow (I love this picture!)

Ok, cold now. Time to let me in!

Our backyard

Happy Holidays From The B's!

Here is hoping everyone has a wonderful holiday and a terrific New Year.

Mrs. B, Mr. B, Lucy, Pete, Lily, Ares, Athena and Apollo

Mrs. B's Birthday Dinner 12.17.10

As usual, as always, Chef B outdid himself the other night! Let the pictures (and video at the end) speak for themselves!

Mrs. B

My Menu

My Menu and Julia's Cookbook. Per my request, Chef made everything from "Mastering the Art of French Cooking"

Mrs. B and Bubbly. I perched at the kitchen island whilst my Chef did all the hard work!

Beautiful Bubbly in our Wedding Day Champagne Flutes!

First Course. In essence, cheese cookies. Yum. Note: We used Grandma C's china.

A totally classic picture. Chef B pulls the spit out of the poulet. I love the expression on his face!

Saucing the Main Course.

Saucing/plating the Main Course.

A fantastic White Burgundy to accompany our Main Course.

All hail to the wonderful Chef B!

Chef B prepares to enjoy the fruits of his incredible talent!

Surrounded by presents!

I don't care HOW old one is. Opening cards and presents is always fun!

A welcome surprise gift from my Mom. An exact replica of THE cookie jar we grew up with; filled with a special recipe cookie. I'm not gonna post the pictures of me crying. Got me, Momma.

The incredible finale! Pots de Creme and Port. YUM-O

What's In Your Toolkit?

One of the things those of us in Human Resources used to say to employees and managers was, once you learn a new skill or develop an aptitude or live through and grow from a particular difficult experience; these things are now tools in your toolkit and, no matter what, regardless of where you are or what position you find yourself in, you will from here on out carry them with you. Obviously, in that environment, we were referring to knowledge, skills, aptitudes, talents, experiences, abilities, etc., etc. which were mostly work-related.

And, so, we all have tools in our toolkit that pertain to our own professions (or prior professions). We also have tools that are either just an innate part of who we’ve always been, or, tricks we’ve picked up along the way in this game of life. Frankly, I find these a heck of a lot more interesting and fun to discover about people. For instance, you’re at a cocktail party and a person you vaguely know whom you always felt to be somewhat of a stick in the mud and rather boring shocks you by their admission that they play guitar in a grungy rock in roll band. Or, another person who never says “boo” at work cannot be stumped by any quote from a movie; always knowing what movie it was from, which character said it (and to whom) and who the actor was playing the role.

Then, there are folks that you know fairly well who amaze you in your discovery that, outside of your sphere of involvement with them (whether it be work, church, book club or even a good friend or family member) there is something totally unexpected that they either do (sky dive, cater gourmet meals) or can do (play the ukulele, tie a cherry stem in a knot with their tongue).

I woke up this morning, my birthday (the number of years is slightly over the speed limit in a 45 MPH zone), thinking about the tools I have in MY toolkit. Because anyone reading this probably won’t give a rat’s about my professional tools, I’ll leave those out of the list.

· I read Tarot cards/spreads and cast Astrological charts. This is a fun party trick, but, I think a few folks have found these readings/charts helpful during difficult times of their lives.

· I went through a Teaching English as a Second Language certificate program at Duke. I absolutely love coming up with creative lesson plans and teaching individuals who need to be able to function effectively in our country. It’s time consuming, though, so it’s not something I’ve chosen to do as a second career.

· I believe that I can write and that people are usually interested in what I write about. Guess what? If you do a Google search “Microsoft Hearts”, Mrs. B’s Brilliant Blog’s entry about whether or not the game cheats (written by yours truly while in a snit over continually loosing) comes up as #3. Out of 5.6 MILLION results. If you search “Microsoft Hearts Cheat”, the same entry returns at #1 out of just less than a million. Although this is a complete and total fluke, I’m somewhat proud of it!

· I am extremely interested in and consider myself a relative “expert” in these areas:

o The Tudors

o The Wizard of Oz

o The Titanic

This doesn’t necessarily mean much except I can engage in interesting conversation at cocktail parties regailing folks with tid-bits in these areas that they probably didn’t know before!

