Whipped cream on the Pumpkin Pie - the extras I read after meeting the 2009 goal of 75 books.

This is a draft, a "work in progress" posting so that I don't fall too far behind on my reads and it becomes more difficult to catch up ...

My earlier Challenge posts are here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/55208 (Thread # 1)

http://www.librarything.com/topic/72975 (Thread # 2)

Oh, boy. The good books just keep coming my way.

Book # 76 - Sworn to Silence - very good read for this genre. Be forewarned there is graphic violence and its aftermath vividly portrayed as an integral part of the story. (I hope that there are no real spoilers here, but be aware, there might be). Really great characters including the female police chief of this small town where she grew up in an Amish family, the rest of the good guys, the perp (bad, bad, bad) and an interesting out-of-town officer of the law, who has almost destroyed his career after things have gone down badly for him on the job. Castillo's follow-up to this book, will be published in 2010.

Book # 77 - My Life in France This book is a wonderful, snazzy, memoir of Julia Child's life in France and later some inside information on how The French Chef television program came to be for WGBH in Boston. Lovely, as far as I know, very honest. Her love for her husband, Paul and for her French and American friends and family and especially her love affair with food and cooking take center stage here. Fed my longing to live in France myself with my DH and do some shopping, chopping and cooking. And, of course, dining, talking, sipping wine. Ah, heaven.

Book # 78 - Still Alice

Book # 79 - Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel (True Life)

Editing and fleshing out to follow ...

Bon appétit, Mon Amis!

Good morning!

Hey, Luxx. You just succeeded in bringing a big smile to my face and a chuckle to my belly. Thanks for stopping by! How's yourself and dear ones doing these days. I haven't been able to do much posting around the threads of my friends, and I miss you.

Well Ruth at least you've been able to get in some great reads while you're under the weather. Can't wait for your review of Half Broke Horses. I've got it near the top of my tbr list. Continue to hope for the best for you.

Well, I'm certainly glad to see your new thread, and I look forward to your upcoming reviews.

We're doing very well, thank you for asking. Max is six weeks old now, and sleeps 5-6 hours at night (astounding!). Brooks loves his baby brother - he's so gentle and sweet and is always looking out to make sure Max is ok. We're a very happy household right now. :)

Hey, Ruth, I have the new thread starred and am anxiously awaiting the review of Half Broke Horses. I am already adding Sworn to Silence to the BlackHole. My Life in France and Still Alice are already there.

Good evening! I now have your new thread starred, and have already added Sworn to Silence to my wishlist, thanks to your comments!

Hi Ruthie- I tracked you down! You cannot hide! I should be starting Half Broke Horses soon! Hope you are doing better!

Hi Ruth,

I just started Half Broke Horses yesterday and love it!

Hope this finds you feeling better!

Happy Birthday To You!

Thank you for the cake, Linda. This cyber cake will be the one and only B'day cake for me this year ... but, that's okay. Really!

As of today, I have "lost" 57 pounds since I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in late January of this year. I think it is okay for me to be happy about having a fasting blood sugar of 97 yesterday. No pharma. Diet and some walking (that I am looking forward to getting back into when I feel better).

Request ... BTW, if anyone wants to talk nutrition and exercise, let's do it by PM and not on our threads. Okay? Thank you.

Happy birthday, and congrats on your progress!

Mmmmm! Love the title of this latest thread! I, too, want to read Half Broke Horses after reading The Glass Castle. What did you think of Still Alice? I'm skerred, myself! Where did that guy Jack live? On 42 Jump Street? ;-)

I thought My Life in France was one of the best memoirs I have read in a long time. Child's personality really came through in the writing. She grew and changed before our eyes. I could see her passion and excitement for cooking and teaching others developing right in front of us. I do wonder if she did most of the writing or if her nephew did it? I do remember reading someplace that she had written her autobiography but kept rewriting and honing it and was never satisfied with it enough to publish it. If that is true I wonder if there will be other volumes of her autobiography published?

Ruthie- HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Big hug to you too!!
Is today the day??

