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Bookclub: Seeking Recommendations!

January 2012- you might remember that my New Year’s Resolution was to read more. I did ok for a little while, finding a bunch of novels about art to enjoy (Leaving Van Gogh, An Object of Beauty, Girl in Hyacinth Blue) but then the list ran dry, and I was in a rut. So I started up a bookclub with a few of my girlfriends and we have been pretty successful at keeping to a book a month. Well, lets just say that our book choices are starting to leave something to be desired. We did ok with Gone Girl, but most of the books have been really depressing…

This month I am supposed to read Far from the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity. I’ll let you take a second to read the description. Too lazy??- still waiting for me to sum it up? The book discusses the way families handle raising children with “identifiers” such as deafness, physical deformity, or homosexuality.

Now. I’m sure this is a very interesting choice if say, you work as a teacher of kids with special needs. Or you are a parent in a similar family situation. Or maybe if you are a parent at all. But can someone tell me why a bunch of 26 year old unmarried girls would find this book interesting? Call me close minded but I have NO interest in reading this. I can’t even make it through the description without getting bored. I want something that teaches me about art, or history- or just a lighthearted love story. I think my book club is trying to impress each other with their discussion of difficult topics. But who thinks that is fun??? NO ONE.

Either way, I think more people in the group agree than they are willing to admit- a few have said I should take over with some more fun titles. Problems is we are all bad at picking books. So I’m asking you readers! Please, please let me know your BEST recommendations!

book club


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Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures…

Today I’m going all out.

Tonight I am going to an opening at the MFA for their new Mario Testino exhibit with Nick AND……….. my sister, Maggie! Didn’t know I have a sister? She doesn’t make it into my posts often because I rarely get to see her, which is why I’m EXTRA excited that she is driving up to join in the fun! The event is certain to pull some big names in fashion so the pressure is ON to look good- which is why today, I’ve turned to my favorite diet book “The Little Black Dress Diet”

The book features several different diet regimens, but my favorite is “24 hours to beat the bloat” because – lets be honest- we all could use a little last minute slimming before slipping on a gorgeous dress.

Curious to the secret? Lemons. Mixed in between every “meal” is 2 glasses of hot water with lemon. I use the word meal lightly because today’s breakfast is oatmeal and lunch is “a sizable bunch of grapes, an apple and a banana that is slightly brown”. I get a tasty “snack” in the afternoon of 6 dates. They also recommend a bizarre tea concoction with chopped parsley and fennel seeds (hey- I”m desperate here!). So, hopefully I’ll be looking like Audrey Hepburn in no time!

well.. maybe.

And don’t worry, I’ll have a great recap about the event tomorrow.


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Summer Reading List

When I was in Grade School/ High School, I never really appreciated the concept of Summer Reading. To me, checking out Brave New World from the library was about as enticing as doing the dishes. But now, I’ve come to appreciate setting aside some time in the sun to enjoy a good story- in fact I wish I had MORE time in my schedule to do it! The irony of this is, I no longer have a great list of preselected reads and I usually find myself scratching my head at the bookstore, trying to pick something out. Here are a few on my list for the summer, any recommendations of what to add?

Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald

Mistress of Modernism: The Life of Peggy Guggenheim by Mary V. Dearborn

Seven Days in the Art World by Sarah Thorton

What’s on your reading list this summer?


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Children’s Books: not just for children

Every week, for the past four years I have made the trek from my office to the public school down the street to meet with the same little girl and read her stories while she enjoys her lunch. The program is something my office sponsors through the Everybody Wins, Metro Boston Powerlunch Program, a national nonprofit that supports children’s literacy and mentorship. Today was the last day, and I have to say I’m pretty sad, yet proud, that my kid is graduating to a new school.

When we met, my partner was five years old, in 1st grade and was barely reading “See Spot Run” But by the end of this year, she is 4th grade, 10 years old, probably a foot taller, and we were finishing a beautifully illustrated version of Wind and the Willows…. with enthusiasm!

The commitment has literally been a half hour each week x 30 weeks x 4 years.. it comes out to about 60 hours, but in those 60 hours I have not only read countless numbers of picture books, but I have also made a great friend and I like to think I have helped her to always love and appreciate a good story. It was also a fun experience for me, a weekly trip down memory lane into the lives of some of my favorite long lost friends.

Some of my favorite memories as a kid were when my parents read to me. I can still hear my dad saying “the Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the BIG HUNGRY BEAR” and my mom reading “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” so many times she knew it by heart.

And I think its fair to say that the art of children’s book illustrations are far underrated. Books provide kids with their earliest exposure to art of all sorts of different mediums.

I know this post is quite off topic for me, but I guess what I’m trying to say is READ to your kids. I don’t have kids, but I am certain that some of my readers do- and I have to imagine that most people here at least KNOW a kid who would benefit from having someone to read with. Wherever, whenever, there is no better bonding experience, no better gift you can give than reading aloud and enjoying a story. And definitely check out Powerlunch if you are looking for a way to give back to your own community- they are all over the country!

This post is scattered with some of my favorite stories. What stories were your favorite to read a loud as a child?

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