· I can raise my right eye-brow. I can’t tell you how many times this has come in handy when I’ve wanted to say something not very nice to someone, but couldn’t. This raised eyebrow arch look says it all.

Ok, well, maybe not the most auspicious talents, but, hey, I’m only 47 years old. Who knows what I’ll achieve in the next 50 years! Maybe I’ll finally be able to nail that cherry stem thing.

Mrs. B

CHEERS!

A Different Approach

Every year, it’s the same. I spend quite a bit of my time in the creation of either an informative and interesting (but not too long) Holiday letter OR I comb through the multitude of pictures amassed during the year and design a photo Holiday card with an appropriate quote or quip contained therein. Or, in some years, I’ve done both. Then, I dutifully tromp out to the Post Office to buy a sufficient amount of (non-religious) Holiday stamps; typically Snowmen or other non-threatening (or non-insulting) icons.

I’d say in the past I’ve sent out upwards of 75 of these greetings, knowing full well right off the bat that there will be several that won’t reply in kind:

· Older family members. I cut them some slack, however.

· Certain deadbeat family members and/or friends. They don’t get any slack. After a year of not hearing from them, they came off my list. I have to admit, it does surprise me, year to year, whom I don’t hear back from.

· Jewish friends. I’ve cut them slack in the past but upon thinking of it, why is it that Jewish people cannot send out a Holiday greeting? It doesn’t have to say “Merry Christmas”; it can simply be a letter or a picture or a card with a pretty red cardinal in a snowy tree branch. No more slack to be given.

This year, as I prepared to start “the process”, I have to admit my heart just wasn’t really in to it. It’s not that I don’t have any Holiday spirit, I do, I really do. Case in point, I made a huge batch of Cranberry Liqueur to share with seven lucky recipients. Back before Thanksgiving, I began my Holiday baking and ended up with dozens upon dozens of cookie goodies, including:

· Peppermint Shortbread

· Snickerdoodles

· Double Peanut Butter

· Butterscotch Pecan Oatmeal

· Mint Brownies

· Rollo Prezel and Reese’s Pretzel

· Bourbon Pecan Toffee

These I packaged up and shipped out/delivered last week, leaving a sufficient quantity for The Kid’s consumption and to share on Christmas Day.

But, when it came down to it, I just didn’t feel like doing the annual Holiday greeting from the B’s. As I was poking around upstairs in the office, I came across a TON of unused Holiday cards; either leftover from years past or the several different packages of cards I routinely receive from the Humane Society. And, I got to thinking; “Well, let’s do it differently this year”.

So, with the exception of immediate family (who will receive cards I selected for them personally at my local Hallmark), anyone else who receives a greeting from the B’s will receive one of the cards I discovered in our office. Not that there is anything at all wrong with them; they just were not purchased specifically to be sent THIS year.

And, I have another rule, too. I’m not sending a card unless I get a card first. I know, how Scroogie is this, huh? But, seriously, considering how many cards/greetings I typically receive AFTER mine have gone out, I’m fairly certain that others do this exact same thing.

Not counting immediate family, we’ve so far received NINE, which means I have so far sent out NINE. Given we are 13 days away from Christmas, this is a somewhat paltry amount, but, it is what it is.

Oh, and cutsie Holiday stamps? Forget it. I’m using my normal stamps (it just so happens that the Forever stamps now have wintery visions of pinecones and such; it wasn’t planned).

I know Holiday are supposed to be about a lot of things that they never turn out to be about. Like, giving rather than receiving, kindness, being together with family, and, of course, the children. So, maybe I’m being ridiculous with my new stance on Holiday greetings, but, at least I’m not wasting my time, either. I’ve more time to wrap those presents for the children, bake more goodies if I so desire and open up the refrigerator several times a day so I can hear my Snowman in the ‘Fridge telling me to shut the door.

Who says I’ve not got the spirit? It’s just a different approach this year, is all!

Mrs. B

Work Party!

Click here to view these pictures larger

A few pictures of our day doing yard work at mom and dad's.

Mrs. B