> 12 - Thank you , Luxx

> 13 - Bonnie - re: Still Alice - I think this is without a doubt one of the best books I have read this year. Highly recommend it for every one. I hope that you do not let fear keep you from it any longer. My husband read it first, then I read it. We both live with chronic illness and boy did we understand this patient and this family. Wonderfully written and actually hopeful. Read it with a friend so you can talk. Or PM me while you are reading it and I will listen to you!

>14 benitastrnad: - Benita - Completely agree with My Life in France being one of the very best memoirs I have read.

From reading the prologue, my sense of what was said about how the book came together is this:

They wrote it "together" from letters and notes that Ms. Childs had kept safely stored away just for the purpose of writing this someday. She spoke and shared stories and documents and he wrote the text. (No further volumes were mentioned).

It is very fresh and has great immediacy as to time and place, as well as being written in her authentic voice. It is filled with her joy for preparing and eating good food, her no nonsense attitude and her enthusiastic determination to share this passion with American cooks. (To say nothing of the way she and her husband loved and supported each other in their careers). She succeeded in print as well as she succeeded in her long television career with Public Television station WGBH - Boston, and The French Chef cooking show, the first of its kind, maybe.

I bought her book The Way to Cook for a birthday present to myself. Her voice shines through each and every page and photograph, within it also. Bon appétit!

>15 msf59: - Mark -

Yes. Today is ze day for the "B" Day.

My DH (RedHillsReader) and I had a wonderful dinner with a Filet Mignon, Baked Potato, Crispy Fresh Salad with oil & vinegar dressing, and a hunk of warm French Baguette. For desert - Proust's favorites - Madeleines*

It had some similarity to the scene from Tom Jones (1963) where he has dinner with a bonnie lass and enjoys it thoroughly. Just rent it, Mark. You prolly wasn't even bairn back then.

* see link for the Proust connection:

http://www.joyofbaking.com/madeleines.html

Thank you for the birthday wishes and hug. Can you tell, that like Julia Child, I am passionate about good food? tee hee

Ruthie

I have had lots of fun today, Mark. Yeah.

Happy Birthday Ruth!!!

Hope you had a great day!

Happy Birthday, Ruth! I've already read Still Alice--that's why I'm scared! ;-) Just wanted to know what you thought about it. I loved it too. Amazing how good it was, considering it's written from the point of view of the person slowly losing her faculties.

Belated happy birthday! Hope it was a great one. (Sounds like dinner was nice.)

Ruth, since you are a Southern gal, shouldn't the title of this thread be Whipped cream on the Sweet potato pie?

Belated Happy birthday! Wishing you good books and good friends;)

Thanks to each of you for all the Happy B'Day wishes. You are all so thoughtful to stop by and are welcome here to read and post.

> Bonnie - Okay. I understand. Yes, it shakes the reader's complacency and sense of safety does it not? The protagonist is an amazing human being, honest and admirable, letting us into her innermost thoughts and experiences the way she did. It is difficult to believe that she and her family are created human characters and are brought to life through the skillful brain of the author, Lisa Genova.

>21 kidzdoc: - Darryl - your comment has me LOL. Yes, you are right. There are more sweet potatoes than pumpkins in the southeastern US ... but, since my folks were raised poor, it was a step up toward the working class (or even the middle class) to have pumpkin pie instead. More of a treat, and a luxury because after WWII, so many foods were canned instead of growing them in a kitchen garden.

( A pecan pie was the ultimate luxury, unless your Grandparents had a pecan grove, as mine did, on their small farm. Most folks knew someone who had a tree or two and would invite them to come over and gather the ripe pecans in the husk/shell from the ground surrounding the trees. Many churches and cemeteries let people come and gather pecans in the Fall from their property. too).

Everyday or Sunday-after-dinner pie was what sweet potato pie was for, although, most of us would be hard pressed to accurately tell the difference between the two fillings if they were sampled side-by-side with a good cup of coffee. Ah, the roots from whence we grow, eh? Pleasant memories.

