Are you YA enough for this book club?

My bedroom growing up had a whole wall of floor to ceiling bookshelves. The previous owner had used the room as an office, and when fourth grade me saw those bookshelves I made it my mission to fill those shelves. I almost did, too. By the time we moved I'd amassed a collection of nearly 1,000 books. Ramona, The Babysitters Club, Sweet Valley High, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Secret Garden, Sleepover Friends, Matilda, R.L. Stine, Anne of Green Gables...my collection was non discriminatory. Little Women shared shelf space with blonde twins from California. Really bad teenage love stories cozied up to Gone With the Wind. 

I didn't love reading right away as a kid and to encourage me to read more my parents bought me literally every single book I seemed vaguely interested in. Their (very expensive) scheme worked, I loved to read and in the process found a very special place in my heart for YA lit - Young Adult literature. 

A few years ago it came to my attention that my friend Megan is also my literature soul sister and ever since then we have been trading books books like the madwomen we are. A couple years ago she became the Scholastic book mom for her kids classes and turned me onto such literary gems as Twilight, The Hunger Games and amazing teenage mermaid stories. We used to hide our YA shame, but this week I decided that enough was enough. Not are we no longer hiding our love of the Young Adult novel,  we are starting a book club. 

That's right. Young Adult novel book club is happening. As it turns out, we are far from alone in our taste in books. Within about 2 hours of announcing on Facebook my crazy plan of a book club I got 15 or so ecstatic messages from friends ready to read the angst. Bring on the coming age stories and the dystopian heroes and heroines. Bring on the romance and misunderstandings. Bring on the vampires and mermaids, because we are taking them all on. 

If you are local and interested, send me a message. If you aren't or don't fancy being in a room with a bunch of 30 year old women reading teen lit (well, when you put it that way...), you can follow along here on the blog. Our first meeting is February 7 where we will be deciding between one of these three books. I scoured Amazon for ideas and decided to narrow it down between a social issues book, a classic, and a soon to be released book-to-movie title.

Vote for the title that most interests you in the comments below and the pick for the Friday Night Book Club will be revealed on the 7th. If you are so inclined, you can request to join the Facebook page where we will let our literary freak flags fly high and proud. If you choose to buy any of the titles, please consider clicking through to Amazon via my carousel at the bottom of the post. I will get a small percentage of each purchase, which will make my husband happy considering how easy a Kindle 1-click is at 2 am when I have just finished book one of a particularly amazing series and cannot possibly wait another second to start book two. 

If you can relate, this is probably your kind of book club. 

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker - his classmate and crush - who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah's voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out why. Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a firsthand witness to Hannah's pain, and learns the truth about himself-a truth he never wanted to face.

Thirteen Reasons Why is the gripping, addictive international bestseller that has changed lives the world over. It's an unrelenting modern classic.

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

According to Ponyboy, there are two kinds of people in the world: greasers and socs. A soc (short for "social") has money, can get away with just about anything, and has an attitude longer than a limousine. A greaser, on the other hand, always lives on the outside and needs to watch his back. Ponyboy is a greaser, and he's always been proud of it, even willing to rumble against a gang of socs for the sake of his fellow greasers--until one terrible night when his friend Johnny kills a soc. The murder gets under Ponyboy's skin, causing his bifurcated world to crumble and teaching him that pain feels the same whether a soc or a greaser. This classic, written by S. E. Hinton when she was 16 years old, is as profound today as it was when it was first published in 1967.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Markus Zusak's unforgettable story is about the ability of books to feed the soul.

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.

Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak, author of I Am the Messenger, has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.

Downton Abbey, Season 4 Episode 3

So, I have given myself permission to post these updates when I can, which obviously, isn't very timely these days.On Sunday night we were living it up with the cool kids at Benihana celebrating my friend Megan's birthday, so shock of all shocks, I missed Downton Abbey. What is Downton compared to onion volcanoes? Nothing, that's what. And those onions were delicious. And I really want one of those grills in my kitchen. And one of those chefs while we are at it.

Alright, on to the fun stuff:

Tell me you see it? 

