Top Ten Tuesday: Books Whose Titles Or Covers Made Me Buy Them

My friend Larissa, who recently started blogging over at Like People and Butterflies, reminded me how much I liked participating in memes when she started participating in Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

I love lists so going back once in a while sounds like fun.

My top books whose titles or covers made me buy them:

1. The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, believe it or not. It had just come out, I knew nothing about it, but I loved the title. It's now one of my favorite books of all time. 'Nuff said.

2. When God was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman. I bought this for my husband because of an inside joke. Apparently it's only mediocre, unfortunately, though I haven't read it myself yet.

3. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen. Covers don't usually grab me like titles do, but oh my gosh this cover is soooo pretty! With glitter! :-))

4. The Earth, My Butt and Other Big, Round Things by Carolyn Mackler. I was just getting into YA and couldn't resist this title. It's great, no?

5. I Can Make You Thin by Paul Mckenna. How could I resist a title like that? That effect is what Mr. McKenna must be counting on of course. Now if only it did what it says on the box... sigh.




Umm... I only have 5... can I still participate? ;-)

Irish music, Ethiopian food and Hello Dolly

I've seen many bloggers - including, Trish, Kailana and Erin, who are among my favorites, keep track of their goals, their progress and their moods through weekly updates.  I love reading them and it looks like they come in useful. They must put things in perspective a bit, which is definitely something I can often use. I'll think I'll try adding this weekly feature each weekend.

So what happened during this past week?

• I had two Hello Dolly rehearsals, which I tried to enjoy though I was sooo tired from my week in London. We did a lot of the choreography which I love. Rehearsals are becoming more intense and more frequent now, Sunday rehearsals start this weekend. Show's on in the third week of November, so soon!
• I went to a birthday dinner for one of my best friends. We went to an Ethiopian restaurant - has anyone else been to one? The food is served on big sharing platters and you eat with your hands, by scooping the food with pancakes. I imagined that the food would be more hand-friendly, but it's things like spinach in a sauce or minced beef in a sauce so quite difficult to eat without a fork. The flavors were nice enough, but I gotta say that I didn't enjoy eating with my hands. How closed-minded of me!!
• We went to a concert by traditional Irish band Altan, who by some sort of fluke of the universe happened to be playing in our local, small cultural center. I'm glad they agreed to the gig, it was fantastic.
• Work has been pretty crazy, but that's a given by now.  No point dwelling on it over the weekend anyway!
• I got my wisdom tooth pulled and my cheek is now swollen and bruised. :-(
• I've been reading A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. I'm finding it enjoyable but not gripping. I wanted gripping.

And looking forward to next week:

• Two more Hello, Dolly rehearsals! I really need to learn my lines now...
• Joe has an evening rehearsal with his band Shantalla, so I'll be able to spend an evening with a book or a movie... Hmmm, I wonder if I can rent Something Borrowed yet!
• I'll continue with A Discovery of Witches, but I'll also try to make some progress with Gigi by Colette, which I'm reading for the challenge I'm doing with Alex from The Sleepless Reader.

I'll leave you with the promotional video for Shantalla's new CD, Turas, which means 'journey' in the Gaelic language - hope you like it!

Better Late Than Never - R.I.P. VI Challenge

I meant to join this amazing blogging event when Carl first announced it, but it kept slipping into the future and then I figured I was too late. Until I read Iliana's post, she's just joining now too! :-)

So here we go again, I'm signing up for the R.I.P. VI Challenge - and I'm so happy to be doing so, I've never missed a year since I started blogging.

The R.I.P. Challenge is all about reading creepy, mysterious, scary books through September and October. The challenge appropriately ends on October 31. There are many levels so that anyone can take part, no matter how much time to read they have.

I'm doing Peril the First, which requires four books and I'm already on my fourth book that qualifies since the beginning of September. :-) Here are my choices:

Completed: 3/4 by 31 October 2011

The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley
Soulless by Gail Carriger
Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness