Carol's Notebook – Page 213

Readers’ Workouts – 4/17

April 17, 2018April 17, 2018 by Carol3 Comments

Okay. I think I need a fresh start. I've been so busy lately that when I'm not, I seem to do nothing but sit on the couch. This week's activities: Thursday: Walk outside - it was such a nice day. Dinners: Tuesday - Tacos Wednesday - Pulled pork Thursday - Beef Barbacoa Friday - Chicken Fajitas (restaurant) Saturday - Macaroni and cheese Sunday - Pizza (take out) Monday - Pasta with shellfish Thursday's dinner: https://www.instagram.com/p/BhfPH0yle9i/?taken-by=carolsnotebook Goals for April Gym – 4 times (current: 1) Yoga – 12 times (current: 1) 92 pts in the #AprilAbs Challenge (Current: 48) Meal ideas for next week: Turkey Cheddar Tacos Pasta with eggplant and mushrooms Thai chicken salad Turkey burgers 2018 Fitness Goals: - Lose weight. Goal - Lose 25 lbs. - Run 4 races of any length - Hit my weekly step goal (average 8,000 steps/day) for 36 weeks. (Current total: 9) How was your week? Readers’ Workouts is hosted by Joy at Joy’s Book Blog...

Lost Books and Old Bones by Paige Shelton

April 13, 2018April 12, 2018 by Carol4 Comments

A bookshop, Scotland, and a murder - do I really need to say more? Lost Books and Old Bones is the 3rd in the series, not counting a Christmas novella (which I haven't read yet). I've read all three and definitely enjoy spending time in Edinburgh with Delaney and her crew. I don't often feel like I would actually love to hang out with the characters in books, but I would love to work in the bookshop and drink at the pub across the road, and visit the castle. Lost Books and Old Bones could probably be read as a stand-alone, but I think the first couple of books will give some needed background on Delaney and what makes the bookshop so special. All of the major characters return here, and there is a touch of romance for Delaney, but not enough to take away from the plot. This time around, Mallory, one of Delaney's new friends, is killed in the alley behind...

Dear Madam President by Jennifer Palmieri

April 12, 2018April 13, 2018 by Carol5 Comments

First of all, I'm tired of these articles/essays pretending to be books. I picked up the audio of this one for a couple of reasons, but it was only like 2½ hours long. At 190-ish pages, that's really short. I don't know if the pages are an odd size or the print is huge, but it's a bit of a rip off for the price, hardback or audio, in my opinion. Onto the reasons I picked Dear Madam President up. From the blurb, I knew Jennifer Palmieri was the Director of Communications for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign who I did vote for, but it also assured me that it was a not solely about that campaign, that it was a book for all women regardless of politics. The reviews on Goodreads and Amazon are overwhelmingly positive. I read the opening on Margot's blog, Joyfully Retired, last week and it caught my attention. I have to say I was a little disappointed. Palmieri has...

My Favorite . . Movie I Like Better Than The Book

April 11, 2018 by Carol6 Comments

My Favorite.. is a weekly meme hosted by Maureen’s Books. In this meme we share every week something we love with each other. Because let’s face it.. The world can be a dark place and it’s time to share something positive. For more info: My Favorite Meme. Usually I prefer the book to the movie. Books have more space to develop plot lines, to let us get to know the characters, to allow for more subplots. But movies have the visual advantage obviously and the soundtrack. In the past, when asked if there was a movie I liked better than the book, I'd say The Shining. The movie was just flat-out scarier than the book, but I'm not a huge Stephen King fan to begin with. This year I have to add Strangers on a Train to the list. I read the book in February and then watched the Hitchcock movie shortly after. Hitchcock manages to show us the discomfort, guilt, menace, that...

Readers’ Workouts – 4/10

April 10, 2018April 10, 2018 by Carol10 Comments

It's actually sunny today and supposed to warm up a lot toward the end of the week. Then it crashes again, but I'm going to ignore that part of the forecast for now. I need to try to get more walking in. I've been getting a little lazy. This week's activities: Tuesday: Yoga Thursday: Elliptical Dinners: Tuesday - Haluski and kielbasa Wednesday - Pizza (left-over) Thursday - Pork loin, roasted carrots and potatoes Friday - Buffet Saturday - Egg sandwich Sunday - Nachos Monday -Chicken and dumplings Sunday's nachos - not healthy, but yummy. And at least there were veggies on them. https://www.instagram.com/p/BhVAC-mnMJb/?taken-by=carolsnotebook Goals for April Gym – 4 times (current: 1) Yoga – 12 times (current: 1) 92 pts in the #AprilAbs Challenge (Current: 32) Meal ideas for next week: Turkey Cheddar Tacos Pasta with eggplant and mushrooms Thai chicken salad Turkey burgers 2018 Fitness Goals: - Lose weight. Goal - Lose 25 lbs. - Run 4 races of any length - Hit my weekly step goal (average 8,000 steps/day) for 36 weeks. (Current total: 8) How was your week? Readers’ Workouts is hosted by Joy at Joy’s...

First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros

April 10, 2018April 9, 2018 by Carol4 Comments

Every Tuesday Vicki at I'd Rather Be At the Beach hosts First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros, where we share the first paragraph or two of a book we are reading or thinking about reading soon. Mine comes from Rare Books Uncovered: True Stories of Fantastic Finds in Unlikely Places by Rebecca Rego Barry. In 1952, Vincent Starrett posed a question in the Saturday Evening Post: "Have You a Tamerlane in Your Attic?" Starrett, a Chicago newspaperman, author, and die-hard book collector, was referring to Edgar Allan Poe's first book of poetry, a slender, self-published volume bound in paper wrappers called Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827). The title page credited only "A Bostonian" as its creator; Poe's name was known only to the printer, Calvin F. S. Thomas. Reviewers and readers, however few there were, failed to immediately realize its merit, and the copies—some estimate fifty, others two hundred—were scattered to the four winds. After Poe published a second volume and his literary...