THE BREAKFAST FROM HELL - Pardon my french, but ANNA HAD TO EAT BREAKFAST NEXT TO HER RAPIST. #*@&%$ My stomach is in knots just thinking about it. Did anyone else feel like crying in the first few minutes of the show? Between Anna and Bates and Tom and Lady What's Her Name, we were three minutes into the show and I was sure I was not going to make it. I was getting a little tired on Tom feeling sorry for himself for not fitting in, but I definitely loved how the Lady got to the nitty gritty of Tom's heartache and I loved her for it. But not enough to remember her name, apparently. Sidenote: BEST LINE of the series or maybe my life, and it didn't even come from Granny: "I have always found something foreign about high spirits at breakfast." Me too, Carson, me too.

Watching Bates fumble and flounder around Anna is as heartbreaking as it is annoying. I mean, who falls and bangs up their head as much as she did, wake up, dude!. She was full on beaten up. Like to a pulp! Between Anna's silly line of not telling Bates because he will kill the man, and the fact that I suspect that the Crawley's will start thinking Bates is beating his woman, I am fed up. I haven't been so annoyed with a story line since, well, Bates was in jail.

DING DONG THE WITCH IS GONE! - This almost makes up for the hating on Bates and Anna. While I hate that she's such a conniving idiot, it was the conniving idiocy that got her the boot. Finally! Way to go Mrs. Hughes. I might have to start a fan club, I love her so much right now. Though, I did cringe at her saying she'd pin her down and rip her clothes off her if she had to. Just felt tacky considering Anna's situation and even a schemer like Edna dosen't deserve that. All in all, though, well played Mrs. Hughes, well played. Ever since last episode, every time Edna walked in I just couldn't shake the image of Voldemort. She's so snake-like, it just fit too perfectly! She got what she deserved, and then some, leaving Downton with her snaky tail between her legs, but not before she gave Thomas the ol' one two. At which I laughed heartily, because, hello, pot, meet kettle. Sidenote: I love how Mary totally came through for Tom, offering him sound advice in his hour of need and that he had the good sense to take good advice when he hears it (*cough* Anna).

WALK OF SHAME - Who knew Edith had it in her to be so naughty? Although, there wasn't a whole lot of shame in her walk, she did try to play dumb when Aunt Rosalind called her out on her comings and goings. Does anyone else get a bad feeling about this? I think Aunt Rosalind's outburst is a foreshadowing of very bad things to come. "The world may be changing, but some things never will." Gulp. Something about the mentally ill wife and Germany and divorces and revoking one's citizenship isn't ringing true with me. Edith! You are making me nervous, girl! Don't be stooopid!

MARY'S MISTAKES - So, Lord Goodlookingham has fallen hard for Lady Mary, so hard in fact, that her family schemes to get them together socially as much as possible in the course of, what, a week? Has everyone brainfarted on the fact that the woman's husband died six months ago? What in the hey is everyone's all-fired rush to get Mary, well, married? Mary has a good time with him, laughs, smiles, Isobel has a sweet moment where she says how she hopes she will see him often blah, blah, blah. Gillingham asks Mary to marry him twice, both times he is rebuffed.

The second time, when he says she would fill his mind, she says that her mind is too full of Matthew to consider anyone else. It was sweet, it was lovely, it was what you might expect a happily married, recent widow to say. Then, in what is becoming an annoyingly expected move, Lord G asks if he can kiss her, one for the road, and all. They kiss, her wedding ring in clear view as   they snog, and I rolled my eyes, but I was thrilled she turned him down. We She needs more time.

And then, sneaking in just before credits roll, Mary says to Tom, "I think I made a decision I'll regret the rest of my life." *Face-palm* MARY! Are we still mourning, or what? You made a decision, stick with it. I don't know why I found that so ridiculous, but I did.

FAKE AMERICAN ACCENTS SHOULD BE BANNED - Downton Abbey is going global and diverse with the addition of American bandleader, Jack Ross who is black and therefore even less acceptable for little Rose to fall for than if he were only a wretched American. To add insult to injury he has the worst American accent I have ever heard. To be fair, I did double check on IMDB, just in case, because the truly worst American accent I have ever heard turned out to be from an American (it was this guy, on Foyle's War). Bad accent aside, he's cute and I suspect a juicy story line there, though I cannot for the life of me figure out how we are going to see him again.

So, what do you all think? I know there is a whole thing going on downstairs, but I am still just not interested in Alfred/Ivy/Jimmy/Daisy's whatever. Am I the only one?

