Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays (started on Should Be Reading) asks you to:

Grab your current read (or a book on your shelf that you've read or been wanting to read). Let the book fall open to a random page. Share two (or a few) teaser sentences from that page. Don't forget to share the title and author of the book in case someone is teased into reading. Please avoid spoilers!

I've posted my teaser below. Post yours in the comment section if you'd like to share as well!

The immense accretion of flesh which had descended on her in middle life like a flood of lava on a doomed city had changed her from a plump active little woman with a neatly-turned foot and ankle into something as vast and august as a natural phenomenon. She had accepted this submergence as philosophically as all her other trials, and now, in extreme old age, was rewarded by presenting to her mirror an almost unwrinkled expanse of firm pink and white flesh, in the centre of which the traces of a small face survived as if awaiting excavation.

from ch. 4 of The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
(You can read it online at Classic Reader.)

Movie Mondays

Dear John

Book, 2006 by Nicholas Sparks

An angry rebel, John dropped out of school and enlisted in the Army, not knowing what else to do with his life--until he meets the girl of his dreams, Savannah. Their mutual attraction quickly grows into the kind of love that leaves Savannah waiting for John to finish his tour of duty, and John wanting to settle down with the woman who captured his heart. But 9/11 changes everything. John feels it is his duty to re-enlist. And sadly, the long separation finds Savannah falling in love with someone else. "Dear John," the letter read...and with those two words, a heart was broken and two lives were changed forever. Returning home, John must come to grips with the fact that Savannah, now married, is still his true love--and face the hardest decision of his life.

Movie, 2010 directed by Lasse Hallström

Features: Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried

Tagline: Is Duty enough reason to live a lie?

The movie is due for release on February 5, 2010. Four of his other novels have been adapted for film: Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, and Nights in Rodanthe.

Are you a Nicholas Sparks fan? Have you read any of his books or seen the movie adaptations? Does this one sound good to you?

I'm not crazy about romances, but I do really like Channing Tatum, so I might see this one.

Over the Top!

I want to thank Marce at Tea Time with Marce for our first blog award!


She says Still Alice is a great book...We can't wait to read and discuss it!

I recommend these 4 Over the Top blogs (not book related):

1. Ali Edwards
2. Elsie Flannigan
3. Cathy Zielske
4. Tara Whitney

My (selected) survey answers:

Your cell phone? iPhone
Your favorite food? cashews
Your favorite drink? coke zero
Something that you aren't? quiet
Wish list item? Range Rover
Where did you grow up? St. Louis
Your favorite store? Target
Your favorite color? yellow (used to be blue until I had to start wearing blue scrubs to work everyday)
One place that you go to over and over? hospital (as doctor, not patient)
Favorite place to eat? pei wei

Sunday Survey

Has anyone started reading Still Alice? Only 2 weeks left!

5=I love it!
4=I really like it.
3=I like it.
2=It's just okay.
1=I don't like it.

Saturday Spotlight

Today's author is Elizabeth Strout.


1. She was born January 6, 1956.
2. She grew up in New Hampshire and Maine.
3. She graduated from Bates College.
4. She received a law degree from the Syracuse University College of Law.
5. Her first story was published in New Letters magazine in 1982.
6. Her first novel, Amy and Isabelle, was shorlisted for the Orange Prize and nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award; the novel was made into a TV movie starring Elisabeth Shue (produced by Harpo).


7. Her second novel, Abide with Me, was published in 2006.


8. She won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her third book, Olive Kitteridge; it is one of our possible books for 2010.


9. She has taught at Colgate and Queens University of Charlotte.

Have you read any of her stories/books?