Speaking of pies ... I need to get baking myself.

Cheers and love.

Chiming in on the foods we grew up with, I'm from a small town in NE Pennsylvania founded by Welsh and English miners who came to Bangor and Pen Argyl, PA to mine the slate quarries. We had a steady diet of "pastys", which are English meat pies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasty

Ruth, like you, I came from humble roots, from this culture came my work ethic, my mandate to reach out to the poor and my pragmatic common sense.

Well I don't know how I missed this but hope it was a happy birthday for you yesterday Ruth.

Pecan pie, especially the New Orleans version, is heavenly.

One of my work partners, a native North Carolinian, made the same comment about pumpkin vs. sweet potato pies.

That's interesting about pastys, Linda. I became slightly addicted to those sold by the West Cornwall Pasty Company on my visits to London.

Ruth, just stopping by to wish you a happy Thanksgiving, and also good wishes to your health.

Thanks to each one of you and thank you for the Happy Birthday wishes (it was), Happy Thanksgiving wishes (it was wonderful, delicious, relaxing and FUN! and wishes for good health, I'm still working on the health business, Terri, but, thanks for your kind thoughts. I will persist and get well! Promise.

WH/Ruth

A belated happy birthday wish from me, too! Glad to hear you had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well.

Book # 80 - Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip by Matthew Algeo.

This was an interesting book that was a combination of history, anecdotes about Harry Truman and his wife, Bess, and facts about both the politics and financial difficulties of being a former President of the United States in the period before any provision was made for a presidential pension of any kind. And, an expense account for office space, staff and postage expenses was unheard of.

The difficulties of the Trumans even beginning to think that they might be able to travel the country freely by automobile without being recognized and treated as celebrities is humorously addressed.

A section of the book explains how Air Force One came to be the name used for the aircraft conveying the President during his air travels.

Not a rip snorter, by any means, but, it moves right along and shows clearly some of the humanity of both the former president and the former first lady.

The prices of lunches , dinners, gasoline and hotel rooms "back in the day" are astonishing both to read about and to believe, compared to present day expenses for the same goods and services.

Though Truman's approval rating was very low when he left office, he was treated in a warm and friendly manner by the folks whom he met along the way on his trip back East from his home in Independence, MO.

I would recommend this book to any reader interested in Truman, recent political history pertaining to the presidency and a pre-tabloid style of writing that reveals something of the real man behind the facade of the office.

Four stars. ****

Also submitted to the main page for review under A One-of-a-Kind President! ...and scroll down a bit to the reviews:

http://www.librarything.com/work/8098696

Hope you don't mind, Ruth, but I've stolen this book as a future suggestion for the Missouri Readers Group. Thank you!

That sounds like a nice book, and it would fit my 20th-century US category in my 1010 challenge. Onto the list it goes . . .

Terri - By all means, it will be a wonderful addition to the list for the Missouri Readers Group.

A bit over a year ago, my DH (RedHillsReader) was in Kansas City, MO visiting with some friends. The man's father has also become a friend of ours and while RHR was in town they went over to the Truman house in Independence. The Dad delivered the newspaper everyday to the Trumans and said they were wonderful folks. It was really fun for my sweetheart to have a personal tour guide through the old neighborhood, there in Independence. RHR has read many books written about former President Truman and read this one just before I got my hands on it. Enjoy it, all of you.

Love,

Ruth

Terri, too ...

Glad that you stopped by and spotted this one.

I'm planning on being a part of the 1010 Challenge, also, but need to spend some time thinking of categories and topics of interest. I've only gotten as far as deciding that I would like to give it a try. Not much longer to dilly dally around for me ... the New Year will be here before we know it!

With love,

Ruth

Hi Ruthie- Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure sounds very good! I know Joanne was very pleased with it too! You should try Truman by David McCullough. It's one of my favorite presidential bios! Stop by and visit me on my new 75 Challenge, I'm with the big dogs!!

Hi Ruth,

I'm so glad you liked the Excellent Adventure! I get a little nervous when I recommend little books like this and then someone actually takes me up on it.