Fairytale Town Maternity Pictures

When our friends Jason and Carolyn announced they were moving to Tennessee I could have spit nails. My husband and I have known Jason since before we were married. Jason and Aaron would have gaming days where Jason would bring over his PC and he and Aaron would play computer games all day while I made snacks and watched lame tv. Later, we were all in Bible studies together and always had great conversations about life and faith and books and stuff. A few years ago Jason introduced us to a friend of his named Carolyn. Within minutes of meeting her I knew that Carolyn would someday be his wife, because it was not at all possible that there could be a more perfect woman for him than she.

Very quickly, Carolyn and I became friends, meeting for coffee and wonderful conversations. One of my favorite things about Carolyn is that she dives right past small talk straight into soul talk. She is one of those people that you just don't mind opening up to, even if you just met her. You really forget that you haven't known her all your life when you are talking to her, which is why when they moved to Tennessee eighteen months ago I may have shed more than a few tears.

Several months ago, my phone rang and it was a giddy Jason and Carolyn announcing they were pregnant. It was right around when I started taking pictures more seriously and my second thought (after SQUEEEE!!!) was, oooh I hope I get good enough to be able to take maternity pics!

In December, they came back to Sacramento for Christmas, a whirlwind baby shower, and yes, a maternity photo shoot. I love all the pictures I have been honored to take in the last few months, but these might just be my extra special favorites.

Downton Abbey, Season 4, Episode 2

Did you have to scrape your jaws off the floor last night, like I did? File last night's episode under: Did Not See That Coming. 

As a whole, the last three seasons of Downton have been exceptionally well written. Last season, Fellowes and his writing team successfully blended the heartache with sweet moments. Not just Anna's heartache as she waited for her husband to be exonerated, but Tom and Cora as they worked through Sybil's death. Matthew and Mary's romance was the perfect foil to all the tears. While there were plot points that I didn't like, the whole season blended seamlessly together, making me love Downton and it's people all the more. I am as definitely wondering if they will strike that balance as well this season. 

Spoilers! Don't read if you haven't see this episode.

NOT ANNA! - Take a good, long look at that photo up there, it will likely be the last sweet moment between Anna and Bates this season. And I am hopping mad about it. Anna and Bates are, hands down, my favorite Downton couple, so imagine my horror and downright outrage at last night's episode. Am I too invested in fictional characters? Perhaps. I also think it is completely ludicrous that Anna would not tell Bates because she thinks he will do something awful and "he was already in prison once, they wouldn't let him off again." Yeah, he might do something awful if you call beating up his wife's rapist awful, but what exactly is she thinking he's going to do? I have never been through such a terrifying experience, so I can't truly speak to how she should or should not react, but Downton knows and loves Anna and would rally around her, don't you think?

Even though I find the plotline totally annoying because it puts my favorite people in the worst possible pain, I recognize that this "plot twist" was an all too common reality in those days, both upstairs and down. It will be interesting to see how these characters work through the horrors of rape, even as I wish it wasn't so. I guess I'm going to have to give up my hopes for cute little Bate's babies, because, I swear, if they add in the rape = pregnancy cliche I AM SO DONE. (Empty threat.) Sidenote: I died a little when Anna had to cordially say good bye to that scumbag.

OH, MOSELEY - Just when you thought Moseley couldn't possibly get more pathetic, he does. If you look up the term "sadsack" in the dictionary, Moseley will be right there, right next to Eeyore. He does provide some needed comedy, though, so thanks for that ol' Mose. He does seem to be getting more screen time than usual, and PBS teases us with "the unlikely iron in Moseley's soul may provide inspiration to one who needs it most," so I am hoping good things are in store.

SHE AIN'T NO O'BRIEN - Interesting that in the very same episode that Anna is raped, it is implied that the despicable Edna Braithwate may have done the very same thing to Tom. I feel creepy just watching her. Every time her rotten mug is on screen I feel like I need to go wash my hands and the combined ickiness of her and Thomas would be enough to make me rush to the shower to get the dirty off, but I don't have DVR, so I suffer on. My visceral reaction is either a testament to the acting and writing or my insanity. I'll take either. I do greatly miss O'Brien. Deep (waaaay deep) in there she had a conscience, making her a different (dare I say better?) beast than Thomas or Edna.

ALFRED + IVY + JIMMY + DAISY - Alfred pining over Ivy, Daisy pining over Alfred, Jimmy seemingly pining over Ivy. I'm pretty sure that there will be a Jimmy/Thomas storyline in there somewhere. His infatuation with Ivy dosen't ring true to me. I like that Mrs. Padmore is (mostly) sweet to Daisy, but mostly, the downstairs goings on are really boring to me so far.

