Tuesday Intro...The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros-The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie

Too hot to sleep so I walked down to the Third Avenue 7-11 for a Creamsicle and the company of a graveyard-shift cashier. I know that game. I worked graveyard for a Seattle 7-11 and got robbed once too often. The last time the bastard locked me in the cooler. He even took my money and my basketball shoes.

I read Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian as an "Indigenous Culture" book for the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge. I was so moved by the story of Arnold Spirit, a courageous kid from the Rez. I am pushing for every one I know to read this book.
The paragraph I posted is the first of just one of the stories in Alexie's collection of stories.

                                                             No more training wheels

Making a list on the porch...

                                          Look closely and you will see angels in the snow!

Today was a football on TV Sunday. I don't really watch it but it is a perfect excuse to veg on the couch and pour over lists of books on my computer. 100 Best Books of the Decade So Far, 100 Books to Read before you Die, 20 Books to Read in 2016. I could go on and on. There are so many lists. After much hard work on the couch with blankets and pillows and blueberry cheese cake bars and one cup of coffee, I have chose the books I want to read in 2016 or at least before I die.

White Teeth by Zadie Smith, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, The Corrections by Jonathon Franzen, The Known World by Jones, Gilead by Robinson, My Brilliant Friend, The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck, Beloved by Toni Morrison, The Outsiders, The Things They Carried, The Secret History by Donna Tartt, The Epicures Lament by Kate Christensen and The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

These books turned up on many lists and recommendations. I just finished reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. This book deserved every award it was given. It is so affecting emotionally. I am now listening to Drown by the same author. Fresh, lewd, direct, sly, sweet and honest, the words used to describe Diaz's voice by a reviewer are just right.
I am also reading Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee. I'll let you know how that works out...

Some of the people I love on my porch...

First Chapter, First Paragraph Tuesday Intro...

Meet Me in Venice by Suzanne Ma

Never in her life had she been so determined to accomplish something. Anything, really. In China, things were easy. But here, in Italy, nothing was.

She had been working in the bar for less than a week when the skin on her hands started to peel. Little bits of skin, translucent and pink, flaked off like Parmesan cheese. Then the cracks appeared. Tiny fissures ruptured at the joints and split her knuckles open. She started to bleed. Everyone told Ye Pei it was normal.

I am going to read this. It is amazing to me the hardship and pain immigrants are willing to endure to find a better life.

First read of 2016...

My first book of 2016 is Meet Me in Venice by Suzanne Ma. It was recommended by and given to me by my niece in Vancouver. 

Happy New Year...

Snow fell the night before the Texans left. A lot of snow. So sledding, a smart dog and whip cream in the face game...

Quick bookish update. I read 79 books in 2015. My 2016 goal is 80 books. I pushed myself to read 79. A few of my favorites were: To Kill A Mockingbird, Pride and Prejudice, 11/22/63, The Lowland, Wonder, The Kite Runner, The Martian, The Green Mile, Just Kids, Funny Girl, Written in My Own Heart's Blood, The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, Landline, All the Light We Cannot See.
I can only hope to find such excellent reading material for this coming year.

The holiday season started on December 7 this year for us in da U.P. We have had a houseful of grandchildren, children and friends. The last bunch, our oldest daughter and her sweet family just left this morning. Life is going to be quiet for me after the fun and excitement the kids bring with them on their visits from the south. We all played the card game Golf many times. War with Papa, Sorry and Spoons. We watched movies, ate cookies and went sledding. I took many pictures. Our time together was so much fun. I'm gonna miss them...
In the words of Theodore Giesel, Dr. Seuss, "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."

Book Challenges on the porch...

Our Ten

Left to right: my mom's father, Michael, holding Margie,  Uncle Frankie, my mom's mother, Veronica, Marci, and my mother, Stephanie circa1945 (this pic made me cry)

Read Harder Challenge 2015 finished! I have to finish Wild by Strayed and Meet Me in Venice by midnight. 

READ HARDER 2015

A book written by someone under 25 ✔️St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell

Written by someone over 65 ✔️ Still Foolin' Em by Billy Crystal

Collection of short stories ✔️ Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

Published by an Indie Press ✔️ Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

By or about someone that identifies LGBTQ ✔️ Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

By a person whose gender is different from your own ✔️ The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick

Takes place in Asia ✔️ The Kite Runner 

By an author from Africa ✔️ Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche

By or about someone from an indigenous culture ✔️ The Absolutely True Story of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexi

A micro history ✔️ The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

A YA novel✔️ Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

A sci-fi novel✔️ The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

A romance novel✔️ The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitsgerald

A book prize winner from the last decade✔️ All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Retelling of a classic story✔️ The Golem and the Jinni

An audiobook✔️ The Supremes at Earl's All You Can Eat

A collection of poetry✔️ The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Colleridge

Someone else recommended to you✔️ Meet Me in Venice

Originally published in another language✔️ A Man Called Ove

A graphic novel of any kind✔️ The Wormworld Saga by David

A guilty pleasure✔️ Shadows by J.R. Ward

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen

Wild by Cheryl Srayed