I'm back!

I obviously haven't done this in a while but wanted to do a quick update. I am sure that no one will see this for a while if ever but I kind of like the idea of keeping track of what is going on. I haven't updated my reading list for a while so I thought a good way to catch up is to go over what I have read over the past few months.

I took a quick shot of some of the books I have read lately.

I just started reading this one called The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larson. I haven't gotten too far yet because I haven't been able to stay up long enough. So far so good though...

I just finished The Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo. He is one of my favorite authors so I was really excited when I picked this one up. It was kind of a slow read but the story was pretty interesting. I think one of Russo's best writing qualities are his abilities to create a character with a lot of depth. This story I think explored some feelings and thoughts that I have had before but have failed to verbalize. I think he adds such an amazing human element that keeps you invested in the story.

The next two are from the Hunger Games Trilogy, I don't have the first book in the series because I lent it out but I really enjoyed them. I blazed through all three in a pretty short time. It was pretty violent but it was a really interesting story and was kind of a "Twilight" spin on some classics like 1984. These were some exciting books and I would recommend them.

The next one I borrowed from Jay's mom Barb and it is a pretty faced pasted mystery. The book is called Fever Dream by Preston & Child. This was another fun read and I blazed through it pretty quickly too. If someone wants something fun and faced paced this is a good one to pick up.

Ok this next one is called The Glass Castle by Jeanette Wells. This is an incredible story about the author's childhood. Her story is about her amazing triumph and success in her life. This book is incredible especially seeing that it is a true story. If you are ever feeling bad about yourself or your family take a look at this book and I am sure you will be grateful.

Finally there is The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club by Laurie Notaro and I was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley. These are both collections of short stories about the author's lives. Both were pretty similar and they told their stories with plenty of humor. Although they were a little raunchy at times, there was some serious humor to be had.

Well that about sums it up. I will try to remember to give my feed back about The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and let you know what I think.

One Thousand White Women

Alrighty everyone, I just finished another book by Jim Fergus titled, One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd and I must say that it was fantastic! Let me give you the quick run down, and I promise I will try not to give too much away in case someone decides to read it! This fictional novel recounts the story of a woman named May Dodd through her journals. The Chief of the Cheyenne's named Little Wolf meets with President Grant and asks the US government to gift them 1000 white women in order to better mix the indian people with the whites. Although the novel is fictional, this event did in fact take place but President Grant refused, but the novel however, tells the story as if the President had agreed. May Dodd is one such woman who joins the program in order to gain her freedom, and the story recounts her experience. One of the most interesting things about this novel, as well as its author, is that although it was written by a man, but he chooses to tell the story from the point of view of a woman. I love stories involving the great American west and if I were to give this a rating I would say it was 5 out of 5 stars for me. If anyone decides to read this let me know, I would love to hear your thoughts...

Next on my reading agenda is The Miracles of Santo Fico by DL Smith. If anyone would like to read along, let me know I would love to chat about it as we go along!

And finally, I have to throw in this quick bit of randomness, but since last night Jay and I noticed this strange high pitched noise that sounds very mechanical that is coming from his night stand and I swear we cannot figure out what it is. I thought that maybe it was just some random anomaly until a few minutes ago when it started up again. It is driving me crazy. I fell asleep last night trying to think of what it could be, even wondering if it could be something sinister, like a haunting of some sort except the purpose isn't meant to scare but rather make me nuts. Mission complete if that is what it is trying to do. I also have to note that I have begun to wonder about the goings-on at my house before we moved. I have recently noticed that on every door in my house where the metal rectangle thing goes into the hole in the door jam... everyone following me here... the thing that either retracts or comes out when you turn the handle... anyway, all of those things have a Jesus fish drawn onto them, everyone! So I started to wonder why... where they trying to keep them selves safe, and if so from what? Just saying WTF... (F in this case standing for "Freak", not something worse). I better wrap this up before people think I am crazy, or perhaps it is too late for that.

Book Review

It’s that time again, I just finished another book by Tatiana De Rosnay called Sarah’s Key. De Rosnay recounts the story of a young girl and her family who was torn from her Parisian home in the early morning hours of July 16, 1942 by the French police who were acting under the orders of the German Gestapo. Over thirteen thousand Parisian Jews were either sent to the camp at Drancy or to a huge indoor stadium in Paris known as the Vélodrome d’Hiver. These people were held for days before they were shipped off to camps and later to Auschwitz. The novel explores the problems that arise when bringing up secrets from the past, as well as the importance of remembering what happened so many years ago. This is a pretty quick read and I would highly recommend it! If anyone reads this, let me know what you think, I would love to talk about it!

Moving along. So me and a good buddy of mine went shopping yesterday and found some sweet after Christmas sales! Between Target and Hobby Lobby I got some SWEET stuff for 90% off. I got some fake snow for 20 cents and this really cute word thing (I don’t know what else to call it) for 2 dollars. The rest I got from my Nana, so I spent a whopping $2.30 for this cute winter decoration that I put above my fireplace. (Sorry the picture is such poor quality, I just wanted to get a quick shot on my phone!)

More like Ray

So let's just get this straight now... Ray Jay is a little misleading as far as a blog name goes. It is really just me doing this. If Jay was blogging I would have to question a few things. This is more like a random colection of stupid crap I say. Of course, I think I am always saying stupid crap, so what's new?

Okay, time for a random book review! Yes, I just finished reading this novel which I would highly recommend to those who enjoy litterature. Now I have to have a quick snob momment when I say that litterature is very different from just a fun book. To illustrate, "War and Peace" = Litterature... "Twilight" = fun to read but not great writing. "Empire Falls" (another great recommend by Richard Russo)= Litterature... "Harry Potter" = don't get me wrong, I LOVE HARRY POTTER and I am proud, but it is not Litterature though I do believe that it is great writing. Back to the point at hand. I just finished a book called "Await Your Reply" by Dan Chaon and I thought it was amazing! It is this darker book where three different stories are told simultaneously but all share a common thread. It explores the nature of identity and leaves you thinking about your own. Chaon is one of my new favs and I am planning to Barnes and Noble it up and check out his other works. And shut your mouth, I just found on youtube a trailer for the book??? Yeah I didn'tknow they did that but it is pretty cool... quick warning, it does show images of a severed hand, gross I know, but you should still check this out. Here is the link to the youtube video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtH3PRoQzWw .

So for all of the hoards of people who read this (ha ha) here is an update on our new casa de Blackford!!! I cooked my first meal in our new little kitchen last night. It went really well, but I am still trying to remember where I stashed all of our stuff. If I get around to it today, I am also considering baking a cake. Why you may ask? The answer is simply because I want cake, and since this is my house who is going to stop me... I will resume my work out regime soon anyway.

Jay and I have been back and forth to Home Depot a ridiculous amount of times and here is part of the reason why. Why is it that everytime you are looking for something at HD, the workers point in a direction and give you cryptic clues to where this one item is in this huge store??? Everytime there is always one thing on my list that I totally abandon because I loose patience after 10 minutes walking up and down the isles of that collosal warehouse and end up with nothing. You can practically get shin splints after walking around in there. It is like the worlds greatest game of "Where's Waldo?"... you can spend a stupid amount of time looking for the smallest thing until you feel like an idiot and you leave trying to disguise the fact that you have been defeated by the almighty Home Depot.

Alright, back to sorting through random boxes for me. Till next time...