EDITH - And while we are on the subject, I am already bored with poor Edith and her romance. Yawn.

Anyone else concur or completely disagree with my assessments? Also, if you can, comment here rather than on Facebook to keep spoilers to a minimum. Thanks!

All Dried Up, A Visit To Folsom Lake

I hadn't really noticed that it hadn't rained here in a dreadfully long time; not until people started posting photos of their trips to Folsom Lake and comments about how low the lake has been. It has been relatively low for a couple years now, so I really didn't think much about it. I mean, how low is low? A friend recently told me that it was low enough to see the remains of the town that the lake covered when the Folsom Dam was built. Yeah, that's pretty low.

Pretty soon after that, the history buff in me started to obsess about the tragic romanticism of a forgotten town submerged under water. I have a thing for old buildings and apparently that obsession extends to Gold Rush era building foundations, turn of the century door hinges and nails, and forlorn sawed off tree trunks. According to wikipedia (so it must be true!), Mormon Island was the location of Sacramento's first ball in 1849 and was the starting point of the Gold Rush.

I packed up the kids and dog and we ventured out to see what we could find. Along the way, we found out the dog gets carsick. That was fun, but thankfully didn't spoil our day. It was kind of eerie walking through parts of the lake usually reserved for boating and swimming, kicking old Coors cans from the 70s and wondering if rubbish like that counts as "artifacts" or trash. Artifacts are illegal to remove, so we took the safe bet and left the pop top can there for all to marvel. You're welcome.

This isn't the first year that parts of Mormon Island have been visible and unlikely it will be the last, but I do believe that it is the lowest the lake has been since the dam filled the area in 1955. Technically, the buildings we see are on the outskirts of town and are believed to be an old winery, the main town is still submerged. The plus side, I guess, is that it's been quite a boon for the State Park. The ruins are bringing quite the crowds and parking money to boot.

Rain, rain, come and play. We can see the Island another day.

Downton Abbey Season 4, Episode 1

Downton is back and it feels so good. I can honestly say that there isn't much I love more than British television. The accents fool me into believing that I'm not really just watching a British version of Dynasty or Dallas or 90210. The Brits love drama and mystery and they do it well and with a classy accent. I like to pretend that they don't have reality tv and that the BBC is some sort of tv programming utopia, even though I am fairly certain that Big Brother originated there. 

I have a couple friends who managed to watch the 4th season online with sneaky tactics, but I chose to wait to watch it. Mainly because, as much as I love Downton, I am really too lazy to figure out how to watch it online. When my friend Stella was watching it she would come to me saying, "Oooooh, Claaaaire! This season is SCANDALOUS!" So that is my only spoiler. This season is scandalous. Which is either great information to have or not. I am trying not to let my imagination run away with itself, and last night's episode gave me lots to ponder. 

As usual, if you aren't caught up, stop reading after the photo. More importantly, if you aren't caught up, why are we friends?

Just adding some salt to the wound....couldn't help it. 

First, I want to make a couple observations. One is that this episode was a long two hour episode for us, but was two separate in England. After watching last night and feeling like a few things resolved rather quickly/awkwardly, I realized it was partly because it had been spread over two weeks for them (the other part is because the story sucked, but we will get to that later). Second, take a moment and let it sink in that last season's finale was really the Christmas Special. Merry Christmas, Matthew is dead. Why do you hate Christmas, Julian?

Ok, moving on. 

HOW DARE SHE!? - We open the episode to sweeping views of Downton and someone leaving in the dark of the night/early morning. Everyone is in a major thither when they realize that it was O'Brien. I mean how dare she leave Downton in the lurch, and for a member of the family no less? Scandalous! Has she no decency? No, no she dosen't. We have spent three seasons gasping at the antics of O'Brien and her leaving seems to be the most exciting thing to happen in Downton since, like, ever. It's like no one remembered the time that Mary had a dude die on her during, ahem, sleep or that Edith's fiance left her at the altar or that Ethel got pregnant by a scumbag and had to give up her baby to his parents. 