Joanne

Hi Ruth,

You reminded me that Truman was just so human, just a regular guy. Thumbed your review.

Ruth

Great review. I added a thumbs up to your review as well!

I hope you are feeling better these days.

Hugs,
Linda

Hey, you've got a Hot Review with the Excellent Adventure!

I already had the Excellent Adventure in the BlackHole, but I have bumped it up due to your review, Ruth. Another great job!

Ruth - What a coincidence! I bought the Excellent Adventure for my dad earlier this year, and just borrowed it from him when I was home at Thanksgiving. I'll be reading it soon, and I'm really looking forward to it after reading your great review!

To be reviewed very soon:

#81 -Jacqueline Sheehan's Lost & Found Four Stars

#82 -Zeitoun by Dave Eggers Four Stars

Unfinished reads but back on the TBR list ...

Wolf Hall: A Novel and True Compass: A Memoir

Bear with me ... I'm struggling a little today with how I'm feeling.

Love to all who stop by to see what I'm up to in my reading life.

Ruth

Love right back at ya, Ruth. I am reading Wolf Hall right now. I kind of regret the timing. With so much going on this month, I've been reading it in little pieces here and there and not doing justice to it at all.

Hi Ruth! I read Lost and Found a couple of years ago as one of my vacation books and really enjoyed it. I'm a sucker for a story with a dog!

Sending good thoughts your way :)
Joanne

Ruth, glad you are stopping in despite your health. I hope you feel better soon!

Thanks to all of my LT friends who are stopping by to check in and say hello. I really appreciate it.

I had a procedure this morning that I hoped would provide more definitive information re: what it going on with me. Nope, not yet. Helpful, though. NOT clear cut answers, yet. More tests and procedures may be in close proximity in the medical wings. We shall see.

Still reading good books when I can do so. Still posting when I can. Still eager to read threads when I can stay awake long enough not to do a face plant on the keyboard, though sometimes I lurk and don't have the stamina to post.

Just bear with me, friends. LT is probably one of the brightest lights in my life, right up there next to my DH (Dear Husband) who has become quite an accomplished cook this past year. (Mostly East Indian foods, but, also grilled meats and veggies, pressure cooked specialties and both rice and porridge in the rice cooker with a brain).

In the past, walking has been the best thing that I have gone to help with a bunch of irritating maladies. That is what I am hoping to get the okay on from the docs. Being able to get outside is always wonderful.

Started reading Dewey last night and got in a few pages today. Received my very own copy of Wolf Hall: A Novel yesterday from a sale on Amazon ... only eight dollars!

I'll be back.

With love,

Ruthie

Here's looking at you Ruth. I admire your stamina and bright outlook. I'm hoping your ordeal will soon be concluded and you'll soon be able to return to the sunny side of the street ;-)

(God that was corny.)

Sending good thoughts your way . . . Hang in there!

Ruth - I'm sending thoughts of strength and healing your way. Take care of yourself!

Thanks to each one of you. You contribute so much to me being able to hold out and hold on to the belief that I can get my health and strength back.

If you want ... you can join me ... Eat well, sleep well, laugh a lot, move your body, read good books, drink good wine (if you drink, that is), believe in something beyond your ability to fully describe, but, not beyond your good fortune to know about and experience completely. Seek out, respect and nurture good friends, love them thoughtfully, let them love you back and inspire you. Look up to your children. Yes, Stasia, you are a guiding light in this area.

Wow, where did all this come from. Time to go to bed ... that sedative is calling my name, again.

Good night Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are.

See, Bonnie, I like corn, too. And, SOME neat people I know like it, present company included ... *arrow points to Miss Bonnie*

See link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5IIXeR5OUI

BTW - I finished reading # 83 - The Cellist of Sarajevo. Four Stars. Mini-review: Dire - Frightening - Resilient - Enduring - Human - Hope - Beauty.

Ruthie

#51: Sweet dreams, Ruth - although I am worried about what those drugs you are taking are doing to your thinking (me, a guiding light?)

