I hope everyone who celebrated the US Thanksgiving this weekend had a wonderful time with family and friends. If you’re just waking up from a tryptophan-induced nap and are still making your way home, travel safely!
We spent the long weekend with J’s family in New Jersey. I was remiss in not crediting my sister-in-law (another “J”) with the recipe for Chunky Cranberry Relish last week. Ms. J., who I call my ‘other sister’ (it’s family, it’s complicated!) is an excellent cook; I’ve been enjoying her Thanksgiving dinners for almost twenty years!
I brought a number of books with me on our trip to New Jersey, intending to read a few and catch up on reviews of others. Well, I drove to NJ (almost 8 hours. in the rain. it was not a pleasant drive!), so there was no reading on the trip down. J drove on the return (6 hours. still longer than the 4 hours it should take, but not by a factor of 2!); I was the designated “I Spy” leader, DVD controller, and iPod DJ. My books are well-traveled, if still unread!
Ms. J. and I did a little shopping on Friday; not crazy early Black Friday shopping – we did that when the kids were younger, getting to K-Bee Toys when they opened, to be first in line for the must-have Dora the Explorer toy! – just regular calm and collected shopping at BJs, which was surprisingly quiet. I found three books that I added to my wish list; they’re all cook books:
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I read one book this past week. Yes, just one! It was Marjane Satropi’s Persepolis, the memoir written in graphic format that tells of her childhood, from about ages nine to fourteen, in Iran during the Revolution. A full review is coming; for now, I’ll say, wow, I understand why I’ve seen this book recommended again and again!
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Work on my NaNoWriMo project progressed at a snail’s pace between chatting, eating, drinking, and being merry! I finally finished and submitted it for word count validation last night. I need a week or so to debrief after the project, then will share a blog post about the experience. I’m very glad I participated, even if I’m being generous when I say that of the 50,000 or so words I wrote, I’m satisfied with only about 10,000 of them. I’ll be writing more about the experience in the next few weeks; I need to let it settle for a bit before I take another look at the ‘novel’ (yes, I’m using the term very loosely!) or talk much about what I learned from writing it.
Did you read Marie Lamba’s guest post, a Spotlight on Bookstores about Wellington Square Bookshop? She and other members of the Philly Liar’s Club will be at the store this coming Saturday, December 5, for a Truth Telling Party. If you’re in the Philadelphia area, do check it out.
Best wishes to all for a wonderful week!
Congratulations on finishing your novel! I feel mine isn’t very good either, but it’s nice to have it out there and ready to be edited (and some bits expanded in my case).
The drive from Boston to New Jersey before and after Thanksgiving is terrible! And my parents live in northern New Jersey. I’m sure it took us about 8 hours my freshman year in college. My dad was not pleased and the other two years that I went home, I somehow managed to leave on Tuesday instead of Wednesday.
Yay, yay, yay on Nano!!!!! I hope you enjoy the Bittman cookbook. I have several of his and they are reliable and good.
Thanksgiving weekend is a terrible weekend to drive. It took Vance about six and a half hours to get back to school yesterday, and it’s usually a four hour drive.
Congratulations on completing NaNoWriMo!
I will repeat my swooning over the Cranberry Relish. I can’t imagine not making it for a holiday ever again…it was fabulous! It seems like all of the sudden everyone is reading Persepolis, even though it is has been out awhile. Can’t wait to hear about it! Also can’t wait to hear about your writing experience. I wouldn’t feel too bad about only being happy with 10,000 of the words…isn’t that usually the way it works?
Dawn, congratulations on writing a novel–and in a month! I’ve been working on one for two years and may finish the third draft today–then it’s off to the agent. I have “Persepolis” somewhere on a shelf to read and I must find it.
I *love* Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything. I received it as a birthday present earlier this year and it’s such a a useful cookbook and the title is not really exaggerating when it says ‘everything’. I like Bittman’s approach to the cookbook, which you can read in the introduction/foreword – championing the qualities of home cooking.
Meghan – yea for NaNo month being done! Let’s keep each other updated on what we do with the works now (edit? expand? bury?). I don’t think I knew you went to school in Boston …
Beth – I wanted to sweep all 3 books into my cart (yes, the prices there are enticing!). I left them on the table though, and picked up some books for the kids instead.
Kathy – I hope you had a great weekend with your family! I’m sure you packed snacks for Vance’s car trip back to school
Sandy – I’ll pass along your compliments to Ms. J! I loved Persepolis, and will re-read it before I write my review; her perspective was especially interesting because of her family connection to the former King of Iran. Now I have Persepolis 2 (the story of Satropi’s return to Iran) on my wish list.
Chris – Very exciting that your novel is on its way to your agent! Thanks for your congrats to me, but my novel is an embryo still! Do you know about National Novel Writing Month? The idea is to write a 50K word novel during the month of November. Just keep writing, don’t edit, don’t look back until you reach the word count goal. I think the ultimate goal of the challenge is to establish the habit of writing daily. I learned a lot this month – about writing and about my goals/strengths/weaknesses as a writer. A good experience, but I can’t even think about reading what I wrote (intending to edit) for at least a month.
Christy – this Bittman book reminded me of an updated Joy of Cooking – lots of how-tos and definitions (what is celeriac, anyway?!) I enjoy his column in the NYT.
I am glad you had such a nice Thanksgiving! I can understand why you weren’t able to read more–you were so busy! Persepolis is good, isn’t it? Congratulations on completing the NaNoWriMo project!
I hope you have a great week!
Glad to hear that you had such a great Thanksgiving and that you got to spend it with your family. Also congrats for the completion of the NaNoWriMo project!
Hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving, well except for the drive!
Congratulations on completing those 50,000 words. Quite an accomplishment. I’m giving it a few days, then will be going back and reading what I’ve done so far and take it from there. No doubt there is a bunch of stuff that will have to be deleted, but I have a good start. So do you. Look forward to hearing your thoughts about the experience.
LiteraryFeline – yes, I’m glad I finally got around to reading Persepolis … now on to Persepolis 2!
Zibilee – thanks! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving, too.
Stacy – the drive was worth it; we always enjoy time with J’s family (and next time, they’re driving here!
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Robin – congrats to you! Yes, I’ll have a debriefing post up in a week or so. Will you write about your NaNo experience?
I cannot read while on the road even in good driving conditions. Heck, I cannot even look at my Blackberry while in the car or I get a mean case of car sickness. You should have popped in some audio books!
BTW… I ended up not seeing The Road. My plans changed suddenly and it’s probably a good thing since it’s such a downer. I certainly don’t need that right now!
Congrats to you on your 50,000 words … even if you only liked 10,000 of them! That is an accomplishment!