MOVE ON, MARY - The family is in mourning. Six months have passed and everyone is asking if Mary is ever going to, you know, get over the shock of losing her husband on the day their child was born. Everything seems to have plodded along around her in that time and people are beginning to wonder if Mary will ever be her old self again. Because six months is plenty long enough to mourn the loss of your husband. I understand that having your star be even more monotone than ever for half the season puts a bit of a damper on the storyline, but I kinda feel that a chick should be allowed to be seriously bummed out for longer than six months after her husband dies. ON THE DAY YOUR BABY IS BORN. But, I get it, plotlines and death taxes and stuff. Super important. Besides, monotone Mary is bad enough, mega monotone Mary is enough to make me need to go onto antidepressants. 

THOMAS vs. NANNY - Early in the episode we see Thomas going head to head with the Nanny and I think to myself that ha, here is our new foe, because, surely, after the way Bates did him a solid last season with the job, he will let it rest for Bates and Anna. Damn. Not so much. I did enjoy Nanny and Thomas going at it a bit and would have liked to see that into the next episode at least. When Thomas first went to Cora about how awful Nanny was, I was thinking that Thomas was kind of an ass. Unless I missed another comment in there when she called Sibby a half breed I literally gasped and yelled, "Oh, no she didn't!" much to my husband's amusement. And any fears I had about there not being enough backstabbing to go around once O'Brien left were quickly assuaged by the arrival of Edna. Which brings me to...

EDNA? REALLY? - I have so many angry feels about this, but I must admit, she is going to be an entertaining adversary for the poor Bates'. Those poor, poor Bates'. Cannot catch a break. I predict that Anna gets the sack because Edna and Thomas' evil ways and Rose dragging her into her schemes are going to be her undoing. And Bates will go to because he is a stand up guy, and maybe finally they will get their hotel and babies. I want to see cute little Bates babies! Also, please stop introducing characters with E names. Edna, Ethel, Edith. I have to pull up the character guide to keep them straight! 

YOU CAN DO BETTER FOR CARSON - Carson is really shaping up to be one of my favorite characters. His has actually seen the most growth over the series . He went from cranky curmudgeon to cuddly curmudgeon as he watches his world slowly unraveling around him. He can see the days are numbered in the aristocratic and is taking the punches like a stoic champ. First season Carson would never have called Mary to task and reminded her that grief or not, she has a job to do. Go fourth season Carson! It's probably because of my love for Carson that I feel personally insulted that they gave him the stupidest story arc since cousin Patrick (I'm still mad about that). It was dumb when they had his singing/dancing partner come back the swindle him and it was even dumber that we are supposed to feel sorry for him when Carson cuts him out after he falls on hard times. He's a swindler! Of course he fell on hard times!

"You sang and danced together on stage? Doesn't that mean anything to you at all?" Mrs. Hughes screeched at him and Aaron and I busted up laughing, and then I began to wonder....oooh is that a euphemism for something? Exactly what kind of singing and dancing was this? Is this the scandal? IS CARSON GAY, TOO? Um, no. (Thanks a lot, Stella. Now I'm imagining scandal where there isn't any.) Swindler guy swindled his lady in the gay nineties (or sixties, or whatever) and Carson was real mad, like you would be, and didn't want to talk to him. Meddling Isobel and Mrs. Hughes had to get all up in Carson's business so he could forgive him blah, blah, blah. Carson is so much better than that. Frankly, so are Isobel and Mrs. Hughes. To use their characters in a contrived story that is basically to get them airtime is lame. 

PLEASE STOP MAKING EDITH BORING. The end. Please. PLEASE.

There is so much else, but these are the things that really jumped out at me. What about you? Also, I want to hear your wild predictions in the comments1

Snow

I have a love hate relationship with snow. I love to look at it, but really hate to be in it. I think my father, who loved skiing, was always deeply disappointed that I took after my mother's lodge-loving ways rather than his mountain-loving ones. One of the things I love best about living in Sacramento is our proximity to visiting the snow. Don't make me drive in it or be out in it for any longer than a half an hour, but I will happily sit by a fire with a cup of tea watching the snow for hours on end and then happily head home before teh slush really sets in. I do regret that there is never a possibility of a snow day around here. Although, it was something like 75 degrees today, in January, so I can probably make do.

Going to the snow was bribery to get my kids to sit for a family portrait with the dog. Actually getting to have the dog in the portrait was also bribery, as not one child was remotely interested in taking pictures unless Rory could be in them, too. They were only still for about five minutes so I am thankful any pictures came out, let alone several. Also, those Christmas cards are quickly becoming Valentine's cards. I'd say my resolution for 2014 would be to become more organized, but I think that is already out the window.