Thankfully Reading Weekend 2011: Kickoff!

Hello, Everyone! Happy Day After Thanksgiving! Hope all my Americans friends had a wonderful holiday yesterday and that all my other friends simply had a wonderful day! Since I've been away from my blog for a few weeks, I thought joining in on Jenn's Thankfully Reading Weekend would be a great way to reconnect. If you'd like to join in or just "tune in" to the posts, hop on over to Jenn's Bookshelves to say hello and see who else is participating.

Jenn's listed a few blog starter questions for those who need or want suggestions, and they look good to me, especially since I feel a bit rusty! So first off, HOW DID YOU SPEND THANKSGIVING? We really didn't know for sure where we'd be for dinner until a few days before, and that turned out to be at home! My mom had hip replacement surgery a few weeks ago (one of the reasons A Sea of Books has been idle lately), but she's getting around pretty well now, so we picked her up and brought her over -- literally, Grandmother's house is over the bridge and through the woods. Fortunately, she brought a turkey with her! My sister and I managed all the trimmings. So, it was a kind of low key day, just my sister and her kids, E-Girl-8 and J-Boy-11, my mom, and me. We kept things simple so there was no stress - except E-Girl-8 was very upset when she realized there would be no chocolate cream pie (can't say as I blame her!) but of course we had pumpkin (umm!).

WHAT BOOKS DID YOU DISCUSS AT THANKSGIVING? Only one, actually, but it was quite appropriate. J-Boy-11 is reading HACHETTE by Gary Paulsen with his sixth grade class. For those of you who aren't familiar with this book, it's about a 14-year-old boy, Brian, who is stranded alone in the Canadian wilderness after the pilot of the small plane he's riding in dies of a heart attack and Brian is forced to crash land the plane in a lake. Needless to say, how Brian coped with his situation - finding food, building a shelter, trying to create a fire, his loneliness and fear - gave us plenty to talk about, especially along the lines of being grateful and appreciative of our own cozy little house, dinner, and family.

WHAT'S IN YOUR TBR PILE FOR THIS WEEKEND? It's a little pile, but a quality one! I started reading ONE HUNDRED AND ONE NIGHTS by Benjamin Buchholz earlier in the week. I think it's going to be an emotional read, so I'm going to take it slowly but, at some point when I have the house to myself, I want to read some more of it over the next few days.  Last night I began reading THE INVISIBLE ONES by Stef Penney, author of THE TENDERNESS OF WOLVES. This is a mysterious story about modern-day Gypsies, or Travellers, in England. I'm totally intrigued. And, finally, a week or so ago I bought a copy of WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON by Grace Lin.  I've wanted to read this for ages, so I'm really excited to finally have a copy. I hope to read some to the kids tonight.

HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU THINK YOU'LL HAVE FOR READING? Not enough. Never enough! As soon as I post this, I'm going to go stretch out on our sunny couch and read for a bit. But, one of my other sisters is here visiting with another one of my young nieces, and when everyone gets back from feed the llamas, I'll be putting my book away. Tomorrow and Sunday the kids will be at their' dad's house, so it'll  be pretty quiet around here. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that no surprise disasters keep me reading and blogging to my heart's content!

How about you? How was your Thanksgiving and how are you spending this weekend? What books are on your reading lists?