Sunday Post/Mailbox Monday 11/25/18: Vintage Things, Crochet and Random Updates

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog…

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists….

Happy Sunday and happy weekend. I cannot believe we are nearing the end of November and that Thanksgiving is over here in the U.S. I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving. We had a nice cozy one at home. I cooked this year for us and spent the day in my pajama’s. It was so nice not having to leave the house especially since the temps have been so low lately. I made the turkey and the sides and a pumpkin pie, I cheated with the pumpkin pie and bought frozen crust but it still came out yummy. I took Friday off so it’s been a nice 4 day weekend.

We had the first snowstorm of the season last week and that was a nightmarish commute home from work so I am glad it is over. I hope that’s not indicative of how this winter will be.

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Love, Faith and a Pair of Pants by Herb Freed

source: free review copy via Meryl Moss Media
title: Love, Faith and a Pair of Pants: a novel in stories
author: Herb Freed
pages: 198
published: 2018
genre: fiction
first line: The top floor of the Rabbinical academy dormitory was the quietest place in Manhattan until six-fifteen in the morning when the clicking of high heels reverberated all the way down the marble-tiled hallway and woke Ben…

Blurb:
Ben Zelig thinks he has his life all figured out. Graduate from rabbinical school. Get hired by a spiritually enriched community. Meet a nice Jewish girl and start a family. Simple, right? Naturally, nothing goes according to plan, but life can still work out as long as you have Love, Faith and a Pair of Pants.

Herb Freed, the author of the timeless love story Bashert, is back with a collection of five short stories about the smart, witty, spiritual and, according to his mother, incredibly handsome, Rabbi Ben Zelig. In five stories about a rabbi’s life, Zelig navigates romance, family ties, colorful congregants and the meaning of faith. We follow him through the decades as master storyteller Freed takes us from humor to pathos and back again in an uplifting examination of what it means to be human.

My thoughts:
As Love, Faith and a Pair of Pants starts off it is 1969 and Ben Zelig is in Rabbi school in NYC. He is in the intern program and doing hands on work. The novella takes us through Ben’s life through 2007, we meet his family, friends and quirky characters like Uncle Joe, who is his mentor and advises him on everything from business deals to women. The story goes on as Ben goes on dates, trains to be a Rabbi and as he is there when his mom Bertha takes the test to become a U.S. citizen. It is mainly about Ben’s personal journey and how people and events tie in together and there is faith and hope within the pages as well. It all comes full circle at the end for Ben. I enjoyed some of the insightful writing like this passage…

“A soft rain began to fall, as it increased, Ben felt he was Adam banished from the garden. Where to go from here?”
p. 31, Love, Faith and a Pair of Pants by Herb Freed

Most of the story was amusing and quirky and it was interesting getting a glimpse into Jewish culture. Ben was dramatic and I did feel that some of the dialogue was over the top for the time and place. Like this conversation which takes place at a club.

The Chasid leaned forward , his intense sad eyes trying to understand. He cupped his ear with one hand. “You don’t got a name?”

Ben didn’t know how or why it came out, but the words flowed from the depths of his soul. “I am Benjamin, son of Solomon, of the tribe of Levi,” he said proudly.

p.29, Love, Faith and a Pair of Pants by Herb Freed

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

source: purchased
title: Sharp Objects
author: Gillian Flynn
genre: mystery thriller/ psychological thriller
pages: 396
published: 2006
first line: My sweater was new, stinging red and ugly.
rated: 5 out of 5 stars

blurb:
Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family’s Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming.

my thoughts:
I finally read Gillian Flynn. This book had exactly what I look for in a crime thriller; mystery, suspense and grittiness with a few shocking scenes thrown in for good measure.

I don’t even really know where to begin because I enjoyed this book so much and I wanted to make sure I got my thoughts on it posted before I forget the good parts.

This was a multilayered novel about a woman with psychological issues who is facing past demons and revisiting her estranged family while trying to solve a murder mystery.  This was a tough, gritty read and it was executed perfectly by the author. I read half mesmerized and half in shock most of the time.

As the book starts off Camille Preaker is a reporter with a troubled past who begrudgingly goes back to her hometown in Missouri to get interviews from the locals about two missing girls, one of whom’s body has already been found. Camille lives in Chicago now and does not keep in touch with her family back home.

Sunday Post/Mailbox Monday 11/11/18: I am back and baby it’s cold outside.

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog…

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists….

Hello everyone. Happy Sunday Happy November. Happy reading.
I am sending my thoughts and prayers to the people in California with the major fires burning there now. It is so scary to see the news.

I went MIA for a little bit on blog land recently, because I was in Puerto Rico on vacation for one week. See the palm trees above? Yep. This past week was my first week back home and I am still kind of on vacation mode. Going to beautiful, sunny Puerto Rico was amazing. It is funny how I got used to the warm sunny temps (high 80’s) and going to the beach in October, meanwhile back home we had cold Fall temps and shorter days. We spent the days by the pool and the beach as well as sightseeing. We also visited some family.

Interview with Nancy Warren author of The Vampire Knitting Club

Hello everyone, please join me in welcoming Nancy Warren to my blog today as she stops by to answers a few interview questions. I am thrilled to have her! I read her book The Vampire Knitting Club and enjoyed it very much. It is the start of a paranormal cozy series set around a knitting store in Oxford.

Book Details:
Genre: Paranormal Cozy Mystery
Published by: Ambleside Publishing
Publication Date: September 2018
Number of Pages: 250

Purchase Links: Amazon Goodreads

Please read on for the interview….

Welcome to my blog Nancy and thank you for stopping by. Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

Thank you for having me! I’m a Canadian, originally from Vancouver, though I’ve lived mainly in the UK for the past few years. Last year I got my MA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa university. Our classes were held in Corsham Court, a Tudor manor house with peacocks on the lawn. It was magical. (Also the setting for Rafe Crosyer’s home, which we visit in book 2, Stitches and Witches.) I’ve always been an avid reader and I love to travel.