Glad you enjoyed The Cellist of Sarajevo. I loved it when I read it earlier this year.

I'm sending healing thoughts your way and hoping to absorb some of your timely advice into the chaos of this season.

--Nancy

Ruth, I'm so sorry to hear that you're still not feeling that well. Hope every day is a better one. I want to join you on your quest--a great list of goals. I loved The Cellist of Sarajevo but not exactly a book to get you laughing (quest goal #3). What are you reading next? I thought about what was in my library and realized that I don't tend to read that many books that make me laugh out loud. The four that came to mind were: A Prayer for Owen Meany, Naked, To Say Nothing of the Dog, and Ant Farm--four very different books. Have you read any of them? What's the book you think of for your best "laugh-out-loud" moments?

"books that make me laugh out loud"

Two words: David Sedaris

Ooh! Holidays on Ice! That was the first story I heard Sedaris read.

I smile just thinking about Holidays on Ice and Ant farm. Simon Rich also has another called Free Range Chickens. All silly vignettes of fun!

When You Are Engulfed in Flames is another Sedaris book that I found entertaining.

Dear Bonnie (Buffalo) and Bonnie (Seattle), Joanne and Caroline (both love Golden Retreivers).

You all seem to be in accord about David Sedaris.

I still haven't read any of his books or heard his readings. His sister's book on cooking and entertaining I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence is hilarious, and I really enjoyed that one a couple of years ago.

I will see what our local library has to offer, cause this is a good time to enjoy a good hearty, belly laugh. Thanks to all of you for your ideas.

I finished reading # 84 last night, Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World. I would recommend this to any cat lover, library lover and anyone who could do with a reminder about how important family and friends are in our lives. An amazing story of a town in Iowa, a good community of people in Spencer, a library, director/librarian and her staff and patrons, and one incredible cat.

Ho ho ho -

Ruthie

Ruth - I love your comments about Dewey! My mom loaned me this book earlier this year, and I liked it too! (Plus I'm from a small town in Iowa, so I could identify with the people of Spencer.)

I loved Dewey... my mom's just gone on a holiday with some friends and I loaned her my copy to read on the plane. I hope she remembers to bring it back! ;-)

Hang in there Ruth

I hope you feel better soon!

Thanks, Linda. I will hang in.

Last night I finished #85 Amy and Isabelle: A Novel. Here is a mini-review:

Amy and Isabelle was a very interesting read, though the topic might be difficult for some readers who eschew reading about sexuality and human beings. The novel contains so many compelling elements, but, the element that stands out for me is the redemption of the older female protagonist in the novel, the mother, Isabelle.

As did her other most recent female "force of nature", Olive Kitteridge she came to trust and know herself.

The other characters are so fully realized, I felt as though I knew these people pretty well. Terrific writing about the feelings of a young girl's sexual awakening and the circumstances under which that occurs. Way more than a melodrama, as story that could be from many people's lives.

Excellent book. Five stars.

You can also see it on the books Main Page:

http://www.librarything.com/work/5217

On to the next one, which is Black Swan Green.

Lovely dawn sky this morning in Tallahassee, FL, BTW. Makes me feel s-o-o-o-o good to see Nature's beauty.

Ruth,

I remember that one factory woman who was so irritating (although I can't remember her name). I thought it was such an interesting take on mothers and daughters with the mother actually jealous of the daughter's romance. I love Elizabeth Strout. In Black Swan Green you'll meet another adolescent with growing pains but an entirely different approach.

BTW I thumbed your review.

I will be interested in seeing your review of Black Swan Green, one of the books I was supposed to get to this year but never did.

Ruthie- Loved your review! I've been interested in reading Strout's other books, after reading her masterwork "Olive"! You've earned another Hot Review, my friend!

Hi Ruth - Thanks for the reminder about Amy and Isabelle. Like Mark, I've meant to read it since I finished Olive. Great review!!

I highly recommend Abide With Me. I was so impressed by Elizabeth Strout's wonderful writing!